Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Hotle.
Stephanie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I grew up in North Mississippi and have been in the industry as a coach or administrator for the past 20 years. In 2013, I took a chance with a Craigslist job ad for a coaching position in the Buckhead community of Atlanta at Peachtree Presbyterian Church under the direction of Sarah Rhino. I stayed with that company until I was moved to follow Sarah on her own journey in creating The Peach Pit. I was hired on as the All Star Cheerleading Director where we built the program from scratch.
In 2015, The Peach Pit was just a 6500 square foot building and seven employees. Today, it is two campuses, three buildings, about 3000 active families and over 60 employees. We started with Recreational Gymnastics and Cheerleading and a small competitive gymnastics team. Now, we offer Recreational and Competitive Gymnastics, Recreational and Competitive Cheerleading, Recreational and Competitive Dance and Recreational and Competitive Tumbling and Trampoline.
The opportunities I have had with The Peach Pit have been totally unexpected and honestly a dream come true. I always tell people about an experience I had with a teacher who told me that “teaching cheerleading was the dumbest thing she had ever heard of” and that “no one would ever be able to get a career doing that and make a living”. I remember thinking on the spot that this teacher was mistaken. I didn’t set out to prove her wrong but something stuck with me when she said that. When I took that leap of faith and moved to Atlanta, I had no idea what was going to happen. I didn’t know anyone here or what I was getting myself into. All I knew is that it felt right. I think it was a combination of divine intervention and the voice of that teacher ringing in my ears. I consider myself the luckiest person in the world. I have my absolute dream job, a wonderful husband that I admire more than anyone, a charming two years old boy and a little girl coming in May!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
This road has not been easy. When I first started working with The Peach Pit, we were also constructing the new building that I was to house my growing program in. There were so many complications in getting that building up. However, I still had teams that had to practice! We spent a lot of time in the grungy warehouse with no air conditioning (far from the beautiful dream gym that eventually opened). I spent a lot of days wondering what I had gotten myself into and cried many tears privately in my office! Luckily, we got through that construction and have had great success with that building.
Once I started my new position at our other location, our company had outgrown our facility in Brookhaven. So we decided it was time to expand and find another building that would accommodate our growing programming. The construction went much smoother for this location than it did for the one in Buckhead. I knew what I was getting myself into and was much more prepared. The only difference this time was that along with our thriving, growing business I found myself with a growing family as well. As we were finishing up final construction and moving in, I was about eight months pregnant with my first child.
And then… COVID happened. We opened the doors to our new beautiful Peach Pit Prado on February 1, 2020. Only to be temporarily closing those same doors the following month. There was so much uncertainty. All of my coaches were being laid off and put on unemployment, and we were all scared to death of what was going to happen. We had this awesome facility that we worked so hard on (and spent so much money on!) only to wonder if we were ever going to get to put any kids in it. I was a new mom and had a new building with jobs I felt I was responsible for providing. It was a really hard time.
Looking into our studio now, you would never think all of the hiccups happened. We are so blessed to serve this community and have over 800 active students in the Prado studio alone!
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The Peach Pit is the premiere gymnastics, cheerleading and dance studio that is not like any other gym. We have a very specific branding that specializes in being clean, up to date, safe and posh – We are a Boutique Studio. Our coaching staff has some of the most experienced in the industry. We also invest in our coaches better than your standard gymnastics studio. We not only offer a competitive salary, we also offer health, dental and vision insurance as well as contributions for a Simple IRA for full-time employees. The Peach Pit also prides itself with being the safest studio to let your child train. Not only is our facility up to date with modern equipment, we invest in continuing education and safety courses for all of our staff annually.
The Peach Pit currently resides in the Atlanta area with two buildings in Buckhead on Collier Road and 1 building in the Prado Shopping Center of Sandy Springs. In these studios, we are currently training up to 2,000 active athletes. We offer programming in recreational and competitive gymnastics, cheerleading, dance and tumbling as well as summer camps, day camps and Parent’s Night Out events. We value a coaching style that is motivated by love and driven by the desire to have children build confidence with fitness.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I truly feel like mentors are someone that happens by chance. I have a mentor that I worked with in my early career that taught me so much about coaching and the sport. But more recently, my mentor came in the form of Sarah Rhino who I learned so much about the business side of running a studio. Not only did I learn by watching her, she also has provided me with my dream job to gain that experience firsthand. A mentor is anyone that truly inspires you to do what makes you happy. I firmly believe that divine intervention puts those people into your path to help you be successful and to find joy!
A successful networking strategy is a combination of being confident in what/who you are and being humble. Most of the time, when I reach out to someone that I was connected to by another person, I either need their advice, or a recommendation, or staff! Additionally, when someone reaches out to me for the same things, I pay it forward because I have been in their shoes too!
Contact Info:
- Email: theprado@peachpitgym.com
- Website: peachpitgym.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peachpitgym/
Image Credits
All photos are from Ashley Berrie Photography
