Briana Thompson was tired of feeling like an outsider in the fitness industry. As a successful Black woman in New York City, she felt out of place at the gyms and spin studios downtown and around her neighborhood. Crucially, she noticed she wasn’t the only one.
“Creating this business was born out of a lack of diversity within the industry.” Not just diversity of race, she says, but of socioeconomics and of body type. “Everyone can relate to the wellness industry making them feel like an outsider.”
So she set out to bring her community together in a space where everyone can feel like they belong.
Spiked Spin & Wellness Co. is an intuitive wellness company creating experiences for people of color and allies to move their bodies and learn about bettering themselves. They currently have one facility, in Brooklyn’s Bed Stuy neighborhood, but the business is taking off, and new openings in Atlanta and Los Angeles are on the horizon.
Expanding outside of New York will enable even more growth, says Briana, and Gusto will be essential to dismantling future roadblocks by handling the tedious task of staying compliant across multiple states.
Spiked has been using Gusto ever since they first opened. Briana recalls doing “a ton of research” before deciding that Gusto’s payroll and HR platform was the best option for their team. One of the biggest reasons they went with Gusto was that, even at that early stage, they were looking ahead and saw that Gusto would scale with them and make the expansion process as smooth as it could be.
“We still do evaluations: is this still the best for our brand as we continue to grow? And Gusto continues to outperform.”
Briana and her head of HR love the resources that make it easy to learn more, the notifications that help them stay on top of things, and the employee surveys that help make sure everyone is satisfied. Most of all, they love how easy the platform is for everyone to use. Because, like every first-time business owner growing a brand, Briana has a lot on her plate. But taking care of her employees remains a priority.
“Anything that helps make my life easier, especially as it relates to our team, is very important to me. I wanna make sure they’re satisfied.”
One of the cornerstones of Spiked Spin’s philosophy is that health and wellness happen one day at a time. If you focus on maintaining good habits, the results will come. Gusto couldn’t agree more, which is why we provide our partners with the tools and resources to make sure that payroll is done correctly every time, that their customers and employees stay happy and healthy, and that nothing ever spins out of control.