Q&A with Prevailing Pilates Owner, Sabrina Seymore

Welcome back crew! 👋🏽

I simply can’t believe that this is the last newsletter of 2026. Time is flying by, and pretty soon I’m coming up on the first anniversary of registering Thrivency as an official LLC. That was the moment that kicked off this beautiful journey into the world of content creation.

It’s been a joy to create over 100 articles, videos, and newsletters over the past year to educate, entertain, and inspire anyone who is on their wellness journey. If you’re new here, you can explore everything ever published on our website.

And today I’m sharing one of my favorite pieces of content yet! In early November, I had the pleasure of spending time with Sabrina Seymore, owner of Prevailing Pilates, the first Black-owned Pilates studio in the state of North Carolina.

Below I’m sharing our conversation in both written form and video form—Sabrina was featured in our latest episode of our YouTube series SACRED SPACES.

Let’s dive in ⤵️

Meet Sabrina Seymore, Owner of Prevailing Pilates in Durham, NC

Founded in 2023, Prevailing Pilates quickly became a local favorite that garnered national attention for its bold mission and inclusive values. I hope you enjoy this Q&A where Sabrina shares her journey into Pilates and experience as a wellness entrepreneur.

You just celebrated your two year anniversary. Can you tell me a little bit about what the journey has been like?

“The journey has been very fulfilling, very surprising. The way that the community, not even just Durham, but all over the United States they have shared anything about the studio… getting bodies in here. It’s been non stop! We are open every single day of the week and that is truly a blessing for us.”

It looks like you recently did a little bit of an expansion. Can you tell us about your new offerings and what’s your favorite class to teach?

“Expansion wise, we opened a dedicated mat studio. For a year, we were moving equipment to be able to accommodate our mat classes. So now we have a space that’s strictly just for mat classes. Even non-Pilates related classes can take place back there from instructors that want to rent it.

As it relates to classes that are my favorite, I am a very classical Pilates girl. So I generally pretty much love anything that’s to the traditional method. I think it's effective, it works. But I do like to add in a little difference here and there. I think my close runner-up would be the hot mat Pilates class.” 

I noticed that you have a very diverse staff and clientele. Can you talk a little about why that’s important in Pilates?

“Because I didn’t see it. When it was time for me to do my instructor training, it took me longer than expected to find a program. For one, I didn’t even think that this was something I could do. When Pilates was suggested to me, I thought “that’s not for us.” I just felt like everything I had ever seen was predominantly white women and very lean, tall girls.

There’s not a problem with that but it was really important for me that when I decided to get into Pilates and made up my mind that I wanted a studio, that I wanted people to come in here and be able to relate to somebody. Of course I’m not going to be able to have everyone, but I pride myself on making sure that we are super diverse, we have a variety of classes and all the instructors have different teaching styles. And I just want it to be a space that whatever you identify as, you can come in here and be yourself.”

For someone that comes to Prevailing Pilates for the first time, how do you want them to leave feeling?

“I definitely want them to feel like they got a workout. But more importantly, I want you to come here and feel like you can be your authentic self. If you don’t want to wear a matching set, we don’t care. If you want to come in here with a baggy T-shirt and some sweatpants, so be it. If you want to come in here and be dolled up, you can do that too. Because everyone should be able to be themselves, there’s no dress code or “aesthetic” to the studio.

Of course we keep it nice and clean because we want you to feel at peace when you come in here. But essentially, I want people to feel like they’re getting a good workout because they’re spending a lot of money on these services and also that they feel like they’re a part of a community. So though they are members, I want them to always feel like we have an open door policy for suggestions, complaints, whatever it may be. And we’re receptive to it.”

To see the studio, watch the full episode of SACRED SPACES here:

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and enjoy your transition into the new year. I’ll meet you right back here on January 1st ✨

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