From web entrepreneur to fitness guru: the story of Zumba Fitness
Alberto Perlman, photo via NY Times
Once a web entrepreneur, not always a web entrepreneur. At least that’s the way Alberto Perlman sees it. Perlman was formerly the Founder and CEO of Spydre Labs, through which he launched several Internet ventures. But when the dot com crash happened he, like many other web entrepreneurs, had to lay off his staff and close shop. “I felt horrible and I never wanted to go through that again,” he says. “It was then then that I decided to create a company that would give people the power to build their own careers.”
Perlman was raised in Colombia, and moved to the U.S. in 1994 to pursue a degree at Babson College in Massachusetts. When he’d return home to Colombia his mother would rave about local fitness classes set to Latin music – and it was his mother’s comments that led him to a completely different career in fitness. These dance classes were created by Beto Perez, a fitness instructor in his hometown of Cali, Colombia. “He had forgotten his aerobics music one day at home and had to improvise with the music he had in his backpack,” Perlman says. “All he had was traditional Latin salsa and Merengue. He then began improvising his class, using common Latin dance moves.” That’s when the fitness program called Zumba was born. In 1999 Perez brought it to the U.S. and Perlman saw an opportunity to turn the class into a global brand. Two years later Perlman and his childhood friend Alberto Aghion jumped on board to create a global company around this new fitness philosophy.
They had modest beginnings, filming their first fitness video on the beach. Those videos, along with a TV infomercial and a training program for instructors, helped the company take off. Now Zumba is taught in almost 60,000 locations in 105 countries, they’ve sold millions of DVDs, and there’s even a game for systems including Nintendo Wii.
Moving from the web entrepreneurship space into building a fitness company was a big risk, but one that Perlman is glad he took. “If you don’t take a risk, that’s a risk in itself,” he says. He says any entrepreneur, whether building a web-based company or otherwise, must possess persistence, energy and passion to be successful.
So does Perlman feel he’s created a company that empowers people? Absolutely. “We’ve accomplished just that with Zumba Fitness – we created a platform to allow other people to be successful doing what they love, whether being successful means that they’re losing weight or being successful means that they’re making money.” As for what’s next, Perlman has his sights set on reaching 100 million weekly Zumba students. And ultimately his goal is to have been a part of the biggest revolution in the history of fitness. “Every day I hear a story of a successful instructor or someone who changed their life for the better because of Zumba,” he says. “I am humbled to be able to encourage stories like these.”
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7 Responses to “From web entrepreneur to fitness guru: the story of Zumba Fitness”
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Me, I love Zumba. Edgar in TO http://11014.zumba.com/ is a fabulous instructor, very original in his choreography. Thanks for the back story.
Thanks for this story about Zumba’s founder! In October 2009, I wrote a post about Zumba with some thoughts on how to develop its brand:
http://www.schmoozyfox.com/2009/10/23/zumba-fitness/
I hope that Alberto will find it useful!
All the best,
Olga
Way to go dude!I`m always happy to read about people that are blessed with success.
David Snow
President
Simplicity Barter
There is huge demand for this!
I will be adding a Zumba workout for all those that love it!
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A-ha! My friend’s wife explained to me that she was a Zumba instructor and I was like “huh? whatevs!” – but now that I know it is a branding success story .. well, suddenly I am interested. That’s how it works huh? Success attracts.
After reading about the background of Zumba, I can see how my Toronto instryctor, Edgar Uribe, fits in so well. He is Latino, having lived in Canada for a couple of years after coming from Mexico. Seconldy, he has an exyensive dance background and is able to demonstrate the moves in an impressive, sultry way. No wonder he has so many fans!