After a period of personal struggles, Shala Cox discovered the transformative power of fitness to improve both her physical and mental health. A Bay Area native, she wanted to empower her community to build healthy lifestyles. Shala launched YuBalance with her husband Rory in 2014. The gym offers personal training and small group classes using free weights, body movement, and minimal equipment.

YuBalance grew to three locations in San Francisco, but the pandemic posed serious challenges for this industry. Although the business was able to retain its staff and even grow memberships in 2021, Shala wanted to set her focus beyond just recovery and plan for business growth. She joined our Entrepreneurs-In-Residence program to hone her business plan and gain management skills to pursue new expansion opportunities.

Since participating in the program, Shala’s business has been accepted into the Brookfield Properties Partner to Empower program to expand to three new locations, and was selected by the Comcast RISE awards to receive promotional services and featured advertising on Comcast’s cable network. “I swear I am only getting these opportunities because of the EIR program. I’m using my new business plan and pitch deck for these applications, and our mission and value proposition are resonating with people. This 100% was not the response I was receiving before I did this program,” Shala says.

 Visit the YuBalance website