Cassey Ho has made a name for herself in the fitness community, but it may surprise some to learn that there was a time when the fitness guru wasn’t too keen on exercise at all. Despite being something of a tennis prodigy in high school, organized sports was not exactly her idea of a good time.
“Even though I was really good, I really didn’t enjoy sports because it came from a place where I just never felt like I was good enough,” Ho said. “I was always trying to beat somebody.”
She found what fitness truly meant for her when she discovered pilates. “It was something that I could do by myself and get better, so the only person I was trying to beat was myself from yesterday.”
Ho is the award-winning health and beauty blogger, fitness instructor, entrepreneur and social media personality behind the YouTube channel and blog Blogilates.
Ho’s Pop Pilates combines music and choreography with exercise. She began creating videos shortly after college as a way to stay connected with her Pop Pilates community, and quickly gained an online following. Her channel promotes fitness as a means for finding happiness by chasing a better version of oneself, and functions as an online community of like-minded individuals who support each other through the fitness journey.
“The core of Pop Pilates is the community,” Ho said. “Yes, it’s an exercise format, but it’s the people and the people that do it together that makes it such a strong force of positivity.”
Positivity is at the center of Blogilates, which boats over four million subscribers on YouTube. Beyond just looking good, Ho wants her followers to live their best lives through fitness, by allowing health and wellness impact all areas of their lives. “Once you get into it, you realize that there’s something else beyond just the physicality,” Ho said. “There is that passion, that fire, and it just makes you feel so good to be surrounded by all these people all over the world who want to do the same thing and are rooting for you to get better.”
Ho’s commitment to creating content for real women has resulted in a book, “Hot Body Year Round,” and her own line of fitness fashion. Much of her success comes from her understanding of her audience, many of them busy women looking to find time for fitness in their packed schedules. “It’s a personal choice,” she said. “Find that fire in you. Find the reason that’s gonna keep you going when it’s 5 a.m. and you dont wanna get up that’s going to let you know that you are working toward something bigger. Find that, write it down and commit to it.”
Time restrictions are not the only thing her subscribers struggle with. The fitness blogger understands the impact that consumer culture can have on women, and many of her videos address the pressure to be perfect. Her followers respond to her candidness. “I am not afraid to be vulnerable,” Ho said. “I am not afraid to be super transparent. I just don’t think it’s fair to hide behind this perfect facade that everything’s fine, because it’s not. It takes a lot of hard work to get to where you want to go, and everyday is beautiful and a struggle at the same time.”
She challenges her viewers to reset mentally and reminds them that appearances are not what truly matter.
“You are so much more than your physical shell,” Ho said. “You are your brain, your heart, your passions, your potential that you have to give to this world, so you have to bring yourself back to that. You’re worth more than what you look like.”
This article is a part of a series of portraits and stories, in celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, on API women who use their perspectives and voices to speak up and impact their communities. Read more here.
