How The Drop In Turns Movement Into Belonging w/ Gillian Zettler

Most workouts promise a better body. We’re more interested in what happens when movement gives you your people.

We sit down with Gillian Zettler, co-founder of The Drop In, to talk about building a Charleston wellness studio that treats connection as the mission. Gillian shares how the loneliness epidemic and the “transactional” feel of many gyms pushed her and co-founder Chandler Frisbee to design joyful, movement-based spaces where newcomers feel brave enough to walk in, even if they’ve never touched a spin bike, a yoga mat, or a dance floor. We also unpack the origin of their first big pop-up, why they launched in January, and how a clear purpose can beat fancy branding when you’re starting from scratch.

Gillian brings hard-won insight from leading the Charleston Wine and Food Festival and from early career years in scrappy radio promotions. We get practical about brand building, partnerships, and intentional community, plus the tough stuff founders don’t always say out loud: financial insecurity, identity shifts after a big job, and the pressure to “keep climbing.” She also draws a sharp line between real wellness and the snake oil that’s flooding the market, emphasizing trust, expertise, and human-scale hospitality.

If you care about wellness marketing, experiential marketing, and building community in Charleston, you’ll leave with ideas you can actually use. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a third place, and leave us a review with your biggest takeaway.

South Carolina Research Authority (SCRA) is a public, nonprofit organization that fuels South Carolina’s innovation economy by supporting technology-based startups, academic research, and industry partnerships. Through funding, coaching, and its investment arm SC Launch, SCRA helps early-stage companies grow, commercialize ideas, and scale within the state’s key innovation sectors.

King & Columbus is a full-service marketing and advertising agency based in South Carolina that helps brands grow through a mix of creative storytelling and data-driven strategy. They offer everything from branding and content creation to media planning, digital advertising, and PR—focused on delivering measurable results across digital, social, and traditional channels. https://kingandcolumbus.com

Transcript

Welcome And Sponsor Thanks

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Charleston Marketing Podcast, houred by the Charleston American Marketing Association. We're coming to you from the Charleston Media Solutions Studio. Massive thanks to them for supporting CAMA and the show.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Huge thanks.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

We've also got to thank our sponsor, South Carolina Research Authority, for the annual sponsorship, plus King and Columbus for jumping on with us in Q1. And as always, big shout out to Jerry Feels Good for the beats. I'm Kelly Morse. I'm the Director of Digital Communications at Trident United Way.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

And hi everyone, I'm Owen Easter. I'm your sales director locally for Simplify, the best streaming TV platform out there. And today we have Gillian Zettler.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Hey Gillian, how's it going? I'm really good. How are you? Great, thank you. We're gonna go ahead and tell the audience who they're gonna be hearing from today. So with nearly two decades of experience in community building and experiential leadership, Gillian Zettler co-founded the Drop In to create joyful, movement-based spaces where connection thrives. As former CEO and executive director of the Charleston Wine and Food Festival, Gillian brings a proven track record in brand building, strategic partnerships, and large-scale event execution. She is a legacy Lululemon ambassador, chief member, 200-hour RYT, and a member of the Aspen

Why The Drop In Exists

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Global Leadership Network as a Liberty Fellow class of 2025, known for blending sharp vision with meaningful impact. She's here to build what doesn't exist yet, wider containers for connection, deeper wells of community, and partnerships that push culture forward.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

And a partridge and a pear tree. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

That's so impressive. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

I have to ask, what is the 200-hour RYT?

SPEAKER_02 2:14

That I'm a registered yoga teacher. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. So that that was another that was another little step in the um wellness journey.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Oh, and we're gonna get into the wellness journey here a little bit. But you know, honestly, I I think we should kind of start from the beginning with everything. I know we touched on a little bit just in our conversation, but why don't you take us back to the moment you knew you had to really start the drop in?

SPEAKER_02 2:37

Oh, goodness. I feel like that was I don't know that it was like one epiphany moment. I think it was a little bit of a slower drip over time. Um, you know, wellness, well-being, movement, movement itself became so important to my mental health. And my co-founder, who's not here today, Chandler Frisbee, um, she and I had had so many conversations over time about where we thought there was space to make bigger meaning and bigger impact within wellness. Um, and I feel like everybody's talking about it now, right?

SPEAKER_00 3:13

Oh my god. I mean, it seems like, and I don't want to say a buzzword, but it's more important than ever. It just seems like people's mental well-being and their physical well-being is golly, it's going downhill for at least the last couple of years. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

So I mean, and a big part of that, if you rewind back to, you know, around 2022, the Surgeon General at that time had declared um a national state of emergency for the loneliness epidemic.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

And so Chandler and I at the time were saying, like, look, like we love to move, but it feels like a lot of the spaces that we're in are super transactional. You come in, you come out, you do your 45 five minutes, you leave. And even if you get a short uh hit of that dopamine rush from moving your body, you leave feeling like, do I know anyone? Did I like where where is the connection? Um, so that really was that was really where the drop-in was born from. And and it wasn't necessarily with a brick and mortar in mind from the beginning. Um, but after after a couple of years of pop-ups and retreats and all sorts of experiences, we knew we wanted to lay down roots somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

How did you um get started with the pop-ups even? Like what kind of was the inspiration for that? How did you pick some of the locations that you went to? Um, tell us about that.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

So the first event that we did back in goodness, I January of 2023 was an event that we called happier hours. And we purposefully launched in January because it's actually known as one of the most depressing months of the whole year. I mean, you hear people make the jokes, right? It's the 750th day in January.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

I know, but it's true that you see it all the time and you go crash after the holidays.

SPEAKER_02 4:55

Well, exactly. And why is that? It's because, you know, either people were home for the holidays and they have complicated relationships with their family. It could be that they were home for the holidays and they had a great time, but it feels, you know, like really anxiety-driven to return to work. Like

Launching Pop-Ups That Drew 200

SPEAKER_02 5:11

there's all sorts of things that roll into making January stressful, financial strains, things that you, you know, like the push to buy things that you can't afford. And I mean, there's a million things that roll into it. But we purposely did that event in January because there is um there's something known as Blue Monday, where there's actually suicide rates that skyrocket in that in that month as well. So we wanted to schedule something for people to look forward to, and we wanted that thing to be a point of connection. So the event didn't really center Chandler or I as facilitators, but as hosts, and we welcomed um a dear friend of ours, Kristen Sudakis, who has an incredible um dance studio called Forward Space in Manhattan. She came down um and did this really cool dance movement class. And Mary Lambert, who some of you may know as singing the hook on MacLamour's Same Love.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

Um I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

Okay. So she came down and she sang, and and cool enough, Mary's coming back for Pride Week with us at the drop-in um in June, which is really cool.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

That will be super fun.

SPEAKER_02 6:17

I mean, that was kind of an all-star cast there for uh for the launch, and you know, and then and I slid into her DMs on Instagram and I just told her what we were setting out to do. We didn't even have take note, everybody.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

So it can slide into some DMs over here.

SPEAKER_02 6:31

We didn't have a logo, we had no website. I mean, we barely had any followers on Instagram at that point, and she was just like, I like your mission, I like what you're setting out to do. And so um, that event had, you know, over 200 people at it and um and there were pop-ups and all sorts of things that happened after that.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

I mean, you gotta sit the ground running pretty much at the start, from what it sounds like a little bit. I mean, there was a lot, I mean, that shows you especially there was a need for it in the Charleston community and probably other places too. Now, I wanted to ask you a quick question at the same time. So, you know, the drop-in scap that name. Where did that come from? Was that something personal to you all?

SPEAKER_02 7:12

So we had played around with a lot of different names, and um, and I know I I called Chandler at one point and I was like, I I think that I've got it. And so, you know, the idea of a drop-in is a familiar phrase in fitness. If you've tried a new place before, purchasing a drop-in means it's a one-time class, it's a way to put your like toe in the water. Um, but for us, it was this idea of not just that, but dropping into your body and your breath, right? Like there's that idea of relaxing your shoulders and and and sitting a little bit more deeply in whatever practice you're in. I also grew up in a small town in Vermont,

The Name And Three Pillars

SPEAKER_02 7:47

so you would hear people say things like, gosh, if you're in town, like just drop in. It's totally fine.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

I totally thought of that.

SPEAKER_02 7:54

Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

So that's super cool. I didn't even think about that. So it's got it's got multiple meanings here, which is awesome.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Yeah. Yep, that's where, and so she agreed. She was like, I think that's it. So we we rolled, we we got it on the LLC and all the things.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

That's really cool.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

Yeah, and so you guys built it on three principles. Now describe those principles and kind of again what they mean to you all day, right? It's movement, music, and travel.

SPEAKER_02 8:18

Music, movement, and travel are definitely those pillars that we think about. Um, the first thing after that happier hours event was that we actually shipped 30 spin bikes to Austin, Texas. And we decided we wanted to have our first retreat domestically. Um, and when we sent the spin bikes to her sister's house, they were put together in her sister's garage. Chandler has Texas roots, and we also wanted to make sure that, you know, there's this idea within the drop-in of being a human pollinator, and that's like leaving people in places better than you find them. Yeah. And, you know, I think living here in Charleston, locals could also agree that sometimes it feels like tourism is constantly like happening to you.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 9:03

Um, as someone who ran one of the largest events in Charleston.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

Oh, yeah, probably yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

And but you it's it was it's a push-pull, right? Because you feel like you're doing something good. And then you also like feel like sometimes locals are like, really, just like stop telling people to come here, right? So there's a there's a mindful way to travel and to be a great, to be a great visitor. And we wanted to start out of the get-go, being able to share experiences in a way that we thought were really caring for the way that we moved through a new place.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Absolutely. I mean, I like that's so cool. And you mentioned you worked for one of the largest festivals in Charleston and probably down the East Coast too, Charleston Wine and Food Festival. And we'll get to that here in a second, but how was it difficult to really balance the kind of start-up of the drop and the Charleston Wine and Food Festival at the same time and all of the other things you were doing in our community in places like Austin, Texas as well?

SPEAKER_02 10:00

So, I mean, I had um shifted away from the wine and food festival. Um, I resigned in 2022. And I think it's also fair to say that um, you know, I was trying to grapple a little bit with my own identity. You know, when you have a job that that's that is that big, it can feel like it's who you are and not what you do. Um, so I feel like what kept returning to me was that I wanted to do something where I felt like I was in a little bit better alignment with the things that I felt like were the most important for me. Um and to be more, to be more impactful. Um, and

Identity Shift After A Big Job

SPEAKER_02 10:40

and that movement with mental health, and for me, it's like my biggest sources for happiness are connections to other people. It is traveling other places to be able to like get outside of your bubble and to have your mind expanded by the way that other people move through the world. And I grew up in a household where music was the epicenter of everything that we did. It was the way we celebrated, it was the way we my, you know, my parents like it just was infused into everything that we did. And so to now have this thing in my life that is my job that also pulls all those things together feels really incredible.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Yeah. It's awesome. That makes so much sense. I mean, I think it's really cool, and you mentioned that transition, but it's also cool how you've just grown the community outside the drop-in in Charleston too, right? I mean, I think, and correct me if I'm wrong, Charleston's really become a place where you know that whole idea of growing your personal I wouldn't say accountability, but making yourself feel better, helping your mental state too, has has really become one of the big things about this city, too.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

Yeah, absolutely. And Charleston is such a big fitness area, I would say you see boutiques popping up left and right, and to have something that's so unique like this, like I have not heard of anything like it, I think it's just really exciting that you're able to take this passion and really put it into action like that.

SPEAKER_02 12:08

I think that one of the things that we find is really unique about our space is that when you look out into the world and you see a friend of mine pointed this out to me, so I can't even take credit. Um, when you look out into the world and you think about people who have a regular movement practice, people that are even a little fanatical about, like, let's say their workout schedule, there are way more people that don't have that than people who do. And what Chandler and I are constantly asking ourselves is how do you speak to that audience in a way where they feel like they could be vulnerable and brave and step into our space for the first time? So we have a

Designing A Studio For Belonging

SPEAKER_02 12:48

lot of people who have never been on a spin bike before. We have a lot of people who have never taken a dance class or been on a yoga mat. And part of the reason that that happier hours event was really not about even the movement that we were going to ultimately teach and facilitate. It's that, like, man, if you can get people in a large group to decide to be silly and have fun and find connection and build that level of trust. Then when they go, wait a minute, so you have classes seven days a week and there's a studio, you've built the trust where someone goes, I would take a class from them. Yeah. They, I feel like they have my back. So that that really is that's the anchor point in those larger events is to create that wide container for you.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Well, I think that makes a ton of sense, right? Because I kind of look at you guys in a lot of some of the other communities around Charleston a little bit different, right? You know, it's different than just walking into a gym. You got your own earbuds in, you're in your own little space there. And oftentimes I freaking get it. It can be absolutely intimidating just to do the bare minimum. But it sounds like what you guys are doing is fostering that connection, not only with you all, but everyone around who's there. So it's not saying, oh, it's just I'm in my own world and all of a sudden I'm lifting or running or doing whatever, just kind of on my own dime here. It's we're all doing this together and we're having fun while doing it. It's making it less work part of working out and more fun part of it.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

Oh, a hundred percent. And it's not to say, like, I am not in any way, shape, or form invalidating like the clarity that can come from taking a walk by yourself or going out on a run by yourself or lifting by yourself, like all of that can have a place. But if you are someone that certainly is like, man, like I don't, I don't, I'm, I am not like if you're not in a church, if you're not in a bar in Charleston, South Carolina, then where are you going to meet people? And some people will say the gym, and then you have to kind of scratch your head and say, But am I or would I? Because everybody's coming and going. And I though to what to watch the way that relationships have been formed in our space, it's like Chandler and I may open the door and say, Good morning. We're so glad you're here. But the members and the people in our space, they're the ones that are like, Hey Matthew, you better come back. Like it was so great to meet you today, you know?

SPEAKER_01 15:04

It's super empowering. And I even like just reflect on myself. Like, I need that commitment to, you know, commit not only to myself, but to commit to others that I'm also going to show up in that space for them.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

Um, and that really sounds like the community that you're you're building is really that empowerment for people to take that next step for their community.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

Yeah, it absolutely is.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

Well, it also makes it fresh, right? The good thing is is there's you're kind of doing always something a little bit unique and a little bit different. Even in my own life, I find sometimes, you know, when I hit the gym day in, day out for even a year's time, it gets old after a while. You're doing the same things over and over. And just to have something even a little bit just fresh and fun makes a massive difference. It makes it going, oh, it's not an effort. I just have to do it, but I want to do it.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

Yeah, yeah, it's the want for sure.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Which I think is super cool on that front there. All right, so now let's kind of get down to the little nitty-gritty about you and your business here. So, what's a typical week look like for you?

SPEAKER_02 16:00

Oh my gosh, I wish it was typical. I don't, I don't think that we've hit that point yet. Um, you know, I would say that entrepreneurship is definitely the hardest thing that I've ever done. Um, and I I would include the Wine and Food Festival in that, which, you know, hats off to anyone that's ever been a part of of that event. It's a monster. But, you know, it's um when when you are a very tiny, tiny team. And by tiny team, I mean, you know, it's me and Chandler and and we've got an incredible kind of like part-time experience crew and a few coaches. But like

Running A Tiny Team Day To Day

SPEAKER_02 16:38

when you see the vision of where you want to go, ultimately it's like nobody's gonna do it if you're not gonna do it. Yeah. Um, so I mean, a typical week right now, I mean, it's just trying to to honestly, what I'm trying to do is get myself out of um being an operator and being in the space that that ultimately like excites me the most, which is being an innovator and a strategist and and development. And because I actually do I like like you, I I love sales and I love development. Absolutely. Um, but I'm also creative. So, you know, thankfully, um, I want to shout out to Chan because she's not here, but she's an incredible coach and she's an incredible developer of coaches, um, and she's a phenomenal athlete. I mean, like she literally could motivate uh like an inanimate object to do jumping jacks. Um and she is a D1 softball player. She just cares deeply about um about people. So, like knowing that she's in the space and um and she just cares so much about that unreasonable hospitality in there is awesome. I feel like I'm trying to yank myself out of operator mode a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

I mean, I get that, which can be so hard, especially when you're the one. Well, you I know you both of you, but you're one of the two people who really built this thing up and you have kind of that drive to make it as big as possible, too, at the same time while still having that community base too. But you mentioned you really want to get on a little bit of that more that research and development side, really that what's new. Is there kind of some plans you can touch on that's coming up in the near future, anything like that?

SPEAKER_02 18:12

Well, I think that one of the things that excites us about the space that really is kind of where that collaborative spirit was born from is that, you know, uh, for example, um, you know, at the end of May, we're welcoming back uh Kate Moon is a master yoga instructor. She had a studio here for a while in Charleston. She's got an incredible following. She spends most of her time in Panama now. Um, but she's doing a residency at the drop-in at the end. At the end of May for two. Yeah. So she'll be there doing classes um at the end of May. Chandler and I will be leaving next week to go to Italy for 10 days. We're hosting a retreat in Italy. But I guess part of it is

Collaborations Retreats And A Homey Space

SPEAKER_02 18:53

this idea of welcoming in people, not only that have had roots in Charleston, but more than that, are coming to Charleston as guests. And maybe it's a little bit of it as a hangover from wine and food and guest chefs and things. But I I remember hearing when I was running the Wine and Food Festival that chefs and restaurateurs, like the number one reason that they participated in the festival was to forge connections with people that were not local and for their folks that were working in restaurants to be connected to people that they may never have had the ability to go to the restaurant in LA or the restaurant in Chicago or whatever. And I think that that piece has really stayed with me is like I love to travel, Chandler loves to travel. I've taken spin classes in Barcelona and Paris and I mean crazy places, but not everybody has the privilege of doing that.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:44

So what a cool gift to be able to say, you know what, we're gonna bring in some of our favorite people that are aligned with our mission that we think are gonna inspire you, and you're gonna get to experience them here.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

Oh my god, it's like little tastes, as you explain with the chefs, it's almost like little tastes from different cultures in different parts of the world right in the drop-in, right here in little Charleston.

SPEAKER_02 20:06

Yeah, and just and you know, and I think we've also made a conscious decision to say, you know what, like there aren't any rules. Like no one is telling you that you have to be one thing. And I think that people like to try to put businesses and people in boxes, right? It's easier to digest when I can I can name who you are and what you do. And at the end of the day, we're like, you know what? No, we're gonna have an acoustic night with Mary Lambert for 35 people in our space with a piano. We're gonna do that. Nobody's telling us that we can't. You know, we're gonna have a live podcast in our space by the fireplace. And that was why ultimately the studio is built in a renovated two-story craftsman bungalow. The upstairs is the spin studio, and we maintained a lot of elements of the house so you feel like you're in a home. I love that. And downstairs is the mat dance studio, but it it offers as a flex space so that we can use it for community events and fireside chats and all sorts of things when we're not teaching classes.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Oh my gosh, sounds amazing. Wish we could have a fire and down the place a little bit. No, maybe not.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

I don't think they'd like that.

SPEAKER_00 21:18

No, it sounds absolutely delightful though. So I'm curious. All right, we we're talking about the drop-in and everything and what you want to do a little bit in the future. Now I got a hard one for you here. What is really the hardest part that maybe you didn't expect about the drop-in?

SPEAKER_02 21:35

For me personally, um goodness. I'm I'm honest to a fault sometimes. I will say I I mean there's a lot of financial insecurity in it. Sure. I mean, it you know, like you go from I I would say for me personally, I'm gonna be brutally honest. I mean, people are tuning into you uh with the idea that. That people come on here and hopefully they say things they wouldn't be able to look up on their own. I think, you know, when you get to a certain point

Money Fear And Imposter Syndrome

SPEAKER_02 22:07

in your career, there's there are moments where you feel like you are supposed to just keep climb climbing. And I think for me, circa 2022, I made some decisions where I feel like I had to keep validating how hard I had worked to be an executive director, C-suite person. And so I think some of it is the that like little voice that gets into the back of my head that's like, are you doing enough right now? Like, is this the that's a lot of people?

SPEAKER_00 22:35

And almost kind of that imposter syndrome too, where it's all right, I'm here. What am I doing more, or do I even deserve to be here a little bit?

SPEAKER_02 22:43

But you know what I think the universe serves up to me every time I start to do that is that like without fail, in whatever sort of like boohoo moment I have with my husband, going like, is this what what what about my 401k? Who's no one's matching it anymore? Like, what is happening? You know, and he, you know, net without fail, like within 24 hours, something happens where I'm like, oh, that's it. That's it. Yeah, that's that is why you are doing this. And you know, and my dad, I talk to my dad almost every single day. And my dad's like, he calls me Jilly. He's like, Jilly, I have I I've heard you through so many jobs, and I've heard you like, I've heard you cry, I've heard you pissed off, I've heard you say, you know, be frustrated, all the things. And he goes, If you're gonna cry and you're gonna be frustrated and you'll be pissed off, wouldn't you rather be doing it for something that you love? What's the alternative? Yeah, you know, what's the alternative? So that's a great point. Yeah. What's the Mary Oliver quote? It's something like, you know, what are you gonna do with this one wild, beautiful life that you get? And so that's that's where I'm running right now.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

I love that. I think that is something for everyone to really keep in mind because it can be so hard nowadays to really just keep up with the grind, but to actually be like doing your purpose is just amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:04

All right. Now let's talk a little bit more about the big picture here, more of the your your industry you're in. So what do you think most fitness studios and gyms, what do you think that get wrong? And that's a tough one. I know I'm throwing them at you today.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

Well, I mean, uh listen, like I think at the end of the day, if you want your business to be around, it has to make money, right? But there's a balance between things like EBITDA and like having a soul. Um, I also think scaling can get dicey. Things that start with like one intention and a certain level of heart can get watered down or lost.

What Wellness Brands Get Wrong

SPEAKER_02 24:45

Um but I I think one of the things about the wellness community that frustrates me the most is that people kind of like glom onto words or they start speaking out of their areas of expertise. Um, you know, I think you have to be very careful. Chandler and I are very careful. We are not therapists, like I am not a doctor. You got you have to be really careful when you're offering advice and guidance that you actually are qualified to give it. Um, I also think that there sometimes is a tendency, like, I mean, you even when you were reading some of um, you know, what we're doing, community is even a funny word that's thrown around now. And um, and I don't mean to sound like I'm throwing shade, but community and building of community has to be intentional. You don't get to put it on your boilerplate or in your Instagram bio as a buzzword type of thing, you know. Yeah, I mean that is not what makes a that's not what makes a community and it and it takes a lot of intentionality. And um, and so I don't know that that's necessarily I don't know if I want to necessarily point fingers and say getting it wrong, but I think that that's where a lot of places miss.

SPEAKER_00 25:55

And I can totally see that. I mean, I think it's at least from what I'm seeing at a very outside perspective, there's a lot about you know, companies taking advantage of the wellness boom going on right now in a very corporate way, which almost, as we've been talking about a little bit, is a little bit less of driving that community, even though they might have it on their homepage or something like that, a little bit less trying to foster the connection between their members in pretty much just say, Hey, we're for profit, let's try to just drive that as much as possible.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I it like I said, I mean, at the end of the day, businesses need to make money in order to be around. And and, you know, uh, I mean, conscious capitalism, right? Like the more money we make, the more money that we get to do great things with. Um, I would give a shout out to one of, you know, one of my mentors over my professional time here in Charleston, Steve Palmer. Um, he's one of the managing partners of the Indigo Road, but you know, he's given me a lot of words of wisdom in that, in that space. And certainly that like you gotta like if you want to do good, if you want to do a lot of good, then you also have to be a really solid business person, um, which is also why I'm a little fanatical about numbers, too.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

We mentioned um intentionality earlier. How as your business is continuing to grow, how do you maintain that intentionality behind your mission?

SPEAKER_02 27:24

Well, I think that um, you know, again, this is this has been something that I think has hit the um the the internet by storm over the past couple of years, but it really drills down to your why statement and knowing really clearly what your mission is and what you are for and what you're not for. And if you have spent the time to understand why you exist, then it becomes so wonderful to be able to use that as a filter for all things. And I think um that's where I that's where I'm really grateful for spending so many years in a nonprofit environment, actually, because the best nonprofits are really clear about the mission that they're driving towards. And that even as a for-profit entity, if you have a mission statement and you're clear about it, it become you don't have to guess, like, gosh, is that a person that should be writing us a check? Should I be cashing that one? Or is that an event that we should collaborate on and be a part of? When you are clear about those things, it's really easy to go, thank you so much for thinking of of me, but I don't think that that's for us.

SPEAKER_00 28:28

Yeah. Totally understand. I mean, that the whole thing's it's you live in a very interesting industry too, right? And and I kind of mentioned it earlier, and yeah, I know you know more than anyone. We're sitting here in what I would consider a wellness boom at the moment. Yeah, I think there's a little bit more, not only in the in the fitness space, but even beyond, you know, GLP one's kind of one of those hot words going around right now, too, which I think anyone would say has its place, right? But not everything. Do you see this kind of being a permanent culture where we'll continue to see this wellness boom extend? Or do you see them as a little bit more like a a bubble that's got a certain lifespan to it?

SPEAKER_02 29:08

I don't know. I mean, there's a lot of grifting going on. And I think um I I think the day the really dangerous part about that too is that I don't know that I think people are any less lonely than they were before, but they're being sold a lot of snake oil about what what fixes it. So I think um, you know, I I don't know about a a boom or a bust or whatever, but I do think that places like the drop-in need to exist for that very reason. That you need places for people to genuinely be able to connect to be encouraged as um, you know, my son's here sitting in the back of the room. What do they say, Ethan, to get out there and touch grass, you know? Um, you've got to, you've got to, we're not saying that you come to the drop-in and all things are are better and fixed, but hopefully it's a place that you get to take some big deep breaths, that you get to work through some things in your head, and that ultimately, like, I don't know, that you're moving your your body and you feel like you're connected to other people. We're not there to necessarily serve up answers. Yeah, you know, yeah. Um, and I think that that's I think that's the scary part right now is that people are trying to to sell fixes and um and they're not necessarily qualified to do it.

SPEAKER_00 30:27

Well, and especially when a culture, you know, the whole world's seeing this where we're more connected to the internet and we're and and we've been talking about this for years, right? But when we're seeing the doctored pictures out there too, as well, and anything like that, where natural physiques are really no longer a thing you see on on the internet or online, I can definitely see where you're coming from where it almost feels like, hey, this is it's more of a sale unless of here, let me actually help you out here, let me make you better, your wellness better at this point.

SPEAKER_02 30:58

I don't even see I I'm gonna I would challenge that a little bit. I don't know that we're looking to make anybody better, you know. Like I mean, uh your body's your body, and um I I think that for a really long time, especially as a woman, you like at a very early age are having people tell you that it's gotta look and move through the world in a very specific way. For sure. Um, I I mean, I'm glad that social media didn't exist when I was a teenager um or a young woman. And I I just think that we are striving to be a place where you feel like you can show up as yourself and, you know, like build build strength and mental toughness. And we talk about like our mission statement is is to be a space that cultivates resilience and builds joy. And, you know, and some people are like, well, how do you cultivate resilience? Well, I mean, you do that through, you know, discomfort and being vulnerable and proving to yourself that you can do things that you didn't necessarily think you might have been physically capable of doing before. And, you know, I know that um, you know, in some of the toughest physical things that I've put myself through when I'm in a space where I feel like I might be um mentally stressed, I I can ladder back into those moments and go, man, like put more resistance on the wheel, you know, like put more resistance on the wheel. You got two more miles to the end of this marathon. What are you gonna do?

SPEAKER_00 32:29

You know, it's true, it's very true. I mean, I think that's super cool. All right, now I'm gonna switch subjects a little bit here. Really want to know about your marketing background. You mentioned to us at the beginning here, you started off in radio. I want to learn a little bit about that and then really what you've done to market not only Charleston Wine and Food Festival, and I know we're gonna kind of breeze past this a little bit, but also the drop-in too.

SPEAKER_02 32:53

Oh goodness. So, yes, I did start um my professional career in radio. I was a promotions director for a cluster of stations in Greenville, South Carolina. I did not have a communications degree, I had an elementary ed degree. Um, I had a friend who was moving to Charleston actually, and she said, I think you should, I think you should um interview for this job. I think you would like the new

Scrappy Marketing Lessons From Radio

SPEAKER_02 33:14

promotions director who's coming in. And the two of us hit it off in the inner in the interview process, and um he's still a dear friend of mine to this day. Um, but I feel like that was really you had to be really scrappy in radio.

SPEAKER_00 33:27

It is an unbelievably scrappy, and again, fantastic industry to be in, but you know, broadcasters, whether it be radio or TV, it's it's it's a little bit cutthroat.

SPEAKER_02 33:37

Well, I mean, and I don't know that I necessarily felt cutthroat, but like we didn't have a budget to do anything. Yeah, I mean, we had no budget, and I have my mom would tell you I've always had champagne tastes on a beer budget. So I mean, it was about how do you make this thing really, really cool and be as resourceful as you can. And, you know, and thanks to shout out to Chase Murphy, who was my boss, he used to just say, You want to go do it, figure it out. And so a lot of it was just like going into small businesses, figuring out ways to get creative. I mean, we launched the first Sex in the City movie, the last Harry Potter book. We did, you know, like three dollar concerts, pop-up concerts with the plain white T's. I'm like probably aging myself, but it just like he taught me so much about like, even like, you know, hey, make it three bucks. People feel committed, they gotta show up. Like, what are you gonna do when? I mean, we have my first concert ever with a meet and greet was Justin Bieber at the basketball stadium in Clemson. And as we had 2,000 people outside, the sirens started to go off for a tornado. Oh boy, that's real fun. Yeah. And I remember like my lip quivering and my boss looking at me, and Chase was like, What are you gonna do, kid? He's like, events and promotions are like a tennis match, like you're either gonna bounce the ball back or this isn't the industry for you. And I was like, Okay. And that, I mean, it stuck with me however many 20 plus years later. Um, and really events are all about problem solving. I mean, always.

SPEAKER_00 35:16

Oh, yeah, events definitely are like that, much like the Charleston food festival that you were doing. That's one hell of a I mean, that's a little bit more of a scale than well, Justin Bieber Pro concerts, especially. That's pretty big. Um, but that's like a whole different ball game, even.

SPEAKER_02 35:30

Yeah, that's a different ball game. I mean, I helped open the children's museum in Greenville um from the first day. I worked as a record rep for a little while. And the wine and food festival was definitely the largest large-scale event that I had ever touched when I became the ED. And when you talk about imposter syndrome, like I remember sitting in our office on Coolblow Street downtown um and just going, Who did you fool? Like, who, how, how did they give you the keys to this place? You know? Um, but I have always said and I will always say that the best part about that job was the people who worked around me. And I and we talked about this a little bit earlier, is just like, give me the problems that you can't solve. And I'm gonna put, I'm gonna pull the most brilliant people around me, and we are going to surprise you. And um, and I kind of feel like that's why, you know, when I say the drop-in like is overwhelming, and I don't know what the week what week to week is like at the end of the day, too. There's just something that just really excites me about waking up in the morning and going, like, you want to take 20 people to Italy? Let's do it.

SPEAKER_01 36:43

Let's go, let's figure it out, you know? And I think it's really cool when you talk about your leadership that it's not you necessarily solving all the problems, but it's bringing the people together that will help solve the problem. Another use of like community of bringing people together around a collective problem that you're all working to solve. And it's something that not one person can do on their own.

SPEAKER_02 37:04

No, I mean, I had someone say to me at one point, like, if you go out and do your own thing, make sure you put the your name on the wall. And I just remember being like, that is so not me. Yeah. It's not me. And um, and you know, I I know that I shared with you earlier, like the spin studio and the drop-in, all the bikes face the middle, and the instructor is kind of tertiary. Um, you know, when I was running the wine and food festival, I I think my board would probably say sometimes they got a little frustrated that I um wasn't always the first one to go running for an interview. But I feel like those events, like most of the time they're so magical because you don't know who's behind them. Yeah. You know, it's like you watch the ball drop in Times Square, you don't know who was coordinating that effort, but somebody was, some people were. And I feel like the most magical spaces are where people feel like they're a part of creating the magic. And I I know that's not everybody's philosophy, and that's okay, but um, I don't know that you could ever name any business or any entity that the success is is predicated on one individual, you know.

SPEAKER_01 38:12

Absolutely. You um we talked about her a little bit earlier, but uh Chandler is your business partner. She is. How did y'all meet and become friends and decide to go into business together?

SPEAKER_02 38:21

So we are an intergenerational friendship. I am 12 years her senior. Um, we met when she was like freshy out of college at Charleston, um, big bright-eyed, she's still super bright-eyed, um, at a spin class. And um, she had actually she was training, and I've told her this before. I have this visual, she's such so intently focused, like when she wants to understand something. And I can picture her riding the bike. And then subsequently, like, she was some of the first classes that I would come and take in in Charleston,

Finding A Co-Founder And A Soundtrack

SPEAKER_02 38:53

and she's a beast of an athlete. Um, so we are but the friendship was kind of sealed, deciding to take a trip to New York together with a couple of other friends at the time, and we didn't really know each other. The four of us didn't really know each other at all. And it was like, let's go to New York and let's eat good food and let's sweat and let's explore. And, you know, and that is what we did. And we kind of came back from that trip as just really good friends, and you know, over a decade later, she's what she's still one of the most important people to me.

SPEAKER_01 39:27

I love that. Love good stories of friendship like that.

SPEAKER_00 39:30

That's awesome. I I know we're starting to kind of wind down here, but I got some fun questions for coming up here. Shoot. All right, so what song never fails in one of your classes to get people moving? Ooh, that's a good one, I know.

SPEAKER_02 39:43

Like a banger or like a heart opener, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 39:46

Okay, I think we need both.

SPEAKER_02 39:47

We need both. Um, well, if it's a spin class, and I know you're a spin girly over here, um, the dirty south remix of Messiah on a spin bike is is pretty much a banger. And yeah, and or a Sam Smith like Lost Kings Latch remix is also um for some people I'm probably speaking Greek. So a little less than inner sandman going and yeah, but I mean, but I think people who take my classes know I run the gamut. I'm like an iPod from the early 2000s. I mean, I play all the things. Um, and I'm also a deep, deep feeler. So I mean, you could hear everything from Florence to Coldplay to U2 to Rage Against the Machine to That sounds like my playlist. I love that. Yeah, so I'm I'm all across the board.

SPEAKER_00 40:35

I love it. All right, I got another one for you. Rest day. What does that look like? What's kind of entails for you there?

SPEAKER_02 40:41

Right now it doesn't feel like there's um much of a rest day, but I will say my my son is visiting. He's about to move to New York. He's done with academia for a hot minute. Um, but my my daughter and my husband and I love to grab a cup of coffee and to do a little vintage market movement. So usually we put we head over to the refinery if there's a vintage market happening. We leave with a t-shirt or two. And if you know me, you know that coffee is pretty much running through my veins at all times.

SPEAKER_01 41:14

So what's your what's your go-to coffee place around here?

SPEAKER_02 41:18

Oh, shout out to Sightsee. Sightsee is, I think, my favorite. And I love I love Baba's. I mean, they all depending on the day or the weather, it um there's there's different places, but Sightsee and Boba's probably top of the list. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:32

Okay, I got one last one for you. Here, what's the most unexpected thing to ever happen inside the studio?

SPEAKER_02 41:39

Oh my goodness, what's the most expensive? Well, gosh, I don't know. The per the news space, I don't know that we've like had as many like crazy things happen yet. I'm trying to think of something that's like uh number one coming up. Probably, though I will say, I mean, I could I I could say that like in our ramp up to being in the permanent space, we started and we did a pop-up at the Navy Yard for about six months. And the like weekend we opened in June, it was like 110 degrees outside. And

Wild Pop-Up Conditions And Putting Down Roots

SPEAKER_02 42:15

I, with my wine and food background, I'm like, I want the clear top tent. It's gonna be so luxe and look beautiful. And if you can imagine being under a clear top tent in 110, you're like an ant under a magnifying glass. So then we did a pop-up out at town center in Mount Pleasant when we left there for about a month. Um, shout out to Kathy Herman, who's the marketing director. She's an absolute queen. And we were right behind the the oaks in town center, and it was the cold, snappiest of cold snaps for basically the middle of November to December. And my Vermont family would be like going, what do you mean it was cold? But for Charleston, I mean, we were like in the teens and we were teaching classes. That's I mean, that's cold even for up north.

SPEAKER_00 42:58

It's a damp cold, dude.

SPEAKER_02 43:00

Yeah, it was so cold. It was so cold. But people were such troopers and it really was really was really cool. But when we were like, oh, we're gonna have this like appre theme out in the tent, I wasn't expecting it to be so literal. Um, so I feel like that was wild. But yeah, I mean, it's just been it's just been an adventure, and I've also learned that I really like having roots. Like I like, I know some people are super nomadic. I like having a place that we can call our own. And 1118 King Street is pretty magical. Um, we've met the family who um their grandparents own the house. Oh, that's crazy. They they there are family members who live on the cul-de-sac, and we have had other family members come in. Someone in their family just became a member, which is so awesome.

SPEAKER_01 43:49

What like a small world and just like a whole turn.

SPEAKER_02 43:51

She was like, uh she was like, I used to climb on the lions on the front porch as a kid, and I remember hanging out by this fireplace, and so it's just like That's why when we were being shown all these like mixed use developments and it could be industrial chic and whatever, we were like, no, no, we want a place with more soul.

SPEAKER_01 44:09

I love that you kept like the whole structure of the house and stuff. I think that's just so cool because you do see things getting tear torn down around here so frequently in the rebuilds, but to like just have that that unique structure that's actually, you know, from Charleston or like a part of Charleston is really cool.

SPEAKER_02 44:25

Yeah, the low line will eventually open up to where we are too. And so we're really just um we've been really excited to just welcome so many people from the neighborhood into the spot too.

SPEAKER_00 44:34

Well, that's awesome. That's awesome. Well, Jillian, it's been nothing but a pleasure having you on today. Is there anything last little tidbits that you want to say to the Charleston American Marketing Association and what's gonna be happening during the drop? And I know we talked a little bit about those uh those trips you all be taking, but what's those last little things, Julian?

SPEAKER_02 44:54

Oh, let's see. I mean, we are gonna celebrate pride in a big way in the beginning of June. So the first week in June, please be on the lookout for that. I I would just say if you're listening and you're like, I don't do group fitness, I don't do spin bikes, I don't dance, I have two left feet, then I just like dare you to come in and not be in love with the community of people that's in this space because that's really

Pride Plans And How To Find Them

SPEAKER_02 45:17

what makes it magical. And um, I'm just super grateful to do it here. It's helped me fall in love with the city in of Charleston again. And um I just I hope that it's a it's a place that people just like really think of fondly for a long time.

SPEAKER_01 45:33

Absolutely. How do actually how do we find you? I don't know if this is the exact same thing there.

SPEAKER_02 45:38

I guess I'm I'm really slipping on my my comms portion of my marketing and comms. So you can go to thedropin.com um or you can find us on Instagram and Facebook, and um you can slide into the DMs, and your girl who's wearing lots of hats on the microphone is the one who will answer your message.

SPEAKER_01 45:56

So um never know what will happen from it.

SPEAKER_02 45:58

You never know. Plot in.

SPEAKER_00 46:00

Well, perfect. Well, thanks so much again for having yet. Please go check them out at the drop in here, and uh hopefully we'll all see you soon in a good cycle class coming up.

SPEAKER_01 46:10

Yes, I'm I'm in for it. Better be.

SPEAKER_00 46:13

All right, y'all. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 46:15

Bye.