Ken Pilates, an LGBTQ-Owned Brand With a Distinct Approach, Expands to NYC

Pilates? Saturated and drowning in beige. Ken Pilates is loud, queer, unbothered and about to test whether a crowded NYC market still has room for a studio that refuses to blend in

Ken Pilates is opening its third studio — and its first in New York — this September at 541 Sixth Avenue in Manhattan.

But while Pilates is saturated, especially in coastal cities, what sets Ken Pilates apart is that it isn’t billed as a studio at all.

Its founders, Kennyth Montes de Oca and Matthew Cunningham, call it a facility — one with three movement spaces.

There’s an infrared-heated mat room where the programming brings “the vibrancy of queer Latin culture” — their words — and mats that are laid out before you arrive and cleaned after you leave. There’s a Tower room, capped at 16, for sculpt and strength classes, where each station has its own dumbbell rack running from 5 to 30 pounds and personalized attention. And there’s a private space staffed by master instructors for rehabilitative and post-injury work, pre- and postnatal training, adaptive work for clients with disabilities, or members who’d rather train privately.

Showers, a locker room and a getting-ready nook are available for members, along with a FloWater station that dispenses chilled, purified alkaline water.

Members can also expect Ken Pilates to lead with its identity. The Black, LGBTQ+ and Latinx-owned brand has hosted queer comedy nights that put rising comedians in studio and Bachata nights.

The approach — authentic, true to who they are — has worked. 

The New York facility follows two studios in Hoboken, New Jersey, and an origin story where trained dancer and Ken Pilates CEO Montes de Oca began teaching one-on-one sessions out of a spare bedroom, then over Zoom and Instagram Live when the pandemic hit. The following grew to the point that it demanded a brick-and-mortar home on Grand Street, which became Hoboken’s first dedicated Springboard studio. A second Hoboken location followed in 2024.

“For us, community is part of the method,” Montes de Oca said. “People come back because they feel like the room was built with them in mind, not adjusted to accommodate them.”

The community aspect carries into hiring, too. Ken Pilates’ careers page promises competitive pay, paid sick leave and “the protections that come with an actual job” — a notable phrase in an industry often plagued with gig-rate instructors. New York staff instructors can earn $20 to $100 an hour based on experience, and the studio is filling operations and content roles as it builds out its Manhattan team.

Ken Pilates is capping its upcoming New York location at 40 founding memberships, priced from $295 to $495 per month, depending on the tier. All tiers include access to both the heated mat room and the Tower room, one guest pass a month, one complimentary private session with de Oca, entry to preview classes ahead of the public opening and a six-hour cancellation window rather than 12.

Keeping true to an identity has paid off for other operators that have continued to scale in both locations and members. MX3 Fitness, an LGBTQ-owned and operated gym chain, has served the Bay Area since 2016 and recently opened its fifth location in Sonoma.

Everybody Gym in Los Angeles, a trans- and woman-owned gym, features gender-neutral locker rooms and sliding-scale memberships. It has since added a second location in Long Beach. Outbox, a trans-owned boxing gym in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg, has also grown via community and welcomes all. Babes of Wellness, which bills itself as Los Angeles’ first all-women, queer-inclusive gym, focuses on serving marginalized groups and has nearly 100 five-star-review ratings on Google.