Today we’d like to introduce you to Claudette Minnotte.
Hi Claudette, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’ve been a Pennsylvania native my entire life. I grew up on the eastern side of the state in Lehighton, PA, just north of the Allentown/Bethlehem area. My father is originally from Aix-en-Provance, France and my mother is a PA native, resulting in an upbringing that was anything but normal. Growing up as the firstborn child of a French father and a strong-willed mother who worked in education gave me a unique mix of boldness, resilience, and independence from the very beginning. I learned early how to speak my mind, stand my ground, and lead with confidence—and those qualities followed me straight into the fitness room, where I coach with strength, passion, and a voice that isn’t afraid to be heard.
I was always planning on leaving Lehighton, as I wanted to find a city, an out, or at least a place full of culture and chaos. I just needed an escape plan for college. Before I was ever a coach, I was an athlete. My childhood was spent in gymnastics, figure skating, dance, field hockey, and tennis—sports that taught me discipline, resilience, and what it meant to fall down and get back up again. Movement was never just something I did; it became the way I understood myself and the world around me. If I wasn’t playing sports, I was the president, secretary, or treasurer of some/all extracurricular activities. I loved literature and art and excelled at anatomy and sciences. So when the time came to graduate and choose my college, I fell in love with the University of Pittsburgh’s campus and medical programs.
I went to the University of Pittsburgh in 2004, starting in the Pre-Medicine track with a focus on Neuroscience. While I was there struggling through Organic Chemistry, another passion began to take shape. While athletics taught me how to move my body when I was younger, writing taught me how to understand people as I got older. I left the pre-med program my junior year, left and escaped to live in Florence, Italy for 6 months, and came back renewed with a newfound goal of telling my story and the stories of others. I graduated in 2008 with a BA in English Writing, BA in Political Science and Minor in Theatre Arts.
I earned my Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction from Chatham University, where I studied the art of storytelling, vulnerability, and authentic human connection. I learned that the stories we tell ourselves shape the lives we live. Who I was inside, the girl from a small town with a cross-cultural family, the one who ran away to find herself, wasn’t hiding anymore.
After graduating with my MFA in 2011, I worked as a teacher in the Allegheny County Jail teaching writing and poetry. During this time I found out just how influential someone can be when they open up, no matter what their circumstances are. Everyone has a story to tell. At the same time, group fitness started to become a fad in Pittsburgh. Places like PureBarre, BarreCode, and Orange Theory became new trends and something that called out to me. I started taking barre classes and fell in love. My inner child loved the movement, reminding me of dance and gymnastics. The adult in me loved the challenge, the music, the sweat. I had to be a part of it.
I began to study fitness modalities and got certification after certification. I would drive almost an hour in any direction from the city in places like Cranberry or Bethel Park, just to teach one fitness class. to continue to gain more experience and engage with even more clients. I later found Meraki Studio a year later, and a new chapter began. The owner, Laura Escott, welcomed me with open arms. I learned new methods like pilates and rebounding. I was voracious and wanted more. I trained under her and coached with her for almost 5 years until it closed in 2022.
In 2020 during the middle of the pandemic, I was accepted as a coach for [solidcore] in East Liberty. Coaching here and at Meraki made me realize why I loved group fitness so much. Every day I got to see people discover strength in themselves that they didn’t know they had. Everyone comes in to write their own story and create their own fitness journey. After 3 years I was able to evaluate for a Senior Master Coach, the highest title, and clenched it. The woman who was told she wasn’t good enough to coach fitness was officially a master at it.
I continued to find more ways to explore the fitness community of Pittsburgh. In 2023 I joined OM Lounge Yoga and helped pioneer the Yoga Sculpt and Bounce programs with Suzeanne Nagel. I began coaching spin at Steel House Cycle for 3 years, and later, joined the talented team at Zenergy Cycling studio in 2025. I set myself apart as being someone who has not only the experience, but the range in many different areas of fitness. After almost a decade of work in the industry, this year I’ve finally been able to hang up my hat with a 9-5 job in August 2026, and join the few who can officially call themselves a Full Time Fitness Professional.
I am currently a Senior Master Coach at [solidcore] Strip District and East Liberty, a Master Sculpt Instructor and Bounce Instructor at OM Lounge East Liberty and Strip District, and an Instructor at Zenergy Cycling. There’s something incredibly rewarding about creating a space where people feel seen, supported, and pushed beyond what they thought they could do. Their energy becomes my energy, and knowing that I can make even one hour of someone’s day stronger, happier, or more confident is why I keep showing up. I love being a fitness coach because, for me, it has never been just about the workout. It’s about the people in the room and reminding them that they are capable of so much more than they sometimes believe. We all walk through the door carrying stories about ourselves—what we can’t do, where we’ve failed, why we aren’t strong enough, young enough, fit enough, or simply good enough. I love helping people rewrite those stories, one class and one small victory at a time.
My clients inspire me just as much as I hope I inspire them. I get to watch people surprise themselves, become stronger, find confidence, and start believing in who they are. If someone can walk out of my class standing a little taller and telling themselves, “I am strong. I am capable. I am good enough,” then I’ve done something far more meaningful than simply giving them a great workout. That’s why I coach.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
In 2013 I auditioned, practiced, and put forth everything I had for an audition at BarreCode Pittsburgh in 2013. After an intense coaching training course, I was told that I had not earned a spot at the studio. I was devastated and felt like I was being told that I was not good enough and didn’t have what it took to be a coach. The narratives of “I’m not strong enough,” or “I can’t do this” were heartbreaking. But I took the rejection, swallowed it, and remembered that stories can be re-written.
That was the first set back I had in my industry and it stuck with me for years after. I remember getting my title as Senior Master Coach at [solidcore] and thinking that if I hadn’t faced that original, I probably wouldn’t be where I am.
In 2020, not only did the pandemic hit the world, but I also suffered whiplash in the form of divorce from my ex-husband. We were married in 2018 and separated the first week of January of 2020. At that time, the only job I had was teaching a few classes at Meraki Studio and, essentially, being a stay-at-home housewife. I was homeless, jobless, penniless, and completely alone. I would go and teach classes, suffering inside, but knowing I needed to put on a smile and perform for my clients. On February 14, 2020 (Valentine’s Day, of course), I fell and broke my knee. This was the very same weekend I was moving into my own studio for the first time since I had been couch surfing on friends couches for two months. I was broken inside and out and that was my rock bottom. My meniscus was torn and, less than a month later, I’d be alone and ostracized from the rest of the world due to the pandemic.
If there ever was a time where the world was saying “slow down, stop, and feel” it was then. I rehabilitated my knee myself, every single day, using a 20 lb dumbbell, resistance bands, and a lot of hamstring work. I taught myself how to heal and how to be myself again. The world shut down outside but I opened up inside and learned how to mourn my old life and rebuild a new one. I came from a very strong upbringing and watched my mother go through divorce, raise three children alone as a single mother, and even finish her Master’s degree while in labor with my brother. She taught me to always want more for myself and that good enough was never enough. I was never meant to be a housewife, I was meant to help make change. In isolation I learned what I wanted and how to write the next chapter of my book in fitness.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am currently a Senior Master Coach at [solidcore] Strip District and East Liberty, a Master Sculpt Instructor and Bounce Instructor at OM Lounge East Liberty and Strip District, and an Instructor at Zenergy Cycling. I set myself apart as being someone who has not only the experience with 11 years in the fitness indsutry, but the range in many different areas of fitness like pilates, rebounding, cycling, and strength training. After almost a decade of work in the industry, this year I’ve finally been able to hang up my hat with a 9-5 job in August 2026, and join the few who can officially call themselves a Full Time Fitness Professional.
There’s something incredibly rewarding about creating a space where people feel seen, supported, and pushed beyond what they thought they could do. Their energy becomes my energy, and knowing that I can make even one hour of someone’s day stronger, happier, or more confident is why I keep showing up. I love being a fitness coach because, for me, it has never been just about the workout. It’s about the people in the room and reminding them that they are capable of so much more than they sometimes believe. We all walk through the door carrying stories about ourselves—what we can’t do, where we’ve failed, why we aren’t strong enough, young enough, fit enough, or simply good enough. I love helping people rewrite those stories, one class and one small victory at a time.
My clients inspire me just as much as I hope I inspire them. I get to watch people surprise themselves, become stronger, find confidence, and start believing in who they are. If someone can walk out of my class standing a little taller and telling themselves, “I am strong. I am capable. I am good enough,” then I’ve done something far more meaningful than simply giving them a great workout. That’s why I coach.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I’ve been in this industry now since 2014 and it seems like every few years, there’s a drastic shift towards one modality or another. Back when I started, barre and HIIT classes were the fad. Then I watched as indoor cycling took the helm of the wheel and it was impossible to book a bike. Reformers and strength training hit the market with [solidcore], Lagree, and BodyRock. In the past two years it’s been the age of sculpt and pilates, proving low-impact doesn’t mean low-intensity.
I believe that with AI becoming so prevalent in society, that workouts with technology will become a trend. Technology will never replace the authenticity or personal touch of having a coach, but digital platforms make programming easier to access, knowing exercises alone won’t differentiate an instructor. Great coaches will be storytellers, motivators, educators, music curators, and community builders. People will increasingly choose the coach, not just the class format.
I see more hybrid/multi-modality training and “one house” studios with multi modality training excelling. The boundaries between strength, Pilates, yoga, cycling, mobility, rebounding, recovery, and conditioning will continue to blur. Consumers may be less interested in identifying as “a spin person” or “a yoga person” and more interested in a varied weekly routine.
I also believe that with movements like HYROX and weight training becoming prevalent, specifically in females, I see more studios popping up like AARMY, integrating movement-based weight training workouts and a push towards redefining “working out in the weight room.”
Pricing:
- https://solidcore.co/studios/strip-district
- https://www.omloungeyoga.com/memberships-subscriptions
- https://zenergycycling.com/studios/pittsburgh-east-liberty/pricing/
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/Claudetteminnotte?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=dbc71d4c-3814-4c65-93f0-f229d542fda7
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/claudetteminnotte/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/claudetteminnotte/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudette-minnotte-072476a7/
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/claudette-minnotte
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/user/cdagorn?si=3a2e03773fcd4d8c
