Ashley Palumbo founded Open Barre with Ashley, LLC in 2020. In the Spring of 2020, during COVID-19, like so many others, Ashley began to workout at home. She quickly saw a strong need for more accessible online Barre classes. She decided to get certified through the International Ballet Barre Association and start teaching her own classes. In October 2020, she became certified and created Open Barre.
Ashley is passionate about fitness and health and wants to share this passion with her clients. Some of her fitness experience includes running the 2013 NYC ING Marathon, completing eight half marathons across the country, and competing in CrossFit for more than five years. In 2015, Ashley tried a Barre workout and fell in love. She did Barre twice a week her entire pregnancy with her daughter until full term at 41 weeks, taking class just the day before she delivered! Ashley loved how barre helped her build and strengthen muscles, improve core strength and posture, and the result of a lean and toned look that the Barre workout offered.
Originally from Connecticut, Ashley lived and worked in New York City for 15 years as an Emmy-Award-Winning daytime television producer. She worked with Martha Stewart, Emeril Lagasse, Anderson Cooper, and Bethenny Frankel to name a few, plus numerous concert and music specials for MTV, VH1, and BET and is no stranger to hard work. She is now living in Connecticut with her husband and two young children and hopes to bring that work ethic, coupled with a commitment to making exercise fun, to her Open Barre classes.
Ashley choreographs each class herself and is dedicated to developing workouts that will improve balance, build strength, increase flexibility, burn calories, and create a longer, leaner, and more toned look for her clients while also having a great time.