We’re suckers for boutique fitness. SoulCycle, Pure Barre, Rumble Boxing, SLT—you name it, we’ve tried it. But sometimes (a lot of times), it’s hard for us to make it to a class when there’s so much going on at home.
When we think ‘at-home’ workouts, we imagine ’80s hair and tube socks, but Ashley Mills and her team have officially made it cool again (and then some) to get your sweat on at home with the streaming fitness platform, obé. As the co-founder and co-CEO she often refers to the business as her baby. It’s one of her children, along with her two sons, Donovan and Rowen.
Ashley is the ultimate working parent and her new normal is being present and patient with herself as she juggles her multiple roles. Her mantra? “At the end of the day it’ll all get done, it’s part of the process. Breathe.”
You’ll Figure It Out As You Go
Before launching obé, Ashley was a talent agent at Creative Artists Agency (CAA). She transitioned from Hollywood to Fitness with her CAA alum Mark Mullett, growing her family as she grew as a businesswoman. As a working woman, Ashley saw that there wasn’t a right or wrong time to get pregnant. She understood that the ups and downs of fertility can complicate any ideal timeline.
Five years passed between Ashley’s first and second pregnancy, and if she could do it all over again, she would have sought medical advice sooner. Being a little older the second time around, her fertility journey changed. “When you’re going through and having fertility issues, it’s so disappointing. Like month after month not to be pregnant when you just want this baby so badly and you want to complete your family, it’s heartbreaking.”
“It took me almost a year to get pregnant [the second] time around. So I was just so happy that it happened. I was so grateful to be pregnant. Knowing how complicated it was, and knowing how much gratitude I feel, this time around I know that I’ll just figure it out as I go.”
Love Isn’t Only Measured By Time Spent
Starting a company isn’t easy. Starting a company with a young family only increases the pressure. Ashley credits her ability to balance her career ambitions and motherhood to her supportive husband and caring nanny.
“During those first six months of the business, I leaned in. I depended on my family and just made sure that everyone was sort of rallying around Donovan, my son.”
Even though she felt like she wasn’t around as much as she would’ve liked to have been, Ashley doesn’t feel the weight of mom guilt. Time isn’t on her side, so she puts her energy towards being really present with her son.
“It’s really just about making sure that he knows that I’m really with him when I’m playing with him and we have that time together. I feel like the genuineness of that is worth a lot more than it would be even if I had all day to spend with him,” she says. In part she can spend that quality time because of the support of Mark, her co-founder and coined, “work husband”, who’s always respectful of the time Ashley takes with her son.
Practice Safe Fitness
Not only does obé scratch our boutique fitness itch, it’s conscious of the particular needs of mothers, incorporating prenatal and postnatal workouts into its library of content.
Ashley reiterates that moms are a really important audience for the company, and they want to be a destination for women to ease into a routine and do so safely.
She explains, “We want to be with people throughout their journey. At the end of the day, fitness is a lifestyle. We provide a really unique solution for moms especially. Our workouts are 28-minutes and they’re all done from home. No equipment required.”
She adds, “The thing that’s great about our program is that you have young children, you can do it during nap time and be done. You can do it, you know, during feeding time.”
Ashley shares how they’ve received a ton of adorable selfies of kids doing the exercises alongside their mamas. With obé, Ashley is making quality, effective workouts accessible for every stage of motherhood. No mama left behind.
