How Blogilates’ founder built two eight-figure empires

Popflex CEO Cassey Ho was at the salon getting her hair done. Her phone was tucked away, on Do Not Disturb. By the time she checked it again, she’d missed over 10 calls and dozens of messages.

Within moments, Ho was watching Taylor Swift’s new YouTube Short promoting her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department. There she saw Swift wearing Popflex’s patented lavender pirouette skourt. And in mere minutes, the lavender skourt sold out—and then the pirouette skourt sold out in every single color. 

“When [Taylor Swift] is wearing something, even if she’s wearing something for 0.3 seconds, people want that because they want to be part of her journey and her life, too,” Ho told Fortune. 

It was Popflex’s best sales day of 2024—and its second-best day of sales ever.

But the journey that brought Ho’s two businesses to Swift’s attention wasn’t an easy one. Popflex and Blogilates, a YouTube channel Ho launched over a decade ago,  are both eight-figure businesses, but if it wasn’t for following her heart and going against her father’s wishes, that lavender skort may have never made its way to the iconic pop star.

Ahead of the 15th anniversary of Blogilates’ launch, Ho spoke with Fortune about how one 10-minute YouTube video and a passion for fashion, fitness, and creativity sparked two, six-figure empires—without any need to go after outside investors.

This interview has been lightly condensed and edited for clarity.

What is Blogilates?

Blogilates started as a YouTube channel in 2009, where I really was just uploading free workout videos for my students in real life. [It] came from my love of Pilates and blogging.

I was moving from L.A. to the East Coast for my first job in fashion, and all my students at my local 24 Hour Fitness were like, “Well, who’s going to teach us POP Pilates?” So that was the format I was teaching at the time, my own format, which was Pilates to pop music. So I recorded a 10-minute video, just in my boyfriend’s parents’ living room. He’s now my husband. I uploaded it to a website called YouTube and I thought nothing more of it.

Little did I know that I was getting more than the views of the students in that class. I got thousands of views and hundreds of comments from people from all over the world asking for more.

I really was just uploading free workout videos for my students in real life. I could have never imagined that being able to build a community and create such a trusting relationship with a bunch of women from all over the world looking to get healthy and get strong, through videos on the internet, would one day lead to a brand that is now found in all Target stores nationwide.

How did you get into Pilates?

I was 16 years old, in high school. I remember prepping for a pageant and trying to figure out “how can I get fit for this thing?” And I was watching Mari Winsor DVD infomercials. I was like, “Oh my gosh, this looks so much fun.” 

So eventually I got [my parents] to buy me one DVD, and I did it religiously in my bedroom every single night. [I] just really fell in love with how I didn’t have to compete with anyone else. 

Fast forward to college, I was still doing Pilates at this time in my dorm room and the other girls were like, “What’s that? Can you show me?” which then led me to think, “Oh, maybe I could teach this.” I went on Craigslist, and I saw that there was an opening for a Pilates instructor down the street at the local gym. 

I went ahead to the audition–the gym owner loved me–and she’s like, “Cool, let me see your certification.” And of course, I’m not even certified. But then she’s like, “You know what, I’ll pay for your certification. We’ll do this together.” And that really was the beginning of my Pilates career. I was a freshman in college. I was not being paid a lot at all, but it brought me so much joy. This was filling that hole in my heart and was really giving me something to look forward to after all the schoolwork. 

What did you study in college?

I went to Whittier College in Southern California. I won a full-ride scholarship there. And I went to study biology in preparation for medical school. I did not want to go to medical school; I didn’t want to be a doctor. But my father said that really was the only choice that I had. It was either going to be a lawyer, doctor, or failure. And I had told him I wanted to be a fashion designer—this is something I knew in my bones that I always wanted to do—but when I told him I wanted to be a designer, he was like, “Absolutely not,” and pretty much crushed my dreams.

I didn’t rebel until I was halfway through college and realized this is actually not what I want to do with the rest of my life. I’m someone who really lives by following my heart and my heart just started feeling so hollow. So it was then that I decided to drop out of organic chemistry, which was the last class I needed to take the MCAT, and really just ruined my entire timeline. 

My parents were not listening to me. I was talking about wanting to transfer schools and do something else, and they were like, “Absolutely not, you will not do that.” And so when I did that, it really ruined our relationship. 

My parents are both immigrants who came over from Vietnam in the mid 70s. My mom was a boat refugee. Both of them really had to work hard to create some stability for us over here. I was born over here, but being raised by Asian immigrant parents really instilled this sense of working really hard, tirelessly, and being resilient no matter what happens to you. I think just because my parents came from a war-torn country, you just don’t know when everything’s going to be taken away from you. 

It was my first big rebellion. And it was me following my heart. Thank goodness I did, because if I had not made that step, if I had not started teaching Pilates on the side after school during college, I would not be where I am now. 

When did you realize Blogilates was more than just a screen name?

It wasn’t until around 2010 [or] 2011 when I was making a Facebook post, because you know at the time Facebook was the only social media where you could connect with fans. They were asking, “Hey, can we get some Blogilates T-shirts,” and I was like, “Why would you want a T-shirt with my screen name on it? That’s a little bit weird.” And they were like, “No, that’s what we want.” So we had a design contest and as a community, we chose the winning design. Then I bought some blank shirts from Forever 21, screen printed them locally, and put them up on Facebook. And they sold out within minutes. It was at that moment when I realized, “Oh, okay, Blogilates is not a screen name, it’s a brand, it’s something people are proud to wear, and a journey that they want to be a part of.”

It was just to stay connected with my students, which is really interesting, because that ethos of wanting to stay connected and just really respond to people’s feedback is exactly why Popflex and Blogilates have grown so much over the years, with my product design and everything, because I’m always listening. I really do have this honest relationship with my community.

Fitness is a big part of my life, not just for the muscle and strength building, but just mentally, it makes me feel really good. It’s how I start every morning. A part of any wellness journey and fitness journey is the nutrition part. And so I was writing about what I was eating and what I was discovering, because not only did it help me figure out what was working and what wasn’t, I think it also helped a lot of other people. Whether it’s fitness, food, emotions, career, I’ll use my blog as my diary to talk about these things in a very open way. I think everything that happens with the businesses starts with what I’m feeling like we need to get into. I’m just very intuitive with the fields.

What is Popflex and how did it start?

Popflex is my performance activewear brand.

As I was teaching those POP Pilates classes, I noticed that I was fumbling with all of my stuff: my water bottle, my shoes, my mat, my keys, my CDs, everything in a little tote bag. It wasn’t working. So I tried looking for a cute yoga bag and everything was just heavy bags, ugly colors, just not my style. 

I went to the downtown L.A. fashion district and bought some leftover fabrics, put together a super glamorous-looking yoga bag like you’ve never seen before made out of vegan leather with this huge bow, gold chains… I mean, it was glamorous, and it fit all my stuff. I brought it into class and my students were like, “What is that? I want one.” And that was the beginning of solving a problem for myself—that just so happened to solve problems for other people, too. That really is the basis of what I do with both Blogilates and Popflex. 

The reason why women really love Popflex is because it’s clothes that make sense. There’s no seam in the front of your leggings, because I’m not about that camel toe life. There’s pockets in everything because how excited do we all get when there are pockets in our dresses? I am solving problems through cute apparel and accessories and [it] just brings me so much joy. It also fulfills that original childhood dream of wanting to become a fashion designer.

What is your secret to success?

My secret to success is truly following my heart. I know that sounds so cliché, but I don’t think it has ever led me in the wrong direction. When I am doing more of what I love, and stepping away from things that don’t bring me that joy, it has only brought me in the correct direction for myself. I will also say that  not being afraid of problems is also another secret to my success. I invite it: Give me the criticism, give me the problems, let me get creative, and let me solve it. I think that really has made me stronger and more flexible. You have to be able to bend in the wind or you’re gonna break.

How did you fundraise for Blogilates and Popflex?

From the very beginning, Blogilates and Popflex, it’s all been bootstrapped, all my own money. No investors. 

In the beginning, I didn’t even ask, so I didn’t get investors. But these days, I don’t want that because I do not want to serve the wrong audience. I don’t want to serve the people who are throwing money at me so that they can get money back. I want to serve the women who are purchasing the clothes and the accessories, who are funding the business through their belief in the designs and the creations. 

Both Blogilates and Popflex, as their own brands, are their own eight-figure businesses. We have 26 full-time employees right now and we work with around 40 or so contractors on the daily.

So remember how we talked about in college when I was feeling that hole, that emptiness? That is fully filled with flowers growing out of the hole. I just feel so happy to be doing what I’m doing right now. I am so lucky that I get to do what I do every single day.