Judi Sheppard Missett
Founder and Executive Chair, Jazzercise, Inc.. On 1 show, 1 appearance. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
founderexecutiveentertainerauthorathlete
She founded the dance-fitness program Jazzercise in 1969, growing it into a global boutique fitness franchising powerhouse with thousands of worldwide locations. She has also authored books, including Building a Business with a Beat and The Jazzercise Workout Book, alongside producing fitness albums.
1shows
1appearances
20statements
3resolved
2supported
0contradicted
67%fully supported
Everything Judi Sheppard Missett said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Missett: Jazzercise is the only fitness brand from its era still thriving
“The reason we're the only fitness company that started way back when that's still thriving is because we've made good choices. We have Change through the decades. We've never stayed the same.”
Missett: I pioneered the use of wearable microphones for fitness instructors
“And as I trained instructors, they all got microphones like that, so I really believe I was certainly the pioneer of all that.”
Missett: In the 1980s, the two biggest franchises were Jazzercise and Domino's
“And in fact, in the eighties, there were two big franchises. Us and Domino's Pizza.”
Sheppard Missett: Jazzercise stayed apolitical while empowering female business owners
“I have always tried to keep Jazzercise apolitical, areligious, you know, all of those things, but on my own, I was always vocal about women's rights, and I was always proud that I was helping Women become business people, and to build a business that they coul…”
Missett: Celebrity fitness trends relied on single personalities, lacking Jazzercise's scale
“It never really bothered me because I felt like the people who were celebrities, and of course we have Richard Simmons as well, you know, all getting into it just gave people more awareness, and then they could pick what they wanted to do, but I don't consider…”
Missett: Early women's fitness programs discouraged sweating to maintain femininity
“Yeah, she was doing things for women, but it was kind of, I don't know, it was very feminine, and, you know, let's not sweat too much, that type of thing, whereas I, because I'm a dancer, I'm used to sweating all the time, so I was giving permission to these w…”
Sheppard Missett: Dancers smoke under the false impression it controls weight
“Well, you know, dancers are notorious for being smokers, you know, because I, You know, they always had the false impression that smoking kept their weight down.”
Missett: A La Jolla YMCA student coined the name 'Jazzercise'
“I had a customer in the La Jolla Y, where I was teaching, and she said to me one day, you need a name for this, and I said, well, what have you got in mind? And she said, why don't you call it jazzercise, because it's exercise, but it's also jazz dance”
Missett: Jazzercise lost zero instructors during its early 1980s franchise transition
“So we turned it around, and we made it into a franchise, and I didn't lose one instructor That I can remember.”
Missett: I ran a basement dance studio with 100 students at 13
“So I was 13, and my parents fixed up the basement of our home and made it into a dance studio, and
Yeah, and about, gosh, three months, I had a hundred little dancers, little students.”
Missett: Fitness dance turns passive spectators into active participants
“The neat thing about what I do today is that my audience is an active one, and when I was dancing in the theater, I had a passive audience. You know, they were watching, but not doing. Now today, I'm dancing on the stage, and the people in front of me are danc…”
Missett: I disguised my 1968 pregnancy to keep my choreography job
“She was born in 1968, the end of 68. I had to disguise my pregnancy so that I could continue to work. I was doing choreography for a club called the Gaslight Club.”
Missett: Initial Jazzercise Class Grew from 15 to 60 Within Three Weeks
“When I did the second class, I had 30 people, because each of the 15 brought a friend. And then, the next week, I had 60 people, and the room wouldn't hold any more people.”
Missett: Early Jazzercise cost five dollars for eight monthly classes
“Well, not a class, a month for eight classes.”
Missett: I taught around 30 Jazzercise classes weekly by 1977
“By 19, around 1977, I was teaching about 30 classes a week.”
Missett: Jazzercise startup franchise fee remains $1,250 today
“Exactly, and even today our startup fee is only 12 50, you know, 1250 dollars”
Sheppard Missett: Jazzercise never needed outside investors or loans
“Well, we were doing fine. We never really had to do that”
Missett: The bank that rejected our credit line failed seven years later
“That bank went out of business like seven years after I had talked to that guy.”
Missett: Jazzercise instructional book sold over 400,000 copies
“The book sold over 400,000 copies.”
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Judi's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 HOW I BUILT THISLEDGER | Founder and Executive Chair, Jazzercise, Inc. | 1 | 20 | 67% 2/3 | full record on How I Built This → |