Today we’d like to introduce you to Susan Bartley.
Hi Susan, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I found pole dancing because I didn’t love my body.
I came from a powerlifting background, and I loved being strong. Powerlifting taught me what my body could do, but my relationship with it was almost entirely about performance—how much could I lift, how strong could I be? I didn’t have much connection to my body outside of that.
Pole changed that for me. It gave me a way to experience my body differently—to move, to feel beautiful and sexy, to play, and eventually to appreciate my body for far more than what it could lift. I fell completely in love with it.
After my divorce, I suddenly needed to figure out what the next chapter of my life was going to look like and, quite frankly, I needed to make money. That was how Heaux Apparel began. I started a pole and aerial apparel company and became even more deeply connected to the community I had fallen in love with.
Then, three years ago, an opportunity I wasn’t expecting fell into my lap: the chance to buy an existing aerial studio. I didn’t have some giant investment fund or perfectly constructed business plan. I scraped together what I could and, with the help of one really incredible friend who believed in me, I made it happen.
And then I started building Studieaux Heaux.
What began as an opportunity to own a studio became something much bigger. I wanted to create the kind of place where people could discover some of the things pole had given me—but I also wanted them to know they didn’t have to change themselves first to deserve that experience.
Our tagline is “Every BODY Belongs in the Air,” and I take that very seriously. I have intentionally built a community where women of different ages, races, sizes, backgrounds and abilities can see themselves represented—not as a marketing campaign, but because that’s genuinely who is in our studio. I want someone to find us on social media and, before she ever walks through our doors, see someone who looks like her and think, There are people here who look like me. Maybe I belong here too.
Today, Studieaux Heaux is a pole and aerial studio, but what we’re building goes far beyond learning tricks. We teach people to understand their bodies, become stronger, explore sensuality and movement, try things that scare them, laugh at themselves, celebrate one another and discover what they’re capable of.
We take safety and teaching very seriously. Ourselves? Considerably less so.
There is a lot of laughter in our studio. There are ridiculous classes, questionable songs, loud cheering, sexy outfits, performances, friendships and an enormous amount of joy. I think adults—especially women—need more places where they’re allowed to play.
On September 29th, Studieaux Heaux will celebrate its third anniversary. When I think about the woman who first walked into a pole studio because she didn’t love her body, and then look at this enormous community of people learning to love, trust and celebrate their own bodies inside something I built, the journey feels pretty extraordinary.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It definitely has not been a smooth road.
One of the biggest challenges in the beginning was getting the right people on the bus. For the first six or eight months, we floundered a bit while I figured out who the right instructors were—not just people who could teach pole or aerial, but people who believed in what I was trying to build and were willing to stand beside me while we created it.
Once I found the team I have now, everything began to change. I have an incredible group of instructors who understand that Studieaux Heaux is about more than teaching skills. They protect the culture, love our students, support one another and have helped turn my vision for the studio into something much bigger than I could have created alone. Finding the right people changed everything.
The other challenge has been financial, and that one is ongoing. I built this as a solo entrepreneur without much of a safety net. I don’t have parents who can swoop in if I get into financial trouble, and I don’t have a partner’s salary supporting the household while I build my dream. There have been many months when I’ve had to figure out, very practically, how to make enough money to keep the doors open, pay the bills and keep moving forward.
In a lot of ways, this business has been part of my process of rising from the ashes and building an entirely new life for myself. Financial scarcity is real, and entrepreneurship can be terrifying when you know there isn’t someone standing behind you waiting to catch you if you fall.
But every month gets a little easier. The business gets stronger. The community gets bigger. The foundation underneath us gets more solid.
I don’t struggle with finding the right team anymore—I found them. Now the challenge is continuing to build a business strong enough to support everything we’ve created together. And three years in, I can finally look around and see that we’re doing exactly that.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
What sets Studieaux Heaux apart is that I don’t really think of us as an aerial studio.
Of course, technically that’s what we are. We teach pole, silks, sling, lyra, chains and other forms of movement. We have structured curricula, we teach skills and choreography, and twice a year our students have the opportunity to perform what they’ve learned in our showcases.
But I’ve never believed that teaching someone to climb a pole or perform a beautiful skill in the air is the most important thing we’re doing.
Aerial is simply the modality we use to connect people.
What we’re really creating is a place where people feel seen, heard and loved. We bring people together. We create community. We encourage communication. We give adults permission to play, be curious, try something they’re terrible at, discover something they’re wonderful at, set goals, reach them, laugh at themselves and cheer ridiculously loudly when somebody else reaches theirs.
Movement gives us a reason to gather in the same room. What happens once we’re there is much bigger.
I also hesitate sometimes to say, “I created this,” because while I’m the owner and the vision for Studieaux Heaux is mine, I couldn’t create the community by myself. Every person who walks through our doors brings something with them. They bring their personality, creativity, experiences, humor, challenges and their own way of showing up for other people. Every new person changes the community a little bit, and that diversity makes us stronger.
That’s probably what I’m most proud of. We’ve created a place where individuality doesn’t have to be sacrificed in order to belong. You don’t have to become like everyone else to fit in here. You get to bring more of yourself.
So yes, we teach aerial arts. We make choreography. We create performances. We teach people to do really beautiful and sometimes ridiculous things with their bodies.
But aerial is the vehicle. People are the purpose.
That’s what I believe sets Studieaux Heaux apart.
What were you like growing up?
Probably the most defining part of my childhood was summer camp.
I started attending a Christian summer camp when I was six years old, and for me, it was quite simply the greatest place in the world. I didn’t have a huge group of friends at school, but every summer this incredible collection of people would converge at camp, and suddenly I had this enormous community. I went from being a camper to a junior counselor and eventually a counselor, so that place was part of my life for many years.
It wasn’t a fancy camp. We weren’t horseback riding or doing elaborate activities. We played four square, swam in the lake, hung out, listened to music and had a big dance every session where everyone could dance like nobody was watching.
What made it magical was the people. Kids came together with different personalities, interests, tastes in music and ways of looking at the world, and somehow this space allowed all of us to simply be who we were.
As I got older and became a counselor, I started experiencing that from the other side. Now part of my job was helping create that experience for someone else—making sure the kids in my care knew they were loved, seen and safe. I got to celebrate their wins and hold them through their losses. I learned how powerful it is to create an environment where someone feels supported enough to explore who they are.
Looking back now, I can see how much that experience shaped me. Long before I owned a business or knew anything about building community, summer camp showed me what could happen when you brought a group of people together and intentionally created a place where they were free to connect, play and express themselves.
I don’t think I would be who I am today without it. And I can certainly see pieces of that little summer camp in the community I’ve built as an adult.
Pricing:
- $149.99/monthly unlimited membership
- $69.99 for 3 class pass
- $110.99 for 5 class pass
- $199.99 for 10 class pass
- FREE intro classes
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.studieauxxxheauxxx.com
- Instagram: @studieaux.heaux
- Other: TikTok @studieaux.heaux
