Mother/Daughter Team Lead Jazzercise to 40 Years of Success and Keeping Folks Fit While Having Fun

(BUSINESS WIRE) When Jazzercise founder & CEO Judi Sheppard Missett taught her first "just for fun" dance class in 1969, she had no idea it would grow into an international fitness dynasty.

Now, 40 years later, Missett and her daughter - Executive Vice President Shanna Missett Nelson will celebrate Mother's Day embarking on the 40^th anniversary of Jazzercise. With 7,500 instructor franchisees teaching 32,000 classes weekly in all 50 states and 32 countries, the company continues to thrive, building on seven consecutive best ever years in system wide sales.

According to Missett, who continues to develop new choreography, teach Jazzercise classes weekly, and run the business as President/CEO, the milestone represents two of her greatest accomplishments: a program that has helped millions of people and a successful business relationship with her daughter.

"My own mother was a great inspiration and helped me get to where I am today. She was passionate about introducing me to dance and sacrificed so much for me to take lessons," said Missett. "As Jazzercise has grown, I've been able to channel that same passion and creative energy into helping people take charge of their well-being. No one understands that legacy better than my daughter, Shanna. She shares my vision, and having her as a business partner and successor is invaluable to me."

Passing on the Legacy

The legacy of passion and integrity has been key to the long-term success of the business, according to Missett. From the first class to today, she has relied on both to remain true to the founding principle: fitness should be fun and it should help empower everyone to lead healthier lives.

For Nelson, who grew up with Jazzercise, the vision was shared from the beginning. But she admits she didn't really grasp the enormity of what her mother had created until she was a junior in college in the late 1980s. Though she had joined the Junior Jazzercise performance group when she was seven year old, and had spent her teen years witnessing her mother's first workout album rise to gold certification status, it took moving away to college for Shanna to realize just how popular Jazzercise was outside of Southern California.

"During college I started going to Jazzercise classes in Tucson, Arizona," Nelson said. "At that time, I became a certified instructor without my mom even knowing, but I never thought about going further with the company. It wasn't until my mom suggested I come home to teach at the Corporate Jazzercise Center that I really knew this was what I wanted to do."

Nelson later worked her way up to lead the Junior Jazzercise program, international operations, and eventually join her mom in guiding the company into its prime.

"Everyday I watched my mom get excited about her job and I couldn't help but share her passion," Nelson says. "Jazzercise has been more than her life's work. It's something she truly believes in and has used to motivate thousands of people everyday. When it came to identifying role models and a career path for my life, both were very clear to me."

Lessons for Success

Judi and Shanna, with the aid of 35 district managers worldwide and 150 corporate employees, run the multi-division company from the Jazzercise headquarters in Carlsbad, Calif., developing new choreography for 7,500 Jazzercise instructor franchisees worldwide; organizing large-scale annual events for thousands of Jazzercise faithfuls around the globe; promoting the Jazzertogs line of fitness apparel; and fundraising for charities. In the past year, they've led the company to a record $93 million in system wide sales, released a new line of fitness DVDs produced by the company's in-house award winning production team --JM DigitalWorks, and joined their instructors and customers in raising more than $500,000 for a variety of causes. Both say they anticipate continuing that momentum because they're able to draw upon each other's strengths.

"We bring different perspectives to the table," Missett says. "We talk through new ideas for the brand and the choreography, and that collaboration generates something even greater. We complement and challenge each other to remain cutting-edge without going to extremes."

For Nelson, her CEO mom has taught her that it's often the simple things that help to sustain a growing business.

"My mom has shown me just what can happen when you do something you love, trust your gut and treat employees well," Nelson says.

About Jazzercise

Judi Sheppard Missett, who turned her love of jazz dance into a worldwide dance exercise phenomenon, founded the Jazzercise dance fitness program in 1969. Judi and Jazzercise Executive Vice President Shanna Missett Nelson have advanced the business opportunities of women and men in the fitness industry by growing the program into an international franchise business that today, hosts a network of 7,500 instructors teaching more than 32,000 classes weekly in 32 countries.

The workout program, which offers a fusion of jazz dance, resistance training, Pilates, yoga, and cardio box movements, has positively affected millions of people worldwide. Benefits include increased cardiovascular endurance, strength, and flexibility, as well as an overall "feel good" factor. Additional Jazzercise programs include Junior Jazzercise, Jazzercise Lite and Personal Touch. For more information about Jazzercise, go to jazzercise.com or call (800) FIT-IS-IT.

Jazzercise Media Relations
760-602-7153
mediarelations@jazzercise.com