What do you do when your dream studio says no? If you’re Holland Scattergood, you email back, ask what it would take, go get the experience, and come back six months later — and now you co-own one of Arizona’s most beloved cycling studios with a second location opening this summer. In this episode, Holland and Hannah dig into the long, beautifully nonlinear road from spin-class lover to studio founder, and why showing up as your real, imperfect self might be the most strategic move you’ll ever make on the podium.

Episode Summary

Holland Scattergood is the co-founder of NYX Cycle and Fitness in Scottsdale, Arizona — a studio built on the idea that fitness should feel safe, joyful, and judgment-free. In this conversation, Holland walks Hannah through her full journey: the very first 6 a.m. spin class in college that flipped a switch, the audition rejection that didn’t break her, the smaller studio that gave her the experience she needed, and the moment her former studio (The Madison) closed its doors with one month’s notice — opening the door for Holland and her co-founders to launch NYX in April 2024.

But this episode isn’t only a founder story. Holland gets candid about living with multiple autoimmune diseases — juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, celiac, and Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism — and how the stress of opening a business triggered her biggest flare yet. She talks about why she finally started speaking publicly about her chronic illness, the rider conversation that changed her mind, and how that vulnerability has shifted the way she shows up for her community.

You’ll also hear Holland and Hannah swap notes on theme rides (and the great internet “theme slander” debate), what actually makes an instructor authentic, why she launched Swifty Saturday two years ago, the realities of opening a studio with three co-founders and an investor, the sound-system fiasco that accidentally birthed her Super Singalong rides, and how mentorship and traveling — including her upcoming trip to Sweat and Tonic in Toronto — became part of her story almost by accident.

If you’ve ever been told no, doubted your place on the podium, or wondered whether you’re allowed to play Taylor Swift in a spin class — this episode is your permission slip.

Key Takeaways

• “No” is rarely the end of the story. Holland was rejected on her first audition at The Madison. She emailed the manager back, asked what she needed to do, went and got six months of experience at a smaller studio, and came back to land the job. The same manager later became her business partner at NYX.
• Authenticity isn’t a vibe — it’s a hiring filter. When NYX recently hired its instructor team for the second location, Holland and her co-founders weren’t looking for the “perfect copy-paste instructor.” They were looking for people with a strong sense of self who knew what they liked and weren’t afraid to bring it.
• Theme rides aren’t a gimmick — they’re a community-builder. Holland built her early following at The Madison off Disney, Taylor Swift, and High School Musical rides when no one else was doing them. People want a space to sing, sweat, and feel joyful — and the studios that give them that win.
• Chronic illness doesn’t disqualify you from leading. Holland has lived with autoimmune disease since age two. Sharing that publicly didn’t make her less of an instructor — it made her riders feel seen, and built a deeper kind of trust than any perfect podium moment ever could.
• The hardest part of opening a studio isn’t the launch — it’s the systems behind it. Sound, financials, instructor training, real estate timing — Holland breaks down what she didn’t know going in, what their investor taught them, and what they’re doing differently for studio #2.

Quotable Moments

“I’m not here to change you or teach you any sort of method to be like me. I’m only here to help you be more like you.”

“Wellness looks different for all of us. We’re beautifully different. Perfection isn’t attainable, but showing up daily to fight for the best version of yourself is.”

“Don’t fall victim to the internet theme slander. You can do whatever you need to do — and that does not make you a bad instructor.”

“When your fitness instructor is up there and they have so much energy, telling people you’re going through something invisible just makes you more relatable. I never want to be unrelatable. I want to be with my people.”

“I never want anyone to walk through the door feeling like they’re not in shape enough or cool enough or strong enough. That’s the whole why behind NYX.”

About Holland

Holland Scattergood is the co-founder of NYX Cycle and Fitness in Arizona and has been an indoor cycling instructor since 2021 — though her love affair with the bike started long before that, in a college spin class she didn’t want to attend. After an audition rejection didn’t deter her, Holland built her instructor career one 6 a.m. class at a time and now leads a thriving studio community known for its joyful energy, female-forward playlists, and unapologetic theme rides.

Holland is also a certified holistic health coach (Dr. Sears Wellness Institute, 2020) and has lived with autoimmune disease since childhood — experiences that shape her belief that fitness should be a safe, judgment-free, and deeply human space. A 2019 graduate of the University of Arizona in journalism and communication, Holland is a storyteller at heart and a coach on the bike, with a second NYX location opening in summer 2026 in the very building where her instructor journey began.

As Holland says: “Wellness looks different for all of us. We’re beautifully different. Perfection isn’t attainable, but showing up daily to fight for the best version of yourself is.”

Connect with Holland

• NYX Cycle and Fitness
• Instagram
• NYX online / subscription

Connect with Hannah & Yes You Can

• Podium Prep — Hannah’s under-$100 mini course covering everything you need to know before your first audition (mic setup, audition track choice, studio outreach, full training manual, visualization exercises): 
• Instructor Magic — Hannah’s flagship mentorship program, with a new round launching soon!