“Our brand is about inclusion and camaraderie, and bringing this to other business owners has been extremely rewarding for us.”
About
Fitizens Holdings brings together passion and experience; offering Health, Wellness, & Fitness Advisory Services to companies that are launching, scaling, and growing. A sound product offering, defined customer need, and solid brand culture are essential to all projects that they work on together or individually. Our thesis is that the bottom line translates best when all stakeholders are rowing in the same direction; a metaphor that we have carried over from Row House - a brand we built and scaled to 300 franchised locations in 6 years after self-funding and then securing a strategic partnership to scale the business.
Our Team
Partner
Debra Strougo
From working in business development for established brands and industries, to launching her own brands in the health and fitness industry, Debra has seen opportunities to grow businesses for her 20 year career. Debra is a seasoned entrepreneur with a passion for the fitness and wellness industry, disrupting markets, uncovering niche opportunities, developing sustainable, high-growth businesses, and establishing high-impact brand and marketing strategies.
Debra founded and served as the CEO of Row House, delivering a unique opportunity that cut through the cluttered fitness landscape. Under her guidance, Row House experienced 390% growth and a 1066 ranking on the INC.com 5000 list. Through a strategic partnership with Xponential Fitness, she scaled the Row House brand from one studio to 300 – all within six years - and continue to acts as an advisor to the company.
Currently through Fitizens Holdings, Debra provides guidance to early stage growth companies within the Health, Wellness, and Fitness sector. Her work includes determining the best ways to reach target customers, lift the value proposition, and create sustainable businesses through focused client acquisition and retention initiatives. Having grown her own business from inception, Debra understands profitability, investor relations, strategic partnerships, and the franchise market intrinsically. She has also gotten deeply involved in corporate wellness initiatives recently connecting corporations to fitness offerings.
Previously, and with a deep fitness background, Debra has powered several ground-breaking fitness and wellness initiatives and become a vocal advocate for the fitness industry (She has been appointed to IHRSA's NHFA Council as one of 11 to lead the industry through drastic change from COVID). Her career outside the fitness industry has focused on business development. She contributed for 5 groundbreaking years at NYC’s Official Tourism Arm - one of the most fulfilling career experiences she has had, and one that continues to contribute to all other projects she is involved in.
Learn more and Connect with Debra on Linked In.
Partner
Eric Von Frohlich
Eric’s business development skills and fitness programming prowess have been credited to launching and growing market-disrupting businesses.
For over 25 years, consummate entrepreneur Eric Von Frohlich has led fitness program innovations that make the industry more inclusive, accessible, and attractive to previously untapped populations.
A key driver behind some of the industry’s most successful fitness programs, Eric is well-known for pioneering the game-changing Row House brand, an alternative fitness regimen that leverages the benefits of rowing and group fitness - and has been carefully designed to reach a wide target population. Eric has been instrumental in powering 390%+ growth, cementing a partnership with Xponential Fitness that sparked growth of 300+ studios, and securing a 1066 ranking on the Inc.com 5000 list of rapid growth private companies.
Prior to the launch of Row House, Eric founded the popular EVF Performance Strength & Conditioning/CrossFit program, created and launched RoadFit, NYC’s first ever outdoor bootcamp, and contributed to the development of “Practice” for Equinox – the barrier-breaking program that brought men into the group fitness realm.
Eric has paved the way to programming that has shaped the way that thousands of coaches are trained and has molded all of his brand’s philosophies. Along with his entrepreneurial successes, Eric is well known as a high profile trainer, coaching people on how to live better lives for over 25 years.
Accomplishments
Co-founder of Row House and instrumental in securing a partnership with Xponential Fitness
Founder of EVF Performance and CrossFit Upper East Side
Creator and founder of NYC's first outdoor bootcamp, RoadFit
Featured in several media channels, including WebMD, ABC, Shape Magazine, NY1, CNN, Cosmopolitan, Redbook and others
NY Times Bestseller: Younger Next Year, Fitness Contributor
National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), International Sports Science Association (ISSA), American Council on Exercise (ACE) and CrossFit trained and certified
Testimonials
“Debra is a passionate, intelligent, and creative business person. In the 3+ years that I’ve worked with her, she has gone the extra mile to ensure that our respective company’s business relationship is nothing short of spectacular. She’s tough (but fair) when she has to be, and is extremely focused on meeting objectives. Overall: a true joy to work with.”
“Debra is one of the rare ones. Sharp, creative, capable and driven. She always a step ahead and has the kind of infectious energy that raises the bar.”
“Eric taught me how to push myself. I still refer to him as “the man who changed my life”
“I was unable to walk. I broke my back in a cycling accident and Eric Frohlic was the primary person who helped me recover to return to cycling and running within a year. Eric was instrumental in my recovery and subsequent conditioning and training to return to my pre-accident self. ”
“Debra is in the zone and knows how to create media attention and consumer buzz. Debra can deliver “hits” and create that buzz we all so need. Results are always delivered. ”
“We will relentlessly pursue our cause of bringing great fitness to more people”
“Eric’s classes are extraordinary. Through years of experience, knowledge of anatomy and physiology, and a creative and insightful approach, Eric targets the essential aspects of human movement. The result of following Eric’s teachings is improvement in functional strength, balance, flexibility, and endurance. Eric seems to strike the delicate balance between encouragement and challenge to improve.”