Your Girlfriends' Guide to Women in Business: The Little Black Book Fall Issue 2016 | Page 29
These
Girls
Fire
are on
A
written by
Nicole Breen
ngela McCaffrey and Caitlin
DiRuggiero met in 7th grade when
Angela was new to the Montclair
Kimberley Academy and Caitlin, having
been there since kindergarten was “Big Man
on Campus.”.
some advice to train in Pilates to develop the
intrinsic muscles in their cores to help them
run further. It was then that they found a
local studio in San Diego that was teaching
the Lagree Method, a form of exercise
created by fitness visionary Sebastien
Lagree that is based on Pilates and combines
strength, endurance, cardio, balance, core
and flexibility training in each and every
move.
“Within 2 months, our bodies morphed,”
“I wanted to stay on her good side, so I
they describe, “and we were able to run 20
kindly let her take my oatmeal raisin cookie,” miles with no problem.”
Angela recalls sentimentally. “I’ll never let
Amazed by the results and the power of this
her live that down.”
training method, affectionately deemed
She and Caitlin have been best friends ever “Pilates on crack,” the team decided in
since. After graduating from college, the two 2012 that their home area “had to have this
moved out to San Diego with some other
workout.” They decided to sell all of their
friends for a change of pace from the east
belongings and move back to New Jersey to
coast life. After a good friend was diagnosed start it up.
with cancer at age 22, they decided to run a
In 2013, Corefire Montclair opened its doors
marathon to raise money for the Leukemia
and has been growing since. Just this past
and Lymphoma Society.
September, the duo opened their second
“We felt really far away from home, both
Corefire location in Ridgewood and they plan
emotionally and physically,” Angela shares,
to continue to expand their brand.
“but we really wanted to be connected to
What is their hope for the future of Corefire?
our friend’s struggle through the healing
The pair plans to continue to provide the
process.”
“safest, most efficient and effective workout
Sharing a mutual hatred for running, the
for every body, every age, every level of
duo set out to challenge themselves to do
fitness.” They hope that Corefire continues to
something neither thought possible, but
be a fun, warm and welcoming environment,
both thought necessary.
but on a deeper level, want it to be a place
“We knew it would be an extreme challenge that encourages self compassion, hard work
for us but we figured if our friend could
and discipline in the most non-judgmental
battle cancer we could train our somewhat
way.
healthy bodies.”
“At the end of the day, we’re all on our own
But the pre-training runs proved to be
difficult and they both continually would
get “stuck” less than halfway through.
Neither would give up, so they finally took
physical and mental journey towards selfbetterment,” shares Angela. “We hope that
this exact mindset is felt as soon as people
walk through our doors.”
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