About Student Body
We started as students.
Student Body began in Porto. When we moved here, we found community through movement, and the instructors and studios we kept returning to soon became part of our daily lives.
Porto · where it beganWhy we started.
The classes that became part of our lives were never really about a room. They were about the person leading it—and the people who kept coming back.
Over time, we noticed something obvious: students follow instructors. The teacher who inspires you might teach across three studios, move across the city, or eventually open something of their own. But almost every system in fitness is built around venues and memberships—not the people doing the teaching.
That leaves instructors carrying the hardest part themselves. Their schedule lives in one place, payments in another, conversations across Instagram, WhatsApp, email, and spreadsheets. The relationships they've spent years building become harder to carry than they should be.
We think there should be a simpler way. A professional home that belongs to the instructor, while strengthening the studios they teach with—not replacing them. That's why we built Student Body.
What we believe
A few things we hold to.
Instructors are the through-line
Students may discover movement through a studio, but they come back because of a instructor. The people doing the teaching deserve tools built around the role they actually play.
Relationships over transactions
A booking is useful. A lasting student relationship is invaluable. We help build continuity—not just fill the next class.
Technology stays in the background
Great technology gets out of the way. Our job is to remove friction so instructors can teach and students can move.
Local communities matter
Every city has people building movement communities. Our job is to make those communities easier to discover, support, and grow.
How we're built
Not a social network.
Student Body is here to help people find each other in real life—not keep them scrolling. That means there are a few things we won’t do:
- Monetize your attention or engineer engagement.
- Sell your data.
- Turn your attention into advertising inventory.
- Hide great classes behind engagement algorithms.
We'd rather you close the app and go to class. The best thing we can do is get you into the room, then get out of the way.
The team
The people behind it.
Before Student Body, we spent years building brands, products, and digital experiences for growing businesses. No matter the industry, we kept coming back to the same idea: the strongest businesses are built on relationships. Finding our own community through movement in Porto showed us the same thing. Student Body is our attempt to build around the people creating those relationships.
Kelly Cox
Co-founder
Kelly has spent over a decade helping consumer and founder-led businesses grow through marketing, strategy, and digital experiences. Today she leads Student Body's brand, strategy, and community—with the belief that the strongest businesses are built around people, not platforms.
Luke Ragno
Co-founder
Luke believes good technology should solve problems without becoming one. He leads Student Body's product and engineering, designing and building every part of the platform with a focus on clarity, simplicity, and thoughtful systems.
Where we draw the line
What we're not building.
- A marketplace that treats instructors like inventory.
- A subscription that owns the relationship between instructors and students.
- A replacement for studios. We exist to strengthen them, not replace them.
Our role is simple: help the people already building movement communities do more of what they do best.
Why the name
A student body is a community of people learning together. It's also, quite literally, a body that learns.
Movement is both physical and communal. Growth happens through practice, repetition, and showing up alongside other people. Student Body is a reminder that learning has always been something we do together.
Where we're headed
We're not here to dominate movement — we're here to connect it.
Built in Porto, inspired by the people who taught us what movement can become. We hope you'll find your people too.
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