PORTO, PORTUGAL, 17 October 2026 — Student Body, the fitness platform founded in Porto by Kelly Cox and Luke Ragno, has sold out its first three events, held between 20 September and 10 October 2026. Each paired an instructor or a team of practitioners with a space in the city beyond the traditional studio.
At Sculpt & Spritz on 20 September, the day the platform launched, Nathaly Machado of Plena Wellness led a sculpt class at The Rebello, followed by spritzes. At Garden Flow & Brunch on 26 September, Diana Freitas of ōmlab taught outdoor yoga in the garden at LEA, with brunch to finish. At Sky to Spa on 10 October, at Tivoli Kopke Porto Gaia, Healing House practitioners Alejandra Ayerbe, Parina Andreeva and André Aníbal Rodrigues Alves paired sunset yoga with an immersive poolside sound healing session.
The formats are deliberately different. The common thread is the people leading them, and that is the idea behind Student Body.
A class is the person teaching it
Two classes can share a name, a studio and a format, and still feel completely different depending on who teaches them: the music, the pace, the personality, how the room feels. Kelly Cox noticed this after moving to Porto in 2023. When one of her favorite instructors stopped teaching at a studio, the only way to find out where she had gone was to message her on Instagram.
“We kept seeing the same thing: the instructor was often the thread connecting the whole experience,” says Kelly Cox, co-founder of Student Body. “Events let us bring that idea into real life. Discovery online should lead somewhere, and for us it comes back to getting the right people into the right room together.”
A professional home for the people who teach
On Student Body, each instructor has a profile that moves with them across studios, venues and independent classes, with their teaching style, modalities, languages, certifications and schedule. Students discover classes through the people who teach them and follow instructors wherever they teach.
The platform is also a workspace. Instructors see attendance and fill rates for their classes and, in aggregate and anonymously, the days and times Student Body students want to train that they don’t yet teach, and the types of class those students are looking for: a signal of demand before they open a new class. Studios manage schedules, bookings, waitlists, payments, class packs and attendees. Student Body also connects to some of the booking systems studios already use, so nobody has to switch tools to get started.
Student Body is free for students and takes no commission on bookings: payment for each class goes directly to the instructor or studio teaching it, with only standard payment processing fees applying. The business model rests on optional professional tools for instructors and studios.
“We don’t think our business should grow by taking more money every time an instructor teaches another class,” says Luke Ragno, co-founder of Student Body. “We’d rather build tools useful enough that they choose to pay for them.”
Porto first
Student Body currently features instructors across yoga, Pilates, barre, cycling and sound practices, and is preparing new events with instructors, studios and hospitality partners in Porto. The platform is open to instructors anywhere, but Student Body is putting all its effort into Porto before it expands.
“The technology can grow across cities, but what makes each community special comes from the people who are already part of it,” says Cox.
About Student Body
Student Body is a fitness discovery platform and professional workspace for instructors and studios. It brings each instructor’s professional identity, schedule, community and business insights into one place, and helps students discover the people behind the classes they love. Founded in Porto in 2026 by Kelly Cox and Luke Ragno, it is free for students and takes no booking commission. Alongside the platform, it produces instructor-led fitness and wellness experiences with studios and hospitality partners.
