We had the good fortune of connecting with Jamie Lanza and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jamie, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?

I was the consumer. I lived in many big cities throughout the U.S. and the one constant in my life was the studio life of yoga and fitness. Every place I traveled and everywhere I lived, my time outside of the hustle of ad life was spent eating delicious things and obsessing over every studio I could get my hands on. Learning from different teachers, how they viewed the world, how they brought so much love and connection to other humans just made me feel my best self. 

Leaving NYC and the world of experiential advertising to go to Florida and reinvent my career was a tremendous opportunity. An opportunity to say if I could do anything I want right now, what would it be? 

My personal yoga practice is and always has been a serious anchor in my life. I decided to take my life passion and my career of building a brand people were excited to be a part of and yoke the two together to build what  is today called CAMP.

From there, it was about how to make it happen while making it accessible for everyone financially, the availability of times to take classes, the different modalities to reach a diverse group of users, and also to showing someone who wants to try a new style of movement but it feels too far out of the comfort zone that it can be done. 

Most important of all, I wanted to make this a human experience. Onerooted in connection and a childlike liberation where we don’t have to take adulting so seriously.

The next step to the dream becoming a reality was finding the right partners and the right team. I’m a big dreamer, and would live in the clouds if I could. Soon, my business partner Jen joined forces with me, and we brought the business to life.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

CAMP is a creative expression. As you get older, you realize you can become quite conditioned and show up in the world may be more how you think you should be perceived rather than who you actually are.

Opening a campus of fitness and yoga was not a new invention. What we did was create an environment where humans can truly be creators and connect deeply with themselves, each other, and ultimately how we show up on and with this planet. A place where our childlike self can come to life and feel liberated to show up authentically as we are.
We are a wellness brand but a social experience where wellness happens as a result of being a part of it. We focus on people. Our own people and our guests. A community coming together to live a happier healthier life.

Doing this was definitely not easy but it has always felt like our truth. It lacked structure sometimes because we wanted so badly to keep the play, and sometimes, that created chaos. But as we grew, we learned that the more we embraced the messy, the better creators we became. The biggest issues in our business have become some of our greatest new pathways for growth.

When we mapped this plan to bring multiple modalities onto one campus – and I mean a campus, multiple buildings, trees (all the trees),places to enjoy being with one another, jumping from class to class like a kid in a candy store of fitness and yoga – at times, it seemed like we are doing too much.We had to strike a balance to ensure we were being simultaneously disciplined to keep doing what we do well. 

I remember a conversation in the first year we were open at our Tampa Location with one of our partners, Tyler. We couldn’t believe the dynamic social experience that started to unfold from a strength program being on the same campus as a yoga program, and the texture it brought to the way our teachers lead to the user experience. Class-goers were starting to socialize with an entirely new group of humans who they may have felt separate from before. Suddenly, they were just humans who became friends from a common love for CAMP and all the lines of separation began to slip away. That was a beautiful thing to be privy to when the labels fell off and humans became humans again building connections from a genuine place.

We trusted that those in our team who believed in the same oneness we did would help us get to where we wanted to go. They brought their incredible talent to keep our business dynamic and interesting and we gave them space to have a voice. It became an ecosystem that today I can’t imagine our communities without.

Today we have two locations. The Tampa location is one acre of land, three buildings, five studios, and an 80 ft community garden offering 305 classes a week. The Santa Monica location opens in full this June. Three buildings, four studios, and 250 classes a week,both with a pretty EPIC group of instructors and creators leading the way.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

Venice and Santa Monica have always been a magnet zone for me. For the past 15 years,I have returned to Venice every few months. Now, I am based in LA more frequently as we open the newly expanded CAMP Los Angeles campus.

If I had a friend in town, On Friday I would take them to a CAMP class followed by dinner at Gjelina. We would finish the evening with an ice cream and stroll down Abbot Kinney.

On Saturday. we would go to the paddle tennis courts for an epic few hours of doubles and the wild side entertainment of the boardwalk. For lunch, we’d venture to Great White or if we are feeling a little more casual, a chicken sandwich from The Window. Bed time on Saturday would be 9 p.m.; mornings are far too valuable to go to bed any later!

We’d be up early on Sunday for a hike to Temescal followed by a trip to the farmers market in the Palisades and a stop at Elyse Walker for a little window shopping or a splurge. 

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

Our entire partnership group. This includes my family, Jen, and all of our team members who have helped us bring CAMP to life.

Website: https://www.welovecamp.com/

Instagram: @we.love.camp

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/welovecamp/mycompany/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/camp-tampa-tampa

Other: https://classpass.com/studios/camp-la-santa-monica

Image Credits
Jeremy Scott 

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutLA is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.