Paige Comerford of Ocean Township, a recent honors graduate from Clemson University who is now applying to medical school, is making the most of her gap year by opening a business aimed at enhancing health, wellness, and medical research.
Pilates Social Clemson, Clemson’s first and only reformer Pilates studio, is set to open in the city’s downtown this August.
“The logo for Pilates Social Clemson was carefully designed to include a butterfly as part of the brand. The butterfly is in honor of my childhood friend, Mya Lin Terry, who earned her wings after a brave fight with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and Secondary Acute Myeloid Leukemia when we were in fifth grade at Ocean Township Intermediate School,” Comerford said.
“Mya inspires me and all of us at Pilates Social Clemson to always make purpose a part of our passion,” said Comerford. “In her honor, we will donate a portion of our profits to charities that support our mission to make a difference with health, wellness, and much-needed medical research.”
Comerford, an alumna of Red Bank Catholic High School, decided to make reformer Pilates accessible to the campus community at Clemson after it helped her recover from an illness.
“I was always an avid runner, who ran multiple miles a day. But after receiving an unexpected diagnosis of a rare neurological condition my sophomore year, I could no longer endure the high-impact workouts,” she said. “The low-impact, but high-intensity exercise of reformer Pilates has helped me rebuild muscle and improve my health.
“When I couldn’t find reformer Pilates close to campus, I became passionate about starting a studio of my own downtown. Bringing Pilates Social Clemson to the community of Clemson that I love so much, brings me great joy. I hope it can also help others in their journey to health and wellness,” she said.
Pilates Social Clemson takes the classic method of exercise created by Joseph Pilates in the 1930s focusing on control and precise muscle movements, and evolves into a contemporary, modern workout style on state-of-the-art, reformer Pilates machines. Pilates Social Clemson will embrace all sides of the person in its classes – mind, body, and soul. By incorporating “social” elements into the studio, they will refresh the mind and lift the spirit.
