Fresh Face: XR Studioz

After a long career in emerging technologies, traveling the country in sales and marketing roles for Verizon, Microsoft, Palm, and various startups, Freedom High School graduate Amy came home to the Lehigh Valley to pursue a dream of creating a business that would help others. She’s “always been a bit of a geek,” so it wasn’t a surprise that technology would play a role, but just as important was creating a business known for its positive and supportive local community approach.

XR Studioz is a place where Amy and her team, Dana Donatelli, Director of Fitness and on the business side Dr. Laura Camus, use technology to build community and deliver unique experiences—fitness and wellness classes, afterschool enrichment programs, eSports, a virtual reality (VR) Lab for school partnerships, corporate team-building events, business training and technology consulting. “We use VR and other technologies, but the magic is in how tech is blended seamlessly behind the scenes,” says Amy, “like Zoom fitness classes, the projection of a virtual course in the spin room to give riders a real-world feel, the ability to offer multiple escape rooms in one room, or an immersive training where you can simulate real-world situations in a conference room.”

But Amy wants you to know that you don’t have to understand tech when you walk in the door. “You actually shouldn’t feel the tech at all—you’ll just feel welcomed,” she says. “We use technology to be more efficient at getting results for people and to give people incredibly fun classes, lessons and gaming they can’t get anywhere else. We use it to offer cutting-edge solutions to businesses. But we don’t use it to replace that personal touch necessary to form connections with people and get to know them so we can help them with their goals.”

Virtual Reality plays a big part in XR Studioz gaming, in-school, after-school, edutainment (entertainment with an educational aspect) and corporate programs. “The first time I put on a VR headset and played Beat Saber I was blown away!” But VR isn’t just for gaming. It’s a platform that is already being used by major companies with immense benefit, which XR Studioz would like to bring to the Lehigh Valley.“We offer not only corporate wellness programs and team-building, but also virtual reality training and a VR Lab where companies can see and test the latest VR solutions available, or local colleges can partner with us for lab time, VR curriculum building, or software development,” says Amy.

Technology plays a more subtle part in XR Studioz traditional fitness classes like Barre, Cardio, HIIT, Yoga and Kickboxing—there’s no tech per se in those classes, only a forward-thinking mentality to offer the best and latest classes and instruction with the best instructors. Alternatively they have TechFit, where each workout uses some sort of tech, like The Mirror, Blazepods and XRfit, a class that uses VR to gamify your workouts. “We want to help everyone move, improve and have fun,” says Amy, “because when all three of those work together, the results are powerful.”

Find more information on XR Studioz by visiting their website and follow their social media.