MY STORY

Vicki Van Blaricom grew up in Rochester, New York, where she enjoyed an active childhood with her
parents and four siblings. When she was 16 years old, she started working out and began teaching group
fitness classes. She moved to Northern Virginia and began work as an insurance estimator. She left that
job and went into the booming housing industry where she worked in sales and marketing, eventually
becoming a construction estimator. Vicki continued to teach group fitness classes and worked part time
as a Personal Trainer. After the housing market crashed, Vicki decided to make health and fitness her full
time career. In 1997 she refined her interest when she attended her first Pilates mat class lead by
Romana Kryzanowska, protégé of Joseph Pilates, and assisted by Jerome Weinberg. The next day Vicki
took a reformer lesson at Drago’s Gymnasium with Jerome, and she was hooked!
Vicki pursued her Pilates practice by taking a few lessons with Romana, Sari Mejia (Romana’s daughter),
and regular lessons with Jerome. Vicki was fascinated with the busy studio, and with how the Pilates
exercises felt in her body. In 2002 Vicki was certified through Powerhouse Pilates and began teaching at
a local health club. In 2005 the health club endorsed the Stott Pilates system and Vicki trained under
their program in Advanced Mat, Apparatus, Injuries and Special Populations, and Fascia Movement
foundations. In 2011 she returned to the Classical system when she began working for a Classical Pilates
studio. She loved the combination of “old and new Pilates” but still felt something was missing in her
education and understanding of the method.
After reading Your Health and Return to Life, books written by Joseph Pilates, Vicki started to wonder
why the Pilates method had changed. In her journey to find answers, she met her teacher, Elaine Ewing
in 2017. Vicki started practicing the Return to Life mat work daily and noticed changes in her body. Vicki
attended lessons with Elaine and practiced the exercises as Joseph Pilates intended. She recognized
what had been missing from her previous training—movement on all planes. Next, she met Sean P.
Gallagher, the fifth owner of the original Joseph Pilates business and archives. She was impressed by his
knowledge and teaching style, hands-on approach, and she wanted to learn to teach that way. In
September 2019 Vicki attended a Pilates at The Pillow conference where Joe’s original work was
presented. At that conference, she found what she needed as a teacher, and her experience was life
changing.
In 2019 Vicki began the bridge program through The New York Pilates Studio and completed her
coursework in January 2020. When the pandemic hit, she continued with private and group lessons
online with Elaine and was able to obtain the required training hours to complete the certification
process. During this time, Vicki took workshops with Sean that covered Anatomy, Lymphatic systems,
and explained the reasoning behind the method and the exercises. She took additional webinars on the
history of Pilates with historians Elaine, Sean, and Cathy Strack. Vicki was certified to teach Authentic
Pilates in May 2021.
Vicki’s personal life is interconnected with her Pilates life. Her daughter is a graduate of Virginia Tech
and works as PR representative for Authentic Pilates of Fairfax. She continues to work online with a
group of teachers from around the world. She is an avid runner and has completed a marathon in every
state-64 marathons in total-but who is counting! She enjoys reading, swimming, spending time with
family and friends, taking her three dogs for a walk, and cuddling with her two cats.