By Angela Higginbotham
angela@floridanewsline.com
Theresa Scully was born in Billings, Montana. Early in her childhood, Scully and her family moved to Florida in search of warm weather. She grew up in Jacksonville and takes great pride in calling the area home. Scully graduated from Bishop Kenny High School and later earned her bachelor’s in Physical Therapy from the University of North Florida. A former ROAR of the Jaguars cheerleader, Scully also established her professional career as a physical therapist for nine years before opening her own business, Arch Pilates Wellness Studio, in Mandarin. She and her husband of 10 years, Simon, an IT security director, moved to Julington Creek in 2012 to raise their two daughters, Jade Nicolette and Kirra Christiana.
- What do you enjoy most about living in St. Johns County?
We moved here in search of a strong, supportive community to raise our girls in and we know we made the right decision. We wanted to lay down roots and the area just keeps getting better and better, in my opinion.
- What is most rewarding about owning your own pilates studio and what are your goals for the future of your business?
I have a passion for healing and helping people feel better. I love helping healthy adults, injured adults and also focusing on kids developing balance and posture strength. When I first started the pilates studio out of my home, I believe it was mostly in an effort to prove a point about women entrepreneurs and about the healing aspects of pilates. Now, it’s about so much more than that. It’s a journey that helps me help others and that is the most rewarding thing. I do enjoy having my own studio so that I can be flexible with my hours. It’s a place that my children can come be with me if needed. My own kids have helped me develop a kids exercise program and in the future, I’d love to incorporate Mommy and Me classes. I also hope to eventually offer more time slots for family fitness.
- What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
Faith is a strong component of my family. We enjoy going to church together. I enjoy rollerblading and going on trips to snowboard. I’m not very good at snowboarding, but it’s a lot of fun. We are huge Jaguar fans, so we love football season. Our girls play soccer, so we also enjoy going to their games.
- Who would you say has been your greatest inspiration?
When I was 17 years old, I hurt my knee. It was devastating because cheerleading was everything to me. It was my essence. My physical therapist was amazing and her help and encouragement gave me strength during that time. She inspired me to become a physical therapist.
- What is something that most people don’t know about you?
I love cheesy martial arts movies. Bruce Lee is my favorite. I have four younger brothers and we would watch martial arts movies in Chinese when we were young. I’d love to have them all back with me to sit down for a movie marathon.
Photo courtesy Theresa Scully
Theresa Scully in Montana, near where she was born.
