Cassey Ho Vinh

Cassey Ho was born on January 16, 1987, in Los Angeles, California, and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her parents were Bach Ho and Cuu Ho. Ho developed an early interest in fashion design, though her parents initially encouraged her to pursue a medical career. She attended James Logan High School and won the San Francisco Miss Teen Chinatown beauty pageant in 2003. Ho later graduated from Whittier College in 2009 with a Bachelor of Science in biology, having initially aimed to become a doctor. Her interest in fitness began at age 16 when she discovered Pilates.

Ho began her entrepreneurial journey in online fitness while still in college. In 2009, she started posting fitness videos on YouTube after relocating from Los Angeles to Boston for a full-time position as a fashion buyer. Her initial motivation was to continue providing workout content for her Pilates students. Despite initial challenges with video production quality, a high demand for specific workout videos led her to consistently upload more content. Nine months into her fashion buyer role, Ho decided to leave to focus on teaching Pilates, which provided her with more time to produce YouTube videos. This marked a turning point, as her viewership and subscriber count on the “Blogilates” channel rapidly increased, leading her to become a YouTube Partner and significantly boosting her website’s traffic. Early success also included a feature of one of her yoga bags in Shape magazine in 2010, prompting her to explore product manufacturing in China.

Throughout her career, Ho has achieved significant milestones, including receiving a Shorty Award in 2013 for social fitness and being recognized in Time’s “The 25 Most Influential People on the Internet” in 2017. Her YouTube channel, Blogilates, became the top fitness channel on the platform, reaching 1.8 billion views and 10.8 million subscribers. Beyond digital content, Ho launched her first activewear collection, “Bodypop” in 2014, followed by “Popflex” in 2016. In 2021, she expanded her brand further by launching the “Blogilates for Target” home fitness line and later an apparel collection in partnership with Target, which quickly gained popularity. Ho is also known for advocating for positive body image, notably challenging altered images on retail websites and addressing cyber-bullying through her viral video, “The ‘Perfect’ Body”.