Courtney Sherwood
Courtney Sherwood is an Associate Product Marketing Manager at Gratz Pilates, where she leads product marketing initiatives, develops educational content, and shapes messaging across the customer experience. Drawing on conversations with instructors, studio owners, and the Gratz team, she transforms firsthand knowledge into resources that connect the purpose of Gratz apparatus with its craftsmanship, history, and use.
Courtney joined Gratz in Customer Care in 2024 before moving into Marketing in 2025. Working directly with customers gave her insight into the questions, needs, and decisions that shape their experience with Gratz. Her earlier hospitality experience strengthened her ability to communicate clearly, solve problems, and adapt in fast paced environments. She now brings those skills to a role spanning marketing, product, and customer experience.
At Gratz, her approach starts with listening. Conversations with instructors and studio owners, alongside the people engineering and building the apparatus, have developed her knowledge of Pilates equipment, its materials, and its history. That ongoing education informs how she approaches each project, from explaining a product improvement to developing resources that answer customers’ questions.
"The people, honestly. Every project puts me in conversation with someone who's spent years, sometimes decades, getting extremely good at one specific thing, whether that's building the equipment or understanding exactly what it needs to do for the people who use it. Watching that level of care up close has changed how I think about the products we make, and getting to help tell those stories is the part of my job I find most rewarding."
"That the craftsmanship isn't just a tagline. Before I joined, I knew Gratz by reputation. What surprised me was realizing how many decisions, like a measurement, a material, or a spring tension, trace back to preserving something specific about Joseph Pilates' original intent, rather than just 'how it's always been done.' The apparatus is the visible part of that, but the people engineering and building it are just as much the story."
"The Wunda Chair, mostly because of what it demands from the person using it. It looks small and simple, but it's actually one of the most challenging pieces in the whole repertoire, asking for real strength, balance, and control, with very little room to hide or cheat the movement.
That's actually what draws me to it. I like being challenged, and the Wunda Chair is a good reminder of what that looks like when it's done well: something that looks deceptively simple but demands real focus and precision to get right. It's the same mindset I try to bring to my own work. I'd rather dig into the complexity of a problem and find the most precise solution than take the easy way around it. I also just love the design. Every proportion and spring is so deliberate, and it's a great example of how much thought Gratz puts into every piece we make."