Name: Lia Bartha
Age: 38
Hometown: Kailua, Hawaii
Currently Lives: A townhouse in the Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn with her husband, the actor Justin Bartha, two young daughters and a French bulldog.
Claim to Fame: Ms. Bartha is a trainer to the stars, helping celebs like Ashley Tisdale, Taye Diggs and Mr. Bartha (one of the stars of “The Hangover” film comedy franchise) achieve those six-packs. Ms. Bartha’s technique, which she calls B the Method, mostly uses one’s own body weight for low-impact exercises. “It gives you strength, mobility and a meditative state,” she said. “It’s like ASMR.”
Big Break: When the pandemic hit, Ms. Bartha switched from in-person classes to Instagram Live. Instead of limiting her reach, the move helped her workouts take off. Her classes went from a few hundred in-person students in SoHo to tens of thousands of people virtually worldwide. “I knew I needed to keep people moving and mentally sane,” she said. She now has 3,500 subscribers who pay $160 a year to view her workouts through her B the Method website and app. She also offers free classes and tips on her Instagram.
Latest Project: To connect with her students between classes, Ms. Bartha started a monthly newsletter that provides tips, recipes and inspiration. “I get pretty open and personal,” she said. “In last month’s newsletter, I talked about using a vibrator to de-stress. There was also talk of weed. I am not trying to pretend to be perfect. There are real-life things happening in my life, and if I want people to feel connected to me, they need to know.”
Next Thing: Ms. Bartha recently started a monthly cooking class on Instagram Live — one segment featured a pesto hummus with Samah Dada, who does segments on NBC’s “The Today Show.” “Eating healthy doesn’t just mean salads or smoothies,” Ms. Bartha said. “I think during the pandemic people were cooking so much they got sick of it and lost inspiration.”
Supporting Actor: Being married to an actor has its challenges. “People definitely recognize him on the street,” she said. “It can be hard to explain to our young children.” The couple’s professional lives sort of reversed during the pandemic. “Because his industry was basically shut down during the pandemic, it gave us a chance to work on launching B the Method Together.” She added: “People now recognize me on the street.”
