Meltem Sonmez Burr

I have lived and worked in New York since 1995. 

I worked as a textile designer for 23 years. My last 21 years was with the same New York based textiles company as design director for two product divisions. 

In 2012, being introduced to the barre method and practicing barre was life changing for me. I was instantly in love with the method and had a connection. After 5 years of taking daily barre classes,  I decided to get certified. After my first certification, I started free classes for my community. The following year I decided to rent studio space and therefore switched to paid classes. I finished a 2-year Fitness Instructor program at Hunter College in one year. Then the time came when I made the bold move to leave my textiles career behind to dedicate all my time to being a fitness professional. I got NASM certified in February of 2020. Then I obtained two more barre certifications in 2019 and in 2020. 

Since September of 2023 I have been a part of the adult fitness programming at Trinity Commons teaching barre classes. 

During spring of 2024, I created an on-demand fitness program: Barreitude’s Modular Workout System©

As a fit pro, I have chosen to work independently or only for entities that allow me to create and teach my own programming. 

Fitness and working out is not just about the physical benefits such as strength, aesthetics, endurance but is an incredibly important part of mental health and allover well-being. Therefore, this is how I teach my classes and my training sessions: fitness as a habit and a desirable ritual that one keeps wanting to go back to.