From Theater to Barry’s
Before Barry’s, there was the stage. From age 13, Joey worked in film, television and musical theater. Then, in 2004, a friend brought him to a class in West Hollywood that changed everything.
“The performer had found his stage.”
He went from client to instructor to Global CEO, spending two decades building Barry’s. Today, he is an entrepreneur, investor, and advisor building what comes next.
He is the Co-Founder of House 120, a new longevity and performance club in NYC. He also continues to serve as Executive Chairman of Barry’s, where he previously spent a decade as Global CEO, helping transform the company from a boutique fitness concept into one of the world’s most recognized fitness and lifestyle brands.
Today, Gonzalez focuses on building, investing in and advising the next generation of consumer businesses. He also serves on the Board of Directors of StartOut, supporting its mission to accelerate the growth of LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs.
Before Barry’s
“From the age of 13, I was working in film, television and musical theater as a SAG member. I spent the next decade balancing schoolwork with my performance career, which eventually took me to USC, where I earned a major in theater and a minor in cinema/television. After graduating, I continued pursuing that dream until I discovered Barry’s.”
In 2004, a friend brought him to a workout class in West Hollywood that would change his life. He was hooked from the class and became a regular client taking up to 2 classes a day. When founder Barry Jay asked if he wanted to teach, Gonzalez jumped at the chance. The performer had found his stage - part teacher, part DJ, part entertainer- the ultimate enterTRAINER. He went home after his first class as an instructor and told his now-husband Jonathan: “this is what I’m doing with the rest of my life.”
The Barry’s Years
What followed was a two-decade climb through every job the company had: instructor, general manager in 2006, director of operations, then partner and COO. Along the way he put everything he had into the business - investing his savings, leveraging his home, and relocating to New York to open Barry’s first location in the city.
In 2015, eleven years after that first class, he was named Global CEO after helping to lead the company through its first private equity transaction. Under his leadership Barry’s grew from a handful of studios into a global brand, more than 100 locations across 19 countries, and survived the hardest chapter in its history, going from $120 million in revenue to zero overnight. He successfully navigated the company through the COVID-19 pandemic—an experience documented in a Harvard Business School case study. In 2024 he named JJ Gantt his global Co-CEO, and together they led the company through its second private equity transaction in January 2025. A few months later in June, Gonzalez stepped into a new role: Executive Chairman, focused on the brand’s long-term vision as it doubles its footprint again. He still teaches. The Red Room is where it started, and he never really left it.
- 2004Takes his first Barry’s class in West Hollywood; becomes an instructor (CNBC)
- 2006General manager, then director of operations (Men’s Health)
- 2015Named Global CEO (CNBC)
- 2020Guides Barry’s through the pandemic shutdown and back to profitability (CNBC)
- 2024Gonzalez names JJ Gantt his Global Co-CEO (Men’s Health)
- 2025Named Executive Chairman (PR Newswire)
“Many days I have to wake up and choose who I’m going to disappoint.”Joey Gonzalez - Fortune, 2025
What’s Next
The next chapter is already underway. House 120, a longevity and performance club for those who take their healthspan seriously, has opened in the West Village of New York City. PRODA is rethinking what a protein drink can be - a next-generation protein soda built for how people actually live.
Around those, he advises and invests in the next wave of consumer founders, serves on the board of StartOut supporting LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs, and meets every Friday with people who cold-email him for career advice - a ritual he has kept for years.
Home is Miami Beach, with Jonathan and their two kids, Francesca and Jake. Most mornings still start the way they have for twenty years: a workout, and then to work.