Laugh Love Law
Real conversations. Real people. Real impact. A podcast about life, law and everything in between.
Laugh Love Law
From Center Stage to Centered — Gabrielle Ross Weinberger
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What happens when a lifelong love of music meets movement, strength, family, and a whole lot of personality?
In Episode 6 of Laugh Love Law, Heather sits down with her cousin and friend, Gabrielle Ross Weinberger, for a conversation filled with laughs, memories, music — and a few unforgettable family stories.
Gabrielle shares her journey from music and performing to creating Here Hot Yoga & Strength, where she’s built a community around fitness, connection, and feeling good, while still finding ways to bring her love of music into the studio and everything she does.
The cousins talk about Gabrielle’s love of fitness and cooking, the importance of music in her life, family memories, and, of course, Gabrielle’s other great love — her dog Lucy.
Funny, talented, energetic and truly timeless, Gabrielle is one of those people who makes every story more entertaining. And when two cousins who are also friends start reminiscing, you never quite know where the conversation is going to go.
This episode has a little bit of everything: reinvention, passion, family, friendship, fitness, music, lots of laughs — and Grandma.
Real stories. Real people. Real connections.
Real conversations. Real people. Real impact.
Welcome back to Laugh Love Law. I'm Heather Kaplan and today's guest is someone I've known for literally her entire life. She's my little cousin. And while I have 14 years on her and have watched her grow up from close, afar, well, and all the in-betweens, one of the coolest things about adulthood is getting to know people over and over again. And you think you know their story, and then you realize you only knew the beginning. Gabby is the founder and CEO of Hear Hot Yoga and Strength. She's a musician, a performer, a business owner, and someone who truly embodies the idea that not every path is a straight one. Gabby, welcome to Laugh Love You.
SPEAKER_01Happy to be here.
SPEAKER_00I am so happy you're here, too.
SPEAKER_01Yay.
SPEAKER_00So people know you as the founder and CEO of Here Hot Yoga and Strength. But before we get into all of that, what's something about yourself that never makes it into your bio? Dive in with the questions that you can. Yeah, no, you can answer it.
SPEAKER_01Oh my god.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. What doesn't make it into the bio? Like it's not on the resume, it's not on the bio, but it's something uniquely you. Like if I were answering for you, I know what I would say. You do? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I don't know. I love people. Yeah. Oh, we're going to be. I just want like I just want everybody to be happy and live a peaceful life. Yeah, gab is just you're like a kind soul. You're you're a lover of love. Yes. Yes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. You see stuff like that doesn't make it into that. No, it doesn't. No, but it should. It should. It's most important. What would your closest friends or your sister cousins say the most gabby thing about you is?
SPEAKER_01Uh like random outbursts of song. Okay. At any given moment. Like, for example, share Celine Dion. Yeah, I thought you were gonna burst. In the I can't it has to be when I'm not trying. Oh. Just be if Jel's hearing this right now, I need like a Celine Dion song.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I thought you were gonna do it if I can turn. No! No.
SPEAKER_01No. And it's always bad. My whole life before this life, I was a singer. Yeah. But it's always bad singing at random times. Outbursts.
SPEAKER_00So it was amazing singing when you did it as like a thing. On purpose. But now when you burst out singing, it's bad singing. Yeah. Like I just did.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but you sing too. Do people know that about you? Yeah, they know. I sing. Okay, okay. But that was a real singing. That was burst out singing. Because the real singing isn't like as fun.
SPEAKER_00Right.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I get it. I and I kind of agree.
SPEAKER_00If it happens.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh, it'll happen. So other than Miss Lucy, what brings you joy?
SPEAKER_01Oh, my family. Okay. My family. My friends. I genuinely love my work now. It does bring me a lot of joy. Okay. Um How do you take care of yourself? Yeah. Struggling with that ratio. Okay. Not gonna lie. Okay. Is it time management? Like what is it? Yeah. And like I feel so blessed. Business has grown so fast. But finding balance is very hard. So I'm now trying to carve out intentional moments, even if it's a moment or like 45 minutes or an hour.
SPEAKER_00You have to.
SPEAKER_01Once a week to to separate myself from work and take a yoga class somewhere far away, or just like go for a walk or therapy. I went back to therapy. Everybody's good. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I always said that I'm a better mom because I was a working mom. Because I carved out time that was for me in addition to time that was for the kids or for Josh, or it was just me time, even if it was work time, but I feel like it gives you balance. 100%.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So you have to take that time even if I started cooking again for myself. Did you? Yeah, it's relaxing to me. Cooking with Gab? Gab's gets it. Gab's gets Gab's Gab's dead and a big Italian cooking show. Um funny though, that cooking show was not a real cooking show on Instagram. But like when I took a little hiatus from singing, yeah, I had time doing this, and then I stopped doing Gab's Kitchen because I didn't have time. People were like, Where's Gab's Kitchen? No one said, Why aren't you singing? They just said, Where's Gab's kitchen? I missed the calling. This was Yeah.
SPEAKER_00This is yeah, I missed it. No, your food looked really good.
SPEAKER_01It was good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. It was good. So you stopped the singing. You did a little cooking. Now you're not doing either, but you're gonna get back into the kitchen. I'm starting the cooking a little bit.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Yeah. I like it. I don't know if I'll have time to do Gab's kitchen. And the whole the whole voice, the whole thing going on. But yeah, I'm cooking.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Yeah. So I'm 14 years older than you. We still think we experienced I thought it's 24 for my entire life. I hear it. All I remember is you being 24. Period. Yeah. We have like interesting age dynamics in our family because our parents, our mothers are spaced out, and then the cousins are all spaced out. So like the parent generation goes from like 75 down to what is Kate, 62.
SPEAKER_01I don't even know anymore.
SPEAKER_00Because Kate's 12 years older than me. And then the cousins go from I'm the oldest, like 50, and then they go down to how old is Michael? 27, 28? Yeah, so there's younger than Danielle.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they're like half. Yeah, late 20 years.
SPEAKER_00We're like half generations. So like I have aunts that are like your mother is 15 years older than me. I'm 14 years older than you. So we have like half generations. Which is nice. Um, but we have all seen our family from different perspectives because of the ages. Yes. Um, I remember as one of my favorite memories, hearing grandma tell the story about you when you were a kid. What are we doing? No, not what you did. So your mom would drop you off at grandma's and she would babysit for you, and she would tell grandma, here's, you know, her her formula, or here's her cereal. And, you know, this is what she eats, and it's it's six ounces here, and it's three ounces here. And grandma would take such pride in saying, I'm gonna feed her exactly what I want. Nobody's gonna tell me how much to feed her.
SPEAKER_01I don't remember this, but I know the story.
SPEAKER_00And I think, oh my god, grandma would tell the story up until like her 90s. She would tell, I would give Gabriel, you know, and that was that was like it was a claim to fame. Yeah, you know. Yeah. But you know, and true grandma. Yeah, true grandma. But you got, you know, because of the age difference, you got older grandma. You know, you got um older grandma. And then for me, and you know, so again, with the age differences, so my sisters are three years younger than me, and then 17 years younger than me. So, you know, you and Chelsea and Danielle and you guys are all in your early to mid-30s, yeah, while the older group of us are in our late 40s and our 50s. So it was like different because you guys were more like what I said, sister cousins. You were kind of living life at the same time. So it was different. It was different. I I think about what it would have been like if your your half-generation group was part of ours. Yeah, because it, you know, you know, we listened to Madonna and Whitney Houston and you guys listened to Britney Spears. You know, I was New Kids on the Block, you guys were Backstreet Boys. It was a different, you know, it was just a different time. Yes. So I think everything was a little different because of this.
SPEAKER_01But I feel like I was in like a weird in-between a little bit because if they were like 13, I was like 17. So they were still like a little too young to I was like somewhere in between. Like, do I sit at the adult table or the kids' table?
SPEAKER_00No, you sit at the kids' table.
SPEAKER_01But I said at the kids' table, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Now I I want to be permanently at the kids' table.
SPEAKER_00But um you sang at my wedding when Yes, I did. So that was twenty almost twenty-one years ago.
unknownThat's a weird one.
SPEAKER_00You were a little girl, and now you run an umpire. How does it feel? Like you're you're kind of doing a big thing right now. It it just kinda happens. It kinda happens. Yeah. And it's crazy. How do you think it went from so here, here. I'm kind of the same way. Like I get an idea and then I'm like a dog with a bone. Like I have to take it all the way, go big or go home. I don't I don't know how to do anything small. Yeah. So you you went big. I went big.
SPEAKER_01Bigger than I realized it would, too. Because I just poured everything into it and I that's I go all in. I'm all in or nothing. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00You have your studio is beautiful, by the way. And you have this wall of affirmations at your studio.
SPEAKER_01I am wall.
SPEAKER_00Um, can you tell us about the wall?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So it's positive affirmation. And it's on the wall in the studio, but it's also in the bathroom backwards. So if you walk into the bathroom, and I just had this idea like randomly one day. It's on the wall backwards. So you look and you're like, what the heck is that? And then you look in the mirror, and it's it's you can read it clearly. So you're reading the positive affirmation to yourself. And what do they say? Um, I am I don't tell me, don't think I remember the order. No, I am transformation, I am joy, I am love, I'm gratitude. There's a few more, and I am here. Um I'm harmony. Did you come up with them? Yes. Yes, I did.
SPEAKER_00Do you partake in daily positive affirmations?
SPEAKER_01Yes. Do they make a difference? Yes. And is it easy to get lost some days and not do it? Yes, but like I'm really actively trying to get back there. Um there's actually a song I'm listening to right now, and it's all like positive affirmation. And I wrote a song for kids, I am positive affirmation. I think it makes a big difference in the morning, but I try to take even five seconds to like journal, breathe, think a positive thought before the day starts and just like set the tone. What's your favorite affirmation? Of all of them on the wall, uh I am here. I I believe my journey, all of our journeys bring us to this moment on purpose, and every failure, which is really not a failure, it's a lesson that teaches us everything that we're supposed to learn to become the person that we are in this present moment. Um, we all cross paths for a reason. So that was really how the studio name came about. Um and just like to be present. This is really the only moment we have.
SPEAKER_00You said you said something really interesting in in my little questionnaire. You said that there was an idea of falling forward. What does that mean? I like it.
SPEAKER_01Dendil Washington said it in a speech when I went to see Leah. Remember Leah, my best friend growing up? Um, her college graduation at Wharton Business School. And it was it was about one not having a plan B. Growing up as a singer, everyone would always say, What's your fallback plan? What's your fallback plan? And I hated that because it was like giving myself permission to fail. And I always said there's if I don't make it, that's it, my life is over. I failed at life. Um, and that's not true. There's no such thing as failing if you're learning, and everything is a lesson, and if you're growing from every failure, it's not a failure. So you learn to fall and fall forward and keep growing as a person, you don't fall back. So that's like the biggest lesson I think I've learned in life. Top, top, top up five for sure.
SPEAKER_00Really? And when you fall forward, it's not necessarily in a straight line, right? Absolutely not. And your path hasn't been a straight one. No, it's been a squiggle, squiggle, but squiggly, squiggly roller coaster. Do you like where the squiggle is now? Yes.
SPEAKER_01I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Where do you see it going? Growing, growing, expanding.
SPEAKER_00So a longer squiggle.
SPEAKER_01A longer squiggle, yes. Every day is a different challenge. Um, but now I am so intentional with who I'm challenged with. Okay. Team is amazing. I've created a culture and a workspace that feels healthy. Um, and I protect that and the energy of the space, like everything I have, because that's not something I ever felt in the music industry. Um, so even though like the day-to-day stressful, I'm stressed with like my favorite people ever.
SPEAKER_00That's wonderful. So, yes, it really makes a difference. Being a boss, being in charge. Was that a weird concept for you uh when you first opened? It still is. Is it? Yes. Do you have a problem separating the friendship from being a boss?
SPEAKER_01Sometimes. I think there are moments that are harder than others for sure. Okay, and I deeply care about people and I deeply love the people that are on my team. Um so that it's definitely challenging.
SPEAKER_00Have you had to experience letting somebody go?
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00It's not fun. No. No. I So I've been my boss, you know, I've been the boss for the last ten years, and I think my biggest challenge was I am kind. I want to make sure that people are happy. Yes. But there's a balance between making sure people are happy and treating them with respect and running a business. Yes. And you know, it's great if the employees are happy, but you can't function if the business isn't profitable and you're not helping people. In your case, your clients, in my case, mine. So I think the first time I had to let somebody go, I uh my heart was broken. I I felt awful. And then I realized that in order for the business to grow, I had to let it grow.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And you definitely have to separate business and friendship sometimes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But being kind and being a lover, it's definitely hard and it doesn't feel good. Yeah. And a lot of the a lot of things don't feel good, and they're really big important moments that still have to happen if you want to grow your business.
SPEAKER_00Was there ever a point in time when you were performing that you thought this isn't what I want to do for the rest of my life?
SPEAKER_01Not when I was on stage. Okay. I lived for that 45 minutes to an hour on stage, and the rest of the time was like heart-wrenching. And in those moments, uh yes. Um, but no, for most of my life it was just like non-negotiable. Um, and then it got to the point where the industry changed so much. I didn't feel like I was the healthiest version of myself. My goal was always to help people through music, and how could I help people if I wasn't feeling like healthy? How could I help people through something that wasn't making me feel healthy anymore? Um, and my priority shifted for sure. Um so that was really when I decided to press go on this other dream that developed as I was on the road to my first dream. And you didn't abandon the music because here incorporates your love of music. Yes, it's music's a huge uh part of the space. The sound system's top-notch. We do live music classes as well, so live music experiences, whether it's a live DJ or live guitar in a yoga class or a boot camp or whatever the class is. Um sometimes I'll come in and sing during Shibasa in a yoga class, and um it combines all my favorite things. So music, fitness, wellness, yoga was always what like kept me sane throughout the music industry. Um, nature, there are trees inside. So I really took all of all the things you love. Yes, and and Lucy comes to the studio sometimes. Lucy comes to the studio all the time. She works at front desk, she's the boss, she checks people in. She at first I was like, oh no, would people not like that there's a dog here? And then I realized you just may not align with this place if you if you don't like that.
SPEAKER_00We have an office dog too, and I worried about that for a moment. Like, what if people don't like it?
SPEAKER_01Well then seems like a everyone belongs here, but maybe not you.
SPEAKER_00Right, right, but everyone belongs here, but you broke it. If you don't if you don't jive with with the doggy, then yeah, maybe it's you. We both love dogs.
SPEAKER_01We do so much. Yes. And no, everybody loves Lucy.
SPEAKER_00She's she's a she's very important. Yeah. If you could go back in time and live in another time and place, where do you see yourself?
SPEAKER_01I think I I think when I felt this out in the questionnaire, I was talking about like the music era. Yeah. I would just love I would love to be probably an adult in the music era of like Whitney Houston and Celine Dion and Mariah Carrot. I was a kid and I loved them, but I think I would love to go back and experience that as an adult and like Cher. Cher's my mom's favorite, and I love Cher's like fashion. Um, so yes. So like back to the 90s.
SPEAKER_00Well, the the 80s, the mid-80s. I was an 89 baby. I saw my first concert, I think, was Whitney Houston with your mom. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it was I think it was your never saw her live. And my mom was Whitney Houston. I would love in her prime to see her live. I I hear you. Um, you ready to play Laugh Love Law? Sure. Alright, you're gonna grab those paddles and I'm gonna give you a topic.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00And you're gonna hold up whichever paddle works for you. So if it's something that makes you smile or makes you laugh, you're gonna hold up the laugh uh paddle. If it's something you absolutely love, you hold up the love panel. And if it's a big fat no, you hold up the law panel. Who's who likes law? Well, I do, but you know, it's the least fun of the three, right?
SPEAKER_01Does everybody know that you're also like the family lawyer? Yeah, you know, I I was we have a we have a we have a show called Call Heather. We don't know the answer. It's just call Heather. Oh, it's the whole family. But sometimes even you're not cousin cousins.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, your cousins on the other side. So sometimes the call Heather has nothing to do with law, but it's like ask Heather, she might know. Sometimes I do. Ask Heather.
SPEAKER_01I like ask Heather. Yep.
SPEAKER_00All right, are you ready? Yeah. Now, when you lift up the panel, if there's something that you want to tell us, a little story, you can, but you don't have to. Okay. Okay. Texting. Yeah, you couldn't live without it. You don't want to talk to everybody. And I don't like picking up the phone for sure now. Yeah. Concerts. Okay. White lies.
SPEAKER_01I don't want to say. I think they're like important sometimes. Okay. Okay.
SPEAKER_00But like, sometimes they're important. If they're for like a if they're for like a positive reason. Like I cook you dinner and it's not good and you don't want to insult me, you say, oh, it's okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Like that? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. But generally they don't like lying. Superstitions. Do you have them? I feel like pen, like, don't like pick up a penny on heads, not tails. Yeah. Like those kinds. So yeah. Don't walk over somebody. Oh, that's like, yeah, I think Chell's big on that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but obviously somebody walked over me one way as a child and never walked back. And you're okay. Well no, I'm really sure. That was it. Yeah. It was if you walked over somebody one way and not the other way, you still growing. Really?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Oh, I don't even know what. I just know it's bad. Yeah. It was under a ladder, but that's also dangerous.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that is dangerous. Okay, so you're not sure on that one. No. Alright. Reinvention. Yeah. That's a big one. Life. Procrastination. Oh. I don't I do it, but I don't like it. Um, I know the answer to this one. Tattoos.
SPEAKER_01Not asked me, asked me like six years ago. No, I had none. Now I'm covered, but like only my arms. My arms and my hands. Unsolicited advice. I don't, I'm open-minded, but like depends where it's coming from. Okay. Yeah. All right. I'm big on feedback. I always I'm very big on feedback. Feedback within my business, especially helps me better curate the experience for everybody.
SPEAKER_00But like sometimes it depends where it's coming from.
SPEAKER_01Alright.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Before we get to capsule confessions, I do have a question for you. If somebody was interested in becoming a member at here, how would they do it? How would they do it? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You'd start by either filling out a form and we'll give you a call, or you're gonna start with a two week intro special. It's two weeks unlimited. Um, it's an amazing value, and you get to try everything and experience everything the studio has to offer.
SPEAKER_00As many classes as you want.
SPEAKER_01As many classes as you want, and there's so much to try. My my Goal was to have all the important stuff under one roof so you don't need a million memberships. You don't have the membership hub. You can do everything in one place. Um, and is there a phone number or a website? Oh, yeah, call us. There's a website. Yeah. Here hotyoga.com, H E R E Hot Yoga.com. Um, you can call us 516-699-3199. Uh, you can text us, 516-696-9139. Uh, and we're like where we're friendly, really excited to chat with you. So you could talk to me, you could talk to Mona, you could talk to Nikki, their managers, anyone at the front desk.
SPEAKER_00Where's that love panel now? Love panel. Yeah. Are you ready for the tricky one? We're gonna do capsule confessions. So we've been having some technical difficulties, right? So the key is to jiggle the handle before you put it in the quarter. Okay. Can you do this? It's a lot of pressure. I think so. So you're gonna pull three capsules out, right? Okay. And you can either answer the question, you can ask me to answer the question, or you can save it for the next guest.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00You ready? Yeah. All right.
SPEAKER_01So I take an actual appointment.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, an actual quarter, not the pretty ones. A quarter. Yeah. My new nails. With your new pretty nails. We're gonna. No, you have to jiggle first. You do I already did it right. No, no, you didn't listen to the instructions. So you jiggle first.
unknownJiggle!
SPEAKER_00Okay, now you put the quarter in.
unknownOkay. No.
SPEAKER_01Can I get up?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. There you go. Singing also helps.
SPEAKER_01Tell! What did I sing the other day? I called Tell and I left a voicemail. I left her a voicemail. I can't remember the song. You sang a song on a voicemail. Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_00Alright, I feel like that's enough jiggling. Yes. Yes. Okay. What are you getting? Alright. Open it up. What do we got?
SPEAKER_01What is something that you thought you'd be amazing at, but were terrible at? Gymnastics? I thought I was amazing at it, and then I watched videos back from when I was a kid. I was really bad at it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's a little bit exciting, but that's my Yeah, but you can't be good.
SPEAKER_00That's my truth. Yeah. Alright. You got some more capsules. Got some more capsules. Yeah, we had to do that off camera. Nails? Yeah, I can help you. Alright, ready? Oh no. Here we go. I got one. I got this one. I'll do yours first.
SPEAKER_01What is something you are still trying to achieve professionally? Oh. Do you want to answer this one?
SPEAKER_00No, you're answering. Yeah, I'm good. I'm done. Well, no, now I'm a new podcast.
SPEAKER_01So we'll add this. What about you? I'm gonna be expanding here at Yoga and Strength for sure. And I'm gonna release my children's music.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's a great idea.
SPEAKER_01Yes, positive music that teach kids about life, but it's good music, so they're listening to appropriate lyrics, and their parents won't hate it. They'll enjoy it too. Um but you won't do gymnastics in the background.
SPEAKER_00I won't do gymnastics.
SPEAKER_01Okay. And you know what? It's like really meaningful music work. It's not about followers and numbers, it's like about making a difference in kids' lives. So that. I gotta give you a love again. Thank you. What is the strangest thing in your refrigerator right now? That's a great question. It's been smelling funky. Oh, no. Actually, and I figured out this morning that it was shrimp that I didn't cook. Oh, throw it out! I threw it out at the end. That's my honest. That's my truth. It's only been there since like Tuesday, but it's I didn't cook it. I couldn't figure it out. Fish is same day.
SPEAKER_00Fish is not like three days. It's same day or garbage.
SPEAKER_01I cooked some of it. I just didn't finish all of it. So, but now it's fine. Because I threw it out.
SPEAKER_00Alright, good. I answered them all. You did. Good job. Good job. Now I need you to take one of those pretty tokens out. Okay. Sign it for us. Okay. Use the Sharpie. Okay. My name is very long. You can write Gabby. You can do whatever you want. You can sign Lucy's name if you. Oh, yeah. And then we'll put it in the jar. And we're keeping these as little. Yeah, that one. Of all of our guests. It's a little memory. I love it. Close up that jar. And then I want to give you a really cute. I love it! I'm so excited. It's gonna be so comfortable. Laugh, love, laugh. I love it. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01Thank you.
SPEAKER_00I love your merch too. It's so cute. I gotta give you one now. Here. Thank you. And then I'm gonna double entendre you. Thank you for being here. Um, it's actually been so much fun because we get to hang out as cousins and we get to hang out as friends, but you are a pretty remarkable woman. And it is nice to speak to you professionally.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. I love you, cousin. Love you. I'm so proud of you.
SPEAKER_00Proud of you.
SPEAKER_01Smell good. So do you.
SPEAKER_00Tune in next time to Laugh Love Love. Yay!