For our launch issue of HC UEA, we caught up with Kate Batty, a UEA graduate, budding entrepeneur and future business woman who launched her own company during her time at UEA, based around kangaroo style rebound boots and exercise named KTroo. We sat down with Kate to find out a bit more…
Name: Kate Batty
Degree: International development with Spanish
Hometown: Westbourne
Describe yourself in three words: positive, adaptable, adventurous.
Favourie UEA memory:
“Ah I don’t know! Erm, bouncing on graduation day with two friends from my year abroad who came to live with me in Norwich! Trying to store 20 pairs of boots in my little bedroom. KTroo-ing in the LCR with all the lights and music, the day after getting all the boots. Jailbreak.”
Tell us a bit about KTroo:
“KTroo brings fitness and fiesta into the 21st century, hosting bouncing fitness classes and parties on rebound boots that absorb up to 80 percent of impact. You burn more than the same exercise without the boots. It’s amazing for core strength and toning, and you don’t ache the next day (You really have to try it to believe it…I didn’t believe it when I first got told)! But most importantly…it’s really fun!”
How did you come up with the name ‘KTroo ?’ Does it stand for anything?
“It came from Kate (my name) and kangaroo! I was sat with friends around a pool in Madrid after we had all been bouncing, and I was thinking of training as an instructor. We were all laughing about what I could call it in the UK if I started and one of the girls said Katy-roo…and it stuck!”
Building a business around exercise and rebound boots is pretty original. How did you come up with the concept of KTroo?
“I was working in Madrid on my year abroad and saw some people bounce past me in Retiro Park, I had just done a boot camp class and thought this looked way more fun, so I managed to stop them and ask what they were doing. I then organised some sessions to bounce around the park with my friends. Then after getting hooked decided to train as an instructor before coming back to finish my final year of Uni.”
What inspired you to launch your own business?
“I saw how popular the boots were in Spain and other countries and thought it would be awesome in the UK. I am also really passionate about health and fitness, as well as truly believing in the benefits of exercising in the boots (I used to have a really bad knee and since KTroo it’s all gone)! I also liked the international element of it, having contact with people in other countries doing a similar thing (I was just in Colombia over Christmas doing KTroo)! And also, building something yourself from your own ideas seemed like a lot of fun (it’s been lots of work but worth it)!”
What is the future for KTroo?
“Well at the moment I’m launching KTroo Kids so after-school clubs, holiday-clubs, weekend clubs and parties. I have lots of stuff I want to do with it, you will have to wait and see!”
Where do you see yourself in ten years time? “Oh God. Sailing around the world on a boat…Ah I don’t know! KTroo-ing in some other part of the world?”
Why should UEA Her Campus readers get into KTroo?
“New year, new you. Haha! No seriously, if you want to get fit or keep fit KTroo is amazing. You sweat and work out a lot without thinking about it. You can’t help smiling and laughing; it really does make you feel good!”