About Ruby Hooping

This is a story about a girl named Ruby.

Okay that’s only my nickname but let’s do this. 😂

me, circa 2015ish

My name is Lindsay Redd. I am from West Virginia originally. As an adult I have also lived in Ohio, California, and now I’m finally settled in North Carolina.

When I first got into hula hooping, I was around 30 years old. Up to this point, I had studied English for my Bachelor’s and then worked as a paralegal for my whole adult life. I was also blogging and starting to find my voice as a plus size woman.

I instantly fell in love with hula hooping as soon as I figured out that I needed a bigger hoop to really enjoy learning.  The way hooping made me feel was like nothing I had ever experienced before and I knew I had found something magical.

The only problem was that it seemed the only people making hooping visible online and in both fitness and festival communities were young women with thin bodies.  I didn’t fit in with this image at all. There wasn’t much information out there at all on how to hoop if you’re bigger like me.

I realized there were a lot of other people out there who looked like me and felt like me about this situation. I began naturally and organically building a community online that welcomed all people and centered plus size folk.

It was clear from the beginning how much this community means to people and how much we need it. Since those early days, Ruby Hooping has taken on a life of its own.  We are blown away and humbled by the active, loving and enthusiastic community that has formed thanks to the nurturing and love of everyone involved.

So for ten absolutely amazing years now, we have grown our community, taught tons of classes both online and in person, held annual retreats, and have hand-built over 15,000 custom sized hula hoops for people ranging in size from 6x down to small.

a hug at the ruby retreat 2019

And when I say “we”, I mean me, my family who has helped me so much since the beginning, everyone who works with us, all of my hoop friends who support the community, the hoopers we sponsor, all of our customers, and everyone that comes to our events or otherwise participates in our community across all platforms.

My goal has always been to provide as much information and inspiration as I can about hooping and flow arts in general ESPECIALLY as it relates to us plus size folk. I want to share the magic with as many people as we can.  It is that important.

the sunset was a whole vibe at ruby retreat 2017

When you invest your time or money in us, you support our mission to bring size inclusivity to the hula hoop world, and you help us pay our bills so we can continue to do this important work.