It’s safe to say that Brynn Putnam, a former professional ballerina and the founder of Refine, a group of three fitness clubs in New York City, knows a thing or two about exercise. But, after having a baby, she found herself in an unthinkable position: she was a gym owner with no time to go to the gym. Putnam also noticed her Refine members loved it when she installed more mirrors, something Putnam had been used to as a ballerina. Putnam hooked up a Raspberry Pi computer to a mirror to create a hacked-together mirror-slash-fitness instructor. Many iterations later, that product became Mirror, which streams fitness classes and is second only to Peloton as the breakout fitness product of the pandemic. Retailing at $1,495 plus subscription fees of $39 a month for on-demand classes, Mirror is not for everyone. In July, though, Lululemon decided it definitely was for them, and purchased the company for $500 million. –Gabrielle Bienasz

In Michigan, where the current minimum wage is $9.65 an hour, Carla Walker-Miller took a stand in 2018 when she began hiring workers at a minimum of $15 an hour. She didn’t stop there: She adopted a policy where people with criminal records are still fairly considered for employment. “I believe in modeling decisions that put the team first,” says Walker-Miller. “That way, everyone from the receptionist to the security guard to your customer experience manager knows that you’re invested in them, and they’ll put that same investment in you and your company.”

Walker-Miller Energy Services was initially founded in 2000 to be an energy product supplier, but grew to focus on energy efficiency for residential and commercial clients after Michigan passed 2009 legislation requiring better efficiency in energy use. Walker-Miller’s company landed on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies for five of the years between 2007 and 2016. – Anna Meyer