How Camila Ramón Brought Perreo To Peloton

In Elite Daily’s series At The Moment, celebs dish on their current projects, pop culture hot takes, and everything taking over their group chats. Below, Peloton instructor Camila Ramón talks about her entry into the fitness world and how she hopes to inspire other Latinas.

Long before Camila Ramón taught fitness classes for thousands of Peloton users, she was a hyperactive toddler in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

“I used to drink my milk, my mamadera [baby bottle], upside down on the couch while watching TV,” the 32-year-old tells Elite Daily. When she was 7, her family relocated to Miami, where she parlayed her boundless energy into joining local dance teams. Like many teenage girls, Ramón started to struggle with her relationship to exercise. “I was always trying to change myself instead of celebrating myself," she recalls.

In 2017, three years after graduating from Florida International University — and a healing process she describes as “learning to have fun while I moved” — Ramón left her post-grad job in public relations to pursue fitness instruction. Four years later, she joined Peloton as its first bilingual cycling instructor, offering English and Spanish-language classes on the bike and treadmill.

Building the community of perras responsables and the Mila Mafia around the world — that's what I was meant to do.

In just over two years with the fitness giant, Ramón has become a fan-favorite for empowering sweat sessions that center her Latin roots. Whether she pauses mid-class for a perreo interlude (a Puerto Rican dance reminiscent of grinding), tells viewers to embrace their inner “perra responsable” (Spanish for “responsible baddie”), or harps against “cucaracha (a traditional Mexican folk dance that literally translates to “cockroach”) *ss energy,” every affirmation is set to a soundtrack spanning from reggaetón to pop-punk.

“If you've taken class with me, you know that my classes are like a club,” Ramón says. Her diehard fans, who call themselves the Mila Mafia, can’t get enough. When they’re not riding or running with her, they’re hyping up her radically honest Instagram posts or following along with her unfiltered “get ready with me” TikToks.

Some of Ramón’s classes are more like concerts. In 2023, she hosted musicians T-Pain and Feid as guests in live studio rides, where she served them rapid-fire questions, sang along to their chart-topping tracks, and let them (attempt to) lead the workout. She calls both experiences “such an honor,” but says sharing a stage with fellow Floridian T-Pain gave her butterflies: “I was so nervous going into it, but I was like, ‘You know what, girl? You got this. You were made for this. Nobody knows T-Pain more than you know T-Pain.’”

As for Ramón’s next moves — beyond planning more dance parties for the Mila Mafia and appearing on her first big Peloton poster — she’s excited to continue serving her fan base in the coming year. “I really feel that my message is so important,” she explains. “I want to connect with people in the Latine community to help them see that on the biggest fitness platform in the world, we're idolizing celebrating our bodies, having fun, and movement for life, rather than shrinking or changing ourselves, or [working out] because we're not enough.”

Below, Ramón discusses her current TV obsessions, reveals her favorite Bad Bunny lyric, and addresses the long-standing debate around raisins in empanadas.

Elite Daily: If you could invite any musician to lead a Peloton class or run with, who would it be?

Camila Ramón: Baby Miko. Shakira, too. I can’t decide between the two.

ED: What's the last song you listened to?

CR: Right now, it's “Popular” with Playboi Carti, The Weeknd, and Madonna.

ED: Describe your ideal night out in Miami.

CR: Ideally, I would not be in West Kendall where I grew up, because then it's a 45-minute drive to anywhere you want to go out. I would go out to a dinner that's kind of lit, but not too lit. Not like the club dinner yet. You don't want to be too full when you're dancing.

After that, I would go dancing at a place of lower caliber than expected, because I like the grungy spots. I just want an outdoor-ish style venue where I can dance with my friends, that potentially closes at 3 a.m., so I'm forced to go home before I make any other reckless decisions. There must be a lot of perreo. There must be some form of snack after we go out, obviously.

ED: On a night in, what are you marathon-watching?

CR: Oh, I am a girl that loves destruction. I just started watching this Korean zombie-esque series called Sweet Home. I watch multiple things at a time, so I'll watch something when I'm laying on the couch and then I watch something while running or cycling on Peloton for entertainment. I only watch the scary things when I'm there, so it also kind of pushes me to get on and watch my show.

ED: What's your go-to trick for pumping yourself up for an early morning class?

CR: Listening to reggaetón, perreo intenso, on the way. I cycle through music and songs, but I will definitely play "Punto y Aparte" by Tego Calderoón or "LALA" by Myke Towers when I'm a little more sleepy and need to ease my way into the harder perreo.

ED: Empanadas with or without raisins?

CR: I'm going to get hate for this, but with raisins. I love sweet with meat.

ED: Are you on any weird sides of TikTok right now?

CR: I'm on the killer whale attacks side of TikTok. Some girlies watch Love Island, and some girlies watch killer whale attacks on National Geographic, and I'm the latter.

ED: What is your favorite Bad Bunny lyric?

CR: Just because I truly believe in what this lyric stands for, it’s “Ese culo se merece to’ [that *ss deserves everything].”

ED: What would you be doing right now if you weren't a fitness instructor?

CR: I'd be a fitness instructor. I would find a way to make it work. Whether I was at Peloton or not, I would still be aiming to help people feel good in their bodies. Building the community of the perras responsables and the Mila Mafia around the world — that's what I was meant to do.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.