BUFFALO, N.Y. — Orangetheory Fitness is set to be worth $1 billion by the end of this year and the woman behind it all is a Niagara Falls native.

"I love coming back to Niagara Falls, Buffalo area, that's where I grew up, to see my company have franchises here, Orangetheory Fitness studios, is just unbelievable, it's absolutely surreal," Ellen Latham.

For the past eight years, that's how life has been for Latham. However, it's been decades that she's been involved in fitness. She graduated from the University at Buffalo with a master's degree in exercise physiology. After losing her job, the single-mom started teaching pilates in her home, but wasn't seeing the results she wanted so she changed up the workout, while also expanding.

"I was a little frustrated in group training, there wasn't a workout that would metabolically charge the body, burn fat from the human body that all levels could take and gain great success. And so I opened up the studio in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and I was approached to rebrand this workout as the Orangetheory Fitness Workout in 2010," she said.

And in just those eight years, the company has grown into something Latham says she never thought was even possible.

"We're in 17 countries, this workout is done in eight languages, we're opening up our 1,000th studio in Portland, Oregon, the workout is performed 4.2 million times per month," she said.

"This is all based on how the human body functions, so unless the human body is going to change of how we're made, this is the best way to metabolically charge it," Latham said.

And for those hesitant to start working out, or even, starting a business, Latham says, "Go for it, and never think it's too late. I started this company at age 53, my company is going to be worth $1 billion by the end of this year. That's pretty exciting for a little later in my life. So never say never, and it's never too late."