For nearly two decades, Tino DeMartino has been woven into the fabric of Soho House, shaping community and culture long before wellness became the global buzzword it is today. From his early days on the rooftop in Meatpacking to his current role leading wellness initiatives across North America, Tino has witnessed firsthand how members crave more than just beautiful spaces, they seek meaningful connection, balance, and transformation.

Now, as Head of Wellness, he’s redefining what it means to live well within the Soho House world: building experiences that honor body, mind, and spirit, while keeping community at the heart of it all. In our conversation, Tino reflects on his journey, his influences, and the intentional practices that continue to shape both his leadership and his life.

You’ve been with Soho House since its early days in North America. Looking back, what drew you into this community, and how has your role evolved over the years?

I’ve been reflecting on this question a lot lately, as I approach my 19-year anniversary in March!  I started while I was still pursuing my professional dance career - I loved dancing for a living but knew there were so many other things I wanted to try.  I was drawn to the similarities: community, culture, fun and fabulous people (both members and members of the team)  I started as a server on the rooftop when they still showed the Sex and the City clip during new hire inductions - Meatpacking was the moment at that time!  I made my way through many different titles from member event programming to membership, eventually the Head of Membership for Los Angeles before Head of Member Experience for North America and now the Head of Wellness looking after our North American initiatives and our global retreat series.

As Head of Wellness for North America, how do you define “wellness” in the context of Soho House’s brand identity? What distinguishes it from wellness offerings elsewhere?  

People love staying in our hotels, visiting our gyms and spas but we didn’t have a department that was solely focused on those experiences - so excited to be leading the charge for North America along with some amazing team members in the UK and Europe, all committed to infusing a bit more wellness into the already amazing member journey! 

Wellness can mean so many different things—mental, emotional, physical, even creative. How do you personally define it?

Wellness, to me, means pouring the same amount of energy into all of those areas you mentioned - mental, emotional, spiritual, creative - that we put into our physical well-being.  Working out our mind, body and soul!  It means caring for our body through nutrition, movement, rest, honoring our emotions, cultivating meaningful relationships…surrounding ourselves with like-minded people, community is huge for me which is a big reason why I’ve been honored to evolve with Soho House over the last 2 decades!

Who has been the most influential figure in shaping your approach to wellness and leadership?

Honored to walk the paths of many great teachers, friends, soul family: Aree Khodai, Founder of Aree’s Army, David Shemesh, my sound teacher; every student who has taken a yoga class of mine has been a teacher in one way or another…the many members of Soho House I’ve been honored to connect with personally, professionally and now spiritually thanks to our growing global retreat series. 

Retreats have become such a big part of Soho House’s wellness identity. What’s the magic formula when you’re designing one?

Oh, love this question - I get asked this one a lot: what is the formula?  Short answer: we don’t have one haha…the longer, layered answer is that so much of it is intuition and playing to the amazing offering of each city we’re going to.  Fortunately we have a lot of amazing practitioners in the Soho House community - in art, music, wellness, food + nutrition, healing arts - it’s an honor to collaborate with existing members.  It’s also exciting folding long-time collaborators into the mix, a combination of rising stars and well-known facilitators alike.  We take the same approach to wellness that we do for all of our events: create one-of-a-kind experiences that you can only get at Soho House! 

What’s one practice or tool that has made the biggest difference in your mental or emotional health?

Yoga has been the foundation of my healing journey.  A serious dedication to taking class as often as possible, shortly after moving to LA, inspired me to do my teacher training with Aree Khodai.  This practice opened up so many different modalities: breath, meditation, somatic movement.  Though it takes a lot of physical and emotional stamina to produce and execute our retreats, I always love the opportunity to facilitate…it fills my cup.  Sharing any level of healing, at any/every opportunity, with members or otherwise is such a gift, one I don’t take for granted. 

If you’re familiar with Cymbiotika, are there any products that resonate with you personally, and how do they fit into your daily routine?

I’ve got a Cymbiotika on-hand regularly: traveling between our North American properties keeps me on-the-go; having a daily dose of Vitamin C and or Elderberry is essential!  I also love a Longevity Mushroom pack when working out with our amazing trainers.  And bouncing between time zones isn’t always pretty but Liposomal Glutathione certainly helps! 

If someone came to you completely burned out, what’s the very first thing you’d tell them to do?

REST!  Hustle culture is over (looking in the mirror while I write this).  We cannot pour from an empty cup: take the time out, take a walk, be in nature, move away from the screen and go outside - supplements are great…classic Vitamin D to pair with our favorite Cymbiotika is even better!

If you could change one thing about the way the world approaches wellness, what would it be?

Don’t look at wellness as an industry or an opportunity, look at it as an essential way of living.  Pour purpose and passion into what you do and the rest will come.  And don’t compare your journey to anyone else’s; do what feels good for YOU! 

What does success look like to you now compared to when you first started your career?

Am I happy?  Is what I’m doing serving my higher self and highest calling?  Simple questions I ask myself every morning/every time I’ve got to make a big decision.  Something I probably didn’t start doing until recently.  If I can answer yes to most of these, most of the time, I feel like that’s success.

Keep up with Tino and see what he’s building next on Instagram.