Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / Episode 11: Candice Huffine, Model & Founder Day/Won

Transcript

Episode 11: Candice Huffine, Model & Founder Day/Won · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Hurdle. I am Emily a body.
0:05
Speaker 1: This week I'm chatting with Candace Hafei, who I really
0:08
Speaker 1: cannot say enough great things about after our time together
0:11
Speaker 1: the other day. She's a model and major player in
0:14
Speaker 1: the body positivity movement, creator of actwear line Day one
0:19
Speaker 1: That's wo n and also a project start which you
0:23
Speaker 1: can find on Instagram at PSU got This, an online
0:26
Speaker 1: community for women of all shapes and sizes starting their
0:30
Speaker 1: running journey. It's all pretty awesome, but the run inspiration
0:34
Speaker 1: situation in particular is really rad considering that just a
0:38
Speaker 1: few years ago she absolutely despised the sport adare from
0:43
Speaker 1: her husband, got her off the couch and eventually this
0:47
Speaker 1: is crazy to the finish lines of two full marathons
0:51
Speaker 1: within one year. Today we'll talk about how her sweat
0:54
Speaker 1: drenched hurtle moment changed her life forever, teaching her that
0:58
Speaker 1: truly anything is possible if you're willing to work for it.
1:02
Speaker 1: Quick thank you to the sponsor of today's episode, Pluto Pillow. Guys,
1:06
Speaker 1: I am so jet blagged right now from an unreal
1:09
Speaker 1: trip to Joshua Tree with my friends at the Northeast
1:11
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1:14
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1:18
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1:48
Speaker 2: I could not be.
1:50
Speaker 1: More amped, could not be more amped that Tomorrow is
1:54
Speaker 1: May eighth, and that means it's time for Hurdle Live
1:56
Speaker 1: at the Arlow Nomad Hotel at six thirty pm. I'll
2:00
Speaker 1: be sitting down with Candace and also a few of
2:02
Speaker 1: my other favorite people Fred Santarpia, Alex Silverwagan, Adam Kallen
2:07
Speaker 1: and Sarah Levy, all past guests of the pod to
2:10
Speaker 1: chat all things self love and self care. Huge thanks
2:14
Speaker 1: to my friends at the Rlow for helping me make
2:16
Speaker 1: this all possible.
2:18
Speaker 2: Other things worth.
2:18
Speaker 1: Mentioning if you're not already, make sure you're subscribed to
2:22
Speaker 1: Hurdle in the iTunes store and follow the pod on
2:24
Speaker 1: social media at Hurdle podcast. And do you get Hurdles
2:29
Speaker 1: newsletter yet, because you should get on over to Hurdle
2:33
Speaker 1: dot us slash featured, give me your email and stay
2:36
Speaker 1: up to date with all the things. Last, but not least,
2:41
Speaker 1: I'm back at you with good deals again. In honor
2:43
Speaker 1: of Candace's stint here on the podcast. Today, Day one
2:47
Speaker 1: is offering an exclusive discount to Hurdle listeners, good for
2:51
Speaker 1: ten percent off on their site day dash one dot com.
2:55
Speaker 2: That's day hyphenone dot com.
2:57
Speaker 1: Using the promo code Hurdle, So make sure to head
3:01
Speaker 1: on over there and snag yourself some swag.
3:04
Speaker 2: I am a huge fan of the can't.
3:05
Speaker 1: Touch this compression liking myself and with that, let's get
3:10
Speaker 1: to hurdling.
3:26
Speaker 2: Today.
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Speaker 1: I'm here with Candice Huffein, a model who you may
3:29
Speaker 1: have seen on the runways at New York Fashion Week,
3:32
Speaker 1: also on the cover of l last year and Lane
3:35
Speaker 1: Bryant advertisements everywhere. Also founder of Project Start, a community
3:39
Speaker 1: for women of all shapes and sizes starting their running
3:42
Speaker 1: journey and designer and creator of Day One amazing in
3:46
Speaker 1: itself because correct me if I'm wrong. It's the only
3:49
Speaker 1: activewear line with sizing from zero to thirty two.
3:54
Speaker 2: This is what I hear, it is it is. Yeah.
3:57
Speaker 2: I wasn't aware of when we started the brand that
4:01
Speaker 2: we were really like shattering that ceiling. But it was
4:05
Speaker 2: brought to me in a question in an interview, like
4:06
Speaker 2: what does it feel like to be the first and only?
4:08
Speaker 2: And I was like, Wow, didn't know we were the
4:10
Speaker 2: first and only, But that's incredible and I hope that
4:12
Speaker 2: also maybe like turns on a light bulb for other brands.
4:16
Speaker 2: There are other active where brands who have a plus
4:19
Speaker 2: size or an extended size range. But what sets Day
4:22
Speaker 2: One apart is that it's the same collection throughout from
4:25
Speaker 2: start to finish, so her shopping experience is exactly the
4:27
Speaker 2: same regardless of what size she is. There's no like
4:30
Speaker 2: special tab to click, no special like you don't get
4:34
Speaker 2: the same things if you go above a certain size
4:37
Speaker 2: snafoo and all of that jazz that we like always
4:39
Speaker 2: fight against. So that's what I'm very proud of.
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Speaker 1: I love that you're just jumping into giving me all
4:44
Speaker 1: the details on this brand.
4:46
Speaker 2: Why not, right, let's take a pit stop here. Yeah,
4:52
Speaker 2: I'm back. Are we backing up? Let's back up? Okay,
4:54
Speaker 2: I'm into that. So I gave a little bio about you.
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Speaker 1: Why don't you tell me about how you got into modeling,
5:00
Speaker 1: because that started around age fifteen?
5:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, back in way up. Oh oh. I was like, oh,
5:05
Speaker 2: we're just going to back up like a few years
5:07
Speaker 2: to when I started running. No good point, We're going
5:09
Speaker 2: to back up to when I was fifteen. I'm thirty
5:12
Speaker 2: three years old now, so I've been modeling for a
5:13
Speaker 2: very long time. I had a dream and goal to
5:17
Speaker 2: be a model, like that was my only plan. I
5:19
Speaker 2: did not have any plan b I wasn't like also
5:23
Speaker 2: passionate about being a veterinarian or anything like that. Like
5:26
Speaker 2: I literally, from a very very young age, was like,
5:29
Speaker 2: I'm going to be a model. So when I was fifteen,
5:31
Speaker 2: I went up to some open calls in New York
5:34
Speaker 2: to like set out and get said contract. And you're
5:37
Speaker 2: from Maryland. I'm from Maryland. Yeah, So we took the
5:39
Speaker 2: train up to New York City quite often, and then yeah,
5:43
Speaker 2: I went to go like see some agencies to be like, hey,
5:45
Speaker 2: I'm here make me a model, and uh, that was
5:50
Speaker 2: just an interesting experience because like I went with like
5:53
Speaker 2: all the confidence in the world and did not realize
5:56
Speaker 2: how quickly I was going to get the rug pulled
5:58
Speaker 2: out from under my feet, which I guess is There's
6:02
Speaker 2: so many things that I learned from that experience though.
6:04
Speaker 2: In that like that fifteen year old girl was awesome
6:07
Speaker 2: because she was like I'm doing this no matter what,
6:09
Speaker 2: like I'm gonna go, there's no stopping me, and didn't
6:12
Speaker 2: let any fear or doubt like hold her back or like,
6:15
Speaker 2: well maybe I can't, maybe I shouldn't. Maybe I'm not
6:18
Speaker 2: this size, and maybe I'm not like tall enough or whatever.
6:21
Speaker 2: I was just like, I'm here, world. You brought up
6:24
Speaker 2: something really interesting. I'm not this size.
6:26
Speaker 1: Were you always a little bit bigger than the girls
6:29
Speaker 1: that you were looking at?
6:30
Speaker 2: Well, I didn't realize I was until I went to
6:32
Speaker 2: New York and they were like, right, you're great and all,
6:35
Speaker 2: but you need to lose twenty pounds. I was fifteen
6:37
Speaker 2: years old, I was a size six. I was an athlete.
6:40
Speaker 2: I played lacrosse, I was a cheerleader. I had an
6:44
Speaker 2: active lifestyle. I was young, I mean not technically I
6:46
Speaker 2: was a child, so it's like, how do you what
6:49
Speaker 2: more could I have done? Like to lose twenty pounds
6:52
Speaker 2: that is a significant amount of weight, and there would
6:55
Speaker 2: be no at the time, like there would have been
6:58
Speaker 2: no right way to have done that or a safe
7:00
Speaker 2: way to go about doing that. And then it goes
7:03
Speaker 2: back to like this strongheaded young girl who was like, hmmm, no,
7:06
Speaker 2: that's not going to be an option for me. So
7:09
Speaker 2: what's like, I'm not leaving. It's still going to be
7:12
Speaker 2: a model, So what's the next plan? Right? And then
7:15
Speaker 2: I got offered a contract as a plus size model
7:18
Speaker 2: the next day. I mean I wanted. I was. It
7:20
Speaker 2: was a two day trip and we had a lot
7:22
Speaker 2: of appointments the first day and fewer the second, and
7:25
Speaker 2: at the rate that the disappointment was coming in the
7:28
Speaker 2: first day, I called my mom and I was like,
7:30
Speaker 2: I really want to come home, and she was like,
7:32
Speaker 2: just stay, like you already set all these up. You're
7:34
Speaker 2: already up there, you have the hotel, you're with a grandma,
7:36
Speaker 2: Like just stay and have fun, and like it's not
7:38
Speaker 2: that big of a deal, but just still go to
7:40
Speaker 2: all of them. Don't burn your bridges. And it was
7:43
Speaker 2: the second day that I got a contract as a
7:44
Speaker 2: plus size model. But completely unbeknownst to me, I had
7:47
Speaker 2: no idea that there was two separate worlds in modeling.
7:50
Speaker 2: I had no idea that I was technically plus sized.
7:54
Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, I was always taller and more built,
7:59
Speaker 2: I guess, or or broader than friends at school. But
8:03
Speaker 2: I didn't see that as an issue or I didn't
8:06
Speaker 2: feel other than let's say, talk.
8:10
Speaker 1: To me a little bit about being quote unquote what
8:13
Speaker 1: would be considered a plus size model today? Because I
8:15
Speaker 1: feel like there has been such an amazing movement away
8:19
Speaker 1: from designating Yeah, absolutely word plus size. You don't call
8:22
Speaker 1: yourself a plus size model now, and I think that's amazing.
8:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it was. It was something I didn't want
8:27
Speaker 2: to call myself in the beginning as well, because I
8:29
Speaker 2: found that was very as a fifteen year old girl,
8:31
Speaker 2: I found that was very confusing for the masses, Like
8:34
Speaker 2: why have you just told me that this way? When
8:36
Speaker 2: I feel great and fine about who I am, but like,
8:38
Speaker 2: now you've put me in a box from the get go,
8:41
Speaker 2: which is I spent decades struggling to get out of.
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Speaker 2: And not because I was ashamed to be called plus size.
8:46
Speaker 2: But because because I was labeled with this, it limited
8:50
Speaker 2: the opportunities that I had, because certain brands were not
8:54
Speaker 2: going to cast for a plus size model, Certain campaigns
8:57
Speaker 2: and designers weren't even going to touch this their separate department.
9:01
Speaker 2: So because you told me who I am, like, you've
9:03
Speaker 2: separated and also limited the possibility and the opportunities that
9:07
Speaker 2: I'm going to have. And same same as today. What
9:11
Speaker 2: we're trying to do is break that barrier down because
9:13
Speaker 2: it's completely unnecessary and a woman can be plus and
9:17
Speaker 2: call herself plus and have a positive relationship with the word.
9:22
Speaker 2: I think it's society, it's the industry along these like
9:26
Speaker 2: two decades have really screwed up what that definition means
9:30
Speaker 2: for a woman, and they've made it a really bad
9:32
Speaker 2: thing so that it has become like, you know, it
9:35
Speaker 2: was like blocked away dirty little secret or the you know,
9:38
Speaker 2: clothing was in a hidden away in a department store,
9:41
Speaker 2: and they made you think that it was bad to
9:43
Speaker 2: be plus. So we've been working we I say, we
9:46
Speaker 2: like all the girls in this industry, and we've all
9:49
Speaker 2: been working to blur these lines because they're so unnecessary
9:54
Speaker 2: and divisive and it really makes a woman start to
9:57
Speaker 2: feel differently about herself if she's put in a box
9:59
Speaker 2: by someone else.
10:00
Speaker 1: I also think that more and more brands are open
10:02
Speaker 1: to the blurring of these lines, that they want to
10:04
Speaker 1: work with women of all shapes and sizes, and it's
10:07
Speaker 1: totally more in vogue now not to have you know,
10:11
Speaker 1: a size zero across the board runway, but you.
10:14
Speaker 2: Have to because now, I mean, there's so many different
10:16
Speaker 2: ways women can express themselves that if you don't serve
10:20
Speaker 2: the masses properly, if she doesn't see herself, if she
10:23
Speaker 2: doesn't feel represented, she's going to let you know. And
10:25
Speaker 2: then basically like you're on the shit list, because they're
10:29
Speaker 2: not going to stand for being forgotten. Like we've been there,
10:33
Speaker 2: done that. We're in like you know, we're empowered. We're
10:36
Speaker 2: in a time of rising together and being at the forefront,
10:41
Speaker 2: being seen, and nobody is going to stand for being
10:46
Speaker 2: on the back lines feeling like an afterthought. You know,
10:49
Speaker 2: enough is enough. So if a magazine or a company
10:52
Speaker 2: or a brand doesn't represent all the women that they
10:55
Speaker 2: actually sell to or take money from, then they're going
10:59
Speaker 2: to hear because that one is not standing for it anymore.
11:02
Speaker 2: You're not standing for it. No, she's tired of this nonsense.
11:05
Speaker 2: You slammed that shit.
11:09
Speaker 1: You said that you were an athlete back at age fifteen,
11:12
Speaker 1: What were you doing.
11:13
Speaker 2: I was a cheerleader. Yeah, that's an athlete. People look
11:16
Speaker 2: it up. It's a sport and it was hard work.
11:20
Speaker 2: It was grueling. Anyway. I played the cross for a
11:21
Speaker 2: little while as well. But at the same time I
11:24
Speaker 2: was doing these things, I was also trying to get
11:26
Speaker 2: a modeling contract, and so I kind of saw that,
11:30
Speaker 2: like maybe the potential of these sticks coming down on
11:33
Speaker 2: my face trying to get a ball was not going
11:36
Speaker 2: to be like the most helpful, the most helpful way
11:39
Speaker 2: to get ahead in a business that might be using
11:42
Speaker 2: my face. So yeah, so everything kind of stopped around
11:46
Speaker 2: like junior and senior year.
11:47
Speaker 1: So you got a modeling contract, you're fifteen, Yes, and
11:51
Speaker 1: what happens next, Well.
11:52
Speaker 2: I'm in high school. So I mean, I'm still focused
11:56
Speaker 2: on that. I'm not like, listen, I say I'm a
11:59
Speaker 2: model for eighteen years, and I would say I'm truly
12:02
Speaker 2: a model for like fifteen, I'd say, because the beginning
12:07
Speaker 2: years were kind of a growing period, and I had
12:10
Speaker 2: a contract that there wasn't a ton I could do
12:12
Speaker 2: with it. Also, the plus market, let's say, or like
12:16
Speaker 2: the curvy fashion world wasn't very prominent in the States. Actually,
12:21
Speaker 2: so the beginning of my career, I spent a long
12:23
Speaker 2: time working in Europe for catalogs and I mean here,
12:27
Speaker 2: I mean, I was fifteen years old in a size six.
12:29
Speaker 2: What are you going to do with that girl? So,
12:30
Speaker 2: I mean I was in seventeen magazine in the beginning,
12:32
Speaker 2: which was great. Those where dreams come true. I mean,
12:34
Speaker 2: you're going to be all around it. You're going to
12:35
Speaker 2: be proud of that girl because she's crushing her dreams. Yeah,
12:38
Speaker 2: I was, like, she's a model again.
12:40
Speaker 1: It's just it's so insane to hear you say that sentence,
12:43
Speaker 1: like you're fifteen years old and you're a size six.
12:45
Speaker 1: I know when I was fifteen years old, I was
12:47
Speaker 1: a size sixteen and miserable and upset, and I would
12:50
Speaker 1: have killed to see to be a size six or.
12:54
Speaker 2: What about killed to see someone who looked like you
12:57
Speaker 2: and made you feel okay to be that size. You know,
12:59
Speaker 2: no one did I know, or like even have a
13:01
Speaker 2: place that you felt, you know, proud to shop. It's
13:06
Speaker 2: you know, they always make my experience as a child
13:09
Speaker 2: is much different than some of my peers in this industry.
13:13
Speaker 2: Like another friend of mine who's a model, was the
13:15
Speaker 2: sixteen when she was young as well, and she's like, I,
13:18
Speaker 2: you know, I had to go in these stores that
13:20
Speaker 2: were marketed more towards like a mom or grandma's age,
13:23
Speaker 2: because that's the only way they saw this kind of body.
13:26
Speaker 2: And she's like, I had to go in and like
13:28
Speaker 2: try to find something out of nothing, but it was
13:30
Speaker 2: It just made an already tricky time for a young
13:34
Speaker 2: girl even worse because there was nothing she could feel
13:37
Speaker 2: confident in wearing or doing or anything.
13:39
Speaker 1: I remember I used to buy the exact same pair
13:41
Speaker 1: of jeans and wear them down until when the thighs
13:44
Speaker 1: rupped together so much that they would fry. And they
13:46
Speaker 1: were from American Eagle and they were a size sixteen,
13:49
Speaker 1: and at the time American Eagle, that was when they
13:52
Speaker 1: that was the max size that you went up to.
13:54
Speaker 1: And I remember so distinctly one day going into a
13:57
Speaker 1: dressing room to try on the size sixteen that I
14:00
Speaker 1: always try on before I would buy them. It was
14:02
Speaker 1: like a Tuesday night with my dad in the mall,
14:04
Speaker 1: like the store was getting ready to close down and
14:07
Speaker 1: having a literal meltdown in the dressing room because the
14:10
Speaker 1: sixteen didn't button anymore, and that was the end of
14:13
Speaker 1: the road, right, that was the end. And I refused
14:16
Speaker 1: to go to those Grandmothers stores because I was like,
14:19
Speaker 1: I'm not that person.
14:20
Speaker 2: That's not for me. And granted, you know that was
14:23
Speaker 2: a hurdle moment in itself, but you know, I'd still
14:25
Speaker 2: buy the size sixteen and just you know, lose what
14:28
Speaker 2: I had to lose until I got to fit into
14:30
Speaker 2: those jeans and that was all I needed for then, right, right,
14:32
Speaker 2: But that not having those girls in the photos around
14:36
Speaker 2: me in the stores that I wanted to be in,
14:38
Speaker 2: right oh, or just the availability and like the there's
14:42
Speaker 2: just so I often think, you know, many times during
14:46
Speaker 2: my career or any any message that I'm trying to
14:49
Speaker 2: project or a photo that I'm trying to inspire by,
14:53
Speaker 2: I'm always always always thinking of the girl in high
14:56
Speaker 2: school because I remember what that was like. And my
15:00
Speaker 2: body wasn't even that different than everybody else's, but I
15:02
Speaker 2: felt a little different. I Mean, I knew it was
15:04
Speaker 2: not lost on me that I was bigger than everyone else.
15:06
Speaker 2: Like I couldn't find a boyfriend because they were miniature.
15:09
Speaker 2: I was super tall, Like I knew that I was,
15:12
Speaker 2: I knew that I was of a different shape, but
15:15
Speaker 2: like adding on, you know, the strain of not being
15:21
Speaker 2: able to be on par with your peers and like
15:25
Speaker 2: sort of dress on trend, you know how like all
15:27
Speaker 2: these school years are and I'm just always thinking, like
15:30
Speaker 2: what if this girl who's twelve, fourteen, sixteen, whatever is
15:34
Speaker 2: sitting in middle school or high school right now, and
15:36
Speaker 2: she's confident and she's smart, and she has a great
15:40
Speaker 2: like individuality about her, she's like owning it. But then
15:43
Speaker 2: she can't like get dressed the way she sees herself.
15:46
Speaker 2: She can't feel as cool as she knows she is.
15:48
Speaker 2: Like that's just why, why why are you limitating her
15:52
Speaker 2: or who she can be via a pair of genes?
15:56
Speaker 1: And so much of the messaging now is like if
15:58
Speaker 1: you don't fit into these sizes, then you are not
16:01
Speaker 1: good enough. And to tell someone whose self image is
16:04
Speaker 1: so easily molded as a teenager that you're not good enough,
16:09
Speaker 1: that's awful.
16:10
Speaker 2: It can get it can be two different ways. It
16:11
Speaker 2: could be like she's already not feeling it, and then
16:15
Speaker 2: the fact that she can't rise up, like from imagery
16:20
Speaker 2: around her, or like possibility and availability around her, or
16:24
Speaker 2: on the flip side, is that she's she's got it
16:26
Speaker 2: all there, ready to rock and roll, and then also
16:28
Speaker 2: can't express herself the way she wants. It's like two
16:31
Speaker 2: barriers right from the start, like where you're not letting
16:33
Speaker 2: this girl just be because you're telling her she's not beautiful.
16:38
Speaker 1: Okay, you really start modeling about three years after the
16:42
Speaker 1: initial contract, you like really get into it yourself.
16:45
Speaker 2: I moved to New York after high school. I was
16:48
Speaker 2: really working quite a bit still in the European market.
16:50
Speaker 2: I spent a lot of years work in the European market.
16:52
Speaker 2: There just wasn't really what did that involve. I traveled
16:55
Speaker 2: a lot alone by myself to fun places, but I
17:00
Speaker 2: didn't really get to explore but where I went everywhere.
17:03
Speaker 2: I went to South Africa, England, Germany, like these were
17:07
Speaker 2: all regular stops in my in my early career. I
17:11
Speaker 2: was spent a lot of time there. Do you have
17:12
Speaker 2: a favorite? South Africa's pretty great? Wow, it's really really
17:16
Speaker 2: really amazing. Like I considered moving there very briefly, just
17:20
Speaker 2: I was very affected. I was like, oh my god,
17:22
Speaker 2: this is so amazing. But I mean, I was really
17:24
Speaker 2: proud to be working. I was making money, I was
17:26
Speaker 2: doing what I wanted to do. I didn't realize how
17:31
Speaker 2: behind the American market was, and also like what I
17:34
Speaker 2: was not being afforded here. I would say it kind
17:38
Speaker 2: of was like I just didn't even think to challenge
17:41
Speaker 2: it because it was gonna it was such a huge hurdle,
17:44
Speaker 2: let's say, you know, like conquering American magazines and brands,
17:48
Speaker 2: being on billboards, being on commercials. It was like that
17:51
Speaker 2: seemed so far away. I was always confident that it
17:54
Speaker 2: was eventually going to happen, but it was like very
17:57
Speaker 2: frustrating that I could work as a model, as a
18:00
Speaker 2: curvier woman somewhere else than in the place where you're from,
18:04
Speaker 2: where I'm from, and weird visibly curvy and accepted and
18:11
Speaker 2: I don't know, it was just very frustrating. So it
18:13
Speaker 2: took a while to like really break down that door.
18:16
Speaker 1: What was it like when you broke down the door?
18:17
Speaker 1: Where what was that first big hit here that really well?
18:23
Speaker 2: For me? It was like for my own personal career,
18:26
Speaker 2: and I think it was a really big shift in
18:27
Speaker 2: the industry as well. In twenty ten and twenty eleven,
18:31
Speaker 2: I did two back to back editorials with other curvy models,
18:34
Speaker 2: one for v magazine and one for Italian Vogue, and
18:37
Speaker 2: those really kind of showcased a body unseen before in
18:43
Speaker 2: magazines in a way that blink and you'll miss it.
18:46
Speaker 2: But here we've got these amazing, like curvy girls in here.
18:50
Speaker 2: Doesn't it fit so perfectly? Like this is the future.
18:53
Speaker 2: And I do feel like that really was a turning
18:55
Speaker 2: point within the industry to like kind of look at
18:57
Speaker 2: us in a different way so that we weren't in
19:00
Speaker 2: this box out in the shadows again, so we were
19:03
Speaker 2: really considered for high fashion magazines and advertisements and things
19:07
Speaker 2: like that. It kind of like completely changed the game
19:09
Speaker 2: on what brands will look for now. They will actually
19:13
Speaker 2: ask like, well, can I see why don't I see
19:15
Speaker 2: your size fourteens? It's like, okay, we've been here all along,
19:19
Speaker 2: but I'm in yeah, finally.
19:23
Speaker 1: So going back to this idea that you were an athlete,
19:27
Speaker 1: yes in high school, and a cheerleader, and it's very.
19:31
Speaker 2: Kind to say athlete as if I really was, And
19:34
Speaker 2: if anyone is going to listen to this podcast, they'll
19:36
Speaker 2: be like, she's lying, I was not I'm not lying.
19:39
Speaker 2: I was a cheerleader. I was a captain of the
19:41
Speaker 2: cheerleading squad. How yeah you were. But when we say so, yes,
19:45
Speaker 2: I was an athlete. But then there was also some
19:46
Speaker 2: like there's a classic me in there as well, where
19:50
Speaker 2: it was like I didn't ever really do more than
19:52
Speaker 2: I had to do. Let's say so. It wasn't like
19:56
Speaker 2: beast Candae that was like, I'm an athlete, I'm crushing.
20:00
Speaker 2: I'm running with my parents in the morning on the weekends,
20:02
Speaker 2: like she did what she had to do at school.
20:05
Speaker 2: And then that was that that's okay.
20:07
Speaker 1: But then there was out to be a time in
20:08
Speaker 1: your life where you weren't just doing the bare minimum.
20:11
Speaker 1: Talk to me a little bit about how you started
20:13
Speaker 1: to get into running.
20:15
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, I had not a great relationship with running,
20:18
Speaker 2: Like let's go back to the cheerleading thing. Just as
20:20
Speaker 2: an example, when I became captain of the squad, I
20:22
Speaker 2: eliminated the running portion of our practices. So during summer practices,
20:26
Speaker 2: we had like an hour before the actual practice started,
20:29
Speaker 2: which was our workout, running, stretching, all of that, and
20:33
Speaker 2: I ditched the running part. You were like, nah, I
20:35
Speaker 2: was like we don't really need to do this. Why
20:37
Speaker 2: do we need to do this? So that's so rude
20:40
Speaker 2: to everyone else's stamina and body, But I was like,
20:43
Speaker 2: we don't need to do this, we have to get
20:44
Speaker 2: up to early. We're not even running in our in
20:46
Speaker 2: our program, so like, what is it? What's the point? Anyway?
20:49
Speaker 2: Cut to like a lifetime of thinking, what's the point? Really,
20:52
Speaker 2: I guess, And then yeah, so I had no I
20:57
Speaker 2: had really no relationship whatsoever with running other than sitting
21:00
Speaker 2: on the sidelines watching other people do it. Because my
21:02
Speaker 2: husband was a runner. And how long have you been married?
21:05
Speaker 2: Almost seven years? And his name Matt Powers? And where
21:09
Speaker 2: did you meet Matt Power? Is that Matt Powers in
21:11
Speaker 2: New York? But through a friend. That's always like that
21:14
Speaker 2: little fine print there. It's like because everyone's like, oh,
21:17
Speaker 2: it is possible, and I'm like, through a friend, though,
21:19
Speaker 2: so hard here, thanks for instilling all that. No, I know,
21:22
Speaker 2: but I'm like, it's so hot. I wish I had
21:24
Speaker 2: an answer. I wish i'd be like, oh, this is.
21:26
Speaker 1: How you do it, go to this specific bar and
21:28
Speaker 1: this specific time specific.
21:30
Speaker 2: It's crazy, I know. So, but he he started running
21:36
Speaker 2: two or three years into our relationship, and I noticed
21:39
Speaker 2: a huge difference in him, and he was like just
21:42
Speaker 2: more motivated, happier, lighter, like just it was adding in
21:48
Speaker 2: what he kind of always was missing. He worked in
21:50
Speaker 2: corporate at the time, so he was like just kind
21:52
Speaker 2: of going through the motions, dragging, and he on a
21:55
Speaker 2: whim just like added this in and he became like
21:57
Speaker 2: completely one eighty different person the better. And I saw
22:01
Speaker 2: that happening. And that's how much I didn't have a
22:04
Speaker 2: relationship with running, Like I saw how it was affecting
22:06
Speaker 2: him in a positive way, and I still didn't say, like,
22:08
Speaker 2: I'm going to join you this time. I just waved
22:10
Speaker 2: him goodbye and watch Housewives of something and yeah, as
22:16
Speaker 2: we do. I just didn't even put it just didn't
22:19
Speaker 2: register with me. And I don't know if it's because
22:22
Speaker 2: it had It was a choice that I was going
22:25
Speaker 2: to have to make electively, and I could have found
22:28
Speaker 2: a million other things on the list before that to
22:30
Speaker 2: do instead, but it's just like there was something about
22:34
Speaker 2: it that was hard for me to decide to do myself.
22:38
Speaker 1: So spoiler alert, at this point in her life right now,
22:41
Speaker 1: Candice has run two full marathons, So why don't we
22:44
Speaker 1: get to the spark that actually made you put one
22:47
Speaker 1: foot in front of the other.
22:48
Speaker 2: Well, it was from Matt actually, and it was a dare,
22:51
Speaker 2: so it came in like a very strange form. So
22:52
Speaker 2: technically like I did make the decision to say yes,
22:56
Speaker 2: but it kind of came from an outside place.
22:58
Speaker 1: This is interesting because one of the guess that I've
23:00
Speaker 1: had previously on the podcast, toanay, she started to lose
23:04
Speaker 1: weight as a dare from a friend.
23:06
Speaker 2: Weird, right, Like I'm I am a champion for like
23:10
Speaker 2: you set your mind to it, you can do it.
23:13
Speaker 2: I want you to be inspired by that. I want
23:14
Speaker 2: you to know that anything is possible and in a
23:17
Speaker 2: very backwards way, I couldn't do that for myself. But
23:21
Speaker 2: sometimes that's why I'm yeah. I mean that's why I'm here.
23:24
Speaker 2: It's like I don't want that to be a barrier
23:29
Speaker 2: or like a barrier to entry for anybody else. I
23:32
Speaker 2: don't want our own minds to say like I spent
23:34
Speaker 2: so long saying I can't do things, or even being
23:37
Speaker 2: like self deprecating and joking about like why I wouldn't
23:40
Speaker 2: you know, like everyone's like what is that joke where
23:43
Speaker 2: it's like I would only run if the house was
23:45
Speaker 2: on fire, or like I only I only run on
23:48
Speaker 2: I don't run on days at end and why ha
23:50
Speaker 2: haa ha ha, like all this crazy stuff like I
23:52
Speaker 2: was the queen of that. It's like, oh, I'm just
23:54
Speaker 2: too I've had too much stuff going on. I just did,
23:57
Speaker 2: like you just put it in a in a back
23:59
Speaker 2: of your mind and then it's like ten years later
24:02
Speaker 2: and it's still in the back of your mind. So
24:03
Speaker 2: you've got this, Dare got this, Dare I got this
24:05
Speaker 2: deer over brunch over Margarita's in Spain. We were on
24:10
Speaker 2: a trip together at the end of twenty fifteen and
24:14
Speaker 2: we were just talking about what the next year would
24:16
Speaker 2: look like, which we always do. We make I guess
24:19
Speaker 2: resolutions for lack of better word, but I don't like
24:21
Speaker 2: to call them that because I feel like if you
24:23
Speaker 2: do make a resolution, you've, like, I don't know, you
24:26
Speaker 2: set yourself up to just like ditch it by February.
24:29
Speaker 2: So we like to just think of it as like
24:31
Speaker 2: a whole year plan instead of like starting on January first,
24:34
Speaker 2: I'm gonna play guitar. I'm into this. Yeah, So we
24:37
Speaker 2: were like, let's what does our year look like? What
24:38
Speaker 2: does twenty sixteen look like? And I was like throwing
24:41
Speaker 2: out career goals and even like style plans. I'm like,
24:45
Speaker 2: you know what I think I'm gonna I'm gonna start
24:47
Speaker 2: wearing more dresses, like the most random stuff. And then
24:51
Speaker 2: that's when he said, I dare to run a half marathon.
24:53
Speaker 2: And so from dare to action? How long was that?
24:57
Speaker 2: I mean we went running the next day. I go
25:00
Speaker 2: for it horrible. I mean, there's photo, like, there's video
25:02
Speaker 2: of it. I'm cussing NonStop. It's like, bleep, bleep, bleep bleep.
25:05
Speaker 2: And we did two miles. We had to do it
25:08
Speaker 2: in a walk run increment, which is totally fine, but
25:12
Speaker 2: it was the smallest increment and it was the most complicated,
25:17
Speaker 2: Like it was just so hard. I was so I
25:20
Speaker 2: was so not ready for all of that, and I
25:23
Speaker 2: didn't know that I was going to ever enjoy it.
25:26
Speaker 1: To be honest, was the dare the only thing that
25:28
Speaker 1: kept you going at it for the next day and
25:30
Speaker 1: the next day.
25:31
Speaker 2: No, making myself accountable and sharing the information was the
25:34
Speaker 2: one thing that kept me going. Like once I told
25:38
Speaker 2: people and made it public, and not even making it
25:40
Speaker 2: public on social media, but just sort of making it
25:43
Speaker 2: a public goal and outward goal even within my own
25:45
Speaker 2: like friend circle and the running community which whom I
25:50
Speaker 2: was a part of, but via Matt, I wasn't actually
25:52
Speaker 2: running with these people, but I would be cheering them on.
25:54
Speaker 2: So when I really put the wheels in motion and
25:56
Speaker 2: said hey, this is something I think I'm going to do. One,
25:59
Speaker 2: I was welcomed with open arms and they were like, oh,
26:02
Speaker 2: we've been waiting for you. Let us help you. And
26:04
Speaker 2: then two it's like, well, now it's there, it's out there,
26:08
Speaker 2: So what are you going to tell them? You quit?
26:10
Speaker 2: And that's the thing that I refused to do. It's like,
26:12
Speaker 2: once you say you're going to do it, you have
26:14
Speaker 2: to do it.
26:15
Speaker 1: Talk to me about that feeling of crossing the finish
26:17
Speaker 1: line of your first half marathon, which was the New
26:19
Speaker 1: York City Half Marathon. Correct, yes, okay, so talk to
26:22
Speaker 1: me about that feeling.
26:24
Speaker 2: It was amazing. It was amazing. And the funny thing
26:27
Speaker 2: is I crossed that finish line and the president of
26:31
Speaker 2: New York road Runners said to me, full one next,
26:34
Speaker 2: and I said ha ha never, And I was like,
26:38
Speaker 2: let me just have this one. And I literally thought
26:40
Speaker 2: that that maybe just be the one, the one race ever,
26:43
Speaker 2: and then I would run continue running recreationally.
26:46
Speaker 1: Here and there, you just said the sentence I'm going
26:48
Speaker 1: to continue running recreationally.
26:50
Speaker 2: So you began to like running. Well, yeah, definitely. But
26:53
Speaker 2: I figured in the race environment, like maybe that would
26:56
Speaker 2: be the only big long distance race that I would
26:58
Speaker 2: ever do, and then I would go back to being
27:00
Speaker 2: like a two miler or something like that occasionally. But
27:04
Speaker 2: what I also found about myself in this journey, in
27:06
Speaker 2: this process, was that I need a goal to look
27:10
Speaker 2: forward to and to plan for. Otherwise there's something about
27:13
Speaker 2: my personality or my character that like won't And that's
27:17
Speaker 2: maybe why the dare was so effective as well, that
27:20
Speaker 2: I still will find a way to kind of put
27:23
Speaker 2: other things first as priority, even though I know that
27:28
Speaker 2: running is what should be at the top of the
27:30
Speaker 2: list because it makes me feel the best.
27:31
Speaker 1: So obviously, so many hurdles involved with becoming a model
27:35
Speaker 1: in an industry when you're not a size zero, right,
27:38
Speaker 1: But you effectively say that this moment, this half marathon
27:44
Speaker 1: is kind of where your hurdle moment really begins.
27:47
Speaker 2: Oh definitely. I mean you think that it's as simple
27:50
Speaker 2: as like, and it is you put one foot in
27:53
Speaker 2: front of the other, you cover distance, you're running, you're
27:55
Speaker 2: a runner, like you've laced up, you're out there at
27:57
Speaker 2: your runner. You did it. It's all the other things
28:01
Speaker 2: that come into play that became the most vital for
28:04
Speaker 2: me and what really kept me attached to the sport
28:08
Speaker 2: instead of just being like, Okay, great that was that
28:10
Speaker 2: was a great race. That's the end of that, and
28:12
Speaker 2: now I'm just gonna I'm going to be a jogger
28:15
Speaker 2: who goes out like three times a week. One. I
28:19
Speaker 2: needed to set other goals. I always say, like, set
28:21
Speaker 2: small goals among your bigger ones, because that is what
28:24
Speaker 2: you can Also one, celebrate small victories because you can
28:27
Speaker 2: actually reach them, attain them, like you need to set
28:29
Speaker 2: them in order to keep the drive going, because otherwise
28:33
Speaker 2: you're going to say, five years from now, I'm going
28:35
Speaker 2: to run a marathon. What are you going to do
28:38
Speaker 2: in the in between that's going to let you know
28:40
Speaker 2: that you can get there, or to boost your spirit.
28:43
Speaker 2: I needed the race high again almost because it's what
28:46
Speaker 2: really pushed me, and it was a validation of what
28:49
Speaker 2: I can do. And I think that in my life
28:52
Speaker 2: I had never really given myself an opportunity to set
28:56
Speaker 2: and reach a goal and prove to myself something.
28:58
Speaker 1: So when you set and reach goal and you finish
29:01
Speaker 1: this half marathon, how did this kind of rub off
29:04
Speaker 1: in other areas of your life.
29:06
Speaker 2: It was a little bit of an AHA moment because
29:08
Speaker 2: I'm like, well, damn, we can do Like anything is possible.
29:12
Speaker 2: Like if me, the non runner of non runners who
29:16
Speaker 2: never thought she could do it, never gave her a
29:18
Speaker 2: chance herself a chance to do it. Basically was like
29:21
Speaker 2: I was very hard on myself, like no, no, no, no, no,
29:24
Speaker 2: you can't, don't even try. You're not the right size.
29:26
Speaker 2: People will laugh at you, they'll like you hold people back,
29:30
Speaker 2: You'll you know, it'll be embarrassing to be out there.
29:32
Speaker 2: Like I told myself these things unfairly, and I never
29:37
Speaker 2: gave myself the chance. So it really was an AHA
29:39
Speaker 2: moment in wanting to share the message with women on
29:43
Speaker 2: a broader level to say like, wow, I really had
29:46
Speaker 2: an epiphany here that anything is possible. This is now
29:49
Speaker 2: how I feel and what it did for my life.
29:51
Speaker 2: And so if this is something you have ever considered,
29:55
Speaker 2: let's do this together, because you are going to change
29:59
Speaker 2: tenfold in the best ways. Possible. Like in my career,
30:03
Speaker 2: a common question is like how do you find your confidence?
30:06
Speaker 2: And it's a very hard question to answer because it's
30:08
Speaker 2: like it's going to be different for everybody. There is
30:11
Speaker 2: no like step by step guide on what to do.
30:13
Speaker 2: There is no like time that you need to work
30:16
Speaker 2: at it before it kind of like shows up like
30:19
Speaker 2: now I have my confidence. But I will say where
30:23
Speaker 2: I formally couldn't answer the question almost at all or solidly,
30:29
Speaker 2: I would say that like when running came into my life,
30:32
Speaker 2: that was a huge that was the answer almost. It's
30:36
Speaker 2: like that is what gave me confidence on so many levels,
30:40
Speaker 2: from the inside out as a businesswoman, as a leader,
30:45
Speaker 2: as a voice, Like it gave me the confidence I
30:47
Speaker 2: kind of had always been searching for and I didn't
30:49
Speaker 2: know that I was. So that's why I wanted to
30:53
Speaker 2: really like share with women across the board, is that
30:56
Speaker 2: like if this and it doesn't even have to be running,
30:58
Speaker 2: if there's something in your life that you've always been
31:00
Speaker 2: afraid of that you told yourself you can't, please please,
31:03
Speaker 2: please try, and you'll find that you can. And then
31:07
Speaker 2: I want you to see how you feel on the
31:08
Speaker 2: flip side of that, because it changes everything.
31:21
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Speaker 1: to enter the code hurdle for twenty dollars off your purchase. Well,
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Speaker 1: let's get back to it, all right. I'm back here
32:42
Speaker 1: sitting with Candice Huffein, and we are talking about when
32:46
Speaker 1: she found her really stellar confidence after conquering that first
32:49
Speaker 1: half marathon. And so you're talking about the importance of
32:53
Speaker 1: sharing this positive message with other people, which leads you
32:56
Speaker 1: to begin Project Start.
32:58
Speaker 2: So talk to me a little bit about Projects Start.
33:00
Speaker 2: So I started Projects Start as a viral community to
33:04
Speaker 2: just share the realities and the honesty of starting this journey.
33:09
Speaker 2: I'm not just one woman who started running and deciding
33:12
Speaker 2: to talk about it as the first ever. You know,
33:14
Speaker 2: I knew that there was along the way because I
33:16
Speaker 2: had experienced these women before. They were my driving factors
33:19
Speaker 2: to continue as well, friends of mine within the community
33:22
Speaker 2: who were willing to share with me one on one
33:24
Speaker 2: to motivate me. And so I realized we all run
33:27
Speaker 2: for different reasons. We all start somewhere, we all look different,
33:31
Speaker 2: we're all reaching the same goal. We're all here for
33:35
Speaker 2: different reasons, but are feeling a certain way via the
33:40
Speaker 2: same one common thread of running. And I just wanted
33:44
Speaker 2: to share. I wanted a platform in which to share
33:47
Speaker 2: all these different stories so that there will be one
33:49
Speaker 2: woman out there that can relate to one of them
33:51
Speaker 2: and that can be the push that she needed. So
33:54
Speaker 2: I and this is on Instagram. It's on Instagram. It
33:57
Speaker 2: was originally started with Women's Running magazine. There's a video
34:00
Speaker 2: series that was attached to it that's still online from
34:03
Speaker 2: Project Start on Women's Running. And I tapped four of
34:08
Speaker 2: my really good running friends who inspired me in my
34:10
Speaker 2: beginning days to share their story a little deeper and
34:15
Speaker 2: the reasons why they run and why they continue. And
34:17
Speaker 2: I just feel like, and this is what I've learned
34:19
Speaker 2: from modeling world as well, and for fashion industry, it's
34:22
Speaker 2: like sharing, sharing, sharing and honesty and conversation is what
34:29
Speaker 2: drives us to continue. You know. It's like you think
34:32
Speaker 2: that you're doing this silently and privately on your own,
34:34
Speaker 2: and yeah, this sport is a singular sport. You're going
34:36
Speaker 2: to go out and run by yourself. But I want
34:38
Speaker 2: you to know that there's a ton of us out
34:40
Speaker 2: there who are feeling the same, who have gone through
34:42
Speaker 2: the same. We can laugh about it or cry about
34:46
Speaker 2: it or whatever together and you really aren't alone. And
34:49
Speaker 2: I think that was something that I was missing. When
34:52
Speaker 2: I started to run, I had a very small core
34:55
Speaker 2: group of girls who really helped me. And I don't
34:57
Speaker 2: even think they know that they were really actively helping
34:59
Speaker 2: me at the time, but the fact that they shared
35:01
Speaker 2: a little deeper than just like, oh, come on, you
35:04
Speaker 2: can do it, and then you're like, but how like
35:08
Speaker 2: this hurts and I don't think I can ever make
35:10
Speaker 2: it past this point and I don't think that my
35:13
Speaker 2: body can do this, or you know, you need a
35:16
Speaker 2: little bit more. Because at the end of the day,
35:18
Speaker 2: I learned, of course we can do it. We can
35:20
Speaker 2: all do it.
35:21
Speaker 1: But and this has so much I mean, this is
35:23
Speaker 1: so much bigger than and as you mentioned in modeling,
35:25
Speaker 1: but also bigger than running in that everything from going
35:30
Speaker 1: through a breakup to learning how to play guitar for
35:34
Speaker 1: the first time.
35:35
Speaker 2: Like other people, how other people have done all of
35:37
Speaker 2: these things. I know, I know. But the thing is,
35:39
Speaker 2: I think we I think we're ashamed to admit that
35:43
Speaker 2: we're not perfect, right, I was just going to say
35:45
Speaker 2: that in a total like the exact same sentiment. It's
35:49
Speaker 2: that we only portray this like visual of perfection in
35:53
Speaker 2: anything we do, in our Instagram, in magazines, in like,
35:57
Speaker 2: you know, in the fitness world, it's always like this
36:00
Speaker 2: top top top athlete on the cover of a magazine
36:03
Speaker 2: and you're like, well, then I don't know if I
36:04
Speaker 2: can actually read that running magazine because I'm not a
36:07
Speaker 2: runner like that. I'll never be a runner like that.
36:10
Speaker 2: Maybe I'm not even a runner at all, you know.
36:11
Speaker 2: And there's just so many questions you battle with. It's like, damn,
36:15
Speaker 2: it shouldn't be this complicated, Like we should be proud
36:18
Speaker 2: of of whatever stage we're in, and let's be honest
36:22
Speaker 2: about it. Let's talk about it and know that you're
36:24
Speaker 2: You're not abnormal in any way. I don't want anyone
36:28
Speaker 2: to ever think that running looks a certain way or
36:30
Speaker 2: is a certain way and that they can never be that.
36:32
Speaker 2: And that's just with running obviously in particular, but it
36:35
Speaker 2: goes into all other.
36:36
Speaker 1: Things definitely, definitely. So a quick note, Project Start is
36:40
Speaker 1: not at project Start on Instagram.
36:43
Speaker 2: It's at PS you Got this, PS you got this?
36:45
Speaker 2: If you are looking to find it, yes, please do.
36:49
Speaker 1: Outside of Projects Start, I want to talk a little
36:52
Speaker 1: bit about your active wear line Day one. Yes, So
36:55
Speaker 1: where did Day one kind of come from?
36:58
Speaker 2: So there's a lot in the short amount of time
37:01
Speaker 2: we're really trying to charge through yet no, not even
37:03
Speaker 2: in this time segment, but just in a span of
37:05
Speaker 2: two years. So all of it brought on by running.
37:07
Speaker 2: I don't mean to be like hokey, but it's like, really,
37:09
Speaker 2: you know, I do honestly say running change my life.
37:12
Speaker 2: But it's because it opened my eyes to so much
37:14
Speaker 2: possibility and to being a part of this bigger community.
37:18
Speaker 2: I mean, I was in like fashion bubble for so long,
37:22
Speaker 2: and it's like fitness Bubble actually could use my voice
37:26
Speaker 2: as well, and so I really wanted to come in
37:30
Speaker 2: and leave a mark that I felt like was missing
37:34
Speaker 2: in a way, or things that I knew that I
37:36
Speaker 2: needed as a beginner who has conquered these races and
37:41
Speaker 2: these milestones in a short amount of time, who's trying
37:44
Speaker 2: to encourage other women to do the same thing, because
37:46
Speaker 2: the way that I feel wouldn't have come from anything else.
37:49
Speaker 2: And in that that time, an opportunity was presented to
37:52
Speaker 2: me to partner with a local manufacturer to create an
37:55
Speaker 2: active wearline, which was something I hadn't thought of prior.
37:59
Speaker 2: How Whoever, ironically was struggling to dress myself for said
38:05
Speaker 2: races that I was always entering like there was always
38:08
Speaker 2: kind of for me a difficulty in comfortability. It's like
38:12
Speaker 2: I have to cover this distance, but like I have
38:15
Speaker 2: to turn back around because my pants are falling down
38:17
Speaker 2: now because they are they're ill fitting, they weren't the
38:20
Speaker 2: right size to begin with, and or this bra is
38:23
Speaker 2: like killing me. So there was like I found that
38:26
Speaker 2: there was so many setbacks to even go. Yeah, as
38:31
Speaker 2: if the whole sport's not hard enough as it is,
38:33
Speaker 2: but in the beginning, it's like then you're contending with
38:36
Speaker 2: all this other unforseeable stuff that you would never know
38:39
Speaker 2: from the dressing room, right.
38:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, talk to me about what goes into creating an
38:43
Speaker 1: active where aligning man.
38:44
Speaker 2: Uh fit and trial and error. Yeah, I mean I
38:49
Speaker 2: like to always laugh and say, like when I tell
38:50
Speaker 2: you that the stuff is tried and tested, it is
38:52
Speaker 2: like I ran the Boston Marathon in these leggings. I
38:55
Speaker 2: ran the New York Marathon and these leggings, like I
38:57
Speaker 2: knew that if I was going to put my name
38:59
Speaker 2: on something from doing what I have done in the past.
39:03
Speaker 1: And you're wearing them just for people, all ooh, as
39:08
Speaker 1: I injure my guest, nice.
39:10
Speaker 2: Thank you I just knew that I didn't want to
39:14
Speaker 2: just add things for the sake of adding things or
39:18
Speaker 2: for putting my name on something like, I really wanted
39:20
Speaker 2: to serve an underserved market, and specifically in the size
39:25
Speaker 2: ranging in that I'm a size twelve. I struggled to
39:28
Speaker 2: find a high performance, quality pair of leggings that I
39:32
Speaker 2: could run thirteen miles or twenty six miles in until
39:35
Speaker 2: I made them myself. Not to be like bigheaded about it,
39:38
Speaker 2: but it's like there was a quality factor or an
39:42
Speaker 2: availability factor that dropped off after a certain size, because
39:45
Speaker 2: I think that there's an assumption that that woman wasn't
39:48
Speaker 2: working out or doing any like high performance activity. So
39:52
Speaker 2: there was active where available, but it wasn't what I
39:54
Speaker 2: needed to get me the distance for a long amount
39:57
Speaker 2: of time, or to even to train it in to
39:59
Speaker 2: sweat and to really like work hard in.
40:02
Speaker 1: So you work with this local manufacturer, yes, and concept
40:06
Speaker 1: the pieces that you really feel like are missing. Yes,
40:10
Speaker 1: When does it click that you found the right product? Like,
40:12
Speaker 1: how do you know that you hit a home run?
40:15
Speaker 2: Well, I well, when I ran the Boston Marathon. So
40:19
Speaker 2: also let's backtrack, just.
40:23
Speaker 1: Because how did you go from running the New York
40:26
Speaker 1: Half and this is in March. Yes to knowing that
40:30
Speaker 1: about a year later you would run a full marathon.
40:32
Speaker 2: Right, Well, I didn't know because that was not ever, ever,
40:35
Speaker 2: ever on my list. And that there we go with
40:37
Speaker 2: me crossing the finish line of the very first race
40:39
Speaker 2: and Michael saying, okay, so the next so next one
40:43
Speaker 2: full and I was like, get out of my face
40:45
Speaker 2: with that. Yeah never never. I didn't have that oh
40:49
Speaker 2: my god, I can do anything attitude until I crossed
40:52
Speaker 2: the bus in marathon finish line. Like I was lured
40:56
Speaker 2: into running the race because I was asked to be
40:59
Speaker 2: a part of a sponsored team for the race of
41:02
Speaker 2: women who would share their stories, who would share their journey,
41:05
Speaker 2: and that was something I was so passionate about obviously,
41:07
Speaker 2: is like taking women along on this very honest, real
41:11
Speaker 2: ride with me of like how I'm going to get
41:12
Speaker 2: myself to the start line, how I'm going to train
41:15
Speaker 2: for this, what I'm going to feel, what I'm going
41:17
Speaker 2: to think. So I was all gained for that, I
41:21
Speaker 2: just did not know how I was going to do
41:22
Speaker 2: twenty six miles.
41:24
Speaker 1: What was the most difficult part of training for your
41:26
Speaker 1: first full marathon?
41:27
Speaker 2: The time I mean the time. I feel like that's
41:30
Speaker 2: the reason why we don't start any of these new
41:33
Speaker 2: goals or skills or anything as adults, is because we
41:36
Speaker 2: never feel like we actually have the time to do it.
41:39
Speaker 2: A lot of opportunity cost. Yeah, I was well, yeah,
41:43
Speaker 2: I was traveling a lot for work. I still travel
41:46
Speaker 2: out for work. And I think it was just such
41:47
Speaker 2: a new lifestyle for me to try to add in
41:50
Speaker 2: all of this intense training schedule. That was something I
41:53
Speaker 2: really struggled with. But I did it, and I restructured things,
41:57
Speaker 2: and I made it a priority, and and I was prepared.
42:02
Speaker 2: I was ready to be there. I think that's one
42:05
Speaker 2: of the mental things that come into it.
42:08
Speaker 1: We're recording this about a week before I run the
42:10
Speaker 1: Boston Marathon, which is crazy, and I think it's so
42:14
Speaker 1: funny because you spend at least about three months training
42:18
Speaker 1: for said race, and you still, in the days and
42:22
Speaker 1: hours leading up to it, feel like you are so
42:25
Speaker 1: ill prepared. But the reality is is that you've put
42:28
Speaker 1: in the work totally.
42:30
Speaker 2: Your body is ready. Your body can do it, Your
42:32
Speaker 2: body is ready to do it. You just got to
42:33
Speaker 2: show up for yourself, like your feet know how to
42:35
Speaker 2: do that. It's just yeah, showing up for yourself. And
42:38
Speaker 2: even on the ride, I remember so well on the
42:40
Speaker 2: ride up to Boston. I think I went up on
42:44
Speaker 2: like the Thursday before, and I remember in the car
42:48
Speaker 2: being like, what am I doing? Why am I? I
42:50
Speaker 2: don't belong here? I don't belong being here. And this
42:53
Speaker 2: is Canda's pre finish line of Boston Marathon. I honestly
42:57
Speaker 2: say that like everything changed when I cross that finish line,
42:59
Speaker 2: Like I literally made a vow to myself as soon
43:01
Speaker 2: as I crossed it. I said, I will never tell
43:03
Speaker 2: myself I can't do something again because look what I
43:06
Speaker 2: just did.
43:06
Speaker 1: So day one going back, and also note that day
43:09
Speaker 1: one is day one wo n Yes, something important to me.
43:13
Speaker 2: Yes. I didn't realize in creation of the brand how
43:16
Speaker 2: often I would I would say the same line over
43:19
Speaker 2: and over again. Day one won wo. And I still
43:22
Speaker 2: see people like working out out in their heads and
43:23
Speaker 2: they're like, what does she say? Day one itself also
43:26
Speaker 2: would have a powerful one. Oh well, my Day one
43:28
Speaker 2: is the one is I remember forever? It changed everything.
43:33
Speaker 2: The day I officially like made this goal to set
43:35
Speaker 2: out was my life changer. So that actually, like our
43:38
Speaker 2: logo is a that's not an arrow really. I mean
43:41
Speaker 2: it's like it's an arrow, but it's also a Candice
43:43
Speaker 2: is looking down at the tank. So there's a lot
43:45
Speaker 2: of meaning. And I also like I was thinking of
43:48
Speaker 2: of doing some play on numbers of like the date
43:50
Speaker 2: that I started running or something, because that's where I
43:53
Speaker 2: can really timeline everything back to as being the catalyst
43:58
Speaker 2: for the new me. Let's say, like say Candice two
44:01
Speaker 2: point zero. Implementing running into my life and making it
44:04
Speaker 2: a priority and actively getting out and doing it changes
44:07
Speaker 2: the way I feel as a person. It makes me
44:11
Speaker 2: feel like that day is more exceptional than the days
44:14
Speaker 2: that I didn't run. So it always just gives you
44:16
Speaker 2: like an extra boost, and that's when you really feel
44:19
Speaker 2: like you've crushed it. Yeah, I want it. So that's
44:21
Speaker 2: something that I really wanted to make sure other women
44:24
Speaker 2: like kind of have in the back of their mind,
44:27
Speaker 2: is like, we're so busy doing everything else and giving
44:31
Speaker 2: to everyone else that sometimes we're not at the top
44:34
Speaker 2: of our own lists. And so I want a woman
44:36
Speaker 2: to sort of just stop along the along the way
44:39
Speaker 2: because of this brand and say to herself, did I
44:42
Speaker 2: win this day? And then if the answer is no,
44:45
Speaker 2: she can make some changes in order to like make
44:47
Speaker 2: sure that she feels like she conquered it and crushed
44:50
Speaker 2: it and feels like her best self for the day.
44:52
Speaker 1: How long from conceptualizing this brand to it being it's
44:56
Speaker 1: an e commerce brand to being available for purchase online?
45:00
Speaker 2: About a year? About a year? Okay?
45:02
Speaker 1: And did you know when you were starting that you
45:04
Speaker 1: were like exactly what items you wanted to make?
45:07
Speaker 2: Yes? And no. I knew what I was missing just
45:11
Speaker 2: by personal style in that like I wanted an outfit.
45:14
Speaker 2: I wanted high performance gear that also could serve as
45:18
Speaker 2: an outfit if I wasn't running in it. You know.
45:21
Speaker 2: I wanted like a mix of a street style, something
45:24
Speaker 2: with the quality that can take you the distance. And
45:27
Speaker 2: I found that there was kind of a separation in
45:29
Speaker 2: the two. I had like these leggings that served like
45:32
Speaker 2: a really cool, cute purpose, but then I also had
45:34
Speaker 2: like my ones that were for working out very hard in.
45:38
Speaker 2: And I just wanted the in between of an outfit
45:42
Speaker 2: that you could feel really cool and proud in and
45:46
Speaker 2: you could do anything in and then also fit me.
45:51
Speaker 1: You said something interesting before that was you felt like
45:55
Speaker 1: it was really helpful to have these women that you
45:58
Speaker 1: could ask questions about running. Yeah, and that was at
46:01
Speaker 1: the time a very small sample size of women. Yeah,
46:05
Speaker 1: smaller group of women. How does it feel for you now?
46:09
Speaker 1: How many Instagram followers do you have?
46:10
Speaker 2: Two hundred and ten thousand?
46:12
Speaker 1: What's life like when two hundred and ten thousand people
46:14
Speaker 1: have access to your day to day.
46:17
Speaker 2: It's empowering and motivating and stressful. Yeah, only because I
46:24
Speaker 2: take a great responsibility and that amount of people choosing
46:27
Speaker 2: to follow the life that I lead and the things
46:29
Speaker 2: that I say, So I don't take that lightly. And
46:32
Speaker 2: it's this isn't like a game where it's like, you
46:35
Speaker 2: know what, let me show you my cleavage that my
46:37
Speaker 2: follower account can rise. You know, That's not who I am,
46:41
Speaker 2: and it's not I feel like how I like to
46:44
Speaker 2: utilize social media. I feel like it's not a self
46:47
Speaker 2: serving thing for me, Like, look at all that I'm doing.
46:51
Speaker 2: It's like, what are we doing together? Because I obviously
46:54
Speaker 2: not to be cheesy, but we are stronger together. So
46:56
Speaker 2: it's like, if there's something that I want to sho,
47:00
Speaker 2: I want to make sure that it's going to help
47:02
Speaker 2: woman in some way or inspire her in some way.
47:05
Speaker 2: If there's a question that I have. I know that
47:07
Speaker 2: the people who are supporting me and there for me
47:10
Speaker 2: can help me in turn, and so it's a kind
47:13
Speaker 2: of a full circle. It is a virtual community, I
47:16
Speaker 2: like to I mean, they're friends. I may never meet
47:18
Speaker 2: them in my life, but they are friends to me.
47:20
Speaker 2: They've been really supportive to me and are also a
47:25
Speaker 2: reason why I'm motivated to do what I do on
47:28
Speaker 2: a day to day basis because I know that it's
47:31
Speaker 2: helped maybe potentially helping someone's life in a positive way
47:34
Speaker 2: or impacting them. But it's also if I know that
47:38
Speaker 2: I have this squad behind me, I'm not going to quit.
47:42
Speaker 2: Then that goes back to the first time I ever
47:44
Speaker 2: like kind of publicly announced my goal, and that's what
47:48
Speaker 2: kept me going and feeling accountable. It's like, every day
47:51
Speaker 2: I feel accountable because people have chosen to come on
47:54
Speaker 2: this journey with me. I hear you on that stressful note,
47:57
Speaker 2: so stressful. I'm like, let me make sure this grammar's right,
48:01
Speaker 2: make sure, let's make sure there's no I don't want
48:04
Speaker 2: to offend anyone ever. I don't want to. I don't
48:06
Speaker 2: want to come off as ignorant or oblivious. I don't
48:09
Speaker 2: want to misspell anything all the thing? What is uh
48:15
Speaker 2: looking back?
48:16
Speaker 1: Before you know you had two hundred and ten thousand
48:18
Speaker 1: people following you, and even before maybe you ran that
48:22
Speaker 1: first half marathon. What is one piece of advice that
48:25
Speaker 1: you would give to the girl who was sitting on
48:27
Speaker 1: the couch watching Real Housewives or whatever while her man
48:31
Speaker 1: went out and logged the What is one piece of
48:33
Speaker 1: advice you would give to her?
48:36
Speaker 2: Am I giving this back to myself? Really? Or this
48:38
Speaker 2: is you know you can say the next girl is
48:40
Speaker 2: doing the same thing, because there is nothing wrong with that.
48:43
Speaker 2: We all need that downtime too, And I don't want
48:45
Speaker 2: to be hard on myself like I was doing all
48:47
Speaker 2: the wrong things in life. It's just I My advice
48:53
Speaker 2: to that girl is stop letting doubt win. And that
48:57
Speaker 2: doesn't even have to pertain to running. I'm sure some
49:00
Speaker 2: other things she's sitting on the couch being very fearful of,
49:04
Speaker 2: and so don't let it win because it's strong. For
49:07
Speaker 2: some reason, the fear and the doubt is so much
49:09
Speaker 2: louder and stronger than the kindness and the confidence and
49:14
Speaker 2: the positivity. And it's so bizarre how we let that
49:20
Speaker 2: ring louder and truer than anything else. And I find
49:24
Speaker 2: the craziest thing is is like we can give the
49:27
Speaker 2: positive advice to like our friends or our family or something,
49:30
Speaker 2: we can tell them all the things they need to hear,
49:32
Speaker 2: and we can never tell it to ourselves. So be
49:36
Speaker 2: your cheerleader, be your motivator, be the person who dares you,
49:41
Speaker 2: because there might not be someone who dares you to
49:43
Speaker 2: do something crazy like I had the opportunity or I'm
49:46
Speaker 2: lucky enough to have had. But just dare yourself to
49:49
Speaker 2: do some crazy things that are going to pay off
49:52
Speaker 2: in the most positive way.
49:54
Speaker 1: What is a goal that you have for yourself in
49:57
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen? Oh and where did the twenty eighteen goal
50:03
Speaker 1: setting experience take place for you and your husband?
50:06
Speaker 2: Well, we always do it, like at the end of
50:08
Speaker 2: the year over dinner. There isn't a huge one like
50:11
Speaker 2: twenty seventeen brought. I would say, instead of us listing
50:16
Speaker 2: out the things that we want next, we took a
50:20
Speaker 2: second to reflect on the things we had done and
50:22
Speaker 2: we're really proud of those. Because you know, you like
50:25
Speaker 2: you're rushing, you do everything, you tick the box, you
50:27
Speaker 2: move on what's next, and things are hectic. Life is busy,
50:31
Speaker 2: and I don't think you really ever like let it
50:33
Speaker 2: set in how awesome or like proud you are of yourself,
50:39
Speaker 2: and that's what we should also give ours. Like that's
50:41
Speaker 2: why I like the little small goals, big wins, small
50:44
Speaker 2: victories and all these things, is because you need that
50:47
Speaker 2: boost for yourself to be like, damn, I crushed it.
50:50
Speaker 2: I'm really really proud of me, Like I didn't see
50:52
Speaker 2: that coming. So we did reflect a lot on the
50:55
Speaker 2: on the prior year. I mean, we both started companies.
50:57
Speaker 2: He ran his first marathon in November. I completed the
51:02
Speaker 2: New York City Marathon as well, which.
51:04
Speaker 1: Is for those of you that are following at home,
51:06
Speaker 1: this is Candice going from not wanting to run a
51:09
Speaker 1: half mare.
51:10
Speaker 2: Running two full marathons in one year. That's outrageous. I
51:14
Speaker 2: don't know what the rush is, to be honest, but
51:17
Speaker 2: I just feel like, I mean, you feel empowered, man,
51:20
Speaker 2: that there is there is something that you can't let
51:24
Speaker 2: go of when it comes to the feeling you get
51:26
Speaker 2: and it's indescribable and you just have to see it
51:29
Speaker 2: to believe it.
51:30
Speaker 1: What tip would you give someone who is setting out
51:33
Speaker 1: to run their first marathon like this can be anything
51:36
Speaker 1: from a strategy tip to a mental tip to a
51:40
Speaker 1: performance tip.
51:41
Speaker 2: Have fun, Just have fun. Yeah, I mean I stress
51:44
Speaker 2: myself to no end, to the point where it's like
51:47
Speaker 2: so stressed that you're like you have dry mouth and
51:50
Speaker 2: your like stomach is hurting and you're like in pain
51:52
Speaker 2: and you haven't even started running, Like there's the hard
51:54
Speaker 2: part hasn't even started yet, but you're so so so
51:57
Speaker 2: scared and of what to be honest, it's like there
52:00
Speaker 2: is really nothing, there is nothing to be afraid of.
52:03
Speaker 2: We're here. The hardest part's over. You agreed to do it,
52:07
Speaker 2: you trained for it, and now you're at the starting line.
52:09
Speaker 2: The hardest hurdle or the most mental roadblock is over.
52:14
Speaker 2: So now the easy part is just running, and so
52:16
Speaker 2: have fun with it and don't be hard on yourself.
52:18
Speaker 2: Like we're so judgmental of ourselves and unkind that everyone's like,
52:22
Speaker 2: well I didn't I didn't do enough, or it wasn't
52:25
Speaker 2: good because xyz or I needed to walk, So what
52:29
Speaker 2: crawl if you have to? But you didn't quit. It's crazy.
52:33
Speaker 1: It's crazy to think this episode will go live after
52:36
Speaker 1: I run the Boston Marathon. But I'm going into the
52:38
Speaker 1: Boston Marathon for the first time in my life, really
52:40
Speaker 1: hoping to get a personal record, and I've never run
52:43
Speaker 1: a marathon with that mentality. So it's like, I feel
52:47
Speaker 1: as though it's wonderful to set this goal for myself,
52:51
Speaker 1: but it's also really really frightening because I'm the person
52:55
Speaker 1: that's set this goal. I'm the person that's also potentially
52:57
Speaker 1: setting myself up or failure. I think it takes a
53:02
Speaker 1: really strong person to then whether or not that pr happens,
53:07
Speaker 1: to grade this entire process as a win and not
53:11
Speaker 1: look at it as a failure, right right, right, Which
53:13
Speaker 1: brings me to the final question that I want to
53:16
Speaker 1: ask you.
53:17
Speaker 2: Over the last.
53:18
Speaker 1: Fifteen years of you living in New York City, have
53:21
Speaker 1: there been any quote unquote failures or missteps that you
53:25
Speaker 1: look back on now you took them really hard in
53:28
Speaker 1: the moment, but reflecting on that time, you feel like
53:31
Speaker 1: they've done something really really wonderful for you.
53:36
Speaker 2: I know you're probably looking for an exact experience, but
53:39
Speaker 2: for some reason, I'm just thinking of it like as
53:41
Speaker 2: a whole please, and it's over thought, just constant overthinking
53:50
Speaker 2: the situation to the point of not doing and that
53:54
Speaker 2: that's career choices. That's opinion sharing or standing up on
54:00
Speaker 2: my own and not letting you know. I come from
54:03
Speaker 2: an industry where it's like there's a whole team that
54:06
Speaker 2: sort of dictates what even like my day to day
54:09
Speaker 2: looks like if I want to make a doctor's appointment,
54:10
Speaker 2: I have to write an email to ask if I
54:12
Speaker 2: have the time available, Like I'm not really in charge
54:14
Speaker 2: of my own time sometimes, and I think that, you know,
54:18
Speaker 2: standing up on my own without doubt, without fear, and
54:25
Speaker 2: knowing that I'm my own person with a voice took
54:27
Speaker 2: me a very long time to kind of realize. I
54:32
Speaker 2: know that what I'm capable of, I know what my
54:34
Speaker 2: strengths are. I know that I can be a leader,
54:38
Speaker 2: I can I can be a businesswoman, I can be
54:41
Speaker 2: all these things instead of just kind of sitting back
54:44
Speaker 2: and wondering or hoping for the day, because truth is
54:49
Speaker 2: like the day is not waiting for you, and you're
54:52
Speaker 2: only going to get older and it's only going to
54:53
Speaker 2: go by faster, and so yeah, just you can't overthink.
55:00
Speaker 2: You can't overthink, can't overthink. I like that.
55:03
Speaker 1: That's a good note to end on. Thanks so much
55:05
Speaker 1: for coming in. Thank you this was fun.
55:08
Speaker 2: I also feel like we need another part because there's
55:10
Speaker 2: just so much to cover.
55:11
Speaker 1: I mean, maybe they'll be PARTO. Thanks so much everyone
55:14
Speaker 1: for joining in and hanging out with me. Please take
55:18
Speaker 1: a moment to leave a quick review by clicking the
55:19
Speaker 1: link with the description to this episode. We all face
55:23
Speaker 1: multiple hurdles in life. I want to hear about yours.
55:26
Speaker 1: Reach out to me at Emily at Hurdle dot us,
55:29
Speaker 1: connect with the podcast on Instagram and Twitter at Hurdle Podcast.
55:33
Speaker 1: Most importantly, Candace, where do they find you? Where do
55:36
Speaker 1: they find day one? Give me everything?
55:38
Speaker 2: Okay, you can find me at Candice Huffine on Instagram. Also,
55:42
Speaker 2: day one is your day one on Instagram, and I'd
55:45
Speaker 2: love you to come check out Project Start as well
55:47
Speaker 2: at PSU. Got this all the stuff, all the handles.
55:52
Speaker 2: I am at Emily Abodi another hurdle conquered. Catch you
55:58
Speaker 2: guys next time. Bataaa