Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / Episode 13: Liz Plosser, Editor-in-Chief Women's Health

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Episode 13: Liz Plosser, Editor-in-Chief Women's Health · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Hurdle. Emily Here. Exciting week
0:06
Speaker 1: for the podcast. Actually, I'm taking this thing international, heading
0:10
Speaker 1: to London to record an episode with a guest that
0:13
Speaker 1: I think might just blow your mind. It's actually the
0:15
Speaker 1: first of a few different guests I'm going to wrangle
0:17
Speaker 1: during the next.
0:18
Speaker 2: Few weeks of travel, which will bring me.
0:20
Speaker 1: To London, then to Colorado, then to Los Angeles, and
0:25
Speaker 1: I'll probably be a little tired when it's all said
0:27
Speaker 1: and done. But I think it's safe to say you
0:29
Speaker 1: guys are going to love the content that comes out
0:30
Speaker 1: of all of it. Quick shout out to the sponsor
0:33
Speaker 1: of today's episode, Ultra. I've been getting some really great
0:36
Speaker 1: feedback from the listeners buying their first pair of Ultras,
0:39
Speaker 1: including a tidbit from a friend of mine that made
0:42
Speaker 1: me laugh out loud. Referencing their foot shaped toebox, he said,
0:46
Speaker 1: my toes have so much room to breathe. I don't
0:48
Speaker 1: think I'll ever be able to go back to.
0:50
Speaker 2: My old sneakers.
0:51
Speaker 1: Check them out for yourself. Visit ultrarunning dot com. That's
0:55
Speaker 1: a l t R running dot com. In today's episode
1:00
Speaker 1: out of Hurdle, I'm chatting with the one and only
1:03
Speaker 1: Liz Plosser. I can't say enough good things about this
1:06
Speaker 1: fantastic woman. She's the editor in chief of Woman's Health magazine,
1:11
Speaker 1: a mega mentor to me, and a really good friend.
1:14
Speaker 1: We were catching up over dinner a few weeks back,
1:16
Speaker 1: as friends do, and I was just so over the
1:19
Speaker 1: moon flattered when she said that she'd have a Hurdle
1:22
Speaker 1: moment she'd love to share for the pod. In today's episode,
1:25
Speaker 1: Liz talks about how when her and her husband had
1:27
Speaker 1: a tough time conceiving, she wondered if running an exercise,
1:31
Speaker 1: could be to blame. Spoiler They now have three beautiful,
1:34
Speaker 1: beautiful kids. We also chat about what it's like to
1:37
Speaker 1: be at the helm of Women's Health magazine, the lessons
1:40
Speaker 1: that running has taught her over the years, and she
1:43
Speaker 1: offers some big time career advice that you definitely don't
1:46
Speaker 1: want to miss out on Quick call Out. If you
1:48
Speaker 1: haven't done so yet, please please please head on over
1:51
Speaker 1: to the iTunes store and leave a quick review for Hurdle.
1:54
Speaker 2: Tell me what you like. I'd love to hear about it.
1:57
Speaker 1: Also, any questions concerns, feel free to shoot me an
2:00
Speaker 1: email Emily at Hurdle dot us and make sure you're
2:03
Speaker 1: following the podcast at Hurdle podcast on Instagram and Twitter.
2:07
Speaker 2: With that, let's get to hurdling today.
2:24
Speaker 1: I am sitting here with Liz Plosser. She's the editor
2:28
Speaker 1: in chief of Women's Health magazine. Hey, Liz, Hi Emily,
2:32
Speaker 1: this is so special. I feel the same way. I'm
2:34
Speaker 1: so happy to be here with you. A fun fact,
2:37
Speaker 1: Liz used to be my boss at my last full
2:40
Speaker 1: time job. We are both at self and since then
2:44
Speaker 1: she's done so many things, so many things, a whirlwind
2:48
Speaker 1: of the past year and a half, but.
2:50
Speaker 2: All great things.
2:51
Speaker 1: Thanks sim I'd love to get started here today. Just
2:54
Speaker 1: talk to me about what it's like to join the
2:56
Speaker 1: team at Women's Health. This is a new thing for you.
2:58
Speaker 2: Yeah. So, I've been editor in chief since late January
3:01
Speaker 2: and I'm literally living a dream job. I pinch myself
3:05
Speaker 2: every morning. It's the best job in the world. And
3:07
Speaker 2: I have to say, I guess it's been a little
3:09
Speaker 2: over three months. It's gone by like in a blink
3:11
Speaker 2: of an eye, so quickly.
3:13
Speaker 1: I can't even imagine and walking into that building. If
3:15
Speaker 1: you've never been to Hurst Tower, it's right near Columbus Circle,
3:19
Speaker 1: and it is exactly what they show you in like
3:22
Speaker 1: The Devil's Where.
3:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like every TV show or movie come to life.
3:25
Speaker 2: It's a beautiful building in place to work. So Liz,
3:28
Speaker 2: why don't we jump right into it.
3:29
Speaker 1: I know I met you atself, but you had quite
3:31
Speaker 1: the extensive career before that, and actually it didn't start
3:35
Speaker 1: in magazine. So tell me a little bit about your
3:37
Speaker 1: background and how you found yourself in this journalistic space.
3:42
Speaker 2: Sure, okay, I'll try to give you the turbo version.
3:44
Speaker 2: Turbo version, Okay. My first job out of college was
3:48
Speaker 2: actually an investment banking. I was an analyst. Were you
3:51
Speaker 2: an investment Were you a banking? Do people finance major?
3:54
Speaker 2: I a banking I was not a banking major or
3:57
Speaker 2: a finance major. I did take some economics classes in college,
4:01
Speaker 2: so it had always business and economics had always been
4:04
Speaker 2: an interest of mine, but I was an English major,
4:07
Speaker 2: so it was definitely a bit of a pivot to
4:09
Speaker 2: go in that direction. But it was kind of my
4:11
Speaker 2: ticket to New York City. The banks and consulting firms
4:14
Speaker 2: kind of descend upon campus, and one interview led to another,
4:18
Speaker 2: and suddenly I had a job offer and was like yeah,
4:20
Speaker 2: I'll give this a shot. And where were you growing up?
4:22
Speaker 2: I grew up in the Midwest, in Kansas City. Everybody
4:25
Speaker 2: I went to college in New Jersey and everyone kind
4:27
Speaker 2: of migrates to New York City.
4:29
Speaker 1: And so you land in New York City and you're
4:31
Speaker 1: an investment banking and what is that climate like? Because
4:34
Speaker 1: I pretty much envision it exactly to be like Wolfe.
4:37
Speaker 2: Of Wall Street. Fortunately it was not like that, at
4:43
Speaker 2: least not the side of it I saw. You know,
4:45
Speaker 2: I was lowest woman on the totem pole. As an analyst,
4:50
Speaker 2: you're kind of the person putting together spreadsheets and making
4:54
Speaker 2: the presentations and doing all the work that gets dropped
4:57
Speaker 2: on your desk, you know, at like seven point thirty
4:59
Speaker 2: when the higher up bankers head home for the evening.
5:01
Speaker 2: It was intense. It was really long hours, and I'm
5:05
Speaker 2: really not afraid of that. And I was like young
5:08
Speaker 2: and energetic, but I wasn't passionate about it. And when
5:12
Speaker 2: you're working so late and so long and hard on
5:16
Speaker 2: something that you doesn't like, fire you up. I knew
5:19
Speaker 2: pretty quickly that it was not going to be my
5:21
Speaker 2: career passion. So when does investment banking turn into not
5:25
Speaker 2: investment banking. So I was there almost two years, probably
5:31
Speaker 2: close to the one year mark, when I was very
5:33
Speaker 2: actively looking to make a transition, okay, and the transition
5:38
Speaker 2: is to do is to go into journalism and magazines.
5:42
Speaker 2: And my first job in publishing was a self magazine
5:46
Speaker 2: as an editorial assistant. And when you went in there,
5:48
Speaker 2: because I know it's interesting. Obviously in college, did you
5:51
Speaker 2: have any internships? No? So interesting? How times have changed?
5:55
Speaker 2: I remember changed. I can never get this job today, exactly.
5:58
Speaker 1: I remember going in from my first internship at Fitness magazine.
6:02
Speaker 1: I had no previous editorial experience, and in retrospect now,
6:06
Speaker 1: if someone was trying to get an internship rip Fitness magazine,
6:09
Speaker 1: but maybe even at Woman's Health magazine, it's pretty likely
6:13
Speaker 1: they have two three past internships before they show up
6:16
Speaker 1: at your door.
6:17
Speaker 2: I know one hundred percent it's a different time now.
6:20
Speaker 2: But also I must say my stars aligned for me
6:23
Speaker 2: to get that role. I once I knew that I
6:27
Speaker 2: needed to leave banking and do something else, I just
6:31
Speaker 2: committed myself to talking to anybody and everybody under the
6:34
Speaker 2: sun about what their career was, what they liked about it,
6:36
Speaker 2: didn't like about it, I had an inkling that magazines
6:41
Speaker 2: and journalism were the right path for me. I mean,
6:43
Speaker 2: I've been an obsessive magazine reader since I was literally
6:46
Speaker 2: like twelve years old when I used to read seventeen. Yeah,
6:49
Speaker 2: it was like one lucky conversation that led to another
6:53
Speaker 2: one to another one that I got in front of
6:55
Speaker 2: Lucy Danziger, the editor in chief of Self, and she
6:58
Speaker 2: really took a gamble on me. She you know, I
7:00
Speaker 2: walked in in my like little pin strike banking suit,
7:04
Speaker 2: and I had a lot of fire and passion and
7:06
Speaker 2: I was clearly a super fan of the brand. But
7:10
Speaker 2: she went out on a limb to see something and
7:12
Speaker 2: mean to think that I could make that jump.
7:14
Speaker 1: When you're saying this, it makes me think about how
7:16
Speaker 1: when I walked into your office.
7:18
Speaker 2: So absolutely no magazine experience.
7:21
Speaker 1: Granted I've had seven eight years of a digital background,
7:24
Speaker 1: but I walked into Self Magazine for a print role,
7:26
Speaker 1: and I looked at Liz and I was like, I
7:28
Speaker 1: can do this, and she looked at me, and she
7:30
Speaker 1: like kind of believed me.
7:31
Speaker 2: I didn't believe you. I remember when we were emailing,
7:35
Speaker 2: when I wanted you to come into interview for the job.
7:37
Speaker 2: And you were awesome. You were like, I can be
7:39
Speaker 2: there in like twenty minutes, but just a heads up.
7:42
Speaker 2: I will be an f leisure. I was like, I
7:45
Speaker 2: love this girl. She's perfect. You were like, you can
7:48
Speaker 2: come tomorrow. Yeah, you basically already had the job. At
7:51
Speaker 2: that point. I'm like, say no more.
7:53
Speaker 1: Oh man, my whole life is spent in a lead.
7:56
Speaker 1: You start working itself. It's amazing.
7:58
Speaker 2: And it's also around this time you said you grew
8:01
Speaker 2: up active, but you really started to take on a
8:03
Speaker 2: new appreciation for running. Is that right? Yeah? I would
8:07
Speaker 2: say the new appreciation for running kind of happened in
8:11
Speaker 2: like a bit of a hurdle moment in my life,
8:12
Speaker 2: which was when I was not so happy in my
8:16
Speaker 2: investment banking role. I was a bit lost, and like,
8:20
Speaker 2: what do you do when you're lost and don't know
8:22
Speaker 2: what's happening in your life and feel kind of like
8:25
Speaker 2: you don't have control of things. Sign up for a marathon.
8:27
Speaker 2: Apparently that's what I do in my life. So yeah,
8:31
Speaker 2: I'd grown up playing soccer and tennis and basketball and
8:34
Speaker 2: was very sporty and athletic, but running had always been
8:38
Speaker 2: like the worst part of any sports practice, Like I
8:42
Speaker 2: really did not love it. So it's kind of funny
8:46
Speaker 2: that running has had such an impact in my life.
8:49
Speaker 2: But you get to New York and like, it's hard
8:51
Speaker 2: to join a soccer league or you know, find those teammates.
8:55
Speaker 2: So I discovered that you could sign up for this
8:57
Speaker 2: thing called Team and Training where you could run with
9:00
Speaker 2: a group of people, And yeah, I signed up for
9:03
Speaker 2: a marathon while I was really unhappy in my job
9:05
Speaker 2: and made some amazing friends just you know, like showed
9:09
Speaker 2: up to Central Park and started running with all these strangers,
9:11
Speaker 2: some of whom are still my best friends, and like
9:15
Speaker 2: really worked through some things on those long runs with
9:17
Speaker 2: these strangers who became my friends and Team and Training.
9:20
Speaker 2: There's a charitable aspect to that as well, correct, Yes,
9:23
Speaker 2: and that actually there's a charitable aspect. You have to
9:26
Speaker 2: raise a certain amount of money. The cool thing about
9:30
Speaker 2: being in investment banking is when I told my coworkers
9:33
Speaker 2: that I was running my first marathon, they were like,
9:36
Speaker 2: here's tons of money, to the point that like my
9:39
Speaker 2: friends and Team and Training hadn't reached their fundraising goals,
9:42
Speaker 2: and I was like, oh, you can have some of mine.
9:43
Speaker 2: I have like twenty thousand extra dollars beyond my training.
9:46
Speaker 2: Oh my god, because I know, I think, which is
9:48
Speaker 2: a cool thing.
9:49
Speaker 1: I forget what the threshold is for New York now,
9:52
Speaker 1: but it's not it's I want to say it's four
9:55
Speaker 1: or five six thousand dollars mine.
9:57
Speaker 2: I was running the Vermont City Marathon because there was
10:00
Speaker 2: travel involved and all of that. I think it was
10:02
Speaker 2: like thirty five hundred. It was not pennies. You know,
10:04
Speaker 2: it's a big deal.
10:05
Speaker 1: And I mean it goes to a good cause, so
10:07
Speaker 1: that's great. Yeah, So talk to me about your first marathon.
10:10
Speaker 1: That must have been such an epic moment for you.
10:13
Speaker 2: Yeah. So it was in Vermont. It was an amazing day.
10:17
Speaker 2: It was you know, I've never had so much adrenaline
10:20
Speaker 2: pumping through my body. I was so excited for it.
10:22
Speaker 2: I couldn't sleep for like the three nights leading up
10:25
Speaker 2: to it, and it was really hard. But I think
10:29
Speaker 2: every picture that you have of me from that day,
10:30
Speaker 2: I am like smiling ear to ear, like so happy,
10:34
Speaker 2: and I remember just my legs were as there, you know,
10:39
Speaker 2: as it happens, the final miles, they were dead tired,
10:42
Speaker 2: dead tired. I was achy everywhere. But as soon as
10:45
Speaker 2: I crossed the finish line, I was like, when's the
10:47
Speaker 2: next one? Like, I can do that faster. I know
10:49
Speaker 2: I can do that better next time.
10:50
Speaker 1: That's the best feeling in the world. And so the
10:52
Speaker 1: best when you see the race photos and you've never
10:54
Speaker 1: really run a race before and you start to totally
10:57
Speaker 1: comprehend how this happens, and they're coming from every angle
11:01
Speaker 1: and they've got like your worst side, like that one
11:04
Speaker 1: miraculous great photo.
11:06
Speaker 2: Yes, so the bank.
11:08
Speaker 1: Yes, so you run your first marathon and it really
11:11
Speaker 1: cadpult you to understanding that you need to make a
11:14
Speaker 1: change for yourself in your professional life. Yes, okay, so
11:18
Speaker 1: you're at self now. Yeah, this is awesome. And soon
11:22
Speaker 1: after you moved to Chicago.
11:26
Speaker 2: Yes, well, I was itself for solid three years. I
11:29
Speaker 2: started as the editorial assistant in the fitness department, kind of.
11:32
Speaker 2: I got promoted a couple of times. When I left,
11:36
Speaker 2: I was doing health and nutrition, so I really I
11:40
Speaker 2: got to dabble in like all my favorite content pillars.
11:43
Speaker 2: It was great learning. But yes, then we left it
11:47
Speaker 2: all behind because my longtime boyfriend and at the time fiance,
11:51
Speaker 2: Matt He got into his dream school, University of Chicago,
11:55
Speaker 2: where he was going to pursue a PhD. And we
11:57
Speaker 2: were recently engaged and like it was just we wanted
12:00
Speaker 2: to start our lives together. So we moved to Chicago
12:03
Speaker 2: so he could start grad school.
12:05
Speaker 1: And when you moved to Chicago, you were working for
12:07
Speaker 1: Time Out Chicago, Yes, and doing some freelancing yeah, and
12:11
Speaker 1: still running.
12:12
Speaker 2: Yeah. That was a very active time in my life. Again,
12:18
Speaker 2: you know, moving to a new city, what do you do?
12:19
Speaker 2: Sign up for a marathon. I immediately was like, Okay,
12:21
Speaker 2: I'm going to run the Chicago marathons. Soon after we
12:23
Speaker 2: land and I got into triathlons. I did my first
12:28
Speaker 2: half first and only half iron Man there, and a
12:30
Speaker 2: lot of other triathlons and half marathons. We lived right
12:33
Speaker 2: by Lake Michigan, right by that running and biking path,
12:36
Speaker 2: which is the most amazing thing in the world. So
12:39
Speaker 2: I made a ton of sporty, active friends who loved
12:42
Speaker 2: racing just like me.
12:43
Speaker 1: Why do you think that is that we lean into
12:46
Speaker 1: and I say we being I'm the exact same way.
12:49
Speaker 1: We lean into these fit endeavors when we're going through
12:52
Speaker 1: something that's tough.
12:54
Speaker 2: I think for me personally, I don't it's a bit subconscious,
12:58
Speaker 2: so you know, at the time, I'm not even realizing it,
13:01
Speaker 2: but I think it's to have some sense of control
13:03
Speaker 2: in our lives and to have something that we know
13:05
Speaker 2: brings us so much joy and happiness. Like that feeling
13:08
Speaker 2: that you just went out and did a ten mile
13:10
Speaker 2: long run, or a fifteen mile long run, or a
13:12
Speaker 2: one hundred mile bike ride, whatever it is. It just
13:15
Speaker 2: like lights me up with confidence and strength. And I
13:18
Speaker 2: think when we're lacking in other areas, or feel nervous
13:22
Speaker 2: or anxious in other areas of life, that just gives
13:24
Speaker 2: you so much strength and power to have these active
13:27
Speaker 2: accomplishments under your belt. Would you say that without doing
13:31
Speaker 2: these activities you feel either more lethargic or more foggy. Yes,
13:36
Speaker 2: and yes, I don't think I could have said it better. Yeah,
13:40
Speaker 2: it's yeah. I think being going for a run, lifting,
13:44
Speaker 2: sweating in any way, shape or form, to me like
13:47
Speaker 2: clears the clouds and the fog. It makes you just
13:49
Speaker 2: like sharp and clear and confident. It's interesting to me
13:52
Speaker 2: because I try to think about what I did before
13:55
Speaker 2: I was a super active human and how I now
14:00
Speaker 2: it works out like seven hours.
14:01
Speaker 1: A day, so, but but like what was I doing
14:04
Speaker 1: to kind of clear the fog before, and honestly, I
14:07
Speaker 1: would say that was probably eating. Yeah, and so I
14:11
Speaker 1: look back as to how I found comfort, and I
14:14
Speaker 1: found comfort in food, and to replace that with such
14:17
Speaker 1: a you know, one pint eighty of a lifestyle change,
14:21
Speaker 1: I can't stay enough about it.
14:23
Speaker 2: So true.
14:23
Speaker 1: Okay, so you're running a lot, You're in Chicago, Matt's
14:26
Speaker 1: studying for his PhD. Yeah, you're writing all the things,
14:31
Speaker 1: and the two of you are thinking about trying to
14:32
Speaker 1: start a family. Yes, so we got married in two
14:36
Speaker 1: thousand and six. We're living the life in Chicago. I
14:40
Speaker 1: was doing my triathlons. He was working hard on his dissertation.
14:43
Speaker 2: We met when we were eighteen, but we started dating
14:45
Speaker 2: our senior year, when we were about twenty one, so
14:48
Speaker 2: we've known each other a long time. And this it
14:50
Speaker 2: was we were ready. We were young, but we were
14:52
Speaker 2: ready to start trying to have a family. And it
14:56
Speaker 2: didn't turn out to be so easy for us.
14:59
Speaker 1: And when you say it was so easy, how long
15:02
Speaker 1: from when you started trying to when? And by the way,
15:04
Speaker 1: Liz has three beautiful children.
15:06
Speaker 2: Spoiler alert is a happy three beautiful children. Her first
15:11
Speaker 2: two are twins, So Charlie and Lucy. Yeah, I love
15:16
Speaker 2: their name. How long from start to Charlie and Lucy?
15:21
Speaker 2: It was gosh. Until we got pregnant was almost two
15:26
Speaker 2: years from starting to try, you know. So I was
15:29
Speaker 2: doing half iron Men and really exercising a lot and
15:33
Speaker 2: working really hard, and I knew, of course that that
15:35
Speaker 2: was a strain on the body. So I completely chilled
15:37
Speaker 2: out on that and was like, okay, and I'm just
15:40
Speaker 2: running for fun and for happiness. I'm not training for anything.
15:43
Speaker 2: And Matt and I started trying, and I went off
15:45
Speaker 2: birth control, and you know, first month was like, oh,
15:48
Speaker 2: this is gonna be great something. I'd been on birth
15:51
Speaker 2: control for many years and at some point my body
15:53
Speaker 2: had like stopped opulating, which you don't know because you know,
15:56
Speaker 2: it kind of replicates the cycle when you're on the pill.
15:59
Speaker 2: My cycle never restarted, and I just kept waiting and
16:02
Speaker 2: waiting for it to start. And I was running less
16:06
Speaker 2: and less during this time because I was hearing from
16:09
Speaker 2: every angle, from my mom, to my friends to strangers
16:12
Speaker 2: on the street that it was because I was a
16:14
Speaker 2: runner and I had done this to my body, which was,
16:17
Speaker 2: you know, for something that makes you so happy, and
16:20
Speaker 2: that you turn to in times of, you know, troubling times.
16:24
Speaker 2: It was really hard to hear that one this could
16:26
Speaker 2: be my fault because I had just loved exercise too much,
16:30
Speaker 2: or to that I had that I was that I
16:34
Speaker 2: couldn't use that as my solace to get through it.
16:37
Speaker 2: And what was that like for you? Mentally?
16:39
Speaker 1: I can't even imagine how dark that must feel to
16:41
Speaker 1: not be able to kind of let go in the
16:44
Speaker 1: way that you release through activity, but then also having
16:47
Speaker 1: such a difficulty losing control with your body.
16:50
Speaker 2: It was definitely one of the darkest times in my life.
16:54
Speaker 2: When I'm in a tough spot in my life, the
16:57
Speaker 2: answer is let's sign up for a marathon or let's
16:59
Speaker 2: go for a run. And I didn't have that anymore.
17:01
Speaker 2: I would feel guilty if I even ran three miles
17:04
Speaker 2: by the lake, even if I was doing it slow
17:06
Speaker 2: and easy. So it was a total perspective shift to
17:10
Speaker 2: think about, what are some other healthy releases for me
17:14
Speaker 2: to make me feel normal and like sane during this
17:16
Speaker 2: crazy time that I don't feel like are hurting my
17:19
Speaker 2: body in some way. And I want to be clear
17:21
Speaker 2: that like I don't exercise doesn't make you not get pregnant.
17:26
Speaker 2: It was at that time though, when it's not working,
17:29
Speaker 2: people say all sorts of crazy things to you. You
17:32
Speaker 2: don't know, and you're like, well maybe that is why.
17:35
Speaker 2: Who knows? And so you don't want to do anything
17:37
Speaker 2: to jeopardize your chances.
17:39
Speaker 1: So many people, I mean, there's a stance against everything
17:43
Speaker 1: that you could be doing that could be hurting your body.
17:45
Speaker 2: It's like, don't eat cucumbers or something like cucumbers, don't
17:48
Speaker 2: have a beer at dinner, that's why you're not getting pregnant.
17:51
Speaker 2: Like a million Yeah, there are a million things, so
17:55
Speaker 2: what you know. We ended up we were trying for
17:57
Speaker 2: almost a year and then went to see doctor and
18:00
Speaker 2: started fertility treatments. I actually I went through a couple
18:05
Speaker 2: of doctors because the first time, six months with one practice,
18:08
Speaker 2: it still wasn't working, and I decided to try another one.
18:11
Speaker 2: And I remember that doctor had such just a healthy
18:14
Speaker 2: stance on exercise, and he was like, if it makes
18:18
Speaker 2: you feel better, then you should one hundred percent be
18:21
Speaker 2: doing it. This is not the reason you're not getting pregnant.
18:24
Speaker 2: And it's not like I signed up for a marathon
18:25
Speaker 2: the day he told me that or anything, but I
18:27
Speaker 2: did feel more comfortable going out for runs and lifting
18:30
Speaker 2: at the gym and doing just the normal things that
18:32
Speaker 2: made me feel like Liz. I remember another thing he
18:35
Speaker 2: said is that I was like, oh, you know everyone's
18:37
Speaker 2: talking about acupuncture. Should I be going to an acupuncturist?
18:40
Speaker 2: And he was like sure, Like honestly, the best part
18:43
Speaker 2: about it is if you believe it's going to help,
18:44
Speaker 2: then it may actually help. But if you prefer getting
18:47
Speaker 2: a massage to getting an acupuncture treatment, I would suggest
18:50
Speaker 2: you do that. So thus began my once a week
18:53
Speaker 2: massages that I was like, Hey, Matt, I've got to
18:57
Speaker 2: go spend one hundred dollars on a massage. It's for
18:59
Speaker 2: our family. Starting perfectly, that was the best, like little
19:04
Speaker 2: span to be able to have that to look forward
19:07
Speaker 2: to you every week. And I do think it like
19:09
Speaker 2: relaxed me and made me happy, and it was like
19:12
Speaker 2: this little release and wellness moment and made me feel
19:15
Speaker 2: normal and chill in a way that like I couldn't
19:18
Speaker 2: quite get from my workouts.
19:20
Speaker 1: The other day, I was listening to a podcast and
19:23
Speaker 1: they were talking about the power of manifestation. Yeah, would
19:27
Speaker 1: you say at this time you were consciously trying to
19:31
Speaker 1: manifest this family.
19:33
Speaker 2: Oh god, a hundred person. If I wasn't at work working,
19:38
Speaker 2: it was just kind of always in the back of
19:40
Speaker 2: my brain. It was always there. I was just I
19:43
Speaker 2: wanted to be a mom so badly. I wanted to
19:44
Speaker 2: see Matt be a dad so badly. We just really
19:47
Speaker 2: wanted kiddos. Did it blow your mind when you found
19:50
Speaker 2: out you were pregnant with twins? We went through fertility treatments.
19:55
Speaker 2: We didn't have to do IVF. We were like on
19:58
Speaker 2: the verge of starting an IVF cycle. We were doing injectables,
20:01
Speaker 2: and I remember going in and we were like signing
20:05
Speaker 2: the final paperwork to begin the IVF cycle the next day,
20:08
Speaker 2: and my doctor was like, we're just we're finishing up
20:10
Speaker 2: a cycle. And he was like, I'm going to take
20:11
Speaker 2: a blood test while you're here, even though you're early
20:13
Speaker 2: in the like, it's too early to know. And so
20:16
Speaker 2: I knew because we were taking this medicine that we
20:19
Speaker 2: had a much higher rate for twins, But you never
20:23
Speaker 2: I don't know, you don't fully wrap your head around
20:25
Speaker 2: that possibility. I think we'd been trying for so long. Yeah,
20:28
Speaker 2: I have one child totally. So he took the blood
20:31
Speaker 2: test and I found out the next day that I
20:33
Speaker 2: was pregnant, which was I'm making it sound so chill.
20:36
Speaker 2: It was like the most exciting, just crazy moment of
20:39
Speaker 2: my life. We were going on a trip like about
20:42
Speaker 2: a week later, and I was having some weird cramping,
20:45
Speaker 2: and of course when you try so hard, any little
20:49
Speaker 2: weird twinge is terrifying. And I just wanted to be
20:52
Speaker 2: able to enjoy my trip and hear that everything was okay.
20:55
Speaker 2: So I went in by myself, you know, from my
20:58
Speaker 2: little six am ultrasound. They're like so nice. They're like,
21:00
Speaker 2: come see us, we'll check out what's going on. And
21:03
Speaker 2: so they do the ultrasound and they're like, oh, there
21:07
Speaker 2: wasn't you're having twins. There's another baby. So I don't
21:09
Speaker 2: know if it was Charlie or Lucy who popped up second,
21:12
Speaker 2: but that was crazy because Matt was not with me.
21:15
Speaker 2: So I was just like, what you know, and your
21:18
Speaker 2: mind had just wrapped itself around one baby. We're having
21:22
Speaker 2: one baby. I kind of freaked out, Like mentally, I
21:24
Speaker 2: was like, but I didn't plan on a double jogging stroller.
21:27
Speaker 2: I know, the first one I want. I'm kind of
21:30
Speaker 2: being over, you know, exaggerating it a bit, but yeah,
21:33
Speaker 2: it was a it was a so much more to push.
21:36
Speaker 2: It's much more to push. And I was like, how
21:40
Speaker 2: is Matt gonna respond to this? You know, he's an economist.
21:42
Speaker 2: He already had our spreadsheet going of like our little
21:44
Speaker 2: baby budget and all of that, and I was kind
21:47
Speaker 2: of nervous to tell him, and I went I went
21:50
Speaker 2: home and he was on his computer, probably working on
21:53
Speaker 2: the baby budget. And I went in and told him, like,
21:57
Speaker 2: something crazy had happened. Everything's okay, but something crazy had happened.
22:00
Speaker 2: And I told him we're having twins. There's a second baby,
22:02
Speaker 2: and he just like broke into a smile and he
22:04
Speaker 2: was like that is so awesome, and like gave me
22:07
Speaker 2: a hug. I'm crying. I know, I cry when I
22:10
Speaker 2: think about it, because he was just so solid and
22:13
Speaker 2: there was not like any reflection of anxiety or worry
22:18
Speaker 2: or anything on his face. He was just like, We've
22:21
Speaker 2: got this, we can do this, and I'm so happy.
22:23
Speaker 2: I know. He's such a good egg. That man, good egg. Man.
22:29
Speaker 2: I can't. Okay, so then you're pregnant. What does activity
22:33
Speaker 2: look like for you while you're pregnant? I was again
22:36
Speaker 2: pretty nervous. I didn't want to you just wipe it
22:38
Speaker 2: to your love it calling me out for being emotions.
22:43
Speaker 2: So I was very nervous. I didn't want to do
22:45
Speaker 2: anything to rock the boat or you know. At the time,
22:47
Speaker 2: I was like, if I do too much activity, will
22:50
Speaker 2: it like jostle the baby out of my body? You know,
22:53
Speaker 2: you just you're in a crazy state. I was doing
22:57
Speaker 2: the elliptical a little bit, and I would say after
23:00
Speaker 2: the first trimester, I got comfortable with lifting weights again.
23:03
Speaker 2: All like with my doctors, okay, and yeah, just with
23:07
Speaker 2: their guidance, but they and I really believe in this too.
23:10
Speaker 2: They were really strongly advocating to continue my activity level
23:14
Speaker 2: that was better for the babies and better for me
23:17
Speaker 2: to be strong and healthy and fit.
23:19
Speaker 1: And how was it, I guess obviously you have Charlie
23:23
Speaker 1: and Lucy. How was it the second time around with
23:25
Speaker 1: your third child, George, did you go through a lot
23:27
Speaker 1: of the same struggles.
23:29
Speaker 2: No. So that's the exciting thing about George is he
23:33
Speaker 2: was a bit of a surprise. To put it mildly,
23:36
Speaker 2: We were not trying to have another child. We were
23:39
Speaker 2: like so set and happy with Charlie and Lucy, we
23:41
Speaker 2: were good, and then I got a surprise positive pregnancy test.
23:46
Speaker 2: It was a complete shock, crazy shock, and that actually
23:49
Speaker 2: is not George. I ended up miscarrying that baby, which
23:52
Speaker 2: was sad, but it told me and Matt like, we
23:56
Speaker 2: really want another baby. Turns out yes, we do want
23:59
Speaker 2: a third child, so then we I would say, it
24:02
Speaker 2: was not the same, like we didn't go through fertility
24:04
Speaker 2: treatments or anything, but my body was ovulating and everything
24:07
Speaker 2: seemed to be working, just in a bit of a
24:09
Speaker 2: wonky way, and we got pregnant with George. So he
24:13
Speaker 2: was a surprise, but like a very much wanted surprise. Right, yeah, right,
24:17
Speaker 2: So where are you?
24:18
Speaker 1: I know you were in Chicago and then at some
24:20
Speaker 1: point over this story you come back to New York.
24:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we moved back to New York when Charlie
24:25
Speaker 2: and Lucy were fifteen months old.
24:27
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, And when you moved back to New York,
24:30
Speaker 1: where were you working?
24:32
Speaker 2: I did a little stint at Canon Ranch the well
24:36
Speaker 2: on THISESS brand. They were launching an editorial platform and
24:39
Speaker 2: they had like four remote editors in the New York area,
24:41
Speaker 2: so I was doing that, but I really missed being
24:44
Speaker 2: in an office and with people and collaborating in that way.
24:47
Speaker 2: So I started putting out feelers for magazine jobs when
24:50
Speaker 2: I got back to New York. And then where did
24:53
Speaker 2: you go? So I landed at Cosmo with Joanna Coles
24:57
Speaker 2: and Joyce Chang, who you know very well. We worked
25:00
Speaker 2: with her itself. Joanna had been the editor in chief
25:03
Speaker 2: of Marie Claire and Hurst had moved her over to
25:06
Speaker 2: run the ship at Cosmo, and she had a vision
25:09
Speaker 2: for adding a lot more health and sexual health content,
25:12
Speaker 2: amongst other things, more career content and political coverage. And
25:16
Speaker 2: so I was brought in with Sarah Austin to build
25:20
Speaker 2: out the health content for the magazine. And that was
25:22
Speaker 2: Cosmo Body right, So that came later. That came about
25:26
Speaker 2: a year into my stint. I was working solely on
25:30
Speaker 2: the magazine and then Hers Digital Media had this idea
25:34
Speaker 2: that they hatched with Joanna to start a streaming fitness
25:36
Speaker 2: channel way ahead of its time in fact. And as
25:40
Speaker 2: the person who oversaw all the fitness content and as
25:43
Speaker 2: a certified personal trainer, I was brought into those conversations
25:48
Speaker 2: and ended up working a lot on that project. What's
25:51
Speaker 2: it like working with Joanna Coles? It's hard to describe
25:57
Speaker 2: in words how amazing she is. She's a force of nature,
26:01
Speaker 2: She's a brilliant woman. And I learned so much about
26:06
Speaker 2: how I like to manage people and what kind of
26:08
Speaker 2: leader inspires me from her, And like a lot of
26:10
Speaker 2: how I leave my team and work with people is
26:12
Speaker 2: because of what I learned from her.
26:14
Speaker 1: I'm curious, what's one of the most valuable pieces of
26:18
Speaker 1: advice that you've ever received from one of your mentors.
26:22
Speaker 2: The most valuable piece of advice, I would say something
26:25
Speaker 2: that Joyce Chang taught me is you never ever say
26:28
Speaker 2: no to the meeting or the conversation. And that's honestly
26:31
Speaker 2: how I have the job that I have today. I
26:34
Speaker 2: was working at Well and Good, the digital lifestyle and
26:36
Speaker 2: wellness brand, and really happy and learning a lot and
26:39
Speaker 2: loving my team there, and Herst reached out and was like,
26:45
Speaker 2: you know, I was early days at Well and Good,
26:48
Speaker 2: but you never say no to the conversation. And it
26:50
Speaker 2: really opened up this whole new world and like the
26:52
Speaker 2: happiest I've ever been professionally.
27:04
Speaker 1: Taking a break from today's episode to give the sponsor
27:07
Speaker 1: Ultra a little bit of love, I am so, so
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Speaker 1: so happy that it's finally nice out, which means that
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27:15
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27:45
Speaker 2: And with that, let's get back to it.
27:55
Speaker 1: I'm back here with Liz Plosser, the editor in chief
27:58
Speaker 1: of women's health magazine The Bomb.
28:02
Speaker 2: What I'd love to kind.
28:03
Speaker 1: Of do right now with you is talk about It's
28:05
Speaker 1: so interesting to me because we have this shared passion
28:08
Speaker 1: for running. And when I think about running, and I
28:11
Speaker 1: think about the accomplishments that I've made or I've had running,
28:15
Speaker 1: I realize, in those moments of hardship that I can
28:20
Speaker 1: really do anything. And so for you, that experience working
28:25
Speaker 1: so diligently to conceive, Yeah, would you say that that
28:29
Speaker 1: has instilled in you this same passion that you can
28:33
Speaker 1: do anything.
28:35
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think it's super interesting how many parallels there
28:39
Speaker 2: are to running and like the dark places you go
28:42
Speaker 2: when you're running, and you come out on the other
28:44
Speaker 2: side in some way you find a way to get
28:46
Speaker 2: to the finish line. What I learned from going through
28:49
Speaker 2: those fertility issues is to have so much compassion for
28:53
Speaker 2: what human beings are going through. Kind of privately and secretly.
28:56
Speaker 2: There's this quote circulating, probably on Instagram, and it's something like,
29:01
Speaker 2: I never lose. I either win or I learn. And
29:05
Speaker 2: I just love that idea that even for reasons that
29:08
Speaker 2: are out of our control, like my body not conceiving
29:12
Speaker 2: or a magazine folding like you went through itself, you
29:16
Speaker 2: still can learn from those experiences. It's not a loss.
29:19
Speaker 2: You know you're gonna take something away from that, and
29:23
Speaker 2: I think it builds you up to be a bigger,
29:25
Speaker 2: better person.
29:26
Speaker 1: Something I want to touch on that you brought up.
29:28
Speaker 1: You never know what somebody else is going through. It's
29:31
Speaker 1: been something I've thought a lot about, especially over the
29:34
Speaker 1: past year. When I interact with anyone, even if I
29:37
Speaker 1: have some sort of mo when I shoot you a message,
29:40
Speaker 1: if it's a text or an email, it's never jumping
29:43
Speaker 1: right to the point because even if it's a text message,
29:46
Speaker 1: you have no idea what that person's going through on
29:48
Speaker 1: that particular day. So to just jump in and be like, hey,
29:51
Speaker 1: I have this thing I need from you, Like what
29:53
Speaker 1: if I don't know they woke up on the wrong
29:55
Speaker 1: side of the bed and they're going through a breakup
29:57
Speaker 1: and you have no idea.
29:58
Speaker 2: Or what have you. I think that's awesome. I could
30:01
Speaker 2: be better about that, but I think that's such a
30:03
Speaker 2: great point. When you text me, you are very much
30:06
Speaker 2: like that. You kind of do a little check in
30:08
Speaker 2: and like, how are we feeling today, how's it going?
30:11
Speaker 2: Because there well, there might be something else going on
30:13
Speaker 2: that like we should probably get I should probably talk
30:16
Speaker 2: about before I get to whatever I wanted to bring
30:18
Speaker 2: up in the first place. Yeah, I think that's awesome.
30:21
Speaker 1: This also reminds me of a question that I love
30:23
Speaker 1: to ask about your favorite failure?
30:27
Speaker 2: My favorite failure, I mean, I guess I would say
30:34
Speaker 2: my favorite failure is that it was hard to conceive. Again,
30:37
Speaker 2: I wouldn't change it. It's weird to use the word
30:39
Speaker 2: favorite for it because it was really like such a
30:43
Speaker 2: such a tough time in my life. But when you're
30:47
Speaker 2: on the other side of it, the retrospect that you have,
30:50
Speaker 2: I'm grateful for the experience.
30:52
Speaker 1: I feel like that's how a lot of us feel
30:54
Speaker 1: about the things that feel.
30:55
Speaker 2: Like missteps in our lives.
30:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, whether again it's something like you went through, or
31:02
Speaker 1: a career misstep or a relationship misstep. It's so difficult
31:07
Speaker 1: in the moment, and so often you're like why me,
31:10
Speaker 1: why me? But then you look back on it a month,
31:15
Speaker 1: six months, a year, five, ten years later, and you're like,
31:18
Speaker 1: this shaped need to be who I am right now,
31:21
Speaker 1: And that's so powerful.
31:22
Speaker 2: So true. I think it's like the power of zigzagging.
31:26
Speaker 2: At the time, you just want to like stay on
31:28
Speaker 2: that straight trajectory and like go where your eyes were set,
31:32
Speaker 2: and it's okay to zigzag off the path. In fact,
31:35
Speaker 2: that makes you you might like jump ahead on the
31:37
Speaker 2: path or find a new path.
31:39
Speaker 1: I want to pivot a little bit because I'm sure
31:42
Speaker 1: a lot of people listening to this podcast are interested
31:45
Speaker 1: because you're the edited chief of Woman's Health, and that
31:49
Speaker 1: it's something they may aspire to do one day. What
31:52
Speaker 1: is a story from your career that you love to tell.
31:58
Speaker 2: I'll tell one about But when I got my job
32:01
Speaker 2: at the job at Cosmo working for Joanna, i'd been
32:04
Speaker 2: interviewing for it and I was like close, you know,
32:08
Speaker 2: if I could just nail this interview with the editor
32:10
Speaker 2: in chief, then I was probably going to get the
32:11
Speaker 2: job offer. And so my final round interview was set
32:15
Speaker 2: with her, and I guess it was early, very early
32:20
Speaker 2: November of two thousand and fourteen. Yeah, thirteen, sorry, twenty thirteen,
32:28
Speaker 2: when was whenever Hurricane Sandy was. So the interview with
32:31
Speaker 2: Joanna Cooles was set for two days after Hurricane Sandy.
32:34
Speaker 2: And if you remember, were you in the city then
32:36
Speaker 2: I was, Yeah, the city was like shut down. It
32:39
Speaker 2: was thankfully I was on the Upper east Side. I
32:41
Speaker 2: felt like we were like minimally affected. Yeah, but everyone
32:43
Speaker 2: migrated there. Everyst side. The Upper east Side was like
32:47
Speaker 2: mid Town and like all of the restaurants were booked, hotels, restaurants,
32:50
Speaker 2: all of it. Well, I live in Park Slope, so
32:53
Speaker 2: fortunately we didn't lose power or anything, but none of
32:55
Speaker 2: the subways were running into the city. My interview with
32:58
Speaker 2: her was that I want to say two in the afternoon,
33:02
Speaker 2: but I didn't know how long it would take to
33:03
Speaker 2: get there. I woke up at probably four point thirty
33:08
Speaker 2: in the morning to first of all, go for a
33:10
Speaker 2: run because I needed to get my head straight and
33:13
Speaker 2: like clear and confident and strong for the conversation ahead.
33:17
Speaker 2: And then got into my little outfit and got myself
33:23
Speaker 2: to you know, the end of the Brooklyn Bridge where
33:27
Speaker 2: buses were taking you across into the city. And I
33:30
Speaker 2: didn't know if it was going to take hours to
33:32
Speaker 2: do that. So I think just the fact that I
33:37
Speaker 2: would have done anything like it was an eight mile
33:39
Speaker 2: run to Hurst Tower. I was fully prepared to put
33:42
Speaker 2: on my sneakers and run with my backpack in my
33:44
Speaker 2: little leather dress and like run myself there and change.
33:47
Speaker 2: You're not wearing a pinstripe, So I figured out what
33:51
Speaker 2: to wear. Fanoviews at this point, and I didn't make
33:57
Speaker 2: a thing about it when I talked to her, you know,
33:59
Speaker 2: it was just like, of course, I'm going to get
34:01
Speaker 2: to the interview. But at some point in the conversation
34:04
Speaker 2: she kind of recognized that. She was like, where do
34:07
Speaker 2: you live. I live in Brooklyn, and she was like, oh,
34:10
Speaker 2: was that tough to get here today? And so I
34:13
Speaker 2: told her what I'd done that I'd started my journey
34:15
Speaker 2: at about six fifteen am for this two pm interview
34:19
Speaker 2: in midtown or in Columbus Circle. And I think at
34:22
Speaker 2: that moment she was like, Okay, this, I'm going to
34:25
Speaker 2: hire this girl. I hope, I hope that was the
34:27
Speaker 2: moment that she felt that way. So I think, just
34:31
Speaker 2: hard work, you know, it's it means many different things,
34:34
Speaker 2: including getting yourself to the interview right on time.
34:38
Speaker 1: Were you in Manhattan proper for about five hours before
34:42
Speaker 1: you had this meeting?
34:45
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, it turned out to not take the
34:47
Speaker 2: six hours I'd budgeted to get into the city, So
34:49
Speaker 2: I was like, huh now what? So I definitely camped
34:53
Speaker 2: out a Starbucks in my dress, just like you know,
34:57
Speaker 2: working on my laptop and counting down the hours until
34:59
Speaker 2: I went to meet with her.
35:00
Speaker 1: Do you have a favorite article or feature that you
35:05
Speaker 1: have edited?
35:08
Speaker 2: This is going back to my Cosmo days again. This
35:10
Speaker 2: was like such a career highlight. We put together a
35:13
Speaker 2: package the irony of it. The package was called How
35:17
Speaker 2: Not to Get Pregnant and it was a big, twelve
35:20
Speaker 2: page feature. We assigned it to Kelly Mikkel, who's an
35:23
Speaker 2: amazing writer in California, and it was this huge collaborative
35:28
Speaker 2: effort between our art team, our photo team, our editors.
35:33
Speaker 2: Just the number of people at Cosmo who worked on
35:35
Speaker 2: that package is staggering. And it went on to win
35:38
Speaker 2: the brand's first ever national magazine award, And it was
35:42
Speaker 2: just like a huge career highlight, not only because it
35:45
Speaker 2: was great content and I think information that our demographic
35:48
Speaker 2: really needed, but also to be recognized by your peers
35:51
Speaker 2: and to feel like your team was recognized for all
35:55
Speaker 2: their hard work, it was pretty awesome.
35:56
Speaker 1: What a piece of advice that you would give as
36:00
Speaker 1: someone who's starting a career in journalism today.
36:03
Speaker 2: I think it's scary now.
36:06
Speaker 1: I think about you know, even I graduated college in
36:10
Speaker 1: two thousand and ten, and I think about the classes
36:14
Speaker 1: that I took, and if I went back to college
36:16
Speaker 1: right now, I am so sure I would have taken
36:18
Speaker 1: so many classes that weren't even offered at the time
36:21
Speaker 1: about digital social media.
36:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is, it's a different it's a turbulent time
36:27
Speaker 2: to put it mildly in publishing. But I think what
36:30
Speaker 2: you said is exactly right. Just because you're not in
36:32
Speaker 2: college doesn't mean you can't learn that stuff. And you
36:34
Speaker 2: can't take those classes. So I would encourage aspiring journalists
36:38
Speaker 2: one to be open to any opportunity their position offers them.
36:43
Speaker 2: If you're working on the print side, but you have
36:46
Speaker 2: a chance to do an Instagram takeover, or write a
36:49
Speaker 2: story for the website, or just take you know, somebody
36:51
Speaker 2: from the digital team out to coffee, you should one
36:53
Speaker 2: hundred percent do that, and then take classes on your
36:56
Speaker 2: own free time that are interesting to you that you
36:58
Speaker 2: feel like expand your skill set. I think that's really important.
37:01
Speaker 2: Talk to me a little bit about getting informational meetings.
37:04
Speaker 1: Someone asked me that yesterday about my thoughts on if
37:07
Speaker 1: they should reach out to someone at XYZ brand, and
37:10
Speaker 1: I actually, I remember when I was in college.
37:15
Speaker 2: I emailed Marty.
37:17
Speaker 1: Munson, who used to be the digital director at shape
37:19
Speaker 1: YEP when I was a junior in college, completely blindly,
37:24
Speaker 1: and I said, I'm going to be in the city
37:25
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, Lie, can I come and like ask you
37:29
Speaker 1: a few questions?
37:30
Speaker 2: And I was so shocked that she said yes, Yeah, Oh,
37:33
Speaker 2: I love Marty. She's a good one.
37:35
Speaker 1: My first venture into any actual magazine building before I
37:38
Speaker 1: got my internship at Fitness.
37:40
Speaker 2: And I think, why not you know, I think I
37:43
Speaker 2: get those emails, and I try to take coffees when
37:46
Speaker 2: I can. It's harder and harder. But I remember being
37:50
Speaker 2: that girl, that investment banker who was trying to like
37:53
Speaker 2: get in front of anyone to prove to them that
37:56
Speaker 2: I had a passion for this, and the people that
37:58
Speaker 2: said yes are like, you know, forever in my heart,
38:01
Speaker 2: and I want to like pay it forward to everybody else.
38:04
Speaker 2: So I say go for it to anybody listening who
38:06
Speaker 2: is blind emailing someone for an informational meeting.
38:09
Speaker 1: What's the worst that can happen? What's like a best
38:11
Speaker 1: practice tip to get that meeting?
38:13
Speaker 2: Though?
38:13
Speaker 1: Because I feel like there's good ways to go about
38:15
Speaker 1: it and awful ways to go about it.
38:17
Speaker 2: I think what you did was good. You're like you
38:19
Speaker 2: had a specific time in mind. Probably you put a
38:22
Speaker 2: sentence on that's like or if another time works better
38:24
Speaker 2: for you, great. I think setting it up with some
38:27
Speaker 2: acknowledgment that like you're familiar with the brand or the
38:29
Speaker 2: person that you're not just emailing seven hundred different editors today,
38:35
Speaker 2: but you've chosen Emily for a specific reason. I think
38:40
Speaker 2: that's a good way to kick it off.
38:42
Speaker 1: When you think about the immediate and maybe not so
38:45
Speaker 1: immediate future for woman's health. What do you see exciting
38:49
Speaker 1: things coming down the pipeline for your brand?
38:52
Speaker 2: Well, I think since we're now under the Hurst umbrella,
38:55
Speaker 2: it's a hugely exciting time because we have that engine
38:58
Speaker 2: behind us. One of the powerful things about our brand
39:00
Speaker 2: is that we're a global brand. You know, we have
39:02
Speaker 2: twenty nine international editions, and I think there's some really
39:05
Speaker 2: exciting ways we can work together and collaborate that haven't
39:10
Speaker 2: really been tapped in the past. And then I'm also
39:12
Speaker 2: really excited to develop more of a relationship with our
39:15
Speaker 2: brother brand in Men's Health. I think having these two
39:18
Speaker 2: sibling brands that reach so many millions of women and men,
39:23
Speaker 2: we have an incredible opportunity to like amplify our power together.
39:27
Speaker 2: So those are some things I'm excited to get into.
39:30
Speaker 2: What is a book that you love to give people?
39:34
Speaker 2: Women's A subscription to Women's Health. I have to say that, honestly,
39:38
Speaker 2: my mom has given that gift to like every girlfriend
39:42
Speaker 2: she has and my sister too, So thanks Mom and Kate,
39:46
Speaker 2: and I do it too to my friends. But a
39:48
Speaker 2: book I love? I Love The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.
39:55
Speaker 2: She's a fellow Kansas Citian, so she has a great
39:59
Speaker 2: podcas past and email newsletter, and I just think her
40:03
Speaker 2: life advice is so smart and conversational and actually like
40:07
Speaker 2: you can put it into action immediately. So I love that.
40:10
Speaker 2: And then for my running friends, I love the book
40:13
Speaker 2: What I think, what I talk about when I talk
40:16
Speaker 2: about running, What I think about when I talk about running.
40:19
Speaker 1: I think that's it. I read it recently. What I
40:21
Speaker 1: think about when I talk about running, What I talk about.
40:24
Speaker 2: I yes, I just read that. It's like poetry on running.
40:30
Speaker 2: I just get lost in it. I think it's so
40:33
Speaker 2: beautiful how he talks about running, and like it meanders
40:36
Speaker 2: and goes all over the place, which is kind of
40:37
Speaker 2: what your brain does while you're running in a really
40:39
Speaker 2: good way. So I just think it's a beautiful book.
40:41
Speaker 2: I remember I gave that to my dad for Father's
40:43
Speaker 2: Day a couple of years ago. You ran the Brooklyn
40:45
Speaker 2: Half Marathon last weekend. I did. How was that? It
40:48
Speaker 2: was awesome? It was rainy and windy and the weather
40:52
Speaker 2: was blah, but that kind of made it more fun.
40:55
Speaker 2: It was not as bad as when you ran Boston, though.
40:58
Speaker 2: Girl I was thinking of you at this start line.
41:00
Speaker 2: I was like, this is a fraction of what the
41:02
Speaker 2: poor boss and marathoners dealt with. And the worst part
41:05
Speaker 2: was waiting for it to start, right and you guys
41:06
Speaker 2: were out there for hours waiting.
41:08
Speaker 1: We were under I didn't know there was going to
41:11
Speaker 1: be tents for us. I just kind of prepared for
41:13
Speaker 1: it to be the absolute worst, and I'd be there
41:15
Speaker 1: with my umbrella and the two trash bags over my
41:18
Speaker 1: feet and the poncho, and thankfully there was a tent,
41:21
Speaker 1: but the tent was just like honesty of mud. So
41:23
Speaker 1: you just stood there the entire time, praying that the
41:26
Speaker 1: mud didn't infiltrate the two bag sneaker system.
41:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it sucked, but better for it. Better
41:34
Speaker 2: for it. I feel like so proud of myself that
41:38
Speaker 2: I ran hard on a really wet, crummy day. It's funny.
41:41
Speaker 2: I ran with two girlfriends, and one of them a
41:45
Speaker 2: couple days before the race started, texting that she had
41:47
Speaker 2: a goal time in mind, which I had no business
41:50
Speaker 2: going for. I had done plenty of long runs, but
41:53
Speaker 2: for me, the game changer's speed work, which I had
41:55
Speaker 2: done literally zero interval training for this race, so I
41:59
Speaker 2: was like, ooh, I don't know about that, but we
42:02
Speaker 2: just kind of went for it from the get go,
42:05
Speaker 2: and there were some Dirk miles, but we met our
42:09
Speaker 2: time goal. So we were thrilled. We were three mamas,
42:12
Speaker 2: like celebrating with a Brooklyn beer at the Cony Island
42:15
Speaker 2: finish line.
42:16
Speaker 1: Lissa said a lot of outstanding things to me, but
42:18
Speaker 1: something she said to me over dinner the other day
42:20
Speaker 1: was her theory that everyone has like three goals. You've
42:24
Speaker 1: got a goal that you put out into the world,
42:27
Speaker 1: a goal that you tell like the people that are
42:29
Speaker 1: really close to you, right, and then a goal that
42:31
Speaker 1: like you're not really going to tell anyone, but like,
42:33
Speaker 1: this is exactly what I really want to do.
42:35
Speaker 2: In this race. Do you agree with this? I don't
42:37
Speaker 2: know if I have three. I think I probably have two.
42:39
Speaker 2: Did you have two for Boston? Before you knew what
42:41
Speaker 2: the weather was going to be? Before I knew what
42:43
Speaker 2: the weather was going to be, I put something out
42:46
Speaker 2: into social media, like I'm going to run under four hours.
42:49
Speaker 1: What I put out into social media was that I
42:51
Speaker 1: really wanted to pr and then when the weather.
42:54
Speaker 2: That's a big thing to put out there. That's all
42:56
Speaker 2: did you feel pressure when you did that.
42:57
Speaker 1: It's so interesting actually because I when I prred my
43:01
Speaker 1: my marathon time, it was completely unplanned. It was my
43:04
Speaker 1: first New York City marathon. I ran it in three
43:07
Speaker 1: fifty one forty one.
43:08
Speaker 2: That wasn't after you ran Dublin, was it? No? That
43:11
Speaker 2: was the year before. Was this referencing when I ran Yit?
43:15
Speaker 2: We know way too much about each other five days
43:17
Speaker 2: after I ran the Dublin Ireland Marathon. But when I prred,
43:22
Speaker 2: it was just so unexpected.
43:23
Speaker 1: But it makes me think of when you were saying
43:25
Speaker 1: that you were smiling ear to ear that entire first
43:28
Speaker 1: race in Vermont. For me, that New York City Marathon
43:31
Speaker 1: was the most amazing, best day of my life.
43:33
Speaker 2: I look back on it.
43:34
Speaker 1: I did a video series, UH for a job at
43:37
Speaker 1: the time, and I watched that video sporadically, like two
43:39
Speaker 1: or three times a year, and I cry every time I.
43:42
Speaker 2: Cry when I see that video. I have the thumbs
43:44
Speaker 2: even hearing you talk about it. But I went.
43:46
Speaker 1: I was doing a ton of speedwork going into Boston,
43:49
Speaker 1: and I was really like working to pr You know, again,
43:54
Speaker 1: we all go through times, dark times in our life.
43:56
Speaker 1: I was dealing with some stuff on a personal level,
43:58
Speaker 1: and I just felt like I was in the right.
44:00
Speaker 2: Place to work my butt off. You were in it.
44:03
Speaker 2: And so when the weather changed, I felt like I
44:05
Speaker 2: needed to set like a new realistic expectation, not just
44:08
Speaker 2: for myself, but then like also on social Yeah, this
44:12
Speaker 2: is the real deal. This is what tomorrow is going
44:14
Speaker 2: to be.
44:14
Speaker 1: Like the winds are going to be up to fifty
44:17
Speaker 1: miles an hour or something, and I'm just gonna go
44:20
Speaker 1: out there and.
44:20
Speaker 2: Give it my best.
44:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mean I think our hurdle moments help
44:24
Speaker 1: us to do that. They help us remember that, you know,
44:28
Speaker 1: this is how it is now, and we're going to
44:30
Speaker 1: go forward and we're going to give it our all,
44:32
Speaker 1: and that giving your all is truly good enough.
44:36
Speaker 2: I think that is so true. And I think what's
44:39
Speaker 2: remarkable is like you could have decided to not run Boston.
44:42
Speaker 2: You could have picked another spring marathon because you were
44:45
Speaker 2: in the shape of your life and ready to go
44:47
Speaker 2: out and just destroy that race course. But you said
44:51
Speaker 2: you were going to run Boston, and you ran Boston,
44:53
Speaker 2: and you went and gave it one hundred and ten
44:54
Speaker 2: percent and you ran an awesome race. I cannot believe
44:57
Speaker 2: how fast you ran into those winds. Oh my god.
44:59
Speaker 2: But now I do want you to do another marathon
45:01
Speaker 2: so you can see how speedy really can be.
45:03
Speaker 1: I hate to chill. My hip is like sporadic sciatica.
45:06
Speaker 1: This is thirty next week. One last question. If you
45:11
Speaker 1: could offer one piece of advice to yourself when you're
45:17
Speaker 1: going through those fertility struggles, what words of wisdom would
45:24
Speaker 1: you give that girl?
45:30
Speaker 2: I think what I would tell her is that life
45:32
Speaker 2: never goes exactly as you imagine it in your brain.
45:36
Speaker 2: And that's okay, that's like the beauty of it. That
45:39
Speaker 2: the zigzagging off your course is where magical things happen.
45:44
Speaker 2: And for me that was Charlie Lucy. I would never
45:47
Speaker 2: have these two beautiful boy girl twins if I hadn't
45:50
Speaker 2: zigzagged into fertility darkness. And that's really hard to think
45:54
Speaker 2: about in the moment, but it's something that I've taken
45:58
Speaker 2: from that experience and that I to remember when my
46:01
Speaker 2: life is zigzags as it continues to do and everybody does.
46:05
Speaker 2: That's amazing. What a positive note to end on. Liz,
46:08
Speaker 2: I like, I wish you could do this every day.
46:10
Speaker 2: I know. Can we start every morning with coffee and ketchup.
46:12
Speaker 2: This is the best.
46:13
Speaker 1: Oh my god, it's going to be like a new
46:14
Speaker 1: daily podcast series. Thanks so much for coming in.
46:18
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me m.
46:19
Speaker 1: Please take a moment to leave a quick review by
46:22
Speaker 1: clicking the link with the description to this episode. We
46:25
Speaker 1: all face multiple hurdles in life. I want to hear
46:28
Speaker 1: about yours. Reach out to me at Emily at Hurdle
46:31
Speaker 1: dot us. Connect with the podcast on Instagram and Twitter
46:34
Speaker 1: at Hurdle Podcast.
46:36
Speaker 2: Liz. Where do we find you? Where do we find
46:38
Speaker 2: Women's health? Yeah, come find me on my Instagram at
46:42
Speaker 2: at Liz Plosser, and you can follow women's health at
46:46
Speaker 2: Women's Health Mag and also at Women's healthmag dot com.
46:51
Speaker 1: Awesome, I am at Emily Abodi. Another hurdle conquered. Catch
46:56
Speaker 1: you guys next time.