Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 244. Elizabeth Cutler, Co-Founder of Peoplehood & SoulCycle

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244. Elizabeth Cutler, Co-Founder of Peoplehood & SoulCycle · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

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Speaker 1: I'm just showing up. That's my motto. Just show up
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Speaker 1: and do the best I can, and that's all I
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Speaker 1: can do.
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Speaker 2: Hey, Hey, Emily Abody. Here. You are listening to episode
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Speaker 2: two hundred and forty four of Hurdle, a wellness focused podcast.
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Speaker 2: Reconnect with everyone from your favorite athletes to top experts
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Speaker 2: and industry CEOs about their highest highs, toughest moments, and
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Speaker 2: everything in between. We all go through hurdles in life,
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Speaker 2: and my goal through these discussions is to empower you
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Speaker 2: to better navigate yours and move with intention so that
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Speaker 2: you can stride towards your own big potential and of
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Speaker 2: course have some fun along the way. For today's episode,
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Speaker 2: I am chatting with Elizabeth Cutler. She is one of
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Speaker 2: the original founders of Soul Cycle and she's got a
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Speaker 2: new venture that she's here to talk about it, and
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Speaker 2: that is Peoplehood. I am so excited for this episode.
1:06
Speaker 2: I'd be remiss if I didn't say that both Elizabeth
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Speaker 2: and her co founder Julie Rice were on my original
1:12
Speaker 2: list of guests that I hoped to talk to you
1:15
Speaker 2: one day. When you talk about individuals who have made
1:19
Speaker 2: a dramatic impact on the landscape of boutique fitness, something
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Speaker 2: that is such a major industry. Elizabeth's name is totally
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Speaker 2: up there now with over six hundred episodes that is
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Speaker 2: wild in the Hurdle catalog. I am elated to be
1:37
Speaker 2: bringing this chat to the feed. Elizabeth and I, like
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Speaker 2: I said, are talking a lot about her new venture
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Speaker 2: called Peoplehood. For those that may be unfamiliar with it,
1:49
Speaker 2: the New York Times are referred to it as soul
1:52
Speaker 2: Cycle without the bike. I would say a better way
1:55
Speaker 2: to classify the experience that you can get either in
1:58
Speaker 2: their first Chelsea's studio or in one of their virtual
2:02
Speaker 2: gathers as they call them, would be a guided group
2:05
Speaker 2: conversation designed to improve our relationships. I believe that Elizabeth
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Speaker 2: called it relationship fitness. Of course, we also talk about
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Speaker 2: her early entrepreneurship days at soul Cycle, what inspired her
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Speaker 2: to cultivate that space with her co founder Julie, and
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Speaker 2: why at first it was really really hard to get
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Speaker 2: individuals to get on board with the concept. She also
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Speaker 2: gets really honest about how it felt to step down
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Speaker 2: from her active role at that company in twenty sixteen,
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Speaker 2: saying that it felt all sorts of confusing and soul
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Speaker 2: wrenching and difficult, despite knowing in her gut that it
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Speaker 2: was the right move for her. I love that she
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Speaker 2: has some really great advice to offer anyone who may
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Speaker 2: be going through a similarly difficult transition. Plus she fills
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Speaker 2: us in on a lot of the really great advice
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Speaker 2: that she has gotten over her career as a well
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Speaker 2: known entrepreneur. I also, to bring it back to Peoplehood,
3:03
Speaker 2: really appreciate the sentiments that we share talking about the
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Speaker 2: importance of communication, how what they're doing at Peoplehood is
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Speaker 2: different than therapy, a really important distinction to make here now,
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Speaker 2: and why it is a critical time for us to
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Speaker 2: have more meaningful and deep conversations coming out of a pandemic,
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Speaker 2: in the midst of a global loneliness epidemic, so many
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Speaker 2: people struggling and not feeling like they have the space
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Speaker 2: to share their feelings. Again, a huge, huge, huge thank
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Speaker 2: you to Elizabeth, So grateful for your time. Make sure
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Speaker 2: you're following along with Hurdle over at Hurdle Podcast, I
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Speaker 2: myself am over at Emily Abadi and last little bit
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Speaker 2: of housekeeping La I'm coming for you host in a
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Speaker 2: conversation on under Safety Wednesday night at six point thirty pm.
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Speaker 2: The LinkedIn register is in the show notes. With that,
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Speaker 2: let's get to hurdling today. I am sitting down with
4:02
Speaker 2: Elizabeth Cutler. She is one of the original founders of
4:04
Speaker 2: Soul Cycles. She's also one of the co founders behind
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Speaker 2: the new concept Peoplehood. How are you doing today?
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Speaker 1: I am so good. I'm just thrilled to be here
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Speaker 1: with you. This is so awesome.
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Speaker 2: I'm so thrilled to be here with you today for
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Speaker 2: a multitude of reasons. But before we talk about those,
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Speaker 2: I have to ask you a very important question. Is
4:25
Speaker 2: that Okay? With you?
4:27
Speaker 1: Go for it. I'm sure I'll have a very important
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Speaker 1: question for you too.
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Speaker 2: Okay, how are you doing really?
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Speaker 1: Oh my god, I love that question. How am I doing? Really?
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Speaker 1: I'm really excited to be here. I'm excited to be
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Speaker 1: talking about Peoplehood. I am feeling really proud. I have
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Speaker 1: a seventeen year old daughter who won Battle of the
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Speaker 1: Bands last night with her singing, and she performed in
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Speaker 1: a way that I have never seen her perform before,
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Speaker 1: so it really made me very proud and excited. So
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Speaker 1: thank you for asking how are you doing really?
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Speaker 2: You know what? Really, I am a tad overwhelmed because
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Speaker 2: I am gearing up for two pretty big, back to
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Speaker 2: back trips over to Los Angeles at the top half
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Speaker 2: of next week and then to Paris, and both of
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Speaker 2: them are for work, and I'm excited, but there's just
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Speaker 2: a lot of ducks that need to get in a
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Speaker 2: row and they're waddling that way. So with that we
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Speaker 2: move forward.
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Speaker 1: Paris sounds like an exciting place to be for podcasting.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you know. I'm very fortunate in that A
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Speaker 2: six sponsors both the LA Marathon and the Paris Marathon,
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Speaker 2: and so I am working with them on some programming
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Speaker 2: around both, which is truly, like, you know, talk about
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Speaker 2: amazing opportunities. I think that would be an understatement here.
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Speaker 2: So I'm super excited. But enough about these marathons. I
5:55
Speaker 2: kick off our conversation today with that question, specifically because
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Speaker 2: that was the first question that was asked to me
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Speaker 2: when I went to Peoplehood on Monday night. So why
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Speaker 2: don't you start us off by letting us know what
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Speaker 2: is Peoplehood?
6:13
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for asking. So Peoplehood is a
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Speaker 1: place for people to gather. We have started these sixty
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Speaker 1: minute experiences that allow people to find really a new home.
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Speaker 1: One of the things that happened at Soul Cycle, just
6:28
Speaker 1: to back up a step and blends out, was that
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Speaker 1: what we found was that people in those rooms got
6:36
Speaker 1: access to a part of themselves, They got access to
6:39
Speaker 1: being part of a wider community, and there were a
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Speaker 1: lot of very magical things that came out of it.
6:45
Speaker 1: And what we noticed was that the main thing that
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Speaker 1: came out of it was the connection that people felt
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Speaker 1: with themselves and others, and we wanted to take that
6:54
Speaker 1: experience and create a space for it. We feel and
6:58
Speaker 1: we have noticed, I think all of us that these
7:02
Speaker 1: places have largely been stripped out of our culture, whether
7:06
Speaker 1: people are going to an Elks club or a church
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Speaker 1: or synagogue. And still people many people still do that,
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Speaker 1: but for people who are just feeling like something's a
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Speaker 1: little bit missing, and there's a certain kind of For me,
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Speaker 1: it's a spiritual hunger. I think there are other ways
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Speaker 1: of describing it, but there certainly is a thirst around
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Speaker 1: what it feels for me to be connected to myself
7:30
Speaker 1: and other people post pandemic in particular. And so Julie
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Speaker 1: and I really build things that are for ourselves that
7:39
Speaker 1: we have a really strong need for, and Soul Cycle
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Speaker 1: was certainly one of those, and Peoplehood is the result
7:46
Speaker 1: of four years of research and conversation and really looking
7:52
Speaker 1: at what could we do to not only move our
7:55
Speaker 1: own needles, but what could we do to help people
7:57
Speaker 1: move their own needles in community, in particularly a space
8:03
Speaker 1: that's really peer to peer. So what ended up happening
8:08
Speaker 1: as a result of a lot of research that we
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Speaker 1: did was coming up with an architected experience that's under
8:15
Speaker 1: an hour, that's a facilitated conversation with up to twenty
8:19
Speaker 1: people where you have the opportunity to listen to music,
8:22
Speaker 1: to do some breathing, to really land yourself in the space,
8:26
Speaker 1: and then once we are in the space together, we
8:29
Speaker 1: answer questions as a group, and then we do breakouts
8:35
Speaker 1: into individual listening sessions. And the reason why we chose
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Speaker 1: active listening as a key component of these gathers is
8:44
Speaker 1: because in all every single one of the conversations that
8:48
Speaker 1: we had in all of the research with all of
8:51
Speaker 1: the people across sectors, and we spent a lot of
8:54
Speaker 1: time doing this, actively listening was the single most relevant
9:00
Speaker 1: read that was a key component of everyone's research around
9:03
Speaker 1: connection and how important that was. So we ended up
9:09
Speaker 1: really leaning into that, and I think that that is
9:13
Speaker 1: what makes us more human, right, is the ability to
9:17
Speaker 1: really hear other people and hear ourselves. And we all
9:20
Speaker 1: think we're great listeners. I'm not our raise my hand.
9:26
Speaker 1: I am not. I have a lot of work to
9:27
Speaker 1: do with that, and I'm getting better. I have to say.
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Speaker 1: The gathers have really been making difference for me. And
9:34
Speaker 1: we wanted to be able to meet people wherever, wherever
9:36
Speaker 1: they were, so we built out of space on Seventeenth
9:39
Speaker 1: Street in New York City, and you can also do
9:40
Speaker 1: people hit online, which is really exciting because it's a
9:44
Speaker 1: very cool platform that we have built.
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Speaker 2: What would you say make someone a good listener?
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Speaker 1: Well, I think listening is like a muscle right in
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Speaker 1: the way that I have learned to listen when someone's speaking,
9:58
Speaker 1: I'm trying to figure out, Oh my god, what am
10:00
Speaker 1: am I going to say? How am I going to fix?
10:03
Speaker 2: Is this going to be?
10:04
Speaker 1: How? I'm already like responding in my head, And you
10:08
Speaker 1: know that's me actively panicking. That's not me actively really
10:12
Speaker 1: listening to what is going on. And so one of
10:15
Speaker 1: the researchers that we looked at the work of explored
10:20
Speaker 1: the quality of listening being related to the quality of
10:25
Speaker 1: someone else's thinking. That those two things run in conduction,
10:27
Speaker 1: which we found really fascinating. And then also the equity
10:32
Speaker 1: of time, So for in these gathers we all are,
10:34
Speaker 1: we all have like a certain amount of time to share,
10:37
Speaker 1: so there's there's nobody that can really dominate a conversation.
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Speaker 1: It's very equitable in that way, and that feels really
10:44
Speaker 1: good because I think you get into certain social situations
10:47
Speaker 1: where somebody's not saying too much and somebody's maybe saying
10:50
Speaker 1: too much, and so I think what makes us a
10:54
Speaker 1: good listener is being able to get someone else's world,
10:57
Speaker 1: to just breathe into the moment and really feel the
10:59
Speaker 1: quality of what they're saying, to allow ourselves not to
11:03
Speaker 1: only listen with our ears, but to listen with our eyes,
11:05
Speaker 1: to listen with our bodies. And I think those few
11:09
Speaker 1: things are really hard to do and we don't practice them,
11:13
Speaker 1: and if we do practice them, there's a lot of
11:15
Speaker 1: magic that comes out of that.
11:17
Speaker 2: A little light bulb went off for me when you
11:20
Speaker 2: said the bit about timing in a conversation, and that
11:24
Speaker 2: word conversation, for some reason, really struck me because in
11:29
Speaker 2: my experience and again I'll just reiterate I've only been once.
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Speaker 2: It wasn't I would say a conversation. As much as
11:36
Speaker 2: it was an opportunity to both speak and an opportunity
11:39
Speaker 2: to listen, it was an opportunity to hold space. And
11:43
Speaker 2: so I would love to dial it back a little
11:47
Speaker 2: bit to gain a better understanding of when you realized
11:52
Speaker 2: that this space was so necessary.
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Speaker 1: Yes, the reason we felt like this was really important
12:01
Speaker 1: was because we had used these practices throughout our business relationship.
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Speaker 1: Julie and I had because I mean, we're very different people,
12:12
Speaker 1: and frankly, we needed to work on our communication so
12:16
Speaker 1: that we could build a business that we wanted to
12:19
Speaker 1: build together. And when you're dealing when we're all very
12:23
Speaker 1: different and we should be very different, that's what makes
12:26
Speaker 1: something great. But you're not always going to see things
12:29
Speaker 1: exactly the same. And so we had a coach who
12:32
Speaker 1: really helped us think about, you know, Okay, Julie thinks
12:37
Speaker 1: we need to do a Elizabeth things we need to
12:39
Speaker 1: do be we would spend time just really suspending the
12:44
Speaker 1: beliefs that we were holding so firmly and making an
12:49
Speaker 1: actual effort to get each other's world. And in that
12:54
Speaker 1: suspension and starting to just allow something else to come
12:57
Speaker 1: to life. We didn't have to agree, didn't have to
13:00
Speaker 1: change nothing there. It was a low stakes game, and
13:05
Speaker 1: in that low stakes game, you start to see something
13:08
Speaker 1: through somebody else's highs and it makes it. Frankly, it
13:13
Speaker 1: makes your own thinking better. And it made it allowed
13:16
Speaker 1: us to function as a unit and lead which had
13:23
Speaker 1: challenges every thirty five minutes, so you know, it really
13:28
Speaker 1: and it moved it really, really really moved the needle
13:30
Speaker 1: for us. And what we realized in doing that that
13:33
Speaker 1: it's so simple and yet so accessible that we started
13:35
Speaker 1: training everybody in our organization into that kind of a practice,
13:40
Speaker 1: whether they were at the front desk, whether they were
13:42
Speaker 1: working in the studios, whether they were working in the
13:45
Speaker 1: in the in the corporate office. And it really allowed
13:50
Speaker 1: us to build a work community where I used to
13:52
Speaker 1: get up in the morning and I'm like.
13:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm going to work woo.
13:56
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of other people felt like that.
13:59
Speaker 1: And I really credit those kinds of listening and communication
14:05
Speaker 1: skills that Julie and I committed to to creating and
14:08
Speaker 1: fostering that kind of environment of sharing and caring and
14:15
Speaker 1: to be perfectly honest When we started to look at
14:19
Speaker 1: that and then started to look at what was going
14:21
Speaker 1: on in the studios in those rooms, we really realized
14:25
Speaker 1: that this is not the norm and that people would
14:30
Speaker 1: just live much happier lives and would We thought people
14:32
Speaker 1: would feel better if they had access to this in
14:35
Speaker 1: an easy, kind of low stakes way. And once we
14:38
Speaker 1: committed to creating this kind of path in these sixty
14:42
Speaker 1: minute gathers, that we started noticing that there was a tremendous,
14:47
Speaker 1: tremendous amount of research, even more than what we had
14:51
Speaker 1: found that was coming out that Harvard study based on
14:53
Speaker 1: eighty five years of research around social and relational health
14:57
Speaker 1: being a key indicator of longevity and physical health and
15:02
Speaker 1: mental health, and a number of other studies. There's a
15:05
Speaker 1: lot of global studies that are showing this, and to
15:07
Speaker 1: be honest, it's a little bit obvious, but you know,
15:10
Speaker 1: we're busy and we just want things to work out.
15:13
Speaker 1: Like you get married, you think your relationship is going
15:16
Speaker 1: to work out. You start a business with somebody, you
15:17
Speaker 1: think it's just going to work out. You have a kid,
15:19
Speaker 1: you think it's just going to work out. All this
15:20
Speaker 1: stuff doesn't just work out. We need to be able
15:22
Speaker 1: to take care of these relationships. So we don't really
15:25
Speaker 1: have a good skill set to do that. So that
15:27
Speaker 1: is why we decided to weave into this journey, and
15:32
Speaker 1: I think that's why people are finding I mean, I
15:34
Speaker 1: don't know how it was for you. How was it
15:35
Speaker 1: for you last night? Did you find a little spark
15:37
Speaker 1: or a little aha or something in that room that
15:39
Speaker 1: meant something to you?
15:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, I think it would be impossible to
15:44
Speaker 2: walk out of that room without having an aha or
15:48
Speaker 2: a moment. Especially, I was surrounded in my gather with
15:52
Speaker 2: I believe it was nine other women, So to be
15:55
Speaker 2: able to be in a space with women feeling very supported,
16:01
Speaker 2: I can say for certain that it is understandable that
16:06
Speaker 2: something like this, especially in a place like this. We're
16:09
Speaker 2: talking physical space, can be cravable for so many who
16:13
Speaker 2: may feel isolated, who may feel alone amidst the chaos
16:18
Speaker 2: that is New York. I think I had read a
16:20
Speaker 2: stat at one point the lack of individuals who feel
16:24
Speaker 2: as though they actually have close relationships, and so to
16:27
Speaker 2: be able to walk into that space and speak openly,
16:31
Speaker 2: that might be the only time that someone feels safe
16:33
Speaker 2: to do that throughout their entire day.
16:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that may be true. And it's kind
16:39
Speaker 1: that's why the data, frankly is so bad around loneliness
16:44
Speaker 1: and how and why people are calling this a loneliness epidemic.
16:48
Speaker 1: It's a loneliness crisis. It's a crisis of social health.
16:51
Speaker 1: It's just look I and I and it makes sense.
16:55
Speaker 1: It's fine. You know, we have conducted this amazing experience
16:58
Speaker 1: on social media. We've all gotten a lot of hits
17:01
Speaker 1: on it, right, We've all enjoyed it, like I'm addicted
17:04
Speaker 1: to my phone. I love that stuff. I love a
17:06
Speaker 1: dooms girl. I love it. It's fun, and yet there's
17:10
Speaker 1: something so disorienting, I think for our brains around it
17:15
Speaker 1: and to come together. I'd love to know how it
17:18
Speaker 1: was for you. For me, Like coming together in a group,
17:20
Speaker 1: even if it's online, ironically, coming together in a group
17:26
Speaker 1: of humans, it is such a dose of humanity. Like
17:30
Speaker 1: I feel a little bit buzzed, Like I feel a
17:33
Speaker 1: little bit high. Yeah, being in that kind of community.
17:38
Speaker 1: And it's funny because they're strangers, you know, It's not
17:41
Speaker 1: like you're there with your besties, which you can do
17:44
Speaker 1: and I have done, and it's super fun. But it's
17:47
Speaker 1: such a low stakes game that I'm really you know,
17:51
Speaker 1: I think there is a nourishment that comes out of
17:54
Speaker 1: this experience that bleeds into the rest of your life.
17:57
Speaker 1: And so that's why one of the many and so
18:00
Speaker 1: why were super super fascinated by this kind of category creation.
18:04
Speaker 2: Did you feel that same sense of community, that same
18:10
Speaker 2: feeling when you sat inside of your first Soul cycle
18:15
Speaker 2: on the Upper West Side?
18:17
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean to be honest, it took a minute.
18:22
Speaker 1: But those rooms look for me. I I'm a spiritual person.
18:28
Speaker 1: I'm a person, and I say that. I feel like
18:30
Speaker 1: a little embarrassed saying that, but it's important to me,
18:33
Speaker 1: Like I need to care for the different elements of
18:36
Speaker 1: my heart's tenderness and of my brain's curiosity and the
18:40
Speaker 1: things that make me a human being. And I'm not
18:44
Speaker 1: a robot, you know, and I'm not perfect, and I
18:47
Speaker 1: have a lot to learn, and those rooms, I think
18:51
Speaker 1: we need these rooms. We need secular spaces to delve
18:55
Speaker 1: into our humanity. And for me, that's what would happen
18:58
Speaker 1: in a Soul Cycle class. Like I would show up
19:00
Speaker 1: there and I ugly cried on that bike more times
19:03
Speaker 1: than I can count. It met me where I needed
19:06
Speaker 1: to be met and it really supported me, whether I
19:11
Speaker 1: was talking to people in the room or not. And
19:13
Speaker 1: I think there's a real place for us to build
19:16
Speaker 1: these experiences for each other and for me, peoplehood really
19:21
Speaker 1: helps me scratch that itch, because I also want to
19:24
Speaker 1: be in communion with people who are only just like me,
19:27
Speaker 1: Like I want to be around people who are younger
19:29
Speaker 1: than me, who are older than me, that have different
19:31
Speaker 1: lived experiences, that are at a different part of that
19:35
Speaker 1: human continuum. Well, and we all think that we don't
19:37
Speaker 1: go through all this stuff, and we all do, and
19:40
Speaker 1: then we start to see ourselves in each other, and
19:42
Speaker 1: it's just it's such a relief. And I think that
19:45
Speaker 1: is the one of the things about social media that's
19:49
Speaker 1: so such a really truly like the buzzkill, right, Like
19:52
Speaker 1: you look at that picture and you're like that there's
19:54
Speaker 1: no suffering in there of that other human, Like I
19:57
Speaker 1: can be the only one who's feeling this, yeah, and
20:00
Speaker 1: it's just not that's not what it is. And so
20:03
Speaker 1: to come into a room where you know somebody is
20:05
Speaker 1: going through grief or somebody just got a promotion, you know,
20:09
Speaker 1: where we can celebrate the highs and lows that we
20:11
Speaker 1: will all experience at some point and know that this
20:14
Speaker 1: is just part of being a person. It's so It's
20:17
Speaker 1: just that was one of the things I loved most
20:19
Speaker 1: about soul Cycle, Like it's such a level setter. I
20:22
Speaker 1: love environments that are level setting, Like when you're sweaty
20:24
Speaker 1: and gross, like it doesn't matter, Like you're just a sweaty,
20:26
Speaker 1: gross person.
20:27
Speaker 2: Just like me.
20:30
Speaker 1: And this is also just like You're just a person
20:33
Speaker 1: just like me and just like you, And I think
20:36
Speaker 1: it's kind of beautiful.
20:38
Speaker 2: It is kind of beautiful. What we won't do in
20:40
Speaker 2: our conversation today is like unpack the history of soul Cycle.
20:44
Speaker 2: I could think it's safe to say that if someone
20:45
Speaker 2: wants to hear the entire history, they can head over
20:48
Speaker 2: to How I Built This or one of the other
20:50
Speaker 2: dozens of really great interviews that are out there. But
20:54
Speaker 2: what we will do is talk about what you learned
20:58
Speaker 2: from that chapter, because it is irrefeudable that you and
21:03
Speaker 2: your co founder Julie Rice are two of the original
21:08
Speaker 2: co founders in the wellness space, two of the people
21:10
Speaker 2: that to this day, when I have people on the
21:13
Speaker 2: show and they talk about where they've garnered some of
21:16
Speaker 2: their inspiration from it is commonplace that one of your
21:20
Speaker 2: names pops up, and so for you, how does it
21:24
Speaker 2: feel to be that girl?
21:30
Speaker 1: Oh my god, it's you know what, To be honest,
21:33
Speaker 1: it's pretty awesome. Building Getting to do that was the
21:37
Speaker 1: absolute privilege of a lifetime. And that's why Julie and
21:39
Speaker 1: I had to work so hard on our relationship because
21:41
Speaker 1: we just didn't want to fuck it up. We really
21:43
Speaker 1: wanted to make sure that Soul Cycle could become what
21:47
Speaker 1: we wanted it to become. And we took it as
21:49
Speaker 1: far as we could, and we loved every second of it,
21:53
Speaker 1: even the tough parts we loved. We loved getting to
21:56
Speaker 1: meet all the people that we got to meet, in
21:57
Speaker 1: particular getting to work with all these incredible people, and
22:01
Speaker 1: honestly like creating good jobs, Like, let's just all create
22:04
Speaker 1: some good jobs for one another. It's just silly anyway.
22:08
Speaker 1: I have to say. The other thing is that we
22:10
Speaker 1: had a hard time in the beginning really finding people
22:14
Speaker 1: to get us, and people wanted to help, but just
22:17
Speaker 1: to really get us. And so I think because we've
22:20
Speaker 1: struggled with that, we really have made an effort to
22:24
Speaker 1: care about anybody who sort of crosses our path and
22:27
Speaker 1: be generous with our time and try to help people,
22:30
Speaker 1: you know, come along. And so I'm glad to hear
22:34
Speaker 1: that people have said that on your podcast. That makes
22:37
Speaker 1: me feel very warm, and I am delighted to be
22:41
Speaker 1: that person for people, because honestly, it sucks to feel
22:45
Speaker 1: alone and to not know what to do and to
22:48
Speaker 1: just be going like, oh, let's me put my finger
22:50
Speaker 1: in the air and hope I figure out which way
22:52
Speaker 1: the wind blows. And so to the extent that that
22:55
Speaker 1: we can share a playbook, I'm super game to do that.
22:59
Speaker 2: When you say it was hard for people to get you,
23:04
Speaker 2: was it hard for people to get you Elizabeth Cutler
23:08
Speaker 2: and perhaps your co founder Julie Rice Or was it
23:12
Speaker 2: the concept and what you were trying to create?
23:14
Speaker 1: I mean, that is such a great question. Look, I
23:16
Speaker 1: think there were a bunch of things.
23:18
Speaker 2: We were.
23:21
Speaker 1: Continuously underestimated by a lot of people, which made us
23:28
Speaker 1: be even more motivated. And also, you know what I
23:31
Speaker 1: think the reality was like. And I don't blame anybody,
23:34
Speaker 1: I mean, to be honest, like, people are like, it's
23:36
Speaker 1: New York, right, New Yorkers are cynical, and that's why
23:38
Speaker 1: we love ourselves and we love each other but like
23:41
Speaker 1: we were asking somebody to pay for something they got
23:43
Speaker 1: for free at their gym. So people were kind of
23:46
Speaker 1: a little bit like, how stupid do you think I am?
23:48
Speaker 1: I mean, for reals, But if we could deliver on
23:51
Speaker 1: an experience that felt additive to people's lives, then they
23:55
Speaker 1: would come back. And that was that was really the
23:58
Speaker 1: core tenant of you know, soul Cycle was as much
24:01
Speaker 1: a hospitality business as it was a fitness business. And
24:05
Speaker 1: so I think like we just got into so many layers,
24:08
Speaker 1: Like we did online reservations before anybody we did. There
24:11
Speaker 1: were just a lot of things that we were sort
24:13
Speaker 1: of doing early. Now that sounds absurd because it's just
24:18
Speaker 1: such a different world than it was in two thousand
24:20
Speaker 1: and six. But at that time, you know, there wasn't
24:23
Speaker 1: a Lulu Lemon store yet. You know, there was a
24:26
Speaker 1: they had a like a little showroom on the second
24:31
Speaker 1: floor somewhere on the Upper West Side. There wasn't you know,
24:36
Speaker 1: we didn't even have Uber yet. Like there were just
24:38
Speaker 1: all of these things that we take for granted didn't
24:40
Speaker 1: quite exist. So at that time what we were doing
24:43
Speaker 1: was a little bit different, and what we wanted to
24:47
Speaker 1: be able to do was to fold things into people's
24:50
Speaker 1: lifestyle by making it easy to sign up and making
24:54
Speaker 1: it easy to develop a practice, right because you only
24:58
Speaker 1: get the results from something if you do it on
25:00
Speaker 1: a repetitive basis, and so that was sort of what
25:03
Speaker 1: we did.
25:04
Speaker 2: So what I'm hearing you say is that it was
25:06
Speaker 2: really the concept that was hard to get people to
25:11
Speaker 2: sign on to right away, and that was why there
25:14
Speaker 2: was such a dire need to create this really special
25:18
Speaker 2: different experience. I mean, for those that don't know, you
25:21
Speaker 2: couldn't even put external signage on the original Soul Cycle
25:24
Speaker 2: because it was a landmark.
25:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, you learn every day. It would have
25:28
Speaker 1: been nice to have a sign but no, that's true,
25:31
Speaker 1: but the rent was cheap, so that was a good
25:33
Speaker 1: way to start. Listen, you know, Soul Cycle allowed us
25:36
Speaker 1: to kind of really understand what it means to occupy
25:40
Speaker 1: our bodies, what it means to feel alive, what it
25:42
Speaker 1: means to get through things, what it means to like
25:45
Speaker 1: do that in community, And that was a big that
25:48
Speaker 1: was the lead in right to peoplehood because we really
25:52
Speaker 1: do think that the ability for people to grant themselves
25:57
Speaker 1: one hour could be one hour, it could be one
26:00
Speaker 1: hour a day. It could be one hour when you
26:02
Speaker 1: have it, but that gift of yourself of one hour
26:06
Speaker 1: to listen to yourself think and to hear someone else,
26:10
Speaker 1: it is just so. It's a profound experience, and we
26:13
Speaker 1: want people to be able to leave something feeling higher
26:16
Speaker 1: than when they work walked in, and have whatever they
26:19
Speaker 1: do in that room be additive in the rest of
26:22
Speaker 1: their lives outside of that room.
26:25
Speaker 2: You said that it's important for you to have secular
26:29
Speaker 2: spaces to come to. Let's say, like for release, what
26:34
Speaker 2: else is important for you for Elizabeth?
26:37
Speaker 1: To take care of Elizabeth, I think the best for me.
26:41
Speaker 1: I take care of myself the way a lot of
26:43
Speaker 1: people are, like. I'm starting to prioritize my sleep. I
26:47
Speaker 1: am thinking about food as something I enjoy, but also
26:51
Speaker 1: food as medicine, lifting weights because I want to have
26:56
Speaker 1: muscles as I age and protect my bones. And I'm
27:00
Speaker 1: prioritizing sleep, and I'm thinking about what a e And
27:04
Speaker 1: I am investing in my friendships, and I'm spending time
27:09
Speaker 1: with people that I care about, and I am getting
27:13
Speaker 1: curious about new things.
27:14
Speaker 2: Sounds like a lot of opportunity.
27:16
Speaker 1: I mean, it's pretty awesome. I'm having a good time.
27:19
Speaker 2: Talk to me first and foremost about why you felt
27:23
Speaker 2: like you had maybe done all that you could when
27:27
Speaker 2: you left Soul Cycle.
27:29
Speaker 1: It's so funny, it seems so long ago for Julie
27:32
Speaker 1: and I really felt like there was something else and
27:37
Speaker 1: that we wanted to make something else that could serve
27:42
Speaker 1: people more easily to meet them where they were, and
27:47
Speaker 1: we weren't really sure what that was. And we love
27:50
Speaker 1: Soul Cycle and we hated leaving Soul Cycle, but you know,
27:53
Speaker 1: sometimes your numbers up and it just is. So we
27:55
Speaker 1: took a little bit of a beat and we just
27:57
Speaker 1: started doing tons of research about like what it acts
28:00
Speaker 1: actually was that we loved about being in that room,
28:02
Speaker 1: and what we actually loved about being in the office,
28:05
Speaker 1: and what we actually loved about being in community with
28:08
Speaker 1: the people that we had come to meet. And we
28:12
Speaker 1: found that we realized, like we're all in these relationships
28:15
Speaker 1: with everybody, and we need to create something that we
28:18
Speaker 1: need And the truth is that with Peoplehood, we just
28:22
Speaker 1: hope that relationships become just as prioritized. I prioritized just
28:26
Speaker 1: as much as as Daily Fitness.
28:34
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31:38
Speaker 2: what makes this even more interesting, as you mentioned at
31:40
Speaker 2: the top of our conversation, is the fact that we're
31:43
Speaker 2: coming out of a pandemic. So bring me through the
31:46
Speaker 2: kind of thought process your knee deep in starting and
31:50
Speaker 2: concepting peoplehood. And then we get to this place where
31:54
Speaker 2: connection as we know it has completely come to a halt.
31:58
Speaker 2: Where are you? What's going on? Paint a picture for me.
32:01
Speaker 1: We had just started workshopping the gathers in person, and
32:05
Speaker 1: we had been begging our friends to come and help us,
32:09
Speaker 1: and to be honest, it was kind of cringey. They
32:11
Speaker 1: weren't good yet. But we had to start somewhere, and
32:14
Speaker 1: we were so happy that we did. It was so
32:17
Speaker 1: so much fun to be back in the creative mode
32:21
Speaker 1: and we started to see some kernels that were really
32:24
Speaker 1: sparked by those experiences, and at the same time, then
32:29
Speaker 1: when COVID hit and we couldn't get together in person,
32:31
Speaker 1: we really looked at, Okay, how long is this going
32:34
Speaker 1: to go on? Will this ever happen again? And it
32:37
Speaker 1: was kind of a great force for us because we
32:42
Speaker 1: had always wanted to build soul Cycle and Peloton and
32:45
Speaker 1: lockstep with one another, and there are a variety of
32:47
Speaker 1: different reasons why that didn't pan out that way, and
32:51
Speaker 1: we felt like this was a fabulous opportunity for us
32:54
Speaker 1: to be able to do that. Actually, so we turned
32:57
Speaker 1: Lemons into Lemonade and start experimenting with what we could
33:02
Speaker 1: do online to create connection and doing tons of research
33:07
Speaker 1: and looking at what people had found that sparked that
33:11
Speaker 1: kind of dose of humanity that we were after, and
33:14
Speaker 1: we landed on this sixty minute experience. We workshopped that
33:19
Speaker 1: in person and online for over a year, and then
33:23
Speaker 1: we started building the technology and the physical space to
33:28
Speaker 1: meet those needs, and that's how we got to today.
33:32
Speaker 2: You said the P word, not me, So I'm just
33:36
Speaker 2: going to ask, was the rise of Peloton like another
33:41
Speaker 2: reason why you felt like it was time for you
33:43
Speaker 2: to move on. No, not at all.
33:45
Speaker 1: Julie and I have always a million percent felt like
33:48
Speaker 1: people need to get healthy and we don't really care
33:51
Speaker 1: where they're doing that. Of course we want them to
33:53
Speaker 1: do that with us, But yeah, Amen is right, and
33:57
Speaker 1: I think that's why we've taken on such a you know,
34:00
Speaker 1: a big thing like loneliness epidemic as sort of our
34:04
Speaker 1: next dive in because we don't really care how people
34:09
Speaker 1: do it. We just want people to get connected, to
34:11
Speaker 1: be honest, like, we've been at this now for four years,
34:14
Speaker 1: and we thought that there would be a lot of
34:16
Speaker 1: other stuff that had sort of come up in the meantime,
34:19
Speaker 1: and we haven't seen anything out there that we think
34:22
Speaker 1: is serving and the way that we think it should.
34:25
Speaker 1: So if we can bring this to market and other
34:27
Speaker 1: things come to market and we can all do this together,
34:29
Speaker 1: I think that we can experience a global shift and
34:32
Speaker 1: it's important for us to try. We have to do it.
34:35
Speaker 1: It's just we can't not do it. There's too much
34:39
Speaker 1: at stake. Does this feel bigger than you? Way bigger,
34:42
Speaker 1: way bigger? Is this is way way bigger than us,
34:46
Speaker 1: And it is absolutely our intention to partner with people
34:50
Speaker 1: to bring communities along to facilitate whatever it takes for
34:54
Speaker 1: people to get into these kind of connected spaces to
34:58
Speaker 1: make this available no matter where you are and what
35:02
Speaker 1: you need. We are really committed to making that happen,
35:05
Speaker 1: and we're just starting here. It's been a week.
35:10
Speaker 2: It's been a week. You know what's interesting to me,
35:13
Speaker 2: It would be impossible to think about the concept of
35:17
Speaker 2: peoplehood and not draw parallels to maybe other ways that
35:23
Speaker 2: individuals are choosing to indulge in mental health, self care,
35:30
Speaker 2: et cetera. Now, I'm sure that someone who sees a
35:35
Speaker 2: peoplehood bundle at fifty five dollars for three different classes
35:40
Speaker 2: might feel like that is a way more accessible way
35:44
Speaker 2: for them to talk with other individuals than seeking out
35:50
Speaker 2: talk therapy. What do you say to that person.
35:53
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, if you think you need to
35:56
Speaker 1: be in therapy, you should be in therapy. We are
35:58
Speaker 1: all for therapy. This is love therapy. We love therapy.
36:03
Speaker 1: This is not therapy. We think that there needs to
36:07
Speaker 1: be to really have the kind of health support that
36:14
Speaker 1: we need as humans to thrive, That we need a
36:19
Speaker 1: peer to peer structure, and that that structure can equip
36:24
Speaker 1: us to be able to listen to each other, to
36:30
Speaker 1: share these aha moments, to understand somebody else's world, to
36:34
Speaker 1: feel empathy, to change your perspective. And it's almost like
36:41
Speaker 1: creating a practice that's like a workout for your relationships
36:47
Speaker 1: that you can do on your own and then take
36:49
Speaker 1: into the rest of your life. It's a very it's
36:53
Speaker 1: a very powerful, powerful thing that we're leaning into and
36:57
Speaker 1: we've been seeing people experience real sparks with this thing,
37:01
Speaker 1: so and we want to make it accessible. So the
37:06
Speaker 1: way that we have positioned it in terms of pricing,
37:09
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's pretty amazing, actually, Like I mean,
37:12
Speaker 1: I went to the movies the other night, and I
37:14
Speaker 1: love going to the movies. It's very expensive. I mean,
37:16
Speaker 1: there's just not a lot of places where you're going
37:18
Speaker 1: to get this kind of value for that kind of money.
37:20
Speaker 2: Over the last three years, what has loneliness looked like
37:26
Speaker 2: for you?
37:27
Speaker 1: You know, I think it's been an ebb and flow,
37:29
Speaker 1: to be honest, I mean, there were parts of it.
37:31
Speaker 1: I'm a little bit introverted, so there are parts of
37:34
Speaker 1: you know, the pandemic that felt really good to me.
37:38
Speaker 1: But I do feel very strongly that I just felt
37:42
Speaker 1: so disconnected from other people I remember accidentally hugging somebody
37:46
Speaker 1: in May, I think of twenty twenty and being like,
37:51
Speaker 1: oh my god, I'm so sorry, Like I didn't mean
37:53
Speaker 1: it was like outdoors, I hadn't seen this person a
37:55
Speaker 1: long time, and just even that physical disconnection felt so
38:04
Speaker 1: I mean isolating, I guess is the right word. And
38:09
Speaker 1: to be honest, I think it made me really question
38:11
Speaker 1: like do I still have friends? Do I still have
38:13
Speaker 1: a community? Are there people who I care about? Do
38:16
Speaker 1: they care about me?
38:17
Speaker 2: Like?
38:18
Speaker 1: Do I matter? Does somebody love me? Like all of
38:22
Speaker 1: these things that whether or not they are real, became
38:28
Speaker 1: questions that I was asking myself and kind of being
38:31
Speaker 1: a little bit you know, introspective about what it felt
38:36
Speaker 1: like to come through and experience like that in terms
38:41
Speaker 1: of just like the social shifting that happened post pandemic
38:47
Speaker 1: and frankly, I mean, we built an online platform, and
38:53
Speaker 1: initially I was so much more comfortable doing the online
38:56
Speaker 1: platform off my laptop than I was being with people
38:59
Speaker 1: and person I was really nervous about being with people
39:03
Speaker 1: in person, and I think that that's worth investigating and understanding.
39:08
Speaker 1: And now, of course I love being with people in
39:11
Speaker 1: person and really enjoying these gathers.
39:13
Speaker 2: It's totally understandable that you felt that way, and I,
39:16
Speaker 2: for one, can definitely relate. It was as though I
39:20
Speaker 2: craved community and connection. But then once we had the
39:24
Speaker 2: opportunity to get back into the swing of things, for
39:29
Speaker 2: lack of a better designation, it was a really big
39:33
Speaker 2: exercise in choosing what spaces felt like they served me
39:37
Speaker 2: and allowing myself to feel overwhelmed, allowing myself to say, okay,
39:43
Speaker 2: like maybe today we try this, and tomorrow we try this,
39:47
Speaker 2: and if it doesn't feel like it's okay, then that's okay, right,
39:51
Speaker 2: Like having so much grace with myself as I got
39:54
Speaker 2: back into the swing.
39:55
Speaker 1: Of things one hundred percent. My therapist likes to call
39:58
Speaker 1: it mercy, and I elaborate, I think I think that's
40:03
Speaker 1: the right word, you know, grace and mercy, just allowing
40:06
Speaker 1: whatever it is that's coming up to be there and
40:10
Speaker 1: just sitting with it, knowing that all things pass.
40:16
Speaker 2: Did you feel any of those feelings that you described
40:19
Speaker 2: of a little bit of the loneliness, a little bit
40:21
Speaker 2: of questioning of identity when you left Soul Cycle thinking
40:26
Speaker 2: about what would be next?
40:27
Speaker 1: Oh my god, leaving Soul Cycle was like ripping out
40:30
Speaker 1: my heart and leaving it like in the middle of
40:34
Speaker 1: Tenth Avenue. I mean, it was horrifying. It was absolutely
40:39
Speaker 1: so hard. I mean I loved, loved, loved being there,
40:44
Speaker 1: and I love those people, and I hated leaving them.
40:47
Speaker 1: I mean, I hated it so so so much, and
40:50
Speaker 1: yet I had to do it. So it's just so fascinating,
40:55
Speaker 1: how like there are things that hurt so badly, but
40:57
Speaker 1: we have to do them and that doesn't make them wrong,
41:00
Speaker 1: It just makes them what they are. And eventually they
41:03
Speaker 1: start to hurt less, and we start to be able
41:05
Speaker 1: to find whatever it is that's more healthy, positive and
41:09
Speaker 1: enjoyable to replace that gutting and we can move on
41:15
Speaker 1: and we build our lives.
41:16
Speaker 2: And we all have to do that at some point,
41:18
Speaker 2: right it sounds like any breakup, a break up with
41:22
Speaker 2: your business, a break up with a romantic partner. Unfortunately,
41:25
Speaker 2: as we get older in times, friendship breakups or splits, like,
41:29
Speaker 2: whatever the case and circumstance may be, it doesn't make
41:32
Speaker 2: it easier knowing that it's something that has to be done.
41:36
Speaker 1: No, it doesn't make it easier knowing that it's something
41:38
Speaker 1: that has to be done. In fact, it's completely terrifying
41:40
Speaker 1: when you have the actual awareness of it and then
41:43
Speaker 1: you really start to feel it instead of just stuff
41:45
Speaker 1: it down. But I'm telling you, it was so big
41:49
Speaker 1: for me that there was no stuffing and it really
41:52
Speaker 1: shifted me. And I think there is that saying like
41:56
Speaker 1: broken open, and in some ways that is how that's
41:59
Speaker 1: where or that's what it became.
42:01
Speaker 2: As you were broken open. For someone who maybe feels
42:05
Speaker 2: as though they have gone through or are currently going
42:07
Speaker 2: through a similar situation having to make a difficult decision
42:10
Speaker 2: like this knowing that ultimately it will be for the best.
42:14
Speaker 2: Do you have any advice or thoughts that you can
42:17
Speaker 2: offer on how to navigate a situation like that? Does anyone?
42:21
Speaker 1: All I can say is keep breathing, like do not
42:24
Speaker 1: hold your breath, keep breathing, and face the day and
42:28
Speaker 1: just do a few things. I am big on three
42:32
Speaker 1: things a day. If there is something that I just
42:35
Speaker 1: is difficult to do that I don't want to do,
42:38
Speaker 1: but it is staring me in the face, and that
42:40
Speaker 1: I am it's something that you can take action on,
42:43
Speaker 1: because not everything is. But if there is something I
42:46
Speaker 1: can take action on, I just those are the three
42:49
Speaker 1: things I do.
42:50
Speaker 2: Three things a day. I like that recommendation. It's helpful.
42:53
Speaker 2: I know that when I had spoken to the team
42:56
Speaker 2: at Peoplehood about having you on that it originally was
42:59
Speaker 2: going to be something that I did with both you
43:02
Speaker 2: and Julie. How do you feel stepping into spaces as
43:05
Speaker 2: just Elizabeth? Sometimes?
43:07
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I listen. Julie is the greatest. I
43:10
Speaker 1: love listening to her talk and I love doing stuff
43:12
Speaker 1: together with her. We acknowledge that sometimes we have to
43:17
Speaker 1: divide and conquer, because otherwise we won't be able to
43:21
Speaker 1: meet the folks that we want to meet and that
43:25
Speaker 1: we want to want to get to have conversations with.
43:28
Speaker 1: I know she was disappointed that she couldn't join today,
43:30
Speaker 1: but I'm glad you got me.
43:33
Speaker 2: I know. No, I'm glad I got you too. Speaking
43:35
Speaker 2: of getting you, when you think about who you are
43:39
Speaker 2: and the person that you want to be, would you
43:42
Speaker 2: say that they're one and the same.
43:43
Speaker 1: You know, it's so interesting that you ask that question.
43:46
Speaker 1: I am in my fifties now. It's so funny. I
43:50
Speaker 1: feel like all the spaces I've always been in in
43:52
Speaker 1: my life, I've always been the youngest, on the younger
43:55
Speaker 1: side of all the folks in the room, and now
43:57
Speaker 1: Julie and I are kind of like in the elder
44:00
Speaker 1: and I'm super into it because you just it is.
44:04
Speaker 1: It's so it's high time for us to permission ourselves
44:08
Speaker 1: to give less of a shit about if we're doing
44:14
Speaker 1: the wrong thing or saying the wrong thing or whatever.
44:16
Speaker 1: It is. Like, I I'm just happy. I feel content.
44:20
Speaker 1: I feel like I can show up for the day.
44:22
Speaker 1: I feel like I can love things into existence, that
44:25
Speaker 1: I can enjoy being in the moment, that I can
44:29
Speaker 1: appreciate what's come before me and look forward to that
44:34
Speaker 1: which is coming, even in the face of all this
44:37
Speaker 1: stuff that like the world just seems some days so
44:40
Speaker 1: broken and I am having a massive existential crisis. And
44:45
Speaker 1: then in the next That's why I love that question,
44:48
Speaker 1: how are you doing really or what's true for you?
44:50
Speaker 1: Because that could change on the hour.
44:52
Speaker 2: Right.
44:53
Speaker 1: So, yeah, I feel like I'm really coming into my
44:58
Speaker 1: own finally and it feels really good. And that is
45:01
Speaker 1: that is that's my prayer for everyone actually, is to
45:05
Speaker 1: just come into that sweet tenderness of your own heart.
45:07
Speaker 2: A lot of people listening to this between the ages
45:10
Speaker 2: of let's say, like let's say twenty and forty right,
45:13
Speaker 2: and so much happens in between that period of two decades,
45:17
Speaker 2: so much of this realization of coming into self, of
45:21
Speaker 2: learning who it is that you are and who it
45:22
Speaker 2: is that you want to be. And oftentimes, as we
45:25
Speaker 2: were referencing the social media cycle earlier, it's like we
45:29
Speaker 2: feel as though that we're supposed to have it all
45:31
Speaker 2: figured out way too soon. And if there's anything that
45:34
Speaker 2: I've learned as I'm slowly coming into my own and
45:38
Speaker 2: becoming who it is that I want to be and
45:40
Speaker 2: doing that work, is that I did not need to
45:43
Speaker 2: have it figured out when I thought that I did.
45:46
Speaker 1: Oh my god, No, absolutely not. And by the way,
45:49
Speaker 1: I love how we think we can figure it out. Yeah,
45:51
Speaker 1: Like there's a magic pill that I'm going to take.
45:53
Speaker 2: I'm going to walk into my bathroom in the morning,
45:54
Speaker 2: and when I take my birth control and my anxiety medication,
45:57
Speaker 2: I'm also going to take the pill that figures all
45:59
Speaker 2: of it out for me.
46:04
Speaker 1: That's a good one.
46:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, Unfortunately it doesn't work out like that.
46:08
Speaker 1: Look, we're on a journey. Let's just like, let's just
46:11
Speaker 1: acknowledge that we're we're all on a journey. We'll just
46:13
Speaker 1: go together because that's what we're doing together.
46:15
Speaker 2: And you know what, it's not even like I said,
46:17
Speaker 2: unfortunately but fortunately right because these experiences and these things
46:21
Speaker 2: in our life, you building soul cycle. You having that
46:24
Speaker 2: little bit of a like what the hell is going
46:26
Speaker 2: on with my life right now? You dealing with the
46:28
Speaker 2: loneliness and navigating the pandemic and being intimidated to come
46:31
Speaker 2: back into big spaces like this helped you. It happened
46:34
Speaker 2: for you because it's brought you to where you are today,
46:37
Speaker 2: just as all of the experiences have to bring me
46:41
Speaker 2: to where I am sitting in front of this microphone today.
46:44
Speaker 1: One hundred percent. And I love how you just said that,
46:47
Speaker 1: And I think that is the most important thing for
46:49
Speaker 1: people to here, that your success really depends on how
46:53
Speaker 1: you're showing up today, and so don't worry about it.
46:57
Speaker 1: All of this stuff will add up and you'll look
46:59
Speaker 1: back and be like, oh my gosh, I had no
47:01
Speaker 1: idea I needed to know about that thing that I
47:03
Speaker 1: thought was insignificant that now is informing so much of
47:06
Speaker 1: what I'm doing. And just trust that that is going
47:09
Speaker 1: to come together because it just does.
47:12
Speaker 2: It just does.
47:12
Speaker 1: So.
47:13
Speaker 2: As I said at the top of this as we
47:14
Speaker 2: wind down, now, you are a well known name in
47:18
Speaker 2: the world of wellness and beyond that as a leading entrepreneur.
47:23
Speaker 2: I would say, when you look in the mirror, what
47:26
Speaker 2: is it that you see looking back at you?
47:31
Speaker 1: You know, I think what I see looking back at
47:34
Speaker 1: me is just someone who's who's trying, you know. I'm
47:38
Speaker 1: just I'm just showing up. That's my motto. I just
47:42
Speaker 1: show up and do the best I can, and that's
47:45
Speaker 1: all I can do. Have you always felt like that?
47:49
Speaker 2: I don't know.
47:50
Speaker 1: I think maybe yes, like I except for except for
47:54
Speaker 1: being less willing to accept that that's the truth, right,
47:58
Speaker 1: you know, having a little bit less conviction that something
48:02
Speaker 1: has to be different than it is. It doesn't because
48:06
Speaker 1: it's not.
48:11
Speaker 2: This is how it is now, right. What excites you
48:14
Speaker 2: right now at the beginning of this new.
48:16
Speaker 1: Chapter, Well, somebody on our team set it the other day.
48:19
Speaker 1: And the thing that really excites me, and it's pretty lofty,
48:23
Speaker 1: but I have this prayer for peoplehood, that we will
48:29
Speaker 1: touch every person, that we will touch all humans, and
48:32
Speaker 1: that humans will feel an okayness as a result of
48:36
Speaker 1: being touched by one another in a way that makes
48:39
Speaker 1: them feel alive and that's my lofty wish, but we
48:42
Speaker 1: all got to have one.
48:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, all humans is a lofty wish.
48:47
Speaker 1: Why not?
48:48
Speaker 2: Why not? This is like one of those like shoot
48:51
Speaker 2: for the moon and if you miss, you'll land upon
48:53
Speaker 2: the stars kind of things.
48:54
Speaker 1: Well, I just think that there's an understanding that we
48:57
Speaker 1: all live on one planet, and I don't think that
48:59
Speaker 1: people have really grocked that till recently. We'll see, we'll
49:05
Speaker 1: see who knows. Hopefully we'll get to touch some people
49:08
Speaker 1: and they'll touch some people and so on and so
49:10
Speaker 1: on and so on.
49:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, like a degree of separation thing. Yeah, as you
49:15
Speaker 2: are building now, I'm sure over the years as you
49:19
Speaker 2: built soul Cycle you received so much advice. How has
49:22
Speaker 2: that advice maybe changed or differentiated this time around?
49:26
Speaker 1: You know, I think this is really good question for
49:28
Speaker 1: people who are building. It's super super important to look
49:31
Speaker 1: at the landscape and to listen to people, to listen
49:33
Speaker 1: to podcasts, to do your research, to get smart, to
49:37
Speaker 1: make yourself better at all of those things. And at
49:40
Speaker 1: the end of the day, the only one who's going
49:43
Speaker 1: to know your business better than you is you. That's it.
49:48
Speaker 1: So I really feel like, you know, I don't know
49:52
Speaker 1: a lot, and that's okay, and I'm going to continue
49:56
Speaker 1: to learn as much as i can. But at the
49:57
Speaker 1: end of the day, I think we we we all
50:00
Speaker 1: know our business is better than anybody else, and we
50:02
Speaker 1: have to take some comfort in that.
50:04
Speaker 2: It's really interesting to me because you're saying, like, talk
50:07
Speaker 2: to people, know the industry, et cetera, et cetera, and
50:10
Speaker 2: you already stated that there isn't like you were expecting
50:13
Speaker 2: something else to kind of come up in the years
50:15
Speaker 2: that you were building peoplehood and that hasn't happened. So
50:18
Speaker 2: to again be in this position where you're a pioneer
50:22
Speaker 2: in that space, do you feel kind of comforted by
50:25
Speaker 2: that knowing that you've done it before, or does it
50:27
Speaker 2: really feel like the wild, wild blest?
50:28
Speaker 1: Oh no, no, no. Let me also say that if you
50:31
Speaker 1: build one business, there are no guarantees in life, you know.
50:34
Speaker 1: I mean, just because we did what we did with
50:37
Speaker 1: Soul Cycle, we are starting from zero today and we
50:41
Speaker 1: are going to have to work for everything that we
50:44
Speaker 1: may happen again. And maybe we know, maybe we know
50:48
Speaker 1: a few things that we didn't know before. Maybe we
50:50
Speaker 1: have the benefit of that wisdom, but that doesn't you know,
50:55
Speaker 1: grit and commitment are not to be underestimated.
51:01
Speaker 2: Grit and commitment are not to be underestimated. I love
51:05
Speaker 2: that right now, Elizabeth, you have an opportunity to offer
51:09
Speaker 2: yourself a piece of advice back in twenty sixteen, when
51:12
Speaker 2: you're stepping down, preparing mentally, or at least trying to
51:16
Speaker 2: for what's next during that hurdle moment again, knowing what
51:19
Speaker 2: you know now, what would you tell yourself?
51:22
Speaker 1: I would tell this to myself. I would tell this
51:25
Speaker 1: to my younger self. I would tell this to anyone
51:27
Speaker 1: in their younger selves. Don't worry about it. Just take
51:32
Speaker 1: a deep breath. It's going to be fine. Everything's fine.
51:36
Speaker 1: Just put one foot in front of the other. It's
51:38
Speaker 1: all fine. It's all fine, It's all fine.
51:41
Speaker 2: I'm so happy that we were able to do this,
51:43
Speaker 2: and I really am thankful for the time. I feel
51:46
Speaker 2: like when I started the show and I told people
51:49
Speaker 2: that I would be talking to everyone from elite athletes
51:51
Speaker 2: to top CEOs, the question one, are you going to
51:54
Speaker 2: talk to the founders of soul Cycle was always inevitable.
51:57
Speaker 2: So strangely, it's a full circle for me, and I'm
52:01
Speaker 2: happy that, you know, a few years into the scheme
52:04
Speaker 2: of things you were able to finally make it happen.
52:06
Speaker 1: Well, thank you so much for having me. It's been
52:09
Speaker 1: a real pleasure to get to listen to you and
52:12
Speaker 1: to hear your perspectives. And the truth is, it's just
52:18
Speaker 1: an honor and I'm so proud of what you've done.
52:20
Speaker 1: You should really I hope you feel that way too.
52:24
Speaker 2: Thank you. Now, for those hurdlers listening that don't follow
52:27
Speaker 2: you just yet, that aren't in the loop with all
52:29
Speaker 2: things peoplehood, where do they go? How can they follow along?
52:32
Speaker 2: On social media? Give me the details.
52:35
Speaker 1: We are at peoplehood dot com. There are tags there
52:38
Speaker 1: for our social media it's peoplehood Underscore. Anybody who is
52:42
Speaker 1: interested in learning more about peoplehood and joining gathers, we
52:46
Speaker 1: are making those super available to folks, so you can
52:50
Speaker 1: DM me. You can write to people at peoplehood dot
52:53
Speaker 1: com and we will get you sorted, get.
52:56
Speaker 2: You sorted amazing. I'm over at Emily Body and at
52:58
Speaker 2: Hurdle Podcast Another Hurdle conquered. Catch you guys next time.