Latest / Get Real with Jim Weiss / Feel Good with Peloton Instructor Aditi Shah

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Feel Good with Peloton Instructor Aditi Shah · Get Real with Jim Weiss

0:00
Speaker 1: Just had a dt sean she's amazing.
0:02
Speaker 2: Blown away. Look. We met in person in New York City.
0:06
Speaker 2: I had moderated a panel with social healthcare influencers, of
0:10
Speaker 2: which she is one. This discussion took us another step
0:14
Speaker 2: closer to where we could be collaborating more in some
0:18
Speaker 2: of the passion areas she has obviously music in the mind,
0:22
Speaker 2: and so many of our podcasts kind of intersect and intertwine,
0:26
Speaker 2: and there's all these people I want to put together.
0:28
Speaker 2: I could see where she and I have a few
0:31
Speaker 2: mission matches that we need to work on together. And
0:33
Speaker 2: I just love her story about coming into Peloton. She
0:37
Speaker 2: didn't plan for it. She just did a great job
0:40
Speaker 2: as a yoga teacher, and the work spread and she
0:43
Speaker 2: got called and tapped, and when she got tapped, she
0:46
Speaker 2: made the frickin' most of it. And I love that
0:49
Speaker 2: story when somebody steps into something that isn't even their
0:53
Speaker 2: comfort zone. Per se. She said she have had the
0:55
Speaker 2: skills of playing to the camera as a model and
0:58
Speaker 2: an actress and the things she had done before. She
1:01
Speaker 2: was also really positive about Peloton, which we all know
1:04
Speaker 2: or not, everybody is, and it added a dimension to
1:08
Speaker 2: Peloton which was so critical and is so critical. And
1:11
Speaker 2: then the whole discussion about meditation and the power of
1:14
Speaker 2: that and how that can help with healing and coping
1:18
Speaker 2: so important. So I just think we're just seeing the
1:20
Speaker 2: beginning of something really interesting forming here. She's going to
1:24
Speaker 2: go far. I am blown away by her. We've had
1:27
Speaker 2: a lot of guests. I find her to really be
1:30
Speaker 2: one of the most interesting guests we've ever had.
1:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, she's super sharp, and she has boundaries. She had
1:35
Speaker 3: like when Peloton hired her, she was like, I'm not
1:37
Speaker 3: going to be this corporate Western yoga teacher. I'm going
1:40
Speaker 3: to bring in my Eastern philosophy.
1:42
Speaker 1: I'm going to bring in meditation. It's going to be
1:44
Speaker 1: a part of it, or you don't get me.
1:45
Speaker 3: And I think that's like to have that confidence when
1:48
Speaker 3: a company like Peloton's pursuing you, really says something about
1:51
Speaker 3: her fortitude and authenticity.
1:53
Speaker 2: Right, if you're not your real self. Look, that's what
1:56
Speaker 2: get Real is about. I've always tried to keep it
1:58
Speaker 2: as real as I could, just solid on all the levels.
2:02
Speaker 2: And I just again I can't say how impressed I was.
2:06
Speaker 2: I mean, she just really way beyond expectations. Everyone's going
2:10
Speaker 2: to dig this one totally.
2:12
Speaker 3: And if you want to have more faith in trusting
2:14
Speaker 3: your body and your health, it's a good listen to.
2:17
Speaker 1: There's a lot of snake oil on the internet.
2:18
Speaker 3: There are also a lot of experts telling you to
2:20
Speaker 3: do things exactly how they say, and she really she
2:22
Speaker 3: debunks that.
2:23
Speaker 1: She gives people freedom. So it's a good listen.
2:26
Speaker 2: Well, you got to personalize it, and that's what she said.
2:28
Speaker 2: Health is personal and very individualized and there's never a
2:32
Speaker 2: one size football.
2:34
Speaker 1: Good to see you, Nice to see you.
2:36
Speaker 2: So glad we finally got this together. I've had a
2:38
Speaker 2: lot of fun moditoring that panel you were a speaker
2:41
Speaker 2: on last fall about the role of influencers like you
2:44
Speaker 2: and the evolving healthcare culture and landscape. So much has
2:48
Speaker 2: happened since then, with the change in administration and the
2:52
Speaker 2: MAHA guidelines and all of that. So much more timely
2:56
Speaker 2: now doing this, I think, given what you do, but
2:59
Speaker 2: I always like to start with the origin story in
3:02
Speaker 2: all these discussions, I really wanted to know how does
3:05
Speaker 2: a Jersey girl study math at Rutgers, acting model in
3:10
Speaker 2: Mumbai and then return to New York to be a
3:13
Speaker 2: fitness coach and in sluncer how does that happen?
3:16
Speaker 1: That's a great question. I grew up with a very
3:20
Speaker 1: creative life. So growing up, I played the violin, I sang,
3:25
Speaker 1: I acted, and unsurprisingly, my parents did not want to
3:30
Speaker 1: let me pursue that as a career. They were like, no,
3:32
Speaker 1: you're not quite acting school. It's a cliche. Of course,
3:35
Speaker 1: my parents are wonderful people, but they just didn't.
3:37
Speaker 2: Get it a lot, don't.
3:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a whole that's like an entire other podcast.
3:41
Speaker 1: They're super supportive, wonderful people. I think just when I
3:44
Speaker 1: wanted to go to acting school instead of quick kind
3:46
Speaker 1: of college they wanted me to go to they were
3:47
Speaker 1: not really excited about that, which is okay. So I
3:50
Speaker 1: went to school and I studied math. I thought I
3:52
Speaker 1: would go into finance because that's what my dad did
3:55
Speaker 1: and my brothers did, and I did all the things,
3:59
Speaker 1: got internships, et cetera, and realized really quickly just really
4:03
Speaker 1: didn't maybe want to do that for the rest of
4:04
Speaker 1: my life. So I kind of went back to my
4:05
Speaker 1: creative life. Meanwhile, my parents had moved to India right
4:09
Speaker 1: before I, where as I was finishing high school basically,
4:12
Speaker 1: so my home base was no longer in New Jersey,
4:15
Speaker 1: and so that's how I ended up in India, was
4:18
Speaker 1: me wanting to go home and sort of figure things out.
4:21
Speaker 1: And I was never interested in teaching yoga or anything
4:24
Speaker 1: like that. I just practiced yoga for myself. When I
4:27
Speaker 1: moved back to New York, it was to continue modeling
4:30
Speaker 1: and acting. I moved here at had an agency, you know,
4:33
Speaker 1: I went to sella adler. That was why I was here.
4:35
Speaker 1: And I started practicing at studios and I thought, I
4:38
Speaker 1: had this idea that one day I was going to
4:40
Speaker 1: retire and open to yoga studio and that was going
4:42
Speaker 1: to be exciting for me. And so I went to
4:45
Speaker 1: a studio that I really loved and I asked them
4:47
Speaker 1: what it would be like to work there because I
4:49
Speaker 1: saw they had an opening for an operations manager position.
4:51
Speaker 1: I was like, that would be a great way to
4:53
Speaker 1: see how studios are run. That position was taken. But
4:55
Speaker 1: meanwhile I missed this detail, which is I did a
4:58
Speaker 1: teacher training just for this learning more with no intentions
5:01
Speaker 1: of teaching. So I did have a teacher training under
5:03
Speaker 1: my belt. I went to the studio. They were like, listen,
5:05
Speaker 1: if you want to work here in any capacity, most
5:08
Speaker 1: likely you should take the mentorship program, because that's how
5:11
Speaker 1: people get hired. They get hired on this program. So
5:12
Speaker 1: I was like, all right, cool, Fine. So there was
5:15
Speaker 1: a teacher I loved. I did a mentorship with her.
5:17
Speaker 1: She was an incredible mentor. Part of that program included teaching,
5:20
Speaker 1: and so I got hired before I even finished that program.
5:24
Speaker 1: And I did do a little bit of management, and
5:26
Speaker 1: I realized I would never want to open a studio
5:28
Speaker 1: in New York City. And I ended up teaching, but
5:30
Speaker 1: I wasn't teaching that much. I was teaching maybe four
5:33
Speaker 1: or five classes a week, which, in the context of
5:35
Speaker 1: people who teach a lot of yoga or any classes,
5:39
Speaker 1: you're typically teaching a lot more than that. It was
5:41
Speaker 1: not like my main bread and butter. But I was
5:43
Speaker 1: really into it, and I started teaching teacher trainings and
5:47
Speaker 1: doing these little pop up meditation workshops around the city.
5:51
Speaker 1: And I also did end up wanting to leave my
5:55
Speaker 1: modeling agency, which I did do. And then one day
5:57
Speaker 1: I got a DM from Dennis Morton saying that Peloton
6:03
Speaker 1: might want to start a yoga vertical. Could I sign
6:05
Speaker 1: an NDA and have a conversation, which of course I did,
6:08
Speaker 1: and I auditioned and that was in twenty eighteen.
6:11
Speaker 2: Wow, and the rest of the history, Yeah, take us
6:14
Speaker 2: from twenty eighteen. I'm how did it evolve from there?
6:18
Speaker 2: And did the pandemic have maybe an outsize impact on
6:22
Speaker 2: your reach and importance.
6:24
Speaker 1: So in twenty eighteen, you know, I, along with two
6:26
Speaker 1: other women, Anna Greenberg and Kristin McGee, were sort of
6:29
Speaker 1: developing the yoga program at Peloton. It did not exist,
6:32
Speaker 1: and Peloton was really focused on the fitness space, so
6:35
Speaker 1: we were trying to figure out what Peloton Yoga could
6:38
Speaker 1: look like. At the same time, when I interviewed there,
6:40
Speaker 1: I was adamant that we do meditation as well, So
6:43
Speaker 1: we started meditation as well. And I think it's like
6:47
Speaker 1: any production, right, It's like you start with an idea
6:49
Speaker 1: and you iterate and we have a whole community that
6:52
Speaker 1: we get to work with, which I think is very helpful.
6:54
Speaker 1: I would say for myself personally, when I first started,
6:56
Speaker 1: I taught the very first live yoga class at Peloton.
6:59
Speaker 1: It was really scary. I was just like, here's what
7:01
Speaker 1: I perceive to be this like culty fitness community. What
7:05
Speaker 1: if they hate what I'm offering? Like I don't know
7:08
Speaker 1: and when you teach yoga outside of something like Pelton,
7:11
Speaker 1: there's also this idea that it's not really about you.
7:13
Speaker 1: You are facilitating a practice, but it's really not about
7:16
Speaker 1: you personally. And I think Pelton is different because you
7:20
Speaker 1: are also a part of it, like you as the instructor,
7:23
Speaker 1: are really having a relationship with the community. So thankfully,
7:27
Speaker 1: the community is incredible and it was well received, so
7:30
Speaker 1: you continue to grow and evolve what we offered, I
7:34
Speaker 1: would say over the pandemic, I think a lot of
7:36
Speaker 1: people started to realize not just the power of course
7:40
Speaker 1: of like fitness and community, but also things like meditation.
7:43
Speaker 1: And I think I talked about this on our handle too,
7:45
Speaker 1: is that a lot of times with wellness, people come
7:48
Speaker 1: to wellness when something happens, like either something happens to
7:51
Speaker 1: them or somebody close to them. I think it's sort
7:52
Speaker 1: of the same thing with mental health or like this
7:55
Speaker 1: inner world that you have to work with that until
7:57
Speaker 1: something in your life sparks a reason for you to
8:00
Speaker 1: pay attention to it, you might not have noticed it before.
8:03
Speaker 1: And I think the pandemic was that for a lot
8:04
Speaker 1: of people. And I think these practices that were maybe
8:07
Speaker 1: not just fitness oriented became more important to people, and
8:11
Speaker 1: as our world has evolved since then, I think it's
8:14
Speaker 1: it's not necessarily less chaotic. I don't know how else
8:16
Speaker 1: to say it. I mean, obviously I live in New
8:18
Speaker 1: York City in a tectic but I think the world
8:20
Speaker 1: seems to feel increasingly more divisive and for many other reasons,
8:24
Speaker 1: and people are online a lot. I feel like there
8:26
Speaker 1: is a real need for modalities like meditation and resources
8:31
Speaker 1: that help us develop it inner reservoir with which we
8:34
Speaker 1: can face life.
8:35
Speaker 2: I mean, how did Dennis even come to this, because
8:37
Speaker 2: I've always said yoga and Peloton, how did that happen?
8:41
Speaker 1: Well, I can't answer how they decided this. I really
8:44
Speaker 1: think Peloton had a good grasp of the yoga landscape
8:47
Speaker 1: in New York. And I used to teach a pretty
8:49
Speaker 1: popular class and I ran the teacher training at a big studio,
8:52
Speaker 1: So I think I was just one on a long
8:55
Speaker 1: list of names. I think somebody else in the studio
8:57
Speaker 1: took my classes and like knew I existed. But I
8:59
Speaker 1: remember that time a lot of people in my world.
9:02
Speaker 1: There were other people also that pet auditioned.
9:04
Speaker 2: Did you think the creative training that you had as
9:07
Speaker 2: a kid informed this it must have right and a
9:10
Speaker 2: great way to channel it.
9:11
Speaker 1: One hundred percent. Yeah, you can be an amazing teacher, right,
9:14
Speaker 1: You could be an incredible teacher. You can be so
9:16
Speaker 1: amazing in person. That does not mean that you are
9:18
Speaker 1: going to thrive with like eight cameras pointed at you.
9:21
Speaker 1: It's a really funny skill to develop, right to like
9:24
Speaker 1: talk to a camera like you're talking to a human
9:26
Speaker 1: and just be comfortable with that. I think you can
9:27
Speaker 1: go both ways, right. You could start as a great
9:29
Speaker 1: teacher and learn how to do the camera bit. You
9:31
Speaker 1: could start as somebody that's wonderful as a host or
9:33
Speaker 1: great at talking to camera, and then you figure out
9:35
Speaker 1: how to use that to teach. But I do think
9:37
Speaker 1: it is a really specific skill set that I just
9:39
Speaker 1: happened to have, and.
9:40
Speaker 2: That came naturally. You didn't have to work at that.
9:43
Speaker 2: I'm sure it's changed since when you started.
9:45
Speaker 1: I think I'm a lot more confident than I was.
9:48
Speaker 1: But I was already having spent a lot of time
9:51
Speaker 1: on camera, happy to be on camera, like it wasn't
9:53
Speaker 1: like an issue. I would say Pelton is a really
9:55
Speaker 1: interesting job because you are teaching whatever modality, but also
9:58
Speaker 1: you're hosting your own class. You know, you're creating relationship
10:01
Speaker 1: with the community, You're developing your own brand. It's an
10:04
Speaker 1: incredible training for many other skills.
10:06
Speaker 2: And I certainly have heard that from other of your
10:09
Speaker 2: colleagues around that so and they all are outstanding in
10:12
Speaker 2: their ways. Let's go back to meditating. You've posted about
10:16
Speaker 2: how meditating is a daily and yet difficult practice even
10:19
Speaker 2: for you. How's it helping you and how can it
10:23
Speaker 2: really help others? Tell us a little bit more about
10:26
Speaker 2: the practice.
10:28
Speaker 1: Well, this is one of my favorite topics, so thanks
10:30
Speaker 1: for asking this question. There are definitely many different ways
10:33
Speaker 1: to practice meditation, and I think that is one of
10:36
Speaker 1: the biggest reasons why people don't end up meditating. So
10:39
Speaker 1: I growing up, we had yoga teachers come to our homes.
10:42
Speaker 1: It was a slow practice that I struggled to get into.
10:44
Speaker 1: I was just such an active kid. I used to
10:47
Speaker 1: go to this like kind of religious camp. We'd have
10:49
Speaker 1: these like monks called Saanvie's, which is like specific to
10:52
Speaker 1: this religion, but regardless of the religion part, that's where
10:55
Speaker 1: I learned meditation. So basically I was taught meditation in
10:58
Speaker 1: a way that didn't really resonate with me because the
11:00
Speaker 1: way that I was taught meditation was kind of to
11:02
Speaker 1: try to clear my mind of thoughts, and that wasn't
11:04
Speaker 1: something that I was able to do. I was a
11:07
Speaker 1: kid that played soccer, I ran track, I loved climbing trees.
11:10
Speaker 1: I was barefoot all the time. There are photos of
11:12
Speaker 1: me as a kid, like if we would go to India,
11:14
Speaker 1: I would be outside on the roof with the dog.
11:15
Speaker 1: Like I was not a chill kid. And I think
11:18
Speaker 1: that I needed to find a practice that made sense
11:22
Speaker 1: for me, that made sense with my life, and that
11:25
Speaker 1: made sense with the way my mind worked, because my
11:27
Speaker 1: mind has thoughts and I think many of us feel
11:29
Speaker 1: that way. And so when I was a bit older,
11:32
Speaker 1: I found insight meditation at basana, which is also translated
11:35
Speaker 1: sometimes to mindfulness meditation. And there's a lot of centers here,
11:38
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of incredible teachers, but the majority
11:41
Speaker 1: of older teachers who will know this practice used to
11:43
Speaker 1: be monks. It is a newer thing for people to
11:46
Speaker 1: be meditation teachers who are not former monks or haven't
11:50
Speaker 1: some time in that sort of a situation at an
11:52
Speaker 1: off room or something like that. So anyway, I found
11:54
Speaker 1: this wonderful teacher and this wonderful practice which allowed me
11:58
Speaker 1: to start my own practice. And I think there's a
12:00
Speaker 1: lot of different ways to think about meditation. Right. You
12:02
Speaker 1: can look at meditation as a traditional practice, and I
12:05
Speaker 1: think it's very important, most important actually to have context
12:08
Speaker 1: to understand what kind of a person you are and
12:10
Speaker 1: what kind of context is going to motivate you. Right,
12:12
Speaker 1: there are different traditions of meditation. A lot of these
12:15
Speaker 1: traditions are secular. Basically, the traditions from which they come
12:19
Speaker 1: have happily decided they could be taught secularly. So it's
12:22
Speaker 1: not like an appropriate of situation. It's like, hey, we
12:25
Speaker 1: want you to take this practice because it's going to
12:27
Speaker 1: benefit you. That's one way to come at it, as
12:29
Speaker 1: these are the traditions, even if you practice it secularly,
12:32
Speaker 1: Here's what this tradition is asking you to do. Here's
12:34
Speaker 1: what success looks like, where you're going, what the path is.
12:38
Speaker 1: Another way to look at meditation is by looking at
12:40
Speaker 1: the different kinds of practices that you have and more
12:42
Speaker 1: of like a neuroscience point of view. There's an incredible book, actually,
12:46
Speaker 1: an incredible neuroscientist that wrote a book called Into the
12:48
Speaker 1: Magic Shop. I don't know if you've heard of it,
12:50
Speaker 1: but it's basically this neuroscientist named doctor James Dodie, who
12:54
Speaker 1: came from a really difficult childhood, an alcoholic dad, a
12:58
Speaker 1: lot of poverty, et cetera, et cetera, and randomly it
13:01
Speaker 1: seems somebody at twelve years old taught him to meditate
13:04
Speaker 1: really changes life, and he goes through the different steps
13:06
Speaker 1: of what he learned versus relaxation. Second is you know,
13:09
Speaker 1: concentration and focus. There it is like compassion. And the
13:12
Speaker 1: fourth is visualization. So you can also look at if
13:15
Speaker 1: you look at those four components what that does for
13:17
Speaker 1: your brain, or you can look at in a traditional sense,
13:20
Speaker 1: because those are all traditional practices, they're just not taught
13:23
Speaker 1: in a scientific way. Whatever way works for you. But
13:26
Speaker 1: I think the more that you have the context of
13:29
Speaker 1: this is what this practice is going to do for me,
13:31
Speaker 1: This is what success looks like, it's easier to stick
13:34
Speaker 1: with it. What I teach and what I practice is
13:37
Speaker 1: a practice that isn't asking you to get rid of
13:39
Speaker 1: your thoughts, but rather to work with your thoughts right
13:42
Speaker 1: to observe your thoughts, to be able to separate yourself
13:46
Speaker 1: from your thoughts and your feelings so that you have
13:48
Speaker 1: a little bit more agency over them, and I think
13:50
Speaker 1: that's really personally empowering. It's also like yoga, like if
13:54
Speaker 1: you were to practice the same sequence every day, every
13:57
Speaker 1: day would not be the same. That's just how it is.
13:59
Speaker 1: And so it's it's not necessarily that you're good one
14:02
Speaker 1: day and bad the other day. But some days you
14:04
Speaker 1: have more intrusive thoughts. Some days it just kind of
14:07
Speaker 1: goes how it goes. And I think, in fact, the
14:09
Speaker 1: fluctuations make it easier to stick with it. It's not personal.
14:13
Speaker 1: You don't take it as a personal failure anymore. And
14:16
Speaker 1: I think the feeling of failing or the feeling of
14:19
Speaker 1: not getting anywhere is one of the biggest reasons people
14:21
Speaker 1: don't meditate.
14:22
Speaker 2: No, And that's I know that was for me, but
14:24
Speaker 2: you having done I don't. You don't know this, but
14:27
Speaker 2: after we did the panel, I have a holistic longevity
14:32
Speaker 2: doctor who was trying to get me in the red
14:35
Speaker 2: light that to listen to a couple meditations relative to grief,
14:41
Speaker 2: because as you know, I lost my wife last year,
14:43
Speaker 2: and you know, but I was not going there for
14:47
Speaker 2: exactly what reasons you said, And I have to say
14:50
Speaker 2: that I finally started after I met you, and you
14:54
Speaker 2: absolutely see it. You don't have to do it for
14:56
Speaker 2: that long. I think that's the other thing that a
14:58
Speaker 2: lot of people, busy people think, Oh, I have got
15:01
Speaker 2: to sit here for an hour or two hours, and
15:03
Speaker 2: you don't need to do that.
15:05
Speaker 1: Absolutely no, I agree with you. Ten minutes is life change.
15:08
Speaker 1: I always think about that. I'm like, it's the most
15:10
Speaker 1: bang for your book you're going to get from a
15:12
Speaker 1: lot of practices. Like you really you don't need equipment,
15:15
Speaker 1: you don't need anything fancy. You literally just need to
15:17
Speaker 1: be able to sit down for ten minutes. It is
15:18
Speaker 1: life changing. I think what I really want to do
15:21
Speaker 1: and hope to do is like, can you just like
15:22
Speaker 1: hold people's hands and walk into it a little bit more.
15:25
Speaker 1: I think it is intimidating to people, and I think
15:28
Speaker 1: it's easy for people to feel like they're not doing
15:30
Speaker 1: it right.
15:31
Speaker 2: I mean, I grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania,
15:34
Speaker 2: but there was a very famous place called the Hamalayan Institute.
15:37
Speaker 2: And there's probably lots of these places one can go.
15:41
Speaker 2: And you mentioned religion. I go to my synagogue and
15:45
Speaker 2: there is meditation there. It's part of religion and it's
15:48
Speaker 2: really important.
15:49
Speaker 1: Yes, so many spiritual and religious practices include meditative practices,
15:54
Speaker 1: and I don't think they're that different. But I do
15:56
Speaker 1: understand that as a teacher, it is safer to approach
15:59
Speaker 1: things second gularly, and I'm I actually am fine with
16:02
Speaker 1: that because you know what, even though I'm a creative person,
16:04
Speaker 1: I also am a math person and I do want
16:06
Speaker 1: to know what this is doing to my brain. And
16:08
Speaker 1: I love knowing that. I love knowing this kind of
16:11
Speaker 1: practice is concentration practice leads to this in your brain,
16:15
Speaker 1: whatever it is, these different practices, open awareness practice leads
16:18
Speaker 1: to this, Like that does motivate me to be honest
16:21
Speaker 1: because it's nice also to have something tangible.
16:23
Speaker 2: I guess, so Peloton, like, how do you merge your
16:26
Speaker 2: roots in Eastern philosophy with a platform like Peloton that's
16:30
Speaker 2: kind of corporate, pretty western again, I think you've brought
16:34
Speaker 2: this to that platform.
16:36
Speaker 1: Well, listen. I think the trick is to know when
16:40
Speaker 1: to say no for me, and I think about this
16:42
Speaker 1: actually also as a creator. I think so much of
16:45
Speaker 1: being authentic is knowing what to keep for yourself. It's
16:49
Speaker 1: like sure, maybe I could get more followers by sharing
16:52
Speaker 1: more about my personal life, but there's also going to
16:55
Speaker 1: be a group of people that respect that there's something
16:57
Speaker 1: I don't want to share. And I think that's how
16:59
Speaker 1: it works these practices as well, Like maybe something is trending,
17:03
Speaker 1: but maybe that's not what resonates with me as a practitioner,
17:06
Speaker 1: as a teacher, or as somebody that wants to keep
17:08
Speaker 1: these practices to a certain extent, what authenticity means to
17:12
Speaker 1: me with those practices and being willing just to say, well,
17:16
Speaker 1: I don't think that version of this is for me.
17:19
Speaker 1: And I don't know if Peloton is quite here yet,
17:21
Speaker 1: but I think when I look out at the world
17:23
Speaker 1: of yoga, there's a lot of yoga flavored fitness, okay,
17:27
Speaker 1: and that is not the same thing as yoga as
17:30
Speaker 1: a philosophy. I think with meditation, part of why meditation
17:34
Speaker 1: is so tough is that I know what trainings are
17:36
Speaker 1: out there, and there are plenty of meditation trainings that
17:39
Speaker 1: are not They don't have context and they don't have tradition,
17:41
Speaker 1: And then you have teachers who don't have that, and
17:44
Speaker 1: they don't even know what they don't know. And so
17:45
Speaker 1: I think it's really tough. It's really just like paying
17:47
Speaker 1: attention to your gut feelings and then sticking to that
17:50
Speaker 1: and doing what feels right.
17:52
Speaker 2: So AI is all the rage right right now. I mean,
17:55
Speaker 2: everybody's talking about AI. What do you see is the
17:58
Speaker 2: future of online fitness classes? Are the robots going to
18:02
Speaker 2: take over there too? You tell me, I mean, I
18:06
Speaker 2: don't see it. I think what you just said actually
18:09
Speaker 2: about the authenticity and what you share and don't share.
18:13
Speaker 2: I think people still. I have a good friend who's
18:16
Speaker 2: going to be on the podcast Tina Sharky that talks
18:19
Speaker 2: about humanity being the moat around this whole tech and
18:23
Speaker 2: AI situation. Everybody wants. I think most people want to
18:28
Speaker 2: be in touch with that, and that is the difference maker.
18:31
Speaker 1: I agree. And the other thing is this, AI can
18:34
Speaker 1: take your voice, but they can't authentically connect with them
18:38
Speaker 1: their person. And when I think about meditation, as I
18:41
Speaker 1: grew as a teacher. When I first started teaching, I
18:43
Speaker 1: would have to write my scripts out. If it was
18:45
Speaker 1: a ten minute script, it was like many pages, but
18:47
Speaker 1: I had to write them out because it was vulnerable.
18:50
Speaker 1: It is actually quite vulnerable to be like, you must
18:53
Speaker 1: feel this, and I know that because I feel this.
18:55
Speaker 1: That means you're sharing like your inner world, and I
18:57
Speaker 1: just don't think that's something AI can do. It can generalize,
19:00
Speaker 1: it can take input from other people, but it's not
19:02
Speaker 1: the same thing as actually experiencing it. It's such a
19:05
Speaker 1: communal practice.
19:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I have friends pitching me on it.
19:08
Speaker 2: They say it can do it, they're talking about it.
19:11
Speaker 2: I'm having a hard time believing that that's possible and
19:15
Speaker 2: that this conversation cannot happen. You know what I say spontaneously,
19:21
Speaker 2: you know where one idea leads to the other. I
19:24
Speaker 2: just don't know how the AI creates that.
19:26
Speaker 1: There's some percentage that AI can do, right. It's like,
19:29
Speaker 1: here's a breath based meditation practice. If you are simply
19:32
Speaker 1: facilitating your practice, perhaps AI could do that. But the
19:35
Speaker 1: part that that's missing is like I know you're probably
19:38
Speaker 1: feeling this at this point, or something that I think
19:40
Speaker 1: is really very important is I did a seven day
19:43
Speaker 1: silent meditation retreat and you don't get to talk except
19:46
Speaker 1: for once every day. You have like a check in
19:49
Speaker 1: with a teacher in a small group. Obviously they want
19:51
Speaker 1: to make sure you're okay. There's usually a lecture involved,
19:53
Speaker 1: et cetera. And when I started this retreat, I felt
19:57
Speaker 1: as though the people in my group were just so
19:59
Speaker 1: vast different than I was. And over the time with
20:02
Speaker 1: these check ins, I realized like, in spite of being
20:05
Speaker 1: so incredibly different, we really really do have the same
20:08
Speaker 1: experiences and those kinds of things only happen with like
20:11
Speaker 1: real connection and sharing. Sure, maybe you could facilitate a session,
20:15
Speaker 1: but that's not the same thing as an actual relationship.
20:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just can't see how you'd feel it the same.
20:21
Speaker 2: One feels a bit transactional and the other. How do
20:24
Speaker 2: you reach the soul? How do you reach the other
20:26
Speaker 2: parts of one's self? And I think that's in my experiences.
20:31
Speaker 2: I haven't done a lot of yoga, to be honest,
20:34
Speaker 2: but the meditation thing, for sure, while that's now delivered
20:37
Speaker 2: in the video, I think there's more impact when you
20:40
Speaker 2: do it in the synagogue or you do it with
20:43
Speaker 2: somebody facilitating. There's just something different about that.
20:46
Speaker 1: I also really believe that what we are in sumonance
20:49
Speaker 1: is paying for or wanting or what elevates somebody as
20:52
Speaker 1: a teacher, or what I am looking for when I'm
20:54
Speaker 1: looking for a teacher, for example is experience, right, and
20:57
Speaker 1: that experience can't come from manual input. It actually has
21:01
Speaker 1: to come from experience with human beings, which is random
21:04
Speaker 1: and chaotic, and that is not something that I think
21:06
Speaker 1: AI is able to do.
21:08
Speaker 2: All right, Well, that's reassuring to hear. So when we met,
21:11
Speaker 2: we talked a little bit about this, and then you
21:13
Speaker 2: just talked a little bit about what you hold in
21:16
Speaker 2: yourself and share. What are the pros and cons of
21:20
Speaker 2: having a public persona.
21:22
Speaker 1: Well, I think it's a really interesting place to be
21:24
Speaker 1: and I think that especially today. I'll say when I
21:27
Speaker 1: first joined Peloton, I was not online that much. I
21:29
Speaker 1: was not somebody that spent a lot of time on
21:31
Speaker 1: social media. And I think there was a conversation that
21:34
Speaker 1: I have with myself. How much of this is my job,
21:36
Speaker 1: how much of this is what I want to do?
21:38
Speaker 1: How much a connective community? You know, what's right for me,
21:40
Speaker 1: what's right for the community, what's right for Peloton? Like,
21:42
Speaker 1: where's the in between for this? I think personally, I
21:45
Speaker 1: do want to create community and I do feel there's
21:48
Speaker 1: the potential for impact, right. That's the good side of
21:51
Speaker 1: social media is that there's a potential for connection. There's
21:53
Speaker 1: a potential for positive impact, and I think there is
21:57
Speaker 1: also potentially. I guess it depends on how goes, but
22:00
Speaker 1: like there's so much opportunity to like make the world
22:04
Speaker 1: smaller in some ways through social media. I think the
22:07
Speaker 1: other side of it is that when you put yourself
22:11
Speaker 1: out there, you really don't know why you're going to
22:13
Speaker 1: get back right, Because of social media, our interactions are
22:16
Speaker 1: very parasocial. I think that there's a lack of humanity
22:18
Speaker 1: sometimes in the way that people interact on social media.
22:21
Speaker 1: Like I see this all the time. I see people
22:22
Speaker 1: comment on my colleague's posts as if they aren't human
22:25
Speaker 1: beings reading the comments. It's definitely like a double edged
22:27
Speaker 1: sword if you are going to put yourself out there.
22:29
Speaker 1: I would say, I feel like I have set boundaries
22:32
Speaker 1: that feel right for me in the sense of, like,
22:34
Speaker 1: I'm happy to share a lot of my life, but
22:37
Speaker 1: the people in my life did not necessarily sign up
22:39
Speaker 1: to be a public figure. Therefore they get to have
22:41
Speaker 1: their privacy, you know, Like that's not their job. That's
22:43
Speaker 1: my job. I signed up for it, okay, but that's
22:45
Speaker 1: not somebody else's job, and I'm not going to do
22:47
Speaker 1: that to them. So those are sort of the boundaries
22:50
Speaker 1: that I have, and then especially when it comes to
22:52
Speaker 1: obviously there's a lot of politics online. I am pretty
22:55
Speaker 1: clear about what I want to talk about and what
22:57
Speaker 1: I don't want to talk about. I'm pretty willing to
22:58
Speaker 1: face the consequences of that. I think people are always
23:01
Speaker 1: going to have judgments. I don't even think I have
23:03
Speaker 1: very thick skin, but I think when it comes to this,
23:05
Speaker 1: you just kind of have to, right. You have to
23:07
Speaker 1: know that being online means people are going to have
23:09
Speaker 1: expectations from you, and those are their expectations, and you
23:11
Speaker 1: have to really know what your values are and what
23:13
Speaker 1: your expectations from yourself are in order to be online.
23:16
Speaker 1: All of that said, because Peloton specifically is such a
23:19
Speaker 1: positive platform, I have had a really positive experience. I
23:23
Speaker 1: think on social media the community is generally just really wonderful.
23:27
Speaker 1: That helps a lot for me.
23:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, the platform makes a difference, I imagine. Is
23:32
Speaker 2: there any examples you can think of where while I'm
23:35
Speaker 2: glad I'm out there and I'm glad I'm helping people,
23:37
Speaker 2: is there any outstanding example of someone you helped.
23:40
Speaker 1: I do get messages and sometimes I say them in a
23:43
Speaker 1: folder so I can look through. I really do care.
23:45
Speaker 1: I look through my DMS. I don't have somebody else
23:47
Speaker 1: doing it. It is me in my DMS, responding to
23:50
Speaker 1: people noticing there are people who take a meditation every
23:53
Speaker 1: single morning and post it every single morning, and I
23:55
Speaker 1: think that's incredible. And I know there's people that have
23:57
Speaker 1: been doing that for the last seven years since I've
23:59
Speaker 1: been I really do notice, and I do care. And
24:02
Speaker 1: maybe I don't see that person's face every day, but
24:04
Speaker 1: I know they are practicing with me every day. And
24:07
Speaker 1: I do feel that the more, especially with meditation, like
24:10
Speaker 1: the more you meditate with me, the better you probably
24:12
Speaker 1: know me, because I do think it's a very personal practice,
24:15
Speaker 1: and so I feel connected to these people. And I
24:18
Speaker 1: do get messages, so let me see if I can
24:20
Speaker 1: find some of them. I get messages pretty often about
24:23
Speaker 1: how these practices are helpful to people and it's really wonderful.
24:27
Speaker 1: I actually have an album on my phone called My
24:29
Speaker 1: Why in case I ever need to go back and
24:32
Speaker 1: remember that's cool.
24:33
Speaker 2: Everybody should have that fun.
24:35
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, somebody's kid did a little drawing.
24:38
Speaker 2: Yeah that's cool.
24:39
Speaker 1: Thanks for teaching a peloton. I drew little pictures. I'll
24:43
Speaker 1: read some innocuous ones too.
24:45
Speaker 2: Hi.
24:45
Speaker 1: I take a lot of your classes on Peloton and
24:47
Speaker 1: really enjoy them. Thank you so much. I wanted to
24:49
Speaker 1: reach out to you because I started the meditation program
24:51
Speaker 1: and it's fantastic. I'm on day three and it's really wonderful.
24:54
Speaker 1: I've tried to meditate a million times before and I
24:57
Speaker 1: just couldn't do it for some reason. The way you've
24:59
Speaker 1: structured this program is so good for me. I finally
25:01
Speaker 1: feel like I get it now. I just wanted to
25:03
Speaker 1: say thank you so much. I feel so grateful that
25:05
Speaker 1: I found the program and have started it. Thank you.
25:08
Speaker 1: So there's like a whole bunch like that, or some
25:10
Speaker 1: of them are much more serious about people's health issues
25:12
Speaker 1: that they're going through or things that have really helped
25:14
Speaker 1: with their anxiety or personal trials that they're facing in
25:17
Speaker 1: their family lives, and how these classes have been supportive
25:19
Speaker 1: and that is just so life affirming, you know, like
25:22
Speaker 1: it might be online, but it's a very real relationship.
25:25
Speaker 2: Oh for sure. Well that's how we all relate now,
25:27
Speaker 2: I mean that's where the world lives. You have a
25:31
Speaker 2: phrase though, called de influencing, which means getting offline. How
25:35
Speaker 2: do you navigate that, and what's your current relationship with social.
25:39
Speaker 1: Well, I want to just be honest and say the
25:41
Speaker 1: influencing is not my term, but I do use it.
25:44
Speaker 1: I think there are people online who are really focused
25:47
Speaker 1: on deinfluencing, and I understand where they're coming from, and
25:51
Speaker 1: I think I've taken a bit of it, which is
25:52
Speaker 1: just our lives online can seem so curated. I'm not
25:55
Speaker 1: sort of posting me sitting at my laptop all day.
25:58
Speaker 1: That's not exciting, So it's not most of what I'm posting,
26:01
Speaker 1: and so I think it's important sometimes to share things
26:04
Speaker 1: that people might not think about or realize and just
26:06
Speaker 1: sort of like to recalibration that we're all sort of
26:09
Speaker 1: having the same human experience. And my relationship with social media,
26:13
Speaker 1: I feel okay about it.
26:14
Speaker 2: You know.
26:14
Speaker 1: I don't force myself to post all the time. I
26:17
Speaker 1: post when I think is genuine and authentic. I have
26:20
Speaker 1: a different relationship with I think TikTok and Instagram. I
26:22
Speaker 1: think TikTok is just a lot more casual. I am
26:25
Speaker 1: on my stories and in my dms a lot, but
26:27
Speaker 1: I also take breaks, I don't scroll that much, and
26:31
Speaker 1: I just sort of have a lot of slow zones
26:33
Speaker 1: in my life, and I'm lucky that this is also
26:35
Speaker 1: my job. I have a lot of long chunks breaks
26:38
Speaker 1: where I'm not on my phone because I'm teaching, or
26:41
Speaker 1: I'm working out, or I'm doing something that requires me
26:43
Speaker 1: to just not be on my phone. So that helps
26:45
Speaker 1: a lot. I think I feel at the moment that
26:47
Speaker 1: I have pretty good boundaries to social media.
26:49
Speaker 2: What would you tell people to do in and around this,
26:52
Speaker 2: I mean, what would be your advice.
26:54
Speaker 1: I understand that social media is part of people's jobs.
26:57
Speaker 1: That's sort of a big roadblock for a lot of people.
27:00
Speaker 1: I think if it is your job, you just have
27:02
Speaker 1: to have time blocks. Like anything else, you put it
27:04
Speaker 1: in your calendar. I think there are so many tools
27:07
Speaker 1: and so many people now that can help plan your
27:10
Speaker 1: social media. If it's your job, you do what you
27:12
Speaker 1: need to do, but you don't have to do a
27:14
Speaker 1: lot more than that. I also think a lot of
27:16
Speaker 1: it is that you have to want to make the
27:17
Speaker 1: change right. It takes people sometimes a break to realize
27:21
Speaker 1: how much it made them not feel so good. Once
27:23
Speaker 1: they have that realization, then it's a lot easier to
27:25
Speaker 1: be like, actually, maybe you prefer not to scroll at
27:27
Speaker 1: the end of the day. I also think, again going
27:30
Speaker 1: back to the metrics thing, if you're somebody that tracks
27:32
Speaker 1: your sleep, it's becomes very obvious how much better your
27:35
Speaker 1: sleep gets if you don't like spend the last hour
27:37
Speaker 1: of your day on your phone. But that said, if
27:39
Speaker 1: social media isn't your job, I think it's a lot easier,
27:42
Speaker 1: and I think it's a lot easier to designate sort
27:44
Speaker 1: of like slow zones into your life of times when
27:46
Speaker 1: you're not on your phone, and more importantly, to notice
27:48
Speaker 1: what it feels like, because I think when things feel good,
27:51
Speaker 1: it's easier for us to do them. The more you
27:52
Speaker 1: notice that being present feels better, the more you can
27:56
Speaker 1: do it.
27:57
Speaker 2: And then the scrolling tip I'm going to use, just
27:59
Speaker 2: stop doing that. It's so attempting, just the way it's
28:03
Speaker 2: all set up. But that's a simple way not to
28:06
Speaker 2: do it. So you're not a doctor, but people trust you,
28:09
Speaker 2: So how do you go about sharing health information responsibly?
28:14
Speaker 1: Well, I think it's exactly what we just said. Say, Hey,
28:16
Speaker 1: I'm not a doctor, but here's what I do or
28:19
Speaker 1: here's how this works for me. And I think being
28:22
Speaker 1: really specific about I am not telling you to do this,
28:25
Speaker 1: I'm telling you what works for me. I also will
28:28
Speaker 1: say I do actually really like to look for studies
28:31
Speaker 1: sometimes because I think it's really helpful, mostly because there's
28:35
Speaker 1: a lot of pseudoscience out there right, so I think
28:37
Speaker 1: it's nice to be able to say I am saying this,
28:40
Speaker 1: and this is why I'm saying this, and not sort
28:42
Speaker 1: of making this up. So I have a sub sec
28:44
Speaker 1: and that's I think where a lot of this goes
28:46
Speaker 1: is when I say something and I'm like, I want
28:48
Speaker 1: people to know that it's not an opinion and it's
28:49
Speaker 1: not pseudoscience. I'll find like some PubMed article or something.
28:53
Speaker 2: I mean, I think it's just about giving the advice
28:55
Speaker 2: with the context around it. That certainly helps. So what
28:59
Speaker 2: role should influencers play in healthcare? From your point of view?
29:03
Speaker 2: Is the social media changing people's relationship with their health
29:07
Speaker 2: one hundred percent?
29:08
Speaker 1: And I think unfortunately there are a lot of creators
29:10
Speaker 1: who are irresponsible who I wish all creators had to
29:14
Speaker 1: cite their sources. Okay, fortunately they don't. And even if
29:18
Speaker 1: they take the route of I did this and this magical,
29:21
Speaker 1: sparkly thing happened to me, I think unfortunately we're so
29:24
Speaker 1: easily taken by stories like that, by transformation by somebody
29:29
Speaker 1: who looks on the outside like they're having a wonderful
29:33
Speaker 1: experience of life, whether it's the way they look, whether
29:35
Speaker 1: it's the way they feel, whatever they are selling. And
29:37
Speaker 1: I think unfortunately what we're missing is that we don't
29:40
Speaker 1: actually know what that person's experience is. First of all,
29:42
Speaker 1: we don't know what they're actually doing, and secondly, we
29:44
Speaker 1: don't know what they're actually living, Like what is it
29:46
Speaker 1: like to live in that body that I'm saying that
29:48
Speaker 1: When it comes to health, I think that a lot
29:49
Speaker 1: of times we miss the point that a lot of
29:52
Speaker 1: social media is specifically marketing. People are marketing their brands,
29:56
Speaker 1: and that is not the same thing as science, not
29:59
Speaker 1: the same thing is being a doctor. So I think
30:01
Speaker 1: it's really important for people users of social media to
30:05
Speaker 1: be very curious about themselves as opposed to curious about
30:09
Speaker 1: other people's experiences, which maybe they could take with a
30:12
Speaker 1: green of salt.
30:13
Speaker 2: I mean, one of the things about you that struck
30:14
Speaker 2: me is that you just seem so real, just a
30:17
Speaker 2: real person, And I think that's really hard. You've got
30:20
Speaker 2: to be vulnerable right in that setting, and sometimes not
30:25
Speaker 2: everyone coming at you has the best intention. So again,
30:28
Speaker 2: I think you're talking about scaling before, about how do
30:33
Speaker 2: you get more region impact? So you're not just a
30:36
Speaker 2: peloton you have a bunch of other ventures. How are
30:39
Speaker 2: you scaling a DT and what are you doing with
30:43
Speaker 2: this newfound recognition. What are some of the things that
30:46
Speaker 2: you're up to here. I know you've got the Startup
30:48
Speaker 2: Girl Foundation, and I'd love to hear a little bit
30:50
Speaker 2: about that, and then the work at the Shift as
30:53
Speaker 2: a beauty editor.
30:54
Speaker 1: This entire conversation starts for each of us as a
30:57
Speaker 1: conversation with ourselves. What do I really want and why?
31:01
Speaker 1: And I think people sometimes think that they want, for example,
31:05
Speaker 1: fame or a lot of followers, and I think the
31:08
Speaker 1: deeper crushi is why do you really want that? And
31:10
Speaker 1: else say, for me, one of my measurements of success
31:14
Speaker 1: is actually impact and positive impact. Right, I always say
31:17
Speaker 1: when I think about my classes, I want people to
31:19
Speaker 1: walk away feeling five percent more free within themselves, to
31:23
Speaker 1: be honest. So one of the issues that I have
31:26
Speaker 1: really been passionate about for a long time is supporting women.
31:29
Speaker 1: And so Startup Girl Foundation is a nonprofit VC that
31:34
Speaker 1: funds women founders and it's actually It works in parallel
31:37
Speaker 1: with a jewelry company called Chaffon, so fifty percent of
31:39
Speaker 1: profits from Chiffon go to Startup Girl. We have other
31:42
Speaker 1: ways of also making money, and actually one of our
31:45
Speaker 1: portfolio companies is in the process of an exit, which
31:47
Speaker 1: is exciting. When I look at female founders trying to
31:50
Speaker 1: get venture money, which I have friends who've done that.
31:52
Speaker 1: I've had so many people in my world doing that,
31:55
Speaker 1: it is definitely not the same from what men and women,
31:58
Speaker 1: et cetera. So I think that's just something that I'm
32:00
Speaker 1: really excited to be a part of. The Shift is
32:02
Speaker 1: a new thing that's really exciting. It's a mission led
32:05
Speaker 1: magazine and it's like an impact and orientation focus magazine.
32:09
Speaker 1: We had our first issue come out last year. We
32:12
Speaker 1: put Glorious sign Them on the cover. She turned ninety one,
32:14
Speaker 1: and so in honor of that, we honored ninety one women.
32:17
Speaker 1: She's one and there's ninety incredible women profile in this magazine.
32:22
Speaker 1: We were able to partner with Esenbnude, who are these
32:24
Speaker 1: incredible photographers to do this, as well as Harvard. So
32:28
Speaker 1: it's like just this really beautiful opportunity to give back
32:32
Speaker 1: because the magazine has no ads as of right now.
32:35
Speaker 1: We hope to continue that, but part of the profits
32:37
Speaker 1: from that magazine also go to different foundations. In this case,
32:40
Speaker 1: of course, Gloria's Foundation, and then we had Amanda Gorman
32:44
Speaker 1: actually open and close the magazine, so part of the
32:46
Speaker 1: proceeds are also going to the California Wildfairs. As for
32:48
Speaker 1: her request, the idea of the Shift goes beyond having
32:51
Speaker 1: impactful publication. It comes out to us here. It's not
32:54
Speaker 1: like a regular magazine. It looks like a coffee table book,
32:57
Speaker 1: and we are hoping to take this inaugural group of
33:00
Speaker 1: women and bring people together and have real impact beyond
33:05
Speaker 1: just like us donating these foundations. Because it's very cross generational.
33:09
Speaker 1: There's so many different industries involved. It's not like everybody
33:13
Speaker 1: is an actor. We have like Jennifer Doudna and Amanda
33:16
Speaker 1: Gorman and Amal Cloney, like all these really incredible women
33:19
Speaker 1: who are coming from very different places, and I think
33:21
Speaker 1: that's something we really need. I think we need a
33:24
Speaker 1: lot more of this conversation from different places to help
33:28
Speaker 1: move the future forward in a way that we would like.
33:31
Speaker 1: So we have a big gala coming up at the
33:33
Speaker 1: end of March at Harvard really excited about that, and
33:36
Speaker 1: then we'll be coming out with more issues. There's a
33:38
Speaker 1: lot of exciting things in the works with the Shift,
33:41
Speaker 1: So this year I think is going to be a
33:42
Speaker 1: big one.
33:43
Speaker 2: And what is the goal there, what's the impact goal?
33:46
Speaker 2: What do we want to change? What do we want
33:48
Speaker 2: to shift?
33:49
Speaker 1: It's a women oriented magazine. I should have mentioned that
33:51
Speaker 1: it's not the only women will be featured in it,
33:53
Speaker 1: but certainly Startup Girl is actually the partner of the
33:57
Speaker 1: Shift in the sense that like of course you and
34:00
Speaker 1: joining to the organizations of the people who put on
34:03
Speaker 1: the cover, but also through the Shift. For example, we
34:06
Speaker 1: did a collaboration with a designer for Giving Tuesday, and
34:10
Speaker 1: so for that day all of the sales went to
34:12
Speaker 1: Startup World because that's a Shift's partner, and that also
34:15
Speaker 1: allows us, of course to then fund more women et cetera.
34:17
Speaker 1: Really the goal is really similar to continue growing this
34:21
Speaker 1: group of impactful leaders, helping them grow, and then continue
34:25
Speaker 1: to fund organizations that we either can personally invest in
34:29
Speaker 1: through Startup Girl or through the Shift, or through facilitating
34:33
Speaker 1: these conversations and connections.
34:35
Speaker 2: Jesse Draper is a friend of mine who started a
34:38
Speaker 2: women focused investment from I know there's a few out there,
34:41
Speaker 2: not that many more. I mean it's changing and growing
34:45
Speaker 2: and evolving. The Healthcare Women's Business Association. I'm a mentor there, right,
34:50
Speaker 2: so it'd be interesting to get some guys to come
34:53
Speaker 2: in and help with that shift. Because I've been involved
34:56
Speaker 2: in my industry and healthcare, it's been hard to change that, right.
35:00
Speaker 2: There's certain roles for women in healthcare, right, versus men
35:04
Speaker 2: and men in pharma and med device Yeah, kind of
35:07
Speaker 2: a male a lot of engineers stem you know, we
35:11
Speaker 2: talk about that a lot. Yes, I think there's probably
35:15
Speaker 2: some crossover.
35:16
Speaker 1: That is One thing I failed to mention that we
35:18
Speaker 1: do at Startup Girl also is we have a mentor board,
35:21
Speaker 1: so we're basically allowing our founders access to mentors as well.
35:24
Speaker 2: That's cool, yeah for them to see it. I mean, look,
35:27
Speaker 2: my firm is about sixty percent women, the one that
35:30
Speaker 2: I started originally Real Chemistry, and I think we remain
35:35
Speaker 2: dedicated to making sure there are lots of women leaders
35:38
Speaker 2: that are supported and given what they need to succeed,
35:42
Speaker 2: which is half the battle.
35:43
Speaker 1: I also think there's something to be said for doing
35:46
Speaker 1: what you're doing, doing the work and then also telling
35:49
Speaker 1: women's stories, letting people stories be heard, and also celebrating
35:52
Speaker 1: them and having a physical something that reminds people to
35:56
Speaker 1: like keep that sort of like fire in them. I
35:59
Speaker 1: look at the shift on my coffee table book, and
36:00
Speaker 1: that's part of what I feel. It's symbolic. Seeing Glory
36:03
Speaker 1: Steinnam on the cover means something to me.
36:05
Speaker 2: Especially ninety one. I didn't even know she. I didn't
36:07
Speaker 2: realize she was ninety one. Oh my god, that's incredible.
36:11
Speaker 1: Yeah.
36:11
Speaker 2: So three questions I'd like to end with to kind
36:14
Speaker 2: of wrap it up. What's the best vacation you've ever taken.
36:19
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I'm very lucky. I've taken some cool
36:21
Speaker 1: vacations with my family, but the best vacation. Okay, So
36:27
Speaker 1: my family always does family vacations. Growing up, my parents
36:30
Speaker 1: would take us hiking all the time, and since then
36:33
Speaker 1: we've just always been on these like adventurous family vacations.
36:37
Speaker 1: I just got back from Cambodia and Vietnam. You know,
36:39
Speaker 1: In spite of that, I think one of the coolest
36:42
Speaker 1: vacations that I've been on, I climbed Kilimanjar with my
36:45
Speaker 1: two brothers.
36:46
Speaker 2: Wow.
36:47
Speaker 1: Just like really it is like ie opening. It's really
36:52
Speaker 1: unlike anything else. It was really special to share it
36:55
Speaker 1: with them. We went to the beach, went to Mombasa afterwards.
36:57
Speaker 1: It was just like a really once in a lifetime
37:00
Speaker 1: of experience.
37:00
Speaker 2: I mean, that doesn't even sound quite like a vacation.
37:04
Speaker 2: That's like a quest. But you know what one person's
37:09
Speaker 2: work out as another person's vacation. What if you had
37:12
Speaker 2: an album that could be the soundtrack of your like,
37:17
Speaker 2: what would that be? Oh?
37:20
Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's actually impossible to answer. Okay, I'll
37:22
Speaker 1: say in this moment right now, I'm really struggling with
37:25
Speaker 1: an Olivia Dean obsession, and I don't know if I
37:29
Speaker 1: can think of a different album. Because I love her
37:31
Speaker 1: so much. I love who she is as a person.
37:34
Speaker 1: I love because she's had so much time to evolve
37:36
Speaker 1: into her career. I feel like the meaning in her
37:39
Speaker 1: music like really resonates. But okay, outside of Olivia Dean,
37:43
Speaker 1: it's gonna be tough.
37:44
Speaker 2: Well she's huge right now.
37:46
Speaker 1: So yeah, she's huge, and I think she's huge for
37:49
Speaker 1: a reason. Another person that I feel like is like
37:51
Speaker 1: weird and wonderful and maybe Florence the Machine.
37:54
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that's a cool one. Yeah, that makes sense.
37:58
Speaker 2: What's something you'd like to get real honest.
38:00
Speaker 1: About me personally? Are the world?
38:03
Speaker 2: I mean, you can answer both you and the world.
38:06
Speaker 1: I don't know that there's something I'm like necessarily holding
38:08
Speaker 1: back about holding back on, but I do. And this
38:12
Speaker 1: is maybe just like kind of in line with our
38:14
Speaker 1: conversation and something I mentioned also in our panel is
38:17
Speaker 1: I do want people to be more honest about their
38:21
Speaker 1: mental health and like what they're going through. And I
38:24
Speaker 1: think there are moments when I can be and there's
38:26
Speaker 1: a lot of moments when I can't be, So maybe
38:28
Speaker 1: it's also on me. I'll give you an example, and
38:30
Speaker 1: I had a really tough year a couple of years
38:33
Speaker 1: ago because a family member of mine was going through
38:35
Speaker 1: a really like potentially life threatening illness and so I
38:39
Speaker 1: just like totally crushed me. I was definitely just like
38:41
Speaker 1: not myself, and I'm sure that came through my classes.
38:44
Speaker 1: But at the same time, I didn't talk about it.
38:46
Speaker 1: I didn't talk about until afterwards. So maybe it's also
38:49
Speaker 1: on me. But I do wish that people would be
38:52
Speaker 1: more honest about their mental health in general, because I
38:56
Speaker 1: do think there's just this sort of like veneer and
38:58
Speaker 1: this armor that we put on to the world, and
39:01
Speaker 1: I don't blame anybody for it, but I think we
39:03
Speaker 1: would all be better off with a little bit less.
39:05
Speaker 2: So that goes to both you and the world. But
39:08
Speaker 2: I think I know for me, by sharing the story
39:13
Speaker 2: and what I've gone through as a caregiver and all
39:16
Speaker 2: the things that have happened in our life, it does help,
39:20
Speaker 2: you know, because everyone can relate to it. Everybody gets
39:23
Speaker 2: hit by the bouncing ball.
39:25
Speaker 1: And I appreciate it. It takes some amount of courage and
39:28
Speaker 1: trust and vulnerability, and I think it's hard for people
39:32
Speaker 1: to know where the line is of what's appropriate. I
39:37
Speaker 1: think it's a silly, arbitrary thing. Is actually what I'm
39:39
Speaker 1: more like realizing is that I think it's it's an
39:41
Speaker 1: excuse almost.
39:43
Speaker 2: Well, thanks for that, and I'm going to be working
39:46
Speaker 2: in music in the mind and mental health space and
39:49
Speaker 2: other areas. I'll pull you into that because there's some
39:52
Speaker 2: cool work getting done, amazing and some great science happening.
39:56
Speaker 2: So anyway, thanks so much. It was supposed awesome conversation.
40:01
Speaker 2: I knew it would be. You're great, but it gonna
40:03
Speaker 2: be greater and I can't wait to collaborate more. It
40:07
Speaker 2: meets you.
40:07
Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
40:10
Speaker 2: Hey everyone, thanks for joining me on the Get Real podcast.
40:13
Speaker 2: You know, I hope you feel a little healthier hanging
40:16
Speaker 2: out with me. You know it's gonna be a lot
40:18
Speaker 2: of fun. Passing this along to others. Please subscribe below,
40:22
Speaker 2: Please share. I'm excited not just to talk about healthcare,
40:27
Speaker 2: but a lot of other fun topics. It's about making
40:31
Speaker 2: healthy talk about healthcare. It is not a lecture. This
40:34
Speaker 2: is supposed to be fun and look forward to spending
40:37
Speaker 2: more time with you in the future.