Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / REWIND: Jess Sims, Peloton Instructor

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REWIND: Jess Sims, Peloton Instructor · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: When you're feeling anxious, and of course you can do
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: meditations and focus on your breathing, but wherever you are,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: in whatever space you are, you just rely on your
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: senses and you name a couple things that you can see,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: a couple things that you can hear, a couple things
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: that you can smell, a couple things that you could
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: potentially taste, and by doing that, you rid yourself of
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: the anxieties and the depressions of the past and can
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: really focus on the present.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Hey, everyone, Emily Abadi here, Welcome to rewind on Hurdle
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: five days of episodes from the Hurdle Vault. I cannot
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: even tell you how often I get requests for interviews
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: with some of the amazing, amazing people that I have
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: already had the privilege of sitting down with, and sometimes
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: I'm able to do a round two around three. But
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: that is what this week is all about. It's me
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: bringing you some of my favorite conversations back to the
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: top of the feed from the last five years.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Now.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: I'll be honest, it's easy for me to forget that
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: there are new people joining the hurdle community every single week,
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: which means that there is a lot of content to
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: catch up on, helping everyone on their journey to live happier, healthier,
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: more motivated lives. For today's episode, I am kicking things
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: off in the series with Peloton instructor favorite of many,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Jess Sims. This conversation originally aired in July of twenty twenty.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: So much has happened for just since then, and I
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: am so happy to cheer her on in her journey.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: Make sure you're following along with Hurdle over on social
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: It's at Hurdle Podcast. I am over at Emily a
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: body And with that, let's rewind. Let's get to hurdling today.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: I am sitting down with Jess Sims. She's a Peloton instructor.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: I feel like there are so many more awesome things
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: I can say about you.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: You are so sweet, Hi, I am. It's so good
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: to catch up with you.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: I know, I feel as though some background, Jess and
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: I are gal pals. Let's start off with how's it
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: going over there? It's like we're in two different places
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: but the same place. When you're in Manhattan, but like
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: forty five blocks from one another.
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: Yes, I mean that's kind of the question of the year,
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: is how are you, it's kind of, I mean, I'm
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: good one minute, I'm sad, the next, I'm hopeful, the
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: next I'm sweaty, the next it's it's, you know, every
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: kind of emotion you feel in one day, it's kind
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: of it's a special experience.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: How are you?
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: You know what? I'm good? I think that lately for me,
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: and I won't make this about me, but I think
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: the thing that I've been dealing with lately is accepting
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: that certain days aren't going to be as productive as
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: maybe I once was, and understanding that that that doesn't
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: mean that I'm not a productive person anymore, that just
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: might be how like that certain particular day is, and
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: separating the distinction between I'm not productive and I'm not
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: feeling productive, if that makes sense.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: That makes so much sense. And honestly, the first month
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: that we were in quarantine, once you know, the not
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: the I guess like the the novelty of it, once
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: that started to wear off, I had that exact same
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: feeling and thought process where I kept on saying to myself,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: like Jess, you used to get up at six am
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: every day and you had to work out in and
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: finish your programming by noon. And now you're just kind
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: of walking your dog at ten or eleven o'clock in
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: the morning and haven't even eaten breakfast yet, and so
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: I feel like I've had to I think I've read
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: some I probably on Instagram or something where someone said
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: stop trying to be normal during abnormal times, and so
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: I think that is exactly what you're kind of talking
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: about right now, is allowing yourself to do things that
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: you never have done before because it's different times.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: And it's interesting because you, like me, have been writing
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: this out solo, with the exception of Sienna your jog,
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: but you are so so engaged with the Peloton community
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: on the regular. So I mean, talk to me a
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: little bit about that. To kick us off, talk to
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: me about what it's been like. You know, you have
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: almost one hundred thousand people following you on social media,
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: but aside from that, I mean, you have the hundreds
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: of thousands and thousands of Peloton members that are looking
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: to you every single day. So how has that dichotomy
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: been being technically alone but showing up and being surrounded
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: by so many.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: That's such a great question, and honestly, it's it's been.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: I've always known that Peloton is amazing and we're doing
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: really groundbreaking, incredible things because just side note is we're global.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: We're in Canada, we're in Germany, and we're in the UK,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: and we have a global pandemic. And for the first
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: time ever, or at least for as long as I've
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: been alive, we can all say the world that we're
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: going through quote unquote the same thing. Obviously varying degrees
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: and experiences, but we're all experiencing this pandemic. And so
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Peloton allows us to connect to our members. These are members.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: They're not one time drop in folks you know that
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: come into classes. They're members. They've committed to this. They've
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: committed to us, and we as instructors have committed to them.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: And so that's been really amazing and helping me not
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: feel like I'm alone because I'm literally not. And then
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: to add a whole other layer to it, once we
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: closed down Peloton Studios New York, we started teaching live
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: from home and that has been the coolest experience because
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: I'm always in people's homes. I'm always in their homes.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: You know, folks have Pelton bikes and treads and everything,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: and that's in their kitchens and their living rooms and
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: their bedrooms and their basements and their home gyms outside
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: when they go for you know, outdoor runs and walks
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: and things. But now I'm inviting the Pelton community into
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: my home. So there's been this level of intimacy that
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: I have personally never felt, and I know because our
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: members have been absolutely loving the classes live from home,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: this level of intimacy that has never been felt before
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: and has been so special and so necessary for me,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: as you mentioned, as someone living by myself.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's really interesting, especially because I've been
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: revisiting this idea lately of like transparency and vulnerability, and
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: it's like before you had the opportunity to be like
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: transparent with your audience, for sure, but you almost got
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: to decide when you wanted to get vulnerable. And now
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: that you're in your home and you're letting them into
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: your space and like you can't stop Sienna from running
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: into the frame, and they you're going to see like
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: how you deal from that and maybe like a little
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: bit more of who you really really are when you're like,
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: all right, well this is how it is now.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Yes, I mean that's exactly it. I mean, Sienna was
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: the star of the show. I just I just finished
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: my last live from home last week, and I can't
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: even begin to tell you the number of dms that
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: I have gotten because I brought her on the camera
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: the last class and you know, she did her whole
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: sign out and things like that. The number of people
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: that's one said, oh my gosh, I'm so sad, I'm devastated.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: The word devastated was you several times that Sienna will
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: no longer be in classes. And then some things just
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: made me laugh hysterically, like someone said, oh my gosh,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Siena was my number one motivation. I'm going to miss
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: her so much, and I'm my girl, I'm the one
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: doing the burpies with you. Sienna's sleeping on the couch
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: next to the mat, Like, don't get it twisted. I'm
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: your motivator, not Sienna, but no, you're You're so right.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: It's funny. When I first started, I was so nervous
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: because Sienna she's very vocal and so and it's unpredictable
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: when she's vocal, like she's like me as a sassy
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: thirteen year old, where one minute she's fine and the
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: other minute She's like, girl, give me attention. And so
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: I said to the team, I said, y'all, like she
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: might come in and they're like, well, it's why from home,
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: it's relatable, it's real. Lots of our members have dogs.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: And so she comes on, she comes on and without
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: it was the most incredible she did. I think the
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: first two classes she only came on right on Q
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: as the stretch started.
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: What a nugget, right and like people were like, oh
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: my gosh, we thought that someone was in the apartment
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: with her and like, let her go on set, you
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: know when you were done, and I was like, no,
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: she knew her role.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: It was her cue. Okay, down dog, boom, the dog
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: comes on set.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: The dog is there. I love it. I love how
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: life is just like has this funny way of playing
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: out lately. And obviously, I mean, you didn't just start
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: teaching live Peloton from home overnight. So let's stile it back,
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: let's bring it back. I know that you grew up
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: right outside of Boston, north of Boston and Peabody, so
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: talk to me about what your upbringing was like.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so I am the middle child of three. I
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: have an older brother who's about twenty months older. And
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: then I have a younger sister who is about six
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: years younger. And I was a busy body, a shocker,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: I say that, and people are like, yeah, and so
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: we could figure that out. I played every sport I played,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: from I did figure skating to tennis to I did dance.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: I did tap, jazz in ballet, I did softball, and
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: I got really serious about soccer, basketball, and lacrosse, which
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: is what I pursued in high school. And I definitely
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: got the athletic side from my father. My dad is
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: or was a college basketball player as well, and he
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: still holds records at the high school that I went to.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: He was just incredible, just the work course of the team,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: the leader of the team, and he's the youngest of
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: six and so yeah, I just I was constantly being
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: shuttled from one practice to the other games, the next
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: practice in the next game, and I was super involved.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: I loved learning, which of course we'll get into my
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: first career, and so I was involved in student council
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: and mentorship programs and leadership programs and things like that.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: But yeah, it was it was a very busy but
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: really fulfilling child.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: I always think about that, like when you start off
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: busy and then you get to your adulthood and you
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: like keep that. Some people are like, oh man, I
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: was so used to being shuttled around to so many
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: different sports. And then they get older and they're like,
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: I am good. And then other people and I think
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: you and I are definitely part of this team, are like,
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: all right, how can I keep doing as many things
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: as possible and keep being busy and feel like there's
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: just no time for rest.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Well, it's so funny you say that, because when I
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: was it was when I was an operations director at
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: a school here in Harlem. The social worker at my
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: school is incredible. I absolutely love him and I will
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: never forget this very calm, the opposite of me, very
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: very centered. And he's had gotten to this conversation with
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: him and I said, I'm such a busybody, even in
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: my adult life. And he said, well, Jess, like you
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: have a really high threshold for a stimuli and that's
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: a beautiful thing. You do have to be careful. You
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: know that you don't run yourself to the ground, and
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: you need to take break and you need to reflect,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: and you need to make sure that you're not trying
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: to escape everything in your life, and that you're taking
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: time to deal with things that need to be dealt with,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: but accept the fact that you thrive under pressure and
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: under healthy stress. And when he said that to me,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: I was like, Wow, that makes so much sense.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: I'm sure you probably get this question a lot. What
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: do you think helps you stay productive when you do
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: start to feel overwhelmed?
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Movement is medicine for me. And so right now, it's
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: beautiful because at Peloton, you know, I teach classes, but
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: then there's a lot of behind the scenes work that
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: a lot of people don't see. There's the programming of
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: the classes. There's the playlisting, there's the meetings to talk
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: about upcoming content, to review previous content. There's photo shoots,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: there's so many different there's my own workouts, there's physical therapy.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: There's so many elements to my role. And I do
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: realize though that when I'm feeling really anxious and if
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: I'm feeling you know, stressed, some sort of movement and
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: or meditation really helps me. I've gotten into meditation quite
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: a bit, honestly, probably since right after college, I would say,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: and that's a saving grace for me for sure, because
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: it helps me As an anxious person. I worry a
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: lot about the future, and then I also dwell on
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: the past of some things, like it's hard for me
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: to let some things go because I am also such
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: a perfectionist, so, you know, just a concoction of all
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: the messy things in life. And so when I am
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: finding myself stuck on something in the past or worrying
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: about something in the future, I have to find my
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: ground and I forget where I learned this. But when
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: you're feeling anxious, and of course you can do meditations
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: and focus on your breathing, but wherever you are, in
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: whatever space you are, you just rely on your senses
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: and you name a couple things that you can see,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: a couple things that you can hear, a couple things
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: that you can smell, a couple things that you could
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: potentially taste, and by doing that, you rid yourself of
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: the anxieties and the depressions of the past and can
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: really focus on the present.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: Talk to me about what your meditation practice looks like
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: now and if it looks different now than it used
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: to look, because I think that's also something that a
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: lot of people struggle with It's like I can't find
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: one that feels right to me. I'm not sure how
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: to do this, it feels like I'm not doing it right,
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: That's so it's really transformed quite a bit. When I
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: first got I was really stressed right when I so.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: I graduated college in twenty ten, and two weeks after,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: I moved down to Houston, Texas, not knowing a single
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: person down there. And it was a whirlwind and an experience,
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: one of the best experiences of my entire life. But nonetheless,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: it was a whirlwind. And I went from playing college
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: basketball and doing two three days and you know, training
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: year round, to becoming a teacher. And I wanted to
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: be a really damn good teacher, so I put my
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: heart and soul on it, and you know, we pulled
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: all nighters. We you know, went to workshops, and we
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: taught kids summer school that first summer. And I will
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: never forget. I graduated in May, and I think from
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: May to Christmas, I think I worked out twice, maybe
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: three times, and I lost myself. I don't care about
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: weight gain, because that's never why I've ever worked out
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: or ever will work out. But I wasn't myself, and
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: I'll never forget When I called my mom one of
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: these days when I was teaching and I was super
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: stressed and I was beside myself, she said two things
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: to me. She said, one, read the book that Caroline,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: my sister in law, my brother's wife, got you, which
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: is the meditation book Wherever you go, there you Are.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: She bought me that book, I think for graduation actually,
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: so wherever you go, there you are, meditate, read a chapter.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: And the beautiful thing about that book is like at
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: the end of the chapter it says like try it
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: out or something. So there's actual actionable items to do,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: and some are meditation based and some are just like
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: thought based where you don't actually have to because I
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: think that the word meditation is scary to a lot
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: of people. And then the other thing that my mom
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: said was have you worked out? And usually the answer
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: was no, but it eventually became yes. So back then
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: it was reading a chapter in this book. I didn't
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: even fully really meditate back then, but it was this
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: book that kind of grounded me and had me focus
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: on one my breath and to the present and then
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: after that it kind of evolved. I downloaded a few
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: different apps, and I would meditate kind of as needed.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: But now with the Pelton app, we have meditations. I
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: absolutely love our instructors, and I meditate every night for sure.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: And then I'm still working on trying to figure out
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: another proactive meditation because I find that when I reactively meditate,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: when I'm already like in a state of I'm anxious,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: I'm nervous, I'm this, I'm that, I really struggle to meditate.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: So the proactive meditation of you know this pause every
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: day at noon, every day at two, every day at six,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: that is something that I feel like works for me.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: I remember I went on a date with someone once
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: that told me that he set alarms every two hours
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: to do like a mental check in with himself. I
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: don't know if, I don't know if i'd be successful
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: with this.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: So that's really interesting. I don't think that would work
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: for me either, just because similarly, I'm awful at drinking water,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: and so I used to put alarms in my phone
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: every two or three hours that said like, have you
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: had any water yet today? And at first it worked
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: for me for like less than a week, and then
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: after that, I'm like, oh, just snooze that shit, Like,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: come on, all right next now, Yeah, I'll do it.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: I'll do it in ten minutes. So I don't think
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: that would actually work for me either. Honestly, you mentioned
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: moving down to Texas. Talk to me about what that
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: transition was like for you and what you were going
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: down there to do. I, as I mentioned, I played
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: college basketball, which is a winter sport, so you kind
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: of really don't have an off season. Your training in
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: the fall and then the spring is it kind of
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: goes into the spring and then it's off season again.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: And so I did that, and I double majored in
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: psychology and Hispanic studies. And I'll never forget. I walk
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: into the gym one day, and you know how at
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: colleges they have those bulletin boards that just have a
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: bunch of flyers. This flyer said Teach for America, and
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: it had like a few statistics about the opportunity gap
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: of kids that grow up in low income areas compared
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: to kids that grow up in more affluent areas, and
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: I just really piqued my interest. I'm half black, half white.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: My dad is black, and my mom is full Italian
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: and I was starting to come into my blackness around
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: that time as well, and I feel like there's no
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: sugarcoating it. I was raised color blind. That was as
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: an athlete, and by playing basketball competitively, I was finally
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: around people that looked like me and more diversity, more
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: people of color, and I loved that and I felt
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: at home with those people more so than I've ever
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: felt before in my life. And I could not, for
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: the life of me. If you asked me back then
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: why I wanted to teach for America, I really couldn't
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: have given you an actual answer because I didn't study education.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: I had an idea that potentially I could teach, but
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: I never pursued in any way, shape or form. But
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: I saw that flyer. I did some research and I
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: was like, oh, I'm doing this. And so this was
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: back in twenty ten. Our two thousand and nine is
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: actually when I applied. I applied in one of the
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: first early deadlines, and I did a mock lesson. I
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: had a bunch of interviews. The whole interview process was
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: very rigorous, and I'll never forget I got an email
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: and then a call saying, oh my gosh, congratulations, you
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: got it. It's in Houston, Texas. And so I called
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: my mom and my mom was like, oh my gosh,
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: this is so great. Congrats, but you're not going to
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: go to Texas, right, Like that's yeah, you can't, Like
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: you don't know anyone down there. You wouldn't do that.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: It's a bummer you didn't get one of your preferred locations.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: And I was like, nope, I'm going and she was
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: like wait what And so yeah, I graduated and within
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: two weeks, I packed up my entire dorm room, moved
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: back to Peauty, packed up a bunch of bags, flew
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: my mom flew down with me to Houston, helped me
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: get settled. And I actually lived at Rice University because
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: with Teach for America, they put you through, for the
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: lack of a better term, like a teacher boot camp
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: where for a couple months you are all on one
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: campus and you're essentially kind of getting an undergraduate degree
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: in a few months. And so it's a lot of work,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: and you're also doing summer school. So I taught a
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: remedial seventh grade summer school math and while also becoming
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: a teacher in learning behavior management, studying diversity because I
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: loved Teach for America for this, but there was a
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: huge emphasis on understanding diversity and doing a lot of
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: self exploration in order to be able to go into
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: these communities and serve in a way that was appropriate.
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: Honestly, did you feel a little bit overwhelmed at this point?
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: Because I feel like, to be a woman that is
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: half black and you're like coming into your own You're
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: like trying to figure out the right way to like
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: speak to young teens about their race and their diversity,
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: Like it just seems like it would be a lot
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: to take on.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Oh. Absolutely, And I was actually placed in elementary, so
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: at least I was with younger kids. But for that
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: summer school, I was with seventh graders, and some of
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: my peers that Teach for America were with high schoolers,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: so twenty two twenty three, they were, you know, working
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: with kids that are eighteen, nineteen years old. So yes,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: it was definitely, I don't know if overwhelming was the
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: right word. It was challenging, but it was so eye opening,
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: Like I will never forget that summer. I was sitting
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: down at a table with it was all boys, and
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: we were having these conversations, and there was there's a
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: lot of diversity at the table. And someone asked me,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: They said, what are you? Because I get that question
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: all the time, and I explained it. I said, my
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: dad is black and he has he's a little Portuguese
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: as well, but he's black and my mom is full Italian.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: And I will never forget this little boy just he
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: was in the middle of eating, he like put his
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: food down and he looked at me and he said,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: but how did the black person meet the white person?
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: This is in twenty ten, And I was like, wow,
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: that was such a profound and life changing moment and
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: question for me. My response was at a bar, like
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: that's literally where they met. But I was like, wow,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: there's still so much separation and so much lack of
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: diversity within communities that that's actually a really good question.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: And if I had spent a whole life in Peaberty
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: and in Connecticut where I went to school, I might
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: never have known that that's other people's experiences.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, of course, so many of
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: us are like finding our own ways to do the
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: work right now. But some of the conversations that I've
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: been having with my friends. I mean, I grew up
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: in a town that's eighty percent white. I went to
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: the University of Connecticut sixty percent white. Like, I definitely
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: have been exposed to and interacted and have friends and
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: all the things with with individuals of all races. But
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: I certainly come from a fair amount of privilege. And
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: to like that young child's question, like, it's so interesting
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: because some people that I grew up with, like the
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: conversations that I'm having lately are did we have any
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: black teachers when we were growing up? And the answer
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: to that is, actually no, I had not one single
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: black educator until I got to Yukon. I didn't have
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: I had Hispanic teachers, but I had no black teachers
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: at Trumble High School. None. None. And that's crazy because
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: I never took a step back. I had black classmates,
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: like I had dated black men, Like it's been something
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: that like I have integrated into my life, but like,
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: because of the system, I had very little interaction.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: Wow, that's incredible that you've been able to like sit
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: back and reflect on that. And I mean, I grew
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: up and I don't know the numbers of Peabody body
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: was definitely predominantly white, and I had one black teacher
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: and the sub teacher and he was the father of
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: the only black other black family in peoting m.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: That's so interesting and it's so interesting also what you
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: said before about like being raised not thinking about color.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's I mean, especially right now, it's really
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: great because I'm able to have these these difficult conversations
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: with my family. And it's important for me to like
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: state this is that when we have these conversations, we
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: end up taking things a lot a lot of times
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: personally right, because it's this is hard stuff, this is life, identity,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: family stuff, and we have to question things that we
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: have gone along with for so long. And so having
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: these difficult conversations with my parents has been tough because
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: I'm like, y'all, I love you, and I had a
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: great childhood and I'm so grateful for so much. But
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: I was raised colorblind and that's not okay because by
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: not knowing who I am, fully, I have never really
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: felt like I fit in anywhere. I don't feel that's
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: the thing about when you are by oftentimes is that
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: you fit in everywhere. Like if a company was to
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: do a campaign and they could only choose one person,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: they would likely choose someone that looks like me, because
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: I pass for anything really, But at the same time,
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: I fit in nowhere because I don't feel even I
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: did something on Instagram not too long ago where I
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: said exactly that. I said, I'm not completely white, so
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: I'm drawn. I'm playing on both of these sides where
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: I'm mourning the losses of my brothers and sisters and
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: feeling scared and worried for my own family. But at
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: the same time, I have to check myself and understand
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: I'm lighter skinned, I have light skin privilege, and that
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: affords a whole different experience for me. That's why it's
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: so important to highlight the different black experiences because oftentimes,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: when especially white people talk about black people, it's like
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: the black experience, but it is so complex, it is
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: so multifaceted, and there's really no two that are the same.
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: When you were growing up the Boston area, can you
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: remember any times where you were made to feel some
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: kind of way because of the color of your skin.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, I was never so first. I had someone in
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: school when I was in and this is so wild
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: to me that I remember this because I don't have
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: a great memory. But I had someone say Jess's dad
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: is black and beautiful, and when I was in first
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: or second grade, and I was like okay, Like it
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: was weird because I think one of my teachers was like, oh, no,
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: it's a compliment, and I'm like okay, but like the
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: black part, I wasn't told about my blackness. I was like, oh, okay.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: And then when I was playing softball, a little girl
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: came up to me and she said, are you mulatto?
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: And you're gonna laugh because this is like the best
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: part of the story. I'm like a Milano cookie, like
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: I love Malana cookies, like I grew up getting. I
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: was like yeah, And I went over to my mom
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: and I asked, I said, Mom, am I a mulatto?
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: And she my mom is barely five feet she is
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: the most non intimidating looking like woman and she so
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: I was right over to this little girl's mom and
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: flipped out on her.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: Oh my god.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and right at the softball field. And I don't
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: remember having a follow up conversation with my mom. I
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: don't remember hearing the word mulatto again until sixth grade,
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: when I opened up a textbook and I saw European
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: and African descent, so I was like, oh shit, I
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: am why did my mom get so upset? Is this
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: a negative term? Like? I was so confused. And then
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: when a friend of mine got really upset with me
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: in high school, she screamed at me saying how nappy
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: my hair was, like out of nowhere. And then this
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: is what I'm saying about all these bizarre times that
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: I just remember so vividly. I was on the phone
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: with a guy at my friend's house in high school,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: probably ninth tenth grade, yeah, probably tenth grade, and I
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: was distracted by my friend who I was at her house.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: I was talking to her and to get my attention
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: on the phone, he was like, hey, African American, I'm
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: talking to you. What it was like, I just remember
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: being stunned. I don't even I think I probably just
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: hung up because I was so stunned that I guess
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: it stuns me because I'm like, I've never had a
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: conversation about black people or my own blackness with any
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: of these people that have said these things to me,
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: So I just wonder what are they thinking about or
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: what are they talking to others potentially about? That they've
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: never said to me, but feel comfortable saying things like
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: that to me.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, as you said before, something that I think is
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: really valuable is this idea that there is one black perspective.
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: There's not one Black perspective, Like there's not one type
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: of runner, there's not one type of woman, there's not
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: one way to like be in love or god. I mean,
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: this can go on for every single thing in the world,
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: but it's interesting to me, and this is why these
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: conversations are so valuable. The idea that, like, we can
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: have the same type of conversation with so many different
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: people and every single time you will get something new
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: out of it.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, And I mean, especially with the black community,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: I feel like everyone's trying to pigeonhole us and say
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: the black experience, well there's racism doesn't exist because you know,
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: there's a person at my job that just got promoted
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: to CEO and he's black, or oh, there's not systemic
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: racism and poverty and systems working against black people, because
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: look at all the black celebrities and athletes that have
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: so much money, they don't all have poverty, and it's
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: like we cannot those are exceptions to the rule, and
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: so we have to stop thinking that we understand a
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: group of people based off of one or two or
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: three people that we know or don't even know that
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: we know of. And I think it's really important, like
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: you said, just with everyone affording the same generosity of
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: spirit and knowledge about black people is that you know
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: everyone is different. I will never yes, I am black,
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: but I will never know the unique experiences and challenges
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: that dark skinned black women experience. And I talked about
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: that with my teammate Tunda from Peloton when she she
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: did a little Instagram live not too long ago, and
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: she she literally asked me, and it stumped me in
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: front of everyone. She was like, when you walk into
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: a room, how do you think people perceive you? And
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: I literally I said, I don't know. She's like, well,
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: what do you mean you don't know? And I said, well,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: if I walk in with you, a dark skinned black
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: woman and another black person, I'm black. But if I
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: walk in with a bunch of my white friends, I
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: would I don't know, I would assume that people would
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: think that I'm white or that I'm Hispanic Latino. And
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: so she was she was like, she kept on prying well,
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: how do you think that people? I was like, I don't.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: That's the struggle about being Birachel is that you really
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: don't know how people perceive you. They people perceive me
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: the way that they want to perceive me, the way
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: that it and it sounds really negative and I don't
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: want it to be negative. But people perceive me the
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: way that they want to perceive me. That how what
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: would fit in with what they want out of that
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: situation in that home?
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think that can also go hand in
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: hand with like the personality side of things, right. I've
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: done exercises before where someone asks you like, how do
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: you think that people would perceive you or label you
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: if they only had one minute with you and they
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: met you at a party, And then ask yourself, what
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: do you want people to perceive you or how do
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: you want people to perceive you if they meet you
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: for a minute at a party, And the answers to
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: those questions can actually be very different, right, because that's
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: when you take a step back and you ask yourself
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: like are you being true to who you are? Are
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: you holding back? Are you trying to make up for something?
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: Are you presenting in a certain way? Because you want
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: to be liked, and it's like who is it that
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: you want to be? And are you being true to
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: who it is that you are? And like living your
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: values to the outside world. Let's bring it back to Texas.
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: How does Texas go for you?
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: Also, I'm a chameleon. I love wherever I am. I
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: bloom where I'm planted. I loved growing up in Pebdy.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: I loved Hertford and West Hartford where Trinity was. I
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: loved Houston, and I loved Houston. I thought it was
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: very different than what I expected because, believe it or not,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: I had only been to New York City my entire
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: life twice for basketball, so never for pleasure, never to
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: you know, move around and do the touristy thing. Ever,
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: and so when I was told that Houston is the
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: I think it was. It's the fourth largest city in
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: the US. I was thinking something like New York City,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: but it's very different. It's an urban sprawl. It's very
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: spread out, and yes, everything is bigger in Texas. There's
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: like ten lane highways. The food is amazing, the happy
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: hour scene is amazing. People were so kind, and I
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: absolutely loved it down there.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: I love it Okay, so your teaching experience must be
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: pretty great because you go on to continue on this path. Yeah.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So I was hired to teach fifth grade math,
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: and so I did that the first year, and then
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: the second year, I did third grade and I taught everything,
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: which was a really cool experience because I was hired
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: to teach math and that was my least favorite subject,
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: and the principal hired me specifically because I said math
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: was my least favorite subject, because he told me that
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: since I didn't like it, I would come up with
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: fun and interesting ways to teach it to the kids
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: for other kids who don't like math. And I was like,
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: oh wow, Tooche, all right, I get that. And so
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: then I taught reading and I got to do science
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: and social studies and all that other good stuff down
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: there for my second year, and so I was one
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: hundred percent planning on staying for a third year. But
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: then I was recruited to open up which I thought
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I really
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: believe it. It was to open up a brand new
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: elementary school in Harlem with just caten so there were
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: only eighteen people on staff. There were five kindergarten classes,
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: two fully certified teachers in every classroom, and then you know,
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: support staff. And so I moved up to New York
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: to be closer, you know, toward to my family and friends,
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: and I taught kindergarten and that was if you ever
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: want to test your patients, you should be in a
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: room with twenty seven four and five year olds from
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: seven o'clock in the morning until five pm daily.
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: Highly recommend And it's funny. This is this always cracks
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: me up because my roommate in New York, who was
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: also at the same school I taught fifth grade, third
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: grade kinder she did the opposite. She did pre K three,
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: pre K four, and then kindergarten, which is five years old.
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: So when we start after our first day, I'll never forget.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: I'm like, Jen, that was so hard. These kids are
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: so not independent. And she was like, what do you
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: mean these kids are so independent? This is so great,
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: and it was It was just really funny to me
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: because I'm like, girl, you say get in line to
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: five year old and it's like herding cats. It's like
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: trying to get them, like come your kids, come here.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: This is what a line is? This is what I
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: mean stand on this tape. So it was such a
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: great experience and I ended up staying with the network
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: that I was at, and I taught or After kindergarten,
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: I was an operations director at the middle school and
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: then I did that for two years and then I
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: moved back. This was really special for me. I moved
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: back to the Boston area and I went to the
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: city where my dad was raised, Lynn Mass and I
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: opened up a KIP school, the same exact model as
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: I opened up in Harlem. As an assistant principal.
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: Talk to me about what a KIP school is.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: So KIP so the school that I was at Harlem
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: and KIP, they're both charter schools, so they are public schools.
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: There's it's a lottery system to get in. You apply,
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: but there's no like there's no things that you have
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: to meet, no tests or anything like that. We take anyone.
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: It's literally just a lottery system and it's publicly funded.
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: The difference is that there are some private investors that
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: also give more money. And so the main difference between
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: a charter school and a public school is we have
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: an extended school day. So the kids, I believe they
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: got in at seven and like I said, the school
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: day was for five year olds till four thirty or
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: five pm plus after school if parents chose to keep
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: them there. Yeah. And the school that I was at
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: in Harlem is just a charter school here in the city,
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: but KIP is all over. It actually started in Houston,
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: which was kind of cool. And it started by Teach
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: for America alone.
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: Okay, so you go back to Lynn and you're running
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: the ship over there, and then how long does that last?
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: For l ol? That lasted. So I moved back in
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: June end of June, I started July, and I quit
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: in December of twenty fifteen.
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: Why'd you quit?
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: So? It was a dream job, Emily. It was the
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: best run experience school that I've worked at. The principle
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: was incredible, the teachers were incredible, the kids, the families.
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: I felt so connected to all of them. And guess what,
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: I was still unhappy, and so I started to really
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: do some reflection and I realized, Okay, Jess, in six years,
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: you've held five different roles fifth third kinder ops director,
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: ops director, assistant principle. You worked for Teach for America
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: every summer in between those years, so you had even
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: more experience. You got your masters when you were down
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: in Houston. I went to the University of Saint Thomas
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: and I got my master's in teacher leadership. And you're
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: still not happy. And so I started to think. And
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: I had this really groundbreaking conversation with my boyfriend at
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: the time. He was in fitness and I saw how
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: fulfilled he was and how much he loved, you know,
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: teach these classes and connecting with people in his classes,
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: and so I love that. And I mean, like I said,
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: my whole life was about movement, and I wasn't doing
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: movement stuff, or at least not primarily. That wasn't my
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: primary role. I can tell you about all looking back,
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: all the things that I did that I didn't even
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: realize I was doing. But I was just like, I
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: can't quit teaching. Like I'm supposed to be a teacher.
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: I'm a teacher. I'm a teacher. And he was like, yeah,
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: you're you're supposed to be a teacher, but you just
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: might be in the wrong setting. And I had this
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: like mind blown I was like, wait a minute, you're right.
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: So I ended up leaving that kid school in December
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: of twenty fifteen, and you're gonna laugh. My old school
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: fired their principal in Harlem and begged me to come
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: back just until they found a new principal in the
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: following school year. So when I moved back in December
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: of twenty fifteen, in January twenty sixteen, I became the
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: principal of my old school in Harlem, cash Cat Yes.
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: And so I did that from January to June. And
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: I and everyone knew as soon as I came back,
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: because here's the thing. I love the kids in the
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: family so much that like I would never I could
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: never abandon them. And I didn't have a job. I
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: was coming back to New York City to literally do
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: the fitness grind, and so I said, let's do this.
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: And so during that six month period, during all my
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: free time, you can't see me, but I'm using air quotes.
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: During my free time, I studied for my NASM personal
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: train assert. I started on Instagram because I didn't have one.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: I had a very you know, I never used my
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: personal Instagram. I probably posted maybe ten times. I started
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: a fitness Instagram. I got a photo shoot, I went
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: to a ton of different boutique studios, to kind of
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: get a feel for the studios, to see one what
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: studios I loved and what, you know, discipline I wanted
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: to teach. And two what made a good instructor good great?
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: Because there's there are at every studio, as you know,
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: there's always like the top instructors. So I was just
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: very curious about what made them great. And you know,
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: so I started to really observe. I'm a sponge, so
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: I was just learning and learning and networking, introducing myself
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: to instructors. And yeah, that summer, I started working at
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: a boxing studio, and then a few months later I
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: started training at a high intensity interval training studio and
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: I did that for two years, and I started also
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: I did this pilot program for a company that was
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: starting to do some online stuff, some camera stuff, and
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: so I did that and then peloton.
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: So talk to me about what that transition was like
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: for you, going from being a school principal to getting
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: into fitness and did you feel right from the get
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: go that you were doing the right thing.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So, I mean I knew I was doing the
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: right thing because I was having so much fun, but
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: I was also so uncomfortable. I'm I'm I'm a leo.
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: So people hear that and they're like, oh, you love
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: being the center of attention. Actually, never, I actually don't
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: love being the center of attention. I like to bring
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: other people up and I love to put others in
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: positions to succeed. And I realized very early on when
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: I started teaching boxing, like this is nerve wracking, but
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: people help, I'm starting to change people's lives. Like the
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: messages I was getting on Instagram and then that in
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: person chats were just really transformational, and I was like, Wow,
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: this is huge, just as incredible. And people ask me
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: all the time do you miss teaching? Do you miss teaching?
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: And I say, y'all, no, because I'm still teaching. Do
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: I miss the kids and their families and the other teachers, Absolutely,
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: But I don't miss teaching because I am teaching. I'm
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: just teaching my preferred subjects now.
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: Right right, Okay, So you make the transition into fitness,
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: and right off the bat, do you find that there's
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: like a pretty big learning curve. I mean, I think
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: that that's one of the things that so many people
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: who message me are concerned about. It's like, Hey, I
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: so admire that you have the opportunity to like work
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: in an area that you're so passionate about that you
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: love what you do. I would love to make xyz
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: career pivot, but I'm so scared to be a new
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: fish in the pool, so to speak.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, I get that question quite often too, and I say,
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: it's a grind. Like you, I would never take it back. Obviously.
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: It's the best decision I've made in my life is
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: to make this career change. But do not get it twisted.
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: The happy, amazing photoshoots and the fun things that I
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: put on Instagram, that is a very small percentage of
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: actually the work that has gone into it. In the
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: two years that I taught in those boutique studios, I
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: worked seven days a week. I worked every single morning
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: except for Friday mornings. That was my only morning off
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: out of seven days, and the only nights I didn't
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: work for Saturday and Sunday nights. If I didn't work,
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: I didn't get paid. You get paid per class. It
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: is a grind. So if you got sick, you know,
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: and had to take days off, that's lost money. If
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: you got forbid went on a vacation, that's doubly lost money.
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: Because you're spending money and you're not making any So
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: I always felt like I was kind of it was
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: a rollercoaster. It was I was like, okay, cool, I
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: feel like I'm making a good amount of money. I
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: feel this is good, you know, really starting to feel
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: good about this, and then you know something would happen
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: and it's a step back. So it's you got to
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: know it's going to be a lot of work, and
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: so you have to love what you're going into and.
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: Be ready to work for sure. So you are ready
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: to work. You're working a lot, and when does Peloton
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: come into the picture?
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: So this is like my favorite. This is one of
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: those stories I think back to and I'm just like, oh,
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: it's just it all happened for the right reasons. So
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: a year into me being in fitness, so I was
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: just at at those two studios, still learning a ton,
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: getting a ton of other certifications. Rebecca Kennedy, who's our
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: master instructor at Peloton, she she would take my classes,
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: my boxing classes really often, and so we would chit
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: chat here and there, and then she reached out to
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: me and said, hey, I'd love to grab coffee and
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: chat with you. So we grabbed coffee, and she told
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: me all about Peloton, and she all the perks, all
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: the amazing things about it. And I sat there just
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: with the biggest smile on my face and I'm like,
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: this is incredible, and I'm not ready for it. I
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: felt really deep in my heart of hearts that I
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: wasn't done learning from the places that I was currently at.
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: I also wasn't working out myself, because, as you know,
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: when you are training other people, you put them first,
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: and I didn't have the energy or the discipline at
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: that point in just a year of prioritizing my own workouts.
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: So I didn't feel comfortable for those reasons. And then
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: also I wasn't running. The thought of running on a
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: treadmill on camera was like a nightmare to me, so
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: I politely declined whatever whatever. Fast forward a full year,
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: so it was July of twenty sixteen or twenty seventeen
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: where we chatted for the first time. July twenty eighteen,
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, I've been at these places for
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: two years. And then, as I mentioned before, I had
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: that really great opportunity where once a week I was
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: on camera I was teaching thirty minute hit classes. And
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: I loved it, and I was like, okay, Wow, I
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: actually could see myself doing this camera thing full time.
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: And one thing that I really realized about myself in
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: twenty eighteen is that I am here to bring the
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: greatest impact on this world, on this planet. And I
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: started to feel that same sense of when I was
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: afraid of leaving the classroom to be an administrator. I
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: was like, this is so deficit. I can't leave twenty
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: five kids to go, you know, just only work with teachers.
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: But then I changed my perspective and I said, Wow,
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: instead of impacting twenty five kids on a daily basis,
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: I'm impacting twenty five teachers who each have twenty five kids.
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: So by taking a step out, I am making a
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: bigger impact. And so with Peloton, yes we have people
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: in the classroom for most classes, but the main audience
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: is at home. So the main audience I don't see
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: on a daily basis, and that scared me at first,
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: but then again that same parallel of taking that step
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: out of the classroom, it's the exact same thing with Halton.
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: So now my impact it's not just New York City,
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: it's the rest of the US. It's the UK, it's Germany,
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: it's Canada, and it's growing. We're a global company, and
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: so thinking about the impact that my workouts, my words,
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: my programming has on people is like the ultimate blessing.
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: I remember when I sat down with Ali and she
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: had the same reaction when Robin talked to her about
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: coming to be an instructor. She said to her, girl like,
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: I got other things to focus on. I'm all set,
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: And Robin was like, no, you don't understand. Like this offer,
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: this idea, you coming to do this, This is going
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: to help you do everything that you want to do. Yes, okay,
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: so you you change your mind, You're like, hey, this
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: could be a cool thing. So is the offer still
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: on the table. How does it work out?
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah? So thankfully I didn't go through with the audition
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: the first time, just because I was my heart wasn't
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: in it and this is not something that you can
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: go in with half your heart in it. And so
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: I reached back out to her, grabbed coffee, and the
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: first question she asked me was why now? And I
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: literally said those things exact same things that I said
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: to you. Is I felt, But I've outgrown the places
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: that I'm at I'm ready to move on. I feel
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: ready to be in front of a camera. And I've
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: gotten into a nice routine of working out on my own.
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: So I felt good about myself and body and mind,
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: and so she said, okay, cool, So she brought me
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: in for an audition. I taught a twenty minute full
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: body boot camp and that was it. And then that
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: wasn't it. I'm totally lying. There were millions of interviews
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: falls advertisement. Yes, no, there were lots of interviews and
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: things after, but it was that one twenty minute boot
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: camp that I taught that was the audition.
• 46:45
  Speaker 2: Amazing, And so talk to me about where you were
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: when you found out that you got the job.
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: So it was, oh man, where did Okay? Well, I
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: got the actual, the official offer at the Peloton Cycling
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: Studio by the CEO, and I felt good going into
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: it because this was like the final I had already
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: met with him one other time, and so the fact
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: that I was meeting with him again, I was like okay.
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: And I knew that he was handing out the contracts
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: and so I was like, okay, this is good, this
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: is good, this is good news, I think, And so
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: I got like a brand new lou Lemon outfit and
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: went over there and I was like so excited and
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: I got down to the basement offices and yeah, they
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: offered me the job. And it was the most exhilarating thing.
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: And I guess the other thing too, which is worthwhile
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: of noting. So I auditioned in July, end of July,
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: I want to say. And then I turned thirty August fifth,
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: and so that weekend I went out to the Hampton's
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: and I just had I journaled, and I actually reread
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: the pages. I wrote like five or six pages on
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: my thirtieth birthday and I just wrote, and it was
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: really cool to see now two years later, how happy,
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: not even just happy, but how centered I At that
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: time in my life. I felt very confident in who
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: I was and what I wanted to offer and what
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: my skill sets were and where I wanted to go.
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: And I really think it's because of that timing that
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: I got the job. I really don't know if I
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: auditioned the year before when I had the original meeting
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: with Rebecca, I don't know if I would have gotten it.
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: So I think that that's like a really cool thing
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: that looking back, I'm really proud of myself for being
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: self aware enough to know just this is not your time.
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: It's not to say that this will never be your time,
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: but it is not your time right now. Keep doing
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: what you're doing and then reassess.
• 48:39
  Speaker 2: And I think that can be hard for a lot
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: of individuals, just this idea that sometimes the timing might
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: not be right, but that doesn't mean that an opportunity
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: can't come back around, or you could run at it
• 48:50
  Speaker 2: at another time. It's up to us to have that
• 48:55
  Speaker 2: persistence and to go back at things that maybe at
• 48:58
  Speaker 2: one point or another, just like this opportunity for you
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: wasn't the perfect fit.
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, that's perfectly said.
• 49:08
  Speaker 2: And like you know it in your gut right like
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: you knew it in your gut that you were ready then,
• 49:13
  Speaker 2: and you weren't ready before. So it's almost like you
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: would have been doing yourself a disservice even if they
• 49:18
  Speaker 2: offered you the opportunity beforehand, Like you would have been
• 49:22
  Speaker 2: doing yourself a disservice because you weren't, you weren't ready.
• 49:24
  Speaker 2: But I see, I hear myself saying that, and then
• 49:27
  Speaker 2: I'm like, but sometimes the best things happen when you're
• 49:29
  Speaker 2: not ready yet true.
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: But here's the thing. Even when I auditioned, I wasn't
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: really ready. I wasn't really running a ton still, so
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: I wasn't completely I wasn't completely ready. But I need
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: to think about this how because the meetings that I had,
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: because I believe exactly what you're saying, there's never a
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: good time like that you should just jump and dive in.
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: But I knew in my heart and soul in that
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: first conversation with Rebecco, I was like, this opportunity sounds amazing,
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: but it's not for me right now. This is so
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: so cool. Wow, oh my gosh, I do this, this,
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: this and this and this is your schedule and this
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: is your that this is not for me right now.
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: I just I just had that gut feeling. And it
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: wasn't that it wasn't that I wasn't ready in the
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: sense where I couldn't do it, but it wasn't the
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: best time for me.
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: I hear you. I hear you totally. And this sounds
• 50:25
  Speaker 2: actually quite similar to a situation I dealt with last
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: week where I had the opportunity to move into a
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: dream duplex in Brooklyn with the backyard, and I knew
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: that I wasn't in the right place yet. I'm moving
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: into a two bedroom hopefully next year, because I want
• 50:42
  Speaker 2: to be able to use it for my business and
• 50:44
  Speaker 2: I want to have guests over, and I want to
• 50:46
  Speaker 2: make it my recording studio in my office in the
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: whole shebang. But right now, I don't need that. So
• 50:52
  Speaker 2: for me to go, despite how unbelievable the opportunity was,
• 50:57
  Speaker 2: and the fact that you could literally park five vehicles
• 51:01
  Speaker 2: in the backyard like sounded great, but it's just not
• 51:06
  Speaker 2: the time. It's just not the time.
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: It's just not the time, and you have to trust yourself.
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: Like I could have persuaded myself to go through with
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: the audition, but it just wasn't the time for me.
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: And I think that that second year at those studios,
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: I was able to do so many things to set
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: myself up for success at Pelton. I was able to
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: really discover my teaching personality because you know, of course,
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: like when you're on a microphone, your personality is the same,
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: but it's amplified in some ways. I was really able
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: to hone in on the queuing that I was giving.
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: So now as a Peloton instructor, when I don't have
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: any people in the classroom. It's so funny that some
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: of the best feedback that I get from our members
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: is when they say, how did you know that I
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: wasn't hinging my hips pushing my hips back in my
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: deadlift at that exact moment? And I'm like, well, one,
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: because I taught boutique fitness and I saw that constantly.
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: So there's that experience. And then also now a helped out.
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: This is the blessing and the curse. I'm doing the
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: workout with you. So when I say these cues and
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: these motivational things out loud, they're not written down, they're
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: not rehearsed, they're not practiced. It's what I also need
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: in that moment.
• 52:07
  Speaker 2: So when did you officially start there?
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: So I started write after Labor Day. I started a
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: Pelton September tenth for training, and then I had my
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: first class right after the New York City Marathon, so
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: like the first week of November.
• 52:20
  Speaker 2: So you're coming up on two years. Then, Yeah, a
• 52:22
  Speaker 2: little celebration is in story.
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: It's so cool because there's like double celebration. It's like
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: celebrating when I got the job. I think it was
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: September tenth, and then when I started teaching classes, So it's.
• 52:34
  Speaker 2: Double amazing, amazing, Okay, So what would you say in
• 52:38
  Speaker 2: that first two year period has been one of the
• 52:41
  Speaker 2: biggest lessons that you've learned as an instructor.
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: Be yourself. Be yourself, especially in fitness, but really in
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: any industry, there's a lot of comparison, and there's a
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: lot of Oh, what are the really successful people doing,
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: and how do I be more like them? I'll never
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: forget when I went in for the audition at Pelton,
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: I ran into Dennis Morton, who teaches cycling and yoga
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: at Pelton, and he said to me he has never
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: worked at a place that has asked him to be
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: more of himself, more Dennis Morton than ever before. And
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: when he said it to me, I was like, Wow,
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: that sounds really cool. But then in the first year learning, yes,
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: of course you need to brush up on your queuing
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: and make sure that that's good and your timing and
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: look at the cameras, this and that. But you have
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: to stay true to yourself because that is what is
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: that makes you most relatable, and that makes you the
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: most welcoming to people. When you are yourself unapologetically. You
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: are inviting other people to be unapologetically themselves. And I
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: think that that's the ultimate lesson that I have learned
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: so far at Pelton.
• 53:47
  Speaker 2: For sure, when you look back on the interactions that
• 53:52
  Speaker 2: you've had with your members, what would you say one
• 53:57
  Speaker 2: of the greatest lessons has been from that over the
• 54:00
  Speaker 2: past two years.
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: I would say the biggest lesson is that sweating is
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: so much more than a workout. What we do at
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: Peloton is so much more than a workout. I will
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: leave the quote unquote stage to go downstairs to the
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: locker room and be down on myself because you know,
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: I messed up, I skipped something, or I did this,
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: I did that, and I beat myself up and then
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: I pick up my phone. Or if this is a
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: class where there are a lot of people in there,
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: I go and talk to them after. But then someone
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: will say to me, Jess, that was the best class
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: I've ever taken. I am recovering from, you know, so
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: many rounds of chemo. My partner just lost his job,
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: my child is experiencing bullying, I just had a baby,
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: and I've really lost myself, and that workout helped me
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: find myself and that Emily is like, that is why
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: I do what I do because it is so much
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: more than a workout. What we do on on the
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: bike the tread, and that transcends fitness. It's mental practice
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: for doing hard things. It's reminding yourself. I can't half
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: asked this last push up because Jess says, how you
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: do anything is how you do everything. So if I
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: half asked this last push up, that means I'm going
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: to half ask helping my kid with his homework tonight,
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: and that's not the kind of parent that I want
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: to show up to be. So just really, really understanding
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: that what we do is so much more than fitness
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: has been the ultimate.
• 55:31
  Speaker 2: Lesson we mentioned being alone, traveling solo, spending time just
• 55:37
  Speaker 2: with ourselves. I think that's something that a lot of
• 55:40
  Speaker 2: us have been exposed to, more so during this pandemic,
• 55:44
  Speaker 2: but something still that many struggle with. So for someone
• 55:48
  Speaker 2: that comes to you, and I know that they do
• 55:50
  Speaker 2: because they come to me too, someone that comes to
• 55:53
  Speaker 2: you and they say, how are you so good at
• 55:56
  Speaker 2: being by yourself? What is it that you tell them?
• 55:58
  Speaker 2: And do you offer them any advice?
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah? I think that Why am I so good because
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: I practice. This is why I used to not like
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: running is because I was like, that's so boring, just
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: being alone with my own thoughts for thirty minutes. What like,
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: no TV, no music, no distraction, no stopping, just running straight.
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: That's too much time to be alone with my own thoughts.
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: And then I also didn't like running because it was
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: also more of a punishment as an athlete growing up.
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: You know, you relate to practice, you lost, you ran,
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: And so I've had to teach myself that, first of all,
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: running is a beautiful time to be with yourself and
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: really really important actually, And that has translated into other
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: parts of my life. And I've realized that in order
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: to be a better partner, in order to be a
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: better friend, in order to be a better dog mom,
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: I have to not escape my realities. I have to
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: stop running from things that make me uncomfortable, or stop
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: running from things that worry me. I need to create
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: some space to tackle those things, because if not, I'm
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: just delaying the inevitable. And so I think with quarantine specifically,
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: it's so funny that you bring this up when people
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: ask me, like the first two months, even now, when
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: people are like how are you doing with the quarantine.
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: I know you live by yourself. I'm like, yo, this
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: is my life. Is not much different than before. I
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: spend a lot of a loan time, and I love
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: my apartment and I love my dog, and so I
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: think that what I would encourage people to do is
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: stop looking for distractions and catch yourself when you're wanting
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: a distraction. I've had some great conversations with some friends
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: that love a good distraction, and they've distracted themselves with
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: meeting friends to go shopping, or meeting friends to grab
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: a drink, or doing something that completely disrupts what their
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: mind is trying to have them do. And I just say, like,
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: stop delaying the inevitable. Tackle it. Break it up into
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: small chunks if you need to. If there's like a big,
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: massive thing that's weighing on you, don't think you're all
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: You're going to take it down and one day break
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: it up into smaller chunks. See what you can do.
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: But do it, even if it's for an hour a
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: day where you sit down with that pen and paper
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: and you start breaking it down. Do it because it's
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: going to catch up to you. It's going to you
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: might think that you've mastered it or gotten away from
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: it in one area in your life, But guess what,
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: it's going to sneak up and be like, guess what,
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: I'm still here, so you got to tackle it.
• 58:18
  Speaker 2: I was literally having a conversation with a friend of
• 58:20
  Speaker 2: mine last night who was saying that he was also
• 58:23
  Speaker 2: struggling with the whole productivity situation, and I said to
• 58:27
  Speaker 2: him that often when I feel like I'm not being productive,
• 58:30
  Speaker 2: it's because I'm not getting to a place where I'm
• 58:33
  Speaker 2: allowing myself to deal with the other shit that's blocking
• 58:36
  Speaker 2: me from getting to what I have to do. So
• 58:38
  Speaker 2: if I'm like not processing a tough conversation that I
• 58:42
  Speaker 2: had with my friend and I'm trying to do busy
• 58:44
  Speaker 2: work like that, busy work isn't really going to do
• 58:46
  Speaker 2: much for me, and I probably won't get all that
• 58:48
  Speaker 2: much of it done because I'm still in the back
• 58:51
  Speaker 2: of my heart, in the back of my head not
• 58:54
  Speaker 2: tackling the really big elephant in the room to enable
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: me to be productive.
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, that's exactly like what if that's exactly the
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: beauty of this quarantine time? And then we cannot take
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: this time for granted and wish it to be over
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: because there's so much time to grow here. We are
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: so conditioned to be so productive and do this, do that,
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: and human beings. We're human beings, We're not human doings.
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: And so we have to take a step back and
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: question all those quote unquote normal things that we were doing.
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: Of defining product being super productive every day as normal,
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: maybe that's not normal. Maybe that was the normal that
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: you had before, and that was running you into the
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: ground and forcing you to run away from the things
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: that you've needed to dive deeper into. Think about that.
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: We are human. We are supposed to be. We are
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: not supposed to be doing doing, doing doing. We need
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: to be. Yeah, when you're just being, you're allowing yourself
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: to work through things that will eventually allow you to
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: do things better.
• 59:56
  Speaker 2: Right now, when people go to your so social media page,
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 2: they see a peloton tread instructor. They see a woman
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 2: who they might ask themselves, what is her race? I
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 2: wonder what she is? They might see your great dog. Yes,
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 2: when you look in the mirror, what is it that
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 2: you see looking back at you?
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: Oh? Can I tell you I struggle looking in the mirror.
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: I really do, I really struggle because I pick myself apart.
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: I am learning to greet myself with the same compassion
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: that I give to others, because that is one of
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: my number one qualities is that I'm very compassionate. I
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: really feel for people, and I understand that the stories.
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: There's so much behind your story, and so I think
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: that when I look in the mirror now, I see
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: someone who is doing her best, someone who is still
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: definitely a work in progress, but still someone who she
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: loves very much.
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 2: So so many people are looking to you constantly for guidance.
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 2: You're this woman that's constantly working on herself. You think
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 2: about right now, reflecting over this time where you're giving
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 2: and giving and giving. But how is it that you
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 2: give back to you.
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: Oh that's something that's tough, but it's something that I
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: do prioritize. I am very social and very outgoing, but
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: I also know that my energy is finite. So I
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: spend a lot of time alone, which sounds sad, but
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: I actually really thrive off of it. I have a
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: sassy dog that is my companion that makes me less alone.
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: But I really allow myself to decompress and fill up
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: my own cup so that I can continue pouring into
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: others and so that might look that looks different, you know,
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: that could be having a great conversation with a loved one,
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: That could be I love food, So food is always
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: something that I allow myself to indulge in, a home cooked,
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: great meal, going out to dinner, different things that allow
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: me to not have to put on a face and
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: have real authentic conversation is something that is definitely really
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: important to me to help me kind of feel reinvigorated,
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: and time away helps me make more of the time
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: that I have with.
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 2: Something that I think is really valuable. From what you
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 2: bring to the table is obviously so much motivation to
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 2: not just the peloton community, but then of course the
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 2: people that are running into you on the social media channels.
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 2: Where are you finding your motivation from to show up
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 2: day in day out?
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: My motivation comes from our members, for sure. It's we
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: are really big on milestones at Pelotons, so we celebrate
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: you know, your fiftieth class, all the way up to
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: however many classes you take. I think in my class
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: this morning, someone celebrated their eleven hundredth strength and so yeah,
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: so when like, no, lie, whenever I'm feeling like, oh,
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: like I'm tired or this, and that. I pick up
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: my phone, I look at my DMS and there's someone
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: that is just so looking forward to this class. Because
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: if you think about it, I have no idea what
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: everyone else is going through. I think that's another huge
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: thing that not Pelton has taught me because I knew
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: this before, but it's definitely reinforced in a new and
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: special way. You don't know what other people are going through.
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: So the thirty minutes that they have chosen, that's the
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: other thing too, it's a choice. They don't have to
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: take my class, they want to. They get to those
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: thirty minutes that they are taking for themselves. It needs
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: to be a really great thirty minute class. It needs
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: to be a really great forty five minute class. Whatever
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: that class is, someone is showing up and that could
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: be their only bright spot in their day or their week.
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 1: And so I take that responsibility very seriously. And that's
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: all the motivation I need. I could be having such
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: a tough day myself, but I think about that and
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: I think about how good I will feel, because working
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: out again is something that helps me in every way
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 1: of my life. Yeah, those two things are just members
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: alone is what motivates me.
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 2: You, my friend, have an opportunity right now to offer
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 2: the Jess who is coming to terms with the fact
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 2: that she's not exactly all that happy with her career
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 2: path a piece of advice looking back on that hurdle moment. Now,
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 2: what do you tell her?
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: I tell her to really do some reflection, Grab a
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: piece of paper, grab that notebook and pen, and write
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: down what makes you tick, what makes you happy, what
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: makes you What is something that you would do if
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: money was not an issue, something that you would do
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: for free that just invigorates you, and do that. It
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: might not be exactly what you want and that moment
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: are in ten years, but it's something that is going
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: to put you onto a path towards what you want.
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: So don't be afraid of that. Do the reflection, figure
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: out your why, figure out what makes you tick, and
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: then don't do what you should do, do what you
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: must do. I think that was another thing that really
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: helped me as I read that book. The crossroads between
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: should and must, and our lives are full of shoulds.
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: You should do this, you should look like that, you
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: should try this, you should do that, and It's not
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: about the shoulds, It's about what. What is your calling?
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: What is it that you must do and do it?
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for being just so rad.
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: Oh I love you.
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 2: I wish everyone said that to me when we were
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 2: done recording.
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: Okay should honestly they really should.
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 2: Please take a quick moment and leave a review by
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 2: clicking the link with the description to this episode. We
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 2: all face multiple hurdles in life. I want to hear
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 2: about yours. Reach out to me at Emily at hurdle
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 2: dot us. Connect with the podcast on Instagram and Twitter
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 2: at Hurdle Podcast. Jess, how do they keep up with you?
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 2: How do they stay in the loop? Give me the details?
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: Well, please take my classes on Peloton. My name is Jessions,
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: and then also follow me on Instagram at Jasim's Fit.
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: You can get workout stuff, you can laugh because I
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: post a lot of funny things, and then you get
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: to see the cuteness of my sassy dog daughter.
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 2: I am so grateful for you. Thank you, so so
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 2: so much.
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Emily, I really appreciate you.
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 2: I am at Emily Abodi at Hurdle Podcast. Another hurdle conquered.
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 2: Catch you guys, next time,