October 8, 2025 • 51 mins
From inspiration to perspiration, Peloton VP and badass instructor Robin Arzón tells Oliver all about her amazing journey as a fitness trailblazer.
From a terrifying moment in a bar, to passing the bar, the former litigator takes us through the challenges and hustle that put her on the Peloton path. Hear why she says running from trauma is actually a good thing and how anyone can join the 'swagger society.'
Robin's cookbook "Eat to Hustle" is available for pre-order now.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi am Kate Hudson, and my name is Oliver Hudson.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
We wanted to do something that highlighted our.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Relationship and what it's like to be siblings. We are
a sibling raivalry. No, no, sibling rail. Don't do that
with your mouth revely.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
That's good.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Believe it or not, I'm walking on it. I never
thought I could films so free, flying away, all away
a prayer, who could it be? Believe it or not. Yeah,
I was Saturday night, no Friday night. I was, you know,
(01:01):
having a few cocktails, and I was texting with my
friend Hayes, and We're just going back and forth with
all of the you know, old school theme songs for
TV shows like Hill Street Blues, Greatest American Hero, you know,
like Silver Spoon all that, and I just got stuck
(01:23):
in my head. They were good, man, those theme songs
were good, very nostalgic. Anyway, all of Rudson here reporting
live from Rio Hudson's bedroom. If a clip is provided,
you'll be able to see. But you know, she's got
all the stuff on her door, and it's like I'm
(01:46):
constantly finding rooms to do this podcast in because my
kids are occupying all of my space, and I don't
have a proper office either, but I'm not really an
off this kind of guy. But anyway, I am in
the Princess's room and yeah, and it's nice. You know,
(02:10):
I'm just surrounded by twelve year old femininity. So I
think this should add an entirely different element to this interview. Anyway,
we have a guests in the waiting room, someone who
has been around the Peloton since twenty fourteen. I think,
not sure when it actually came out, but I think
she's one of the pioneers. I know she's one of
the head trainers there. Now. The peloton is something that
(02:35):
I've been using for years and years and years, and
the evolution of it has been extremely impressive, and it
doesn't seem to want to go away because it is
so much fun and it allows you to challenge yourself
in ways that you know you normally can't if you
don't have a personal trainer to push you along. So
(03:00):
we have waiting in the waiting room Robin Urson, who
if any of you are listening, I've enjoyed the Peloton.
You know who she is. She's one of the more
badass figures. It's fun. They all have those different personalities.
There is this, this, and that. But Robin has definitely
been a staple in the Peloton world. She has a
(03:20):
very interesting story. She has a book coming out. I
think it's a cookbook coming out. It's called Eat the Hustle.
Let's bring her on right now, Robin, come on in, lady, Hello,
how are you?
Speaker 2 (03:34):
H'm great, How are you guys?
Speaker 1 (03:36):
I'm good. I'm just hanging out my daughter's room because
that's the only space that I have to do this
fucking podcast in right now.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
You gotta pivot, You got to pivot.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
It's usually in one of my kids rooms, you know,
because school is all different. One goes to school at
this time, so this one's in that room. I don't
have a proper office. So my son this morning, he
stayed up too late. He was talking to this girl
for three hours and he's like, Dad, only a film
this morning? Can I skip it? I'm like, ah, fuck,
(04:08):
all right, fine, but now you've taken away my podcast
space and on my I'm in my daughter's room.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
All right. That's I mean, that's the classic parent juggling acts.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
No, I know, I know, where are you you? And
n y Yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah, on the West Side in Hudson Yards.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
You are, so where did you grow up though, Philly?
You go up in Philly, so you're still a Philly
girl at heart.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yes, But my husband's like a massive Jets fan and
my family is like hardcore Eagles. So that is my
cross to bear.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
That is in this life. That is difficult because I'm
a massive football fan, so I understand that and I
get the Jets fan very well. It's very it's it's
it's very sad. But one of my best friends is
a Jets fan and he's just there's a Devas station there.
But the Jets. The Jets look all right though.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
But there's also a loyalty that you have to admire.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
I'm like, you know what, life is long, and we
became really good friends with the owners of the Jets,
so like it was meant to be that, you know.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Yeah, are you an Eagles fan?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
I'm an I mean I grew up cheering for the Eagles. Yeah,
that's my team.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I know, it's it's it's fun though.
Sports are the best. God, I love sports.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
That's so unifying, I think ultimately.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Yeah, I mean, even even between rivalry is unifying, you know,
because the passion that you have for a team that
you're actually not playing for, but you have some sort
of allegiance to. It's as if you are in the
game yourself. You know. Sure, it's just so great. So
growing up then in Philly, you know, I've I've read
a little bit about you have a very interesting story
(05:54):
on how you became sort of where you are. I mean,
you were you wanted to be a lawyer. You studied law,
I practiced law.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yeah for eight years.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
It is law, I mean, you know, and then that
there's been a big pivot in your life. But even
before we get to that sort of growing up, you know,
did you have brothers and sisters? First of all, I have.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
A younger sister, younger years.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Younger, okay, And you grew up in Philly, And how
was that upbringing?
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Well, you know, my mom's a Cuban refugee. My dad
is you know, a Boutriqua from the Bronx, born in
Puerto Rico. So it was very much like an immigrant
story where family is everything, and it was you know,
we might have ten people to show up at the
door for dinner one night and just like make it work.
But because my mom basically put herself through medical school,
(06:43):
my father put himself through law school, so we had means,
grew up middle class. But it was also like feeling
like you had one foot in one world and one
foot the other, because I'd go to school and I'd
see wealth, but then I knew we were sending like
powdered milk to Cuba to my uncle, you know. So
it was like a very interesting you know, which I
(07:05):
think is common for immigrant at least for first generation
born in the US. That's a pretty common story, I think,
feeling like you're bridging a bunch of worlds. So yeah,
that was that definitely shaped my work ethic and my
idea of a family.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Watching your parents sort of hustle and do all of
that has to leave sort of a great impression upon
you to sort of say, oh, this is how, this
is how shit gets done.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Definitely, and also for me, it was an interesting observation
on penetrating class levels, like they were very clearly and
intentionally being like, I am the first Cuban Latina doctor
in this practice, like or in my graduating class, or
in my you know, my dad was literally a janitor
(07:52):
at Acunity school in the Bronx and just started showing
up to college classes because he kept being denied at
the community college because he was so bad at standardized tests,
and he just like started showing That's how he started
his school journey, not even being matriculated. He was just
like the Latino goldwill hunting, right, So hearing those stories
and then being in a place where it's like my
(08:13):
starting line looks a lot different, and I think I
had an awareness of that even as a kid. Yeah,
my dad was definitely an inspiration. Like he was a
law professor when I was growing up, so he was
I was kind of observing him grade papers and whatever.
But it wasn't coming from a place of obligation at all.
I think I just thought, Okay, these are two pass
(08:34):
I'll pick one. I didn't really think too much about it,
and until you know, I was in my law career
and then I was like, okay, maybe this isn't it.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Were you a good student generally.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Straight a student? I was like, I am as like
type A. I literally have like a Kaboodle's pencil case
from the nineties with like highlighters, and.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
I am like, oh my god, and what about you?
What about your husband, What about your husband?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Oh god, Drew is not that way.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Yeah, yeah, I was going to guess that not that way.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
You know, opposite a track for Shuit. I was like,
I was rage organizing the junk durer and the kitchen yesterday,
and he said, when I have these like laser babes,
he just gets out of the way.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
No, I know it is. I get that because I'm
It's like my wife too, is more type apa BA.
Things got to get fucking get done, and I am,
let's figure you will figure it out. I don't know, Well,
we'll see what happens, like you know, just but but
it works.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
He's much more of that energy.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Yeah yeah, yeah, So you were just a great student.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
I was, yeah, really hard working student. And it came
naturally to me, Like I just love school. I love
a syllabus, I love a boocalist, I love a scholastic book.
Fair Like that's my vibe for sure.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
That's so interesting. I mean I want to get into
the a lot of the stuff, but sort of you know,
I'll go, we'll work backwards. But the pivot then right
from practicing law to all of a sudden saying you
know what I'm going to put the pencils down, so
to speak, and start, you know, leaning into my fitness.
How did that all come about? How did you just say,
(10:18):
you know what, I'm gonna fuck it, let's go do this.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
I really didn't know. I mean, I just knew I
was obsessed. As a kid who was not into sports
growing up, I did not have any kind of physical
movement practice at all, casual or otherwise. Not even I
was like intimidated to even like play pickup ball or
soccer like with my cousins, you know, so I was
(10:43):
like stuper. It was something I really had to unpack
for myself as an adult. But once I did, once
I found like, oh I can lif waits, I can run,
I can do all these things with my body. Like
how cool. I Once that spark was lit, I was like,
I got to figure out how I can pay my
rent and like still do this most of the day.
But I had no clue what that was going to
look like. And initially when I left my law practice job,
(11:05):
I thought it was going to be kind of in
the marketing realm, or I was going to be doing
like social media representing or like having like these athletic
brands as either work for that, like go work at
Nike or something, and it ended up working on the
agency side where Nike the social media account for Nike
Women was my client. So I was based like be
(11:27):
behind the scenes putting out the tweets and whatever for
the brands, and it was closer to what I wanted
to do, but it wasn't really what I wanted to
do in terms of storytelling. I felt like I had
a story to tell in this space and people who
felt traditionally under or unrepresented by sports media and the
(11:48):
conversation especially around latinas and women's women in sports, and
for the people for the the everyday athlete that is like,
oh cool, I'm still doing the thing. I'm not going
to go to the Olympics, but where's my realm?
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
And I think that we built that together both on
social media and then later with companies like Peloton.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
That's that's okay. So going back just a little bit,
when you started to run, when you started to understand
what physical activity with athletics meant, with pushing your body,
you know, beyond where you thought it could go. What
that gave you, you know, from a even from an
energetic sort of philosophical standpoint. Of course, we know that
(12:31):
it's good for your body, it's good for your heart,
it's good for just life force. But in order for
that to sort of pivot you in such a way,
it must have sort of really deeply affected you to
where you're like, oh shit, I need and want to
do this every day and have to make my life
about this. So what is it? What was it initially
(12:53):
where it was like I need this.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Well, initially it was because I love.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
To work out. I mean I'm trying. I'm fucking almost
fifth the and it's like I have a peloton. I've
had one since I think twenty fourteen or fifteen. Amazing,
I run, I try to live. Yes, I like it
when I see results, but I fucking hate it all
at the same time, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Yes, I mean that is a common story. I think
I initially did it out of need and then later
did it out of want. Okay, And the need actually
came from a trauma that I experienced before law school,
the stress of law school. And I had no idea
that was one thing. As much as my parents set
(13:35):
me up for success and modeled work ethic and made
me deeply aware of like my ancestors and my history,
and like from one point of pride and necessity they
left on the table like they weren't athletes. And I like,
I remember being in my twenties being like, how did
y'all not tell me that we could move our bodies
(13:55):
and not feel like crap all the time? And that
like lat thirg at three pm is not normal just
because it's common, right, And I had no idea. I
had to really discover that for myself. And when you
add layers of trauma and stress, and just like life,
I didn't have a toolkit. I knew how to redline,
I knew how to work till the wheels fell off,
(14:18):
but I really didn't have a toolkit. So I dedicated
my twenties and early thirties to developing my own toolkit
so I could advocate for myself and like listen to
that voice in between my ears and know what to
pick out of my toolkit. And obviously a central piece
of that is movement for me. But it started out
of at a meat like I think I was like
(14:39):
it was like an hot about experience, you know, because
I was like, I can't sustain this output without something
to balance it.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, So you're pretty open about your experience, right,
I mean talking about that situation, So explain it.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
I don't know the story. I mean I know the
basics of it, but what happened? And then what did
that do to you as far as you know the
traumatization of that? And then yeah, the third part is
how did you find that first sprint, that first run,
that first sort of exertion of energy where you thought
and felt, Okay, this is it, this is the outlet
(15:23):
that I need. Yes, therapy is good, Yes talk is good,
but physical activity for me is my truth therapy.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
You know, it really ended up being. So I'll start
at the beginning of the story. So I was living
in New York City. I was joying my senior year
at NYU, and I was meeting my girlfriends at a
law firm job at the time, like as a paralegal.
I was meeting my girlfriends in the East Village at
this wine bar called Barbeloche. It's still there and now
they have like locations everywhere in New York. But tiny
(15:55):
little wine bar, like ten little stools, very charming, and
I heard we heard gunshots. A man walks in and
he says, I've been shot, but we didn't see like
blood or anything, and like maybe a minute later, the
guy with the gun walks in behind him and then proceeds.
I mean, it was just a melee. He grabs me.
(16:16):
I was closest to the door, so there was no
like running away. I was immediately in this guy's grips.
And it was really this thing where like time slows down,
you feel like you're in a horror movie, but also
you're super focused obviously, like adrenaline is pumping. And then
I became his main hostage. There are probably twenty people
(16:40):
there and we were there for a few hours, but
I was his Literally I was so close to him,
like he was breathing on me. You know, we were
having like it was it was intimate, even though it
was horrior fine, and so it was like trying to
unpack and humanize, like why are you doing this? What
do you need? Let's get to your goal whatever it
may be.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Having this converse yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
And he was Afro Latino, and so he started speaking
to me in Spanish and then I started speaking to
him in Spanish, and I was like, I just want
him to I just had this impulse, and later when
I've spoken about this to like professional hostage negotiators, I
realized on instinct, I ended up doing the right thing,
which is to kind of humanize and make vulnerable the people.
(17:25):
You know, you name the people like that's Sally, that's Jim,
You're who I'm this person, right, so it's like to
bring them back into like a groundedness. And but obviously
he was not well and really angry. I mean it
was him. He shot like while holding me, he shot
out at the poor person who like ran the laundromat
(17:47):
next door, like this this Asian guy, you know. So
it was scary as shit, but the so that experience,
thankfully nobody died. We ended up getting the NYPD and
up ending the takeover. When somebody there was like a
struggle with the gun, they rush in arrest him and
(18:08):
you'd think, like, okay, cool, Like I'm alive, We're good.
And I did the therapy and I did all that.
I literally checked the box. I was like, I do
not want to be a shell of I don't want
to be fifty and like that can't get leave the house, yea.
So I was like just getting was very good with
the list very good with like you know, Virgo Robins
took over, and yes, it was like quote healing, but
(18:31):
I was living with that in my body, and now
you can read, you know, the body keeps the score
a lot tons. There's tons of research around, like the
lives embodiment of trauma, but I wasn't aware of that,
at least nobody told me about that then. And I
felt such a physical It was like Thombach stuff, digestion stuff.
I couldn't I couldn't fall asleep or I couldn't wake
(18:53):
up like I was having such I was so exhausted
during the day during law school because I was up
all night with these nightmares. And I was like, I
just to like physically run. I just had to like
choose a different heart. Like it was already hard living
in my body, so I was like, there's got to
be another hard physically, and then that's when I just
started running. I literally ran to loss, ran to classes
(19:14):
one day, which was like a mile and it was
horrible and I hated it, but I was like, well,
if I'm focused on this, I'm less focused on that.
And then obviously the more you train, the better you
get at it, and you build an endurance space and
all that. But initially it was like just horrific, But
I was already kind of living a nightmare, so it
was better than that.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Yeah, wow, going back to that, you know, you hear obviously,
you know there's a lot of stories of trauma situations
that are gnarly like that. But what's it like that night?
You know what I mean? Like, Okay, it happens, We're done.
It's like, all right, you're free to go. What do
you do in the hours preceding something like that? You know,
(19:57):
it's like do you have a drink? Are you?
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Just?
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Like all right, I have an appointment at six that
I gotta still fucking go to, Like how do you exactly?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Like I remember the next day my mom coming up
from Philadelphia. She you know, she's she's a doctor. I
had to call her. And there was another thing that
I don't always have time to talk about when I
tell the story, but he had HIV and or his
wife had just died from HIV. So with hip and stuff,
they could only just glow so much. But they were like,
so I'm basically Apple hospital. They're checking me for blah
(20:26):
blah blah, and they're like you know, about like an
hour to decide whether you want to take this AZT
cocktail to like minimize your exposure. And I was like, oh,
so I called my mom like five more and like, Hi,
I'm fine, I have about fifty five minutes now to
make this light culty decision. Apparently, so it was like
intensity upon intensity, and so the few weeks after, I
(20:48):
still had this like lingering question mark of like my
own health, and thankfully everything ended up being okay, but
it was kind of like less focused on that and
refocusing now on like the medical stuff. I would say,
like things settled settled maybe a month later, and it
was just this cavernous feeling, like you're sitting in your
(21:08):
house and you're like, how, what's normal?
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Am I just going to.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Put on friends? Like you know what I mean? Like,
am I just really going to open a book? And
in a class we can just go through the motions
until the motions feel more normal again. And thankfully, because
it was my senior year, there's a lot of excitement.
You know, I'm going I'm going to law school and
you refocus, Yeah, but there is this I mean, I
(21:33):
just accelerated into adulthood in such a fast Way during
that time that I think later in retrospect, I was
able to like mourn that version of myself that just
couldn't have that levity anymore, because it was like I
just know what's really fucking out there now?
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Yeah yeah wow? And how long did it take or
does it still is it still a part of you?
Or how long does it take before you can actually
become clear and understand that that was a part of
your life? You know, I can, I can not detach
from it, but I've worked through it enough to where
it's it's not affecting me.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
I think it took like a good ten years, and
I had to really start storytelling. This is when I
started journaling a lot. And I started journaling sometimes like
in the third person, like that story, Like I literally
would like write it out like as if Robin was
another It was like a character and a story, and
(22:27):
I had to like and I was. It was during
a time where after the incident where I was like,
I was anxious to even go on the subway, and
I had to write little scenarios like Robin Lee's her house,
She's safe going on the subway, she gets on the
sea train at West FOURD Street, Like and this wasn't
a prompt from like a therapist. I was just like,
(22:48):
I need to get out of the house and I've
got to tell myself a different story because I'm scared
that like somebody's gonna like jump me from behind. Yeah,
and I want to I wanted to stay living in
New York, you know, and that was critical obviously to
like being in the city. So the storytelling piece of it,
the movement piece of it.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
What about meditation, we practice mindfulness?
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Yeah, yeah, so meditation and breath work came in. Another
tool in the toolkit came in about four years into
my when I was practicing law, and that was clutch.
So I think obviously it's they all go hand in hand.
They're all like, you know, essential pieces of the puzzle.
But yeah, it was it was a good ten years
before I felt like, okay, yeah, that's behind me.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's funny because the all
of these things that you talk about, you know, breathwork, meditation, therapy,
you know, physicality, I think they're just such a necessity,
you know, for everyone, no matter what your situation is.
I mean, I've you know, I've been an anxious person.
I've had anxiety since my twenties, probably much much younger,
(23:52):
and you know, journaling was huge for me to get
through it. Meditation was big for me, of course, therapy,
and I didn't find sort of the physicality thing, the
physical just until a little bit later on. But it's
just so cruel it was. It's now so crucial for me,
you know. And as far as that body holding trauma,
(24:15):
holy shit, is that true. I mean, I was going
through some shit in my twenties and then my thirties,
fourth is whatever, but specifically in my twenties when it
hit me so fucking hard that I didn't understand. I
didn't know what to do with it. I thought I
was dying half the time, throwing up on the street,
fucking couldn't breathe, trying to live my life. I mean,
it was so gnarly. And my mom had me do
(24:36):
this deep tissue, crazy deep tissue massage with this like
healer masuicse woman, and my mom's all about that, and
I'm in, but I'm always a little skeptical. And she
starts pushing down on my solar plexus like so hard,
and I'm like, fuck, I mean, I'm in like pain, pain,
and then she moves up sort of close to my
rib cage. Am I ah, And then finally she moves
(24:58):
in and I lose it, like crying like a baby,
like sobbing, sobbing, sobbing, and I'm apologizing, abzorry. I don't
know where it was coming from. And it was really
an amazing experience, you know, because we hold that shit
in our bodies physically, you know what.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
I believe it, and I'll all like I take it
even further, like I'm into like all kinds of metaphysical stuff,
all kinds of spiritual stuff. I did a past life
regression just essentially like therapy, plus they you go into
like a meditation and then you basically talk through what
you're seeing. And it was like this whole thing and
(25:41):
I was like this spy in World War One. I
ended up getting shot in my sternum, and the physical
manifestations of my body now were like related to the
story that I was telling to this therapist in the
in the in the moment, and like in this vision,
I was shot like in my sternum. And then she
(26:02):
had me do this visualization where it was like healing
and a healing circle and whatever, and like whether you
think it's Mumbo jumpo or not, Like I haven't had
those physical sensations since I did that. And then she
took me through another one where I was like an
indigenous person and I was living in this hut and whatever,
and I was at a spear there was an arrow
went into my left heel. And let me tell you,
(26:25):
for twenty years, I have had pain in my plan
of fashion on in my left foot. After birth it
got worse. I've done every pt everything. When I tell you,
ever since this experience, I have not had a single
They're not a sensation, not of pain. Nothing. My my
physical therapist was like, what do you mean your left
(26:45):
foot doesn't hurt anymore? Like I've been treating you for
fifteen years, So I don't know whether that was like psychosomatic,
but like, listen, baby, I didn't care.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
I was like, no, no, I feel better. But I
do think that you have to have some sort of
belief in order for that shit to actually work, you know.
I mean, my mother is all about it, you know,
and I've had moments where she's like, you need to
see this channeler and it's incredible. You know. We just
(27:18):
had this guy John Edward on our show, who you know,
is an incredible clairvoyant who can see beyond I mean,
see the people in your life who have passed away,
who are It's just there are things that this dude
says that there is no world where he could and
know any of it unless he's actually experiencing it. You
(27:41):
know what I'm saying, That shit is real. There's no
world where we can't tap into certain energies. And everyone
that I've talked to, because we have a big psychic family,
just generally my mom and my sister, it's everyone has
the ability. That's what everyone says to us. It's like
you have the ability to go there. You know, it's
not just for the gifted. Yes, there are the gifted,
(28:04):
but there are we all have that ability. We all
have that psychic ability.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
You know, I believe that, and I definitely my husband
is really like kind of tuned in. We're noticing like that.
My daughter is really tuned in, and those are like,
you know, those are gifts that I would love. You know,
I'm into the physical. I'm into the breath work, but
like there's like kind of that metaphysical piece that I'm
so curious about I would love to develop those those things.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Oh yeah, oh for sure. Okay, so you get through
all this, you go to law school, you practice eight
years of all. What kind of law were you practicing?
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Corporate litigation? So I was at a law firm called
Paul Hastings and we had just a bunch of corporations
as our clients and like high net worth folks.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Yeah, and was it fulfilling for you at the time?
Speaker 2 (28:49):
It was because I made it about the hustle. I
was like, I'm this, you know, I got my cute
little suit, you know, living this like New York City
girly life. But it, you know, eight years in and
really hard work, you know, talking like eighty billible hours
a week. So it scratched that like work ethic itch,
which I think I will have till the day I die.
(29:11):
But the topics were pretty mundane.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Yeah, and so then how did this all transition? I know,
we sort of touched upon it, but you know, was
it a scary moment to say, you know what, I'm
going to stop this and I'm going to go into
this When you started into the marketing world anyway, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Well, it was a slow burn. I think for two years.
I was like, all right, what's my escape patch, Like,
what's my route? And when I realized there was no route,
I was like all right, So I just got to
like quit and force myself to do something else. So
I initially had taken a leave of absence from my
law firm where they don't I still have a job,
but they don't pay me for that period of time.
And that's when I started making contacts like in the
(29:49):
agency world and with athletic brands and their cmos and
Da da da, and then the Olympic London Olympic Games
were coming around and I thought, Okay, this is like
my moment. How am I going to meet these apps
time I get a storytell around sport in my way
if I'm not physically there to have that experience. So
(30:10):
that was when I quit, and I was sleeping on
my friend's couch in London for three weeks. And I
left the London Games with a job with a sports
marketing agency doing that Nike Women's gig.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Yeah, and how are your parents take this?
Speaker 2 (30:25):
They well, I made a bout to them that I
was never going to ask them for a cent, and
I made good on that and they you know, I mentioned,
you know, the immigrant story. Normally there's a lot more
there's a lot of pressure like this, and they were
incredibly supportive because I was so I mean, I was
(30:46):
so passionate about it. I was like lit on fire,
and having gone through this this traumatic stuff in my
early twenties, they just wanted me to feel like I
was impassioned and feeling coming from like a really safe place.
And I felt like, oh, okay, like this, this story
that I'm writing for myself feels not only empowering, but
(31:07):
it feels safe. And that was freedom that was worth
any any amount of money. Yeah, so they were sportive.
My OJ wolf pack was down.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Good. That's what you need, you know, you need pushback,
but you need support, you know.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
And I am my own worst critic, so I didn't
My mom and my dad knew they didn't need me
any finger wagging. You know. It was like I'm gonna
look at myself in the mirror and probably be harsher
than anybody else.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Yeah. Yeah, okay, So how did Peloton come in to
your life?
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Peloton came in It was before the studio had opened
in twenty thirteen. I read about the company in like
a magazine and I sent a cold email to the company.
It was info at Pelton Cycle dot com. Like the
alias doesn't even exist anymore. I just was like, I
gotta work with y'all. Like I just came off this gig,
(32:11):
you know, doing social media for this brand, and you know,
I want to do global storytelling and I do vision
boards a lot. And I did a vision board where
in the business quadrant it was like some type of
intersection between storytelling and technology. I had no idea what
that meant. I had a picture of like a little
Apple computer. I really truly didn't. I was like, what
(32:31):
is that thread that I need to pull on? And
it wasn't until I read this article that I was like, Oh,
that's the thread. So I auditioned. I was the second No,
I was the third instructer hired a Peloton and that
then we was like full steam ahead, Let's open up
a studio, let's start filming classes to like the twenty
bikes that are off the you know, bars from Taiwan
(32:53):
or whatever. And that was it. That was twelve years ago.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Wow. So you were one of three, the first three
hired and initially how was it set up? You know,
it was it how did it work?
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Like duct tape and a dream?
Speaker 1 (33:09):
It was why?
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Yeah, So our office literally were like the CEO the
founders were. It was there were probably twenty five people
total at the headcount of the company at the time,
including those new instructors, and they just like put up
a black curtain in the corner of a Chelsea office space.
And when we were recording classes, like the people on
(33:33):
the floor couldn't do conference like phone calls. Like it
was like one pm, we're filming classes. No CEO, You're
gonna have to get investor go to Starbucks. And it
was like quite on set. The chief technology officer was
the one who was cutting our classes. Like we didn't
have there was no pa, there was no grip, there
(33:54):
was no there was nothing. It was literally like a
camera a bike. There wasn't even a Peltoime bike. It
just had Peltime branding because we didn't even have bikes yet.
When we started filming content and I would beg my
friends to come and be like extras in.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
The holy shit, wait a minute, so then how was
it streamed or in the beginning.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
In the beginning, we you know, we had the infrastructure
to stream, so I had a little rudimentary leader board
so I could see there were like seven people.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
On how many people were subscribers at that point.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
I mean I think we had like two We had
sold like a few hundred bikes. Yeah, with the initially
it was with an initial It was like the first
fundraising round was one of those online kickstarter and so
there were like some bikes sold with the kickstarter, so
we kind of had a built in base, but it
(34:49):
was minimal, and you know, finally we started getting the
hardware on site and then you know, we had a
few months to ramp up content before our twenty third
Street studio.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Opened, right, And so initially because here's again, I told
you I had a Peloton forever and it's just so
unique and that you can curate, especially now there's so
much curation, but even in the in the infancy of it,
you know, at least when I got my peloton, which
I don't exactly remember when it was, and it was like,
oh shit, like you can listen to these playlists and
(35:22):
go through the playlist and sort of see what you
want to listen to, you know, and that was so
unique to me and the attitude of all of the
instructors sort of how you wanted to work out, you know,
if you wanted someone to beat your ass, okay, if
you want to, if you wanted something like nice and easy, okay.
(35:43):
So was there anyone in sort of like head of
marketing or who was explaining like, this is how this
is our vision, or was were the trainers themselves sort
of saying, hey, you know what, this is what we
want to do.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
I think it was a little bit of both. I
say it was like the ship left the station. We
were like, oh shoot, we got to put a window here,
we got to fix this thing here, and you were
just it was just scrappy, and it still is in
many many ways, just a scrappy mentality of like we
will build it, we will build it, and there is
(36:17):
an innate sense of self. I think that this is
required of a Peloton instructor, Like you have to have
a point of view. It's not like you audition for
something and they're like, this is your role. You're the
girl next door, You're the hard ass syz. So you
have to have you have to come with that and
then we can hone it under the Peloton umbrella. But
(36:39):
it's not a role because after a thousand classes, you
can see that. So it's got to be like, obviously
there's musicality and there's a physical element, and you have
to be a subject matter expert on you know, as
a trainer, as a wellness expert. But there's like the
X factor that you cannot teach and that's just like
a likeability period.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
So do you create your own playlists all the time?
Is that all you? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (37:05):
All me?
Speaker 1 (37:07):
How often are you? How often are you changing your music?
I mean all the time.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Every I mean every class has a different playlist, but
I would say monthly. I'm kind of we're like bucketing, okay,
like these are rising Latin songs and the hip hop
things that drop, and we have a music team. Of
course we will say like okay, we're sourcing licensing for
this or we think this artist series may be coming
down the pike, because there's obviously legal things that come
into asset.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
Is there a license? Is there license?
Speaker 2 (37:36):
So we have to get licensing for literally every single
thing we play, and then we have we have great
relationships with the artists, so they'll say like, oh, we've
got this tour coming up, or I've got this album
that's dropping. And we have you know, amazing relationships with
the top artists in the world, and they'll do you know,
they'll work with us for really cool, really cool concepts.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, because that can get expensive. I mean,
Jesus license all those songs.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Yeah, And so we want to be we want to
be super serving what our members want to listen to
while also introducing them to cool new stuff. Right, So
it's a balance.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
So you are sort of a pioneer in this world,
like you've been there forever. How do you work? Do
you work yourself up the chain, so to speak?
Speaker 2 (38:20):
I have a hybrid role where I'm an executive and
an instructor. So I'm a vice president of fitness programming
and a head instructor. So in that sense, in my
VP role, it's like working with marketing and product and
working with my boss, who's our chief content officer, who
essentially runs the network like if we were a television network,
she would run the network. And then we've got executive
(38:43):
producers and you know, there's a lot of the hundreds
of folks that make these classes happen, not just the
instructors that you see on camera. And so in that vein.
I am more than an instructor, and I have more responsibilities,
more meetings X, Y Z. And then in my what
i'm in front of the camera, the same standard applies
to me that applies to you know, the other fifty folks.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
Yeah, and how offering in front of the camera these days?
Speaker 2 (39:09):
Four days a week usually you are, Yeah, I'm live
four days a week.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Is that how it's always been? Or you have you
cut back?
Speaker 2 (39:16):
It's more I would say we're more nimble and efficient now.
I think I might we cut down from like five
days a week to four days a week, but in
those four days, I'm filming as much, if not more content.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
And then we also have other we have like social
media things, we have press things, you know, so they'll
fold that into our schedule where it might be I
might be on on set for four hours, but only
one of those hours is a class.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
And how many locations are there? Now? Are you actually film.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
In New York and London?
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Okay? And do you still have live you still have
people come in to ride as well?
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Oh my gosh, I mean ride run lift row like
the energy When I tell you it is like SNL
meets visiting the Empire State Building meets like it is
a New York moment, Like if you are a Peloton member,
the people who just walk by and you can see
the live class, you know, we'll play the live classes
(40:11):
like on the screens and the plaza and whatever, and
it is such an exciting moment for people and then
they get to meet their favorite instructors afterwards, feel like
a photo line, and we try to make the experience
really special for people. And our studio team is absolutely incredible.
They our member experienced team, like really really cares, you
know for people, so celebrating anniversaries and birthdays and all that.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
Yeah, that's part of the craziest shit about this. And
I've talked to you about my friends because like all
my friends have Pelotons and we used to be nutty
on them, you know, Like, but you guys are famous,
You've got personality. You know, you're doing what you love
and and the byproduct of it is, Oh, now I
walk down the street and I'm recognized. You know, how
(40:53):
is that? What is that? Like? Do you dig it?
Speaker 2 (40:56):
I mean, I love it's such a privilege that any
he gives a crap. The interesting thing that I think
makes it super distinct from like Hollywood. Right, It's like
you see somebody that you love from a movie or
a TV show, like you know that they're not the
(41:17):
movie role or you should, Whereas this is like you know,
if At or Ali or Cody or you know, Matt
Wolper said something in a class that I took of
him as like, oh I fed my dog. I'm like, hey,
I heard about your dog. Like you know, it's like
a very specific, intimate parasocial relationship, which is a very
(41:40):
odd thing to negotiate, right, because like that is really us,
but also it's like a it's like adjacent to who
I am, right, and so like when I'm standing there
with my kids and my husband, ninety nine percent of
the time it is like totally cool and really flattering.
And then sometimes you're like I literally just got to
catch a flight, like I'm not trying to be rude,
but like I can't, and there's such an outpouring of emotion.
(42:01):
Often because they are intimate experiences, so we will very
very it's very very common for a peloton instructure to
hear like deep.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Deep stuff, right, No, for sure, because.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
They're personal relationships that we have with.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
People of course, not only that, but even going back
to sort of how you got through your trauma, that's
not you know, you're not on an island. There. So
many people are using what you do, using your words,
your inspiration to go to Robin because she gets my
shit going and Robin has changed my life. I mean
that's I mean, obviously they've done it themselves, but they
(42:37):
put in the work, right, But you've You've been the
inspiration and the impetus for a lot of these people
to change their entire lives. So there is an emotional
component to meeting you. I'm sure it is like.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
The honestly the best job on the planet. And I
think that, you know, people ask like, oh, during the
pandemic or during this and during that, like how do
you keep going? And it's like how could I not?
Like what job do I get to like go to
the grocery store, or like walk on sixth Avenue and
get stopped by somebody being like holy crap, like you
got me through my divorce, or like you celebrated graduating
(43:07):
college by taking your run. You know, like that's a
wild cascade of impact that I don't think many, certainly
not many wellness jobs have no.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
I know, you know, I walk down the street and
say I loved you in this movie or this TV show,
like oh cool, thanks, But no one's saying you've changed
my bucking life man, like you brought me through like cancer.
I'm like I did. Like that's never gonna happen. It
(43:43):
would be fun to go to the headquarters and see
that shit go down.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
You're invited.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
I would love to. I'm actually gonna be in New York.
I got to do press for a little while and
for about a week in New York in November. Maybe
I'll maybe I'll stop by.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
All right, cool, we have members in on the weekends.
Speaker 1 (43:59):
Let me talk to you really quickly before we get
out of here about your your book, Eat the Hustle. Yeah,
what inspired this?
Speaker 2 (44:06):
So everything?
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Look I can only see your shoulders, but you're fucking
it's I'm jealous, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
Well, this has got for plants. It's from plants and
lifting weights and doing all the things.
Speaker 1 (44:19):
Yes, this is what I want to talk about is
food and how how much of this is food and
how much of this is actual working out?
Speaker 2 (44:28):
Well, you need listen, like you need a layer, a
layer of muscle underneath all of it to kind of
bulletproof you for old age longevity. I believe that strength
training is the fountain of youth. That is like the
that's the base of my pyramid if we're looking at
a fitness pyramid. So somebody might think it's actually cardiovet
(44:50):
like running and cycling whatever. Actually it's strength that's three
days a week, non negotiable. And then I'm layering on
you know, you know, zone two, zone three, all different
types of modalities. I mix up my modalities quite a
bit from a cardiovascular perspective, but from a fuel perspective.
I've been plant based for over twelve years, and I
wrote Eat to Hustle, which is available for pre order now.
(45:14):
I wrote Eat to Hustle because I kept getting asked,
number one, how do you get your protein? And number two,
how do you robin fuel yourself and your family? So
this is someone you know, I'm someone who I consider
myself a remix artist in the kitchen, and I wanted
to simplify plant based eating for people when they say, like,
(45:34):
I literally don't even how do I eat plant based
and still get protein. So seventy five protein packed recipes
that have the macros, you'll know exactly what you're putting
into your body. And I actually attached a dumbbell score
to each recipe, so there's one dumbbell, you know, it's
easy all the way up to three or four dumbells
for the stuff that's a little bit more complicated, but
(45:56):
it is, you know. I include like what I do
for my mail prep, what I fuel weekly, like what's
on my grocery list like these are. This is truly
like how I fuel in my kitchen for over ten years.
As somebody who trains multiple hours a day.
Speaker 1 (46:09):
Do you create You have your meal plans, but do
you cook for ahead of time? Like would you put
something in the fridge to sort of so like that
quick sort of grab and go stuff that you need.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
I do I meal prep over the weekend my proteins
and like roasted veggies and stuff. And then I'll also
do like protein breads and things like that, like I'll
batch make that maybe like once a month or once
every few weeks. But for things like this, like I
literally had twelve minutes to fuel before I got on
scree with you, and I don't time to make a meal.
My kids are going crazy. You know, so it's like
(46:43):
airfraing tofu, making satan. Having veggies in the fridge like
just making it harder to make the wrong choice. And
I think that that's where people And my meal prep,
by the way, isn't hours and hours and measuring and
weighing and whatever. It's literally just having batches of things
that I know are going to move the needle for
me in the direction that I want.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
Yeah, because it can get so overwhelming, you know, I've
always food has always been a tough one for me
because I love to eat, you know, and I can
get into it, but it just gets hard. I'll open
up the fridge, I'm like, the fuck am I gonna eat?
There's nothing? What a gonna eat? What am I gonna eat?
I can't and I'm starving. I'm like, I'll just do
some chips and then leave, you know, because it's it's
(47:27):
always difficult to like find something that is specific to
what you're trying to do. Yeah, that meal prep is
probably huge.
Speaker 2 (47:35):
Well, once you have some things in your rotation. And
this is why I wrote Eat the Hustle because I
was like, it's not a book for people who exclusively
want to eat plant based they will get you there.
But what I say is I want to expand people's
protein portfolio. So you just put other things in your
mix that give you energy, don't sap it, that aid
your recovery, that are better for inflammation, better for longevity,
(47:59):
and really great for your gut. Help too, because all
these recipes are packed with fiber, and most people are
actually more likely to be fiber deficient than protein deficient.
Speaker 1 (48:09):
Yeah, this is great, This is good. Now do do
you have cheat days? I mean, do you eat do
you eat it like a slice?
Speaker 2 (48:17):
I don't consider it a cheat, but yeah, sure, Like
I you know, my birthday was a few weeks ago,
Like I ate literally ate birthday cake for breakfast.
Speaker 1 (48:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:28):
And you have to have moments. And I also don't
I want a model for my kids. They don't have
to there's no perfection, there's no like hiding. I don't
want them to be like twenty, downing donuts and eating
crazy stuff in college because they didn't let them have
birthday cake at a party. Y.
Speaker 1 (48:43):
Yes, I see that. I see that where I see
parents who are so gnarly strict that the minute that
the kids sort of get out of that world, they
are just grinding on the bad shit.
Speaker 2 (48:57):
I'm super mindful of, like modeling, not only like healthy
eating habits except that I'm you know, healthy for me,
but also like movement habits, right like I want my
kids to see some balance.
Speaker 1 (49:11):
Yeah, and do you drink it all?
Speaker 2 (49:13):
I don't drink. I haven't drunk in years, not and
my husband doesn't drink either. So we're a sober family.
Speaker 1 (49:20):
Clean, clean, clean. Well, I'm not going to tell you
whether I drink or not, So I'm not going to
tell you. You will never fucking know.
Speaker 2 (49:34):
Just on me when you come to.
Speaker 1 (49:38):
Great I mean, I mean, I'll bring a little airplane
bottles something. Well, this has been so much fun. I'm
gonna take I've never even taken a live class ever
on the pellets on ever. It's always been just the
just the recorded classes.
Speaker 2 (49:56):
Okay, Well, now we're gonna level it up.
Speaker 1 (49:58):
Yeah, I'm gonna find you. I got to get into
one of your classes, for sure, I'm going to. But
this has been so great. I'm excited to get I'm
excited the cod When does it come out? I know
it's a for pre order, but when.
Speaker 2 (50:08):
Muscle comes out in March of next time.
Speaker 1 (50:11):
Okay, let's pre order that. Let's do that, all right. Well,
this has been so fun, Robin.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
I appreciate you, appreciate you having me.
Speaker 1 (50:19):
Thank you all right, We'll see you soon.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
Bye.
Speaker 1 (50:23):
Man. What kind of work ethic? It's just just jealous.
She's energy, clear, muscle, skin looks good. Bang bang bang.
And here I am in my daughter's room with a
tied ice shirt on, a shitty beard, bags under my eyes,
my eyebrow hairs are just growing, you know, a mile
(50:45):
a minute. I'm a mess, but I'm fun and I'm funny.
I'm a mess, but i'm funny. Great chest hair, you know,
just a belly hanging over my waistband. It's all bad.
But hey, it's me, all right. I'm out here
Speaker 2 (51:08):
A
Hi am Kate Hudson, and my name is Oliver Hudson.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
We wanted to do something that highlighted our.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Relationship and what it's like to be siblings. We are
a sibling raivalry. No, no, sibling rail. Don't do that
with your mouth revely.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
That's good.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Believe it or not, I'm walking on it. I never
thought I could films so free, flying away, all away
a prayer, who could it be? Believe it or not. Yeah,
I was Saturday night, no Friday night. I was, you know,
(01:01):
having a few cocktails, and I was texting with my
friend Hayes, and We're just going back and forth with
all of the you know, old school theme songs for
TV shows like Hill Street Blues, Greatest American Hero, you know,
like Silver Spoon all that, and I just got stuck
(01:23):
in my head. They were good, man, those theme songs
were good, very nostalgic. Anyway, all of Rudson here reporting
live from Rio Hudson's bedroom. If a clip is provided,
you'll be able to see. But you know, she's got
all the stuff on her door, and it's like I'm
(01:46):
constantly finding rooms to do this podcast in because my
kids are occupying all of my space, and I don't
have a proper office either, but I'm not really an
off this kind of guy. But anyway, I am in
the Princess's room and yeah, and it's nice. You know,
(02:10):
I'm just surrounded by twelve year old femininity. So I
think this should add an entirely different element to this interview. Anyway,
we have a guests in the waiting room, someone who
has been around the Peloton since twenty fourteen. I think,
not sure when it actually came out, but I think
she's one of the pioneers. I know she's one of
the head trainers there. Now. The peloton is something that
(02:35):
I've been using for years and years and years, and
the evolution of it has been extremely impressive, and it
doesn't seem to want to go away because it is
so much fun and it allows you to challenge yourself
in ways that you know you normally can't if you
don't have a personal trainer to push you along. So
(03:00):
we have waiting in the waiting room Robin Urson, who
if any of you are listening, I've enjoyed the Peloton.
You know who she is. She's one of the more
badass figures. It's fun. They all have those different personalities.
There is this, this, and that. But Robin has definitely
been a staple in the Peloton world. She has a
(03:20):
very interesting story. She has a book coming out. I
think it's a cookbook coming out. It's called Eat the Hustle.
Let's bring her on right now, Robin, come on in, lady, Hello,
how are you?
Speaker 2 (03:34):
H'm great, How are you guys?
Speaker 1 (03:36):
I'm good. I'm just hanging out my daughter's room because
that's the only space that I have to do this
fucking podcast in right now.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
You gotta pivot, You got to pivot.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
It's usually in one of my kids rooms, you know,
because school is all different. One goes to school at
this time, so this one's in that room. I don't
have a proper office. So my son this morning, he
stayed up too late. He was talking to this girl
for three hours and he's like, Dad, only a film
this morning? Can I skip it? I'm like, ah, fuck,
(04:08):
all right, fine, but now you've taken away my podcast
space and on my I'm in my daughter's room.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
All right. That's I mean, that's the classic parent juggling acts.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
No, I know, I know, where are you you? And
n y Yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah, on the West Side in Hudson Yards.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
You are, so where did you grow up though, Philly?
You go up in Philly, so you're still a Philly
girl at heart.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yes, But my husband's like a massive Jets fan and
my family is like hardcore Eagles. So that is my
cross to bear.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
That is in this life. That is difficult because I'm
a massive football fan, so I understand that and I
get the Jets fan very well. It's very it's it's
it's very sad. But one of my best friends is
a Jets fan and he's just there's a Devas station there.
But the Jets. The Jets look all right though.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
But there's also a loyalty that you have to admire.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
I'm like, you know what, life is long, and we
became really good friends with the owners of the Jets,
so like it was meant to be that, you know.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Yeah, are you an Eagles fan?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
I'm an I mean I grew up cheering for the Eagles. Yeah,
that's my team.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I know, it's it's it's fun though.
Sports are the best. God, I love sports.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
That's so unifying, I think ultimately.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Yeah, I mean, even even between rivalry is unifying, you know,
because the passion that you have for a team that
you're actually not playing for, but you have some sort
of allegiance to. It's as if you are in the
game yourself. You know. Sure, it's just so great. So
growing up then in Philly, you know, I've I've read
a little bit about you have a very interesting story
(05:54):
on how you became sort of where you are. I mean,
you were you wanted to be a lawyer. You studied law,
I practiced law.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yeah for eight years.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
It is law, I mean, you know, and then that
there's been a big pivot in your life. But even
before we get to that sort of growing up, you know,
did you have brothers and sisters? First of all, I have.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
A younger sister, younger years.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Younger, okay, And you grew up in Philly, And how
was that upbringing?
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Well, you know, my mom's a Cuban refugee. My dad
is you know, a Boutriqua from the Bronx, born in
Puerto Rico. So it was very much like an immigrant
story where family is everything, and it was you know,
we might have ten people to show up at the
door for dinner one night and just like make it work.
But because my mom basically put herself through medical school,
(06:43):
my father put himself through law school, so we had means,
grew up middle class. But it was also like feeling
like you had one foot in one world and one
foot the other, because I'd go to school and I'd
see wealth, but then I knew we were sending like
powdered milk to Cuba to my uncle, you know. So
it was like a very interesting you know, which I
(07:05):
think is common for immigrant at least for first generation
born in the US. That's a pretty common story, I think,
feeling like you're bridging a bunch of worlds. So yeah,
that was that definitely shaped my work ethic and my
idea of a family.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Watching your parents sort of hustle and do all of
that has to leave sort of a great impression upon
you to sort of say, oh, this is how, this
is how shit gets done.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Definitely, and also for me, it was an interesting observation
on penetrating class levels, like they were very clearly and
intentionally being like, I am the first Cuban Latina doctor
in this practice, like or in my graduating class, or
in my you know, my dad was literally a janitor
(07:52):
at Acunity school in the Bronx and just started showing
up to college classes because he kept being denied at
the community college because he was so bad at standardized tests,
and he just like started showing That's how he started
his school journey, not even being matriculated. He was just
like the Latino goldwill hunting, right, So hearing those stories
and then being in a place where it's like my
(08:13):
starting line looks a lot different, and I think I
had an awareness of that even as a kid. Yeah,
my dad was definitely an inspiration. Like he was a
law professor when I was growing up, so he was
I was kind of observing him grade papers and whatever.
But it wasn't coming from a place of obligation at all.
I think I just thought, Okay, these are two pass
(08:34):
I'll pick one. I didn't really think too much about it,
and until you know, I was in my law career
and then I was like, okay, maybe this isn't it.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Were you a good student generally.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Straight a student? I was like, I am as like
type A. I literally have like a Kaboodle's pencil case
from the nineties with like highlighters, and.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
I am like, oh my god, and what about you?
What about your husband, What about your husband?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Oh god, Drew is not that way.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Yeah, yeah, I was going to guess that not that way.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
You know, opposite a track for Shuit. I was like,
I was rage organizing the junk durer and the kitchen yesterday,
and he said, when I have these like laser babes,
he just gets out of the way.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
No, I know it is. I get that because I'm
It's like my wife too, is more type apa BA.
Things got to get fucking get done, and I am,
let's figure you will figure it out. I don't know, Well,
we'll see what happens, like you know, just but but
it works.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
He's much more of that energy.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Yeah yeah, yeah, So you were just a great student.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
I was, yeah, really hard working student. And it came
naturally to me, Like I just love school. I love
a syllabus, I love a boocalist, I love a scholastic book.
Fair Like that's my vibe for sure.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
That's so interesting. I mean I want to get into
the a lot of the stuff, but sort of you know,
I'll go, we'll work backwards. But the pivot then right
from practicing law to all of a sudden saying you
know what I'm going to put the pencils down, so
to speak, and start, you know, leaning into my fitness.
How did that all come about? How did you just say,
(10:18):
you know what, I'm gonna fuck it, let's go do this.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
I really didn't know. I mean, I just knew I
was obsessed. As a kid who was not into sports
growing up, I did not have any kind of physical
movement practice at all, casual or otherwise. Not even I
was like intimidated to even like play pickup ball or
soccer like with my cousins, you know, so I was
(10:43):
like stuper. It was something I really had to unpack
for myself as an adult. But once I did, once
I found like, oh I can lif waits, I can run,
I can do all these things with my body. Like
how cool. I Once that spark was lit, I was like,
I got to figure out how I can pay my
rent and like still do this most of the day.
But I had no clue what that was going to
look like. And initially when I left my law practice job,
(11:05):
I thought it was going to be kind of in
the marketing realm, or I was going to be doing
like social media representing or like having like these athletic
brands as either work for that, like go work at
Nike or something, and it ended up working on the
agency side where Nike the social media account for Nike
Women was my client. So I was based like be
(11:27):
behind the scenes putting out the tweets and whatever for
the brands, and it was closer to what I wanted
to do, but it wasn't really what I wanted to
do in terms of storytelling. I felt like I had
a story to tell in this space and people who
felt traditionally under or unrepresented by sports media and the
(11:48):
conversation especially around latinas and women's women in sports, and
for the people for the the everyday athlete that is like,
oh cool, I'm still doing the thing. I'm not going
to go to the Olympics, but where's my realm?
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
And I think that we built that together both on
social media and then later with companies like Peloton.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
That's that's okay. So going back just a little bit,
when you started to run, when you started to understand
what physical activity with athletics meant, with pushing your body,
you know, beyond where you thought it could go. What
that gave you, you know, from a even from an
energetic sort of philosophical standpoint. Of course, we know that
(12:31):
it's good for your body, it's good for your heart,
it's good for just life force. But in order for
that to sort of pivot you in such a way,
it must have sort of really deeply affected you to
where you're like, oh shit, I need and want to
do this every day and have to make my life
about this. So what is it? What was it initially
(12:53):
where it was like I need this.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Well, initially it was because I love.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
To work out. I mean I'm trying. I'm fucking almost
fifth the and it's like I have a peloton. I've
had one since I think twenty fourteen or fifteen. Amazing,
I run, I try to live. Yes, I like it
when I see results, but I fucking hate it all
at the same time, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Yes, I mean that is a common story. I think
I initially did it out of need and then later
did it out of want. Okay, And the need actually
came from a trauma that I experienced before law school,
the stress of law school. And I had no idea
that was one thing. As much as my parents set
(13:35):
me up for success and modeled work ethic and made
me deeply aware of like my ancestors and my history,
and like from one point of pride and necessity they
left on the table like they weren't athletes. And I like,
I remember being in my twenties being like, how did
y'all not tell me that we could move our bodies
(13:55):
and not feel like crap all the time? And that
like lat thirg at three pm is not normal just
because it's common, right, And I had no idea. I
had to really discover that for myself. And when you
add layers of trauma and stress, and just like life,
I didn't have a toolkit. I knew how to redline,
I knew how to work till the wheels fell off,
(14:18):
but I really didn't have a toolkit. So I dedicated
my twenties and early thirties to developing my own toolkit
so I could advocate for myself and like listen to
that voice in between my ears and know what to
pick out of my toolkit. And obviously a central piece
of that is movement for me. But it started out
of at a meat like I think I was like
(14:39):
it was like an hot about experience, you know, because
I was like, I can't sustain this output without something
to balance it.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, So you're pretty open about your experience, right,
I mean talking about that situation, So explain it.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
I don't know the story. I mean I know the
basics of it, but what happened? And then what did
that do to you as far as you know the
traumatization of that? And then yeah, the third part is
how did you find that first sprint, that first run,
that first sort of exertion of energy where you thought
and felt, Okay, this is it, this is the outlet
(15:23):
that I need. Yes, therapy is good, Yes talk is good,
but physical activity for me is my truth therapy.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
You know, it really ended up being. So I'll start
at the beginning of the story. So I was living
in New York City. I was joying my senior year
at NYU, and I was meeting my girlfriends at a
law firm job at the time, like as a paralegal.
I was meeting my girlfriends in the East Village at
this wine bar called Barbeloche. It's still there and now
they have like locations everywhere in New York. But tiny
(15:55):
little wine bar, like ten little stools, very charming, and
I heard we heard gunshots. A man walks in and
he says, I've been shot, but we didn't see like
blood or anything, and like maybe a minute later, the
guy with the gun walks in behind him and then proceeds.
I mean, it was just a melee. He grabs me.
(16:16):
I was closest to the door, so there was no
like running away. I was immediately in this guy's grips.
And it was really this thing where like time slows down,
you feel like you're in a horror movie, but also
you're super focused obviously, like adrenaline is pumping. And then
I became his main hostage. There are probably twenty people
(16:40):
there and we were there for a few hours, but
I was his Literally I was so close to him,
like he was breathing on me. You know, we were
having like it was it was intimate, even though it
was horrior fine, and so it was like trying to
unpack and humanize, like why are you doing this? What
do you need? Let's get to your goal whatever it
may be.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Having this converse yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
And he was Afro Latino, and so he started speaking
to me in Spanish and then I started speaking to
him in Spanish, and I was like, I just want
him to I just had this impulse, and later when
I've spoken about this to like professional hostage negotiators, I
realized on instinct, I ended up doing the right thing,
which is to kind of humanize and make vulnerable the people.
(17:25):
You know, you name the people like that's Sally, that's Jim,
You're who I'm this person, right, so it's like to
bring them back into like a groundedness. And but obviously
he was not well and really angry. I mean it
was him. He shot like while holding me, he shot
out at the poor person who like ran the laundromat
(17:47):
next door, like this this Asian guy, you know. So
it was scary as shit, but the so that experience,
thankfully nobody died. We ended up getting the NYPD and
up ending the takeover. When somebody there was like a
struggle with the gun, they rush in arrest him and
(18:08):
you'd think, like, okay, cool, Like I'm alive, We're good.
And I did the therapy and I did all that.
I literally checked the box. I was like, I do
not want to be a shell of I don't want
to be fifty and like that can't get leave the house, yea.
So I was like just getting was very good with
the list very good with like you know, Virgo Robins
took over, and yes, it was like quote healing, but
(18:31):
I was living with that in my body, and now
you can read, you know, the body keeps the score
a lot tons. There's tons of research around, like the
lives embodiment of trauma, but I wasn't aware of that,
at least nobody told me about that then. And I
felt such a physical It was like Thombach stuff, digestion stuff.
I couldn't I couldn't fall asleep or I couldn't wake
(18:53):
up like I was having such I was so exhausted
during the day during law school because I was up
all night with these nightmares. And I was like, I
just to like physically run. I just had to like
choose a different heart. Like it was already hard living
in my body, so I was like, there's got to
be another hard physically, and then that's when I just
started running. I literally ran to loss, ran to classes
(19:14):
one day, which was like a mile and it was
horrible and I hated it, but I was like, well,
if I'm focused on this, I'm less focused on that.
And then obviously the more you train, the better you
get at it, and you build an endurance space and
all that. But initially it was like just horrific, But
I was already kind of living a nightmare, so it
was better than that.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Yeah, wow, going back to that, you know, you hear obviously,
you know there's a lot of stories of trauma situations
that are gnarly like that. But what's it like that night?
You know what I mean? Like, Okay, it happens, We're done.
It's like, all right, you're free to go. What do
you do in the hours preceding something like that? You know,
(19:57):
it's like do you have a drink? Are you?
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Just?
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Like all right, I have an appointment at six that
I gotta still fucking go to, Like how do you exactly?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Like I remember the next day my mom coming up
from Philadelphia. She you know, she's she's a doctor. I
had to call her. And there was another thing that
I don't always have time to talk about when I
tell the story, but he had HIV and or his
wife had just died from HIV. So with hip and stuff,
they could only just glow so much. But they were like,
so I'm basically Apple hospital. They're checking me for blah
(20:26):
blah blah, and they're like you know, about like an
hour to decide whether you want to take this AZT
cocktail to like minimize your exposure. And I was like, oh,
so I called my mom like five more and like, Hi,
I'm fine, I have about fifty five minutes now to
make this light culty decision. Apparently, so it was like
intensity upon intensity, and so the few weeks after, I
(20:48):
still had this like lingering question mark of like my
own health, and thankfully everything ended up being okay, but
it was kind of like less focused on that and
refocusing now on like the medical stuff. I would say,
like things settled settled maybe a month later, and it
was just this cavernous feeling, like you're sitting in your
(21:08):
house and you're like, how, what's normal?
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Am I just going to.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Put on friends? Like you know what I mean? Like,
am I just really going to open a book? And
in a class we can just go through the motions
until the motions feel more normal again. And thankfully, because
it was my senior year, there's a lot of excitement.
You know, I'm going I'm going to law school and
you refocus, Yeah, but there is this I mean, I
(21:33):
just accelerated into adulthood in such a fast Way during
that time that I think later in retrospect, I was
able to like mourn that version of myself that just
couldn't have that levity anymore, because it was like I
just know what's really fucking out there now?
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Yeah yeah wow? And how long did it take or
does it still is it still a part of you?
Or how long does it take before you can actually
become clear and understand that that was a part of
your life? You know, I can, I can not detach
from it, but I've worked through it enough to where
it's it's not affecting me.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
I think it took like a good ten years, and
I had to really start storytelling. This is when I
started journaling a lot. And I started journaling sometimes like
in the third person, like that story, Like I literally
would like write it out like as if Robin was
another It was like a character and a story, and
(22:27):
I had to like and I was. It was during
a time where after the incident where I was like,
I was anxious to even go on the subway, and
I had to write little scenarios like Robin Lee's her house,
She's safe going on the subway, she gets on the
sea train at West FOURD Street, Like and this wasn't
a prompt from like a therapist. I was just like,
(22:48):
I need to get out of the house and I've
got to tell myself a different story because I'm scared
that like somebody's gonna like jump me from behind. Yeah,
and I want to I wanted to stay living in
New York, you know, and that was critical obviously to
like being in the city. So the storytelling piece of it,
the movement piece of it.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
What about meditation, we practice mindfulness?
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Yeah, yeah, so meditation and breath work came in. Another
tool in the toolkit came in about four years into
my when I was practicing law, and that was clutch.
So I think obviously it's they all go hand in hand.
They're all like, you know, essential pieces of the puzzle.
But yeah, it was it was a good ten years
before I felt like, okay, yeah, that's behind me.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's funny because the all
of these things that you talk about, you know, breathwork, meditation, therapy,
you know, physicality, I think they're just such a necessity,
you know, for everyone, no matter what your situation is.
I mean, I've you know, I've been an anxious person.
I've had anxiety since my twenties, probably much much younger,
(23:52):
and you know, journaling was huge for me to get
through it. Meditation was big for me, of course, therapy,
and I didn't find sort of the physicality thing, the
physical just until a little bit later on. But it's
just so cruel it was. It's now so crucial for me,
you know. And as far as that body holding trauma,
(24:15):
holy shit, is that true. I mean, I was going
through some shit in my twenties and then my thirties,
fourth is whatever, but specifically in my twenties when it
hit me so fucking hard that I didn't understand. I
didn't know what to do with it. I thought I
was dying half the time, throwing up on the street,
fucking couldn't breathe, trying to live my life. I mean,
it was so gnarly. And my mom had me do
(24:36):
this deep tissue, crazy deep tissue massage with this like
healer masuicse woman, and my mom's all about that, and
I'm in, but I'm always a little skeptical. And she
starts pushing down on my solar plexus like so hard,
and I'm like, fuck, I mean, I'm in like pain, pain,
and then she moves up sort of close to my
rib cage. Am I ah, And then finally she moves
(24:58):
in and I lose it, like crying like a baby,
like sobbing, sobbing, sobbing, and I'm apologizing, abzorry. I don't
know where it was coming from. And it was really
an amazing experience, you know, because we hold that shit
in our bodies physically, you know what.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
I believe it, and I'll all like I take it
even further, like I'm into like all kinds of metaphysical stuff,
all kinds of spiritual stuff. I did a past life
regression just essentially like therapy, plus they you go into
like a meditation and then you basically talk through what
you're seeing. And it was like this whole thing and
(25:41):
I was like this spy in World War One. I
ended up getting shot in my sternum, and the physical
manifestations of my body now were like related to the
story that I was telling to this therapist in the
in the in the moment, and like in this vision,
I was shot like in my sternum. And then she
(26:02):
had me do this visualization where it was like healing
and a healing circle and whatever, and like whether you
think it's Mumbo jumpo or not, Like I haven't had
those physical sensations since I did that. And then she
took me through another one where I was like an
indigenous person and I was living in this hut and whatever,
and I was at a spear there was an arrow
went into my left heel. And let me tell you,
(26:25):
for twenty years, I have had pain in my plan
of fashion on in my left foot. After birth it
got worse. I've done every pt everything. When I tell you,
ever since this experience, I have not had a single
They're not a sensation, not of pain. Nothing. My my
physical therapist was like, what do you mean your left
(26:45):
foot doesn't hurt anymore? Like I've been treating you for
fifteen years, So I don't know whether that was like psychosomatic,
but like, listen, baby, I didn't care.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
I was like, no, no, I feel better. But I
do think that you have to have some sort of
belief in order for that shit to actually work, you know.
I mean, my mother is all about it, you know,
and I've had moments where she's like, you need to
see this channeler and it's incredible. You know. We just
(27:18):
had this guy John Edward on our show, who you know,
is an incredible clairvoyant who can see beyond I mean,
see the people in your life who have passed away,
who are It's just there are things that this dude
says that there is no world where he could and
know any of it unless he's actually experiencing it. You
(27:41):
know what I'm saying, That shit is real. There's no
world where we can't tap into certain energies. And everyone
that I've talked to, because we have a big psychic family,
just generally my mom and my sister, it's everyone has
the ability. That's what everyone says to us. It's like
you have the ability to go there. You know, it's
not just for the gifted. Yes, there are the gifted,
(28:04):
but there are we all have that ability. We all
have that psychic ability.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
You know, I believe that, and I definitely my husband
is really like kind of tuned in. We're noticing like that.
My daughter is really tuned in, and those are like,
you know, those are gifts that I would love. You know,
I'm into the physical. I'm into the breath work, but
like there's like kind of that metaphysical piece that I'm
so curious about I would love to develop those those things.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Oh yeah, oh for sure. Okay, so you get through
all this, you go to law school, you practice eight
years of all. What kind of law were you practicing?
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Corporate litigation? So I was at a law firm called
Paul Hastings and we had just a bunch of corporations
as our clients and like high net worth folks.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Yeah, and was it fulfilling for you at the time?
Speaker 2 (28:49):
It was because I made it about the hustle. I
was like, I'm this, you know, I got my cute
little suit, you know, living this like New York City
girly life. But it, you know, eight years in and
really hard work, you know, talking like eighty billible hours
a week. So it scratched that like work ethic itch,
which I think I will have till the day I die.
(29:11):
But the topics were pretty mundane.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Yeah, and so then how did this all transition? I know,
we sort of touched upon it, but you know, was
it a scary moment to say, you know what, I'm
going to stop this and I'm going to go into
this When you started into the marketing world anyway, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Well, it was a slow burn. I think for two years.
I was like, all right, what's my escape patch, Like,
what's my route? And when I realized there was no route,
I was like all right, So I just got to
like quit and force myself to do something else. So
I initially had taken a leave of absence from my
law firm where they don't I still have a job,
but they don't pay me for that period of time.
And that's when I started making contacts like in the
(29:49):
agency world and with athletic brands and their cmos and
Da da da, and then the Olympic London Olympic Games
were coming around and I thought, Okay, this is like
my moment. How am I going to meet these apps
time I get a storytell around sport in my way
if I'm not physically there to have that experience. So
(30:10):
that was when I quit, and I was sleeping on
my friend's couch in London for three weeks. And I
left the London Games with a job with a sports
marketing agency doing that Nike Women's gig.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Yeah, and how are your parents take this?
Speaker 2 (30:25):
They well, I made a bout to them that I
was never going to ask them for a cent, and
I made good on that and they you know, I mentioned,
you know, the immigrant story. Normally there's a lot more
there's a lot of pressure like this, and they were
incredibly supportive because I was so I mean, I was
(30:46):
so passionate about it. I was like lit on fire,
and having gone through this this traumatic stuff in my
early twenties, they just wanted me to feel like I
was impassioned and feeling coming from like a really safe place.
And I felt like, oh, okay, like this, this story
that I'm writing for myself feels not only empowering, but
(31:07):
it feels safe. And that was freedom that was worth
any any amount of money. Yeah, so they were sportive.
My OJ wolf pack was down.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Good. That's what you need, you know, you need pushback,
but you need support, you know.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
And I am my own worst critic, so I didn't
My mom and my dad knew they didn't need me
any finger wagging. You know. It was like I'm gonna
look at myself in the mirror and probably be harsher
than anybody else.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Yeah. Yeah, okay, So how did Peloton come in to
your life?
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Peloton came in It was before the studio had opened
in twenty thirteen. I read about the company in like
a magazine and I sent a cold email to the company.
It was info at Pelton Cycle dot com. Like the
alias doesn't even exist anymore. I just was like, I
gotta work with y'all. Like I just came off this gig,
(32:11):
you know, doing social media for this brand, and you know,
I want to do global storytelling and I do vision
boards a lot. And I did a vision board where
in the business quadrant it was like some type of
intersection between storytelling and technology. I had no idea what
that meant. I had a picture of like a little
Apple computer. I really truly didn't. I was like, what
(32:31):
is that thread that I need to pull on? And
it wasn't until I read this article that I was like, Oh,
that's the thread. So I auditioned. I was the second No,
I was the third instructer hired a Peloton and that
then we was like full steam ahead, Let's open up
a studio, let's start filming classes to like the twenty
bikes that are off the you know, bars from Taiwan
(32:53):
or whatever. And that was it. That was twelve years ago.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Wow. So you were one of three, the first three
hired and initially how was it set up? You know,
it was it how did it work?
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Like duct tape and a dream?
Speaker 1 (33:09):
It was why?
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Yeah, So our office literally were like the CEO the
founders were. It was there were probably twenty five people
total at the headcount of the company at the time,
including those new instructors, and they just like put up
a black curtain in the corner of a Chelsea office space.
And when we were recording classes, like the people on
(33:33):
the floor couldn't do conference like phone calls. Like it
was like one pm, we're filming classes. No CEO, You're
gonna have to get investor go to Starbucks. And it
was like quite on set. The chief technology officer was
the one who was cutting our classes. Like we didn't
have there was no pa, there was no grip, there
(33:54):
was no there was nothing. It was literally like a
camera a bike. There wasn't even a Peltoime bike. It
just had Peltime branding because we didn't even have bikes yet.
When we started filming content and I would beg my
friends to come and be like extras in.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
The holy shit, wait a minute, so then how was
it streamed or in the beginning.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
In the beginning, we you know, we had the infrastructure
to stream, so I had a little rudimentary leader board
so I could see there were like seven people.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
On how many people were subscribers at that point.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
I mean I think we had like two We had
sold like a few hundred bikes. Yeah, with the initially
it was with an initial It was like the first
fundraising round was one of those online kickstarter and so
there were like some bikes sold with the kickstarter, so
we kind of had a built in base, but it
(34:49):
was minimal, and you know, finally we started getting the
hardware on site and then you know, we had a
few months to ramp up content before our twenty third
Street studio.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Opened, right, And so initially because here's again, I told
you I had a Peloton forever and it's just so
unique and that you can curate, especially now there's so
much curation, but even in the in the infancy of it,
you know, at least when I got my peloton, which
I don't exactly remember when it was, and it was like,
oh shit, like you can listen to these playlists and
(35:22):
go through the playlist and sort of see what you
want to listen to, you know, and that was so
unique to me and the attitude of all of the
instructors sort of how you wanted to work out, you know,
if you wanted someone to beat your ass, okay, if
you want to, if you wanted something like nice and easy, okay.
(35:43):
So was there anyone in sort of like head of
marketing or who was explaining like, this is how this
is our vision, or was were the trainers themselves sort
of saying, hey, you know what, this is what we
want to do.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
I think it was a little bit of both. I
say it was like the ship left the station. We
were like, oh shoot, we got to put a window here,
we got to fix this thing here, and you were
just it was just scrappy, and it still is in
many many ways, just a scrappy mentality of like we
will build it, we will build it, and there is
(36:17):
an innate sense of self. I think that this is
required of a Peloton instructor, Like you have to have
a point of view. It's not like you audition for
something and they're like, this is your role. You're the
girl next door, You're the hard ass syz. So you
have to have you have to come with that and
then we can hone it under the Peloton umbrella. But
(36:39):
it's not a role because after a thousand classes, you
can see that. So it's got to be like, obviously
there's musicality and there's a physical element, and you have
to be a subject matter expert on you know, as
a trainer, as a wellness expert. But there's like the
X factor that you cannot teach and that's just like
a likeability period.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
So do you create your own playlists all the time?
Is that all you? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (37:05):
All me?
Speaker 1 (37:07):
How often are you? How often are you changing your music?
I mean all the time.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Every I mean every class has a different playlist, but
I would say monthly. I'm kind of we're like bucketing, okay,
like these are rising Latin songs and the hip hop
things that drop, and we have a music team. Of
course we will say like okay, we're sourcing licensing for
this or we think this artist series may be coming
down the pike, because there's obviously legal things that come
into asset.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
Is there a license? Is there license?
Speaker 2 (37:36):
So we have to get licensing for literally every single
thing we play, and then we have we have great
relationships with the artists, so they'll say like, oh, we've
got this tour coming up, or I've got this album
that's dropping. And we have you know, amazing relationships with
the top artists in the world, and they'll do you know,
they'll work with us for really cool, really cool concepts.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, because that can get expensive. I mean,
Jesus license all those songs.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Yeah, And so we want to be we want to
be super serving what our members want to listen to
while also introducing them to cool new stuff. Right, So
it's a balance.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
So you are sort of a pioneer in this world,
like you've been there forever. How do you work? Do
you work yourself up the chain, so to speak?
Speaker 2 (38:20):
I have a hybrid role where I'm an executive and
an instructor. So I'm a vice president of fitness programming
and a head instructor. So in that sense, in my
VP role, it's like working with marketing and product and
working with my boss, who's our chief content officer, who
essentially runs the network like if we were a television network,
she would run the network. And then we've got executive
(38:43):
producers and you know, there's a lot of the hundreds
of folks that make these classes happen, not just the
instructors that you see on camera. And so in that vein.
I am more than an instructor, and I have more responsibilities,
more meetings X, Y Z. And then in my what
i'm in front of the camera, the same standard applies
to me that applies to you know, the other fifty folks.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
Yeah, and how offering in front of the camera these days?
Speaker 2 (39:09):
Four days a week usually you are, Yeah, I'm live
four days a week.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Is that how it's always been? Or you have you
cut back?
Speaker 2 (39:16):
It's more I would say we're more nimble and efficient now.
I think I might we cut down from like five
days a week to four days a week, but in
those four days, I'm filming as much, if not more content.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
And then we also have other we have like social
media things, we have press things, you know, so they'll
fold that into our schedule where it might be I
might be on on set for four hours, but only
one of those hours is a class.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
And how many locations are there? Now? Are you actually film.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
In New York and London?
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Okay? And do you still have live you still have
people come in to ride as well?
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Oh my gosh, I mean ride run lift row like
the energy When I tell you it is like SNL
meets visiting the Empire State Building meets like it is
a New York moment, Like if you are a Peloton member,
the people who just walk by and you can see
the live class, you know, we'll play the live classes
(40:11):
like on the screens and the plaza and whatever, and
it is such an exciting moment for people and then
they get to meet their favorite instructors afterwards, feel like
a photo line, and we try to make the experience
really special for people. And our studio team is absolutely incredible.
They our member experienced team, like really really cares, you
know for people, so celebrating anniversaries and birthdays and all that.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
Yeah, that's part of the craziest shit about this. And
I've talked to you about my friends because like all
my friends have Pelotons and we used to be nutty
on them, you know, Like, but you guys are famous,
You've got personality. You know, you're doing what you love
and and the byproduct of it is, Oh, now I
walk down the street and I'm recognized. You know, how
(40:53):
is that? What is that? Like? Do you dig it?
Speaker 2 (40:56):
I mean, I love it's such a privilege that any
he gives a crap. The interesting thing that I think
makes it super distinct from like Hollywood. Right, It's like
you see somebody that you love from a movie or
a TV show, like you know that they're not the
(41:17):
movie role or you should, Whereas this is like you know,
if At or Ali or Cody or you know, Matt
Wolper said something in a class that I took of
him as like, oh I fed my dog. I'm like, hey,
I heard about your dog. Like you know, it's like
a very specific, intimate parasocial relationship, which is a very
(41:40):
odd thing to negotiate, right, because like that is really us,
but also it's like a it's like adjacent to who
I am, right, and so like when I'm standing there
with my kids and my husband, ninety nine percent of
the time it is like totally cool and really flattering.
And then sometimes you're like I literally just got to
catch a flight, like I'm not trying to be rude,
but like I can't, and there's such an outpouring of emotion.
(42:01):
Often because they are intimate experiences, so we will very
very it's very very common for a peloton instructure to
hear like deep.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Deep stuff, right, No, for sure, because.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
They're personal relationships that we have with.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
People of course, not only that, but even going back
to sort of how you got through your trauma, that's
not you know, you're not on an island. There. So
many people are using what you do, using your words,
your inspiration to go to Robin because she gets my
shit going and Robin has changed my life. I mean
that's I mean, obviously they've done it themselves, but they
(42:37):
put in the work, right, But you've You've been the
inspiration and the impetus for a lot of these people
to change their entire lives. So there is an emotional
component to meeting you. I'm sure it is like.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
The honestly the best job on the planet. And I
think that, you know, people ask like, oh, during the
pandemic or during this and during that, like how do
you keep going? And it's like how could I not?
Like what job do I get to like go to
the grocery store, or like walk on sixth Avenue and
get stopped by somebody being like holy crap, like you
got me through my divorce, or like you celebrated graduating
(43:07):
college by taking your run. You know, like that's a
wild cascade of impact that I don't think many, certainly
not many wellness jobs have no.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
I know, you know, I walk down the street and
say I loved you in this movie or this TV show,
like oh cool, thanks, But no one's saying you've changed
my bucking life man, like you brought me through like cancer.
I'm like I did. Like that's never gonna happen. It
(43:43):
would be fun to go to the headquarters and see
that shit go down.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
You're invited.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
I would love to. I'm actually gonna be in New York.
I got to do press for a little while and
for about a week in New York in November. Maybe
I'll maybe I'll stop by.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
All right, cool, we have members in on the weekends.
Speaker 1 (43:59):
Let me talk to you really quickly before we get
out of here about your your book, Eat the Hustle. Yeah,
what inspired this?
Speaker 2 (44:06):
So everything?
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Look I can only see your shoulders, but you're fucking
it's I'm jealous, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
Well, this has got for plants. It's from plants and
lifting weights and doing all the things.
Speaker 1 (44:19):
Yes, this is what I want to talk about is
food and how how much of this is food and
how much of this is actual working out?
Speaker 2 (44:28):
Well, you need listen, like you need a layer, a
layer of muscle underneath all of it to kind of
bulletproof you for old age longevity. I believe that strength
training is the fountain of youth. That is like the
that's the base of my pyramid if we're looking at
a fitness pyramid. So somebody might think it's actually cardiovet
(44:50):
like running and cycling whatever. Actually it's strength that's three
days a week, non negotiable. And then I'm layering on
you know, you know, zone two, zone three, all different
types of modalities. I mix up my modalities quite a
bit from a cardiovascular perspective, but from a fuel perspective.
I've been plant based for over twelve years, and I
wrote Eat to Hustle, which is available for pre order now.
(45:14):
I wrote Eat to Hustle because I kept getting asked,
number one, how do you get your protein? And number two,
how do you robin fuel yourself and your family? So
this is someone you know, I'm someone who I consider
myself a remix artist in the kitchen, and I wanted
to simplify plant based eating for people when they say, like,
(45:34):
I literally don't even how do I eat plant based
and still get protein. So seventy five protein packed recipes
that have the macros, you'll know exactly what you're putting
into your body. And I actually attached a dumbbell score
to each recipe, so there's one dumbbell, you know, it's
easy all the way up to three or four dumbells
for the stuff that's a little bit more complicated, but
(45:56):
it is, you know. I include like what I do
for my mail prep, what I fuel weekly, like what's
on my grocery list like these are. This is truly
like how I fuel in my kitchen for over ten years.
As somebody who trains multiple hours a day.
Speaker 1 (46:09):
Do you create You have your meal plans, but do
you cook for ahead of time? Like would you put
something in the fridge to sort of so like that
quick sort of grab and go stuff that you need.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
I do I meal prep over the weekend my proteins
and like roasted veggies and stuff. And then I'll also
do like protein breads and things like that, like I'll
batch make that maybe like once a month or once
every few weeks. But for things like this, like I
literally had twelve minutes to fuel before I got on
scree with you, and I don't time to make a meal.
My kids are going crazy. You know, so it's like
(46:43):
airfraing tofu, making satan. Having veggies in the fridge like
just making it harder to make the wrong choice. And
I think that that's where people And my meal prep,
by the way, isn't hours and hours and measuring and
weighing and whatever. It's literally just having batches of things
that I know are going to move the needle for
me in the direction that I want.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
Yeah, because it can get so overwhelming, you know, I've
always food has always been a tough one for me
because I love to eat, you know, and I can
get into it, but it just gets hard. I'll open
up the fridge, I'm like, the fuck am I gonna eat?
There's nothing? What a gonna eat? What am I gonna eat?
I can't and I'm starving. I'm like, I'll just do
some chips and then leave, you know, because it's it's
(47:27):
always difficult to like find something that is specific to
what you're trying to do. Yeah, that meal prep is
probably huge.
Speaker 2 (47:35):
Well, once you have some things in your rotation. And
this is why I wrote Eat the Hustle because I
was like, it's not a book for people who exclusively
want to eat plant based they will get you there.
But what I say is I want to expand people's
protein portfolio. So you just put other things in your
mix that give you energy, don't sap it, that aid
your recovery, that are better for inflammation, better for longevity,
(47:59):
and really great for your gut. Help too, because all
these recipes are packed with fiber, and most people are
actually more likely to be fiber deficient than protein deficient.
Speaker 1 (48:09):
Yeah, this is great, This is good. Now do do
you have cheat days? I mean, do you eat do
you eat it like a slice?
Speaker 2 (48:17):
I don't consider it a cheat, but yeah, sure, Like
I you know, my birthday was a few weeks ago,
Like I ate literally ate birthday cake for breakfast.
Speaker 1 (48:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:28):
And you have to have moments. And I also don't
I want a model for my kids. They don't have
to there's no perfection, there's no like hiding. I don't
want them to be like twenty, downing donuts and eating
crazy stuff in college because they didn't let them have
birthday cake at a party. Y.
Speaker 1 (48:43):
Yes, I see that. I see that where I see
parents who are so gnarly strict that the minute that
the kids sort of get out of that world, they
are just grinding on the bad shit.
Speaker 2 (48:57):
I'm super mindful of, like modeling, not only like healthy
eating habits except that I'm you know, healthy for me,
but also like movement habits, right like I want my
kids to see some balance.
Speaker 1 (49:11):
Yeah, and do you drink it all?
Speaker 2 (49:13):
I don't drink. I haven't drunk in years, not and
my husband doesn't drink either. So we're a sober family.
Speaker 1 (49:20):
Clean, clean, clean. Well, I'm not going to tell you
whether I drink or not, So I'm not going to
tell you. You will never fucking know.
Speaker 2 (49:34):
Just on me when you come to.
Speaker 1 (49:38):
Great I mean, I mean, I'll bring a little airplane
bottles something. Well, this has been so much fun. I'm
gonna take I've never even taken a live class ever
on the pellets on ever. It's always been just the
just the recorded classes.
Speaker 2 (49:56):
Okay, Well, now we're gonna level it up.
Speaker 1 (49:58):
Yeah, I'm gonna find you. I got to get into
one of your classes, for sure, I'm going to. But
this has been so great. I'm excited to get I'm
excited the cod When does it come out? I know
it's a for pre order, but when.
Speaker 2 (50:08):
Muscle comes out in March of next time.
Speaker 1 (50:11):
Okay, let's pre order that. Let's do that, all right. Well,
this has been so fun, Robin.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
I appreciate you, appreciate you having me.
Speaker 1 (50:19):
Thank you all right, We'll see you soon.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
Bye.
Speaker 1 (50:23):
Man. What kind of work ethic? It's just just jealous.
She's energy, clear, muscle, skin looks good. Bang bang bang.
And here I am in my daughter's room with a
tied ice shirt on, a shitty beard, bags under my eyes,
my eyebrow hairs are just growing, you know, a mile
(50:45):
a minute. I'm a mess, but I'm fun and I'm funny.
I'm a mess, but i'm funny. Great chest hair, you know,
just a belly hanging over my waistband. It's all bad.
But hey, it's me, all right. I'm out here
Speaker 2 (51:08):
A
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