October 8, 2024 • 35 mins
Vanessa Peralta-Mitchell, the dynamic force behind VCPM Inc and the Game Changers program, shares an invigorating journey that began with a simple promise to herself—taking the plunge into running after being inspired by a powerful documentary. Vanessa’s story is one of resilience, highlighting the transformative power of keeping promises. Despite having no formal track experience, she embraced running later in life, illustrating how a 10K race became a powerful teacher in preparation and perseverance. Her tale is not just about personal triumph but also about empowering women to break barriers and live without limits.
Takeaways
- Vanessa Peralta-Mitchell empowers women to live a life without limits through running
- VCPM Inc. and the Game Changers program aim to redefine the running industry and provide more representation for women of color
- Game Changers helps women of color become certified run coaches and offers resources and support for them to thrive
- Upcoming initiatives include the distribution of running shoes to those in need and the Powered program, which partners with road races to provide inclusive training and support
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to Ella Go.
My name is Lisa.
Join me on the journey inhaving real raw and
uncomfortable discussions aboutfitness, health and everything
in between, because, let's behonest, this journey would suck
if we don't get our shittogether.
Welcome back to the Elegoopodcast.
(00:38):
My name is Lisa, I am your hostand today we have Vanessa,
vanessa, welcome.
Yes, thank you, it's really,really good to be here.
Yes, Vanessa and I spokeprobably two years ago and we're
finally talking and doing thispodcast.
So, vanessa, why don't youintroduce yourself to the
(01:01):
audience?
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yes, absolutely.
Hi everyone.
Hi, lisa.
My name is Vanessa PeraltaMitchell.
I'm owner of VCPM Inc and I'mthe creator of the Game Changers
program.
I know we'll talk about both,but to give you an idea of what
my business is, my business isdedicated to using the power of
the pavement, like I like to say, and what we do is we empower
(01:24):
women to live a life withoutlimits.
And if anyone is curious, whatVCPM Inc stands for?
That's the initials of my fullname.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Nice, nice, Okay.
So let's.
We are going to talk about allof that, but let's take a couple
steps back.
And, Vanessa, when did youstart running?
Like were you always a runner?
How did this all come about?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yeah, I wasn't always a runner per se, what we might
think in terms of like theindustry you know definition but
I was a runner, meaning like Iwas a kid that loved to like
play sports.
Although I will say reallyquick, I kind of did have to
advocate for myself, a littlebit with my own parents because
I wanted to play soccer so bad,a little bit with my own parents
(02:07):
because I wanted to play soccerso bad, and my parents, you
know, they're from Ecuador andthey had this like stereotypical
thought of, like you know,girls playing sports and then
they thought I would get likebig calves or something like
that and it was like a big no,no, it was crazy, right, the
thought process.
But you know, I did eventuallyget to play sports, so I played
(02:30):
soccer, I played basketballlater in high school and I
played softball, so I wasrunning.
There's always, like you know,a competition or a ball involved
or some type of you know team.
And when we think about likewhat running?
In terms of like the runningindustry that came so much later
in life, I didn't have anyexamples in my life in terms of
track teams, so my high schooldidn't have a track team.
(02:52):
My college didn't have a trackteam, and so it was really
watching a documentary thattotally changed my perspective,
not just about running, butreally gave me an appreciation
for what women had to fight forin order to be a part of sports,
in order to participate, inorder to find some level of
(03:13):
equality and that equal ground,just to be a part of sports.
And running was one of thosesports covered.
And that documentary literallymoved me, and that was the day
that I said to myself that I wasgoing to run a marathon.
And now, mind you, the onlyrunning I had ever done at that
(03:34):
point was probably, like youknow, a little bit, in college,
with soccer and the sports thatI played in high school.
But I was really, really,really moved by these women's
stories that I saw.
And again, it wasn't justrunning, that wasn't the only
sport covered, but it was theone that was somewhat realistic
for me to do at.
(03:54):
I was like in my mid twenties,you know, I was like, okay, I
can do that, and I had no clue Iwas going to do that.
But there's something to besaid about keeping your promise
that you make to yourself, mostimportantly, and it took me so
many years, lisa, but I did it,and that was my introduction to
(04:16):
running.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Oh, my God, you went from couch to marathon.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Oh no, no, there was.
There's definitely races inbetween, okay, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, my first race actuallywas a 10k and I was very green
to the sport, I didn't know thatthere was a 5k.
I signed up for the first raceI saw and, seriously, and I
didn't even properly train forthat first race.
(04:43):
You know, I, I looking, I it'skind of funny because that could
have been both my debut inrunning and my departure in
running, because I totallyunder-trained, I um hurt both my
knees.
I basically like I don't, Idon't even know if you can call
it, it wasn't a walk, it wasn'ta run, it was like a shuffle Two
(05:07):
step across the finish line.
You know, no pictures taken,you know, I don't think even
back then this particular racehad a medal.
So I told my husband and I thenI know my oldest was a couple
of months old, I mean, that'sthe only people I told in the
world because I wasn't like thisgreat feeling of accomplishment
(05:28):
.
It was like, oh my goodness, Ijust did that.
I survived that.
But again, this was the road tofulfilling a bigger goal and I
didn't think about it this wayback then.
But it was just a milestone ora milepost along the way.
(05:48):
So our failures and ouraccomplishments, they're both
important.
And the bigger picture was thatI'm going to run a marathon and
I just wanted to fulfill thatgoal, even though I hadn't
really told anybody at thatpoint.
Body at that point, butseriously, without the training
or coaching or anything likethat, I showed up to that race
day so naive to what I thoughtrunning was and to my you know,
(06:18):
to my disbelief at the time.
I didn't think it was that hard.
You know what I mean.
I thought like you, just run,but something about discovering
that new form of challenge in mylife.
It really made me want to workhard to figure out like, how can
I overcome this challenge?
And then along the way, Ifigured out that that challenge
was actually changing me in thebest way possible.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Wow, yeah, so you do the marathon.
And then how did the company,your initial company, come in?
How did that come about?
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Yeah, oh yeah.
So that's so tricky, um, sothey're so separate, like doing
the marathon, um, um.
So Philadelphia was my firstmarathon, so shout out to the
Philadelphia Marathon.
Doing that marathon was likecompletely separate from me
starting my business.
There's, like you know,probably a decade or so in
(07:09):
between and it's a really goodthought.
I have to go back and look atwhat the actual dates are in
terms of that timeframe.
But doing the marathon felt likeI had did the thing.
You know, I had accomplishedthis goal I had set up for
myself while, like, it was on myrefrigerator during, like, my
last years in college.
(07:30):
It was something I told my thenfiance, now husband.
You know, it's something that Iwas telling, starting to tell
people.
So when I crossed that finishline, it would kind of felt like
we crossed that finish line.
You know what I mean.
Like I was telling, starting totell people.
So when I crossed that finishline, it would kind of felt like
we crossed that finish line.
You know what I mean.
Like I was the first one in mygroup of friends and family and
community.
So it was like, all of a sudden, like people knew about running
(07:50):
in a different way, becausethey're close with me and so
crossing that finish line itsomewhat turned me into like an
expert in the space.
To those who I knew and thathinted at what could I do with
that right?
So kind of a bit fast forward.
When I did actually find outthat you could be a certified
(08:13):
run coach, it felt a little bitinaccessible to me because of
the costs you had to travel andI didn't really know what I
wanted to do with it.
It just felt like I had a senseof responsibility to uphold
within my community because theywere looking at me that way and
it's like, well, let me get theknowledge and the certification
and all the resources I can getto show up that way.
(08:36):
So that was very separate thanmy company.
My company actually came intoplay because, ironically so,
both my parents right, my fatherowns both came here from
Ecuador.
My father was the one thatowned his own business.
My whole life he owned his ownbusiness and it's totally
(08:56):
different industries like realestate and international trading
, and he founded the EcuadorianAmerican Foundation.
So his entrepreneurial journeyis like that's who you should
probably have on here one day.
And then my mother came to thiscountry with her own set of
aspirations and goals and a lotof that was to further her
(09:21):
education and what she wanted todo for her career.
And she really put all that onhold when my father and her
wanted to, like you know, he hadchildren and they had their own
children.
And so my mother essentiallychose motherhood right and being
a wife and being a partner inhis business in the sense of
being that backbone of like,that stabilization of like how
to carry on a business.
(09:41):
So it was years, years later Iwas almost 40 years old.
I would say my mom had this whatI like to call a moment of
realization.
And all of us obviously hadgrown up and moved out.
You know, we have kids some ofour, some of my siblings' kids
have kids, you know and my momhad this moment where she looked
(10:05):
back and it wasn't a moment ofregret, you know, it was a
moment of like this is how Ifeel right now and it was that
she had came here all thoseyears ago and never actually
fulfilled any of those dreams orthose goals or those
aspirations she had for herself.
And you know, it was a reallypersonal moment for my mom
(10:30):
because she was very vulnerableto me.
I'm the youngest daughter and Inever really I've seen my mom
cry before, but this wasdifferent.
This was a moment where shewasn't holding back things that
I might interpret.
You know what I mean, becauseit included other family members
(10:50):
and stuff like that.
And I, of course, have sinceasked my mom, like, is it okay
if I share, like as this much asat least?
And um, so she's understandsand is on board with it.
But I just trying to have otherpeople understand, like this
moment, you know, in this tearyeyed conversation, my mom is
releasing, right, this feelingthat she's been caring for who
(11:13):
knows how many years.
You know I'm the youngestdaughter, so there's other
siblings older than me, so whoknows how long she was carrying
on to this, not even realizing,understanding the breadth of
what it meant throughout thespan of her lifetime.
And in that moment ofrealization, she's being the
most open with me and to see andwitness the strongest person
(11:35):
you know in your life 40 yearsof the same person being so
strong in so many situations,being so soft and like, just you
know, transparent.
It really hits you inside, likein your stomach, in your heart,
and you, like, never let go ofthat moment.
And essentially what she wasdoing was in her sharing this
(12:00):
with me.
It felt as if she was pouringthose things into me, Not saying
that I needed to fulfill hergoals and her dreams, but the
bigger message that I don't haveto wait to fulfill mine right,
that I can do what I want to doright now and I don't have to
wait to do that.
So there was a combination oflike how it was with my business
(12:22):
form.
I think, if I look back, thatwas a pivotal moment because it
gave me that, I guess, unwrittenpermission and support from one
of the most important people inmy life.
So how could I not take thatform of empowerment and do
something with it?
So, and at the same time, likeGame Changers, was already like
(12:45):
it wasn't born or wasn't formedin any sense.
But I started to notice thingsin the industry and I started to
realize that, like hey, we needmore women of color, like in
these positions, that they'rebeing seen as leaders.
They're being seen as leaders,they're being seen as experts,
but the person in front of theroom or the person that's given
this information, they all lookthe same.
They're all the same gender andthe same race.
(13:07):
So this had in my company form.
It was really an intersectionof like recognizing the need for
change in the industry and then, through my mom, being
empowered to do something aboutit yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
So did Game Changers come first before VPM, or which
one came first?
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, so my company, vcpm.
It came, it's hard to say, tobe honest with you, I would say
I would have to backtrack.
It almost seemed like it waskind of sort of in one of the
same, because I had attended mycertification and I was one of
(13:48):
two people of color, at leastvisibly Right, and that kind of
always stuck with me because,you know, I felt already
intimidated and already a bit inover my head, and when you
don't see others that look likeyou, you can.
That's like another layer offeeling, you know, like not
(14:11):
belonging.
You know, and no one treated methat way.
I don't want to, you know, puta picture out there, like you
know it was our RCAcertification.
I'm really happy that I was.
I had the opportunity to dothat and no one made me feel any
type of way.
But when you have a livedexperience and certain places
and spaces that you're in, andwhen people who are you know
(14:35):
giving you this green light ofyou know yes, you belong here
when those people all look thesame and that they don't look
like you, then it starts to feedthis like story to you.
And that's what I noticed inthat certification.
It was just a little seed oflike hey, like why aren't there
more people of color?
here, why aren't there morewomen of color color here?
(14:59):
Why aren't there more women ofcolor?
So that eventually grew intolike other thoughts.
As I did become a certified runcoach and did do jobs and
projects and work for differentcompanies Once again I started
to notice the same thing.
Like the people I'm working for, the people who are in charge,
the people who are leading theway, are mostly the same gender,
the same race of white malesand it really made me curious as
(15:20):
to why are we the ones in thosepositions, in those roles?
Why aren't we leading the way?
And so Game Changers.
It's funny because my companylike officially began in August
of 2020.
Officially began in August of2020.
I went through LegalZoom and Igot my BCPM Inc Incorporated and
(15:44):
then two months later about twomonths later, we had brought in
our first 16 women of color tobecome game changers.
So there's really just a fineline of what came first.
It's like one of those trackfinishes right, it's like by the
10th of a second.
So I think kind of happenedsimultaneously, simultaneously
in that way.
But I didn't form Game Changersas a program.
(16:07):
That that came later on becauseof the women who were a part of
it.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
To be honest with you , Okay, so I get the sense that
your VCPM company is more oflike the manager, the managing
of Game Changers, in a sense,and am I right on that?
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Yeah, so think of like VCPM Inc as like the, I say
parent company, although GameChangers is not its own business
, but it's a program, right, sothat program falls under my
company.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Got it.
Okay, so let's talk about GameChangers, because we're having
this conversation and people arelike what are they talking
about?
Okay, game Changers and youtalked a lot about the things
that you know, again, nobody'streating us bad in the running
industry, no one's hating on us,but it does give a sense of
(16:58):
belonging or not belonging andnot feeling like fitting in,
especially for, I would say,people of color that live in
areas that are predominantlyCaucasian and you grew up in
that type of atmosphere andenvironment and never feeling
(17:19):
like you belong.
And now you have this love of asport and now you're like oh,
here we go again.
I still don't belong here.
And it's not saying and it's sohard to explain this, vanessa,
unless you, who are listening,have experienced it and it's not
(17:40):
always about color, it could beabout size, it could be about
gender, just not feeling likeyou belong, and belonging is
literally one of the needs.
As a human being, we want tofeel like we belong.
So, game Changers is havingthese women that are running
coaches right?
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Yeah, yeah, game Changers we provide resources
and funds so more women of colorcan become certified run
coaches.
Our bigger mission there isredefining who people see as
those experts and those leadersmission there is redefining who
people see as those experts andthose leaders, and it's, you
know.
One thing I always like topoint out is, yes, we're
utilizing coaching, but reallyit's a way of utilizing a
(18:26):
vehicle to create impact.
So coaching is the drivingforce behind Game Changers, but
it's really impactingcommunities and ultimately, the
industry, you know, but it'sreally impacting communities and
ultimately the industry.
You know the why behind GameChangers and it ties back to my
mom once again.
But the why behind why GameChangers even exists is because,
you know, being that bridge formy mother.
(18:49):
You know, spanish is her firstlanguage and so I would be that
bridge for her to communicatewith people.
And so my older brothers andsisters are a lot older and I
have one younger brother.
He's a lot younger.
So there was a time wherethings kind of fell on my
shoulders, whether we went tothe post office or the bank or
department stores, and I wouldtalk on my mom's behalf.
(19:14):
She would give me this littlenudge and she'd be like you know
, you talk, you talk.
And I would talk on my mom'sbehalf.
She would give me this littlenudge and she'd be like you know
, you talk, you talk, I wouldtalk for her.
At times I didn't realize thatmy mom was being treated
differently, that we were beingtreated differently, not until
many years later, not until Istarted to be more in college
and doing the work that I do now, more like in college and then
(19:38):
creating and doing the work thatI do now.
But you know, seeing andremembering my mom advocating
for herself, that was really myfirst example of seeing
something like that and being,you know, I don't know.
It was probably like 10 yearsold give or take.
I didn't understand that, so itreally made me a bit
embarrassed about that fact.
That we were differentcertainly wasn't celebrated back
then and I didn't know or evenprobably understand things like
(20:01):
discrimination or racism or biasor anything like that, you know
.
So I felt small, um, in thosecircumstances because, you know,
I felt as if my mom was in thewrong, you know, like, because
she was, would get so upset atthe people talking to her and I
didn't see that, you know, Ididn't see that they were
(20:22):
talking to her some type of way.
So I kind of like, no, like,don't like, no, no, no, like,
don't do that, like I can seeher boiling up like no, no, no,
like someone's voice isn't beingheard.
(20:43):
You know, I can connect thosedots now that I was a voice for
my mom and, honestly, throughrunning, I discovered my own
voice, because I wasn't always,you know, very um, you know
talking and like being the onein the room to say something,
like I would get so beat, redand so timid and stuff like that
, but understanding, like beinga voice for her, finding my own
(21:05):
voice through running, and now Iget to amplify the voices of
others Because to me it remindsme of my mom.
You know, I don't want us tonot be heard, I don't want us to
wait our turn to be heard, andit's about time that we change
who that voice is in front ofthe room and on the microphones,
and in the books and all thethings you know.
And that's the real core behindGame Changers, you know, is to
(21:28):
make sure that we're amplifyingthe voices unheard, just like my
mom's.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
I feel that, I feel that I feel that how many
coaches do you have?
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Yeah, right now we have 108 coaches, yeah, in 27
states and Washington DC.
And what's really beautiful iswe.
You know the goal in the very,very beginning, when I was like
you know, getting funds andstuff like that was, you know I
wanted to do five coaches.
I thought five coaches would bea great way to create impact
(22:02):
and to show that there's another, different type of leader.
You know what I mean to look to, and I read a book that really
changed that perspective andthat book essentially talked
about having a globalconversation with people and my
(22:22):
mind couldn't grasp that someonewould have a goal to have a
global conversation.
Like what is that?
Who thinks like that?
You know what I mean, and itreally was a reflection of um,
I'm capable of more.
Like I meaning, like whoever'slistening, you, lisa, like each
one of us, are so much morecapable of doing and achieving
(22:44):
the thing that's already in ourhead, in our heart, as an idea.
And to realize that like hey,you know I wanted to reach this
goal of five people.
So you know what, scratch that.
You know we're not going tojust stop at five women, we're
going to redefine the wholeindustry and show that there is
a new leader, there's a new typeof expert to book to that can
(23:05):
lead the way and that can bethat go to expert that people
see and building Game Changers.
Because at first it was likethis small idea from this girl
from Jersey that just wanted to,like, make a difference and
(23:26):
it's like, yes, I am that and Iwill always be that, like that's
who I am and what a beautifulfoundation I get to build upon.
You know, because there's somuch more out there for the game
changers, for our coaches, forthe communities that are
reaching for the industry to seeand experience, to know how we
(23:47):
see things as women of color, asexperts, and you know there's
so much more out there for usall.
So, to go from one of the smallgoal, it really was so much
bigger than me and it is now somuch bigger than me and it's
it's beautiful to witness it.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Oh, that's awesome, that's great.
So you have all these coaches,all these game changers in
different states.
So how could somebody first ofall let's say someone wants to
reach out to a coach, a gamechanger how do they go about
doing that?
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yeah, well, I mean.
So Game Changers is designedfirst of all, you know, to get
women of color certified.
So I do want to put out therethat there's this sense of
getting women the opportunity tobe certified through RRCA.
And then they have a businesscoach that they have to
understand well, what is it thatyou want to do with your
(24:46):
certification?
And then the last component ofthe program is a six month
structured mentorship, andwhat's really nice is that
mentor is also a woman of color.
So there's this, and they haveaccountability partners to
support them along the way.
So there's this, and they haveaccountability partners to
support them along the way.
So if someone was looking for acoach, I mean they could
definitely go to my website,wwwvcpmcom, or even email me at
(25:08):
vanessa at vcpmcom.
But the way that the GameChangers program is set up is
really to get women acclimatedto being in this space, right.
Gainer doesn't set up so muchto like, have some type of like
what's it called Connection,right To like match people, but
(25:30):
we still provide that.
So if that's someone thatsomeone is looking for, I
definitely encourage them toreach out to us.
We also, I will say, have thefemale Coach Lead L-E-A-D and
that stands for Leveraging,educating, amplifying Diversity.
And so that's an IG series thatwe do every month on the 16th.
We do it on the 16th in honorof our first 16 Game Changers
(25:54):
and it's just to showcase andhighlight one woman of color
coach each month and we hone iton her specialty, and that
specialty can either fall undercoach, athlete community or
business.
And that's another resource Iwould say for people if you are
looking for a particular coach,because you can find out right
away what their expertise is andif it matches yours, then you
(26:15):
can reach out directly to them.
But yes, we're always open.
If someone is interested inlooking for a particular coach,
you can again reach out throughthe form or me directly at
Vanessa at bcpmcom, and ofcourse, the best way is always
to reach out to the coachdirectly.
But if you're having troublefinding one, then yeah, please
reach out.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Okay.
So, vanessa, you kind of likeblew my mind a little bit here,
because, basically, creating anopportunity to have your own
like program your own, you'rebuilding entrepreneurs, you're
building Right.
I mean, it sounds like you gotthem with a business Girl.
Where were you in 2018?
I mean, this is where I need it, but you're giving them those
(26:57):
opportunities.
It's not like, ok, we're goingto give you that opportunity to
be a running coach, but thenwe're going to have let's talk
about it, what are you going todo with that?
How much?
I mean, the sky is the limit,like you're basically saying the
sky's the limit, what, what doyou want to do?
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Yeah, exactly, and that's the bigger message with
my company, VCPM Inc.
Is to live a life withoutlimits.
And so with Game Changers, thenice thing is, yes, we do get
some people that want to start abusiness or a side hustle, but
we also get people that justwant the information and the
knowledge, and we also getpeople that just want to expand
the platform that they'realready on.
So that business coach iscrucial because we want women to
(27:37):
stay in the industry.
Right, we're not going tochange anything if people just
are given an opportunity andthen we say good luck, you know,
we want, you know, women ofcolor to thrive in this space
and then they can use coachingas their vehicle, whichever way
they see that.
You know, some coaches are, youknow, starting their own
businesses and are applying itto the run crews that they're a
(27:58):
part of or leading.
Some are taking it back totheir reservations and providing
it for clinic in terms of theirhealth and wellness.
You know some are using it toexpand their platform and
providing expertise in magazinesand podcasts.
And it's so amazing when youdon't live under definitions and
you don't live in boxes thatother people have created and
(28:19):
you know, using coaching as ourdriving force.
There's so many examples howwe're doing that, beyond just
getting people to their startinglines and beyond getting them
to that race day goal and thosemedals, which is so important.
But there is a way that we haveseen what running can do and for
us to apply that and give thoseto our athletes or to our
community members or to, youknow, the youth that follow us
(28:43):
into the sport.
That message is so much biggerand you know we collect our own
data.
I will say too, so you know,one of the first things we
noticed was there's not a lot ofdata on women of color coaches,
like post-collegiate.
So we said, you know what,we're going to collect it
(29:05):
ourselves.
And so since 2020, we've beencollecting our own data, so we
know things like 89.5% of ourcoaches find confidence in
themselves through the program,and then 68% of them find that
confidence in other areas oftheir life.
So how powerful is that rightthat we can utilize coaching and
running and being in this spacewhere you can take up, you know
and proclaim your presence andfind that confidence.
It's like you know what this is, how I'm going to show up
everywhere that I am, and it'sjust an amazing that you know
(29:26):
we're finding that people arefinding that through the Game
Changers program.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely yeah.
The way you see running, theway you're building yourself up,
you know, with your body is allconnected.
It's that mind body connectionand just how you see life in
general.
So, my God, vanessa, amazing,so amazing.
Okay, so what is coming up forGame Changers?
Anything coming up.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Yes, absolutely.
Well, I will say, before I saywhat's coming up, something I
thought would be really cool tomention too, that we'll have
coming up again this year.
So this past fall and againthis upcoming fall, we'll do
this distribution.
So our presenting sponsor isBrooks Running and this is our
third year now that they'll beour presenting sponsor, and one
(30:13):
of the nice things that we'reable to do is give back to our
community.
So this past fall we were ableto distribute to those in need
in our communities BrooksRunning Shoes and that went to
526 people across the country.
So through like 22 coaches, Ibelieve it was.
I forgot how many states, maybe13 or 14 different states, I
(30:35):
want to say but we were able toprovide that access to movement.
You know whether that's walkingor running or side shuffling,
like I did across my firstfinish line, but you know, it's
been really wonderful to see thecoaches not only being poured
into but they're paying itforward and that's one of the
(30:57):
ways that we do that annuallysince partnering with Brooke.
So we do, and that's one of theways that we do that annually
since partnering with Brooke.
So we do have that coming up inthe fall, which I'm really
excited about and I'm alsoreally excited about there's a
new program that we have.
It's called Powered and that'sspelled P-W-R-H-E-R-D.
Make sure there's the her inthere, right, because you're
(31:18):
being powered by her and so whatthat is is our way to partner
with road races.
So we're partnering with roadraces that want to provide
inclusivity, meaning, you know,it's not enough to provide an
event and say, hey, runners orwalkers show up on race day and
get your medal.
You know, in order for roadraces to really be inclusive,
(31:40):
it's like how are you treatingpeople before they get to that
starting line?
Like, how are you ensuring thatthey're properly, um, supported
, trained and equipped to showup on race day?
So road races have a reallygreat opportunity to invest and
be inclusive of how they treatpeople before they get to that
start line.
And and that's where Powercomes into play.
So we're an online trainingprogram and we are powered by
(32:05):
our game-changing Women of Colorcertified run coaches, and it's
really nice.
You know we have the wholeprogram is we partner with the
road race.
People can register for usduring the registration process,
but they get the training plan,whether that's beginner,
intermediate or advanced, andit's specific to each race, so
we don't use the same trainingplan.
You know um a training platform, so we do use final search, so
(32:26):
that's the way they have accessto their training and they can
sync it however they want tosync it and provide virtual run
clinics that are specific tothat road race so it resonates
with their audience.
And then, for those that youknow go to the training, they'll
get a bonus medal, which isreally fun.
So that day when they cross thefinish line, they'll get two
medals, um, which is reallyexciting and, you know, a nice
(32:47):
added touch to it.
But overall it's been, um, Imean, a little bit over the moon
to know that.
You know, this all leads back.
If I, if I rewind each chapterof this story, it's just crazy
to go from sitting in my couchin New Jersey because I grew up
in Jersey sitting in my couch inNew Jersey, with my mom being
(33:08):
not too far from me, watching adocumentary that really
catapulted and changed thetrajectory of my life, to now us
not only helping women of colortake up space as certified
running coaches, but also now weget to help the runners and the
walkers and the people thatwant to make health and wellness
a bigger part of their life,and we get to do that, we get to
(33:29):
provide that and it's ablessing on blessing.
So Powered is wwwpwrherdcom andwe're excited.
We have our first client, ourfirst partner, already.
It's the Philadelphia distancerun, which happens to September
15th, is a half and a 5k andwe'll be providing training for
(33:49):
both and you can go to thatwebsite and click on partners
and people can find out how toregister and join us, because it
does not close.
You know people might needsupport and help with their
training at any moment in theirjourney to their starting line,
so we're providing that accessat any point.
We're not closing that.
So, yeah, those are someexciting things in the wings.
(34:11):
I'm sure there's so much more,but those are the two that pop
up in my head first.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
That's some good stuff, vanessa, really good
things.
So if you all want to reach outto Vanessa and check out all
the programs that she's beentalking about, all of this will
be on the show notes.
I'm not going to ask her to saythose where you can find her,
because she said it multipletimes, but you could definitely
go in the show notes, click onthere and that's how you'll get
(34:38):
ahold of her.
Vanessa, my God, I'm so proudof you.
I'm really proud of what you'redoing for women, women of color
Really good things that I'msure there's going to be just
more explosion in a positive way.
So thank you so much forfinally getting a chance to talk
(35:00):
to you today and you're doingthe do and I'm so proud of you.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Thank you so much.
I appreciate it and Iappreciate your consistency and
reaching back so we can makethis happen.
So thank you.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
You're welcome and until next time.
Everyone, Bye.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Bye.
Welcome to Ella Go.
My name is Lisa.
Join me on the journey inhaving real raw and
uncomfortable discussions aboutfitness, health and everything
in between, because, let's behonest, this journey would suck
if we don't get our shittogether.
Welcome back to the Elegoopodcast.
(00:38):
My name is Lisa, I am your hostand today we have Vanessa,
vanessa, welcome.
Yes, thank you, it's really,really good to be here.
Yes, Vanessa and I spokeprobably two years ago and we're
finally talking and doing thispodcast.
So, vanessa, why don't youintroduce yourself to the
(01:01):
audience?
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yes, absolutely.
Hi everyone.
Hi, lisa.
My name is Vanessa PeraltaMitchell.
I'm owner of VCPM Inc and I'mthe creator of the Game Changers
program.
I know we'll talk about both,but to give you an idea of what
my business is, my business isdedicated to using the power of
the pavement, like I like to say, and what we do is we empower
(01:24):
women to live a life withoutlimits.
And if anyone is curious, whatVCPM Inc stands for?
That's the initials of my fullname.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Nice, nice, Okay.
So let's.
We are going to talk about allof that, but let's take a couple
steps back.
And, Vanessa, when did youstart running?
Like were you always a runner?
How did this all come about?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yeah, I wasn't always a runner per se, what we might
think in terms of like theindustry you know definition but
I was a runner, meaning like Iwas a kid that loved to like
play sports.
Although I will say reallyquick, I kind of did have to
advocate for myself, a littlebit with my own parents because
I wanted to play soccer so bad,a little bit with my own parents
(02:07):
because I wanted to play soccerso bad, and my parents, you
know, they're from Ecuador andthey had this like stereotypical
thought of, like you know,girls playing sports and then
they thought I would get likebig calves or something like
that and it was like a big no,no, it was crazy, right, the
thought process.
But you know, I did eventuallyget to play sports, so I played
(02:30):
soccer, I played basketballlater in high school and I
played softball, so I wasrunning.
There's always, like you know,a competition or a ball involved
or some type of you know team.
And when we think about likewhat running?
In terms of like the runningindustry that came so much later
in life, I didn't have anyexamples in my life in terms of
track teams, so my high schooldidn't have a track team.
(02:52):
My college didn't have a trackteam, and so it was really
watching a documentary thattotally changed my perspective,
not just about running, butreally gave me an appreciation
for what women had to fight forin order to be a part of sports,
in order to participate, inorder to find some level of
(03:13):
equality and that equal ground,just to be a part of sports.
And running was one of thosesports covered.
And that documentary literallymoved me, and that was the day
that I said to myself that I wasgoing to run a marathon.
And now, mind you, the onlyrunning I had ever done at that
(03:34):
point was probably, like youknow, a little bit, in college,
with soccer and the sports thatI played in high school.
But I was really, really,really moved by these women's
stories that I saw.
And again, it wasn't justrunning, that wasn't the only
sport covered, but it was theone that was somewhat realistic
for me to do at.
(03:54):
I was like in my mid twenties,you know, I was like, okay, I
can do that, and I had no clue Iwas going to do that.
But there's something to besaid about keeping your promise
that you make to yourself, mostimportantly, and it took me so
many years, lisa, but I did it,and that was my introduction to
(04:16):
running.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Oh, my God, you went from couch to marathon.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Oh no, no, there was.
There's definitely races inbetween, okay, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, my first race actuallywas a 10k and I was very green
to the sport, I didn't know thatthere was a 5k.
I signed up for the first raceI saw and, seriously, and I
didn't even properly train forthat first race.
(04:43):
You know, I, I looking, I it'skind of funny because that could
have been both my debut inrunning and my departure in
running, because I totallyunder-trained, I um hurt both my
knees.
I basically like I don't, Idon't even know if you can call
it, it wasn't a walk, it wasn'ta run, it was like a shuffle Two
(05:07):
step across the finish line.
You know, no pictures taken,you know, I don't think even
back then this particular racehad a medal.
So I told my husband and I thenI know my oldest was a couple
of months old, I mean, that'sthe only people I told in the
world because I wasn't like thisgreat feeling of accomplishment
(05:28):
.
It was like, oh my goodness, Ijust did that.
I survived that.
But again, this was the road tofulfilling a bigger goal and I
didn't think about it this wayback then.
But it was just a milestone ora milepost along the way.
(05:48):
So our failures and ouraccomplishments, they're both
important.
And the bigger picture was thatI'm going to run a marathon and
I just wanted to fulfill thatgoal, even though I hadn't
really told anybody at thatpoint.
Body at that point, butseriously, without the training
or coaching or anything likethat, I showed up to that race
day so naive to what I thoughtrunning was and to my you know,
(06:18):
to my disbelief at the time.
I didn't think it was that hard.
You know what I mean.
I thought like you, just run,but something about discovering
that new form of challenge in mylife.
It really made me want to workhard to figure out like, how can
I overcome this challenge?
And then along the way, Ifigured out that that challenge
was actually changing me in thebest way possible.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Wow, yeah, so you do the marathon.
And then how did the company,your initial company, come in?
How did that come about?
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Yeah, oh yeah.
So that's so tricky, um, sothey're so separate, like doing
the marathon, um, um.
So Philadelphia was my firstmarathon, so shout out to the
Philadelphia Marathon.
Doing that marathon was likecompletely separate from me
starting my business.
There's, like you know,probably a decade or so in
(07:09):
between and it's a really goodthought.
I have to go back and look atwhat the actual dates are in
terms of that timeframe.
But doing the marathon felt likeI had did the thing.
You know, I had accomplishedthis goal I had set up for
myself while, like, it was on myrefrigerator during, like, my
last years in college.
(07:30):
It was something I told my thenfiance, now husband.
You know, it's something that Iwas telling, starting to tell
people.
So when I crossed that finishline, it would kind of felt like
we crossed that finish line.
You know what I mean.
Like I was telling, starting totell people.
So when I crossed that finishline, it would kind of felt like
we crossed that finish line.
You know what I mean.
Like I was the first one in mygroup of friends and family and
community.
So it was like, all of a sudden, like people knew about running
(07:50):
in a different way, becausethey're close with me and so
crossing that finish line itsomewhat turned me into like an
expert in the space.
To those who I knew and thathinted at what could I do with
that right?
So kind of a bit fast forward.
When I did actually find outthat you could be a certified
(08:13):
run coach, it felt a little bitinaccessible to me because of
the costs you had to travel andI didn't really know what I
wanted to do with it.
It just felt like I had a senseof responsibility to uphold
within my community because theywere looking at me that way and
it's like, well, let me get theknowledge and the certification
and all the resources I can getto show up that way.
(08:36):
So that was very separate thanmy company.
My company actually came intoplay because, ironically so,
both my parents right, my fatherowns both came here from
Ecuador.
My father was the one thatowned his own business.
My whole life he owned his ownbusiness and it's totally
(08:56):
different industries like realestate and international trading
, and he founded the EcuadorianAmerican Foundation.
So his entrepreneurial journeyis like that's who you should
probably have on here one day.
And then my mother came to thiscountry with her own set of
aspirations and goals and a lotof that was to further her
(09:21):
education and what she wanted todo for her career.
And she really put all that onhold when my father and her
wanted to, like you know, he hadchildren and they had their own
children.
And so my mother essentiallychose motherhood right and being
a wife and being a partner inhis business in the sense of
being that backbone of like,that stabilization of like how
to carry on a business.
(09:41):
So it was years, years later Iwas almost 40 years old.
I would say my mom had this whatI like to call a moment of
realization.
And all of us obviously hadgrown up and moved out.
You know, we have kids some ofour, some of my siblings' kids
have kids, you know and my momhad this moment where she looked
(10:05):
back and it wasn't a moment ofregret, you know, it was a
moment of like this is how Ifeel right now and it was that
she had came here all thoseyears ago and never actually
fulfilled any of those dreams orthose goals or those
aspirations she had for herself.
And you know, it was a reallypersonal moment for my mom
(10:30):
because she was very vulnerableto me.
I'm the youngest daughter and Inever really I've seen my mom
cry before, but this wasdifferent.
This was a moment where shewasn't holding back things that
I might interpret.
You know what I mean, becauseit included other family members
(10:50):
and stuff like that.
And I, of course, have sinceasked my mom, like, is it okay
if I share, like as this much asat least?
And um, so she's understandsand is on board with it.
But I just trying to have otherpeople understand, like this
moment, you know, in this tearyeyed conversation, my mom is
releasing, right, this feelingthat she's been caring for who
(11:13):
knows how many years.
You know I'm the youngestdaughter, so there's other
siblings older than me, so whoknows how long she was carrying
on to this, not even realizing,understanding the breadth of
what it meant throughout thespan of her lifetime.
And in that moment ofrealization, she's being the
most open with me and to see andwitness the strongest person
(11:35):
you know in your life 40 yearsof the same person being so
strong in so many situations,being so soft and like, just you
know, transparent.
It really hits you inside, likein your stomach, in your heart,
and you, like, never let go ofthat moment.
And essentially what she wasdoing was in her sharing this
(12:00):
with me.
It felt as if she was pouringthose things into me, Not saying
that I needed to fulfill hergoals and her dreams, but the
bigger message that I don't haveto wait to fulfill mine right,
that I can do what I want to doright now and I don't have to
wait to do that.
So there was a combination oflike how it was with my business
(12:22):
form.
I think, if I look back, thatwas a pivotal moment because it
gave me that, I guess, unwrittenpermission and support from one
of the most important people inmy life.
So how could I not take thatform of empowerment and do
something with it?
So, and at the same time, likeGame Changers, was already like
(12:45):
it wasn't born or wasn't formedin any sense.
But I started to notice thingsin the industry and I started to
realize that, like hey, we needmore women of color, like in
these positions, that they'rebeing seen as leaders.
They're being seen as leaders,they're being seen as experts,
but the person in front of theroom or the person that's given
this information, they all lookthe same.
They're all the same gender andthe same race.
(13:07):
So this had in my company form.
It was really an intersectionof like recognizing the need for
change in the industry and then, through my mom, being
empowered to do something aboutit yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
So did Game Changers come first before VPM, or which
one came first?
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, so my company, vcpm.
It came, it's hard to say, tobe honest with you, I would say
I would have to backtrack.
It almost seemed like it waskind of sort of in one of the
same, because I had attended mycertification and I was one of
(13:48):
two people of color, at leastvisibly Right, and that kind of
always stuck with me because,you know, I felt already
intimidated and already a bit inover my head, and when you
don't see others that look likeyou, you can.
That's like another layer offeeling, you know, like not
(14:11):
belonging.
You know, and no one treated methat way.
I don't want to, you know, puta picture out there, like you
know it was our RCAcertification.
I'm really happy that I was.
I had the opportunity to dothat and no one made me feel any
type of way.
But when you have a livedexperience and certain places
and spaces that you're in, andwhen people who are you know
(14:35):
giving you this green light ofyou know yes, you belong here
when those people all look thesame and that they don't look
like you, then it starts to feedthis like story to you.
And that's what I noticed inthat certification.
It was just a little seed oflike hey, like why aren't there
more people of color?
here, why aren't there morewomen of color color here?
(14:59):
Why aren't there more women ofcolor?
So that eventually grew intolike other thoughts.
As I did become a certified runcoach and did do jobs and
projects and work for differentcompanies Once again I started
to notice the same thing.
Like the people I'm working for, the people who are in charge,
the people who are leading theway, are mostly the same gender,
the same race of white malesand it really made me curious as
(15:20):
to why are we the ones in thosepositions, in those roles?
Why aren't we leading the way?
And so Game Changers.
It's funny because my companylike officially began in August
of 2020.
Officially began in August of2020.
I went through LegalZoom and Igot my BCPM Inc Incorporated and
(15:44):
then two months later about twomonths later, we had brought in
our first 16 women of color tobecome game changers.
So there's really just a fineline of what came first.
It's like one of those trackfinishes right, it's like by the
10th of a second.
So I think kind of happenedsimultaneously, simultaneously
in that way.
But I didn't form Game Changersas a program.
(16:07):
That that came later on becauseof the women who were a part of
it.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
To be honest with you , Okay, so I get the sense that
your VCPM company is more oflike the manager, the managing
of Game Changers, in a sense,and am I right on that?
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Yeah, so think of like VCPM Inc as like the, I say
parent company, although GameChangers is not its own business
, but it's a program, right, sothat program falls under my
company.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Got it.
Okay, so let's talk about GameChangers, because we're having
this conversation and people arelike what are they talking
about?
Okay, game Changers and youtalked a lot about the things
that you know, again, nobody'streating us bad in the running
industry, no one's hating on us,but it does give a sense of
(16:58):
belonging or not belonging andnot feeling like fitting in,
especially for, I would say,people of color that live in
areas that are predominantlyCaucasian and you grew up in
that type of atmosphere andenvironment and never feeling
(17:19):
like you belong.
And now you have this love of asport and now you're like oh,
here we go again.
I still don't belong here.
And it's not saying and it's sohard to explain this, vanessa,
unless you, who are listening,have experienced it and it's not
(17:40):
always about color, it could beabout size, it could be about
gender, just not feeling likeyou belong, and belonging is
literally one of the needs.
As a human being, we want tofeel like we belong.
So, game Changers is havingthese women that are running
coaches right?
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Yeah, yeah, game Changers we provide resources
and funds so more women of colorcan become certified run
coaches.
Our bigger mission there isredefining who people see as
those experts and those leadersmission there is redefining who
people see as those experts andthose leaders, and it's, you
know.
One thing I always like topoint out is, yes, we're
utilizing coaching, but reallyit's a way of utilizing a
(18:26):
vehicle to create impact.
So coaching is the drivingforce behind Game Changers, but
it's really impactingcommunities and ultimately, the
industry, you know, but it'sreally impacting communities and
ultimately the industry.
You know the why behind GameChangers and it ties back to my
mom once again.
But the why behind why GameChangers even exists is because,
you know, being that bridge formy mother.
(18:49):
You know, spanish is her firstlanguage and so I would be that
bridge for her to communicatewith people.
And so my older brothers andsisters are a lot older and I
have one younger brother.
He's a lot younger.
So there was a time wherethings kind of fell on my
shoulders, whether we went tothe post office or the bank or
department stores, and I wouldtalk on my mom's behalf.
(19:14):
She would give me this littlenudge and she'd be like you know
, you talk, you talk.
And I would talk on my mom'sbehalf.
She would give me this littlenudge and she'd be like you know
, you talk, you talk, I wouldtalk for her.
At times I didn't realize thatmy mom was being treated
differently, that we were beingtreated differently, not until
many years later, not until Istarted to be more in college
and doing the work that I do now, more like in college and then
(19:38):
creating and doing the work thatI do now.
But you know, seeing andremembering my mom advocating
for herself, that was really myfirst example of seeing
something like that and being,you know, I don't know.
It was probably like 10 yearsold give or take.
I didn't understand that, so itreally made me a bit
embarrassed about that fact.
That we were differentcertainly wasn't celebrated back
then and I didn't know or evenprobably understand things like
(20:01):
discrimination or racism or biasor anything like that, you know
.
So I felt small, um, in thosecircumstances because, you know,
I felt as if my mom was in thewrong, you know, like, because
she was, would get so upset atthe people talking to her and I
didn't see that, you know, Ididn't see that they were
(20:22):
talking to her some type of way.
So I kind of like, no, like,don't like, no, no, no, like,
don't do that, like I can seeher boiling up like no, no, no,
like someone's voice isn't beingheard.
(20:43):
You know, I can connect thosedots now that I was a voice for
my mom and, honestly, throughrunning, I discovered my own
voice, because I wasn't always,you know, very um, you know
talking and like being the onein the room to say something,
like I would get so beat, redand so timid and stuff like that
, but understanding, like beinga voice for her, finding my own
(21:05):
voice through running, and now Iget to amplify the voices of
others Because to me it remindsme of my mom.
You know, I don't want us tonot be heard, I don't want us to
wait our turn to be heard, andit's about time that we change
who that voice is in front ofthe room and on the microphones,
and in the books and all thethings you know.
And that's the real core behindGame Changers, you know, is to
(21:28):
make sure that we're amplifyingthe voices unheard, just like my
mom's.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
I feel that, I feel that I feel that how many
coaches do you have?
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Yeah, right now we have 108 coaches, yeah, in 27
states and Washington DC.
And what's really beautiful iswe.
You know the goal in the very,very beginning, when I was like
you know, getting funds andstuff like that was, you know I
wanted to do five coaches.
I thought five coaches would bea great way to create impact
(22:02):
and to show that there's another, different type of leader.
You know what I mean to look to, and I read a book that really
changed that perspective andthat book essentially talked
about having a globalconversation with people and my
(22:22):
mind couldn't grasp that someonewould have a goal to have a
global conversation.
Like what is that?
Who thinks like that?
You know what I mean, and itreally was a reflection of um,
I'm capable of more.
Like I meaning, like whoever'slistening, you, lisa, like each
one of us, are so much morecapable of doing and achieving
(22:44):
the thing that's already in ourhead, in our heart, as an idea.
And to realize that like hey,you know I wanted to reach this
goal of five people.
So you know what, scratch that.
You know we're not going tojust stop at five women, we're
going to redefine the wholeindustry and show that there is
a new leader, there's a new typeof expert to book to that can
(23:05):
lead the way and that can bethat go to expert that people
see and building Game Changers.
Because at first it was likethis small idea from this girl
from Jersey that just wanted to,like, make a difference and
(23:26):
it's like, yes, I am that and Iwill always be that, like that's
who I am and what a beautifulfoundation I get to build upon.
You know, because there's somuch more out there for the game
changers, for our coaches, forthe communities that are
reaching for the industry to seeand experience, to know how we
(23:47):
see things as women of color, asexperts, and you know there's
so much more out there for usall.
So, to go from one of the smallgoal, it really was so much
bigger than me and it is now somuch bigger than me and it's
it's beautiful to witness it.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Oh, that's awesome, that's great.
So you have all these coaches,all these game changers in
different states.
So how could somebody first ofall let's say someone wants to
reach out to a coach, a gamechanger how do they go about
doing that?
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yeah, well, I mean.
So Game Changers is designedfirst of all, you know, to get
women of color certified.
So I do want to put out therethat there's this sense of
getting women the opportunity tobe certified through RRCA.
And then they have a businesscoach that they have to
understand well, what is it thatyou want to do with your
(24:46):
certification?
And then the last component ofthe program is a six month
structured mentorship, andwhat's really nice is that
mentor is also a woman of color.
So there's this, and they haveaccountability partners to
support them along the way.
So there's this, and they haveaccountability partners to
support them along the way.
So if someone was looking for acoach, I mean they could
definitely go to my website,wwwvcpmcom, or even email me at
(25:08):
vanessa at vcpmcom.
But the way that the GameChangers program is set up is
really to get women acclimatedto being in this space, right.
Gainer doesn't set up so muchto like, have some type of like
what's it called Connection,right To like match people, but
(25:30):
we still provide that.
So if that's someone thatsomeone is looking for, I
definitely encourage them toreach out to us.
We also, I will say, have thefemale Coach Lead L-E-A-D and
that stands for Leveraging,educating, amplifying Diversity.
And so that's an IG series thatwe do every month on the 16th.
We do it on the 16th in honorof our first 16 Game Changers
(25:54):
and it's just to showcase andhighlight one woman of color
coach each month and we hone iton her specialty, and that
specialty can either fall undercoach, athlete community or
business.
And that's another resource Iwould say for people if you are
looking for a particular coach,because you can find out right
away what their expertise is andif it matches yours, then you
(26:15):
can reach out directly to them.
But yes, we're always open.
If someone is interested inlooking for a particular coach,
you can again reach out throughthe form or me directly at
Vanessa at bcpmcom, and ofcourse, the best way is always
to reach out to the coachdirectly.
But if you're having troublefinding one, then yeah, please
reach out.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Okay.
So, vanessa, you kind of likeblew my mind a little bit here,
because, basically, creating anopportunity to have your own
like program your own, you'rebuilding entrepreneurs, you're
building Right.
I mean, it sounds like you gotthem with a business Girl.
Where were you in 2018?
I mean, this is where I need it, but you're giving them those
(26:57):
opportunities.
It's not like, ok, we're goingto give you that opportunity to
be a running coach, but thenwe're going to have let's talk
about it, what are you going todo with that?
How much?
I mean, the sky is the limit,like you're basically saying the
sky's the limit, what, what doyou want to do?
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Yeah, exactly, and that's the bigger message with
my company, VCPM Inc.
Is to live a life withoutlimits.
And so with Game Changers, thenice thing is, yes, we do get
some people that want to start abusiness or a side hustle, but
we also get people that justwant the information and the
knowledge, and we also getpeople that just want to expand
the platform that they'realready on.
So that business coach iscrucial because we want women to
(27:37):
stay in the industry.
Right, we're not going tochange anything if people just
are given an opportunity andthen we say good luck, you know,
we want, you know, women ofcolor to thrive in this space
and then they can use coachingas their vehicle, whichever way
they see that.
You know, some coaches are, youknow, starting their own
businesses and are applying itto the run crews that they're a
(27:58):
part of or leading.
Some are taking it back totheir reservations and providing
it for clinic in terms of theirhealth and wellness.
You know some are using it toexpand their platform and
providing expertise in magazinesand podcasts.
And it's so amazing when youdon't live under definitions and
you don't live in boxes thatother people have created and
(28:19):
you know, using coaching as ourdriving force.
There's so many examples howwe're doing that, beyond just
getting people to their startinglines and beyond getting them
to that race day goal and thosemedals, which is so important.
But there is a way that we haveseen what running can do and for
us to apply that and give thoseto our athletes or to our
community members or to, youknow, the youth that follow us
(28:43):
into the sport.
That message is so much biggerand you know we collect our own
data.
I will say too, so you know,one of the first things we
noticed was there's not a lot ofdata on women of color coaches,
like post-collegiate.
So we said, you know what,we're going to collect it
(29:05):
ourselves.
And so since 2020, we've beencollecting our own data, so we
know things like 89.5% of ourcoaches find confidence in
themselves through the program,and then 68% of them find that
confidence in other areas oftheir life.
So how powerful is that rightthat we can utilize coaching and
running and being in this spacewhere you can take up, you know
and proclaim your presence andfind that confidence.
It's like you know what this is, how I'm going to show up
everywhere that I am, and it'sjust an amazing that you know
(29:26):
we're finding that people arefinding that through the Game
Changers program.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely yeah.
The way you see running, theway you're building yourself up,
you know, with your body is allconnected.
It's that mind body connectionand just how you see life in
general.
So, my God, vanessa, amazing,so amazing.
Okay, so what is coming up forGame Changers?
Anything coming up.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Yes, absolutely.
Well, I will say, before I saywhat's coming up, something I
thought would be really cool tomention too, that we'll have
coming up again this year.
So this past fall and againthis upcoming fall, we'll do
this distribution.
So our presenting sponsor isBrooks Running and this is our
third year now that they'll beour presenting sponsor, and one
(30:13):
of the nice things that we'reable to do is give back to our
community.
So this past fall we were ableto distribute to those in need
in our communities BrooksRunning Shoes and that went to
526 people across the country.
So through like 22 coaches, Ibelieve it was.
I forgot how many states, maybe13 or 14 different states, I
(30:35):
want to say but we were able toprovide that access to movement.
You know whether that's walkingor running or side shuffling,
like I did across my firstfinish line, but you know, it's
been really wonderful to see thecoaches not only being poured
into but they're paying itforward and that's one of the
(30:57):
ways that we do that annuallysince partnering with Brooke.
So we do, and that's one of theways that we do that annually
since partnering with Brooke.
So we do have that coming up inthe fall, which I'm really
excited about and I'm alsoreally excited about there's a
new program that we have.
It's called Powered and that'sspelled P-W-R-H-E-R-D.
Make sure there's the her inthere, right, because you're
(31:18):
being powered by her and so whatthat is is our way to partner
with road races.
So we're partnering with roadraces that want to provide
inclusivity, meaning, you know,it's not enough to provide an
event and say, hey, runners orwalkers show up on race day and
get your medal.
You know, in order for roadraces to really be inclusive,
(31:40):
it's like how are you treatingpeople before they get to that
starting line?
Like, how are you ensuring thatthey're properly, um, supported
, trained and equipped to showup on race day?
So road races have a reallygreat opportunity to invest and
be inclusive of how they treatpeople before they get to that
start line.
And and that's where Powercomes into play.
So we're an online trainingprogram and we are powered by
(32:05):
our game-changing Women of Colorcertified run coaches, and it's
really nice.
You know we have the wholeprogram is we partner with the
road race.
People can register for usduring the registration process,
but they get the training plan,whether that's beginner,
intermediate or advanced, andit's specific to each race, so
we don't use the same trainingplan.
You know um a training platform, so we do use final search, so
(32:26):
that's the way they have accessto their training and they can
sync it however they want tosync it and provide virtual run
clinics that are specific tothat road race so it resonates
with their audience.
And then, for those that youknow go to the training, they'll
get a bonus medal, which isreally fun.
So that day when they cross thefinish line, they'll get two
medals, um, which is reallyexciting and, you know, a nice
(32:47):
added touch to it.
But overall it's been, um, Imean, a little bit over the moon
to know that.
You know, this all leads back.
If I, if I rewind each chapterof this story, it's just crazy
to go from sitting in my couchin New Jersey because I grew up
in Jersey sitting in my couch inNew Jersey, with my mom being
(33:08):
not too far from me, watching adocumentary that really
catapulted and changed thetrajectory of my life, to now us
not only helping women of colortake up space as certified
running coaches, but also now weget to help the runners and the
walkers and the people thatwant to make health and wellness
a bigger part of their life,and we get to do that, we get to
(33:29):
provide that and it's ablessing on blessing.
So Powered is wwwpwrherdcom andwe're excited.
We have our first client, ourfirst partner, already.
It's the Philadelphia distancerun, which happens to September
15th, is a half and a 5k andwe'll be providing training for
(33:49):
both and you can go to thatwebsite and click on partners
and people can find out how toregister and join us, because it
does not close.
You know people might needsupport and help with their
training at any moment in theirjourney to their starting line,
so we're providing that accessat any point.
We're not closing that.
So, yeah, those are someexciting things in the wings.
(34:11):
I'm sure there's so much more,but those are the two that pop
up in my head first.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
That's some good stuff, vanessa, really good
things.
So if you all want to reach outto Vanessa and check out all
the programs that she's beentalking about, all of this will
be on the show notes.
I'm not going to ask her to saythose where you can find her,
because she said it multipletimes, but you could definitely
go in the show notes, click onthere and that's how you'll get
(34:38):
ahold of her.
Vanessa, my God, I'm so proudof you.
I'm really proud of what you'redoing for women, women of color
Really good things that I'msure there's going to be just
more explosion in a positive way.
So thank you so much forfinally getting a chance to talk
(35:00):
to you today and you're doingthe do and I'm so proud of you.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Thank you so much.
I appreciate it and Iappreciate your consistency and
reaching back so we can makethis happen.
So thank you.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
You're welcome and until next time.
Everyone, Bye.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Bye.
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