HELEN NEWMAN: Holocaust child and Grand Dame of the Fitness Apparel Industry

I first met today’s guest, Helen Newman, about 10 years ago. I was traveling to Chicago with my wife Elin who was the buyer for a local fitness studio and she was meeting Helen for the to see the fitness lines she represented. Her showroom was in a warehouse in Chicago’s garment district that had been converted to sales offices. I knew the first time meeting her she was special and a class act. 

Years later as I was putting together Interesting Humans I knew I wanted Helen to be a guest on the podcast. After connecting with her on Instagram and following her for a while, I was thinking that we would discuss her foray into fitness apparel and the challenges of being a sales rep during the coronavirus. Boy was I surprised when I found out her history. Not only was she an accomplished pianist as a child, she is the daughter to parents who survived the Holocaust. She recounts in our conversation how her parents were subjected to unreal hardship in one of the most notorious of death camps, Auschwitz, and both survived. She remembers the day at about five years old when she first learned about the Holocaust and how as time went on her parents and relatives opened up about the terrible suffering  during that time and the losses of loved ones in the death camps. 

I see our conversation as a real life history lesson in the insights into her upbringing in the very close community in Chicago as well as some of the characters who played big roles in her life. And l loved listening to her talk about how the be-dazzled young woman she was started in sales with no order forms no idea of how to do sales to how she has weathered the ups and downs as a  successful self-employed sales person for 35 years, much of the last half in the fickle fitness industry. 

LINKS:
Helen on Facbook: https://www.facebook.com/helen.newman.908
Some of her top fitness lines:
Alo: https://www.aloyoga.com/
Wolven: https://wolventhreads.com/
Bella + Canvas: https://www.bellacanvas.com/
Thrive Société: https://thrivesociete.com/
Beach Riot: https://beachriot.com/

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