You moved to New York City specifically to work for SoulCycle?
Yes, I initially came out here to be trained to teach for SoulCycle. The audition happened in Los Angeles and what they do after you audition is you come to New York City for a 9-week intensive training program. And it was during that period when I fell back in love with New York City—fell completely, head-over-heels in love with SoulCycle, and realized if I wanted to become the teacher that I want to, it’s best to stay close and learn from all the other master instructors here. The New York riders hold a very high standard and this is where the bar was set for excellence. We actually call NYC “the Mothership” because this is where SoulCycle started.
For those wanting to become instructors, do you think there is a difference between East and West Coast Soul?
Some of our team is already split and started to migrate out there to San Francisco and to Palo Alto. So, there will training out there as well. But, I do think the best opportunity is to come here to New York City and do the immersion… just like if you’re learning a language, where do you go? If you want to learn Japanese, go to Japan and live with the Japanese for a month. When we came out here to train our game was changed instantly. We rode with the best Master instructors, we wrote with amazing clients. We got to go to each of the studios and see what their tempo was and we got polished. So, right now everyone’s going to New York. In the future it might change.
How did you first hear about SoulCycle?
Well, I started as just a rider through Janet Fitzgerald. Janet used to own a studio in West Hollywood, California called Body and Soul with her partner, Tevia Celli. And, that’s who (SoulCycle founders) Julie Rice and Elizabeth Cutler resourced to come out here to NY. Janet was an exemplary teacher right at the beginning – exemplary. Every one of her classes was impeccable in her teaching… you are accountable and you had a great time, every time. I remember when Soul had first opened in LA and everyone was like, “Oh, yeah – the SoulCycle cult.” And, they were saying a whole bunch of stuff and I was skeptical at first! I thought, “Okay, really? How much is it per hour? You’re paying that?!”
I freely admit that it’s a cult… and that I’m in the cult.
Oh my god. I drank the yellow Kool-Aid.
Why do you think there is so much more of a cult-like energy toward Soul as opposed to FlyWheel?
I’m actually not sure… I do believe that one of the things I love about Soul is we’re groomed to believe that every discipline is perfect. Find where you belong. Find where you’re happy. Our only enemy is the couch. That’s it! Like, there’s room for 150 different cycling places because there’s so many different individuals that might need something different. So, the enemy is just being sedentary. I think FlyWheel does a great thing. It’s different than our thing, but it’s supposed to be.
So let’s trace it back. How did begin your fitness lifestyle and career?
Well, I was born in a small place called Mendham, New Jersey, up north. There was one little main street…so many deer, very tiny winding roads, no lights, everyone had the door unlocked. It’s gorgeous. But, if you’re a kid growing up there, there is a chance that you’re going to be heroically bored. But, I learned how to run cross country and track, and then I just would run from town to town. So, ever since high school started, I found a release in being physical and I loved it. It was meditation.
Little did I know know that it was going to be the cornerstone of everything else I would do in my life – that feeling of consistency, discipline, connectedness which is spirituality and that sweat – that meditative sweat thing that happens when you can fall into a rhythm or a pace. And then suddenly, your day falls off of you and onto the ground. Things come to you that may have escaped you earlier. And then there’s a presence that happens at the end of it. And that, for me, is the pay-off. I loved that whether I did cross country or track, it’s still an individual group sport… it’s individual growth. What I love about indoor cycling, specifically SoulCycle is, we’re candle-lit, we’re together, we’re all on our own journey but we’re supportive of each other’s journeys. We raise consciousness about each other.
What brought you to LA?
Cooking. I became a chef early on. I moved from the east coast to LA and realized that LA was the Mecca of eating. And since I was always in fitness, I always personally cleaned up my eating. I was always doing the no flour, no sugar, no starch thing a long time ago before there was even an Atkins. There wasn’t a name or “diet” for it yet, I just knew that it was really good for my body. So I had to tweak recipes, anyway. So, I started working actually as the Executive Chef of all the celebrity rehabs, and Promises Malibu was my first one. I worked for them for 5 years and then I went on work for Passages and Harmony House. They were all amazing and all in Malibu, oddly. So, I was recipe developing and cooking for amazing individuals at very vulnerable times of their lives.
How were you led to spinning as the next step after chefing?
As I was getting a little disenchanted with chefing I was slowly getting acclimated to this “thing” of spinning. I would do it and people would go on and on about it, but I never had the “phenomena.” But, I was really determined, because honestly, that many people smiling and sweating, they looked happy… and wrecked. So, I was willing to stick it out until I had that same experience, and I did, with Andrea Lawent (madeinlafitness.com)…and Janet… and Tevia. I finally understood, “this is what it’s about.” Those three women truly set the bar for spinning in Los Angeles, they set the riding on the rhythm. All of the other spin studios were busy riding what your output is, 60%, 70%, your RPM’s. That’s why in class I say, RPM’s and BPM’s, I care about the beats because if you bring the hips on the right beat, and you have just the right amount of resistance, you’re going to be pouring sweat. It’s just going to feel so much more satisfying than “just going the distance.”
So, during that year off, I literally became a spin maniac because I just didn’t know what I wanted to do chefing-wise. And, if you don’t know what you want to do creatively, the thing to do is nothing. Go switch channels, work as a barista, go do something completely different than what you would usually do, and your inspiration will come back. So my best friend and I would run, spin, take a nap, do yoga, maybe another spin. We were crazy during that year off…. And it was the best year off OF MY LIFE. And, I remember that year on my birthday, in my card Andrea wrote “I think you would make an excellent teacher.” She said, “you love doing this. You should teach this.” I had never given it a thought, and I said, “I don’t know what I’m going to do”, and she goes, “well just go.” And the rest is history.
You also picked up amazing clientele one-on-one personal training, right?
Oh yeah, I had amazing clients. Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jonny Lee Miller, Sarah Shahi. She’s awesome – Sarah comes to Williamsburg and we visit and we ride. Hilary Duff, a few Olympic athletes. I had a wonderful client base in LA and that’s what I did for my last 5 years there.
What does your daily food situation look like?
I’ll have coffee, fruit, pink grapefruit, or berries in the morning. Then, usually 2 whole eggs with some extra egg whites, or just a lot of egg whites. You definitely need a combination of yolk and the white to give you what you need, nutritionally. I also love turkey bacon, but I stay primarily fish and poultry. Dairy is in the infrequent category, but I love Fage 2% or 0% yogurt, I’ll have that with a teaspoon some raw, unfiltered honey and throw in an omega mix or some fresh berries, a little cinnamon or with cayenne pepper. It’s fantastic, almost like ginger.
I’m actually gluten free for the most part. I have an allergy – I operate better when I don’t have white flour, etc. It’s a subtle change, but since I’ve been eating mostly gluten free, I don’t pull water weight and I’m not as puffy. Two of the biggest culprits for impeding progress in people trying to change their body are night eating, your booze and your sugar intake. Not everyone needs to pull it all out all the time, but if you are going to have it, make sure it’s infrequent, but damn good… and for the right reasons! But, to deny yourself everything all the time is to set yourself up for failure. Life isn’t balanced that way.
You can’t live your life without the things that you love.
You cannot. My tombstone is not going to say, “she ate well.”
Have you ever had a problem with your weight?
I did! Between 6th and 8th grade, I picked up maybe 30-40 pounds as a kid. My folks were having problems at home and I realize now that I internalized all of it. Back
then it just came across as a cherry pie… it was wonderful anesthesia. Food is chemicals – food or drugs – it’s all of it. So if I was upset there was always something to soothe and it was always a form of a sweet for me. It’s not the salt, it’s the sweet for me… almost like an early form of Valium. It still acts that same way. I know now that if I have real desire
for it, I ask myself, “what are you feeling?” Because the only reason why I’m reaching for that stuff is because I really want something to cut off the feeling.
Totally, when our emotions are intense, we reach for food.
Absolutely! Or, if we’re over tired, interestingly enough. It’s possible for us to get sleep but not get rest. I try to touch on it in class sometimes. You can pass out and come to, but if you go to sleep and you wake up and you’re rested, you don’t reach for calorie dense choices.
Did you have any sort of disordered eating or particular behaviors with food?
Absolutely, during that same period (6th-8th grade), and it took me until just after high school to start to manage it. It took until then for me to realize that these were feelings that I used my food to manage. Once I decided to seek out and utilize coping mechanisms that were healthy, I no longer needed to do that. But, you reach for what works… especially when you’re a kid.
What kind of habits were you forming?
It would either be what I call “spree and remorse”. So I would either binge and then, I didn’t purge, but I just wouldn’t eat. And then I’d feel horrible afterwards. But if I didn’t eat I’d feel as if I was in control, which is another lie. It was very extreme; I was doing everything to the nines. Either I couldn’t stop eating, or I wouldn’t eat at all. There was no middle ground in any of it until I got coping tools. Everything from secret eating to hiding it from my family, to weighing and measuring food, ad infinitum. It’s very tricky in the eating department because it’s legal, it’s everywhere, there’s a thousand reasons for it and there’s a thousand people who will justify what you want to do. You have to really be OK with yourself and understand where you want your path to go.
Let’s talk about the dreads.
Well, I’ve had them for 23 years… My hair is naturally dirty blonde spiral curls… so I dye it black. I started the dreadlocks when I was in my early twenties and my hair was always shaved in the back and on the sides. I just always liked that look. Back then it was punk, it was the 80’s, it was all that. I’ve allowed the long parts to really grow, so it
can be really long if I want; but I can also pull it up and it’s very cool and relaxing, because I have a lot of hair. You’re basically growing yarn. It was never a remark on fashion; it was a remark on the weight of my hair [laughing]. As far as maintenance with dreadlocks…just make sure to wash, rinse and condition them thoroughly. You really have to rinse the hell out of them. That’s all that has to happen… It’s really the perfect style for me and my lifestyle.
What’s the story behind the tattoos?
I got my first one when I was like 15. It was a Griffin on my ankle… nothing exciting. But, I knew early in high school that I would never be in the kind of career that would make it so I wasn’t able to have them. Everything has always been on my terms, always. I started collecting consciously when I was 21, in Los Angles, right by Mark Mahoney, who is one of the really well known tattoo artists. I started at my arms and I knew both my arms would be done and a little bit of my shoulders. Now, it’s just a matter of touching them up and adding more color. They’re all things that matter to me. They’re all various flowers that I have at my house. Like, if you go to my house in Los Angeles, every flower that is on my body is planted in my yard.
As far as the most important symbols… I think what’s on my hands/fingers. One of my training clients, the actor Jonny Lee Miller, was the one who recommended these. I wanted to do my knuckles and we were thinking about 4 letter words. I liked “more” and “less” because each day you choose and you negotiate what you want more and less of. Every day is different, and every day you are different. Nothing is hard and fast, or black or white. You just move closer, you move further away. It’s all a very lovely dance and it’s not hard and that’s very much how I wanted to live. On the hands, are the Chinese characters for “grace” and “glory.” Lastly, both of my hands is a lotus flower. Being an only child it is to remind me to stay connected with another human. It’s very easy to be autonomous; it’s so easy to just do the “me show.” I’m so comfortable by myself but I have to remind myself to look up, it is ‘we’. Stay connected. You are not an island. So, no tattooing devils on a skateboard. No unicorns, no butterflies. [laughing]