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The Fitness Industry Celebrity Insider (w/ Frances Flores)
216 Plays1 year ago
The U.S. fitness industry is valued at almost $90 billion, ranging from health clubs to boutique studios, online platforms to digital home machines. Yoga to HIIT, Pilates to barre, Tonal to Peloton...the fitness world is vast and diverse. So how does it all work behind the scenes? If you're a performing artist, how do you break into the fitness industry? How do you stand out? Become a fitness celebrity? Develop your very own fitness brand?
Yasi and Steven sit down with someone who has LITERALLY done everything we just described in the fitness industry, Frances Flores. A former professional dancer, she used her training and experience on cruise ships to move into the fitness industry, eventually becoming a nationally renowned yoga instructor, personal trainer & wellness coach. She is a former coach and manager at various Equinox clubs in Los Angeles CA, a former coach on Tonal, and numerous online platforms like Sweat Factor. She is now focused on her own fitness brand, ShapedbyFrances. Her journey is inspiring and instructive for understanding how performance and fitness are intertwined.
For Frances' website, go to www.ShapedByFrances.com
Frances can be also found on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/francesflores/
For read some of Frances' prior interviews, go to:
https://shoutoutla.com/meet-frances-flores/
https://www.marthastewart.com/8073988/is-yoga-really-exercise
For more from Athletes and the Arts, go to www.athletesandthearts.com or follow our Instagram @athletesandthearts.
Bio:
Frances Flores: A Former Professional Dancer, Frances Has Quickly Made A Name For Herself As One Of The Most Sought-After Yoga, Fitness & Health Professionals In Los Angeles And Around The World. Bilingual Celebrity Trainer, Wellness Expert, Former Coach On Tonal, And Guest Coach On Multiple Platforms, Frances Combines Her Training In Dance, Yoga, Strength Training, Overall Fitness And Nutrition, In A Balanced Approach To Well-Being.
Born And Raised In The Beautiful Island Of Enchantment: Puerto Rico. This Fiery Latina Is Known To Bring Her Positive Energy, Humor, Creativity, And Her Infectious & Bubbly Personality To Everything She Does. After Witnessing The Transformative Effect That Her Coaching And Training Has In Many Of Her Clients, She Felt Inspired To Create The #SHAPEDBYFRANCES Movement.
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Transcript
Introduction and Resources
00:00:06
Speaker
Welcome to the Athletes in the Arts podcast, hosted by Stephen Karaginas and Yasi Ansari.
00:00:21
Speaker
Hello again, everyone. And welcome to the athletes in the arts podcast, along with the ASEAN. Sorry. I'm Stephen Karaginas. We're so thrilled to have you with us today. So if you'd like what you hear, please, by all means leave a wondrous review and click subscribe. So you can get our episodes delivered to you right when they drop. If you want more information on performing arts medicine, go to www.athletesandthearts.com and check out all of our resources.
Fitness Industry Overview
00:00:46
Speaker
So today we are going to go deep into the fitness industry.
00:00:51
Speaker
So what does that mean? Well, the fitness industry refers to gyms and clubs and boutique studios and recreation facilities, home equipment, online platforms, connected communities, all focused on exercise and fitness. The total industry revenue expected for 2023 is 81.5 billion, which is absolutely huge, but it's down from the pre-pandemic high of 96.7 billion in 2019. Now globally, there are over 200,000 health clubs around the world
00:01:20
Speaker
with over 31,000 in the US alone leading the way. And by the way, Brazil is number two with 29,000 clubs. But thanks to the pandemic, the online fitness sector saw a huge growth. Before COVID, the market was valued at about $6 billion. It is now growing at an annual 33.1% rate to an estimated 59 billion by 2027.
00:01:44
Speaker
But now with society moving past the pandemic, people are starting to crave a bigger sense of community when they work out, especially millennials who are making up a larger share of the market. Health clubs and online fitness platforms face the same challenges in retaining their members. So the rising trend in 2023 is the boutique studio. These are smaller niche studios that focus on a style of exercise and cater to a smaller group of people. These include popular names that you've heard about like Orange Theory, Pure Bar,
00:02:14
Speaker
soul cycle. Pilates, yoga, boxing, you name it. These clubs grew in number throughout the 2010s but post-pandemic this is a sector that is poised to explode. So with the rise of the fitness industry comes the fitness professional. These are the ones who exhort you to do one more dead bug and take you to a vinyasa flow and push you on a reformer or run you through a very intense HIIT workout.
00:02:39
Speaker
They are in the gym, in a yoga studio, inside your Peloton or Tonal machine, or online through Apple Fitness. Some of them teach a few classes a week, but then some become fitness celebrities with their own following in the communities. So how does the fitness industry work? How does one break into it? Like how do you get a job at an elite luxury club like Equinox, or an online platform like Peloton or Tonal?
00:03:03
Speaker
What's it like to teach yoga for a career? How do you turn a fitness career into a personal brand with thousands of social media followers and being quoted in Oprah and Martha Stewart's magazines? Well, we decided to find out. We are joined today by someone who can literally answer the questions to everything I've just talked about.
Frances Flores: Journey into Fitness
00:03:22
Speaker
She's a fitness celebrity with her own brand, Shaped by Francis.
00:03:26
Speaker
She's a former professional dancer who have parlayed her performance skills into a fitness career where she's a nationally renowned yoga instructor, a certified Pilates teacher. She's taught at Barre Boutique Studios, taught and managed at Equinox in Beverly Hills, California, part of an online platform called Sweat Factor, and then one of the first coaches for Tonal. She's the one and only Frances Flores, and she joins us now. Hi, Frances. Thank you for being with us today. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited.
00:03:56
Speaker
We are so excited too. So I want to start by asking you how you got started and dance and what your experience was like in the professional dance world. Yes, let's see. Well, first of all, I come from a family of artists. My dad's a music director. My mom has been singing in choirs her whole life practically. My uncle's a pianist. So music has been in my family, you know, my whole life.
00:04:25
Speaker
My parents at first tried to get me to play instruments and I tried a few but then I would just not practice and I gave up. So then dancing was the thing that made me excited. So it goes back to honestly when I was a little in Puerto Rico I started maybe dancing around the fifth grade but then we moved to the United States and I had a period of time where
00:04:53
Speaker
Maybe it was because of the language barrier or you know, I was just new to a new culture that I was too shy to take dance classes. So there was a little bit of a hiatus for me in the dance world.
00:05:10
Speaker
But I was a part of like a couple of drill teams here and there in the meantime. And it wasn't until I was about, I want to say 15, that I decided to go back to an actual dance studio, which is ancient in the dance world. So I was taking ballet with little girls. It was very humbling for me, but I was committed.
00:05:40
Speaker
I was taking all of the classes that you take when you're a beginner as already almost an adult, right? What was it that made you decide then to do that? I just got over my fear and I realized that my love for movement was bigger than that fear.
00:06:00
Speaker
Um, you know, I was, I was involved in a couple of drill teams and stuff like that, but I never really, you don't need the basic training for that. You need rhythm, of course. And, uh, the ability to pick up choreography, but, um, I just got over it. I missed it too much. Right. Yeah. I realized that the passion was bigger than my fear. So, um, I started to take everything. I started of course, ballet, uh, jazz, hip hop.
00:06:29
Speaker
I did try tap, but that was just not, I'm not gifted in the tap department. My feet do not move that fast. And one thing led to the other. And then we ended up moving, as a family, we moved quite a bit when I was younger. We ended up moving my senior year of high school to Florida. We were in New Mexico first.
00:06:55
Speaker
So we ended up in Florida. I know weird, weird trajectory, Puerto Rico to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Florida. Like, give me the thought. And I ended up in a charter school for my senior year in high school. And I was already kind of ahead of the class, I guess you could say, when it came to my academic credits. So then this particular charter school had a dance department.
00:07:23
Speaker
So I was dancing all day, basically, my senior year of high school. And because I always felt like I needed to keep catching up, catching up to everybody because I was already late, I was in the studio all of the time. So one thing led to the other. And after my senior year of high school, I went to college. I did major in advertising and public relations.
00:07:53
Speaker
and I minored in dance. Once I was in college, I knew that I wasn't made for a nine to five job, even though my major said, you know, a nine to nine job advertising in public relations. And so I was like, you know what? Let me just hurry up in college. So I sped up my bachelor's degree and I graduated in three years versus the traditional four.
00:08:23
Speaker
because I wanted to dance.
College and Cruise Ship Adventures
00:08:25
Speaker
And so during college, honestly, I had no life. When I look back to my college career, I didn't really go to parties much. I was taking all of these classes during the day. And then at night, I would go dance at a dance studio. I went to school in Orlando, Florida. So I was just
00:08:47
Speaker
dancing all of the time, working my little booty off because I knew that I needed to at least attempt a career in the dance industry and just see how it went. Right. So that particular studio, it's called, I honestly don't even know if it's still around probably, but it's called Hard Drive Productions and they were known to get dancers into cruise ships.
00:09:17
Speaker
So before I even did cruise ships, because I was in Orlando, hello, theme parks. I did a lot of gigs in theme parks and a lot of, I guess what you would call corporate gigs. So for corporate companies, you know, they would hire dancers for their parties and all of that stuff. So throughout college, I did that.
00:09:41
Speaker
And then I started auditioning, and I wanted to travel the world. And in my head, I was like, well, people are traveling on cruise ships and dancing. I would get to do that and get paid for it in my early 20s. So to me, it was like a no-brainer. And I got my first gig on the cruise ships. I guess that would be my first big professional
00:10:11
Speaker
gig and which was I think in my opinion you know like when you're young you're willing to put up with whatever living conditions you
00:10:23
Speaker
are given in a way. So cruise ships are awesome in the sense that you do get to see the world. And I was dancing, the cabins are this big, which now when I talk about it also, I think about my apartment here in LA and I'm like, well, my apartment here in LA is also little itty bitty. So not much different. But my first cruise ship contract took me to the Mediterranean Sea.
00:10:51
Speaker
So I was already in love. Yeah. Um, and actually I should backtrack it. I had never been on a cruise ever before. So then when I signed up for this gig, you sign up to live on a boat for six or seven months at a time. Right. There's really, but you can't get off. So unless something major happens, right. Um, so ironically enough, it was my first.
00:11:20
Speaker
gig, my first cruise ship trip, and we boarded in Puerto Rico. So for me, it was amazing. I was like, this is meant to be, you know, I'm going to my homeland. Were you able to like explore the countries you went to too, when you would travel with the cruise ship? Yes. So, um, so how I worked typically is,
00:11:50
Speaker
During the day unless we had a show at night because when we had a show at night We had a dress rehearsal during the day, right? But every port that we were at as long as we had time we could get off at the port so We would usually spend the day outside exploring or back in the day. I'm gonna Age myself here. There was no Instagram. There was no FaceTime. It was only Skype so
00:12:20
Speaker
we would look for these cafes to, you know, set up our computers because the internet on the ship wasn't really that great and it was also expensive. So we were all trying to save every little penny. So we would get off and the ports we would explore. I am a little bit of a nerd and I would sign up for all of the excursions because why not? Yeah.
00:12:45
Speaker
And you were able to do that. I mean, excursions with like the land, not the cruise ship excursions or the excursions. Let's say I was, let's say I was in Italy and there was like a bus excursion that you could take during the day as long because I was an employee. We had to help out in some way or another. So I would just help out like holding the number up for the guests or.
00:13:08
Speaker
um helping them line up. So I guess you know we also helped out in that way but to me it was all worth it because I got to see places at an early age and not have to spend money unless I chose to which was also you know you want to taste all the food and
00:13:28
Speaker
Go shopping. When you landed in Puerto Rico because you had traveled back to the States, like to New Mexico and you said Florida, what was it like going back to Puerto Rico? Had you gone back to Puerto Rico? We had gone back to Puerto Rico to visit family because our extended family is still there.
00:13:55
Speaker
Um, so we had gone back a couple of times not as much as we wanted to But as much as we could right? Um that particular day though I didn't get to see anybody the day that I boarded like I couldn't visit anybody of my family that I had there but I remember I have a picture in front of the ship and
00:14:20
Speaker
So it was a moment and at a later contract I ended up coming back to Puerto Rico also and my grandparents met me at the port and so I got to get off from the ship and go walk around Old San Juan with my grandparents and
00:14:38
Speaker
You know, they were, you know how grandprints are? They're always like extra proud of everything that you're doing. So they were so excited to see me come out of this ship, you know? So it was very cool. It was very cool. And I saw it as a full circle moment for me to be able to go to Puerto Rico doing something that, you know, I loved doing.
00:15:06
Speaker
So when you were dancing on the cruise ships, I'm just curious for people who may have an interest in work like this, did you enjoy it? Did it open up doors for your career? What was it like dancing on a ship? I assume also, I know from my own experience with cruise ships, I feel like dancing on a cruise ship, if the ship is going side to side, that's also challenging, right? It probably has its challenges when it comes to that.
00:15:36
Speaker
Listen, picture this. You are dancing in three enchos for the most part on a ship where yes, it does get rocky sometimes and the show does go on. So to answer your first question, I did enjoy it. I have zero regrets. I think I did it at the
00:15:58
Speaker
perfect time in my life, you know, early 20s, I didn't have an apartment, I got to store everything at my parents house, leave my car at my parents house. So it was the perfect opportunity for me to almost grow up by, you know, away from what I know. So I did see it as an opportunity to
00:16:20
Speaker
or I should say I grew up not only in my performance, right? I grew in that sense, but I also grew in just being an adult because you're away from your family, you're away from your friends. How my experience was with the people that I danced with, it worked like this, I guess I should say.
00:16:48
Speaker
I rehearsed with my cast for about a month before boarding the ship. So we, after the audition, after we got chosen to be on this cast, we spent a whole month together learning all of the shows, which at that point it was three one-hour production shows that we burned on land.
00:17:12
Speaker
So then we come on the ship as a unit, right? At that point, we were 13 people, I believe. I think it was four singers and the rest were dancers. So there was a mix of that. And so these people become your family, right? Whether you get along with everybody or not, you know, the world is not perfect. There's always going to be a few clashing relationships. Yeah.
00:17:39
Speaker
we were still there together and no matter what, we had each other's back. So you didn't feel long. We danced, depending on the cruise length, would determine how busy you are in a sense. Let's say if it was a Caribbean cruise that was five days long, you were pretty much working every single night because, you know, you have theme nights, you have
00:18:06
Speaker
different things that you're doing besides the actual shows. But if I was in Europe, the cruises last usually 15 to 18 days. So you still do the same number of shows. You had a little bit more free time. There was a couple more extracurricular activities that we did, like dance contests with the people that came on the ship. So we got to mingle with them in that way. There are different departments.
00:18:34
Speaker
I should say every single department on the ship, like the waiters, the activity staff, you get to know every single department. So everybody just gets to know each other because we're there for months together. Sure. I was dance captain for a couple of the contracts that I did, which meant that I had to look over all of the performances that the cast did, right? And then take note.
00:19:04
Speaker
And in rehearsal, we would go over the notes and fix whatever needed to be fixed. But to answer your question on the difficulty of dancing on a moving ship, I remember one of my best, funniest memories is I remember looking back at some of the footage, right? And there was a formation where we were, let's call it like a pyramid formation. And we were pirouetting.
00:19:34
Speaker
one at a time, like one row at a time, and then keep adding each row a little bit by little bit, blah, blah, blah, until everybody was providing for their lives. And there was one particular show where I would see the dancers as a unit, okay? You picture the pyramid of dancers, and you picture the ship moving left and right. And we are moving together.
00:20:00
Speaker
Nobody missed a turn. Wow. Wow. That's for sure. For sure. I don't know if it was gravity or whatever it was, but it's always one of those memories that stuck with me because how does that even work?
00:20:23
Speaker
It's already hard getting triples and multiple turns on regular solid ground and imagine it being on a ship. Exactly. That's awesome. The rest of the time when you're not dancing and then during the days, you mentioned you have time to go off and help with tours and such or excursions, but is there a mandate for how much time you have to spend interacting with people or are you kept away from people or how does that other part work?
00:20:53
Speaker
There's not a mandate. Um, we had a couple of theme nights and small events where we had to make appearances. Uh, so I guess those would be the extra things that we did. We were able to eat where the guests ate, as long as we were dressed up in business casual wear and not looking like little scrubs.
00:21:19
Speaker
Um, but there was an area for employees only where you could just wear whatever you want and get food. Um, but of course, if we were in the eyesight of anybody in the ship, that was a guess we were expected to behave. You know, like professionals, because they're going to know our faces. We always had to wear name tags and all of that good stuff. So not necessarily a requirement. And I'm sure every contract might be different and every cruise line might
00:21:49
Speaker
have different regulations, but at the time I was with celebrity cruise lines and that's how it worked. Unless we were working and had our theme nights and then there was nothing else that was required of us. So then when the professional life of cruise ship dancing and all that performance of that work, I think you went to Seattle for a while too? Yes, so before that though. So I did.
00:22:19
Speaker
In between the cruise ship contracts, I would come home to Florida. My parents were at Florida at the time. And I had a couple months in between contracts. And in that I would go back to the theme parks and do a couple gigs there.
Transitioning Careers: Dance to Fitness
00:22:33
Speaker
After I had, after I decided to finish with cruise ships, which was maybe three, three and a half years of that that I did.
00:22:42
Speaker
The same production company that hired me for the last two contracts that I did on the cruise ships hired me for a casino in Arizona. So I ended up doing a show in Arizona at a casino. We were backup dancers for impersonators for Elvis and Tina Turner and Dean Martin. So that was a gig.
00:23:13
Speaker
that lasted about a year. That was a lot of fun. It was a little different than the cruise ship life. I was ready to not live out of a suitcase. So it was my first time getting an apartment of my own and having my two feet on land, literally, after years of being on sea. So then that same company, once my contract ended in Arizona,
00:23:42
Speaker
That same company hired me for a gig in Seattle. So that's where Seattle came up. But unfortunately once I drove myself to Seattle with a couple of friends and we had an apartment chosen and all that, the gig fell through. We were there already. So I remember I was February, so the weather was not ideal in Seattle.
00:24:10
Speaker
But I had it in my head that I was there for a reason, regardless of the gig. And I started looking into yoga studios because, side note, I became certified in yoga in Arizona while I was dancing there. So that's when that started. We can go to that later. But in Seattle, I stayed there for about a month.
00:24:37
Speaker
I honestly could not handle the weather. I needed sunshine in my life. So I have a great relationship with my family and I have my parents, I owe my parents everything. And at that point my parents were like, you know what? You've always wanted to live in California. You're already on that side of a United States. So why don't you give LA a shot? So my dad,
00:25:04
Speaker
he flew to Seattle and we drove down to LA together. And that's how I landed in LA. But once I got to LA, I was honestly not even sure that I wanted to be in the dance industry anymore. I think I was already a little bit, you know, one foot in, one foot out. Not because I didn't love dancing, but it's just exhausting, right? Auditioning is exhausting and the lifestyle, I was just getting older and was ready for something new. So,
00:25:34
Speaker
Once I got to LA, I transitioned into fitness. And it happened, honestly, after a few months of what I call rock bottom in LA. Oh, boy. I know a lot of people can relate to that feeling.
00:25:59
Speaker
All I had was what was in my car. I had left half of my things in Seattle because I was just like, get me out. I'm done. Um, so I was lucky because my cousin lives here. So bless her for giving me her futon for a few months. But those few months of me living out of boxes, I had all my boxes in her living room. I was.
00:26:28
Speaker
100% lost as to what the heck I wanted to do with my life because I'm sure a lot of artists can relate. We are very passionate individuals. We give our all to everything.
00:26:45
Speaker
And if you are sensitive like I am, you fully just devote yourself to your craft. And to the point where everything else kind of is just blurry, right? I guess that's a good way to describe it, the way I feel about it. Not that you're not present in anything else, but you give so much to what you're doing at that point in time that everything else is secondary, right? It's not that important.
00:27:13
Speaker
And once you choose to switch from that career to whatever else comes up, it's not only a physical change, but it takes a toll on your mental health, in my opinion, just because you're just trying to figure things out. And you're like, well, what if I do this? And what if I do that? And that's not it. That doesn't fuel my soul.
00:27:41
Speaker
It took a minute. It took a minute or you know months for me to find my way because moving to LA without a plan Moving to LA with a plan is hard enough moving to LA with a no plan and no connection. You're like What am I doing with my life? It's terrifying, right? So I had
00:28:07
Speaker
Going back to my experience in Arizona, because I was only dancing in the evenings and at night, I've always enjoyed working out. I got into yoga because my mom told me that yoga was going to be good for me and for my dance career. And I thought yoga was the most boring thing anybody could ever do, ever.
00:28:31
Speaker
I was like, what is yoga? I feel like for dancers, it takes a transition, right? It takes a little bit of like Pilates, I feel like is more up the
00:28:42
Speaker
dancers, you know, energy in my opinion, in my opinion, this is just me. But it takes a while, like you really got to need yoga to start yoga. You got to need to stretch, you got to want to relax, but it's
00:29:01
Speaker
Maybe she just knew that that's what you needed at that time because for someone who's you know in a lot of different dance styles It is a little bit of an adjustment to allow yourself to go into yoga Exactly. I could not agree with you more. I'm also certified in Pilates. So I get that You know that love for Pilates that it is like an easier language to digest when you're a dancer. Yeah
00:29:28
Speaker
But my mom, I mean, moms always know best. How does that even happen? They just do. She was like, Princess, you need yoga in your life. It's going to help your dancing. And I had, as a little side note, I had started working out with my mom at a young age because, you know, we did
00:29:50
Speaker
VHS workout videos together. And at that point, it was all aerobics, which for somebody who likes things on beat, aerobics was awesome. You follow up a little routine and it's all to the music and you're jumping around. And to me, that was more my language, right? So I did a lot of stiffer aerobics with my mom. I used to go to classes with her. And so then one thing led to the other. She also got me to pull into Pilates and it was all
00:30:20
Speaker
doing VHS videos. Um, but then she got me into yoga. So I did have that background. So as I was dancing, I would work out on the side. You know, I gotta say real quickly that very, I did not expect an interview to have someone say my mom got me into working out Pilates yoga. That's like so unique. So that's a good kudos to your mom for sure.
00:30:45
Speaker
Kudos to my mom for sure. She's awesome. That's incredible. I mean, that's very few folks have that kind of story. So sorry. No, no, no. So then when I was in Arizona, I found a yoga studio that I just loved. I was new in town. I've never obviously lived there before. And I fell in love with the community of that studio. It was a hot yoga studio. And from what I remember and my experience in Phoenix,
00:31:15
Speaker
and Scottsdale, there was a large community of the health and fitness and everybody would just go with friends to these classes and just have the best of time. And my favorite types of yoga classes were not the traditional, you sit down and not move classes. Drum roll, obviously it was the ones with fun music and it felt like a dance to me, right?
00:31:45
Speaker
So I think that made it a lot more digestible for me to be able to connect to it because we moved to a certain rhythm. We moved together as a unit. It felt like a dance group. So then after a couple months, I decided to get certified.
00:32:07
Speaker
So then going back to LA, once I was here, I was faced with that crossroad of like, well, if you don't want to go into, if you want, if you don't want to continue dancing, then you have the fitness to fall back on. And
00:32:22
Speaker
If you choose to go into advertising, then here's your chance, Frances. Like you got, you gotta get started now. Um, so obviously fitness one, but it wasn't an easy thing either. I started working front desk jobs at the boutique studios. Try and pay my bills because honestly I wasn't making any money. I had savings from my dancing days.
00:32:51
Speaker
that I was living off of. So I wanted to get classes for free. And how do you do that? You work at an establishment, right? And at that point, nobody knew who Frances Flores was. So I was just getting paid 10 bucks an hour, which in LA is pennies, right? To work in these boutique studios. And I ended up first working at a bar studio. So in LA,
00:33:19
Speaker
my first experience teaching a class was bar. It was not yoga. But that's how I kind of got started. I took a bar training and I started teaching classes at a bar studio called Pop Physique. And I was, yoga was still my favorite thing ever at that point. So, or now that I had decided that I liked it, you know,
00:33:48
Speaker
So I was hungry for that. So I would go to all these yoga studios to take classes and hope to meet people that could help me get a class somewhere, right? It's funny because when I think back at my rock bottom months,
00:34:05
Speaker
I did ask this one instructor one time, and I'm not going to say her name, but she was one of the first people that I took a class in a DVD at that point, right? You used to use DVDs after DHS. And I, for whatever reason, had the courage to come up to this person who doesn't know me, right? And I asked her, how do you make it in this industry?
00:34:32
Speaker
You know, I recognize that it's honestly almost just as hard as the dance industry at this point in this city to have a job in the fitness industry. So at that point, she was not very nice to me. She said it was going to be impossible for me to be a recognized yoga instructor. It was a saturated market and basically good luck, right?
00:34:58
Speaker
I remember going to my parents and just bawling. I was like, I don't know what to do. And obviously things turned out differently for me. Thank goodness. But, um,
00:35:18
Speaker
Just an example of how we should always just encourage people to follow 100%. Anyone who's listening to this takes, if you ever ask someone for advice and they don't provide you with something, at least, fine, realistic advice, sure. But providing some sort of guidance or positive steps towards what you can do if you want to achieve in this field.
00:35:46
Speaker
It's okay. Don't break down. You can still make it. You just gotta try really hard and not give up. That's really what it is. Agreed. And honestly, when you actually think about it, that's with anything in life, right? Rarely is anything just smooth if you think about it. There's always obstacles. There's always hardships.
00:36:12
Speaker
At the end of the day, I always say we're in this crazy life together, no matter what your profession is. So. Absolutely. Same positive. It's key. So it sounded like you were already motivated. Something was motivating you to try to not just, you know, hang out and make 10 bucks an hour, but really try to crack this fitness industry. So, um, you know, what, where did that come from? What kind of, where'd you get that drive for that? Working from desk.
00:36:39
Speaker
was draining for me in the sense that it wasn't challenging. It was, I felt like I was wasting my time and I would see these instructors come in and then leave, come in and then leave. I'm like, what is happening? Like what, what are they doing that's, um, it just made me more interested in that avenue, right?
00:37:02
Speaker
So when I was, let me go back to that because I guess there's two sides to this. When I was in Arizona and I decided to become a yoga teacher, it was mostly because I loved the community aspect of it. I loved how I felt in a classroom full of people that were there really not judging each other and encouraging each other to be better, right?
00:37:27
Speaker
So then I didn't know that that was gonna be my entire career at that point. I just thought it was fun. When I was in LA and I was in that crossroad, well, I need to see what can become my actual career and I was trying a few things, then I kept seeing these instructors and how powerful they were with their students or the effect that they had with their clients and students, right?
00:37:57
Speaker
I also did background for a couple of virtual fitness platforms at that time before I even knew that I wanted to be in the industry full time. And when I did background, I saw the people who were leading the workouts and I was like, wait, like, why am I not leading this on this? Like, why am I in the background letting them tell me what to do? You know?
00:38:27
Speaker
Exactly. It's like, I think I mean, I've been doing videos my whole life with my mom, literally. Even though I never thought that was going to be a career for me, why can't it be? So once I started teaching classes at these boutique studios, then you just get
00:38:48
Speaker
more encouraged right you see how your members react to the classes and you acknowledge or realize rather that it's way beyond the physical right you see them come in really shy and stand in the back of the classroom with their head down literally and then after a few weeks or months they start crawling to the front
00:39:15
Speaker
And then the new people are in the back and then you see them start to crawl to the front. And then they start to talk to each other and now they know each other and they become friends. And so as a coach, you get to be a part of that, right? You get to experience people.
00:39:35
Speaker
becoming better by way of a squat, you know, by way of a warrior too. And, you know, like anything in life, like it's a domino effect, positivity fuels positivity. So let's say you're going through a hard time and you go to one of these classes, you feel that energy in the room, then you take that positivity into your own life and at least try to implement it, right?
00:40:03
Speaker
It's fascinating about because of me, my own yoga experience is like, I'm way in the back. And then I first walk in and then you're, it's interesting how you know, how you notice as an instructor, how that the waves, people moving up towards the front. And it's very, because I was terrified to be seen by anybody. I was like, if there's a corner in the corner, I'd be hiding out there. So it's fascinating. So, um, and so did you, so with the yoga experience, then how did, where'd you go to next in LA with your fitness experience?
00:40:33
Speaker
So I started teaching bar at that bar studio. Then I started teaching Yo at another boutique studio, like a class here and there. Then at one of the on-camera gigs that I had, somebody brought up Equinox.
Joining Equinox and Tonal
00:40:50
Speaker
And in my mind, I wasn't good enough for Equinox at all. I saw Equinox at the top of the chain. It's a luxury club, right?
00:41:02
Speaker
The best of the best, in my opinion, at Equinox, right? But this person who I still consider a mentor to this day, she was like, why don't you audition for Equinox? And she said it was such like, like, what are you waiting for type of energy, right? But I was like, maybe she's right. So there was a new club opening at that time in downtown LA.
00:41:29
Speaker
And I went to, honestly, to this huge cattle call because they were hiring for all departments at that time. I got through the interview process, which meant they called me for an audition. Little did I know that, you know, not wanting to audition for dance gigs meant I would still audition for fitness gigs. Wow.
00:41:52
Speaker
Um, so I went to an audition for Equinox and I remember getting my email saying you get a class a week at the downtown LA location. And I was so excited. I was like, this means I can, you know, this, this means I'm good. I have like reached a level where I am respected in the fitness industry and my class or what kind of class?
00:42:18
Speaker
It was bar. Still, I'm still like, yup, it was bar. They said we have too many yoga instructors. Let's get you started with bar. But once you're in, it's easier to teach other modalities. I also feel like it's, I mean, at Equinox, the bar classes, it's not just bar. It's like a ballet energy class. So I think it's great when you have
00:42:45
Speaker
former dancers and just dancers teaching these classes because a lot of dancers who are going to Equinox or any fitness program can really resonate with that and take those classes and get that little fix that they need as adults. Agreed. I mean, bar in general, right? It came from Pilates and for sure it was made up by dancers.
00:43:08
Speaker
It's all to the beat. It's all eight counts. It's a lot of pulsing and a lot of burning and even you would love it. But you have to teach on beat like if you want to be good at teaching bar. So Equinox does have a few different formats when it comes to bar and at that point,
00:43:35
Speaker
they let me teach my own format. So I was taking my experience in yoga and what I had learned in different bar studios to kind of just begin my own programming, if you will. So I was, I always give kudos to my first students that allowed me to literally experiment on them because
00:43:59
Speaker
I would change the equipment here and there. Like every week was something different. I didn't have a formula per se. It took me months to be like, okay, no, you know what? This is what my bar is going to be. And to this day, I call it my bar because it's all going to be different or similar, I should say. Huh? Is it the Francis method? That's right.
00:44:25
Speaker
Yeah. You just helped my next chapters. But what I will say this, Equinox gave me the opportunity to expand exponentially. Like, after a couple months, I started teaching yoga. Honestly, it didn't take much. I subbed a couple times and then they gave me a couple classes. Because at that point, you know, when you're starting something, you're hungry, right? So
00:44:52
Speaker
I accepted everything. He's like, you need a sub? Okay, there. You need a sub downtown and then take me to West LA and then take me to Woodland Hills. Listen, I put in the world. Yes. So I ended up getting certified in Matt Pilates after that. I ended up becoming certified as a personal trainer during that. So I was then teaching different HIIT classes, bootcamp classes, Pilates, bar, yoga,
00:45:22
Speaker
And after two years of driving all over this beautiful city, I was like, I need to drive less because it's just too much. It takes a toll on your body to just sit in traffic for 45 minutes to teach one class. And at that point, I reached out to my managers at the time. I said, listen, I'm committed to this career. What else can I do?
00:45:50
Speaker
So I became group fitness manager of my first club was Equinox in Beverly Hills. And two years after that was Equinox in Century City. I think it was two years after that. So as a group fitness manager, you're obviously managing your team of the group fitness instructors of that location. You are helping or you're creating the schedule of classes.
00:46:20
Speaker
You are evaluating instructors. You are mentoring instructors. You are still teaching classes. So I was still bopping around the city teaching at different locations, but I wasn't so spread out. I had it controlled. So after a few years of that, I
00:46:46
Speaker
you know, I started to get itchy again. And I was like, well, what else can I do? So I miss performing. And I started to audition for on camera gigs, which led me to a few on camera positions teaching classes in general. And I got to be myself and learn a whole different craft of things because I had never been on camera in that way. So directors, producers,
00:47:16
Speaker
teaching fitness classes. So these are like online fitness services or subscriptions that people sign up for. Live workouts, tape workouts, all that type of stuff. So my first few gigs were random. A couple of them were for different apps that I don't know if I even saw the work afterwards. Because they were done through just
00:47:42
Speaker
one of those general agencies that get you different gigs here and there, but you don't really have a commitment to these companies. And then I did a couple of workouts for an app called Sweat Factor, where you had a monthly membership if you wanted to get the workouts. And there were also random gigs here and there every few months.
00:48:08
Speaker
He would call me and be like, hey, do you want to do this? Do you want to do that? And people would pay, I honestly don't remember any $20 a month, to get a variety of coaches and get a variety of workouts that they could do from home. So after a few, or quite a bit, random things, I got an email from a production company that I had. I was in their database from
00:48:36
Speaker
Honestly, one of those gigs that I did when I moved to LA as background, they had my information still. I hadn't talked to these, I know. Nice luck, yeah. I hadn't talked to any of them in years, but they wanted to know if I wanted to audition for a company called Tonal. And at the time I was like, what the heck is Tonal?
00:49:03
Speaker
And in my mind, to be quite honest, I went to this audition with the mentality that I wanted to practice auditioning. I was like, this is just one more thing. You know, I'm going to go to this audition, not expecting anything. I was on a roll taking on gigs on the side of my management job and my teaching schedule.
00:49:28
Speaker
because I wanted something else, right? I knew I had that antsy energy that I was ready to shift again. And they were okay with you doing that? They were okay with me doing that as long as it didn't interfere with my job, yeah. And of course, at the time, I think they had a feeling that I was ready to do something different, but they didn't know that I was ready to not manage, to be honest, anymore because
00:49:57
Speaker
I think management isn't for everybody, especially when you are the creative type, if that makes any sense. I think you have to be made to manage. I could get the job done and I did love it for what it brought to my life because I grew so much in that position, but I knew it wasn't a forever thing, if that makes sense.
00:50:22
Speaker
So I was doing a little bit of everything at a time and then the tonal thing happened and Tonal at the time was literally a baby company And it was only a part-time gig so Once I passed the audition and they call me and they're like, hey, do you want to be our first yoga coach because we want to Add the yoga category and
00:50:49
Speaker
to the platform. So for those of you who don't know what Tonal is, it is a strength training machine. It's a digital weight strength training machine. And that's how it began as just strength training. This was in 2019, the end fall of 2019 was that I auditioned. Would you say that Tonal, because Tonal is kind of like the first, I don't want to say mirror workout.
00:51:18
Speaker
Would you say it's like the first wall platform that you can... It's versatile. They have them at hotels, even hotel rooms. It's not just an app, right? You can get the equipment and put it against a wall. What is it? Would it be called the mirror?
00:51:38
Speaker
So the mirror is another, it's another company. So I know there's another company, but how would you describe Tonal? So let's say, let's think of the mirror as a screen that is very pretty, but it doesn't have equipment attached to it. Right. And with the mirror, you got the expertise of the coaches leading you through a workout, but you have to, I believe, right, get dumbbells and all the equipment separate.
00:52:04
Speaker
Tonal, I mean, to me, it's a magnificent product. You can lift up to 200 pounds on this device that is on your wall. And it does look like a mirror when the arms are stowed and put away. So think about this, my very large apartment is 500 square feet. And I have a full gym
00:52:30
Speaker
on my wall, like if I really didn't want to go anywhere, I don't have to, right? So I will say this, it was probably the first one that had the strength feature attached, because I do know after that a couple more things came out that are very similar. But I do want to say that it was the first one of that kind that came out. And in my mind, it doesn't even make sense how powerful this product is.
00:52:59
Speaker
Right. I mean, it's very like I want people to kind of really understand the magnitude of this, you know, to be part of a program, especially pre pandemic when it hasn't hasn't even really gained its full popularity yet.
00:53:14
Speaker
It was one of the first kind of screens that you put against a wall. You have your own real personal trainer. You're working with different weights. You can do bench press and curls and squats. And the beautiful thing is that they even provide tonal rooms.
00:53:33
Speaker
in different hotel rooms. So when you are traveling in business, you can actually request certain hotels have a tonal room where you get the tonal in your room and you can actually work out, which is fantastic. So I just want people to really understand the magnitude of what program you were part of Francis, because this was way before the rise of the popularity of these apps and programs that came about during COVID times. So
00:54:02
Speaker
Um, it's really, it's a big thing. Appreciate that. I think, you know, I didn't even now looking back, of course. Yeah. Everything seems so surreal to me in my brain because it happened so fast, right? I, I auditioned for this platform that like you said, I had, or like I said before, I had no idea what it was, but like you said, it was like a first one of its kind. And I didn't really.
00:54:32
Speaker
understand its magnitude, if you will, at the first few months. And then, ironically enough, or you know, COVID happened a few months after that. And everything shut down. So
00:54:50
Speaker
with Tonal at first, the studio was in San Francisco. And I was so excited because I got to get out of LA. So, you know, before COVID, I was like, I am this track, I'm back to my traveling days. I get to have the best of both worlds, you know, and the trip is quick. I get to land in a different city and I get to perform and teach fitness like
00:55:18
Speaker
What is happening? Is this my life, right? So, um, then COVID happened and I was like, well, what the heck is going to happen now? Right. And I didn't have my own tonal at the time, but once COVID happened, they sent me one. Great. I was still one of the newer coaches, right? And because I was the yoga coach at first, I wasn't teaching any strength for them.
00:55:48
Speaker
Um, yep. So, uh, once the, once pandemic hit, then my experience with them was like, well, okay, what are we going to do? Right. So we shifted obviously equinox, uh, was not open. So I was not working for them at the time, but I was still employed by them because I was a manager. So I was still in the system and I was.
00:56:14
Speaker
Uh, expected to return once the two week quote two weeks, right? Yep. So with Tono, we had to shift. We, they sent us lights to film in our apartments. So there is a whole section on this device where you see my, uh, kitchen and my living room and my life, my apartment, and you see
00:56:42
Speaker
the other coaches' apartments because we filmed from literally just the two feet that is my living room. Wow. And to be honest, it was one of the best experiences of my life. I learned so much. We had the producer call us right before we shot the content. We were in charge of basically
00:57:06
Speaker
figuring it out and then sending the content which we shot on our iPhones, mind you, to be uploaded to Twitter.
00:57:17
Speaker
So if you look back at some of the old content, you kind of see my living room evolve. I had like nothing on the walls. And then all of a sudden I had plans and then I had this. I was literally decorating a set. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You had to improvise. Yeah. Yep. And I'm super grateful for that because not only
00:57:44
Speaker
Did it keep me working? And I was making money when people were losing jobs. I live by myself. And as we know, the pandemic was hard. And isolation is a real thing. So I didn't feel alone. Everybody was so scared to do anything, to go out, to meet with anybody at the early stages of this pandemic. So it was good to have at least that connection to my coworkers.
00:58:13
Speaker
And so at that time, Tonal grew not only in programming because we had to improvise. I started teaching Pilates for them. I started to teach bars. So my history with Equinox repeated itself, but on Tonal, literally. I started with yoga, but then transitioned into all the other modalities, which, you know, I love being kept on my toes, so.
00:58:40
Speaker
I always say that teaching all of these things requires a different part of your brain. So you get to keep learning and do something different every single time.
00:58:50
Speaker
So now the industry was obviously shifting in a way that nobody knew how it was going to end. And once we were allowed to shoot in a studio again, they had now shifted their studio to LA. So there was no more San Francisco and there was a studio in Hollywood that was built or not built, but that they rented for this. And so we started shooting content out of LA.
00:59:19
Speaker
And one thing led to the other. Obviously this is months in between. I think the world reopened and then it shut back down. So I was a little bit of back and forth. Once it was about to reopen for the second time, I decided to quit Equinox because I was just doing so well in the virtual
COVID's Impact on Fitness Career
00:59:40
Speaker
space. I was making enough money to get by and I wanted to give that a full shot, right?
00:59:50
Speaker
So I ended up leaving Equinox once I was about to reopen again. With Tonal, we ended up eventually getting hired as full-time employees, which, you know, at first I had left my other job literally just taking a leap of faith because I was still an independent contractor working for Tonal.
01:00:13
Speaker
And I was like, well, if I can do it with them, then I can do other random gigs with other companies and I'll make it happen. Um, so I left my stable job for an unstable one, but then tonal became the stable job because the whole industry just shifted. Many people invested in tonal and all of the other virtual platforms like Peloton and mirror. And I mean, you name it, right? Right. It all blew up.
01:00:41
Speaker
And of course, the gyms were suffering during that time. But like everything in life, nothing is ever permanent. And after a couple of years, I mean, I think I was with Tonal for about two and a half, three years total, maybe, the industry shifted again, right? People are now flooding the gyms again. And people are now wanting that
01:01:07
Speaker
personal connection and I get it. There is, as human beings, we want that connection, right? We need it. Obviously you can only speak from my experience, but Tonal did lay off. They ended up, they laid off all of the coaches on the West coast, only stayed open in New York city where they have a smaller team. This happened last summer. I mean, I could even say that I'm still heartbroken.
01:01:32
Speaker
This was a relationship that I thought was gonna be my next thing for at least a few more years I loved the aspect that I got to teach fitness and health and wellness to a Whole community that I don't even know in person because my outreach was bigger and the beautiful thing about that was that social media right connects us all like it connected to
01:01:58
Speaker
us. And I got to just help so many more people while I was on this platform, and connect with so many to this day that still send me messages, right? And not only did I get to do that, but I also got my performance fixed.
01:02:21
Speaker
I had a director in my ear keeping me on my toes. I had a producer. I had the lights. I had the stage. And to me, I mean, I love that too. Yeah.
01:02:33
Speaker
For me, it was the best of both worlds while it lasted. I think that was such a great opportunity, that virtual space that a lot of different fitness platforms allowed for the trainers to go into a studio, to get filmed. It made a big impact, and it was fun for them. I have a lot of friends in this space, and I see
01:02:57
Speaker
It was energetic. It was like you always had someone there with you, but it was also a really great experience for them. It was really fun for them to kind of feel like anyone could reach so many people and anyone could get that kind of personalized treatment and build their own brand within this little space and then share it with the world. That's really cool.
01:03:22
Speaker
It is really cool. And the people that I met along the way are some of the best people that I know. And because we were together during such a tough time, we also became a little bit of a family, right?
01:03:37
Speaker
And that includes all of the PAs and the hair and makeup girls and the wardrobe team. Literally every part of that studio was there because they wanted to be. And there's no better feeling than to show up to work and not have it feel like work. You know what I mean? Even though it is work and it is exhausting and it is long hours, but you don't even notice it because
01:04:06
Speaker
you're just surrounded by so many good people and you're doing something that you love, which going back to my dancing days or my experience in the music industry and just in the arts in general, then, you know, that's something that as artists, we're always seeking that feeling of being surrounded by passionate individuals that are there following their dreams.
01:04:28
Speaker
Totally. But it also seems like that's the way that you're able to even achieve success in this industry from like equinox. I mean, just the idea of auditioning for a fitness job, the way you describe that, never thought of it that way.
01:04:40
Speaker
So you have to really, I think you make it, it seems like from the things I've seen that you do before, your coaching and teaching, that you really have a performance, you really enjoy the performance part of it, but it also seems like that's what you have to have in order to make it as a, you can't just be a person who knows how to do curls and squats with the right form. You really have to be a performer and bring all of that to bear and have a great work ethic too. I think you do have to have at least an
01:05:09
Speaker
an inkling, a little bit of just wanting to have that presence, if you will. I do feel that some of the people that maybe struggle sometimes when it comes to teaching classes is when they don't have that performance background. And obviously there's exceptions, but because they don't know, they're not used to being in front of an audience, right? So when you are used to doing that,
01:05:37
Speaker
then it makes it a little bit easier. And you know, I always say that people show up to your class because they want to hang out with you. Sometimes like, obviously, you need to have your training and you need to know what you're talking about as a coach. But if the people in your class or the people that are watching you on the screen, don't vibe with your personality, they're not going to want to come back, you know, they want to feel like, you know, hey,
01:06:06
Speaker
I'm going to go get coffee with Coach Francis this morning, even though I don't know her. I feel like especially, actually anywhere in the world to be a
01:06:19
Speaker
A fit, like to be really well known in the fitness industry, you have to be comfortable building a brand for yourself. Can you tell us a little bit about what that was like for you and how you transitioned to being okay with really putting yourself out there, being, I don't know if you were vulnerable with the world or what, but what did it take for you to really build your brand to what it has become today?
01:06:43
Speaker
Honestly, I think that what motivated me to do that was my relationship with the people. It started with me teaching classes, right? So the people that would come to my classes were so supportive of me and my energy. And so they just showered me with gratitude on a daily basis that
01:07:07
Speaker
It gave me the confidence, right, to feel confident in this space as a professional. So I always, you know, I always get thank you messages day in and day out. And I always say that it's honestly, I'm thinking you guys, because without your guys' support,
01:07:25
Speaker
I wouldn't be here, right? And it's an energy exchange no matter what. It's not just me. If I'm having a bad day and I obviously have to turn on the switch and be a coach that day because I have no choice, teaching makes me feel better. So the energy that my students give me fuels me. And that I think was what motivated me to be like, okay, you know what, then let me start
01:07:51
Speaker
branding myself, just creating something that is mine, that I can translate it, whether I'm teaching a class in real life, or translate it to like the people who I meet virtually, you know, something that resonates with everybody. And if I'm being honest, that is still evolving, right? I'm now in another transitional period in my career where I am trying to, I want to say rebuild, but I guess fortify my own brand because
01:08:20
Speaker
I am on my own now. I don't have another brand where it's, in the past it's been a team effort, if you will. I had my little side brand, but I was a part of bigger brands. So now that I'm in this transition, I'm hoping to elevate.
01:08:40
Speaker
my own brand so that no matter what happens in the future, whether I do end up working for somebody else on the side, I have that a little bit more solidified to the point where I can create a bigger community, right?
Building a Personal Brand
01:08:55
Speaker
I think that's the key. It's the community aspect. I guess that's what fuels me. There's
01:09:02
Speaker
You know, when I left Equinox, the amount of messages I received from my students was overwhelming just because they were so grateful to me. And then the same thing happened with Tonal, with complete strangers that I have never met in my life in person. And they would tell me how much I changed their lives.
01:09:24
Speaker
You it's not that I forget about it because I know the industry that i'm in, you know that we're in in the health industry We're here to help people but you don't acknowledge You don't realize How your words impact people unless they tell you especially if it's in the fitness space because i'm not getting any feedback from anybody immediately, you know so I think the community is what fuels me to continue building on
01:09:52
Speaker
whatever this may become. Most turn to fitness and movement to support their mental health. As a fitness professional, what do you do to support your mental health? Is it your own fitness classes?
01:10:10
Speaker
Others classes is there something that you're doing on your own that supports you because you know at the end of the day Even you need an outlet for yourself because teaching classes can get challenging I'm sure As much as you love it there may be times and you're like you don't want to do programming tonight I want to sleep in and I don't know I don't know whatever that looks like for you. I'm curious to know You know, what do you do for you?
01:10:38
Speaker
So you're right. Once your passion becomes your career, you might need a different outlet. When I was a dancer, fitness became an outlet because dancing was now my job. So in the fitness space, I have gone through different periods of times where, let's say,
01:11:01
Speaker
I don't want to take a class from anybody because then I see it as work, especially when I was a manager, because a part of my job was to help other coaches. Any class that I took was me trying to help coaches in my brain. So I love to take walks. I love to be outside, to be honest, is one of my favorite things. Anything in the sun makes me the happiest.
01:11:31
Speaker
I go through phases. Sometimes I like to work out with friends as a way for it to be different and fun. Sometimes I like to work out on my own and not talk to anybody at all. Usually I like somebody else to create a program for me, if it's for me, so that I don't have to think about it. I know a couple of people in the industry, so I'll sign up for their programs.
01:12:00
Speaker
I feel good because I'm supporting a fellow person in the industry and then I don't got to think about it. And the same with yoga. I have a couple of coaches that I take in the virtual space actually so that I am by myself. It's just my little alone time. So in a sense, obviously I still work out and I still practice yoga.
01:12:26
Speaker
But it depends on my mood, whether I want to take a class or just be on my own and have nobody bother me or just simply skip the workout and take a walk. But movement for me is medicine no matter what. So it keeps me sane. It keeps my mental health sane. Yeah, movement, you know, it helps a variety of things. I know that people who may be struggling with body image too, you know, there's been
01:12:55
Speaker
a lot of good support in encouraging people who may be struggling with that relationship with their body to turn to yoga, to get reconnected with their body. And I don't know if you have any experience with that or I feel like that could be a whole topic of its own on this podcast.
Advice on Dance and Fitness Careers
01:13:14
Speaker
Is there any advice that you give to people in your classes who may be struggling and
01:13:21
Speaker
and turn to yoga as a way to just like let go and get reconnected in a quiet space with their body? Yes and yes. Body image is a serious thing, right? We all have
01:13:35
Speaker
probably gone through a phase in our lives where we don't feel confident in our bodies or we don't feel comfortable in our bodies. I know that I have my period of time where I was a little chubby as a kid. So that created, you know, certain feelings about myself as I started to get older where, and the feelings are that I was just not confident with myself, right? I wasn't confident doing things or just,
01:14:02
Speaker
wearing certain things because I just didn't feel good. So I would say yoga, working out anything that, like you said, helps you reconnect to your true purpose and your true self. Because sometimes we just let the outside world tell us way too many things that
01:14:24
Speaker
aren't important, right? I think it's important for us to know what makes us feel good and acknowledge what doesn't. What doesn't elevate us, what makes us feel shitty. It goes with people also. Who elevates you and who just adds a little of that toxic energy, right? Oh, yeah.
01:14:53
Speaker
Yeah, so all of those things can affect body image, no matter what you look like, right? So I always say that lifting heavy weights makes me feel like a superhero. And I always say that yoga makes me just find a little bit of stillness and quiet the outside noise. So it's important for people to explore and see what helps them feel their best.
01:15:22
Speaker
and to get stronger in that feeling so that when the other feelings of uncertainty come back, you have the power to be like, you know what? No, I know better. And I'm just gonna quiet that voice. And I'm not gonna say that I've been perfect in my own journey when it comes to that, but I now, what I tell my people is that I have the power to change and control the narrative, right?
01:15:52
Speaker
to have a healthy relationship with exercise, to have a healthy relationship with food, that food is there to nourish you and make you stronger, right? That exercise is there to nourish you and makes you stronger and to help you move every single day of your life until you're older, right? Like that's the point. It's not to be any sort of
01:16:17
Speaker
image created by society right you're we're not working out to be supermodels or bodybuilders if you do and that's your goal awesome right nothing wrong with that either but for people who are struggling um
01:16:33
Speaker
And don't feel confident going to the gym because they say they're not ready to go to the gym or they're a little overweight and they don't feel comfortable but they want to shit a couple pounds because they want to feel healthier or that's just their goal. You know, you go to these classes, you go to the gym to get to that place of feeling good about yourself. So you might not ever feel ready.
01:16:59
Speaker
to do these things, right? But find a friend that's going to be your support and go with them or have a little bit of a community that are on the same page, right? And can hold each other accountable so that you can all get better together, if that makes sense. So Francis, as we're wrapping up our show here, I have one last question for you. When we talk about your dance career and then your career as a fitness professional,
01:17:27
Speaker
For folks who want to go into the dance, professional dance industry, the fitness industry, what kind of, from your experience, what kind of advice or little pearls of advice can you offer? I think it goes back to that feeling of being sure of yourself because any type of industry is going to
01:17:51
Speaker
try and mold you into something else, if you will, or it could potentially mold you or try to mold you into something else. I think that as long as you know what you want, right, you know where you stand, you know what you can offer the world and how you want to show up in this world, then you're just going to be strong enough and resilient enough to handle whatever comes your way because
01:18:21
Speaker
Like anything in life, it's gonna be a roller coaster, right? Ups and downs and hills and valleys. It's never gonna be a one-way street to anything. And at the same time, even though that's stressful, at the same time, that's what makes it beautiful and exciting, right? So I think it's just maintaining that connection to yourself, right? Going back to that connection. Knowing what you're passionate about and then going off of that.
01:18:49
Speaker
But also knowing that if you change your mind halfway through the journey that you can always do something else. I feel like sometimes we're too hard on ourselves and be like, well, I started doing this, so I have to keep doing this. Right. So just knowing what you want, feeling good about your gifts, your talent.
01:19:11
Speaker
And being able to change with time and evolve with time, I think it's what's going to make you even more successful, right? And you're going to learn things about yourself through the journey that are going to make you better. And maybe we'll add different goals to that first goal. And you're just going to keep climbing. Well, Frances, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you being on the show today.
01:19:41
Speaker
We could talk for another hour. We have to kind of wrap things up now, but is there anything you want to plug? Anything that's coming up for you that you're doing? Anything that you want your fans to know about?
01:19:50
Speaker
Well, right now in this beautiful transition that I'm in, I will be announcing things on social media as they come. I plan to launch a couple things online, a couple of programs, and hopefully I'll get to do public events as well. Nothing's set in stone just yet. I'm still in the planning stages, but in the next few months, I should be rolling things out.
01:20:14
Speaker
We look forward to it. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for your time and your passion and your energy and your dedication to yoga and fitness and your inspiration for many people out there. Thank you so much. Well, thank you for inviting me and thank you for listening. Thank you for having me on. It was my pleasure.
01:20:31
Speaker
And that's a wrap on this show. Remember, if you like what you hear, please click subscribe and maybe leave a review as well. For my co-host, Yasi Ansari, this is Stephen Karaginas, and this has been the Athletes and the Arts Podcast.