Sneaker Impact News

Run To Be Happy with Soy Corredora & RunAdic!

• Sonia Chavez, Maria Suarez Mason, Bryan The Botanist • Season 1 • Episode 16

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In this special multi-guest episode, we're joined by the phenomenal Sonia Chavez, founder of Soy Corredora, and Maria Suarez, COO of RunAdic. Dive into the inspirational journeys of these remarkable women as they discuss the expansion of Soy Corredora to the U.S., the upcoming 'Run to Be Happy' summer series in Miami, and their respective personal and professional experiences. Learn about the power of community, social responsibility, and the inclusive spirit of running. Whether you're a seasoned runner or just starting out, this episode is packed with motivation, insights, and practical tips to get moving and stay connected. Don't miss this heartwarming and empowering conversation!

Stay Connected

Learn more about the Soy Corredora Summer Series on June 23rd in Miami Beach and RSVP at https://runadic.com/run-to-be-happy

Follow Soy Corredora on Instagram @soycorredora and online at soycorredora.com.

For more information about RunAdic, follow them on Instagram @runadic

Or visit www.runadic.com, email info@runadic.com, or call +1 (305) 788-9531.

Download the RunAdic app from the iOS or Google store today!

Bryan The Botanist:

Welcome back to Sneaker Impact News. My name is Bryan the Botanist and today I have a really special episode. It's our first multi person podcast ever. And my guests today are Sonia Chavez and Maria Suarez. Welcome ladies. How are you?

Sonia Chavez:

Hi.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Hi, Bryan.

Bryan The Botanist:

Awesome. It's so great to have you. So we're going to get to know you today and the brands you represent. Sonia Chavez is a visionary founder of Soy Corredora, the premier digital community for Spanish speaking women runners. With a 20 year career in running content creation, she has previously served as an editor for Runners World Mexico and Sportlife Magazine. A dedicated runner for three decades, Sonia began her journey on the track in Mexico and has since competed in marathons and half marathons across Mexico, the United States, Latin America, and Europe. As a United Nations Ambassador in Mexico, she has passionately advocated for the promotion of sport among women and girls. Maria Suarez is a seasoned executive with extensive experience in the technology sector, recognized for her leadership in driving growth and fostering innovation. Her expertise lies in business development, mobile content strategy, and sales, with a strong focus on integrating advanced technologies into business frameworks to achieve sustainable growth. Currently, she serves as a COO and partner at RunAdic, a groundbreaking platform dedicated to running clubs. RunAdic empowers global running communities by providing innovative tools for promotion, sponsor acquisition, and monetization strategies. Together, these two women and the brands they represent are partnering up to support Soy Corredora's expansion to the United States with the Soy Corredora Summer Series kicking off this summer in Miami, June 23rd, July 28th, and August 25th. Welcome, Maria and Sonia. Thank you for joining us today again. How are you?

Sonia Chavez:

Fine. I'm so excited to be with you in your podcast. I listen it and I love it.

Bryan The Botanist:

Thank you so much. I'm so excited to get to know you today and to share your story and what's going on this summer in Miami with both of these awesome brands. RunAdic is a brand that I've known for many years and Maria is going to really get to tell us the story today about that brand. So let's get started with your backgrounds and where you were born and raised.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Thank you, Bryan. Actually I born in Mexico City. Then after I moved to a small town in Mexico sorry to bo your bubble, but I don't start running when I was a little kid. A little girl. I start running very late in my life, actually when I moved to Miami and right after I, I met Elliott. In some way, Elliott is my inspiration for me when I start running. So I start very late have completed some half marathons, some 5Ks, and I'm going to do my first full marathon in November.

Bryan The Botanist:

And for those that don't know Elliott Mason is Maria's husband and the other half of RunAdic.

Maria Suarez Mason:

yes.

Bryan The Botanist:

And, yeah, we had Elliott on a previous episode that's amazing Maria. Sonia, how about you? Where were you born, and how did that affect your identity, and when did you start running?

Sonia Chavez:

I was born in Turon and the North or Mexico. And I started to run when I was 14 years. I was an adolescent. Adolescent

Bryan The Botanist:

Adolescence, yes.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Hey, Nadjia

Sonia Chavez:

and then in the university I decided to run in the athleticism team and and at, and I was a track runner. And then, and later, I was no, I ran a marathons, and I ran nine marathons, and and I like so much I like to run so much, and and I love it that I have been work in media about running I was editor of Run as Word, Spot Live, and now in Soy Corredora, and I love run too much.

Bryan The Botanist:

So you're a runner through and through most all of your life since you were a little girl. That's an incredible. I think Maria and I are more late bloomers in the running worlds, but we've both been very passionate in the last 10 years, 15, 20, myself about 20 years and 50 marathons. So I'm also a run addict. Yeah, I'm a run addict. So my next question is, why did you start your brand and what is its mission?

Maria Suarez Mason:

that's a good question. I'm sure that Elliott already talked to you about that, but we have a nice story behind how RunAdic was born. When we decided that we were not having kids as a couple, we were talking like how we are going to do, right? We need a project together. Even though Elliott is an entrepreneur and he has his own company for many years and I am an entrepreneur too and I have my own company too. So we decided that we want to build something together, a project, a kid. So before RunAdic, we used to take some weekends off to get disconnected or to break the routine. So I remember clearly that six years ago, yeah, more or less, we went to West Palm Beach and we were in a hotel, we were talking, and then we start talking about the first question that Elliott asked me is that, you know what? Every time that I go out and go and run. We live in Brickell and we see a lot of people running all the time. He said every time I go and go out and run, I see people running, but we, I see the same people, but they run in different times. So

Bryan The Botanist:

right. You said they're starting all differently. Yeah.

Maria Suarez Mason:

exactly. And he said, why we don't create something that we can organize the chaos out there. And I started

Bryan The Botanist:

it's coming back to me. It's coming back to me. He said he saw 6, 000 or 5, 000 people together on race day, but then when he left his house to go training, it was just him or one person with him and it was chaos. And we live in a big city. So

Maria Suarez Mason:

exactly.

Bryan The Botanist:

Now I'm remembering. Yes.

Maria Suarez Mason:

yeah, and then we start, I start, I get a piece of paper and I start writing down everything that he was saying. I even was like I draw something, I create that ecosystem, thinking that how we are going to create that ecosystem that connects runners. And this is how we start starting from there we, of course, we create a roadmap, we start hiring people. The strategy has changed a little bit over the years and actually that's one of the things that we some people or some clubs still thinking that RunAdic Yes, we do have clubs, but actually, we are more like a platform. Something that we would like to break down. That idea that some people still thinking that RunAdic is a club. We are a platform. We have Technology in which we help other clubs through artificial intelligence geolocalization, to help other clubs to professionalize. The way they do things. There are a lot of clubs out there, there are a lot of communities. They just need some help. How to get monetized their groups. How to get in contact with the brands. Create strategies for them to grow their communities. We're focusing in how through our technology, we can help other clubs. Not only in, in U. S., also in some other parts of the world that we are, we already have presence in some other countries.

Bryan The Botanist:

Wow. That's incredible. Okay. Thank you so much, Maria. How about you, Sonia? Why did you start Soy Corredora? And tell us the mission it serves in the community.

Sonia Chavez:

Soy Corredora 12 years ago, and after running the Bogota Half Marathon, because there wasn't a digital space for women to share experiences. Experiences find motivation and access information about running in, in 2013. So ra I launched Soy Corredora and it has been a wonderful. Journey ever since we focus Soy Corredora is not just a running club. This is important. Soy Corredora is a movement that inspires, empowers women. Sport like sport, running, jogging, walking sometimes yoga fitness or whatever. Focus in your mental health, in your emotional health, and on fun when running. Okay. And the most important important for Corredora is you unleash your personal power when you run and in your life. Okay? And we have a website. Social media podcast an online store events training programs Corredora squad, and now se u say, okay. And.

Bryan The Botanist:

So how you have over 10 years of having the Soy Corredora brand and movement. That's incredible. Oh, what's the name of your cat?

Maria Suarez Mason:

Cómo se llama este gato? Si, o Bola. You can call him Bola or

Bryan The Botanist:

Bola,

Sonia Chavez:

Ola.

Bryan The Botanist:

Bola. I love it. Hola, Bola.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Bola. That's easy.

Bryan The Botanist:

Hola, Bola. That is so nice. Bola can stay. I love cats, as many know. And so my next question is going to be about your personal mentality as an entrepreneur and community leader.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Okay, that's a good one. It's I've been an entrepreneur for eight years already. Before that I used to work for an, huge American company. And then I start my own business, right? Being an entrepreneur is like go to Disney and just take a ride. Sometimes that ride is going to be easy and you're going to have a lot of fun. Sometimes not. Sometimes that ride is going to be scary. Sometimes that ride is going to be difficult. And sometimes that ride is going to create a lot of emotions. Yeah. So that is like a short way to describe how to be an entrepreneur is, and you know it very well. Being an

Bryan The Botanist:

I love that analogy. Yeah. I love that analogy. That's a, I've never heard that before and to be honest, you nailed it. And expand on your yes, keep going.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Yeah. And actually it's like life in general. I always say that it's like life. So one day is super good. Everything goes well. In my case, I close a good deal. We visit or we develop some new customers. The next day something happens, something changed. They didn't accept our proposals. And then we start, we have to start over again, over and over again. Being an entrepreneur is just like knowing that behind everything, because being an entrepreneur, at least in the United States, is like very sophisticated, right? It's oh, she's an entrepreneur. But behind being an entrepreneur, there's a lot of work. There's a lot of sadness. There's a lot of discipline, a lot of hard work. A lot of loneliness. Sometimes you feel like you are the only one there pushing, right? There are a lot of things behind being an entrepreneur. Being a women entrepreneur in tech is more challenging. Especially when, most of the people that I negotiate with they are men. Especially at the beginning of my career, right now it's changing. It's very nice to see a lot of women getting into the tech field. In general it's I love it. I, it's like, for me, it's like going to, knowing that I go to Disneyland and I don't know which ride I'm going to find that day. I think over the years, you also develop this resilience. Knowing that tomorrow is going to be better if you put your work, you put the discipline, you have this strategy and you get surrounded with the right people, everything is going to get in the right place. It takes time, a lot of time but yeah I'm happy to see that, yeah, we can deal with any type of company. Right now we're dealing with. The biggest companies in the world and I feel so, so happy to just sit in a table. I know that as a woman, I have those tools to develop this type of business to my company. I feel happy, I feel empowered.

Bryan The Botanist:

Honestly, very powerful stuff, Maria. I was getting goosebumps because, the optimism is so important, but, entrepreneur, it's not an easy journey, but it's an adventure. And there's millions of hours that are unpaid. And I think that came through so well. So thank you for your for your thoughts on that. Sonia, how about you being an entrepreneur and a community leader what is your personal mentality?

Sonia Chavez:

Yeah. I work in Tel during 70 years more or less. And when. And one day I got bored about my job and I decide, eh, launch. Soy Corredora and eh, being entrepreneur is exciting exciting work and wonderful adventure. And it take risk, okay and is not have scary. Is is excited and I think Corredora is connect my pur purpose of of life to my work. Okay. And this is very excited. Okay. Excited.

Bryan The Botanist:

To connect that into running the mission of Soy Corredora is to help. People become healthier, right? Women to become active.

Sonia Chavez:

Yeah. Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist:

Okay. So thank you both for that. I'm going to move forward now into the next section. Tell us about the U. S. expansion for Soy Corredora and how RunAdic is supporting this initiative.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Yes. For RunAdic, we are very grateful with Sonia. Being part of this movement as she mentioned it, because it's a movement it only give us more opportunities or give us another opportunity to create, to use this platform, to use this technology that we already have. To connect more women. As you see, as Sonia mentioned it Soy Corredora is The most influential Hispanic female running movement right now. So that is very powerful. So not only the expansion, because she has a very interesting platform, not only in Mexico, also in Colombia, in Argentina, in Spain, in some other countries, but the fact that she's expanding to U. S. And she wants to touch this market where, as you mentioned there are a lot of Hispanics, Latinos but this is more than that. We, when we discussed the strategy, we decided that yes, the movement started in Mexico, but it has to be more inclusive, more than Latinas. Miami, of course, we are more Latinas than Americans, but There are a lot of women that love running and they don't find the way, how to start, how to, so what we are trying to do is create those spaces where they cannot feel that they are being judged because they don't have the PR or they don't have the distance or they are not, they don't have the space. Bye. They don't have or they haven't done marathons. So creating those spaces for those women is very important for the movement and for RunAdic.

Bryan The Botanist:

That's amazing. So RunAdic is supporting through the technology and through the strategy.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Exactly.

Bryan The Botanist:

Sonia, can you tell us more about how that is going to happen over this summer how Soy Corredora expanding into the U. S.?

Sonia Chavez:

I need a partner and like RunAdic, okay, because my purpose is many women move, to move, okay in in in, in. Whenever. In, in, in whatever, eh, they are. Okay. In Miami, Mexico, Spain, I need a addict and I. I will run the Miami half marathon in January, and Maria told me, why not? And Maria told me, why not you come to Miami? And I, it's a good idea. Okay. Three months later, Soy Corredora and RunAdic launched the summer series. And It's wonderful, okay? For my purpose, okay?

Bryan The Botanist:

Yes. I think the press release came out in early June.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Yes.

Bryan The Botanist:

That's I just saw it hit the wire and I saw it on all the RunAdic platforms. And there's gonna be a big surprise in a second, but let's move now into the next section. Let's talk about the Run to Be Happy series this summer that kicks off in Miami.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Yeah. One of the things that we were talking with Sonia is that when she decided that it's time for her to move to the United States, she was saying, why not Miami? She started in LA, she started in, I don't know, Houston or Dallas, where the Hispanic and Latinas are very common, or they have a lot of different groups of clubs over there. She said, No, I think Miami is the right place for many reasons. Of course, the community is very diverse. We don't only have Hispanics, we have a lot of multicultural women. Is the, some people they call it the fittest city in the United States. Why not? And the fact that we both are Mexican, we both are women, so we were like, yeah, let's do it here. So we have, you know All the elements aligned to do it in Miami. So in order to, we have to think the strategy, the best strategy for her. And of course she, what she wants to do with her brand and her movement, but also the place, the the elements. These have to be aligned with that strategy, and Miami is the place that we're going to start. We're doing the summer series, as you mentioned, June, July, and August. The

Bryan The Botanist:

Tell us about the the location and the distance and, is this a fun run? Is this a race

Maria Suarez Mason:

it's a fun run,

Sonia Chavez:

one.

Bryan The Botanist:

fun run?

Maria Suarez Mason:

totally fun

Bryan The Botanist:

bringing everyone together, this isn't okay. Is it free? Is there a cost?

Maria Suarez Mason:

It's free. It's a community, it's a community run. The first one is going to be in, in South Point, and I know that you know the details. You're going to be one of our guests and actually,

Bryan The Botanist:

Beach, right?

Maria Suarez Mason:

exactly, Miami Beach, Florida. That's the perfect scenario for this movement to start. So Sonia is going to be able to show her partners that she's launching in the United States, but not in Asia. In a specific, just Miami. It's Miami. It's not like any other city in the United

Bryan The Botanist:

One of the most beautiful parts of Miami too. It's just stunning around the ocean and government cut where the cruise ships go in and out on the marina. And there's a big pier over there and the beach is right there too. Your steps from the beach and your steps from the cruise ships and it's all, very magical place. So I'm really excited for it. It's a very cool location.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Exactly.

Bryan The Botanist:

this is, what is the distance?

Maria Suarez Mason:

It's a 5K, three miles. We're going to start in South Point run south 1. 5 miles and come back to the same point. So three, three miles total.

Bryan The Botanist:

Okay.

Maria Suarez Mason:

The most important.

Bryan The Botanist:

Go ahead. Keep going, Maria.

Maria Suarez Mason:

to mention that yeah, we have different paces. We don't like to talk, we don't like to talk about paces, but a lot of people ask, so

Bryan The Botanist:

No, that's a good point. Let's talk about pace.

Maria Suarez Mason:

yeah, people is going to walk. It's a fun run. It's a way to connect. It's a way to bring all of these women out there, bring all this energy. Because we are energy, we are full of energy, and get together, have friends, talk to people, have fun. That's the main purpose behind Summer Series.

Sonia Chavez:

Good vibes. All good vibes.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Only good vibes.

Bryan The Botanist:

Only good vibes. I would love to see a million women from Miami out in Miami Beach for this run. I don't, I think the sky's the limit. Let's make this happen. Sonia how about you? Tell us about your goals for this event. Summer Series.

Sonia Chavez:

It's an experience and all women are welcome. Doesn't matter your place, your running club, your city, your age, all women are welcome. This is an experience to fun, este, fun, este, que no se, que mas?

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah, it's the run to be happy. So it's all about being happy. Yup. That's important. It's going to be all good vibes, super happy, everyone connecting, no one caring about how fast who is and this or what someone's wearing or what, how. Again, we're going to break down stereotypes too with this movement. We talked about that before the podcast of what

Sonia Chavez:

a

Bryan The Botanist:

to be a runner.

Sonia Chavez:

it's a friendly and inclusive space.

Bryan The Botanist:

that. So is it okay if I say Maria, that I'm going to be the DJ at Run to Be Happy 5K?

Maria Suarez Mason:

Please!

Bryan The Botanist:

All right. I will be your DJ, Bryan the Botanist, and I do DJ. I've been a professional DJ for about five or six years, and Elliott and Maria asked me to DJ the event, so I will be there. And this is all taking place at South Point Park in Miami Beach on, is it a Sunday or a Saturday,

Maria Suarez Mason:

Only. Sunday morning, 7. 30am.

Bryan The Botanist:

Sunday morning at 7 30 a. m. June 23rd. Going to share all those socials and the links to get involved and sign up in the description. So let's move on to the next section, which is going to be partnerships and collaborations for both brands that you want to talk about either current or important ones for you and your journey.

Maria Suarez Mason:

In RunAdic we have the opportunity to connect with different brands already. I'm sure that most of the people that is listening to your podcast, they have seen we had something very interesting, with Lululemon. We create something very interesting with them while Elliott was an ambassador of Lululemon we also have something with Under Armour going on right now. And most of the companies that are, that we are talking to right now, we're trying to move a little bit. From the would say the regular or the companies that we know in the sports world, we want to take this to the next level. Not only in terms of to reach different audiences, also to, to make sure that more people is connected. Running. Because if we continue in the same ecosystem, yes, there are a lot of people is running every day more and more. 49 million people in the United States ran last year, 2022. And more people is running. You can see it. I'm sure that now that you're, that you run, more people than five or six years ago when you were running.

Bryan The Botanist:

percent. The run club scene just in Miami since I moved here in 2008. Bye. And I've had two or three run clubs over the years and I've seen it grow from maybe 10 in the city of Miami and a

Maria Suarez Mason:

Learn more.

Bryan The Botanist:

maybe 10 in Broward and 10 to hundreds or, it's gone 10x in Miami and I know that's happened around the country because Sneaker Impact works with many great run clubs and marathons. So yeah, the movement is just growing and growing. So that's incredible. So Lululemon and is there any other brands that you wanted to shout out Maria real quick about the partnerships? Yeah.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Armour, we have an agreement with Under Armour, huh,

Bryan The Botanist:

That's incredible.

Maria Suarez Mason:

and then we're working with some others that right now I talk a lot about that

Bryan The Botanist:

What about the Run to Be Free series? Are there any brands getting involved in that?

Maria Suarez Mason:

in the global

Bryan The Botanist:

do you want to? Oh, yeah. Or, yeah. Go ahead. Sonia for Run to Be Happy and for Soy Corredora, what are some of the brands that are getting involved?

Sonia Chavez:

I'm not an influencer. I have a digital platform and I work in Mexico with all brands like Nike Adidas, we do campaigns. that share a brand message with creativity and organic. And this is the most important for Soy Corredora in USA and the Soy Corredora Bronze with RunAdic.

Bryan The Botanist:

That's awesome. Yeah.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Yeah, something that I would like to add

Bryan The Botanist:

Go ahead.

Maria Suarez Mason:

what Sonia just said, the Summer Series we are not aligned to any brand. It is an effort that Sonia and RunAdic is doing together to start the expansion in the United States. She had a formula that works very well in Latin America. We are helping her, we are the alliance that she was looking to in the United States. We are replicating the formula that she had. This summer series is a Soy Corredora event. We are just behind her, helping her, supporting her with the logistics, but it's an event just like Soy Corredora is the brand that is behind this, the specific summer series. In the future, I'm sure, because Sonia is a very successful business woman, I'm sure that the next one, no one brand, a lot of brands are going to be chasing her to

Bryan The Botanist:

Okay. How do people sign up for the Run to be Happy events?

Maria Suarez Mason:

Okay, the event is already in the RunAdic app in the calendar, you can go to the calendar click on the 23rd and you are going to be able to see the event. We already have almost a hundred women. RSVP. That was our goal and we already reached it. So that's why we are sure that we are going to do something very powerful. They can RSVP there. It's very important to RSVP because we're going to have a lot of goodies and gift cards and they have to be in the app they need to be, to do their RSVP in order to be able to use our technology to choose the winner, who is going to win a specific goodies or something that we are having for them.

Bryan The Botanist:

So you're encouraging everyone to go to the app store to download the Run Addict app. That will help them not only with this event, because like you said, it's going to help with all the data management, but it's just going to help them stay connected too. And that's what we're doing here is raising awareness about

Maria Suarez Mason:

For next events, exactly, for next events, they're going to be they're going to, we're going to be connected, we're going to be informing them what is happening. Next, and something very important, as you mentioned, you don't need to have the app. If they don't want to download the app there is a web version and they can just click in the web version and it takes you directly to to an URL and you can sign up or RSVP without having the RunAdic app.

Bryan The Botanist:

But I have the app on my phone and I don't like to add a hundred apps, but I'll keep the run at app on there along with my Garmin app and my Strava app because it connects me with all the run clubs and all the news. And I love what you guys are up to. So our guys go check out Run Addict on the I know it's on the iOS stores. Or

Maria Suarez Mason:

Yes, and Google and iOS.

Bryan The Botanist:

Okay, so let's move on to our next question.

Maria Suarez Mason:

She's the movement. Actually that's a very good question, Bryan, because right now everything, the promotion is, of course it's a local run. It's gonna, it's happening here in Miami. But she has a lot of, thousands of followers in Mexico and Latin America. And of course they are seeing this. You never know in the future. Soy corredora race, like coming from different countries in the world.

Bryan The Botanist:

I can see a half marathon series with a 5K

Maria Suarez Mason:

not?

Bryan The Botanist:

and something for the kids.

Sonia Chavez:

course.

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah, 100%. Especially with your passion, Sonia, as a runner.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Exactly. She has the formula and she's a winner. She knows how to do it. So we are helping her to replicate something that she already proved that, that works.

Bryan The Botanist:

That's awesome. Sneaker Impact wants to get behind this too. And so that brings me to our next section, which is all about, Sneaker Impact. Because, it's a Sneaker Impact News Podcast. But we just want to, ask, a couple questions I have about social responsibility and sustainability, which we talked about before the podcast is, how do you each personally live and run sustainably?

Maria Suarez Mason:

That's a very I will say an easy and complicated question, right? Because a lot of people is like a lot of people ask you that question. And the response could be like very political response. And maybe I don't do anything to live in a, to, or to help this planet to get better. Right now, I don't know if you remember, but we start a movement in RunAdic that is called Plogging 305. And what we what we do is we run and pick up trash. We have done that in Brickell and in, in downtown area, and we actually extend it to the ocean. Some of our runners they are divers, so we start cleaning the bay. We have done that maybe three, four times already. So something that we were discussing is we live here. We don't only live here, we run here every day. We see this every day. So do we want to continue seeing that this city is getting more and more polluted, more trash every day on the streets. We don't want to. Even that we don't have kids, we don't want the kids in the future to see this. So that's why we launched Plogging 305. And we do these events regularly helping some of the neighborhoods that we run in.

Bryan The Botanist:

That's amazing. I've seen on Instagram videos from right where you guys meet on Saturday mornings in Brickell. It's on Bayshore Drive, right? And Elliott, after the run, would have a diver in the water right off of The edge of the bay, where people walk, on the street, like literally five feet off, 10 feet off, and they're pulling grocery carts out of the bay and they're pulling tons of junk that honestly, and you guys are doing this out of your own. And I know, and Elliott's so humble, but I know he's paid divers to even do it, out of his own pocket. And he cares. And I know you both care so much. So it really warms my heart because we had a massive storm event yesterday. And And we, in the last two days in Miami, we might've gotten a foot and a half of rain, over 10 to 12 inches. And it's all sweeping the plastic into the ocean and rivers

Maria Suarez Mason:

I agree.

Bryan The Botanist:

manatees and dolphins and turtles, all of the life is suffering because of it. And there's so much economic prosperity in Miami. I started a river cleanup here. Everyone's trying to get involved who notices it. And if you aren't noticing it, then you're not paying attention. And everyone needs to start paying attention because we're part of nature, not above it. So that's my quick, I'm so grateful for you guys for plogging and I know I've seen the Brickell Run Club and Frankie getting, doing that a lot and other run clubs too. So keep that going. And Sonia, how about you? How do you, as a runner be environmentally friendly?

Sonia Chavez:

We support plug in runs every year in Mexico. The last week we participated in a conference about this. And the Next, next Sunday is the last plug in runs, and I think it's important for runners.

Bryan The Botanist:

Where do you plog in Mexico? Do you have clubs all over or are you mainly in Mexico City?

Sonia Chavez:

In Mexico City,

Bryan The Botanist:

Which is a very big city, bigger than Miami. How many people live in Mexico City?

Maria Suarez Mason:

25 million?

Bryan The Botanist:

25 million.

Maria Suarez Mason:

it's bigger

Sonia Chavez:

Mexico City and the metropolitan area, yeah.

Bryan The Botanist:

you're both from there, right? Maria, you were born in Mexico City area?

Maria Suarez Mason:

yes.

Bryan The Botanist:

Wow.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Yeah, it's bigger than some countries in Europe or Latin America, just the city.

Bryan The Botanist:

I've heard, I've never been there yet, but I've been to other parts of Mexico and I've been to Guatemala a bunch. And I know as women and, and as a man, we all care, we, the three of us really are caring about the planet. So that's what our goal is today is to also tie that into being a runner is caring about Our planet and social responsibility. How do how do your brands encourage social responsibility? Maria, we'll start with you.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Yes some of the things that we, and actually that's a question that I'm sure that you receive many times. How many, like how often should I change my sneakers, right? In the app we integrate artificial intelligence and we have a robot that is doing that. Responding those questions. And the way we have trained this robot is that they have, you have, in order to A lot of people just get, go, with a trend, right? Oh, I want this just because I want and I can pay these expensive shoes. Do you really need them? Are you going to use them? Where those sneakers are going to end up at the end? Hopefully with you. That's the idea. Maybe not. Maybe end up in the trash. So we encourage them. We create, we train these robots to pay. First, tell them you have to write the date where you the date that you start using those sneakers in the sole.

Bryan The Botanist:

Oh, wow.

Maria Suarez Mason:

every Elliott has the formula, but I think it's 300, no, 300 miles. You have to change them, and it's about three, four months. It depends how many miles you run. And of course we create also the, or we give them the suggestion to donate them. There are a lot of people, I remember clearly we went to Cuba a long time ago to, to run a half marathon and most, a lot of the athletes were running with like regular shoes. And Yeah, athletes like you, like me, like Sonia, that we can have access to buy shoes is fine, but how about so many people that cannot? Donate them. We encourage people to donate their shoes. We encourage them not to buy because it's a new shoe and you want it, or it's a new color and you want it. And we give them some expertise in how to keep track of how often you can change your shoes.

Bryan The Botanist:

Absolutely. That's great that you're teaching them about, writing the data. And that's amazing because you could try to put it in your computer. You could try to put it in your phone. But, putting it right in the shoe, you're not going to forget. You can just look in the shoe. I've never done that as a runner. That's revolutionary for me. And then, just a quick, about the 300, 400 miles, I worked in several running stores and that's, to prevent injury, right? You don't want someone to get injured from not using a pair of shoes that's really going to protect them. But what happens is that runners don't realize that their stinky shoes can live a second life. After even a thousand miles, they can live a second life in Latin America, in Africa, in many different countries. And Sneaker Impact has been working very hard to get that message out there because only 13 percent of people in the United States recycle their shoes each year. 87 percent of people do not recycle. I don't know, Sonia, do you know the statistics in Mexico and about recycling and about shoes and how does Soy Corredora do the right thing socially?

Sonia Chavez:

We have a social program call it Amario Soy Corredora. And sell secondhand running shoes and clothes and the provides they donate to social cause that Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist:

That's incredible.

Sonia Chavez:

It's a permanently program.

Bryan The Botanist:

That's amazing how do people find out more about getting involved in that social movement, Sonia? Do they go on your website?

Sonia Chavez:

Yeah, it's in the website. In the

Bryan The Botanist:

Website? soyCorredora. com. That's cool. I'm the newest Soy Corredora fan in the world and I'm so excited to get to know your brand because RunAdic has just been really, I've seen it again, remind us Maria, when it started.

Maria Suarez Mason:

We have been here with RunAdic for seven years, six years and a half.

Bryan The Botanist:

six, seven. So 2018, 17. Yeah, I remember I was in one of your first videos, and I just, to see how big you guys have grown over the years it takes a lot of hard work, like you said, and same for you, Sonia, an even longer history of growing your movement and your brand and being an editor. Working with Runners World and being a United Nations Ambassador to Mexico. Can you tell us a little bit about that? I find that really interesting.

Sonia Chavez:

I like it so much because, eh, I think, eh, Mexico and another countries is a, it's a great, eh, not say friendly or friendship.

Bryan The Botanist:

Friendship.

Sonia Chavez:

Yeah. And I like connecting people in all countries.

Bryan The Botanist:

That's amazing. Do you have to travel a lot for that?

Sonia Chavez:

Yeah,

Bryan The Botanist:

You travel a lot. Yeah. Awesome. And just so everyone knows, because I'm traveling this weekend to Wisconsin. When you recycle a pair of shoes. You save an estimated 17. 5 kilograms of carbon emissions per pair of shoes that you recycle by sending them to sneakerimpact. com and that's based on our data of the recycling process. It, it takes a lot of carbon to make a pair of shoes and when we, carbon is from, resources and when you fly, you also create a lot of carbon. So we need to offset. The carbon by gardening, planting trees recycling is the biggest thing. I'm also a gardener. There's other things you can do to offset your carbon and just start looking into it because it's a very important topic and it's great that you both have, are encouraging people to recycle cause that's, It's so important, and a recent statistic showed, if I can give out a couple of statistics quick before we move on to the next section that 90 plus percent of Americans want to recycle, but currently only about, again, 13 percent recycle shoes. More than that recycle in general, but not anywhere near 90 percent, but 90 plus percent want to, but they need an easy and free solution. And the other alarming statistic that we've is, over 400 million pairs of shoes are thrown away each year in the U. S. 24 percent of children in the world don't have proper footwear. That's an alarming statistic. One quarter of all children need better footwear to protect from disease and soil borne back to just illnesses. They'll live a longer life and a much higher quality. And it's just shocking because in the United States no one ever thinks about that as much. And the other shocking statistic I learned was that Three quarters of the world, 75 percent depends on the second hand market, which is what Sonia, you were just talking about, getting the shoes, three quarters of the world, the United States makes up 4. 23 percent of the world's global population. And yet we consume 25 percent approximately of global resources. So five times our own. In a sense it's more complex than that, but the United States consumes much more than its size, and it's only less than 5 percent of the global population, and we need to do more, and also, we have to think about how big the world is, and that three quarters of the world depends on the second hand market. And we don't even understand what that is. I didn't growing up. I bought, we bought everything brand new, I think. I've been to Goodwill many times in my life, but that's the secondhand market is understanding that you don't have to, clothing can be recycled, shoes can be recycled, and a lot of things can be recycled. And there are people in other countries who would gladly, use a nice pair of shoes that even has 500 miles or a hundred miles. Some shoes we get even have less than 50 miles on them. When we get shoes over a thousand and sometimes they have to get grinded up, but in general. Another statistic is about 90 percent of the shoes we receive here at Sneaker Impact can live a second life. Less than 10 percent go into our grinding program. It's only when they have less than the, not enough sole on the bottom for even someone to walk in. If it's like just the bottom is got holes in it, but if the bottom is good, we can fix the top, the upper. So I just wanted to share some of those alarming statistics with you because, I saw recently the Ocean Cleanup Project on YouTube. And they're cleaning up the great Pacific garbage patch. And they went to Guatemala with the River Interceptor, which is this device that catches plastic coming out of the rivers. And the guy who founded Ocean Cleanup Project, guys got to check them out on YouTube. They're huge. They go out in the middle of the Pacific ocean with this huge ship that's got this giant net. It's now able to exclude. Fish and other marine life like turtles from getting trapped in it through cameras and openings. And then it's got this air bubble and it lifts and pushes the fish out and they can see it all from within the ship. They went to Guatemala and all the plastic coming out of the river, it was so tremendous. All coming from Guatemala city, unfortunately, because it just flows from the mountains down through the river through rain events and from the landfill outside the city. And they found a shoe like every two feet. And it was just alarming. Also plastic bottles, of course, but, it's, with our shoes, guys, we really got to realize that, and ladies, that, there's 24 percent of the people in the world that don't, kids that don't have shoes, and many adults that are looking for a pair of shoes Maria and Sonia, Maria, have you seen any stories personally when you've, I know you mentioned Cuba, do you want to mention anything else about, some of these alarming statistics?

Maria Suarez Mason:

I'm not really involved as you in the statistics. But we know, as you said, like second market or secondary market, not only in shoes, right? Right now we're talking about shoes, but I work in technology for many years on consumer technology devices. And a lot of the cell phones That we, in the United States, we don't want it because it's not the latest technology. A lot of companies that make a lot of money just recycle them and send them to Africa or some other countries. It's another way to reuse too. It's a huge market. It's a huge market. There's a lot of money on that. Because not only they reuse the devices, they also recover some of the materials. I'm, I, in, in some way I was involved in some companies that do that in the United States and they resell this second or refurbish, they call it refurbish devices and they sell them into the Latin America or African market.

Bryan The Botanist:

Amazing. Yeah the rare earth metals and other components in computers and phones is so important to be mindful about. And batteries. I know in Miami, there's actually in Coral Gables, there's a specific program for some cities are more, have more services, but even in Miami, they're on Earth Day, they collect all of your e waste, at many different sites Earth Day events. I remember Earth Day, a couple of months ago. I was, I saw, I took actually my old MacBook and got it recycled with the city of North Miami. I took out the hard drive, but it was no longer, it was like a 15 year old MacBook, 10 year old, and I didn't need, it didn't work, but they took it back and they're gonna, it goes through electronic recycling, which is probably, A lot of it gets thrown away and that's the shocking thing is it goes in the landfills or it just makes its way into the oceans and the rivers and it's really sad you'll see everything in the oceans and rivers but also a problem you know with the alcohol and the you know the cigarettes and all these other things that when I do my river cleanup I'm seeing a lot of alcohol a lot of cigarettes a lot of stuff that people that aren't being mindful and I hate to get political and judge I don't want to judge but it's just like I don't know how specifically But that type of stuff ends up in the river more than anything else, along with plastic bottles and styrofoam lunches and stuff. And it's really sad, to see a manatee floating down the river and then that's what it's living in, or a shark which we literally have seen. But Sonia, how about you in Mexico? What are your thoughts on it?

Sonia Chavez:

I don't have a statics in Mexico, but Soy Corredora is the first platform that have the second hand program. But contribution to save the planet, okay?

Bryan The Botanist:

No, that's huge because of how big your platform is and also that you, you did that. You took the initiative to create it. When did you start your secondhand program?

Sonia Chavez:

And

Bryan The Botanist:

What year

Sonia Chavez:

years ago.

Bryan The Botanist:

Oh, wow. through the Soy Corredora website, people can get involved and learn how to do that amazing. Thank you so much. That's our sustainability section. So thank you ladies for both, telling us how important that is to you to be socially and environmentally responsible. The next section, we're going to talk about your favorites. Maria, we're going to start with you. What's your favorite running shoe lately? And what else do you use as a runner regularly?

Maria Suarez Mason:

Let me tell you first that I'm going to run my first marathon ever in this November thanks to Sonia.

Bryan The Botanist:

That's incredible.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Thanks to the influence of Sonia. And actually I'm trying to take this very serious in terms of yes, I want to have fun. Yes, I want to be happy. But I want to finish it in one piece. Healthy and happy. I'm focusing on my shoes. It's because I need a lot of support on my ankles. Maybe I'm not responding to the question straight, but, I think it's very important to mention it, why we decided to run this marathon with Sonia when we were talking about this. I don't know if you have heard about it, this is the Every Woman's Marathon. It's in Georgia.

Bryan The Botanist:

No, I don't know about it.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Yeah, it's

Bryan The Botanist:

Where is it?

Maria Suarez Mason:

In Savannah, November 16,

Bryan The Botanist:

Georgia.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Georgia. It's a marathon just for women. But something that we were discussing about this special marathon, because for us it's very special, is that it's all abilities, all running abilities, and they, the most important message that they are sending is that we all need to be finishers. So the marathon is open, it's going to, it's going to close 7 hours and 45 minutes. It's going to be open. That's a lot.

Bryan The Botanist:

That's a lot. That's about two hours more than, it's about six hours normally for a cutoff.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Exactly. So one hour and 45 minutes more. So just changing the narrative of something that was told before, or that the industry that creates like this part of the that the marathon has to be closed at six hours, just changing that narrative creates a more inclusive event. And that's why we decided that it's important to go because it's women. What we have seen so far is that a lot of people, yes I've been running six, seven years almost, but something that amazes me is that I've seen women that never run before and they sign up for this marathon.

Bryan The Botanist:

Wow.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Just because you change the narrative. Just because this marathon. It's going to have 7 hours and 45 minutes to get finished. And it's something that we are trying to do is just changing those narratives. We have to change the stereotype of bodies. We don't have to look like elite athletes to be a runner. We love it. I love seeing them on Instagram. We don't need to run a pr, we don't need to run the major marathons. We have to create these inclusive spaces for everybody. And coming back to my, to your question is now I'm more into eating well trying to feel my body to make sure that I'm gonna do it. In one piece. I also, I have,

Bryan The Botanist:

very smart. So to you, it's not about the special gear and the special nutrition during the run and having all the technology, but what type of technology do you use when you run? Because that's important for safety. And for, monitoring your health.

Maria Suarez Mason:

I use Garmin and Garmin is connected, is synchronized to the Runadic app. My coach is able to see my numbers and create my plans from there directly from the app. I receive it every week based on my numbers. So it's very smart. It's just like they, with the algorithm, they see the numbers and basing my. Personal numbers, they create my plan for the next week. Is that what I do, just my garment?

Bryan The Botanist:

So cool. Awesome. All right. What's your favorite food, Sonia, after you run?

Sonia Chavez:

Hamburgers,

Bryan The Botanist:

Get that protein. Okay. How about you, Maria, what's your favorite food after you run?

Maria Suarez Mason:

I always crave meat as Sonia mentioned. Meat even maybe I don't know a hamburger, or but a real meat. No I've seen some people, oh, let me have a smoothie, and I'm like, no, let's eat real food,

Bryan The Botanist:

what's your pre run ritual?

Sonia Chavez:

yeah, coffee, only coffee.

Bryan The Botanist:

How about you, Maria?

Maria Suarez Mason:

Actually I started seeing this famous nutritionist in Miami, and she changed my mind about eating before running. In the past I didn't eat anything, I just like, not even coffee. Anything. Just water. Just fasting. Yeah. But she changed my mind about that now. I had a coffee and a piece of bread with banana or peanut butter and actually works. I really feel the difference.

Bryan The Botanist:

Fueling up beforehand. Helps your body be stronger. Yeah.

Maria Suarez Mason:

And I feel it. I feel it. I feel the

Bryan The Botanist:

That's awesome. Very cool. And you're training for your first marathon. That's it. What month is that going to be in?

Maria Suarez Mason:

November 16,

Bryan The Botanist:

November. And that's one more time, the name of the marathon

Maria Suarez Mason:

every woman's marathon.

Bryan The Botanist:

Every Woman's Marathon. Wow. Yeah. I hadn't heard of that yet. I'm doing one in Spain in December, Valencia.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Valencia.

Bryan The Botanist:

obviously world famous. I'm going, how about you, Sonia? What's your next marathon or race?

Sonia Chavez:

Every Woman Marathon

Bryan The Botanist:

Every Woman's Marathon. Okay. I'm hearing that name come up more and more. I'm going to have to, again, women's only, but guys can come and support by cheering.

Maria Suarez Mason:

need a lot of support. Yeah, prayer, support, everything. To all

Bryan The Botanist:

It sounds like a couple months ago.

Sonia Chavez:

Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist:

Tell us about the Miami Marathon.

Sonia Chavez:

No, I run the half

Bryan The Botanist:

Oh, the half. Okay. Tell us about

Sonia Chavez:

I run Berlin, Chicago, New York. A Palma de

Bryan The Botanist:

you at all of those races. Because I went to all those cities as well. We're both like, we could be twins because I think we both went to the world majors. Yeah, but the Every Woman's Marathon. Okay. I have a quick question. Is the Run to be Happy event, can men come too? Besides me?

Sonia Chavez:

of course.

Bryan The Botanist:

Okay, so everyone is invited. I just wanted to make, I thought that was going to be pretty obvious, but I just wanted to make it clear that men

Sonia Chavez:

be a party with the best DJ.

Bryan The Botanist:

all right. I love it. Yeah. I'm a little bit of a boomer, but you know what? Maria's helping me. Sonia's helping me. We're going to get a great they're giving me some inspiration. I'm going to bring a couple things that I got up my sleeve too, and we're going to have fun. And there's gonna be a party afterwards, it sounds on the beach. And yeah, we're going to have fun with it. I got one or two more questions. First is shout outs. Maria, who do you want to give a shout out to?

Maria Suarez Mason:

women out there that wake up every day. Like me, like regular women no, not athlete because I don't consider myself an athlete. I don't have any background as an athlete. So that's why when you ask me, what's your history as an athlete, I don't consider myself an athlete. I started running very late in my life. And it's more challenging for us, but For all women like me get up every day. That is, I'm sure is more difficult to run. To get up, to just follow the plan. And we do it. We do it at the end of the day. I see myself already crossing the finish line In the marathon, even though I don't know what type of monster I am, I'm going to fight with, but I already saw myself crossing that finish line. And this show is for those women like me, like regular women, non athletes, no just people that want to challenge themselves, women that want to challenge themselves.

Bryan The Botanist:

The everyday woman.

Maria Suarez Mason:

The everyday, regular women. Exactly. Exactly.

Bryan The Botanist:

Soy Corredora is inviting every single woman to get involved. Did I get a chance to give Sonia the shout out? Sorry, Sonia, shout outs.

Sonia Chavez:

I have a message to all women. You are perfect to run. Okay. Just do it.

Bryan The Botanist:

That's amazing. That's so simple yet perfect. I love it. Okay. That brings me to my final question. Closing thoughts for our Sneaker Impact audience. What inspiring message would you like to leave us with Maria?

Maria Suarez Mason:

I think I'm gonna steal this one, but I really love it. That we all need to be finishers in everything, not only in running, in everything in life, in our plans, in our projects. And we are able to do it. That's why we compare, and we talked to Sonia about this, that we compare this, the running with life. Every time that you run a race, it's like, You are living something in your real life, no? You are happy and then the next miles you are not very happy, you ask yourself, what the hell I'm doing here, and same in life it's life, choosing, you run life in some hours yeah, we all need to be finishers, and we have to, To break down those narratives we have to be more inclusive, to remove those stereotypes. Who can be a runner and who cannot? Everybody can be a runner. Doesn't matter the body type, the distance, the PR. And I'm improving that theory right now, running a marathon. Whoo! I'm proving that

Bryan The Botanist:

love it.

Maria Suarez Mason:

my theory,

Bryan The Botanist:

Be a finisher. Always. It's all about never giving up and that's what a marathon's all about and that's what life's all about. So that's a very powerful message. Thank you, Maria. Sonia, what message would you like to leave us with today?

Sonia Chavez:

Run for you not for them.

Bryan The Botanist:

I love It. Cool. Very powerful as well. It's very personal at the end of the day running and it's very good for your mental health as well as your physical health. People mainly think about physical health, but honestly it's incredibly important for your mental health too. And it's very good for just stress, right?

Maria Suarez Mason:

a hundred percent,

Bryan The Botanist:

So anyone who needs, support mentally and I've been there, many people have been there. It's a very, something I think everyone experiences at some point in their life, running can be a great thing. Outlet for you.

Maria Suarez Mason:

it's a free therapy.

Bryan The Botanist:

Free therapy. This has been an awesome conversation today. I've had a lot of fun. And I want to just also remind people how they can stay connected and how they can get involved. So for RunAdic, they can go to the RunAdic app in the app store and make sure to download that and to create a profile. You'll see me on there. You'll see Maria and Sonia. RunAdic is also on Instagram, R U N A D I C. What other platforms can people find RunAdic on Maria?

Maria Suarez Mason:

Actually you mentioned all of them. We are in Facebook too, same at Runadic and in YouTube, we have some videos in TikTok too, but yeah the one that is we have a lot of followers it's Instagram. Instagram.

Bryan The Botanist:

Instagram. Yeah. I see I'm on your, I see your Instagram every day and I love the reels and I see you getting involved in the community. I see Elliott coming on and speaking about so many important topics. Sonia how do people find SoyCorredora and stayconnected.

Sonia Chavez:

And YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook whatever. And so

Bryan The Botanist:

com? Yep.

Sonia Chavez:

Comrad is a website and

Bryan The Botanist:

awesome. Yeah, so we'll direct everyone there, but it's so simple guys. RunAdic and Soy Corredora, they're two incredible brands and movements with two amazing women behind them, Latinas, that are really inspiring. And I'm so glad that I got to share their story with you today. And I want you all to please get involved with the Run to be Happy Summer Series kicking off in Miami. So make sure to go on. The Run Addict app and sign up and please come just have a fun run with us. I think it's going to be my first run back from surgery where I'll actually do a half a mile and just go out from the DJ booth back and forth, but I haven't run in two months, but I'm going to be back.

Maria Suarez Mason:

You there.

Bryan The Botanist:

I'll see you. I'll see you all on June 23rd at the run to be happy summer series with Soy Corredora and Run Addict. Thank you again, Maria and Sonia. Have a great day.

Maria Suarez Mason:

Thank you, Bryan. Thank you.

Bryan The Botanist:

Okay. Bye

People on this episode

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Bryan “The Botanist” Huberty

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