Video Version: BODY BUILDING AND CHALLENGING SOCIAL NORMS with Andrea Dean Van Scoyoc

🖤🌌In this latest episode of the After Hours Chats podcast, i have a conversation with Andrea Dean Van Scoyoc, Gothique writer/author, thrifty fashion consultant and now aspiring bodybuilder!
 In this episode, Andrea talks about her new journey into the world of fitness and body building, overcoming insecurities while doing so, and some of her learning curves along the way!
 Join us for a fun and a conversation that questions and challenges what many have accepted as social norms.
 AND give her a follow (IG):
 @redhorsepromotions 
 @hr42_consulting 
 @thegothicgrandedame (her new fitness page!

And the Lifting Dead shirt is from @deathcomeslifting (since there seems to be a Gothic fitness theme going on on the podcast as of late!)

Thank you for being here and listening!

#gothicclothing #gothicfitness #indieartists #gothicartists #gothicpodcast

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Well, hey there, and welcome to another episode of the After Hours Podcast. I am back with uh somebody that's been on here a few times now. I think you and Susanna Sprague are like competing on for on you know for who appears on my show the most, but I'm sure I always get but yeah, but I'm always happy to have you back because you always have just something really cool that you know going on that you're doing. And you know, last time we were talking about your um your foray into um the fashion consulting industry, which has been pretty cool. Uh been following that. You're doing some good things here, and now um Andrea Dean Vonscoy, for those um that may be brand new to my podcast, brand new to her work. Um you have a very long resume from gothic um writer and author to you do voiceover work, you do all kinds of things, entertainment, now you're a fashion consultant, and now you have gone into the world of fitness, particularly bodybuilding, which I'm really excited to talk about that, just because you know, we seem to uh there there's between like death comes lifting, me and you, it's like there seems to be this like running theme of like goths and fitness, which I think is super, super cool, and there needs to be a lot more of that, uh, you know, and it's um yeah, but I think it's something that a lot of people, whether you're in the alt world or in the more mainstream world, a lot of people just like kind of don't connect the two. In fact, you know, even me as like a fitness girly, like people are like, How can you be goth and fitness and into fitness? You know, it's like, and I've heard that from both sides of the aisle. So I can't wait to get your perspective on that. But but first, what like what led you like down the the path of bodybuilding?

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Well, it's it's kind of funny in a roundabout way, it's a 40, actually more like a almost 50 year thing going on here. Oh wow. I have always I have a lot of Neanderthal DNA. I've had my DNA done. And I used to be on 23 and me, and I got a a little notification on there one day that I had more Neanderthal DNA than 78% of users on there. And so it makes a lot of sense now. I have always starting at age 13, people and I'm 57 now. Oh people thought I was a bodybuilder.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

I have always had these huge arms, these broad shoulders. Yeah. I could pick up my dad when I was a teenager. I used to bounce a friend of mine's husband on my knee, and he was 200 pounds, and he's like and I was like 110 pounds at the time, but I was solid muscle. My entire life, I decided when I was 18 that I wanted to get into modeling. Okay. So I went to a modeling agency, handed them my resume. I got the the snide up and down. The bodybuilder look isn't really what we're looking for. And I said, Oh, well, that's good because I'm not a bodybuilder. Yeah. And they said, Oh, well, I'm sorry, your look's not right for us. Oh wow. And yeah, at age 13, I was I remember I was a Pop Warner cheerleader backing way up a bit here. I was a Pop Warner cheerleader. I don't know if they even still have that, but it was like a little summer program. And I remember after one of the games, the cheerleaders from the opposing team who wiped the field with our players, we were all standing around. And I remember standing on a bench and just standing there looking around, and one of the girls looks at me and says, Are you a cheerleader? And I said, Yeah, I'm wearing a cheerleading uniform. You sure you're not one of the football players? Whoa. Yeah, I've had that since age 13. I have these gigantic arms, these huge shoulders. My husband tells me I look like a tackle for the Green Bay Packers.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

And I remember going to, because I'm originally from Orlando, so I used to hang out at the International Mall all the time. And I remember going out there and I was tan and thin and had on a sleeveless shirt and a little down skirt, you know, thought I was all that at a box of cookies. And these two guys come walking by me and they give me an up and down, and I'm thinking, checking me out. And the one guy looks at me and he says, Have you ever thought of being a model? And I was like, Yeah, actually I have, because I was hoping he would say, Oh, I have this modeling agency, and you know, I thought I'd get a second chance. And they got past me. And I guess they thought when they walked past me that suddenly a wall had gone up and I couldn't hear what they were saying. One guy looks at the other guy and goes, Did you see the arms and shoulders on that girl? And she thinks she can be a model. I went home and cried. And my mother was like, What do you expect? That is what you look like. You've got these huge arms, you've got these huge shoulders, you're stronger than most boys your age, you're stronger than a lot of men. And I was like, Well, I don't want to be. And so my entire life it's been something I've tried to hide.

unknown 6:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Hide my arms, wear billowy shirts. Yeah. Yeah, things like that. And I just with age, I had just killed it and killed it and killed it until I decided, you know, this is the way I'm built, but I'm gonna hide it. I I don't want anyone to see me. Right. My husband has to go to a gym regularly. He's had uh six uh heart attacks. Okay. And so he has a heart doctor that suggests that he go to the gym. So we had to start at a new gym because our gym closed. And I walked in and on the wall was a huge poster about all of these bodybuilders. Wow. And they're all members of the gym. The owner and his wife, and then people at the gym who have decided to become bodybuilders. And I said, Oh I said, I would love to be up there on that wall, but I'm too old. And they said, No, you're not. Never. And the owner's wife was talking to me and she said, We have a lady on our team that's 87. And she's awesome. And I found her up on the wall and I was like, Oh wow. And then my husband one day was having difficulty with one of the machines, and I noticed there was this really muscular woman standing there. And we got to talking, and I kept looking at her and I said, Are you on the poster in the other room? And she said, Yep, that's me, the one in the blue. And I said, Wow, I said, I want to be a bodybuilder so bad. I said, but I'm too old. And she said, I'm 58. I started at 57. And I said, I just turned 57. And she said, get going. She said, I am gonna put a bug in the owner's ear. And so I sat down and talked it over with him. And as soon as the funds allow, I'm I'm working as I can right now on my own. I right I have not been to a gym since ever. Except for the one you know, my husband and I went to, and they didn't have any bodybuilding people there. It was mostly seniors.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

And so I had no idea personal trainers were so expensive. So I'm just waiting for the funds now. But in the meantime, I'm working on my own. I am power lifting like crazy, push myself until I collapse. I am on a high protein, uh low-fat starvation diet, which a lot of people look at me, they're like, You're on a starvation diet. And I'm like, Yeah, it's because I have to lose about 30 pounds. I'm I'm solid, I look like a brick wall. But I gotta get rid of the fat so you can see my abs that I'm working so hard on. Yeah, and I've got the little dimples in my legs and the little dimples in my arms. So I have to get rid of all of that. Yeah, and so I'm doing that on my own. And so now after almost 50 years, I am no longer hiding. I am going to flaunt it.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

Yeah, work what yeah, work what you got, you know, and you know, just really make the most of it and really just just emphasize it. You know, there's no reason, you know, to, you know, to hide, you know, to hide that, you know, whether what no matter what your your natural build is, you know, and you know, no, but I think that's really awesome because, oh yeah, I've you know, I've seen, you know, because I I follow some you know fitness people as well. And yeah, I I've come across people in their 60s, 70s, and even 80s, and you know, and I think a few years ago, there was a woman in her 90s, her goal she decided when she was 91 that she wanted to run a marathon. And I think by the time she was like 93, 94, she was running marathons. And, you know, and it's it's really this is the thing. Like it's it's it's never ever too late. And yeah, a lot of people tend to use the chronological age that was like basically given to them at birth by you know by the system, and we can always go down that rabbit hole. But you know, but a lot of people use that as a way to define them and what they can and cannot do. And, you know, I am a huge advocate for, you know, it doesn't matter, you know, if you know, you're you know, if you're like, you know, 20, 30, 50, 80, whatever. It's like whatever you want to do, get out there and do it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Um and I I have finally reconciled myself that this Neanderthal build is not going anywhere. It is staying with me until the day I die. My mother was always 102 pounds and had arms that looked like she could deadlift 300 pounds. And I guess I got them from her, and I've got this broad back. I wear a medium-sized pants and have to wear sometimes a 2x in shirts because my back is so broad. Yeah. Anything else, I'm busting the seams, my arms won't fit. And that was before I started working out. So yeah, and I have some some health problems, but the lady that was helping my husband the day at the gym, I said, you know, I have I have some health problems because I abused my my body as uh a child. I ballet at five, uh tap at seven, uh, gymnastics. I was training for the Olympics in gymnastics at 10 years old. Um I had a birth defect in my back I didn't know about, ended up getting hurt, couldn't compete anymore, went into baton, cheerleading in high school, taught baton, taught gymnastics, uh, got into kung fu in my 30s. So I have I have piled a lifetime of abuse on my body. And the lady I was talking to said, oh well, the 87-year-old that is in the gym has scoliosis, which are other problems, and she's not even supposed to be here. She was supposed to be dead. So I'm like, okay, wow, yeah, my body's just gonna have to suffer because I'm doing it.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

Yeah, yeah. And I I I love that. That 87-year-old just sounds awesome. But, you know, but yeah, but a lot of it is mental, you know, and a lot of that and even um, you know, when I, you know, when I was working in like, you know, gyms and everything, like I would see women who were like, you know, oh, I'm I'm 45, my bikini days are over. And I was just like, why?

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

No, they no, they don't have to be. And I and and the thing is, it's like I would tell them, I would be like, you know what, there's women a lot older than you are that are getting into the best shapes of their lives, they're walking out onto those, like those fitness, you know, competition stages, and they're killing it. And you know what, if if they can I mean they can do it, you I mean, you you can I mean, not even if you don't want to be a fitness competitor, like you can still get into the best shape of your life. And it was almost like it was like they knew that I was what that what I was saying was true, but they just and I think it was they didn't believe that they could do it, you know. And and I think a lot of that is like that, you know, so I came to recognize that oh, a lot of people, they just have that mental that that hurdle that they need to get over because they may have been told their whole lives, like, oh, after you're 30, you know, it's like you're everything's over and falls apart. No, it doesn't have to be that way. And so I'm really, really glad that, you know, you know, you're just like saying, Hey, you know what, this is my build. I'm going to rock it. And you know what? I, you know, perhaps, you know, you were given the build that you were for a reason, you know, because maybe you're supposed to change something and present, you know, like a different kind of, you know, different kind of beauty, a different kind of being. And, you know, maybe there might be somebody out there with like a similar build and have similar, you know, and have had those insecurities, and they'll be able to be like, hey, yeah, you know what? It she's taking it and rocking it, so you know, why can't I? So I think that's awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

Yeah, that's what I want to do is maybe inspire others because I can't be the only one. Oh, and and I've I've been shamed my entire life for my build. I mean, I've been called horrible names. I've had people tell me I look like a man. I mean, it's it and the and the you know, they didn't mean it jokingly, they meant it right before PC came in and it you you can't talk to people like that anymore. Oh no. I was having people call me derogatory names, tell me that I look like a man, ask me if I was sure I wasn't a man.

unknown 15:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:37

Oh, people, I mean, people still do that, you know, because I mean I I follow, like I said, I follow fitness women, and many of them, like they actually have, you know, they still have very feminine looks that they're just they're just more muscular. And there's people like, oh, you look like a man, and that's like, okay. And it's usually people that have these like faceless profiles. It's like they're not gonna show, they're not gonna show themselves, but they're gonna go and like talk smack on somebody else's um somebody else's page. But because I think, you know, in many ways social media has been amazing, but then in other ways it's also given people, you know, kind of a way to just be jerks and get away with it, you know, because um because I think it was what was it, Mike Tyson made a comment saying that social media made it so you can say something to somebody without being I I'm I'm just paraphrasing I'm you know, but like you can say something ignorant to somebody without getting punched in the face and everything. And like, no, like that that's true. And and I think a lot of people too, and you know, and it's not just men, it's women that do it too. They seem to have an issue with a woman being strong and confident in herself and confident in her own skin.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

And I mean, it's mostly women that always put me down. Very few men. Most of the the men were like, Yeah, okay, whatever. I mean, I I did get the in high school, I don't want to date a a woman who's got bigger arms than I do or who's stronger than I am. I got that a couple of times. But it was mostly women who have made the disparaging remarks to me over the years.

unknown 17:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

Because I'm not five foot ten with long blonde hair and legs that go all the way to the ceiling and weigh 105 pounds, and yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

And and the thing is, most of those women that make those comments, they don't look like that either.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

No. No, they don't. And their profile picture is of somebody gorgeous, and you know it's not them.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

It's like those AI generated photos. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Well, it's so true because it's like they'll have the those AI generated photos uh, you know, on their profile picture, and they look it it's like, yeah, it looks gorgeous. But then when you kind of scroll down and you catch a picture of them, it's just kind of like, oh, okay, you know, and not to make fun of anybody's looks, but at the same time, it's like if you can't like don't dish it out if you can't take it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Right, right. And don't just go online to pick on people.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

Right. You know, if you're gonna be online, be doing something, do something positive, you know, to reach people and to influence people and to influence people in a positive way. It's like there's already enough negativity, you know, with everything that's going on in the world right now. So we don't need any more negativity, you know, adding on to that. And I think we all need to do our part to, you know, number one, kind of save ourselves because no one's coming to save us, you know, like I've you know, like has we've been like which has been discussed in the last couple of episodes. Number one, and number two, just do your, you know, just kind of ask yourself, like, how can I do my part in, you know, cut to countering all of like this really dark negativity that's going on. And that's what people should be doing, and that's what social media needs to be getting used for. But and a lot of people are, but it just seems to be other people are just sitting in their own negativity, and you know, they just it's like it doesn't take much to just be be kind, you know, I think.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

Yeah, and and another thing that I think is like super cool is that um, as I mentioned earlier, between, you know, death death comes lifting, I'm actually wearing their lifting dead army sweatshirts. I thought it would be pro appropriate today, because you know, we're all like kind of goths in fitness. And um, you know, but there's even like that whole um what's what a lot of people seem to have a hard time putting together, which is the idea of a goth, or not even just a goth, even just somebody who might be considered a little bit more fringe, a little bit more alternative, being into something that's supposedly mainstream, quote unquote, like fitness. So, like what are your thoughts on that? Like, why people seem to have like a hard time with that, you know, on both ends.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

I don't know, because it's totally weird because most gyms are open 24 hours a day. Yeah. So even if someone lives, let's say, the vampire lifestyle, they can still go to a gym because it's open 24 hours a day. And I remember seeing photos ages ago of the vampire Dawn at a gym. He was reinventing himself. So it's like I I don't understand where people are getting that goths shouldn't work out. Yeah. I I I just I I can't even put those two together. I'm trying and I just can't. Because it's like 24-hour gyms. Uh you can wear headphones if you don't want to listen to the music that they have at the gym. I have I play Viking, powerful Viking music myself to work out there.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

I love it.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

Um so it's not like you have to go in there and be stuck listening to what they have if you don't like it. It's not like you have to go out in the bright sunlight.

SPEAKER_02 21:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

You can go at two or three o'clock in the morning. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

So I just I can't get there. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

Yeah, me neither. Because I've had people, um, you know, when I mentioned that like I'm into fitness, like like I said, I've had people from both sides of the aisle, um, both the mainstream and the alternative side of the aisle, like just kind of surprised that, you know, I'm a little more alternative, but I'm also very much into fitness too. Like they're like, oh, well, that's unusual. And I'm like, I mean, not really. But you know, it shouldn't be unusual, you know.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

Yeah, not really at all. I just I I don't I don't get it. I think they all think that we should be walking the streets at one, two o'clock in the morning, scaring people, hanging out in goth clubs. I mean, I I don't know what they think.

SPEAKER_00 22:19

Yeah. Yeah, that's something that's kind of been hard for me to, you know, kind of put together too, because it's like everybody should, you know, be like taking care of themselves like that in one form or another. You know, and I don't think that's just, you know, confined to to one group. And, you know, but but in a way, I mean, I can kind of see how, you know, maybe sometimes the more um, you know, standard gyms might be a little bit intimidating, you know, but but I've seen people who, you know, aren't alternative, like, you know, they just they've never been to a gym before. So, you know, they're you're gonna be intimidated anyway, you know, at first when you step into a gym, if you've never done it before. And everybody has to start somewhere though, right?

SPEAKER_01 23:11

And the key is when you walk into a gym, you don't walk in there hat in hand like you're afraid of the place. You walk in like you own it. Yes, you go in there with a purpose, even if it's just like when my husband and I went to our new gym, because ours closed. I walked in, walked up to the counter, and the lady said, Can I help you? And I said, Yeah, we're thinking about joining your gym. And I said it just like that. I didn't say, Well, um, I need a I need a gym. And uh, no, we need a gym. My husband and I are considering joining yours. Yeah. No, that's how we would look for you to. Let me give you a tour.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

Yeah, no, I mean, that is how you gotta do it, even if you've never been to a gym before in your life, because you know, I've seen I've seen people do that where they walk in all intimidated and like you can tell they're intimidated. And you know, and I, you know, and I would always try to do my best to like make them feel welcome and everything. Right, you know, but at the same time, you you know, it's like you're here, you're taking this first step. You know, that that alone is something to be proud of. It is.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

And I I had I had a moment like that the other day. I went into the gym, I was wearing a skull t-shirt, and I always wear skorts because I I don't like to wear like the the typical gym, like the little the little tight pants, because it's like, oh no, I Florida is hot enough. No, thank you. So I'm in there in my little skorts, the little tennis shorts, and I walked by this elderly couple, uh-huh, and the lady was standing there, and I walked by and had my phone and scanned my coat, and she was like, Oh, oh, I'm I'm I'm sorry, uh, I'm sorry, I'm in your way. And I was like, No, you're fine, honey, don't worry about it. And I walked in and she followed me the whole time I walked in and then stood there at the counter and watched me work out.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

And I thought, good for you. I'm hoping you and your husband, they must have been in their mid 70s, late 70s, and I'm like, good. I hope the two of you will join now. Yeah, she and the husband would peek and watch me too to see what I was doing. So it's like, good, good, yeah, join.

SPEAKER_02 25:31

Come in with us.

SPEAKER_00 25:33

Yeah, when people are watching you work out to see what you're doing, you know you're doing something right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:38

Yeah, because I I have been, I won't name any uh gym franchises, but I've been to certain gyms where you walk in and it's like, Hi, welcome in. And it's like, oh, could you be any more disingenuous? Yeah. Or if the the thing that really gets me is to me, a gym is not a social club. Right. If I want a social club, I'm a huge Starbucks fan. I'll go hang out at Starbucks. Yeah. But some of these franchises I've been to, people would just sit on the machines and talk. And if you would go up to the counter and say, Hey, excuse me, could you get this person off the machine? Well, are they finished with it? Uh they're just sitting there talking. Yeah, they're socializing, not working out. Uh-huh. And they'd go over, hey, are you finished? Can these people work out? And it's like, okay, yeah, no. That that is not the gym for me. Uh-uh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:53

Yeah. No.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

But but I'm glad you guys caution anyone, avoid gyms like that. Take the tour, see what people are doing. If you see a bunch of people sitting around, yeah, leave. Right. If you see people in there serious, like me, even like my husband, we I jump from one machine to another. Like I said, I power workout. I told you this before we we started the interview. I power workout. I mean, I crank it hard. I probably do ten different machines. Right. All within an hour.

unknown 27:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

And I do 40 reps each. Yeah, I do. I I absolutely work until my body collapses. Yeah. So and I'm not saying that everybody in the gym has to be doing that, but pay attention. If more people are doing that, that's the gym you want to be in.

SPEAKER_00 27:47

Right. Yeah. People who are, you know, all you know about their business, people who are actually working, you know, instead of just, you know, being, like you said, on their phones and taking up space on the machines and everything. I mean, I can understand actually resting between sets. You know, I I can understand that. You know, okay, you do a set, you rest for a minute, you know, do another set, rest for a minute, do another set, you know, maybe rest for a minute if you want to do a fourth set, okay? And then boom, move on to the next one, you know. And, you know, that that's how I've always worked out. I I just that's the thing. I I don't get the whole, okay, I'm just gonna sit on my phone and and it's not even like okay, maybe they're just shuffling through their playlist and looking for another song, which again, I can totally get that because you know I've done that myself. But you know, but as soon as I find that song, it's like I I get on with it. You know, but I just I don't understand that whole I I guess what would make somebody just sit on their machine and just scroll through their phone. I mean, I don't know, maybe it's just a way to unwind, perhaps, but at the same time, you know, that's not really what the gym. I mean, the gym's there to for you to unwind, but you know, but it's there for you to, you know, do get, you know, go in, do your workout, do what you need to do, do that kind of unwinding. And you know, and I think it's also, you know, just having consideration for others that might want to use that machine, you know, or the weights.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

Uh-huh. Right. If you see that someone is standing there and they're looking at you. I had to walk up to a lady at the previous gym where I used to go. She was just sitting on the leg press machine and she was looking at her phone. And I said, Are you finished or are you resting? And she said, Yeah. I'm resting. And I was like, Okay. Looks to me like you're just lollygagging.

SPEAKER_00 29:50

I didn't say that, but I was like, when cats are actually just taking a camp, you know, setting up camp on the machine, you know. Right.

SPEAKER_01 29:58

Because it's like when when I rest, and of course, I'm not saying everyone should do this. I'm just simply saying, look for people that do like you and I do. I mean, I'll sit there and I'll hold on to the machine and I'll Yeah. Or I'll rub my legs because they'll they'll start to burn. I'll rub my legs, I'll sit there and rub my legs, and then I'll get back into it again. I don't just sit there going. Or worse yet, get up. Yeah, to me, when you get up, that means you're done.

SPEAKER_00 30:29

Yeah, yeah. And it's like, yeah, they get up and then because sometimes what um what I've I've known some people to do is like they'll they'll get up and like we're kind of calling out all everybody all gym behaviors right now. Yeah, really, because listen up, folks. If you're in this group, please stop. But it's like, you know, I've had people, you know, I've seen people like where like I get like like they're supersetting, but they're not like, you know, but they won't even make it obvious that they're supersetting. Like if somebody, like they won't even like maybe like leave something at the machine to like show that they're coming back to it. Like they'll just kind of get up, walk, you know, walk away, maybe go do something else, take some time. And so naturally you think, okay, they're done. They haven't left, like, like I said, my I I can under, you know, I understand, you know, you superset all that stuff. I totally get that. I like supersetting sometimes too, but at least like make it known that you're supersetting, like leave your water bottle, leave like a like your hoodie or something there to show, hey, I'm coming back here. I'm just over here and I'm gonna come back. But no, but like some people, it's like they'll just kind of they'll do a set, and you know, like they'll kind of get up, walk around, maybe go do another set, and then naturally you think, okay, they're done. I can go on that machine, and they're like, and then like they come back, and it's like, oh, well, I was super setting, and I was like, and I'm like, really? I wouldn't have guessed that. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

Exactly. Some some I just I don't I don't understand some people because I will work on a machine until I'm done. Like I said, I will sit there and I'll let you know I'm still on it. I'll rub my arms, I'll yeah, shake, I'll shake everything, and I'll let you know that I'm still on it. Yeah, but yeah, I'm not gonna walk around the gym and like just kind of like and that's a thing.

SPEAKER_00 32:34

Look in the mirror, and then yeah, and like like you said, just kind of lollygag and everything, and then it's like you know, you're like two sets in, and they're like, Oh, I was super setting, and I'm like, Well, it just kind of looks like you're wandering, you know, and you you've been away from this machine for this long, and you didn't do well.

SPEAKER_01 32:57

Continue super setting. I'm working out now.

unknown 33:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:03

Um, and another thing, oh my gosh, people, if you don't do this, please, please clean the machines. Sanitize when you're done. I I see some people do that, and I'm like, excuse me, are are you done with that machine? Because um, you need to sanitize it if you are. Yeah, yeah. Oh, I saw that at the last gym I belonged to. There was one guy that was working out and he wasn't cleaning the machine, and I was like, Um, I need to use that machine. Are you finished with it? Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm like, okay, um, well, I'll clean it for you. You but you need to clean your machine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm like, oh my God.

SPEAKER_00 33:46

Oh wow. Yes. So the the fitness etiquette, gym etiquette portion of this podcast episode, you know.

SPEAKER_01 33:55

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 33:56

Yeah, and it's just like, and you know, the bottom line is just have consideration for the people around you because yes, you are paying the gym membership, but you know what, so is everybody else there. Right. You know, everybody else there is paying for it too. And and nobody is better than anybody, and we're all there, you know, to get in our workout. We're all there for the same purpose. And, you know, it's just about just having some consideration. Just having consideration. That's all. You know, it's it's really it's not it's not that difficult, I don't think, to have consideration. And like I said, I don't care if somebody wants to superset, but you know what, maybe leave your water bottle or something there to indicate that you're coming back. Because I know some people, I've I've known people are like, oh, I hate when people superset and blah, blah, blah. I'm like, I don't really mind that as long as I know, okay, they're coming back to that machine. I see them, and they actually are working out over at another machine and then coming back, you know, like not just kind of like wandering aimlessly and then saying they're supersetting, which does happen too. But yeah, like I I don't, you know, I don't mind like if you're genuinely supersetting, I don't care. But like, you know, but it's just like this whole, okay, I'm just gonna wander away and just be aimless about everything and then come back, you know. It's you know, and I understand, you know, maybe it, you know, a lot of these people might be beginners in gym, so maybe they might have to learn that etiquette. But you know, but the bottom line is it's like if you have to you know how can I word this? Um, it's like if you if you have to wonder, okay, how would I react if somebody was doing this to me, then maybe you shouldn't do it, you know. That's just one simple way to do it. If I would be upset if somebody did this to me, like if I wanted to use this machine and I saw somebody just kind of sitting on their phone, you know, and doing nothing and I really wanted to use that machine because that was part of my routine, you know, would I get annoyed? And if the answer is yes, okay, that then don't do it. You know, some so if you're not sure, just don't.

SPEAKER_01 36:27

Gym etiquette 101.

SPEAKER_00 36:30

Don't. If you're not sure, don't. That's right. Or ask. Or ask, or ask, yeah, absolutely. Or there's like, you know, a ton of like YouTube videos where you can go to and they, you know, where they they'll talk about gym etiquette and like what what not to do and you know, all of that. So I mean, so yeah, I mean, I understand if people are brand new. Um, so maybe they're you know, maybe they're not aware. Okay, fine, but you know, but that's when you have to find out because you're in a public, you know, you're in a place with other people and this isn't your home gym, you know. And you know, if it's your home gym, okay, you do whatever you want. But you know, but when you're in a place where it affects other people, then yeah, you do need to, you know, maybe find out, okay, you know, how do I be more courteous here? You know. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So this isn't to scare away people that may be brand new to gyms and you know, they're like, oh, I don't know gym etiquette. You know, I would suggest, you know, either, you know, you can always ask somebody who works at the gym, hey, you know, I'm brand new to this. I want to make sure that, you know, I'm not getting in somebody's way. I want to make sure that I'm making the most of my time while also being courteous to others. What's some basic gym etiquette? You know, you can always ask somebody who works there. You can all, if you're or if you're too shy to ask, look it up on YouTube. There's tons of fitness YouTube videos out there, and just put in gym etiquette in the search engine and you know, or even gym etiquette, maybe even for your particular gym. And Google.

SPEAKER_01 38:13

And if you don't want to, yeah, if you don't want to sit and watch a video, just Google it.

SPEAKER_00 38:17

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. So all this gym etiquette, um, yeah, brings me to also wanting to ask you, um, have there been any like serious learning curves that you've had in your fitness journey so far? Particularly bodybuilding.

SPEAKER_01 38:36

So yes, the personal trainer is the big one.

SPEAKER_00 38:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

I I was I was so upset and I almost thought of giving up and and changing my mind when I found out how expensive because the the gym owner laid out the price list for me, and I looked at it, and my husband knows how desperately I want to do this, but he's like, Okay, we'll talk it over. And that that's his like code for uh you need to think again. So I looked at the paper when I got in the car, and I got in the car and cried. I was so upset. Yeah, and so then we were talking, and there might be some some changes in our our finances, boring details. I won't boring moment, but um he said, Why don't you just ask and see if they can work with you with this? So I went in and talked to the gym owner, and he's like, Oh yeah, he said, No, no, that's not a problem at all. He said, You give me a budget and we'll work out a plan for getting you trained. And I was like, Yes. So that was my first learning curve was having absolutely zero idea how expensive personal trainers are. And hey, if if they're anything like the personal trainers at the gym where I go, they earn every penny. So I'm not saying that they don't deserve to be paid, I'm just saying as someone who's new to getting so into fitness like I am.

SPEAKER_00 40:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01 40:07

There's a lot of difference in just going to a gym and just working out, and then you decide on something like bodybuilding. Yeah, you're just groping in the dark, and you have no idea. Because I'm the type of person when I jump into something, I don't put a toe in and test the water, I jump in both feet and deal with 100 minutes later. Yeah. Yeah. So I was so glad that he was willing to work with me. And then my second learning curve is having to starve myself to get the fat off. Because I didn't know this. I looked it up online. No matter how much you work out, you've got to burn fat. You've got to burn it, yeah. Working out is not gonna do that. You have got to have a way to get rid of fat. And they're talking about calorie deficit online. And I'm like, okay, well, this little Neanderthal here, calorie deficit doesn't do anything, it's gotta be starvation. So I'm on a high protein, 800 calorie a day diet. Girl, yeah, to get to get this fat off because being 57, menopausal, my build works against me already. You know, it's I've got little I got little hips I gotta get rid of. I mean, I'm you know, I'm a little short. I look more like an orc or uh a gnome than I do, you know, this beautiful willowy bodybuilder. So it's like I've got all of these things already that I'm having to deal with. So yeah, I'm eating lots of protein, lots of veggies, but I'm able to keep each meal under 300 calories. And I do my protein shakes, and so working out as hard as I do, yeah, plus the forced serious calorie deficit. That was another thing I hadn't expected, but I'm in all the way, so yeah, I'm doing it.

SPEAKER_00 42:15

And the good thing about that is that protein does keep you full, like protein and veggies, those do keep you full. So um, especially if you're you know drinking water and like also mixing in electrolytes too with that water, that'll also that also helps. Um, because I love my electrolytes, you know. But um, but yeah, but if you're drinking a lot of water, you're you're getting your electrolytes and um you know getting that protein and you know, and just making sure that you know you're getting, you know, like you know, the vitamins and stuff that you need.

SPEAKER_01 42:49

Oh yeah, I'm a big vitamin freak, so I'm taking all of my vitamins and my husband, God love him, he knows I'm serious about this. He wasn't sure at first. He was like, You have no idea what they're gonna put you through. And I'm like, I don't care, I want it. And I tell everybody at the at the gym, I'm gonna be on that wall. You see that wall over there with all those people on it? I'm gonna be up there, and they're like, Go for it. So yeah, so he bought me caramel macchiato flavored whey, which is packed with protein and it's not high calorie content. And then because I'm a peanut butter addict, I love see. My problem is I love to eat, I love food, I love to eat, and peanut butter is my kryptonite. Yeah, especially chocolate and peanut butter ice cream, which I have to give up. And I love tons of creamer in my coffee, so I've had to cut myself down to one coffee a day, sugar free creamer, one teaspoonful of sugar free creamer, and then sugar free zero calorie syrup to flavor it the rest of the way. But My husband found me some powdered peanut butter.

SPEAKER_00 44:04

Yeah, I use that too. I use that too.

SPEAKER_01 44:08

Oh my gosh. I put that in my smoothie and I just gulp it down. It's gone in like two seconds. And my husband's like, Well, that's good after the way you work out at the gym. He's like, Because you work out too hard. And he said, You need to drink that right down to feed your muscles and replenish them. And I'm like, Well, I'm not drinking it for that reason. I'm drinking it because it's good. It's heaven in a cup.

SPEAKER_00 44:29

And you know, yeah, I use that um powder uh peanut butter as well. I use it in protein shakes. And I also use it, I mix it in my my Greek yogurt. Um, I've you know, because I make these like chocolate peanut butter Greek yogurt bowls, and they're they're so good. Um, but like yeah, high protein. Um, I mix like a chocolate protein powder in with the, you know, and then I like my and then the powdered peanut butter, and you know, put a little bit of like the giardelli um dark chocolate morsels, and uh yeah, you have that really delicious chocolate peanut butter Greek yogurt bull. So that's that's another thing. But um, but yeah, that's yeah, that's so yeah, I I do like the powdered peanut butter because it does it, it kind of gives you that peanut butter taste. But number one, it's not messy like peanut butter, like putting regular peanut butter in like a protein shake, you know. So it's it's not as much of a cleanup, number one. Number two, it's like only like like 50 calories. So if you're in like it's ridiculously low, I cannot believe it. Yeah, so if you're in like a cut period, like and and you like peanut butter, like that's perfect.

SPEAKER_01 45:40

Oh, it absolutely is. I could not believe it. And the first time I ever made a smoothie for myself with it, oh my gosh, I just like I said, I just gulped it. I choked on it, I gulped it so quick. Yeah, it was just so good because I wasn't expecting that, right? Yeah, because a lot of times you get smoothies and they're like, you know, you drink them because you're supposed to. But these, oh my gosh, and I use almond milk down, yeah. Right, and I use almond milk, so that that helps. And and I take calcium pills too, just to make sure, because being menopausal, there's all kinds of the bones get weaker, the bones do this, the bones do that. So I'm making sure that I've got all my bases covered. And my husband says, Oh, you're starving yourself too much. I'm like, Yeah, but it's not permanent, it's just to get the fat off. So by the time I can get the trainer, it's not going to be, okay, I'm gonna have to torture you to get you in the train. I'll already hopefully be most of the way there.

SPEAKER_00 46:44

Well, that's the thing too. I mean, because I think, you know, the cut part is the part that you only have to do for a season. And in a way, that's kind of the easy part is you know, going through the cut, you know, method because what's cut? You're in a calorie deficit, you know, you're maybe doing a little bit more cardio, you know, plus you're also still weight training because you still want to build that muscle, and you're eating that protein because you need to replenish that protein. So I mean, it's kind of like the cut part is kind of, you know, and I and I mean it's always a challenge. I'm not saying it's super easy, but like, but the cut part is, you know, when you figure in, you know, cut versus, you know, when you're doing body recomposition, maintenance, all of that stuff. The cut part is actually that's just the beginning. And in a way, once you get a system down for yourself, like a calorie deficit that works for you, a protein goal that works for you, um, a cal, you know, a cardio uh program that works for you, that you combine with weight training. So there's still going to be some body recomp going on, you know. But once you get that down, you it it's very possible to get down to that goal size, that from there you can just go number one, go into maintenance, because maintenance is what trips a lot of people up, because you know, people will lose all this weight, but then they don't know how to maintain, they don't know how to go from there. So maintenance, you know, that's like the next step. And then, you know, going into the whole body recomp thing, where, you know, with you going into like bulking and bodybuilding and all that stuff. So it's it's one of those things where the cut part, you know, at least to a large degree, you're really only doing that for one season of your life, you know, because you don't want to be, you know, yo-yo dieting, you know, which I know for for decades at least, that's that's been the thing, you know. Right.

SPEAKER_01 48:48

More like in my situation, you gain it all back. Because my husband was saying that to me the other night. He said, you know, every time you lose all this weight, you gain it right back. And I said, Yeah, I said, but I've never had a reason to keep it off before. Now I have a reason, and this is going to be something I'm going to continue to do. So I'm going to continue to eat right and watch my calories. And if I feel like I must have something sweet, yeah, get a zero sugar yogurt, which has like 60 calories.

SPEAKER_00 49:23

Right. Yeah. Yeah. And that's and you know that that's exactly that's exactly it, you know. And like I said, the reason why too a lot of people gain the weight right back is because they they get tripped up at maintenance, and a lot of people don't know how to actually maintain when really what you have to do is just there's a ton of those calculators online too, where once you get down to your goal weight, your goal size, you just put in, okay, put in your information, put in your stats, and it'll show you what your maintenance calories need to be at. In fact, that's how you figure out your calorie deficit, is like you you calculate your current stats and then see what your what your maintenance uh calories would have to be for you to continue maintaining at your current weight, and then you subtract like like 300 to 500 calories from that, and then that's your calorie deficit.

SPEAKER_01 50:24

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 50:25

So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:27

Yeah, so that that I that is exactly what I did. And my calories per day are supposed to be 1200. So it said that I should uh calorie deficit 200. Okay, well, I'm on the fast track and going hard. So I did more of a calorie deficit down to 800. Yeah. And sometimes less a day. And yeah, I hate being hungry, and I'll pace the floors and I'll walk around and you know, I'm up and down trying to try to think of anything to to get my mind off of how hungry I am. Yeah. But what outweighs all of that is I know in the end it's gonna be worth it. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 51:09

Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's and then you'll be up on that wall, you know. And you'll be up on that wall.

SPEAKER_01 51:17

And I'm a natural ham. So when the the gym owner who also trains the bodybuilders, he's like, Oh, do you have any experience dancing or anything? I said, I was a semi-pro lyrical dancer for 21 years. And he's like, Oh good. And he's like, You can do splits and all that. And I'm like, I can do all that stuff. And he's like, Oh, then hey, I don't have to teach you all that. And I'm like, oh no, you just put me up on the stage and I'll handle the rest of it.

SPEAKER_00 51:43

Oh man. Yeah. So, but yeah, but that's that's awesome that you're, you know, you're doing that. And in addition to that, you're also, like I said, you've been going into also working as a fashion consultant, too. And I I will say some of your vlogs crack me up, especially the one story about how um what you and your personal photographer were at the I think was it like a bin store or something? At the bin store.

SPEAKER_01 52:16

Oh my gosh. And people were just throwing the clothes around, not even looking. Oh gosh. And I'll just I'll go up to people, I'll see people struggling with something, and I'll walk up to them. My bestie and I were at a thrift shop the other day, and this woman came out with this outfit on, and she's like, Oh, what do you think? What do you think? And I said, Oh, that looks good on you. And she's like, Oh, do you really think it does? So I walked over to her, I started straightening out the the little shoulder straps, and I'm pulling it down, and I'm like, okay, and I zipped her up all the way, and I'm like, okay, let's look at you this way. And I said, I'm sorry. I said, You don't even know me, and I look like a weirdo. I said, I'm a fashion consultant, so I can't help myself. And she's like, Oh my God, it is so cool that you're actually here though. And I'm like, Well, you love thrift shops and you can get great deals at thrift shops. I said, but I work on anyone's budget. I said, whether you can only afford yard sales or thrift shops, I said, I can help you there. Or I said, if you want me to meet you at the international mall and you want to go shopping in Bloomingdales, I can help you there. I said, or if you live 3,000 miles away from me and we can video call and you can hold your phone up to your closet, I can say, okay, whoa, whoa, let me see that with that. And I said, that's that's what I do. I I help everyone.

SPEAKER_00 53:39

Right, yeah. And so we talked about your learning curve in fitness and bodybuilding. Uh, what about in fashion consulting? Because I know um last time we talked, uh, which was a couple of months ago, you know, you were just kind of getting that started. So um in that time, what has been kind of a learning curve for you in being a fashion consultant?

SPEAKER_01 54:02

Oh, wow, I'll give you a sneak peek because I'm going to write an article op-ed about this. And it was like, I got a real eye-opener this morning on Instagram. Uh, I'm a big fan of Anna Winter, the woman behind Miranda Priestley's character on The Devil Wears Prada. Okay. And I saw an interview with her, and she's very quiet. She's very soft-spoken, and she always wears dark glasses. And there were people online disparaging her. Why is she wearing dark glasses? That is so rude to sit in an interview and wear dark glasses and blah blah blah. And I said, Why don't you people just Google about her? I said, She wears the dark glasses. I said, Because a lot of times she's tired, and that will show in your eyes when you're tired. Yeah. I said, and I said, I think it's actually very nice that she does this. She doesn't want people to know if she's bored at a show. She doesn't want people to be able to see her emotions. Because then you know how people are snapping 50,000 photos. Oh, we saw this person and she looked like she was mad and she looked like she didn't want to be there. You know, so she does that so people can't tell what her emotions are. Yeah. And these people were just all jumping all over her about this. So there's some things that I've learned that not everyone who shops at high-end stores is a snob. Some people just prefer the quality because you get things like fast fashion and some of the other things, and you get at home and you throw it in the washer and it comes apart. It comes apart, yeah. Where if you get some of the better quality, yeah, you're gonna pay the price for it. But if you shop thrift shops, you can oftentimes. I have found Carl Lagerfeld, I have found Michael Coors, I have found Liz Clayborn. I mean, I picked up a White House Black Market shirt at a yard sale for a dollar. She'd never even worn it. It was probably a $70, $80 shirt. You can find fashion if you're willing to look. So that's also one of the things that I've had to learn that not everyone. Some people are, but it's just like with anything. Right. You've got your you've got your both sides with everything. Some people, oh, I've got to have name brand, I can't have anything else. And then you've got the people who, yeah, I want this because it's well made. Yeah, it's gonna hold up. It's not gonna fall apart the first time I wash it. So I've had to learn that. And then I've also learned that creativity comes in many forms. Yeah. And it's important not to stifle anyone's creativity, even if their creativity doesn't match yours. Right. Find a common ground where you can compare notes, try to see things from their uh point of view, try to get into their space what they were thinking, and then maybe they'll do the same for you. So that's been my biggest learning curve is just because you have money doesn't mean you have taste, and just because you don't have money doesn't mean that you can't have taste. It's just a matter of finding the happy medium with everything. Yeah. So that's definitely been a learning curve for me because I grew up in a small town, which is no longer a small town now, but I grew up in a small town where everything had to be name brand, all of the popular girls in school, they had all the name brand expensive stuff. Yeah, that was only because they wanted everyone to think they were rich and think they were better than everyone else. So I always kind of grew up with this, oh, I'm anti-establishment, anti-label, I don't want it. And now I have seen with age and now actually working in the industry, the reason a lot of people will spend that extra money is for sheer endurance. Yeah. And you don't have to go to the stores and spend a fortune. You don't have to break the bank. Call someone like me. Walk around the thrift store. Yeah. I'll help you go through the pants as you're looking. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, those look cool. Hey, back up to those. You know, shirts, any and if people in the store are looking at you weird, that's on them.

SPEAKER_00 58:59

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. We can't be worrying about like what people are thinking, you know.

SPEAKER_01 59:05

Exactly, exactly. So that's been my learning curves so far. That and just like with everything else, just like you were talking about earlier, with the people sitting behind their computer screens, no pictures, or some kind of little cartoon or something. It's not really them. People are always going to make disparaging remarks about things. Why are they dressed like that? Oh my god, that looks so stupid. Who would actually wear that out in public? Okay, you do realize that you don't necessarily have to buy this stuff if you don't want to, right? It is a fashion show. These are people's creativity. Yeah. So yeah, there's there's been a lot of of learning curves having to deal with the people that are just so negative and not even willing to give the fashion industry a chance. All they see is, oh, it's posh, and oh, it's stuck up, and it's this and it's that. Open your mind and realize it is another form of creativity. It's an art.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:10

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:13

Yeah. Yeah. So that was something that you know you kind of had to to learn as you got into uh fashion consulting.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:23

Right. I I did because like I said, for the longest time I was in that negative, oh, all those snotty little hags I went to school with. It was all about names and it was all about being popular, and that's not what it's about. And be well, it's so expensive. Okay, well, yes, it is, and not everyone can afford it. I understand that, which is why I tell people thrift shops, yeah, yard sales, yeah, and and especially in the well. My husband's sitting here, I don't know if you hear him in the background. My husband's saying, estate sales. Yeah, I mean, it's yeah, my husband's saying the best stuff's at estate sales, but yeah, and and you know, just like with anything else, just like you and I have talked about this entire interview, always not your people. And this is the one thing I keep hearing. Well, I don't have any of that where I live. Yeah, you do. Everybody has a salvation army, everybody has a goodwill. I don't care if you live in the middle of bupkus RFD, there is a thrift store somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:36

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:38

There's eBay. Sometimes you can go on eBay, save up your money, and go on eBay. I once got a I think it was a free people. I love that brand. I got a free people skirt, and it was like $15. And I had saved up because at the time money was a little tight for me. I picked up cans and recycled cans. Yeah. And I took that money and got me that one skirt, and then I wore it and paired it with different things, and so there's uh almost endless ways that you can find name brands, even if you can't afford designer. I understand designer is expensive, but that's because it's a designer, it's not a it's not it's a brand, but it's not a brand like what people think. It is actually someone not in a sweatshop, not down in a dungeon somewhere. It is actually a creative sitting at a sewing machine, hand adding triple stitching. I picked up a jacket one time. I can't remember the the brand offhand now. It was a number of years ago, and I cut it up to make bags out of it. Yeah. I ended up only being able to use a portion of it because the jacket was quadruple stitched. Oh side. There was no getting that sucker apart. When you get designer, that's what you get. So if you can't afford designer, that's understandable. Yeah. Just stick with name brands then. And let me tell you, they are all over the place at thrift shops. If you don't have yard sales, yes, we don't have any good yard sales here. Everybody thinks I just go out to these yard sales and I just step up and say, Here I am, let all the goodies come to me. Oh no, my husband and I, we hit and miss all the time. Yeah. When we hit, it's always good. So there's always a way to do it. And see, that's one of the things that I can can coach people with it. My consulting, that's consult me. I will tell you where to look. I'll tell you if someone is asking too much for something. I'll tell you what to look for. Is it stained? Is it ripped? Yeah. That that is what my consulting firm does. I I gladly tell people I don't care if you only have ten dollars to shop with. Take me out with your phone, take me to a thrift shop, and let's get to shopping.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:33

There you go. There you go. I love it. And uh you're also you just launched your video magazine, Let's Go magazine. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you're featured in that. Yeah. So yeah, so yeah, tell a little about that.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:51

Well, it's funny. About 40 years ago, I had been contracted to do a video magazine TV show before there was ever like really such a thing. And it never took off. It the the producers couldn't get the show together. It just, you know, it's one of those many, many Hollywood things, you know, just fell through, just didn't happen. Yeah, fell by the wayside and forgotten. Uh-huh. But that's always been in the back of my mind. And now doing my fashion consulting, my bestie and personal photographer, she'll just snap pictures like crazy. Yeah. And I thought, you know, she's she's not one to toot her own horn. I keep telling her we need to have a some kind of galleria showing for her photography because she does so be such beautiful work. And I thought, here's all these photos that are just going to waste. And maybe not everybody has Instagram. Yeah. Maybe not everybody wants to bother with Facebook. Right. So I put together let's get. It's on YouTube. And now, even if people just go on YouTube just to listen to music, if they want to take a minute and look through the magazine, it's right there. Yeah. Pictures. Travel. A friend of mine is on a cruise right now and she sent me pictures. And I'm going to use that for June's issue. Cool. And then, of course, you're going to be featured again in the June issue. And I'm also now taking ad space. And people were like, Well, how do you do ad space in a video magazine? And I'm like, Really? How wouldn't you do ad space? It's just like with anything else in the magazine. You send me a little promo thing of you, and I put it in the magazine and run it for like 30 seconds.

unknown 1:06:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:50

Then on to the next one, then on to the next one. Quite easy. Yeah. Yeah, just make a video of yourself, like your demo reel, whatever, you know. Right. And and I'll do it for anyone that's involved in anything that has anything to do with lifestyle. If if you're uh an interior decorator, you know, even if you send me a shot of your business card, and all of this that I do is free. I don't charge for any of this. I don't charge anyone for anything. If you want to send me pictures of some of your flowers that you've grown in your garden, oh hey, look at my roses. I'm getting ready to enter them in a competition. Or oh hey, look at the roses. They've like gone crazy this year. I'll have like a little little out and about lifestyle in your back garden thing. And here's your flowers. And yeah, all for free because everyone should be seen. Yeah. And not everyone gets seen on Instagram. There's some of those people that they post that magic post and they're getting a thousand followers a day. And then there's some people who post and hashtag and hashtag until they see hashtags in their sleep. Yeah. And no one looks at their stuff. I mean, I I follow one lady on Instagram. She has done work for the royal families.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:18

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:18

She's done work for some of the biggest names in the world. She's got less than 200 followers on Instagram. Oh wow. So it's like, you know, not everyone's like a brand new account or anything. Right. No, no, no. She's been doing this. Like I said, her her resume goes all the way back to the some of the earlier royal families. Oh wow. Yeah. And it it's like everyone should be seen. Everyone should feel that they are important because everyone's got something to contribute. Yeah. So that's what I do. I help people get seen and all for free. It's like, and and I know people well, you get what you pay for. Well, not always, not when it's a service like mine. Yeah. Because and of course I've had the you really need to get paid. No, really, I don't. I'm happy doing it for the love, I call it. Because I have lived a very, very, very high blessed life that I have not been nearly grateful enough for. And this is my way of giving back and helping someone else who may not be able to be seen any other way or doesn't feel like what they're doing is important. Right. It's my way of saying, hey, I was lucky.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:51

Now I'll help you. Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:54

I love that. I love it. And yeah, speaking of creative works, um, are you because I know you're super busy with your bodybuilding now and fashion consulting, but are you working on any other creative works, like any more spooky stories from you?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:11

Or no, no more, no more spooky stories as of yet. I'm actually writing a Viking story. Oh, love it. Love it. Yeah, that that is in the very it's in the very, very, very early stages because my my bodybuilding is taking precedence right now. Yeah. Yeah. I am working on that and my publisher already knows that she's getting it. So yeah. Yeah, it's a matter of fending her off. I I I'll be waiting for her to send me emails. Where's the book? Where's the book? Where's the book?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:41

Yeah. Yeah, and you're also the fashion consultant for your publishing firm now.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:46

Yes, yes, for midnight publishing. I'm the fashion consultant there because some people don't know what what to wear.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:55

Well, yeah, to like book signings or convention appearances or, you know, any, you know, film festival appearances, whatever. Yeah. Like as you know, some people may not know, okay, how do I put together an outfit, you know, for that? So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:11

Oh yeah. I used to I used to know there was a young man that used to come to a lot of the book signings I did. He would wear a t-shirt with a stretched out neck, just a pair of pants and tennis shoes. Yeah, stretched out neck, because he was he was always wiping his mouth with his shirt. And hardly any and he would just sit there and hardly anyone would come to his table. And I finally pulled him aside one day and he he got mad at me, and I'm like, Well, that's okay, you can get mad. I I don't care. I said, Go to a thrift store and find you a nice button-down shirt and a nice pair of slacks. Yeah, and if you have some something better, it you don't have to go out and get Armani. But if you have some kind of dress shoes, yeah, try those. Yeah. He got mad at me, never would speak to me again, but he started coming to the book signings wearing a nice button-down shirt and nice pants, and people started coming to his table. Well, there you go. Hey, he can hate me for the rest of his life. My my work's done.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:20

Your work's done. Yes, you you did what you did.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:23

This was before I ever even got into fashion consulting. This was like 20 years ago. Oh wow. I've always had a little fashion consulting in me. I just never knew it.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:33

Yeah. Well, no, that's so true because presentation is everything, and it's not just presentation of your table. It's like how how you put yourself together, you know.

unknown 1:12:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:44

Right. And and I'll help anyone with anything. There was a a lady at a yard sale, she was digging through a box, and she said, I've got a celebration of life to go to tomorrow, and I don't have anything to wear. So I helped her dig through the box, and I'm like, okay, how about this? You can put this with this. And so yeah, I mean, there's yeah, like you said, presentation. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:05

Absolutely. Yeah, definitely. And well, we look forward to your Viking story coming out. I mean, I love your spooky works, but I look forward to also seeing your Viking story. So definitely keep us posted there. So absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:21

That'll be through my probably through my red horse promotions because I I don't really promote my books anywhere else but there. I'm not going to start a separate account just for my my new Viking book. So it'll be through that.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:33

And it kind of fits, you know, and it, you know, the whole dark fantasy history thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it kind of fits there. So yeah, but um, so cool. I I'm so happy for you that you're, you know, doing the whole, you know, bodybuilding adventure and you know, the whole fitness journey. And again, and I I really think that, you know, there's room for, you know, you to maybe inspire somebody out there, you know, maybe somebody who had a similar, you know, has a s maybe also has a lot of Neanderthal in them, as you said, you know, and right, right, and and people constantly telling them they look like a football player or they look like a guy.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:20

Or, you know, or even because I know menopause is brutal, I'm menopausal. So I know that could be holding a lot of women back. And if I can inspire someone because I'm menopausal and I'm doing it, then let's go. Come talk to me. I'll cheer you every step of the way.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:42

And that's the thing, like too. If you, you know, and but then it's like because I know a lot of people also aren't aware that there are people getting in the best shape of their lives, like, you know, even older, like 60s, 70s, 80s, and they're competing in shows, and you know, and and that's supposed to be, you know, oh, when you just fall apart and wait for death. No, you can have, I mean, you can wake up tomorrow and decide to have a whole new life. You know, you can decide to be a whole new you tomorrow morning or hey, tonight when you go to sleep. You know, it's that's the thing. It's it's never you we we that there is no need to, you know, just because somebody like puts like some like matrix silly rule out there that you know they try to brainwash everybody with. That doesn't mean you have to go with it. But I think again, some people are so attached to that identity that they were given at birth, you know, and you know, all of these like little kind of silly identities that were basically given, you know, like I said, since the day we're born. And you know, what once you do all of that unlearning, you know, it's it's really but a lot of but but it but it really does take a lot of unlearning and a lot of dismantling. And and I think, you know, a lot of people just they they get tripped up there, so they just kind of like sit back and just accept whatever, you know, some mainstream goop like whatever is telling them, you know. And right.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:22

And a lot of people, once their their health starts to go sideways, they give up. My husband is 72 and has had six heart attacks, two of them widow makers. Wow. And I'm not a widow. Yeah, he also is diabetic, has a degenerative nerve disease, and he is a prostate cancer survivor. Okay. So it's just a matter of because his doctor told him after his first heart attack, his doctor said, You might as well be prepared that for the rest of your life you're only going to have 15% of your heart deal with it. Wow. Yeah. I don't think so. No. Two weeks out of a his first heart attack was a widowmaker.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:09

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:10

And he lived through it. He lived through it. Two weeks after a widowmaker heart attack, he was helping a friend of his rebuild a house. He had sixty-four percent of his heart. He went back to his heart doctor, and his heart doctor's like, I don't understand it. I don't understand. Yeah, he said he said there's no way. He said, There are healthy people who've never had a heart attack who don't have 64% of their heart. So the thing is you have to not give up.

unknown 1:17:42

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:43

No matter what your doctors say, no matter what your health does. I mean, I'm arthritic. I have all kinds of problems. I don't care. My body's gonna have to deal with it because I'm gonna heap even more on it.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:54

Well, you know, and the thing too is it's like that this also might be what turns some of that stuff around, you know, you never know. Sometimes developing healthy, you know, developing new habits and stuff like that, that can be what you know turns things around for you know, for your body, because like people have been people have been healed from like arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and you know, and it it's possible, you know, anything is possible. And you know, and I and I know this kind of like goes into woo-woo territory, but hey, I like a little bit of woo-woo here and there. Um, but yeah, but even like you know, talking to yourselves and like telling yourselves you're healthy, you know, uh, you are regenerating. And you know, and you know, and I know you're no stranger to woo-woo either because you come from a long line of like country witches and everything. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:49

So that are like, now we're gonna do it. Everybody says no, now we're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:54

Now we never do it. Exactly, exactly. Yeah, but the thing is, it's like, you know, but the most important thing is that you're doing it. And and and I will say it really angers me when some of like, you know, these, you know, some of these doctors are like like they like they play God. Like they they play God over somebody's life. And and it's like, well, number one, no, you're not God. Right. No, you're not. And and and the thing that really, not to get bleak, but the thing that really angers me is when they tell somebody, oh, you have like six months to live. And it's just like, okay, number one, who are you? You know, to say that. You know, and and number, I mean, like, I mean, your husband's probably an example of like uh of that too, you know, of somebody who, you know, who they said, oh yeah, you know, you you're only gonna use a small percentage of your heart and blah, blah, blah. And, you know, then he's use, you know, next week he's like helping his friend build a house, you know. It is just kind of like, but the thing too is it's like it's it's like people then take it in. And here is where I believe that words do have power, and like, and they say like words are spells, they're they they call it spelling for a reason. And I'm not saying like all these doctors are doing this like to purposefully hurt people, but you know, a lot of people don't really take into consideration that words have power, words have meaning, you know, and we humans are way more powerful than we give ourselves credit for. And you know, and when you you know speak, you know, words to somebody, you know, whether it's it's good or bad, you're sending energy that way. And if they accept that energy, then that is I mean, and that, you know, kind of unfortunately, unless they change their mind and said, no, screw you, I'm going to live like 20 more years, you know. Exactly. You know, unless they do that. I mean, uh unfortunately, they take it in and then yeah, they deteriorate. You know, and it's it's just it's like I don't know. I I just I I kind of wish number one, that whole, you know, death cult thing would stop, you know. And number two, that people would come to recognize that you know you truly do have the power to to change things within yourself and you know, and also to you know, and you have more dominion over your life than really anybody. You just have to take that, you just have to take those reins and not let anybody else, you know, try to, you know, project their story of how they view you onto you. You know, yeah, yeah. But I'm so glad you're doing that. And you know, I can't wait to see uh where that goes like for you. And will we see you like walking the fitness competitor stage? That would be awesome to see. Yeah, wearing those bikinis, hey, you know. Oh yeah, it's been a long time. I'd like to get back into one. Yeah, hey, you know, never say never because you know, yeah, there's 70, 80-year-old women out there that are wearing bikinis and in the best shape of their lives. So so it's impossible. Yes. So, but yeah, but where can people follow you on um on your uh fitness journey as well as like your other pages, your your creative works, your uh fashion consultant um business?

SPEAKER_01 1:22:43

Probably the best place to follow me if you're interested in my writing is on Instagram at Red Horse Promotions. And then for everything else, if you just follow HR42 consulting on Instagram, that's kind of like a little pathway into everything because I'll repost my bodybuilding stuff there and everything, and that's all my fashion consulting stuff.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:10

So nice, nice, very cool. Yay, and you just started your bodybuilding page too.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:16

Yes, um, yeah, and that is the Gothic grand dam. But like I said, if you go thank you. If if you go I I know I appreciate that. If you go to my HR 42 consulting page, like I said, I share everything there too. So if you if you follow me there, you'll see the posts for for my bodybuilding page, and you can just jump over to that one too.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:39

Nice, nice, yeah. But yeah, uh congratulations though on this new endeavor that you're doing. And I like I said, I really look forward to seeing, you know, to seeing where you go with it. And like I said, if we'll be seeing you on that uh fitness competitor stage, you know, within like a year or something. And yeah, like definitely take a photo when you end up on that wall in your gym. So I plan to.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:07

Yeah, I'll be taking a video.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:09

Look at me, look at me. Yeah. All right. Well, thank you so much for coming on again.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:17

And for having me, Tiffany. It's always a blast.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:20

Yeah, oh yeah, we have we have good conversations. I think.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:23

We always have so much fun.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:25

Yeah, absolutely. And definitely um keep us posted on when your your Viking novel is up because you're just an old Renazon woman, girl. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:33

It's gonna take a while on that one because I'm I'm really putting some into this.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:37

So it's gonna take a while, but it's gonna be out there. Of course, yeah. All right. Well, thank you again for coming on, and thank you everybody uh that's been listening. Um, we've been getting surges in like listenership, and um, and from this uh episode going forward, uh, you'll actually uh be able to get the uh video version not only on YouTube, like you've been able to, but also um iTunes. So I'm super excited about that. So you'll have more than one place to uh see the video versions as well, if that's your preference over the audio version. So all right. Well, thank you again, Andrea, and thank you everybody for listening. And until next time, please stay safe, stay fierce, but of course, as we always say in these parts, stay spooky. Thanks, Stephanie. Bye.