Hot Smart Rich with Maggie Sellers Reum - Stop Doing Pilates & Do This Instead (have your strawberry matcha) Senada Greca: Kim Kardashians Trainer

Episode Date: April 8, 2026

Kim Kardashian’s trainer, Senada Greca, reveals why strength training is the missing link for fat loss, confidence, cellulite, creatine, supplements, women’s fitness, and real results! Maggie and Senada are getting into all of it - the fitness myths keeping girls stuck, why muscle is the REAL glow-up, and why weights are not the enemy. Senada spills on Kim Kardashian, creatine gummies, cardio, diet culture, and why your strawberry matcha is not ruining your results!  This is your sign to stop shrinking, start taking up space, and build a body that feels as good as it looks! Timestamps: 00:00:00 Intro 00:01:54 Transform Your Mind And Body 00:02:24 Dopamine Vs Discipline Explained 00:03:40 Why Women Need Strength Training 00:06:01 How Often To Lift Weights 00:07:24 Cellulite Truth And How To Reduce 00:09:16 Negative Self Talk And Confidence 00:10:31 How To Ignore Haters Online 00:12:03 Overcoming Eating Disorder And Anxiety 00:14:18 What Fitness And Health Really Means 00:15:24 The Truth About 80/20 Rule 00:17:46 Simple Nutrition Guide For Women 00:18:59 Creatine Benefits For Women Explained 00:20:28 Creatine Gummies Vs Powder Truth 00:22:03 Why Fibre Matters For Gut Health 00:22:49 Pique Tea Ad 00:23:47 Starting A Supplement Brand Today 00:25:21 What Billionaires Do Differently 00:26:31 Training Kim Kardashian Behind Scenes 00:29:10 Moving To LA For Kim Kardashian 00:31:29 Becoming A Nike Skims Athlete 00:32:54 Strength And Femininity Explained 00:33:43 How Long To See Results 00:36:09 Leaving Finance For Fitness Career 00:36:58 Why I Left My 9-5 00:37:36 How I Changed My Money Mindset 00:39:26 Lessons On Building Wealth 00:40:14 Rapid Fire Questions 00:40:23 Most Expensive Purchase Ever 00:40:37 Lymphatic Drainage Vs Deep Tissue 00:41:07 Sauna Vs Cold Plunge Benefits 00:41:19 Calories In Food Vs Drinks 00:42:00 Best Body Part To Train 00:42:12 My Current Life Chapter Title 00:42:35 HSR Love Note To Myself ⸻ Sponsors: Pique - https://piquelife.com/hsr for 10% off ⸻ Follow Senada Greca: www.instagram.com/senada.greca ⸻ Hot Smart Rich: Your Business & Culture Gossip For ambitious women wanting to own the room, gain power, and build wealth. Subscribe to the Hot Smart Rich newsletter: https://hotsmartrich.com/subscribe  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hotsmartrich/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hotsmartrich Maggie Sellers Reum: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maggiesellersreum/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@maggiesellersreum LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sellersmaggie/ Locker: https://www.wantlocker.com/users/maggiesellers ShopMy: https://shopmy.us/maggiesellers Amazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/maggiesellers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome aboard via rail. Please sit and enjoy. Please sit and stretch. Steep. Flip. Or that. And enjoy. Via rail, love the way.

When a country's productivity cycle is broken, people feel it in their paychecks, their communities, their futures. What does this mean for individuals, communities, and businesses across the country? Join business leaders, policymakers, and influencers. for CG's national series on the Canadian Standard of Living,

productivity and innovation. Learn what's driving Canada's productivity decline and discover actionable solutions to reverse it. Kim Kardashian's team called you to train her. What goes through your head? It was a little scary, but... You're a founder with 6.5 million followers on Instagram. You're around a lot of very successful billionaires like Kim Kardashian.

What separates them from average people? Well, I can't believe I'm about to admit this. but I love certain parts of my body. My lower body has always been what I would call the problem child. We all have it. You could be as fit as possible or as skinny as possible.

It makes me want to cry because I see women that are just destroying themselves by dieting. Have your strawberry. Syrup matcha. If that brings you that big smile that you just had, have it.

For so long as women, we were made to shrink, but at any point in time, you're enough. Don't necessarily want abs, but it's what abs represent. It represents you walking into a room and owning that room, and it's proven that creatine, fiber or protein, coal plunder sauna. Is it possible to get rid of cellulite? Hi, Angels. Did you know that subscribing to our channel is free? And it's the simplest

way that you can support our show and help us grow. If you do this, we can bring you even more of the content and the guests that you love. All you have to do is just hit the subscribe button below. So please, if you wouldn't mind, subscribe to the channel and thank you. In case you missed it, you're allowed to be hot, smart, and rich. So let's get into it. Sonata Greca, are you ready to get hot, smart rich? Let's go. Let's get into it. I am so excited to have many parts of this conversation unfold naturally. But for someone that's just clicked into this conversation that doesn't know very much about you or what we're going to talk about, what would you tell them will happen to their life if they apply what we're going to talk about today.

It will be a transformational mind and body journey that will be hopefully taking them through and not because we're not going to talk just about fitness. Fitness is just a small element of what is and portrays discipline and consistency and how that translates into confidence and trust and into so many aspects of your life. You just hit on so many of the buzzwords for HR and like confidence and self-love and all the things. One of the reasons I wanted to book you was you made this video saying your brain craves dopamine, non-discipline, which is very different from what most people in your space preach. Can you explain what that means to someone who's just hearing it for the first time? Well, our brains are wired to hit that button like mice to

create those dopamine hits and we're wired for survival. We're not wired necessarily to challenge ourselves. We're wired for comfort. But comfort doesn't necessarily lead us to grow. It does not lead us to expansion. What leads us into expansion into the fullest expression of ourselves is facing those challenges head on and even taking on challenges ourselves, putting them in our way, so to speak, and overcoming them. And that's what creates that expansion and the ability to reach our fullest potential. Did you ever have a lightbulb moment that got you to rewire your brain this way? Or have you always from a little girl understood this like mind-body connection? I think the strongest connection that I created between mind and body was when I started

strength training, when I stepped into my strength. I think this is definitely coming into the cultural guys, but it's still very new for women. Why is strength training so important? The data is undeniable, first of all, what strength training does to our health, our long-term health and longevity from, you know, all-encompassing mortality, the lower risk of all-encompassing different things that cause people to die, basically. Carjavascular health to lowering the risk of Alzheimer's. Two out of three people with Alzheimer's are women. There's such a depression, anxiety, mood disorders.

I don't think there is one disease state that strength training, working out in general, moving, but strength training in particular helps, you know, osteoporosis, which is loss of bone density, sarcopenia, muscle loss. So it is so crucial that we strength train, especially as women. You know, for the biggest part of history, it's been men that have me strength training, but it's actually women who benefit even more from strength training. So this is why I'm so big on that bandwagon of picking up those weights and working out. It goes hand in hand, like developing strength and developing that discipline,

developing a level of self-confidence and presence. You develop a mindset of a warrior, not just in the gym, but outside of the gym. And I think a lot of the time is what we crave as people, and especially as women, because for so long we were made to shrink. And I think strength training gives us that confidence to stand. You know, I don't know that necessarily we want abs, but it's what abs represent.

It represents you walking into a room and owning that room. It represents being, solid being somebody that has discipline and self-trust. I relate to so much of what you're saying. Like I started strength training probably a year and a half ago because I was very much in that mindset of like the Pilates, the walking, the low intensity, because I think I overdid it a little bit with high intensity workouts, not necessarily strength training, but I'm just going to call them out, Barry's boot camp.

I was obsessed, right? And I don't think that that was the right workout for me. So I kind of went the complete opposite way where it was very high. reps but lower weights. And now I think I'm in that mindset of like, okay, how can I push a personal best? How can I add more weight onto it? For someone that still wants to be strong but lean, how many days a week should they be strength training and trying to up their weight? So it's different for everybody. Perhaps three days a week that's on the minimum side and then balancing those strength training days between lower body and upper body or you can do a full body workout

since if you're spreading it out, as long as you're being, again, intentional and lifting to a point where you're physically challenged, and I usually stick to the 8 to 12 rep range. So if you're pushing yourself to where on that 12 rep, you're struggling and you can perhaps have one or more in you, and that's what we're called getting close to failure. And that's what simulates the muscles to grow versus when you are in Pilates or when you're doing lower weight and high reps, you're reaching fatigue, and that does not recruit the same level of muscle growth, which is needed, because if we have a completely sedatory life where we're not moving, we start to lose muscle mass as early as 30, 3 to 8% per year. And if you are

working out, but strength training in specific and ideally, then you can actually not just reverse that, but increase your muscle mass, which then relates to so many things, even, believe it are not, longevity, living longer. And like I said, your mental health, your cognitive function is very much related to that. I can't believe I'm about to admit this. But I love certain parts of my body. Like I would say my arms and my like kind of decalje here is very fit. It's tone. It's the exact way I want it to look.

My lower body has always been what I would call the problem child. very hard to get fit, very hard to build muscle. And I've noticed as I've entered into my 30s that it does have cellulite, specifically around my lower body butt area. What are the things that women listening to this that can relate to that can be doing to get rid of that? Is it possible to get rid of cellulite? So it's satellite, we all have it. You could be as fit as possible or as skinny as possible and you can have satellite. We all have it to some degree and it could be determined by genetic. but there's always something that you can do to diminish the look of it. And it's proven that strength training actually helps with skin elasticity, with how your skin looks, skin youth, and that is focused, lower body strength training. I can personally say that I have had more cellite when I was running marathon.

So imagine the amount of cardio that I was doing at that time. And then I have now, when I do minimal cardio, if I have, all and I just strength train. My cardio is in the shape of doing a full body workout where I'm doing a circuit with minimal rest. And then I do about one to two sprint sessions that take very little time after my upper body days. So 20 seconds to 30 seconds all out for five rounds of that. So that's pretty minimal thinking about how much I did cardio when I was training for marathons. And yes, I did have the back of the leg and butt cellulite that I, it's minimal now. And I'm actually bigger in size now, believe it or not.

Talking a little bit more about this connection with the mindset, right? Because it's even interesting. Like some days I go in and I'm like, I can do this. And it does impact my performance. You said something before we actually started recording where you were like, oh, it's my bad side. But then, no, I can't do negative self-talk. Walk me through the impact of how you talk to yourself. and how you will end up showing up in terms of your workout,

in terms of your fitness performance. Absolutely. I mean, our brains listen, our bodies listen. They're very in tune with what we're saying, not just what we're saying, but what we're thinking. And there is even research that states to that fact. And even when we are actually saying something negative about somebody else, the brain does not know the difference that we're saying it about somebody else,

it's things that we're saying it about ourselves. So I have personally minimized, like, willing to be able to. ever 100% go away, but at least if you catch it and if you substitute it with something positive and you can always find something positive, sure, I'm feeling tired, but I am confident that even though I'm not feeling it my 100% I will show up today, I think it has such a huge impact on our physical and our mental sides. As someone with 6.5 million followers on Instagram and around people that have huge platforms that get a lot of criticism, that get a lot of hate. How do you block out the noise of people around you? Because even though that might not be

relatable to people listening about the following, people listening to this have those people around them that aren't bringing the type of energy that they need to excel in their life. At a point in time, it would have hurt to hear some of the negative comments. But I think strength, like I said, just permeates into so many different aspects of who you are as a person. And I stand in my strength right now where those comments or the negativity doesn't affect me because I know who I am. I know what I stand for and I know what I bring to the table. And nobody should let somebody that has not walked in their shoes and it's not doing what they're doing. And perhaps you only see a very small window into their life. Let those comments that have,

and those people that have a limited view and perspective of who you are affect your entire life, and to affect your reality. That's ridiculous. That's like allowing an uninvited guest into your house and allowing them to rearrange your furniture, allowing them to rearrange your life, your mind. Wow, I can relate to that so much. And that analogy of letting someone into your house hit so deeply because it is your house. We live in this body.

We only have one. have you ever nursed yourself back from an injury, both mentally or physically, where you can apply a framework of how you've done that to whatever someone's dealing with right now? When it comes to probably some of the biggest struggles that I have overcome is anxiety, depression and an eating disorder when I was younger in my teens and early 20s, nothing really changed until I made the decision to not be measured by societal standards and to create. my own standard. Who am I? Like, who am I proud to embody? And I wanted to embody this strong woman, an emotional bit, versus trying to diminish into standards that we had no part in creating.

So that is probably, like, one of the biggest accomplishments to where I don't need to take medication to overcome anxiety and depression and then the eating disorder. I stepped into the powerful woman by, again, having those positive affirmations towards myself and not just saying them and looking at yourself in the mirror and being like you're an imposter, but truly embodying them and feeling them in your body. So I think it's so important, you know, positive affirmations have this mixed belief system behind them that you're perhaps lying to yourself, but I think they work if you are embodying those affirmations yourself. One of my biggest principles that I have always used in business is own the narrative. Always own the

narrative because then you can control the outcomes, control, right? And I think these HsR love notes that I do publicly are affirmations of things that I'm actually dealing with. But like by putting them out into the world, it feels like I'm not suffering in silence the way that my brain can make me believe I am. Like I do think I have a very toxic brain that tells me things that people don't like you. you're not good enough. Like someone's better. You're fucking up. Like that is what my brain can sound like if I let it.

And these HsR love notes that I say publicly actually help me own the narrative. They help me feel like I'm back in control of my thoughts. And by putting positive affirmations, as you could call them out there, I feel like I get a lot of positive affirmations back. When you think about the word wellness, the word fitness, it's so intimidating, right? There's so many things that you have to get right. It's like inside of your head. It's the gym.

It's the cooking. It's like the whole lifestyle of it. And that's what they say, like, fitness is a lifestyle. What does fitness and health mean to you? Fitness is life. Like eating is life. Like it's not a form of living. It's what we should all be doing. But we've chosen to kind of steer away from that. So like when we say it like lifestyle, it almost has a bit of a not a negative connotation, but it kind of like sets me back a little bit. It's like it's brushing your teeth a lifestyle. No, it's part of what you do. So that's that's my take on fitness and eating healthy or eating to support your goals, eating yourself to

support your goals is that's part of what we all should be doing to take care of ourselves and be the fullest version of ourselves mentally and physically, because it just doesn't translate only into how we appear physically. It translates to so much as to how we think, how we show up, who we are. So do you believe in that rule like 80-20? 80 being what? 80 being the kitchen. The studies obviously show us it's a little bit different than what we've been taught. That's what's very confusing.

Yeah, I mean, everything is very confusing nowadays because for every argument, you'll find 10 pro and 10 against it. So I use this a lot. Listen to the expert within. What is the expert within? You know, we all have this knowledge. We all have that ability to tap into it and to listen. how does my body respond to this mixture of food and exertion? And then dial that in.

You know, I understand that we want to be told that this is the formula for you. And while you can take that formula and then adjust it to what works for you, to what resonates with your body and mind and to what, you know, how do you perform the best? How do you show up the best? Because we can take the most successful person's formula and it just doesn't necessarily. necessarily work for us. We can take that and then adjust it to us by listening to the expert within. So my strawberry syrup matcha that I have every single day is that ruining my desired result. Have your strawberry syrup matcha. If that brings you that big smile that you just had,

have it, have it. Makes me go and cry because people feel like they need to eliminate all of the things to get the results. Life is a mixture of the joys and the discipline. But it's a mixture of those things. And, yeah, it breaks my heart that people feel that they have to ditch all of the things to create health and joy, because joy is such a big part of life. Do you feel like you see that a lot? Like, is that why you're getting emotional? I do. I do see that a lot.

I see extremes. I see women that are just destroying themselves by dieting to where their skin and bones by, you know, walking and and doing cardio all day. I see that on the daily where I live. From my own experience growing up, like I lived under that strict mentality. Like I can't do this. I can't do that. Restricting everything. And it didn't bring me joy. And I think now I've come in such a better place with myself mentally that physically that also manifests. But if you're not educated on nutrition or you don't have the time to go and do that research on every single nutrition panel, what is that cheat sheet guide of like quick things that people can look at and say,

oh, I should never consume something if it looks like that on the nutrition panel. Yeah, absolutely. If it's anything that has like artificial sweeteners, artificial colors, like all of the, you know, like the red and all of that stuff that we already know, those are things that I stay away from. And personally, even though I've co-founded Aionic, which is a functional nutrition company, we believe that whole food should come first. And supplements are just that.

They're there to supplement. But I will say something. It is probably the anxiety over every single ingredient that is going to hurt you more than perhaps that single ingredients. And there are studies to this that your belief of what something does to you is more important than what actually that ingredient does to you. If you felt like that ingredient was completely fine and it's going to make you live 200 years. It's the belief of what something does to you that is extremely important. We have to talk about supplements, which we're going to get into your brand. But first, pick one that you want to start with.

Cretine, fiber, or protein? Sure, we can talk about creatine because I think, you know, so many women have jumped on board of the protein bandwagon. And that's good because we should be prioritizing protein. But I think creatine still, I think, lacks some people to really. understand like the benefit, mind and body benefit of creatine. What would you say to someone who feels like creatine is going to make them bulky and they don't want to take it?

First of all, like that is not reality for everybody. And if it's going to add a little bit, and that's proven at like higher grams of creatine, but if you stick to like three to five, you won't retain the water that what you're thinking is bulky. What it does, creatine does is pull the water into your muscles till your muscle saturate. saturate and then it does not, that doesn't happen anymore. So it's just a temporary effect. And our muscles, believe it are not, are made up of mostly water. We need that water to be pulled into our muscles. And then creatine, a lot of the time, we also think of all of these things that

what kind of effect they're going to have on our on our body. What kind of effect are they going to have on our minds, on our brain? And creatine is just having more and more of the, of that day in the light of what impact, positive impact it can have. in our cognitive function in our brain. Isn't it just so funny, like the industry in general, how we market to men and women? Because I have seen so many creatine gummies come out. And it's interesting to me because I'm like, is that as effective as just taking creatine as a powder? But because it's in this cute little gummy form, it's more manipulative to women.

If you could take either a creatine powder or a creatine gummy, which would you choose? And why? A hundred percent. Powder, 100 percent. Again, there are studies behind gummies that, first of all, it doesn't contain the amount of creatine for it to be effective, what they say three to four or five grams, whatever the case may be, but also the heating up process, that it diminishes some of that quality of the creatine and efficacy.

And it also has other things that need to bind that into a gummy that is not necessarily good for you. So hands down, powder. powder, creatine monohydrate, and then, yeah, if it has like HMB or beetroot and beetroot extract, that elevates it because it makes the bioavillability and it creates an environment where the creating can be even more effective. When you see a brand successfully targeting these young women with gummy supplements, what goes through your head?

You know, it's almost like taking a pill, right? And it will fix everything versus whether it comes to working out or whether it comes to nutrition to just kind of put in the effort. And yeah, sure, like, it's not a ton of effort between a gummy and a powder, but there's still a little bit of that, of that distinction between the two. But yeah, I cringe a little bit at the gummies. Yeah, not my favorite thing for sure. Okay, let's talk a little bit about fiber because I think this is a new ingredient that's coming out that a lot of brands, I think, are going to start marketing. Absolutely.

Walk someone through fiber and why we should be paying attention to it. We definitely have done ourselves disfavor by villainizing carbs and that way also kind of diminishing the fiber that we're ingesting in our diet. And I think it's extremely important to have fiber so that you create that environment in your gut that is not just, again, for your gut, it's for your brain health as well. So much of our food is extremely processed and a lot of those benefits and things have been taken out from our food. that we need to pay extra attention to adding that back in. Is there anything more destructive than a hangover? Mine are so bad that I can barely drink anymore unless I'm celebrating a big moment.

But I still love a ritual that signals the end of the day. So thank goodness I came across Vesper by our sponsor, Peek. Angels, you already know how much I love Peek's wellness products, like their macha. Every single one combines science and powerful botanicals to help shift your mood. So when they sent me Vesper, their adaptogenic appertief, I was very intrigued. Vesper is made with ingredients that help you relax and sleep better, but also ingredients that help you stay more present in conversations. As far as I'm concerned, this is the new standard for relaxation, especially after a chaotic, busy day when I just want to unwind and chill.

If you'd like to give it a try or get 10% off peak for life, head to peaklife.com slash HsR. Cheers. Okay. When I sell my business, I want the best tax and investment advice. I want to help my kids, and I want to give back to the community. Ooh, then it's the vacation of a lifetime. I wonder if my head of office has a forever setting. An IG private wealth advisor creates the clarity you need with plans that harmonize your business, your family, and your dreams.

Get financial advice that puts you at the center. Find your advisor at IGPrivatewealth.com. Amazon presents Jeff versus Taco Truck Salsa, whether it's Verde, Roja, or the orange one. For Jeff, trying any salsa is like playing Russian roulette with a flamethrower. Luckily, Jeff saved with Amazon and stocked up on antacids, ginger tea, and milk. Habaniero? More like habanier, yes.

Save the Everyday with Amazon. The supplement category is a category that you're a founder in. It's overly saturated. It was worth 69.3 billion in 2024. And is it expected to reach 414 billion by 2033? What did you believe in with the brand that you co-founded so strongly about that you were willing to tie your personal brand to this company specifically? when obviously the opportunities are so endless and the category is so massive.

So massive. I think that there was a space for us with not just the cleanliness because there is so many people that claim to have cleanliness, but this is true like cleaner products out there but with efficacious dosages. A lot of what you see out there

is pixie dusting, as we call it, when they're claiming to have these incredible ingredients like greens and there's just a small dosage of it that has zero impact on your heart. body. So all of our dosages are clinically validated. And that's what I wanted. I waited for so long because I could have, you know, jumped on so many other bandwagons of supplement companies. But if it doesn't resonate with me, if I can't take it myself, I am not going to tell somebody else to take it,

even though the offers might have been lucrative versus starting your own where you know you don't necessarily have the revenue in your pocket. I could have jumped on other bandwagons where I did have that, but I wanted to do against something that felt genuine to what I stood for. And that basically was, yeah, aionic. I think a secret to success is being around successful people. And I think it's contagious. The same way that being around negative people is contagious. Absolutely. You're around a lot of very successful people, billionaires, billion-dollar companies. What separates them from average people and average companies? It's the dedication and the consistency, which I think, for me, it's a very important.

everything in life. So again, not just when you're showing up to the gym because that's kind of like what a lot of people know me for, but they don't know the other aspect of myself, which is, again, that consistency and that push for, you know, close to perfection in business while being an inclusive leader. And that's what I see also in other people that I work with that are billionaires, if you will, is that that hard work, that consistency, that discipline that separates most people. Do billionaires make excuses? No. There's no excuses. And I see this in the way that they show up for work and the way that they show up when they're working out as well. They push themselves even though it doesn't feel good, but they know that the long-term benefit to those

decisions is going to be there. Okay. We have to talk about Kim Kardashian. I have to know, what was the first session ever like with Kim Kardashian? I was in first first. I was in first, First of all, I'm just impressed that she has time to work out with all of what she does. It's incredible and all of who she is. She's a mom of four. And she is very much such a huge part of their lives and involved and involved in all of the businesses to perhaps a degree that, you know, people wouldn't think, you know, when you're at a certain level. But just impressed at her work ethic. How did you feel walking into that session knowing that, like, it was going to change the trajectory of your life?

We're all people at the end of the day. We all have that capacity. So it was, I felt like I was pretty, pretty even keel. It was, it was a great session. And I, you know, I learned from her as much as she learns from me. When it comes to, like, working out, then she knows what an Arnold Press is, which I'm like, okay. I don't even know what that is. The reason I ask it is because I think we hype these things up in our mind. It might not be you're walking in to train Kim Kardashian, but there are big moments in all of our lives that we almost get in the way of. And I don't know if you watch the Olympics, but like Alyssa Lou's figure skating when she won gold, she just was having so much fun. And the biggest takeaway that I had from that was like, if you have fun with things, great results happen. But I can only imagine what it was. was like walking into Kim Kay's house to train her for the first session and what your brain could

have been telling you and what you ultimately ended up choosing? I mean, of course, like the imposter syndrome. Like if there's any place where it pops up, it would be that place. But that's that training that you keep on doing, the words that you're telling yourself, like, yeah, I belong here. And being your authentic self is, I think, probably a key aspect that a lot of people don't step into. I think that we like to ourselves that we have to be X, Y, and Z, like looking at whoever is doing what we'd be wanting to do in the arena that we want to show up. And it's, no, learn from some of these people, but show up as your authentic self, because that's why you were chosen. That's why I believe she had the team make the call is because I've always

been authentic in who I've presented in social media. And that's, you know, what I carried into that first session. And I still do. You don't have to be anybody else. So I read that you filmed a workout off of a yacht. And Kim Kay's team saw it and called you. I also heard that you were not living in L.A. at the time when you decided to take this on. So you moved from where you were living before to L.A. to train Kim, which is a huge risk and taking a big bet on yourself. Can you take us back to that decision? I am lucky enough to be able to do what I do from wherever. So, yeah, it was no-brainer, of course.

I've always been somebody to jump on board onto new opportunities and challenges because they got presented to you. They were brought on to whoever, if you believe, the universe or God, for a reason. So follow through and see where they lead you. And that's kind of been a big part of my life, jumping onto these opportunities and seeing where they leave. How would you describe your relationship with Kim today? You have obviously a professional relationship, obviously a personal one. Now you're a Nike skim's athlete. Like you kind of have these really unique situations that you don't see a lot in these celebrity dynamics. So how would you describe how that relationship has evolved? Because I'm not necessarily just a fitness trainer. And I think that's something that perhaps a lot of people see me as or perhaps they see me as being the kept partner and I have a rich hobby. No, we've built our wealth together, him doing something

that is completely different, but also being kind of a sounding board to my businesses as well. And I've built what I have based on my knowledge and my discipline and my work ethic. I'm somebody that has an MBA. I went to business school, graduated in three years from my undergrad. grad with summa cum laude, highest honors. And then I went on to business school and did that while working full time in New York, working till 3, 5 in the morning. So I have that business acumen and I've also run brands. So all of this knowledge, I'm sure her and her team sees so that I have these other types of involvements with her and her brands and now being a part of Nike skims. I think is just kind of seeing who I am as a woman and the things that I bring to the table.

What does it mean to be a Nike skims athlete? I mean, when you think of Nike, for example, this incredible brand that backs up so many incredible athletes around the world, like to say, like, I'm a Nike athlete, but then to say a skims athlete, right, to put those two together, Nike skim so that you're bringing like this performance, but also sexiness, if you will, and combine it into two brands. and then being more than just the phase for them. But when we went to Paris and launched the pop-up shop, for example, like I had a lot of input in what we were doing that day and what we were filming and what angles. And they allowed me to do that, which was incredible, to have that collaborative effort.

And then just recently, I was a movement director for one of the shoots for Nike skims soon to be seen. It's been incredible. and I'm very excited about being a part of this new collaboration between two giants. Well, it's just so interesting because I think Nike for so long has been such a performance brand. And I think Skims has really obviously started through this like feminine, own your sensuality, own who you are as a woman. And so combining the two together feels like such a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of that. Describe your relationship with femininity having been in like the first.

fitness world and where you think that they're where it's growing now? I mean, a lot of people think of femininity and strength as being mutually exclusive. And I think they couldn't be more wrong. I think they are such powerful tools and not just coexist, but could be one and the same. Our femininity carries so much power and strength that I believe we just have to step into that and embody that. And that's what I believe a lot of brands will be moving towards and combining those aspects so that, yes, you feel good in what you're wearing, but it also performs incredibly well. I think the hardest thing for people is that it's not instant.

And in our world, we live in this instant gratification of dopamine and likes. And I'm interested from you, how long does it take you to see the result that you're looking for? Because it's that window that's the hardest to keep consistent, I would assume, because you haven't seen the results yet. You're putting in all of this effort. Nothing feels like it's working. How long is that window that you just have to remember, like once you're past this, you are going to see results? It's so different for everybody. But I think the first thing that you can see that's an instant kind of feedback is your consistency. So if you are showing up, say that you've

made a contract with yourself. And I call it making contract with yourself to show up for four days a week, let's say four days a week. That is one immediate result, if you will. But when it comes to physical results, it's just so all over the board when it comes to where your starting point is and what you're trying to achieve. Initially, it could take a few months for the results to come. I mean, if you're trying to lose weight, a healthy amount of weight loss is half a pound perhaps max a pound a week. And for a lot of people, that just doesn't seem. And your body shifts. daily a couple of pounds. So sometimes you don't necessarily see that for a long time because it needs to add up for it to show. So it will take a few months and then to get results as muscle mass

and really defined muscle mass. It could take years. So it's creating that consistency and creating those smaller wins that show your brain that give it that little bit of positive features. back that positive loop that I think is more important than seeing like numbers on a scale change. To give it that dopamine. Yeah, to give it exactly. It's like what are those little wins? And even speaking them to yourself, I showed up for today, even if I showed up for five minutes. I showed up on the days that I said I was going to show up. Again, five minutes is not going to change. I think another misconception is that we need to show up for two hours a day, six days, seven days a week to get results. No, start with five minutes, create that consistency, create that habit, and celebrate those little wins that you showed up, give that dopamine head that you earned to your brain.

And then slowly you can increase and show up for 45 minutes, four or five days a week if you want. Was it hard to leave the finance business world to like go a completely different direction into fitness? It was a little scary, but I was so great. grateful that when I first launched my programs online, they were incredibly successful, that I was so happy to leave that world that was kind of draining me a little bit. It was a no-brainer, I would say. It was scary, again, because we're so, we've been taught to have that stability, to have that paycheck that is coming in every couple of weeks and to have the health benefits. So in a way, it was a little bit of a scary leap, but I also knew that I had tapped into something that I was not just passionate about, but something that I could consistently do successfully. How long did it take you to identify as an entrepreneur? I had for a very long time known and wanted to do something on my own. I knew that there was something bigger to Sonata than just working in a 9 to 5 or a 9 to 5 a.m. in New York.

So I thought that there, you know, if I am successful working for somebody else, why can I not be successful working for myself and doing something that I'm passionate about? I knew what fitness and movement had done for me mentally and physically. And then so I decided to kind of like make that leap. I'm just so interested in what your relationship was like with money on that time that you were leaving stability. I come from my dictatorship from Albania. It was a communist country where resources were very limited. Even though my dad was a doctor and my mom was a professor, you're living in communism. Everything is kind of shared equally.

So I think that perhaps lack made me be really good with money. I never spent more than I had. I never accumulated any debt on my credit cards. I was able to go to school and not accumulate any debt because, again, I excelled in school. So I think that helped with being able to make that jump. I made that jump while I was working, posting on social media seven days a week. And then slowly that came into fruition of the workout programs and certain brand deals that made me feel comfortable with making that complete jump.

Being around money now, what is your relationship with money now like? It is not the end-all-be-all is just a support system to create the things that I want to create, to bring into the world change, and to allow me a little bit of freedom to do the things that I've always wanted to do. So while leading businesses, I can also take a few weeks and go to Bali and do that self-exploration and do all like, the other certifications, whether be yoga or meditation and breathwork. It is the ability to do the things that you love and you want to bring to the world, but also to have the freedom to do the things that bring you personally expansion. What is something you've learned about building wealth over the journey that you've had building your career?

that it takes time and definitely be discerning of things that come your way. I could have jumped on so many different brand deals and bandwagons of like this, that, and the other. I just didn't want to dilute my own brand. And even though some of these were attractive and perhaps I've left money on the table, but what I didn't negotiate on was who I represented and who I was. And I think that's why I'm trusted in the world and with what I do bring because I've never veered from that authenticity and from what that, from what resonates with me and from what I represent. Okay, speaking of money, we have to go into some rapid fire. What is the last thing that you put on your credit card?

Groceries. What's the last most expensive thing you bought your credit card? Went to Paris and bought a Rolex. I can't love it. What color? It's gold with the black band. You can only pick one to the rest of your life. Lymphatic drainage or deep tissue.

I love a good deep tissue massage. How often we should be getting those? I don't get them nearly often enough. But, you know, getting once every couple of weeks, I feel like it's incredible. You know, just just gifting this to yourself and showing that self-love. Yeah. Yeah. You can only pick one, cold plunder sauna.

Sona, 100%. Why? For women, it's just proven to be a lot more powerful when it comes to recruiting certain things, proteins that help us with our longevity and long-term wellness. Okay, you can only have calories in food or drinks moving forward to that's your life. Food, of course. Okay. Food.

I mean, your body is meant to prove. process things. Even when it comes to drinking, like I love this thing that I learned from my teacher, my yoga teacher in India is like drink your food and eat your drink. A lot of the time we're drinking, we're just tugging versus like taking every sip and like sitting with it and experiencing to the fullest as if we're chewing it. And then to chew your food, believe it or not, like we were taught, we're practicing that like 27 times. A lot of us just chew our food three to five times and it's down the gullet. And we don't really experience. the food that we're eating.

Okay, you can only train one part of your body to the rest of your life. Abbs, arms, lower body. Lower body, 100%. There's a lot more return on your lower body. Our biggest muscles are in our lower bodies. If you could title this season of your life, what would it be called? Stepping into that fire horse era. So knowing what I stand and just compounding that exponentially growing into who I'm supposed to be.

Love that. I still have yet a lot to grow into and to expand. Love that. Okay. I explained you a little earlier what an AGSR love note is. So if you could only say one AHSR love note to yourself for the rest of your life, what would it be? That you are enough as as you are at any point in time. You're enough.

I love that. Sonata, Greca, thank you so much for coming on Hot SmartRitch. Where can people find you? Sonata. on Instagram and then my fitness and personal development platform is WeRise, WeRise app, and then the functional nutrition company is Aionic, AionicLife.com. Perfect. Thank you so much for having me.

This was such an amazing conversation. Thank you. Thank you so much.