NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - The Drink With Kate Snow: Cody Rigsby

Episode Date: July 31, 2022

Cody Rigsby discusses how he went from growing up in North Carolina to becoming a popular Peloton instructor in New York City. He tells NBC News’ Kate Snow how he uses his platform to help others discover themselves through movement.

Hi everyone, this is Kate Snow, so happy to share a really fun conversation that I had with Peloton instructor Cody Rigsby over a dirty martini, no, a filthy martini as he called it. It's all part of my series The Drink, which is always about how people got to the top of their field. Cody tells me how he went from dancing in New York City to becoming a super popular instructor with Peloton. We talked about how he helped people navigate the pandemic on their bikes. Oh, and wait until you hear how often he gets his hair cut. You can hear a lot more stories of success from top artists, entrepreneurs, and visionaries. You can find them all at NBCNews.com slash The Drink. Were you a bike rider before Peloton?

You know, I was always into fitness. I took a few indoor cycling classes, but it wasn't my thing. We are at the Pebble Bar in Manhattan. It's a pretty cool place. I heard it's an institution. Am I allowed to keep sipping? Is that okay? Oh yeah, of course.

I mean, a filthy martini with blue cheese olives. I love a filthy martini. As do I. Cody Rigsby. Thank you for having me. Peloton instructor extraordinaire. Oh! Dirty martini.

Cheers. Filthy martini. Fil. Filthy martini. Filthy, filthy, filthy. Today we are going to be bumping and riding to a playlist of songs about smooching, kissing, and lip-locking. You have like more than a million followers on Instagram. Yes. Just for people who don't know.

People in your crew call themselves the Boo Crew. Yes. My name is Cody Rigsby. Bye Boo. How the heck did you get here? I was born in California, single mother, and I lived there till I was eight. We packed up our two dogs and like three cats

in like a Chrysler car. We drove across country. And you're also, you're in Greensboro, North Carolina as a gay teenager. Yeah, like trying to figure that out. And that's challenging being in a more conservative space in the country. What were you doing?

Musical theater? Yes, of course. I knew that. How did you know? Well, I kind of read it, but I also knew it. But by the way, I was the drama club president. Okay, alright. So I'm right there with you within the musical theater. Yeah.

I was a really good dancer, but a horrible singer. So didn't quite work out in the long run. You're still a really good dancer. Thank you. I'm trying to keep your hands high while I feel your girl in the eye. Player please, lyrically. The scene, B-I-G, B-Frost and J.

On the cup of a fortune. When did you really start dancing? I started taking ballet classes my freshman year of college. And it was literally me, 6'2", 18 years old, in a dance class of like 10 and 12-year-old little girls. Little girls. Yes, who were slaying me. But I was trying my hardest and my best to keep up.

And then that's kind of where I, you know, a friend of mine told me to come to New York City and intern at Broadway Dance Center. So that's where I really got into the commercial world and making connections there. And that's where like my passion and love for New York City started to grow. And that's where you end up getting eventually with like Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry. Well, yeah, I mean, like, you know, you go to dance classes, you make connections, you get an agent, you go to auditions. And then like, you know, it's not like that. But, you know, you kind of like progress and make the connections and people start to see you and your talent. And fortunately, you know, the choreographer for the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show allowed me to have those opportunities to dance with Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry.

And it was so awesome and so cool. You were also kind of scrapping when you were in New York, right? Like, you might be the first person on the drink to work at TGI Fridays. Right around the corner here, too. Right around the corner. Like, literally right around. It was horrible. And your shirt.

If you put a couple, if you put some flair. Yeah, exactly. If you added some flair to that shirt, you might be able to go back. It's a homage to my old life. Yeah. Oh, exactly. If you added some flair to that shirt, you might be able to go back. It's an homage to my old life. Yeah. Oh, man. I like hustled and bustled in this city from the moment I got here. I was working at a streetwear brand.

I was working retail down in Soho. I was working at TGI Fridays. I was just doing anything to make a buck. And so I knew that I was the only one that I had. I was my only safety net. And so I was the only one who was going to pay the bills. Yeah. All right.

We've done it once. We can do it again. Had you ever ridden a bike? Were you a bike rider before Peloton? You know, I was always into fitness i took a few i took a few indoor cycling classes but it wasn't it wasn't my thing um that's kind of what i thought i kind of thought maybe it wasn't you weren't like a you weren't you know riding around no and i was it wasn't like it wasn't like i was a uh a big name name within the cycling world before Peloton got into my life.

So how do you find out about Peloton? Oh, man. It's almost serendipitous. It's almost divine. And I don't know how I got so lucky or won the lottery. But to have this opportunity that absolutely changed my life and absolutely pushed me to grow into the person that I am. I'm so grateful for it. And it just, I look back and I'm like, how did this happen to me? But I was, uh, one of my, my jobs was moonlighting at the box in the Lower East Side. And so it's a very notorious club with a

very interesting, uh, burlesque show. And you were doing that? No, I was just working in front of the house. I was helping the bottle service girls. It was just a part-time job that I did at night making some money. But the choreographer of that show knew that I was a dancer and he had a connection to

one of the early people at Peloton. And so he was like, hey, my friend works for this cycling company. They're looking for people that are into fitness and that perform. And now he was like, I think you'd be a great fit. And I was like, hey, my friend works for this cycling company. They're looking for people that are into fitness and that perform. And now he was like, I think you'd be a great fit. And I was like, okay. Were you like Peloton?

Yeah. What? I mean, honestly, I was just like, oh, great. Here's a job. Here's some like steady income. Here's a new gig. Here's some money. Here's just like an out.

You never saw it as a career? No, I just, I didn't know anything about it. And then once I got the, you know, I honestly like went in, met my boss, had a headshot and resume, and honestly they hired me like within like 20 minutes. Resistance, 40 to 50, saddle down. I'm kinda free. Beautiful job.

You can have a sip. I know, but you know I talk a lot, so. And I need the olive juice for the electrolytes. You're followers on Peloton. There's a reason that they're there for you, right? They love your energy. They love your humor. You are so funny.

Thank you. It seems like Peloton grew hugely during COVID, right? How did you stay together, you know? I think, A, knowing that people were were we were all kind of suffering we all had a lot of fear we didn't know what was going on we were stuck in our homes we had to deal with that mentally emotionally physically and so knowing every day that I had purpose knowing every day that that me showing up me doing my job was going to help hundreds of thousands of people in this really challenging moment gave me that that push gave me that power and I fortunately

had an outlet to say what was on my mind to show people that hey you're I'm also scared you're also scared but hey we have this 30 minutes to move our bodies. So let's either escape right now for 30 minutes and move our bodies and listen and listen to music and dance, or let's completely tap into what we're feeling and let's process it and let's work through it together. You're born in California. I read that your dad died when you were really young. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very, very young.

Was that a drug overdose? Yeah. So both of my parents growing up were battling addiction. And so my father died when I was about four months. Wow. And growing up, I feel like I had a lot of shame around that. And I think as I grew up and kind of understood that, honestly, this wasn't a person that I really had any attachment to. And honestly, there's a little bit of gratitude as I got older knowing that maybe someone who was a battling addiction and didn't have those priorities straight probably wouldn't have been a

great influence or a great thing in my life and I know that's kind of harsh but I think it's just kind of like pragmatic and real and that's kind of how I've processed it so even through that pain and even through that loss there's a little bit of gratitude because I think my life was probably better off that's interesting I know It says a lot about your perspective. And the fact that you have gratitude. Yeah, and even like my mom battled addiction for a really long time and that had a lot of ups and downs.

You guys were homeless for a while, you said? Yeah, there was kind of a point when we were in Greensboro, North Carolina where my mom couldn't make ends meet. So then it was also like, well, we don't have money to eat., where my mom couldn't make ends meet. So then it was also like, well, we don't have money to eat. We also don't have money to pay rent. And like, where are we going to go? And where did you go? Motels? Yeah, well, you know, thankfully, I had an amazing friends and my mom had amazing friends. And so some of that was like spending

the night with friends. Yeah, couch surfing. And then also, yeah, living in a motel for months and months and months. And that in itself just holds a lot of shame as a middle schooler. Once again, I kind of come back to a little bit of that gratitude that those really hard times, those really challenging times, is really what built my work ethic. Stay up. Ride the beat. Ride the beat. Ride the beat. I know. You want to sit down it's not happening you can stay seated but don't touch that resistance but like if i can get on the bike and i can act like a fool and i can dance and i can make fun of myself and be self-deprecating then it kind of opens up the space for people to feel at ease and be like hey this isn't that deep that's not that serious and i can laugh at my own insecurities. I can laugh at my own fears about movement.

Do you rehearse before? Like, do you know what you're going to say? It's a mixed bag. So most of the time, no, I think that I have such... Stuff just comes to you? Yeah, I have like, you know, I have such strong memories to certain songs or people's leaderboards names will be really interesting. And I'll connect to that and have a strong memories to certain songs or people's leaderboards names will be really interesting. And I'll connect to that and have a funny story about my mom or just life. And that's how it comes. I'd say like 90% of just like Adlib.

Can we do some rapid fire? Sure. Let's hit it. Okay. All right. Favorite Britney Spears song? Give me more because I love a stripper fantasy. Okay.

And she was a stripper in that video. So why not? How often do you cut your hair? Every week. Every week? Every week. I'm going today. From the Boo Crew?

Uh-huh. Favorite Disney prince? Favorite Disney prince? Aladdin. You know, I love someone who's built themselves up, who started with humble beginnings, such as myself. Best advice you ever got? My friend Miles once told me, like, no matter what it is, what you're scared of, like just show up and you'll figure it out. And sometimes you just gotta be scared and show up and like you'll figure it out. Hey, this has been fantastic. Thank

you so much for having me. Cody Lipsby, thank you so much. Cheers. Cheers.