The Liz Moody Podcast - Megan Roup—Secrets to Career Success, Pregnancy & Postpartum Struggles & The Health Habits That Have Changed Her Life

Episode Date: December 22, 2021

My guest today is Megan Roup. Megan is the founder of The Sculpt Society, one of my personal favorite ways to workout. On this episode, we talk about: her best tips for aspiring entrepreneurs, including mindset shifts and super actionable solutions how to have a side hustle without getting burnt out what no one tells you about starting your own business the pregnancy & postpartum struggles no one talks about how she knew she wanted to have a baby exactly how she dealt with body struggles & learned to love her body (with specific, actionable advice) how to make working out a habit that sticks the health habits that have made the biggest changes in her life (and the ones that haven’t worked at all) how her introversion has been her superpower in business and life the morning routine that sets her up for a successful day her top tips for developing confidence I would love to hear from you as you listen to this episode so definitely tag @lizmoody and @meganroup with any thoughts, feelings, or reactions as you’re listening! I would also appreciate if you shared this episode or any favorite episodes from the year! PS: My very first product is live!!! Go to htdeck.com to snag your Healthier Together Deck, which has 150 conversation starters in 6 categories! It’s the perfect holiday gift for friends, family members, romantic partners, co-workers…or, of course, yourself. Find out more at htdeck.com—this is a self-funded limited run and these will sell out!! PS: My Patreon is live! You can join Green Smoothie Society and get access to ALL of my green smoothie recipes and advice! Get all the deets at patreon.com/lizmoody. This episode is features a special partnership with Showtime. You can watch CUSP at sho.com/CUSP. Healthier Together cover art by Zack. Healthier Together music by Alex Ruimy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

friends and welcome back to the Healthier Together podcast. I'm your host, Liz Moody, and I'm a cookbook author and long-time journalist. And this is the last episode of the Healthier Together podcast this year, which is kind of crazy. I can't believe that we've reached December. On January 5th, we will be back with a whole crop of amazing episodes that I am super excited about with some of my favorite guests ever and your most requested topic. So make sure that you are subscribed on your favorite podcast platform so that you do not. miss it. And if you need something to listen to over the next two weeks, I highly recommend taking a look through the past year of episodes. We have asked the doctors about hormones, glowing skin, gut health, happiness, stress, and more. Episodes with your favorite influencers like Valeria Lipavetsky, No Ordinary No Noir, and Brock Your Body, episodes about friendship, episodes about sex, episodes about dressing cute. Basically, anything you want, we got it. So take a little scroll back and see what strikes your fancy. My guest today is Megan Rup.

Megan is the founder of the Sculp Society, one of my personal favorite ways to work out. We talk about it in the episode, but they're just these amazing workouts that aren't boring, and they're short enough to fit into a normal day, and they make you so freaking sore. I wanted to have Megan on my last episode of the year because she has had quite the year. She grew her business, she moved across the country, and as if that was not enough, she also had a baby. I wanted this to be an episode about looking back, reflecting and learning, and looking forward, with plenty of hacks and ultra-practical tips that will help you go after your goals in 2022 and beyond. She shares her best tip for aspiring entrepreneurs, the pregnancy and postpartum struggles that no one talks about,

how she knew that she wanted to have a baby, exactly how she could. She dealt with body struggles and learned to love her body with very specific, actionable advice, including a book that you're definitely going to want to read. How to make working out a habit that sticks? The health habits that have made the biggest changes in her life. The morning routine that sets her up for a successful day. Her top tips for developing confidence. And so much more.

I would love to hear from you as you listen to this episode. So definitely tag me. I'm at Liz Moody and tag Megan. She is at Megan Rup Rup, R-O-U-P with any thoughts, feelings, or reactions. I know that we cover a lot of the types of things that we talk about on my Instagram, especially on my Instagram stories, including body love and knowing if and when you want to have a baby. And I would love to hear your thoughts on the conversation. And because it's my last episode of the year, I would love to hear your favorite episode

of the past year or anything that you learned or that stuck with you from listening. In fact, I will do a shameless request here. If you could share this podcast, why you love it, an episode that you enjoyed, or something that you learned, either on Instagram or with someone in your actual life, I would so appreciate it. This little family has grown so much in the past year, and a huge goal of mine is to have it grow even more in 2022, so that I can make it an even bigger focus of my job and continue to bring on all of the guests of mine and hopefully your dreams. So I am sharing my goal, I am asking for help, I'm trying to bring it to life because that is how we roll here.

We are all about making visions realities. I would also be remiss to not end 2021 with a huge thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for spending your valuable time listening and thinking and laughing and feeling and having these conversations with me. Thank you to the thousands of. people who have shared the podcast, who have written the kindest and most thoughtful reviews on Apple Podcasts. I see every single tag on Instagram and I read every single review and I appreciate

them all more than I could ever express. I love this community. I love you guys so much. I think you are the smartest and coolest and most interested and interesting people around. And I am grateful for you every single day. Happy 2021. I think that 2022 is going to be our best year yet. I can just feel it. Now, let's welcome Megan Rup. All right, Megan, I'm so excited to have you here today. I was saying before we started recording that it feels crazy because you are one of the main people that I work out with. Like you, I've been doing your workouts for years now. That means so much. So I'm glad that my voice to you is recognizable. But I'm so happy to be here, Liz. Thank you for having me.

It is, although sometimes I get really angry at your voice. I'm just so like my butt is burning so hard. I'm trying to get my husband to do your workouts because he does like weightlifting and stuff like that and he'll hear me cursing in the other room as I'm doing your workouts. And he's like, he's like, it can't be that hard. And I'm like, you need to come and try this and see how hard it is. So I've heard that so many times. And I have had my husband occasionally film some videos. But I think what I'm going to do is actually make him do an entire partner program so that more men can actually experience the sculpt society and understand how difficult it is. I feel like you had a few during quarantine where he was like in the background

in your New York apartment and he was struggling sometimes in some of them. It made me feel really good. Yeah. Oh yeah. He's struggled. Not because I want to say struggle, but just so like I can be like, okay, this is hard. I'm not crazy. Yeah. Oh yeah. For sure. I think it's important for people to see that. For sure. Can you just tell people who might not be from me. with you or your business or your workouts a little bit about yourself? Yeah. So for those of you who don't know me, my name's Megan Rup and I'm the founder of the Sculp Society. So I blend easy, digestible, quick dance cardio with really athletic sculpt. So really full body sculpting exercises. And I think that blend, I really, I feel like I've carved out of space for women to come in and

get workouts that are under an hour that leave you feeling successful, leave you feeling like you had a really fun workout. And, you know, I started out in New York City and then now 99% of my business is online and through the Sculp Society app. So really at home workouts that you can do anywhere. Let's talk about the business for a second because I do think this episode's coming out towards the end of the year. I think people are thinking about goals. They're zooming out. they're having visions. If somebody wanted to start a successful business, are there any tips that you would have with them? I would love maybe like one larger mindset shift you had to learn and then maybe something that's like super pragmatic and specific and actionable. Yeah, I think something that

really helped me in the beginning of the Sculp Society was that it wasn't my main source of income. So I was dancing professionally and I was also working in fashion on the production side. So I was working as a fit model. I was like a live mannequin for designers. And that really brought in a lot of my bread and butter, my income to pay rent. So when I took that big leap of faith with wanting to pursue the Sculp Society, I wasn't relying on it financially. And I think taking that financial pressure off, if you are someone that has an idea or has a side hustle that you want to start pursuing, I think the biggest tip for me that really helped me in the first two years, I really side hustle. I didn't rely on the scope society as an income for the first two years of the business is really, if you can, keeping some type of job, some kind of job that can help you, you know, rely on that income so that you can really foster whatever side hustle you are looking to start and whatever business you are starting so that it's, you know, not so much pressure for that

business to pay the bills in the beginning because it's very hard with any business that you're starting to solely rely on that income as it's really in its infancy. Well, and sometimes I think you can feel pressured to make choices that might not serve you or your business in the long run if you are kind of under that financial pressure. Absolutely, absolutely. And it takes time. Totally. It takes, I think, a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot longer than people think it takes. Like, I just launched my first physical product that was like outside of my publishing houses or whatever. And it's gone so, so well. But literally all of the money we've made so far,

we'd had to put back into production and manufacturing and fulfillment and all of that. So it is, it's definitely a longer process than people think. But when you say side hustle, I'm like, yes, agree, on board totally. But how do you not get burnt out then if you're doing your normal job for money and then you're also trying to pursue this dream? I mean, transparently, I don't know. I'm the queen of burnout. You know, I'm the queen of doing way too many things. I think unfortunately, it's, you know, when you are a small business owner, that is kind of the nature of what you're getting yourself into. And I think the other side of that is, you know, knowing whether that is something as an entrepreneur or small business owner, you actually want, is this the life slash lifestyle

that you actually want and identifying that first? Because I think where we really glamorized this entrepreneur's ship side and this business owner side. And I can tell you firsthand, it's seven days a week. It doesn't turn off and I'm exhausted. And while it might look very, very, very. pretty on Instagram. It is, it is a lot of work. And I think that's not for everyone. The way I don't get burnt out is, is I think I'm, I'm truly passionate and I feel truly aligned in my purpose with the Sculpe Society. So anytime I am, I am experiencing that, I kind of just go back to the root of why I'm doing this. But I think it's, it's, again, also something that we glamorize of like these like overnight success businesses. And I think what I want people to know is that this wasn't a

overnight success. This is like my lifetime in the making and like 10 years in New York City, really grinding and understanding like what I wanted to do and understanding the community and understanding who my customer was. So I'm not sure that I have the perfect answer for you, but I do think identifying if that is the choice you want to make, knowing what you're getting yourself into a little bit. Well, and to that end, knowing why that's the choice you want to make, I think it's interesting that you're like, this is what I need to put into the world. This is my passion, this is my purpose. And I think if you're looking at it and you're like, oh, I want the flexible lifestyle. I want to have people on the internet telling me that I'm really great.

I want to just make a lot of money. Maybe some of those things will happen. Maybe they won't. Maybe they'll take years to happen. But maybe those aren't the wise that would get you through the years of working seven days a week, you know? No, it definitely doesn't. It definitely doesn't. No, I know. I think some people think I flip on my camera, I record, and then I'm done for the day. And there's just so much more that goes into it that so many people don't see. Well, and to that end, what are some of those sort of maybe one really in the weeds, actionable, super pragmatic day-to-day tip? I think a mistake or a mindset that I oftentimes fall into that I'm really working harder on and it's been helpful to have my husband now full-time as my C-O is not relying solely on me. to do everything. I think in my mindset, I think I can do every role. And I think identifying what

you're really good at and then hiring smarter people around you so that you can then concentrate on what you're good at. I know I can teach an amazing class. I can program a class. I can do the content. All of the creative is my zone of genius. I should not be doing certain things, even if it's just, you know, the business side of it of like accounting or just those small little tasks that that honestly add up to a lot of time, whereas my time was just so much more valuable in a different area. And so I think having my husband really opened my eyes to that and realize that, you know, in the stage of the business that we are in, we need to put a lot more money back into hiring out and building at our team so that we can all be surrounded by smarter

people learn from them and again alleviate the time that's that sometimes is wasted where I'm not doing what I should be doing in the business. How do you decide what money is worth spending? I think especially like at all stages of a business, people can be tempted to buy, you know, courses on how to do Pinterest or how to grow their business early on or later in the business like when do you hire an assistant? When are you spending that money versus a web designer versus is somebody to optimize SEO? Like, how do you know when you're spending money well? I don't know. We're literally going through that exact thing right now where part of me is like, well, we can do it on our own. And my husband is really, I think, seeing the bigger picture that we

having someone in-house instead of a lot of contractors like we do now who can really, while maybe a contractor is good in a certain stage of the business like we were in the last year, we're now at a stage where I think we need someone thinking about the sculpt society around the clock, and that's a full-time hire. And just realizing that the value of where we are at in the business, I think, requires that. Whereas a year ago, what it required was more of a consultant 1099 employee. Okay. Let's talk about some of the other stuff that you did this year, which like having a baby is one of them. I love how open you've been about your pregnancy and your postpartum journey. on social, I think it's really been relatable for a lot of women, and it's been eye-opening for me

as somebody who's considering whether or not I want a child. I would love to hear about some of the bigger struggles that you had in the past year, whether it is with your motherhood journey, with your move, you can say with your business too, if it's applicable there. Yeah, I think, you know, what's so amazing, I think the positive of social media is the fact that we have these communities and this platform to really speak openly and connect with other women on a real, real basis, right? I think so much of social sometimes is a lot of fluff and really the highlight real. And I really wanted to take that opportunity to let my community in on maybe not the most happiest moments or the struggles that I was experiencing. So I think a big

thing for me was pregnancy. And I think the decision to start trying to conceive was a big deal for me because for so long, you know, my baby was my business and I was so business-minded. And really, that was all-consuming. So I was nervous to start trying for kids because I didn't know how it was going to fit that into my day-to-day lifestyle. As someone who I think, I think I'm a little selfish with my time and again wanting to bring someone into the world and give them the time and the energy and the love that a new human and baby deserves. So all of that accumulated. And then I get pregnant, which was very exciting. But I think not loving my pregnancy journey was a real struggle for me because I already had all of this anxiety about bringing someone into the world to not love

pregnancy, I think brought on a lot more anxiety that maybe I wouldn't then love motherhood. So I think another element to pregnancy is also witnessing your body grow and change, which, of course, is going to happen. And as a non-hormonal woman, I understand that. But I think when you are going through it, I found that to be really hard. And I was frustrated that I found it hard. So I think, again, that was my experience with pregnancy. On the flip side, very, very, very, very. much relieved postpartum to have Harlow and have this overwhelming sense of joy and love that I now have for her and really just loving motherhood. But it was important to me to really talk to my community about all sides of it because it's not all rainbows and sunshine and it's certainly not perfect. But I think there's unfortunately not enough conversations around pregnancy and the early days of postpartum because those are both really, really fragile emotional times in our lives. And I think a lot of times we paint this picture that they're just

like this perfect moments in our lives. Okay, wait, I have so many questions. The first one is that I am that person. I was like raising my hand. I'm like, I'm selfish with my time. My business is my baby. I feel like I've had to almost like the worlds that I work in are kind of, they can be elitist, like editorial in the influencer world. And I feel like I like crawled my way in. I clawed my way in from the outside. And I'm like, I don't want to, I don't know how to let go of how important my career is to me and how much progress I think I have made with my career. And then I also don't understand on a very practical sense, where in the baby fits time wise. So I'm curious how you made the decision to go forward with it with all of those scenarios playing out in your head?

I think I looked at my life at 5560 and the thought of not having children was the decision maker. Who did I want around my dinner table, my immediate family? Like what is what I really pictured that and what I wanted. And I think I knew I knew deep down that if I didn't have children for me personally, it was going to feel slightly, not slightly, it was going to feel emptier for me. And I wanted, I wanted that experience of having children. So I've always known that I wanted children. It wasn't this fierce knowing, if that makes sense. And I think another thing that everyone, every woman working women I've talked to about if they especially, especially women who've had their own businesses of like how you make time,

everyone has just told me that I would figure it out. And it's so true. And I remember thinking, but how do you figure it out? I can barely take care of myself. I barely have time to do all the things I want to do for my business. Now, how am I going to figure it out? I'm telling you, you will figure it out.

And then on the flip side, help. Like, help is so important, whether that looks like your family helping out, whether that looks like a babysitter, a nanny, whoever it is. If you have a small business and you work a lot, you need to build out an infrastructure of support. It's just, I mean, I believe you, but it's hard to picture when every single day I get to the end of the day.

And I'm like, I didn't get everything I wanted done. And I didn't take as much time as I wanted for me, for my husband, for my friends, you know? Yeah. It's never going to be perfect. And I reach the end of the day. And it's the same pre-harlob or post-harlobe. I'm exhausted. I didn't get my list done. Did I have enough time for myself or my husband?

I think it's the same, but you have this little human and it's the most, it's every cheesy saying built wrapped into one thing. And I will say if you have any urge to have children or you think of your life in 30 years and you have this little ping, I would say it's going to be worth it. Let's talk about one of the other things you've mentioned, which is that the way that your body was changing with something that you were struggling with or maybe surprised you in your reaction to. I think that that's an experience I've heard from a lot of my friends, but I think it's particularly interesting for you since your work in a lot of ways is so identified with your body. So I'm curious how pregnancy and motherhood has changed your relationship with your body. and if there's any takeaways or learnings there. Yeah, I think, and I've been really open with my community as well.

You know, in my early 20s, I definitely struggled with my relationship with my body and had moved so much forward in body acceptance and love and feeling at home in my body. I felt like I was so far removed from those old early 20 Megan thoughts. And unfortunately, as I started to get further along in my pregnancy, I felt like those old thoughts rising back up again. Just not feeling at home in my body. And I felt that way, you know, in the first early months of postpartum as well. And I think it was just frustrating for me because I had done so much work to get to a place of feeling really at home in my skin and celebrating who I was physically. And so that was something I think, I don't know that I have an

answer to, but it was something I had to really work at in my pregnancy and postpartum journey of just really identifying those thoughts and changing that conversation I was having with myself and about my body as my body grew and changed. I think in postpartum, it was fascinating for me to watch. I look back at old videos of me working out and just that, again, that journey of starting, as someone who works in the fitness industry, movement and as a professional, and as a professional dancer has just always been a part of my life, but postpartum, I just felt like I was really starting from zero, just fully scratched, like building that strength back up again. And I think it was good for me, to be honest, because I think it was almost a, more of an

understanding now of women and what they're going through, whether they've never been in a fitness routine and they're trying to get into that lifestyle and maybe what that feels like physically as they start that journey. But just to go through that physically was emotional and frustrating and recording all at the same time. You say that in your 20s you went on sort of a journey to start having a good relationship with your body. Can you speak a little bit to that for anybody who might be listening? I was like, wait, I'm on that journey right now. Like, how do I do that? Yeah. You know, I just, I went through years of this constant cycle of yo-yo dieting and binge eating and then get backing on to the next fad diet and then going, you know,

eff it. I'm, you know, everything that you know, experience, I think, um, in that yo-yo diet culture, um, and that, that diet mindset. And I just got to a point in my early 20s where I was just so sick of it. I was sick of the amount of mental energy I was putting towards what, how many calories I was eating and journaling every, you know, step I took on the treadmill or the elliptical and hating every second of it. And just, I just felt like all of my mental energy was going towards it and nothing was changing. And so I read a book called

Women Food and God by Janine Roth and that really broke down intuitive eating for me. And it was just like a light bulb, a light switch that went off. And it was understanding the why behind why I was focusing so much on diet and my body and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, really, I think, taking the power away from food and dealing with the actual emotions that I was having and looking at food in just a new way, really not villainizing foods as good or bad and just eating in a way that was intuitive. And I think that still is a very complicated, confusing subject for a lot of people who want to get into intuitive eating. But for me, that was, that reading that book really was the launch pad for healing my relationship with food and my body.

When you say figuring out like the why you were approaching food that way and the learnings from the book, could you just kind of speak to just super briefly what that was specifically? Yeah, I mean, this could be another full hour of talking. So I'll try and wrap it up. But I initially didn't pursue dance when I went into college. So I had decided I was going to retire from dance and I was going to be an English major. Really bad decision. I was completely unhappy in that first year of college.

And I couldn't identify why, even though now it's so obvious that why I was unhappy was because I was not pursuing what I felt so called to be doing. And instead of understanding the why of why I was unhappy, I focused my attention. on diet and food and my body and tracking and all of the things that go into to that. And I think a lot of people, whether it's food, whether it's alcohol, whether it's sex, it's all a numbing tool that we do as humans to actually not understand the root of the problem. And if we actually understood the root of why we feel anxious or why we're upset and get there, we won't need to numb in other outside ways. And I think we look outside of ourselves so often instead of really tuning into ourselves because

underneath it all, it's pretty clear. And usually it's pretty simple. I love that. I think that's a really powerful sentiment. Can I ask what when you think about working out, I think a lot of people want to work out so that their body looks a certain way. Yeah. What is the why behind why you work out? And I think beyond that, what's the why that you hope women doing the scope society have for their working out with you? I think for years, just like food, I tortured myself in the gym, right? I was on an elliptical machine. I was on a treadmill, counting every second, hating every second. And the why behind that was to look in a certain way. And when I discovered dance-based fitness, that plus reading that book about intuitive eating, it was like the missing puzzle for me. Because for the first time in my life, exercise.

wasn't this torture tool that I was using. It was a way of moving in a joyful, fun way. By focusing less on what I was going to look like and moving my body in a more joyful, fun way, I actually got better results. And while I don't want to be results driven, it was such an eye-opening experience, just like my food, right, when I stopped focusing on the good food and the bad food and just made food food. and ate in a way that I was listening to my body, the combination of those two things really not only felt amazing, but I also saw the physical difference.

So my mission with the Sculpe Society is to introduce movement to women, to make them feel empowered in their body, to make it less about our six-pack abs and our thigh gap, and to bring attention to how they're feeling, Are they feeling strong? Are they feeling joyful? And concentrating on that being the result. And I think the best thing about working out to feel good is that you have instant results. Like I feel good on a day that I work out. And that's why I do it pretty much every day. I now do short workouts pretty much every single day. And I don't, you know, I'll do my recovery day. I'll do like yoga or a walk or something like that.

But I move every single day because I feel energetic. I sleep better. I have less anxiety. And I think that instant gratification is almost, it's more rewarding than waiting for my body to look a certain way after weeks or months or years, you know. Absolutely. Absolutely. Is there any other tips you have for somebody who's listening and is so close to making, working out a regular habit or is like dabbled in it, but they haven't quite been able to make that stick? Yeah, I think it's a combination of things, just what I touched on, where it is so, so important that we find a way of moving that feels good for you. So whether that is a hit class or a yoga class, or it's the Sculpe Society, dance cardio, sculpt, whatever it is, it is so important that we enjoy it because that is the stickiness.

That is why you continue to show up. That's why people have great consistency and results because they enjoy it and it doesn't become, again, like me walking on the treadmill or, an elliptical where it's painful. It's something that you actually look forward to. I think the other component and something I'm really honing in on is this concept of committing to less in fitness so that you can show up more. So as we all continue to work out at home or nomadically like you are, you know, we as humans, it's hard to press play on an hour workout. So I would so much rather have my community, show up five days a week and do a 10-minute workout, then show up once a week for a 60-minute workout. So I really want to change this mindset that it's not, quote-unquote, a workout if it's not

60 minutes or more. And I think, especially as women when it comes to cardio, taking that down a notch too. So how can we commit to less? So show up 10 minutes. And I'm telling you, if it's a well-programmed exercise routine. You are going to get so much bang for your buck in 10 minutes. You're going to set yourself up for your day. You're going to feel good. You're going to feel grounded physically and mentally. And that effect is going to be so much greater for you than one 60-minute workout that you're dying in and that you really aren't enjoying. I had a doctor on the podcast say that as long as it was long enough to experience a state change of any sense, so whether it's an increased heart rate or your muscles get a little sore. You start to sweat a little bit of your face flushes.

Like if you experience a state change, then it has had an effect in your body and it totally counts. Absolutely. So it is a mind switch and I think a lot of us have to believe in it. Right. Like it's like so many of us are like, well, I only have 20 minutes. Like what can I do in 20 minutes? You can do so much. You can do so much in 10. So going into January, I'm really building out my Quiki programs where people can really follow a calendar, follow these short bite-sized videos that they can really easily commit to and they can commit to it consistently because, again, consistency is the secret sauce. Totally great. You're a quickie, full bodies, and then the 30-minute sculpt are my two favorite ones. Yeah, and those just happen to be the most popular categories on the end.

I am basic. No, but there's something to that, you know? For sure. You're listening to the Healthier Together podcast. This segment is sponsored by Showtime, and I am really excited about it. Instead of normal ads throughout the episode, I worked with Showtime to create a sort of mini documentary based around their new film Cusp, which is a really beautiful and raw exploration of adolescent life. It follows three teenage girls in Texas, and it confronts the reality of situations like

drugs, alcohol, sexual abuse, and the generational and systemic problems at their root. To further shine a light on the reality of the reality of the situation, I was lucky enough to interview the amazing Heather Bellino from the Texas advocacy project. This is about 10 minutes long, a sort of interview within an interview, and afterward we'll be back with the second half of Megan's episode. I do hope that you listen to the end. It's such an honor when I'm able to use my platform to discuss these very real and important issues, and Heather was a joy to speak with and offered such poignant and intelligent insights, as well as the action tips that you have come to expect from this podcast.

You can find the film Cusp streaming on www.shO.com slash cusp. That is www.com slash cusp, CUSP, and I highly recommend that you watch. It's a really thought-provoking film, and it will give you so much to talk about. All right, Heather, thank you so much for taking the time to join me on the show today. Thank you for having me, Liz. I'm excited to be here. Can you just start off by telling us a little bit about who you are and the work that you do? Sure. So again, I'm Heather Bellino. I'm the CEO at Texas Advocacy Project. And I have been with the project for about 16 years. And I just love what we're able to accomplish there. We do free civil legal services for domestic abuse, dating abuse, sexual assault, stalking, basically.

any abuse that might occur that you might need a civil legal remedy to get long-term safety. But that's kind of on the one side of it. On the other side, we have this great prevention and empowerment program and space to really help people to be a good frontline ally, to learn what healthy relationships are, you know, and how to just kind of navigate those waters of love and keep yourself safe. So that's kind of like, you know, our getting ahead of the problem, whereas the civil legal remedy is reactionary after there's always a already been a problem. But, you know, we're hoping to work ourselves out of business by really shining a light on, you know, what is healthy and what is unhealthy. I think that's amazing.

I really think taking the approach from both sides, the sort of downstream and upstream approach is so important and so critical. We're here today to talk about Cusp, which is such a beautiful and also heartbreaking movie. I would love to hear what you took away from the film doing the work that you do. Oh my gosh, so much. I mean, that film was just so inspiring and yet also so jaw-dropping, right? You know, to watch these young women, these teenagers just navigating life. And we have our memories of those years, those formative years and what a fun summer was and then to be flashed back sort of into what the reality of a lot of it is, right? You know, the warm memories of hanging out and, you know, swim in and going to a lake or whatever, your personal. memory might be, when you really dig back into it, you're like, oh, there were so many nuances about, you know, sexual abuses and violence and, you know, the things that we were consuming at such a young

age that shaped all of our thoughts and beliefs and patterns of behavior. So it was really amazing. And I just, you know, I'm so impressed with these young ladies that were comfortable enough to bear their souls and to walk through it and learn from it after. It's interesting to me that you were able to sort of connect that back to your own youth because I think a lot of people would watch this and they would be like, oh, this is representative of this time. I can't believe that kids these days are experiencing these types of situations in terms of growing up too fast. The girls in the film are drinking and they're smoking and they're being involved in sexual situations, including sexual assault. Do you feel like these issues are specific to the time that we're

living in now, or do you think they're just sort of painted in a different light in the time that we're living now? What do you think is behind the situations that the girls in the film are dealing with? Oh, Liz, I would like to pretend like it's just happening right now and that this hasn't been societal norms for years, but really, if we're being honest with ourselves, we would have to admit that probably this was happening in our lifetimes, in our parents' lifetimes, and for generations. Again, we grow up and we think, you know, our memories get changed a little bit, right? We rewrite our memories. And that's smart. You know, that's how our brains develop and we get ready and prepared for the next phases in our life. But this is not new. It's absolutely not new. I mean, go back and watch all the movies. I mean,

even like dazed and confused. It was, you know, that's the 70s. The exact same things were happening. You can go to any, you know, media and find examples of this happening in the past. So now I'd like to pretend it's a new problem, but it's not. It's been around forever. Has it been exacerbated? Is it more in our faces because of social media? Probably. I mean, you know, there's all those memes going around that says, oh, thank goodness they're right, you know, iPhones or, you know, cameras like that at the ready when I was a teenager. But it's true. It's been going on for ages. And we have to be honest about that, because if we're not talking about it, that it did happen to us, it happened to friends of ours, or we acted that way in our back in the day and age, then are we ever going to really talk

about it? If we're always able to say it's somebody else, it's only happening to kids now, this is a behavior I never experienced or I never saw or I was never exposed to. Then are we going to have honest, real, open, candid, clear conversations about it? I don't think so. I think that's an amazing point. But I do think one of the reasons that people like to almost like place the blame on social media, place the blame on the TV that kids are being exposed to or things like that, is because then it feels like an easier solution. They're like, oh, if I could just get rid of TikTok or Instagram, then this wouldn't be a problem anymore. Do you think that there are easy solutions or even more complicated ones that on a societal level, maybe I'm not somebody

who has a teenage girl as a child or anything, but on a societal level that we could be doing? Well, 100% agree with you that it would be so. easy to just blame it on like one thing and then you just turn off social media. Boom, there's no more sexual assaults. There's no more violence. There's no underage drinking. Everybody is safe. Rainbows and unicorns everywhere. But it's not that. And I do think that we all have to take on us on that and say it's happening. We have to talk about it. We have to change societal norms. We have to teach people at a young age, the language around what is happening. We have to give them space to have open communication about it.

We cannot judge people that have had this as their lived experience. We have to say, okay, this happened. How can we help you to navigate these new waters? How can we do this in a non-judgmental way? And then, yes, we have to hold people accountable. And we have to choose not to consume the massive amounts of information and coming at us that really is making us feel like this is a normal thing. You know, I'll be telling somebody that, you know, this is what I do for a living.

I work with domestic abuse survivors and dating violence survivors. And, you know, if I say that to a gentleman of the age of, you know, 50 plus, a hundred percent of the time I get a joke about, well, I don't beat my wife. And that is so disgusting. And I have to say every single time, I don't think that's funny. I realize that you're using that as some sort of a cloak so that I don't think that you're a bad person. But in saying that joke, you are reaffirming that that's normal. And I don't like it.

And I think as young people, you know, you're listening to the certain music and you're laughing about, you know, this person or that person did this or that. and instead of saying, you know, hey, that's not cool because you're uncomfortable going against the norm, you just kind of roll with it. Well, until we give people the strength, the power, and the language to stand up against things they don't truly believe in in their hearts, then we're not going to get very far with us. So we have to do that. I like that approach because it's really empowering to think that every little conversation you have, every little non-judgmental interaction you have, all of those things sort of matter and stack up to a larger whole. They absolutely do. If we can make that the norm, we're going to save so many lives and we're going to save so many people from trauma. I mean, you know, when you've been sexually assaulted,

you know, there's there's ramifications, you know, there's all the studies that show your substance abuse is going to go up, teenage pregnancy is going to go up, depression's going to go up, further violence is going to go up. So unless we kind of stack, like you said, this all together and don't judge, but do speak out, then we're not getting anywhere. And I think we can get somewhere. Like, that's the exciting part is that you asked if this is different now than it was back in the day.

The abuses and the attitudes and the beliefs are not different. But what is different and what is so exciting, like really gets me excited, is that We're actually talking about it now. So we can make a change. Like, we can do this together. We're all about actionable takeaways here on the Healthier Together podcast. I would love one message that's really imbued with action for a teenage girl who might be listening to this podcast.

The one thing that you can do is not be judgmental, be open. Make sure that you are creating a place where people can trust you and say, I believe you, I hear you. When you are ready, I'll help you find some help. I mean, it's really just that. And then if you're not talking about something that just happened, how about just creating a space in which you have a zero tolerance policy for abuses, for playing downgrading and really just demeaning others? Just create a zero tolerance policy for that personally. But definitely reach out to people that are supportive. Surround yourself with a supportive group. And if you don't have one, they're out there.

So just look around and be open to it. And would that message be the same for people who are perhaps older and have teenage girls in their lives or people like me who just want to make a difference? Do you have one action step that we could take away? Believe people. That's the best action step. Believe people be there for them and don't judge them. And yeah, no matter what age.

you are, that's true. You don't have a teenage daughter yet. I have a son who's now 24 years old, and you just have to create a space where they can be honest with you, and that's only done by being non-judgment. Doesn't mean don't parent them, but don't judge them when they come to you with things that can be scary to you. I love that. Well, Heather, can you tell us a little bit more about where we can find your work with the Texas Advocacy Project? Absolutely. You can find online at www. www.Texasadvocacyproject.org. But you can also find us on the socials.

We're on Insta. We are on Facebook. We are on LinkedIn. We are on Twitter. And we're building our TikTok because we're staying relevant one way or another. I love that. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to join us today. Thank you so much for listening. You can find out more about CUSP on www.sha. com slash cusp.

That is CUSP. Now, let's get back into the episode with Megan. Are there any other habits that you have that you feel like have made a real change in your life? I think mantras have been really powerful for me. I think simple things you can say to yourself that you resonate for you. Oftentimes I can have a little bit of an imposter syndrome. So even just small things like I'm worthy and then I am enough can sound really woohoo to people. but I think in those moments when you are having those thoughts can be really, really great.

I think, again, and I've talked about this so much, but like my, really understanding your internal dialogue, what are the stories you're telling yourself? How are you talking to yourself on a daily basis? Tuning into that so that you can understand maybe on a deeper level, like what you actually need and maybe how to change that conversation you're having with yourself and the power behind that. I think imposter syndromes can happen a lot, whether I'm speaking, and feeling confident in what I'm saying, that I am truly an expert in this field. I think walking into a room, networking, talking to people, that oftentimes brings up like a lot of fear for me. I'm a natural introvert. So how can as a natural introvert lead a company and lead women and

feel like a leader in this space? Those of things that I'm constantly working on because I think my inner dialogue wants to tell me that I can't and that I shouldn't be there. And that, why would anyone want to listen to me? And I think talking back to that in our dialogue and really speaking my truth, I have noticed such a great shift. Do you get intimidated when you like hang out with or lead workouts for all these celebrities that you do your workouts? You know, it's so interesting is maybe back in the day a little bit, but underneath at all, we as women come into this space. I think I'm in a, you know, with fitness. We come into a studio. We are, we don't have makeup on. We are in spandex. And we are all so vulnerable. And what I've noticed is that

everyone just wants to feel good. Everyone wants to feel seen. And we're all just humans in experiencing this. So at a, at that type of level when you really, I get to see so many women every day. And it's the same insecurities over and over again. So why I feel so moved again for what I'm doing is to infuse this confidence and empowerment and strength with every woman, whether they are a celebrity or Sally Jo, my next door neighbor. I want everyone to experience how it feels to feel so strong and competent in your own body. Celebrities, they're just like us. They really are, I'm telling you. I think the introvert thing is really interesting because I do think there's this overall cultural narrative sometimes that you need to be an extrovert to be a successful CEO or to stand up for yourself

in a crowded room or things like that. Have you found in any ways being introverted to be beneficial in your business? Yes, because I'm a good listener. And I think I'm also empathic. So I pick up on energy really well. And I think it's important as a CEO and a leader to listen, and to take feedback and hear what else is needed. I think sometimes we don't listen enough as a society. And then is there anything else you do to kind of push through the more introverted parts or do you think it's all about that self-talk, the self-narrative? You know, New York really, that's one thing about my 15 years in New York.

You know, it really taught me how to, even at like the basic level of like, networking, right? Getting, being uncomfortable with the uncomfortable. So I don't know that there's anything I do. You know, I used to do the power pose. I don't know if you've ever heard of that where you stand in front of a mirror. Stick your arms up in the air. Yeah, or you put your hands on your hips and you put into your power pose and you stand like that looking at yourself in the mirror. I know that sounds so woohoo, but if you are listening to this and you have an interview or something that you're nervous about, especially if you're an introvert, there is, there, That is a great energy shift that I have found powerful.

And again, I think my experience in New York where I just had to get uncomfortable with the uncomfortable and know that I could move through that. I think it's a very powerful thing to realize that discomfort usually. Like I don't want people doing crazy things, but discomfort usually isn't going to kill you. It's going to feel uncomfortable. I think sometimes that we feel more afraid of being uncomfortable than whatever the result of that discomfort is. And if we realize that that's just a feeling and you can move through it and it's not actually going to have any real result on your life, then it's a really powerful sentiment.

I had that experience with flying because I realized I was more afraid of this discomfort that I felt with the fear and having to sit in that for hours and hours and hours on the plane than I was of the plane, if that makes sense, and the plane crashing. And then I was like, oh, so the only thing I need to push against or figure out a way through is my own discomfort, which felt weirdly empowering. Yeah. Oh, I love that. It's really interesting. Do you have any other sort of, like, do you have a morning routine or an evening routine

that you feel like really sets you up for success? I mean, I know what I should be doing. Realistically, what do I do? You know, there are things, you know, I'm a big fan of meditations. And I'm not talking like 20 minutes meditations, like you know, the scroll upside. Yeah, we have like these five-minute guided meditations. I know I should be doing that every morning because the mornings that I do do that, just like movement, I feel so much more grounded. You know, something I, and I'm terrible at doing this too, like in the morning, I really want

to take the first 30 minutes to 60 minutes of like no phone time. Do I do that? No. what they realistically look like lemon water my coffee and movement those are like my three non-negotiables if I could get it to no phone five-minute meditation lemon water coffee movement I feel like I would be you know a little bit more grounded throughout my day what is the poll for you I can't I also I have a habit tracker and on it every day is like no phone a and I like never check it off and I I feel bad about myself every single day for it. But what is the thing that makes you fail it, not having your phone in the morning? Email.

You mean like what am I pulled towards? Instagram and emails because a lot of our contractors are on the East Coast. So living on the West Coast, I constantly feel like I'm behind. Yeah, I feel that. And then Instagram, you know, it's definitely addictive. And I know when I'm scrolling, even my husband's like, I can feel you. you're like scroll like put your phone down you're just mindlessly scrolling and you know um that's something i even have like a time tracker that's like it's been an hour turn you know like you've spent

an hour total in 15 more minutes yeah yeah totally i so i think i think i could be doing a better job where i go if i am on social it's for work i'm posting in on stories or in the grid and then i turn my phone off whereas oftentimes i take another 10 minutes and i'm just scrolls Yeah, same. I just, it's also hard when you're like using your brain for all this heavy lifting stuff all day. And then you want to just take, you know, a five minute, 10 minute moment, but then that turns into longer. I think it's a really tricky situation. And you're like, oh, I should like read a book or meditate. But when you're just one of five minute break, it's hard to do that. Well, and I'm sure for you find this too. But like, if I wanted to be solely on Instagram for work and answer being my DMs for six hours a day and put, you know, I mean, I certainly could be. So that's the tough part too, is constantly feeling behind. And I want to be able to connect with my community, but it is a never-ending list, you know, when I open up that, the app. For sure. What about in the evening? Is there anything that you do to wind down at the end of the day? I mean, now with Harlow, honestly, by like 8 p.m., I'm like, okay,

it's a bedtime. I take a really hot shower at night. That just, that really helps me unwind. I love to have like a little bit of moon juice has like a magnesium powder that I put in hot water after I've had dinner that really kind of puts me into that mellow state. And then I also am a big fan of CBD. So whether I'm using that maybe in a bath like bath salts with CBD or a CBD dropper, a tincture, I find that just really helps me calm down at night. My husband's great at reading. I usually can last. like two pages in a book and then I'm passed out. Which means it's working kind of. You know, if it can put you to sleep like that, that's valuable in its own right? Yeah. Are there wellness things that you've tried that you're like, this is bullshit or this isn't for me?

I'm not, everyone on, it's so interesting. Everyone wants to track their workouts in like an Apple watch. And I just find that that does not work for me. So, you know, I often will see in our private Facebook group, people want to know how many calories they're burning for this X workout. And I kind of want to just shout at the top of my lungs, it doesn't matter. So this constant need to track everything, I think can be helpful. Like, I would love to, there's this ring called the aura ring that tracks your sleep that I'm super interested in getting. I have it.

Oh, you do. Do you love it? I really like it. I was very nervous about it at first because I was nervous about sort of like. over tracking, but what I like about it is unlike the Apple Watch, there's nothing to look at in the moment. So you have to make the choice to go on your phone to open up the app to track anything. Got it. And I like that. I was also worried that it was going to tell me I was sleeping terribly all the time and it would like add to my insomnia. But it's actually told me that I've slept great

on nights that I didn't think I slept so great. So it's like weirdly worked in the reverse where I'm like, I'm a great sleeper. Look at me go. Okay. Yeah, I'm nervous about that too. I feel like it's, yeah, it's going to give me some information that maybe I can't help. It's super interesting though because you can literally see how like drinking at night impacts your sleep. And you can see how there was a night that I fell asleep looking at my phone, like watching TikToks and then a night that I fell asleep reading. And it was completely different. Like the TikTok night I literally got like half as much deep sleep as the night that I was reading. And I was like, whoa, it is crazy to actually like you know it. People tell you. The doctors all tell you,

but to really see it spelled out like that for you in your body is bananas. Yeah. I mean, something I really need to get to do better. I have blue light glasses. And if I'm going to look at my phone at night, I need to get better about wearing them. Because I do notice that difference in my sleep if I've been like scrolling right before bed. I know. And I'm always, I used to be like, well, I can fall asleep while scrolling.

So it can't be that bad for me. And then that one of the doctors that I had on the podcast was just like, that just means you're really tired. That's not excuse. It just means you're overly tired and you're going to fall asleep no matter what. And it's like, all right, tusha. Oh my gosh. That's amazing. I'd love to touch on your relationship briefly because I do think it's an interesting dynamic that, you know, you had a baby which is already really challenging for a relationship. You moved to L.A. And then now he works for your business. And I'm curious how you guys manage that. Like are you his boss effectively or how does that work? you know, I don't really look at it like that. Technically, yes. But how did it? It honestly happened so organically. So, you know, he has worked in the sales world his entire life in medical devices. He was then running the sales team for the Northeast for his company. And even as I started the Sculpe Society, Morgan was always a sounding board and always helped me on nights and weekends. And when the Sculp Society app launched, he started to get more involved.

And then COVID hit. And I was just drowning because it was just me. And I was just doing everything from, you know, support emails to fulfillment, talking to China about my equipment. I mean, everything, filming, editing, lighting, which again, I'm still probably doing too much. I'm still doing a lot of that. But he was really helping me while he was working full time on nights and weekends. Gens. And so it just started to become more and more obvious that there was a role for him

within the Sculpe Society. And he was really excited about it too. He had been in this world of medical devices for so long. And I think he saw this as an opportunity to help, you know, us grow a company together and really grow my dream into something even bigger. And, you know, we had already been working together off and on throughout the entire process. So we had some learnings there on if we worked well together. And it just became a no-brainer that he would come on full-time. And so that was almost a year ago that he's come on full-time. What's the hardest part about working with your significant other? Everyone says this and it's the truth. It's just the communication. So our communication styles are so different. I think in work mode, I really need to

work on how to communicate with him clearer in less of a defensive tone. And he honestly, I think because he's worked with teams and has really run teams before, he really knows how to communicate in a much better way. And so it's really me that needs to learn how to do that. You know, coming from dancing professionally to holding three different jobs at one time, just so used to working on my own, working by myself. So working with a team, working with people is really a new skill for me. And that's something that I'm personally working on. I also think it's hard to not have stuff feel personal when it's your brand and you're the face of the brand. And it's, it is so personal, you know? Yeah. I think that's a trickier situation. Is there any sort of

like I have a friend and her husband left his full-time job to work on her business and he loves it, but his friends still give him shit for it sometimes. You know, they're like, oh, it's, you know, your wife's business and blah, blah, blah, and you're just, I don't know, the background person. And what if she leaves you and blah, blah, blah. So do you guys struggle with any of the societal norm elements? We don't, you know. I think, you know, Morgan grew up with a mom who, was really pioneering her space in photography, had her PhD in photography. And so he really grew up with a mom who was the nature arc in his family. So I think that combined with him not wanting any of the spotlight. Like he does not need that. He nerds out on the operational side of the business

and the growth aspect of the business. So I think he loves the fact that I'm, you know, kind of at the, you know, running the ship and really has the, has like the creative vision because that's a lot of what he grew up with with his mom. And I don't think he's scared of that quote unquote power struggle because of the example that his mother set. What about financially? Is it nerve-wracking to have all of your eggs in one financial basket? I think for so long I had my eggs very much spread out in my different side hustles that I feel confident in the direction that the sculpt society is going. And so no, no, I feel really clear. Financially, creatively, I don't feel nervous. I love that. Is there, I want to get back to the

relationship stuff in a second. But I am, you've mentioned confidence a few times. And I do think that becoming confident in a lot of ways is the thing behind becoming a successful entrepreneur, a successful parent, a successful partner, all of those things. Do you feel like you have any learnings or wisdom to share in the confidence arena? Yeah, I think, you know, what really laid that foundation down for me was my dance background. You know, I have been told know so many times through different auditions and in my professional career. And I think what it goes back to is the tenacity behind it. You know, are there better dancers out there than me? A thousand percent. But I think the missing key for a lot of people is knowing how to be told no

over and over again and having clarity on your, on your talents, on your strengths, on what you can provide. So I know how to pick myself back up and dust my shoulders off and continue to track on when I have a clear vision. And so I think the power behind confidence, like you said, is oftentimes the missing link with any industry that you're in. So I think just getting confident in who you are, the skill set that you have, and also knowing when you can continue to educate, right? Like, I'm constantly educating myself in different areas about fitness and what I'm doing. I know my strengths and I know what I can continue to learn. So I think it's a combination of the two, but yes, I think just getting really confident in who you are and not being scared of being told

no, because that's probably going to happen over and over again. And the people who last are the people who know how to brush that off and continue on. Take the learnings, right? There's always something to learn. I can take critical feedback all day long. I love critical feedback. Take it, learn from it, and continue doing what you want to do. I love that. That goes back to the discomfort point a little bit, which is just like if that's the biggest fear, we're actually doing pretty well at the end of the day. Okay, what about new parenting?

How is that really rough? Like, it's a really big fear for mine with me and Zach. I'm like, we're so good. And then let's add some other, you know, shakeup into the equation. It's really scary. Super scary. I think, again, for the saving grace for Morgan and I, is we are in a financial place where we knew if we had kids that we would have the support structure.

And for us, that means we have a babysitter Monday through Friday during work hours. And that alleviates a lot of the stress. So for us really getting clear on, again, whether it's a baby, whether it's your financial goals, I think regardless in a relationship, it's making sure you're both on the same page. What are your expectations? how do you envision doing it for parenting talking that through like you know are you do you both want help during the week um how much help do you want are you open to you know x y and z i think just getting really clear on that from a relationship standpoint has been really helpful for us um and again

i am all about finding that support system if that looks like a babysitter if that looks like a nanny if that looks like your mother-in-law, figure that out because we are not all superheroes. And if you are working full-time, you are going to need support. Also, I really like to point out that we're on one of the first generations that didn't inherently have that support. We've added in more things for women particularly to do in terms of working outside the house in a full-time capacity. And then we've removed the entire village that used to help women raise children.

And it is bananas to me. It's like how is that equation supposed to work when every other time in history you've had multiple generations under the same roof. You've had a village of people who know what's going on in your business. You've had kids who are being raised by multiple parents in different households. And then now you're just in this isolated family unit and more and more people of, you know, women and men are working outside the home. You have two parents outside of the home working.

So like, how is that supposed to work? I know. I know. It's totally insane. It's infuriating. It's like definitely it angers me. Yeah. And you know what's a little frustrating too is I think so many people, they expect women, oh, you know, we expect you to have a career. We expect you to have children. We expect all these expectations. Oh, and we also look down at help. Yes. Like this idea that we're not supposed to do all of these things. Oh, and also you have a nanny or you have a babysitter, that there's this negative connotation wrapped into it. And it's doing such a disservice to women. So it's really important to me that like people are constantly asking me over over Instagram. How are you doing all this? I'm doing this because I have set up a support structure in my life because I could not do this without it. I have a girlfriend who is an

influencer and she has been open recently about having a baby nurse. And she gets comments like, why did you even have a child if you don't want to spend time with it? And I'm just like, what is like, it's just the judgment is insane to me. And yeah, having these expectations, but no sense of reality as to how they're supposed to be met, I think is bananas. Okay, quick fires for you. And you think you can be as quick or as slow with your answers as you like. We have no judgments here. first of all, if you had 20 minutes to spend every day in the name of being healthier or happier, what do you think is the best way to spend it? Well, of course, working out with the Sculpe Society.

That's fair. I figured you would say that. If we assume we're all already Sculpt Society, what comes second? If I had anything to do for like 20 minutes a day, what I would be doing after the Sculpt Society? I would be playing, like literally having Harlow on playing with her and Morgan and just being a family. I love that. I actually think that's something that sometimes we're like, oh, I need to do this habit and meditate this long and work out this long and just taking time. Even if you need to schedule literally the time to just play and be and be a human, I think is really important and sometimes really overlooked.

Oh, yeah. As humans, the importance of fun as we become adults really need. Like I need to schedule that in for sure. Yeah. And if you need to, that's, yeah. Play. Schedule some play. If that's what it takes to get you there. What's one thing that you've bought recently that's helped make you healthier or happier? My Therogon, not my Theribody compression boots.

Oh, wait, I know what a Therogun is. What's a Theribody compression? So Therobody just rebrand. They're now Therabody and they have a bunch of like of devices. And compression boots are like, imagine like boots that go up to your thighs and they, they it pumps in air and it uses compression to really like pull in blood and release all the tension in your muscles. So it like becomes very tight and then it releases and it becomes tight. And it depends on like what type of mode you you program it to, but it's just, it's pretty amazing. And it helps with soreness or all of it, whether a fatigue or inflammation or or

soreness. Yeah, it's, it's amazing. I'll have to check that out. Do you feel successful and why or why not? I do feel successful because I feel like I'm making an impact in other women's lives for the better. And when I hear stories from my community, I'm just rooted back into my purpose. I love that. Have you ever been somewhere in the world where you've thought the people that live here really got it right in terms of living a healthier or happier life?

Ooh, Cactonians are pretty happy, healthy people. Like people from Cape Town? Yeah, my family's from Cape Town. And every time I go there, it's like this beautiful mix of, you know, surfing and being outdoors and hiking and, you know, eating in a very, you know, lots of barbecues and Mediterranean and olive oil. And yeah, I think they've nailed that. Hmm. Do you not feel like L.A. is like that? Because when you say all of that, I'm like, that feels like L.A. to me, too.

A little bit for sure. Yeah. California definitely has that. You know, I'm still trying to figure out the food scene here. I don't know. I almost felt like New York there were more healthy, quick options. That's surprising. Maybe it's where I'm living. Yeah. Interesting. And then could you just end us with one big mistake you made and maybe something you learned from it? And then one thing that you really feel like you nailed or got right. I think in the beginning of my career, you know, undervaluing myself and gosh, I made so many mistakes. hiring the wrong people, you know, believing people in what they could do from an employment perspective. And then I think, you know, as someone who grew up in the arts, I think a job was a

job and I was just so excited in my early 20s, mid-20s, but not reading the contract and really understanding, you know, what are you signing? Like, what does that company now own of you? And I think a lot of us, I think in our 20s, we're just, especially if you live and if you work in the arts, we're just excited to have a job. And sorry, what was this the other part of the question? What's something you really nailed? What's something you really feel like you got right? In my life. In your whole life.

I think while it was extremely felt slow and what wasn't happening quick enough, I think I continued to lean into the things that made me. happy. And there was no like the 10-year plan wasn't concrete. I just kept doing things that I felt like brought me joy as cheesy as that sounds. And that led to other things. So if you had told me I would be running my own digital fitness company at 18, I would have laughed, right? I think I never gave myself this this concrete idea of what I had to achieve or what I needed to achieve. I just knew the evolution would take that, you know, like the road would take me to where I was meant to be if I continue to work hard and lean into, like I said before, the things that that made me happy and lit me up. And I feel like while it feels like the longest road I have ever taken,

I'm so happy that I trusted the process because it's led me here. I love that. I think that has to be so it's reassuring to me and I think it has to be so reassuring to so many people listening. I would love to know where everybody can find you, can find your glorious workouts, can please do, I want everybody to do them with me so people can reaffirm how freaking hard they are. Well, I appreciate that list. You can find me on social. I'm at Megan Rup at the Sculpe Society. And then if you want to try the Sculpe Society, we have a seven-day free trial on our website. at www. The Sculp Society.com.

And do the 30-minute sculpt and the 30-minute full-body quickie and then literally DM me when you're like dead. Just send us your, no, even better. Go further. Send us your sweaty selfies and tag Liz and I. Yes, please do. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us today, Megan. Thank you so much for having me.

I hope you love this episode with Megan. I love her. I think she's just so warm and emotionally open, but also so motivating and she just has such actionable good advice. We would both love to hear your thoughts on the episode. So definitely screenshot and tag us both on Instagram. I'm at Liz Moody and she is at Megan Roup. And as I asked at the beginning of the episode, if you would be willing to share this episode of the podcast, a favorite past episode of the podcast or just the podcast as a whole on Instagram, online with anybody in your real life, I would so appreciate it. I really,

appreciate so much you helping to bring my goals and my dreams for 2022 into reality. You are the best. This is the best community. And I cannot wait to share a million amazing episodes in 2022 to help make all of your goals a reality. All right. I love you all. I appreciate you so much. I hope you have a wonderful two weeks. Definitely go back into the archives if you miss the healthier together podcast and you need more of it in your life. We have a million episodes like so many episodes out there. so you can listen to them. And I hope you have a wonderful little break. And I'll see you in 2022. The mattress that you sleep on is one of the highest exposures that you have. Like if it's off gassing, you're breathing that in for basically a third of your life. And most conventional mattresses

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