The School of Greatness - World-Renowned Personal Trainer: How To Lose Fat, Build Muscle and Improve Your Mental Health | Senada Greca

Episode Date: January 8, 2025

Get ready for an incredibly raw and inspiring conversation with fitness phenomenon Seneda Greca. From immigrating to America as a teenager and battling eating disorders to becoming one of the most influential figures in women's strength training, Seneda opens up about her remarkable journey of transformation. As Kim Kardashian's personal trainer and the founder of the WeRise app, she's revolutionizing how women approach fitness by championing strength over aesthetics. Her powerful message about building muscle for longevity and mental health, rather than just appearance, is reshaping the conversation around women's fitness. This episode dives deep into personal growth, overcoming body image issues, and finding purpose through empowering others.Check out Senada's WeRise app and get 25% off!In this episode you will learn:Why building muscle mass is crucial for women's long-term health and longevity, especially after age 40How strength training can be a powerful tool for managing depression and anxiety naturallyThe importance of making the process your goal rather than focusing solely on aesthetic resultsWhy tracking weight daily can be detrimental to mental health and progressHow to shift from viewing food as the enemy to seeing it as fuel for strength and performanceFor more information go to https://www.lewishowes.com/1717For more Greatness text PODCAST to [phone]More SOG episodes we think you’ll love:Gabrielle Lyon – greatness.lnk.to/1267SCDr. Mark Hyman  – greatness.lnk.to/1695SCChris Bumstead – greatness.lnk.to/1602SC Get more from Lewis! Pre-order my new book Make Money EasyGet The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

My friend, welcome back to another episode of the School of Greatness. I am excited. We have Sonata Greta who is Kim Kardashian's personal fitness and health trainer. And this is just not another episode about how to start off the new year with healthy habits. This is about how to really rewire your thinking around your body, your health, and your mental fitness altogether. You're about to listen to a very raw and inspiring conversation with Sonata Grekka.

She immigrated to America as a teenager. She battled eating disorders to become one of the most influential figures in women's strength training. And she opens up about her remarkable journey of transformation. The struggles she faced as a teenager in her young 20s to where she is now with physical training,

mental training, health and wellness, and as Kim Kardashian's personal trainer and the founder of the We Rise Up, she's revolutionizing how women approach fitness by championing strength over aesthetics. And this is a big challenge for a lot of men and women today. With social media and everyone filtering their photos and just posting six pack abs or these perfect shapes of bodies, it's hard to not feel insecure.

It's hard to not feel shameful about your own body when you see other people who just seem to have it all put together. And it feels like no matter how hard you try, you're never going to get the results you want in your physical aesthetics. I've been there, I've struggled with weight and my nutrition and health and wellness as a former professional athlete to then just consuming, you know, thousands and thousands of excess calories after retiring from playing sports and gaining a lot of weight to then trying to retrain but still eating a ton of

calories to being addicted to sugar to all these different things that I've struggled with. It's challenging. It's challenging for anyone of any type of background, especially if you're in social media at all and you see people posting stuff that just seems like, man, these people have either extreme genetics or they've just figured out the health and wellness hack. And I haven't right. It's just this kind of comparison shaming thing that might happen over and over and if that's resonating with you if that speaks to you in any way, then please let me know over on Instagram or anywhere on social media. Let me know if that speaks to you because it's a challenge. I get it. And there almost needs to be a way where you rewire your identity, you shift your identity. And it has taken me years to learn this process. And it doesn't mean I'm perfect all the time, but it has taken me a long time to create a new identity with food, to create a new identity with training, and to do it from a place where I'm not obsessive

over needing to look a certain way, but I've set standards for myself and boundaries for myself to set myself up for success. And I think you've got to figure out whatever's best for you. In today's episode, her powerful message about building muscle for longevity in mental health, rather than just appearance,

is reshaping the conversation around fitness. Specifically for women in general, who've always thought about not weight training because it's going to make them look bulky, they don't want to have big arms or big shoulders or things like that, they don't want to look too masculine. And there are so many different experts we've had on menopause experts as well who are saying I wish I would have done more strength training when I was younger. I wish I would have built

muscle when I was younger because it helps more than just physical appearance. It helps longevity and mental health. And that's what I think we need to be focused on. How can we have the best mental and emotional health possible in 2025 and beyond? How can we weather any storm that comes our way? How can we weather relationship challenges, career challenges, family issues? How can we weather political challenges?

How can we emotionally and mentally prepare ourselves for any challenge that's to come so that we feel more equipped to take on the challenges of life? That's what this is about. And in the process of doing that, of building muscle for longevity and mental health, you're going to look great naked. And that's fun too. You're going to look great with your shirt off or naked in the mirror or with your partner. It's like, hey, you're going to look great naked. And that's fun too. You're going to look great with your shirt off or naked in the mirror or with your partner.

It's like, hey, you're going to feel more confident. You're going to feel more secure with yourself because you don't have shame around your body as well. And I want you to feel loved this year and beyond. I want you to feel like you fully accept yourself. I want you to feel like you deserve to receive all that you want to receive this year and beyond.

And I truly believe that when you just set different standards for yourself, and again, not extreme yo-yo dieting or extreme kind of weird eating disorders, but just standards and boundaries around how you eat and how you move, you're going to feel more in control and responsible for your life. So this episode dives deep into personal growth, overcoming body issue challenges, and finding purpose through empowering others. If you're loving this, and you're enjoying this episode, please share this with one or two friends, just copy and paste the link over on Apple Podcast or Spotify or wherever

you're listening copy the link text one or two friends and have them share with you their biggest takeaway as well. Leave me a review over on Apple Podcast or Spotify and let me know your biggest takeaway from this episode. It would mean a lot to me. Click the follow button over there as well and again I'm so grateful for you for being a part of this community with the School of Greatness. And let's dive into this episode right now. Welcome back everyone to the School of Greatness. Very excited about our guests. We have the inspiring Sonata Grekka in the house. So good to see you and congrats on everything. Thank you so much. It's a pleasure being here. Yeah. For having me. I've seen you. I've seen you just kind of like take over the Instagram feed, you know, and the explore page for years of your content of just inspiring and empowering women to

see what's possible for their health, their bodies, and their, their, really their strength and to show what is possible. You've been an inspiration for so many women around the world. You reach millions of women and lots of people on a daily basis. But it wasn't always that way for you, it seems like. I've read some of your backstory. You deal with some challenges, some anxieties, some depressions, some body issue challenges as well. What would you say were the main challenges you faced either earlier in your life or your teen years before you got into a healthy body image and healthy lifestyle for yourself? What were the main challenges you faced? Yeah, of course. Yeah. Well, so coming into the United States as a teenager presented a lot of issues with fitting in.

And I think that was kind of the first, if you want to say foreign to like the issues that started at that point is how does this foreigner fit in and integrate and look like, you know, the other kids in the popular. So I think that's where- Did you speak English too or no? I was an English speaker at the time.

I'd taken private courses back in Albania and in preparation of either coming to the States or it's like the main foreign language at the time in Albania, so started on that path and the opportunity presented itself for my family to come here by winning the lottery and the green card so we're like legal basically instantly pretty much which was super fortunate to be able to come here at a time of unrest in Albania civil wars and just a chaotic atmosphere.

So it was great to escape that and be able to come legally into the United States, but that presented the issues of like now, okay, I'm a teenager in a new country with new challenges. And on top of that, I was the only English speaking person in my family too. So now I had to carry the load. Wow. To translate everything.

Yeah, to translate everything. I had to basically become a parent. Yeah, go get a grocery store and ask questions. Yeah, go to the doctor's office when my parents go to whatever office, fill out paperwork. To this day, I don't want to fill out paperwork because I'm so traumatized by that at an early age. But it had to be done. It fell on my shoulders and that I believe coupled with again being a teenager in a new country, trying to fit in. So that's where depression, anxiety, and even an eating disorder came to the surface.

Really? Eating disorder, wanting to fit in, depression, anxiety, because there was so much of an overload of my day-to-day school things and then family issues that I had to help with. And coupled, I found out later in life that I have a genetic predisposition to anxiety and depression. Interesting. So that was a more recent revelation, even though I've known because my mom has dealt with it and hearing from her, my grandfather has dealt with it.

So you kind of create that link that it has existed, thus I'm experiencing it, but then to kind of know from genetic testing that, wow, I am predisposed to all of these things and now how do I work through them. Yeah, so that was kind of the backstory coming to the country and kind of experiencing some of those issues that then led me to where I am today. The desire to combat those in a natural way and not saying that I did take antidepressants like I was on medication to help with that

but it never gave me the relief or the long-term relief that I needed. You knew it wasn't the long-term solution. It wasn't the long-term solution. It was just a cover-up of the symptoms. But how, you know, I always think of, with anything, like if it gets taken off the market, if suddenly you don't have no access to pharmacies,

or how are you innately going to deal with these issues? So I'm always for start with the things that you're able to do and achieve in a natural way by yourself. And if you need, I'm not against pharmaceuticals, and obviously not against therapy, but can you start with the basics? Or can you utilize them in conjunction with each other? And then hopefully it'll carry you to a point where you're able to maybe back off from pharmaceuticals because it is known that they have side effects. And what is the side effects of exercise and eating healthy?

None really, it's actually just benefits from it. Oh, how long, you know, since you moved to the country, you had this kind of emotional weight that you had to carry with the family, also fitting in at school. What state were you living in? What city? New York, upstate New York. So you're trying to fit into a school in New York, a new culture, different type of, I

guess, girls and how they communicate versus what you're used to in Albania. You're also getting into puberty. All these different things are happening all at the same time. When did you realize you had signs of a eating disorder and how long did it take until you were able to break that habit? When you have an eating disorder, you're blind to it. It's more the people that are outside of you that notice it. So it was teachers and parents that started noticing it,

that I was losing weight drastically. But when you have this body dysmorphia, you could be the thinnest that you've ever been, that you could possibly be that, you know, you're risking serious health problems, you don't see yourself as that. Really? When you look in the mirror...

When you look in the mirror, you see, I'm fat, I'm big, I'm this, I'm that. You're just like the most negative. You're breaking yourself down. You're just don't seeing that because you have such advanced body dysmorphia. I'm looking at yourself from a different lens that you don't recognize that. What do you think is the main cause of body dysmorphia for most people? Is it an emotional trauma? Is it a hyper criticism they get from parents or peers? Is it a pressure from

seeing marketing in society that like oh I'm not enough and so I need to become like that thing. What is the main cause? I think it's a combination of all of what you mentioned. It's hyper critical parents. I love you mom, but she if I didn't get like the highest grade in class, if I wasn't first in class, you know, if you're not first, you're last kind of mentality, which your last kind of mentality, which comes with amazing side benefits when it comes to drive and achieving and over achieving in life, but it comes with a huge weight on your shoulders to be the best. And that is not always required to be successful, to be the best, to live the best. So I think it's a combination of

all those things. I think there's the societal pressures that weigh on young people that are in their formative age, in their formative years, and yeah, the comparison of unrealistic beauty. And for me at the time was all of those factors as well as trying to figure out how to fit in in a new place, new country, new culture, trying to control something that felt controllable in months, uncontrollable, an uncontrollable situation. So is that a common theme that you've heard from other women that have had an eating disorder or body dysmorphia in the past that they felt out of control and the way to feel a sense of control is with your body or with foods. It is one of the main things that leads to that is trying to control something that feels controllable in your life.

Because you can't control anything around you. Right, exactly control. Interesting. So how long did it take until you started to, I guess teachers were telling you or peers or friends or family, but when did you start to say, oh yes, this is a problem I need to take care of? It took a couple of years. It took a couple of years and therapists and being prevented from being in sports because

sports was something that I was really interested in. So I was stopped from being from participating in sports. Really? Because you got so skinny? Because I got so skinny and unhealthy that, yeah, that was kind of one of the beginning sort of wake up calls that, you know, I couldn't do one of the things that I absolutely loved. But again, like that voice of like, you know,, you know, you don't look the way that you're supposed to look like persisted for a while, for a few years. And then I was utilizing,

working out again, while understanding that you have to nourish yourself. So I started to increase the caloric intake, but still not to the degree that was needed and then trying to outweigh that. Working out? Still negating it. Really? So what was a caloric intake that you would take if you could, you know, guess in the times where you were at your lowest with body dysmorphia or eating disorder? Anorexia.

Anorexia. Anorexia. With anorexia, what was, what did you think? It was very minimal and I don't want to because I don't influence anybody to even consider doing anything like that because it was very unhealthy but it was very minimal. Like under a thousand calories a day or? Way less. Like a few hundred calories a day.

A few hundred calories a day. A few hundred calories a day. Very unhealthy, very unhealthy. What if when a woman thinks I want to eat less cause I want to lose weight today, maybe they don't have body dysmorphia or anorexia or eating disorder, but they're just thinking, I want to lose weight. And so I'm going to go into extreme calorie deficitficit what is happening to a woman's body when they for long periods of time do a thousand calories or less or 500

Calories or less a day. I'm not talking about like yeah, what if we're our fasting here and there but it's like Long periods of time what happens to a woman's body? Yeah, your body goes into a shutdown mode basically So your hormones start to go off their regular cycle. Your body literally goes into shutdown mode because now it needs to protect what it has and not produce the unnecessary things that a normal functioning body would require. that a normal functioning body would require. So you start losing your period, you start losing hair. So basically it's just your body shedding all what it considers to be unnecessary functions.

Wow. Yeah, even though they're super necessary, but like to the basic survival. Preserve energy. Preserve, but like to the basic survival. Preserve energy. Preserve, to preserve like the basic, super basic needs of a human. It starts to shut down all of those, all of those other functions of the body.

Yeah, I did, I did, I did at that point, I did lose my period. Really? And then I had to work on gaining it back. How long did it take to kind of gain back your normal form and function? It wasn't that long. It was within like a year, if I remember correctly. It was a long time ago. Still? Wow. But yeah, no laughing matter because it is an important part of being healthy, physically and mentally. 100%. Where is the level of self-love? How much self-love did you have during that season of life?

And I don't want to speak for other women or other men who have maybe are going through anorexia, but where is that? Typically seem to be or where is that for you? Did you have a low self-esteem and low level of self-love and then? How did you learn to? Believe in self love self to kind of course, correct Yeah, I mean I think there's almost like no self-love because if you if I were to have any self-love I wouldn't do that to myself, right?

Because now you're basing your self-love and self-esteem on an image that you can't even see clearly So if you can't see yourself or who you are And you're wanting to diminish that image there. I would say that would say that there was almost no self-love because you don't have a clear image of yourself and you're focusing that love on an idealistic image that's outside of you. A perfect image that you can't attain. A perfect image that's outside of you

that you can't attain. And you could attain it, but in your eyes, you know, like you're saying, let's say you're, you've lost a certain amount of weight, but you're still not able to see that. You're still, that's why it's like that. You're never able to grasp for that image, because you're not able to see yourself realistically. So you had very little self-love at that season, right? Yeah. When did you start to have a lot of self-love and self-compassion and see yourself differently to treat yourself differently? I mean, I wasn't, I was doing all these things. I was trying to be at

the thinnest that I possibly could and I still wasn't happy. So there was like a, you know, miscommunication there between like you're gonna be happy, you're gonna be satisfied when you're this weight and that wasn't happening. And I was constantly depressed and not happy. So then that came into question like how are we gonna do this? Like how are you gonna reach that level of happiness? Because obviously this is not working. So then I did a turning point for me was when I saw a physician, a primary care physician that she was running marathons. And she was running and she was like I think in her fifties and running one, I don't want to exaggerate and say every month, but it was at least every three months she was running a marathon.

Insistently, yeah. Insistently. So she got me into running, into working out for the right reasons for that mental aspect and started to shift, nurturing my body to fuel the runs and to fuel the working out. So that was like the first shift. You're like what, 17, 18, 19 around this time? I was like early 20s. Yeah early 20s

Yeah during that whole period from like 15 to 20 early 20s. It was a struggle of like a push and pull of wanting to look a certain way and dieting and over working out and and just trying to like, you know, I went from actually I went from and just trying to like, you know, I went from, actually I went from under eating anorexia to like binge eating. I never did fully go into like bulimia, but like I did struggle with those two extremes because it's, you know, you're, you're, you can only take so much when you're constricting, constricting, constriction, and then you're going to go the opposite way. You need to release, you need to like, yeah. Yes, exactly. Wow. It was that and it was actually a cousin to also saying

that's not like, you're not like really leaning into one of the joys of life, which is eating and experiencing, you know, the food that you're eating and your constant thinking is around what I should be eating or should not be eating so I don't gain weight versus sitting with what you're eating and enjoyment of it. Wow.

So that was kind of a little bit of a light bulb moment that eating doesn't have to be like such a chore, such a weighing factor, but more of a joy of life and enjoyment. And I know nowadays that there's so much information out there and so much stress around like eating, what to eat, when I not eat. Fruit is suddenly controversial.

I'm like, really? So it just, taking it back to the, and going back to have food is actually a joy of life. Yes, it feeds our ability to function, but it's also, at least for me, a joy. That's beautiful. When did you start to feel like, oh, I've starting to got these things under control. My perception of myself, my weight, my food, my working out. I'm not too extreme in one way. I have a good sense of self, self-image, and I feel like I'm in a consistent, healthy place. What years was that?

I mean, in my early 20s, it was when I started to make that shift, if I can remember the book that overcoming overeating, because that's what I was doing at that point, which is one and the same kind of, you're just not restricting. You know, you're or you are restricting because you are thinking this food is good, this is bad. And now you're maybe overeating the things that you think they're good, but nothing should be in excess, right? So that was kind of a turning point in my early 20s. I was realizing that I could eat, nourish my body, and then get the physical

activity that I needed, and be in a stable physical weight, and function properly, right? And I think it was then, later on in my early 30s that I shifted from cardio and running and marathoning to more weight lifting. Interesting. So from almost a decade, you were like cardio, running. Like that's a lifestyle. What did were like cardio, running, like that's

a lifestyle. What did your body, I mean not that we should focus on body image, but what was your body, what did your body look like in your 20s then when you were in cardio mode, running, did long distances versus weight training, lifting mode? It shifted. That's interesting because I was doing cardio and that during like my 20s and my weight would drastically shift. You know, so I would go into being super thin if I was running, if I was training for a marathon, thin, not a lot of muscle definition, to then when I was not training as hard, kind of being a little bit rounder and softer. But then when I started the strength train, I've never been so consistent in how I looked and how I feel and how I feel looked. Look, what is the years of like actually being super consistent in the physical aspect and what is the difference that you feel emotionally, spiritually,

What is the difference that you feel emotionally, spiritually, psychologically between, you know, almost a decade of cardio training mostly versus years of strength training? Yeah, there's a draining aspect with that much cardio. And while you can look a certain way that maybe the society thinks that it's, you know, feminine, thin, and not a ton of muscle definition. But when I shifted into strength training, I leaned into my confidence and my self-esteem like skyrocketed. Because that's where you step into your power,

into your true strength and occupy space and utilize what you're born with. You're born to have muscle definition. Otherwise it wouldn't be there, the ability to do so. So when I fully leaned into that, it just completely shifted my self-confidence. The way I looked at myself, shifted my self-confidence, the way I looked at myself, but from not thin enough, you know, I don't look thin enough to like, I want to look as strong as I possibly can.

I want to develop as much muscle as I possibly can. And then, you know, we're going to talk about that too, like how that feeds into health and longevity. Sure. I mean, there's been a huge wave of research and science and people like Dr. Gabrielle Lyon and Dr. Mary Clare, who are talking about the importance of protein, specifically for women. Absolutely.

Protein and muscle building for health, for longevity, for also managing kind of the menopause phase of being a woman and just like being able to navigate that with more balance, I guess. And it seems like in the last year or two, that has been the primary focus of many female experts speaking to women, like start building muscle. Absolutely. that has been the primary focus of many female experts speaking to women, like start building muscle. But I don't feel like I ever heard that before because a lot of women don't wanna look bulky,

they don't want like too strong or too muscular or less feminine. So how have you learned to navigate the psychology of you going from what society or what maybe you thought was a more feminine, skinnier look for a decade of cardio versus a more strong Feminine look in these past years. How have you navigated that when maybe society?

So a lot of women say well, I don't look bulky or strong. Yeah, I I do get that comment a lot Really or I have, not a lot, I should not say that. Every so often there will be a comment of like too masculine or, you know, things like that and then it doesn't bother me, honestly, because it's that person's perspective of me and that's not a perspective that I have of myself. That's great. And how I made that shift was organically because I know what feeling that gave to me. Like I know how I feel when I lift, when I feel stronger versus when I try to diet myself to my skinniest version. I didn't love myself at that time.

I did not feel strong. I felt weak. I felt frail versus now I feel strong. I feel confident. I feel, I'm gonna say invincible. But there's points, yeah. When you do lift and when you're pushing yourself, then you do feel invincible.

You feel unstoppable. I can take on anything. Exactly, exactly. You didn't feel that all the time when you were in the cardio world? No, not really. I mean, you do get some endorphins from running. You do feel some of those good feeling endorphins when you run. The runner's high is real. Not in the same fashion, I would say. Not in the same fashion. It's not strength. It's not strength. Yeah. It's endurance. Exactly. Right. You can run long distances and there is strength in endurance. Absolutely. There is confidence in that and it's overcoming hard things, but it's not as strong as muscle. And at the end of the day, yes, you can get those similar sentiments from a lot of modalities from cardio, from running

or from strength training or from Pilates or yoga, whatever, you know, that does it for you. But for me, I think of longevity, it's come to that point where I'm like quality life, quality longevity, being able to live unassisted when you're later years in the 70s, 80s, 90s hopefully. Yeah, I mean the commercial that I remember seeing a lot in the I guess 90s on tv was I've fallen and I can't get up. Yeah. And you see all these like old grandparents, grandma, grandma, pa on TV who are like, I've fallen and I can't get up

because they literally fell over and they can't push themselves off the ground. They don't have the muscle strength to just stand up. And it's so funny. You don't think about it as a kid. You're like, oh yeah, I can get up. But when you're older, if you don't build muscle in your youth, it's gonna be so much harder to build it when you're older. Absolutely. Do you know this? Do you know any of the research out

there about how much harder it is to build muscle after 40, 50, 60 years old versus before? I think it's different for men than women. And in some situations to the higher end, it's almost what men are almost twice as able as women to build muscle. So I think for women, it's even more important to try to build that muscle when you can. I think it's so funny, because I wrote that. I think in the, I'm like, I'm not gonna remember all of it.

What's the stat, what's the stat? For, if you're going to like your 40s, it's basically 2.2 to 0.7 pounds of muscle per month and then double and then 2.4 to 8.4 per year. So like on the high, on the low end, is two pounds per year to eight pounds per year. If you're going after it, like true, intense, maximal strength training.

You should try to be gaining two pounds of muscle per year. That's your ability to. That's your ability. Your ability to. Like if you went all in. If you run all in. You could only gain about two pounds a year. Yeah, in their 40s.

Wow. And how easy is it? And it drops, you know, in their fifth, in the fifth days is like 1.2 to six pounds of muscle per year. That's if you're training like three to five days a week, hard, heavy, like. I mean, you know, maybe genetically sometimes

some people can be a little bit more. On average, though, yeah. But on average, that's, yeah. And how easy is it to lose muscle? Like if you get sick for a couple weeks or don't train for a month, like how easy is it for a woman in their 40s and 50s to lose muscle? It starts within like two weeks.

You start to lose muscle. It starts within like two weeks. You start to lose muscle. And you start losing muscle in your 30s. You start to lose muscle at about three to, some studies say five, some studies say eight on the higher end percent of muscle mass per decade. I think it started in your 30s. Yeah, so that's- So you's fighting that

natural, if you're sedentary for your life, you're just gonna lose muscle. You're gonna lose muscle. So that's why it's so important to start early on to build as much as you can so then you can kind of offset the muscle that you will eventually lose. Yeah, when you're 80, 70, you're gonna lose it. Exactly. Wow, that's interesting. Have you tracked 80, 70, you're gonna lose it. Exactly. Yeah. Wow. That's interesting. Have you tracked how much muscle you've gained in the last 10 years?

I'm not huge on like numbers on like, all right, let's draw. I don't want to get in my own head. There's some people that benefit from that, but there's some people like me who have suffered through some of these eating disorders that stay away from, I stay away from weighing myself. It doesn't have that effect on me anymore sometimes if I want to hop on it just to be like, hey I knew that was going on cool and it doesn't have that effect on me but yeah I try to stay away as long as in my heart I know that I'm doing everything that I can to strengthen, train as hard as I can to eat the right way, get in the right amount of protein, carbs and

fats, etc. If I know that I'm doing that, I don't need any measurements to tell me how I'm doing. I guess it's interesting if we think about it, like, I don't know, we didn't have scales back in the day. There was no scale a couple hundred years ago I guess to like weigh yourself. It wasn't a priority But now everyone's got a scale and they check it every day a lot of people. What is the the I guess the negative for a woman who wants to weigh themselves and see a number every single day.

What is the downside to weighing yourself for women versus the pro of having that number that they see every day? It's going to dictate how you feel on that particular day. And do you really want your mood and your day to be dictated by a number on a scale? That's why I always say, why do you want your day to be dictated by that? You know progress. Like we lie to ourselves, we're good at lying to ourselves, but we know when we're progressing, when we're regressing, when we're stagnant, right? So I don't want my day to be dictated by a number. Now, granted that there is, if you are able to remove that aspect and somehow not allow

that number to dictate your day and simply utilize that as a way to track progress, but not every day, because you're not going, your body fluctuates within a day, from day to day, but if you're measuring yourself maybe in like, at the most like weekly increments. But even then if you're like you know if your number if the number doesn't hit your expectation exactly one week of hard work and you're like I didn't see the results. You actually defeated and then start binge eating. Exactly. And feeling like what's the point of this?

I work so hard because progress takes time. It takes a long time to put muscle on Easier when you're a beginner, right because your body is gonna respond right away because it's something new and then a little bit harder If you're more advanced Lifter person that works out but take progress takes time whether it is gaining muscle or losing weight And that's that's the thing. I think that that's why most people quit because they don't see that progress in the short term and it takes three to six months to see true results. And people mostly drop a new program within the first like eight weeks.

I think there's like statistics like 50-65% of people will quit in the first three to six months of starting like a workout program with a and then if it's like New Year's it's like 80% of the people will quit. I have this it says a study show that 88% of people who set New Year's resolutions fail. They fail within the first two weeks. I'm curious, what do you think is the biggest barrier to maintaining goals then so that people don't fail so quickly when they start? I think the first thing it is like those unrealistic expectations. Set realistic goals. For me, if you are just starting out,

if this is something completely new, is set that goal of just showing up. Show up every day. Create that consistency. Consistency is the primary goal that maybe somebody should aim for in my eyes. Aim for that consistency every day, day in and day out to then bring you to, to carry you to that point where you have created a new habit. And it takes time

to create habit. I mean, there was a misconception of like taking 21 days, actually it's much longer than that. I mean, 21 days is a good starting point because it's a little bit more than the two weeks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But if you're really wanting to solidify a habit, especially when it comes to working out, it's like a little bit over two months. Some people say 66 days. Yeah, I'd love what you're saying about this because if everyone could focus on making the goal of making the process the goal as opposed to the results the goal they would live a bad life. Exactly, exactly.

Process is the goal. Yeah. Process is the goal. It's so hard though. I mean I've been in that I've probably been on it I don't know two year almost two years ago I you know COVID hit I was training a lot before then, then COVID and breakup, emotional stress, kind of all that stuff, like just life happened where I gained a lot of weight for myself, right? And I was like 255 at my heaviest, but just didn't feel good, right? I'm 6'4", so I'm a big guy. It doesn't like look like obese, but it just didn't feel good, right?

And then two years ago, I really got consistent in the training and I'm down to 225 ish. So I've dropped a lot of weight, but I'm still not where I wanna be, but it's like, but I'm training so hard. And even me knowing as an athlete that it just takes time, but kind of like letting go of the expectation or the goal of like, this is where I want it to be, I can still have that vision on my mind.

But a lot of it is the acknowledgement of showing up and just say, did I do the right thing today? Did I do the right things for my health, for my mind, for my future self today? Exactly. And the results will eventually come if I keep showing up for me. Absolutely. and the results will eventually come if I keep showing up for me. Absolutely. And, but it's, it can take a while, you know,

to get the results you want. And that's what I love what you're talking about, make the process the goal, not the result. And are you comparing yourself to this image that you had or you were at some point, you know. Yeah, I was like 22 and I'm like an elite athlete. Yeah. Can you be the best version of yourself that you could possibly be now? Yeah, it is hard. It is hard because we unfortunately have

my body has changed from a year ago, from two years ago. Absolutely. And it happens. But am I in my power? can I honestly say to myself that I'm doing everything that I can with regards to working out, strength training, with regards to nutrition, with regards to sleep, recovery, you know, all of the components that will bring you to that optimal self at this point in time. So that's where I'm at. Yeah, you're focused on that. Yeah.

That's interesting. There seems to be like, I don't know if this is the right terminology, but there seems to be trends with women's body sizes and types and structures. Since I was like, you know, I grew up in the 80s and 90s, it was all about being super skinny. Then it was about, you know, curvy and voluptuous. Then it's like, seems like it's going back to skinny.

Like it seems like there's these trends in the culture. Why do you think that, first off, is that accurate that there are trends for women in their way that their body is supposed to look? If so, why does that change for women over the years? I think there is definitely trending. There's been like you said, you know, I agree with you that there has been, you know, the trend of being skinny and then curvaceous. And I don't know that it's necessarily being thin

again. I hope not. I think there's a movement, there's a true movement with being strong. And I love and appreciate all the doctors that are coming forward and sharing their data on how strength and having as much muscle as possible is healthy for a woman, not just quality of life now, but in their later years. I think, yeah, I think a lot of these studies and these doctors that are coming forward with women specific because I think more a lot of the studies have been done on men but with women specific studies that show that importance. So I'm hoping that that's the that's the new trend. Yeah.

And that's here to stay. Well, it's interesting because, you know, as you mentioned, when you moved to America, and there was you saw pressure from other teen girls in your school, you saw media, marketing, whatever it might be, campaigns of celebrities that you see look a certain way. But you're also a trainer for Kim Kardashian right now, and you have been for a while.

And I'm assuming you're around a lot of top celebrities as well in that world. How do you navigate knowing that you're working with a very influential woman that women look up to, women wanna look like, women wanna emulate, maybe they feel comparison to or a lack of comparison that they can't live up to the way she might look or something like that,

or just other celebrities in general, how do you navigate, I guess, your work with someone like that? While also understanding that there's a 15-year-old out there who was once like you, that maybe sees her and wants to be like her, and then does that help her inspire her to eat healthier and train,

or is it like, let me go extreme food deprivation? Like, I don't know. How do you navigate just that in your mind? Honestly, that was one of the main reasons why I accepted to work with Kim, is because she does have this influence, and she decided that she wanted to step into her strength and

build muscle and and maintain that muscle because also She realized a muscle is important for her health and longevity not just aesthetically speaking and for me That was an opportunity to help her but also help other women That she is influencing obviously her reach is way bigger than mine is so that was one of my biggest driving factors for working with her and other celebrities that I have is to send that message of strength to the women out there that strength is beautiful, strength is health and quality longevity. So that's, to me that was, yeah, I see that as a positive, having a positive effect on women. Because you see Kim leaning into strength training more.

Absolutely. I mean, that's what you're working with her on. Absolutely. She loves it. I mean, that's not, and she- Did she always do that before? No, she didn't. It was more on cardio and

Pilates and and things like which again everything has a place in the space and the time but in My opinion humble opinion and I think research backs it up strength training is Queen right? What did you if you're I mean we don't have to speak about her that much, but what have you noticed in, I guess, over a year of strength training with Kim Kardashian about maybe just confidence levels or things like that? Has anything changed? Because she's been a pretty confident person already.

She's got massive businesses. She's got a lot of success. Like, has she shared that, anything you're allowed to share? Or have you noticed something like that? Yeah, I mean, with all the confidence that she already has, she feels definitely more confident and she can't wait to train with me. Really?

I mean, yeah, it's amazing, you know, if she, per chance, happens to not be training for a few days because of her very demanding schedule. She's like, I can't wait to train. So that to me is like music to my ears to hear that somebody has made that leap and has leaned into strength training. And I've seen her, and to me again, it's not as much about aesthetics, but about form, like walking around and doing things with great form. Injury prevention.

Injury prevention and all of that. So it's beautiful. I mean, we're here in LA and it seems to be kind of like a hub of extremes here. And specifically with like weight loss drugs or these is Zempik type drugs and things like that. And it seems to be it's popular in LA. You know, I don't know. I don't know people who are on them or not on them. I don't like know these things. But I see extreme weight shifts in certain women after a few months. And'm like maybe that's drug free, maybe that's ozempic, I have no idea. What is the, what's your thoughts on the pros and cons of something like an ozempic or these

weight loss drugs specifically for women? First starting point for me is always have you tried doing it naturally, right? So are you able to, because some people are just not able to get to that point, right? So for me it's like starting with the attainable things that you can naturally, like nutrition and working out. And if that hasn't worked and you are, as a matter of fact, somebody that is a candidate for that drug,

then there's more and more research that shows that that can be helpful in a lot of aspects, not just losing weight, but health-wise. So as with any other therapies, pharmaceutical therapies, I'm not necessarily opposed to them, but there's a place and time for them So for me is like have you tried the foundation which again we know is eating right and working out Getting enough sleep exactly Meditating for me meditating is huge

Did I mention everything yeah So like if you are if you you're focusing on having that foundation and you still are struggling, maybe it's time to talk to a professional to see if that is something that would be of benefit. I know that again there has been studies out there with drastic weight loss. I'm not on board with that. So if it's happening, even with the Zempik, if you're utilizing it and you're experiencing drastic weight loss, that is not healthy because you're losing not just fat,

but you're losing lots of muscle in that process. But if it's done to kind of micro-dosing, again, is what studies show, is that you're able to maintain muscle mass while slowly losing weight. That's interesting. Yeah. Is, I mean, yeah, it just seems like a lot of people just have lost weight really quickly

is what it seems like again. I don't know who's using it or who's not using it. It's like, it's hard for me to tell, but it seems like that's what's been happening and that scares me. It is super scary. That is scary. The drastic weight loss no matter what way it's done. If it's a drastic weight loss and if it's done because you're restricting your food intake and you're working out like crazy or whether you're doing something like GLP-1 like a Z Zempig, then that's not good. Yeah. That is not good. This is an interesting question I have for you, Sinada. I'm curious.

When you know that also like women, I don't want to say all women, but there's a tendency that women may compare themselves to other women. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And you have content out there that may seem unattainable for a lot of women, right? I don't know if that's what you're hearing or maybe someone said that. But I can only imagine some woman is scrolling who's not healthy or not fit or maybe like not confident themselves. And they see some of your videos and they're like, this woman is a superwoman. Like, someone may be really inspired by that and say, awesome, that's an example that I can lean into and I can follow her programming and I can maybe one day be like that in my own way.

Whereas other women might say, gosh, David, she's like too good looking or she's too fit or she's too shredded. Like how she even, I could never do that. How do you navigate the. Uncertainty that women might have to feel like they'll never be as strong or fit or lean as you or be able to do the workouts the way you do them so effortlessly based on what it may look like for them versus

I'm here to empower and inspire women, not show them that they're not enough. How do you navigate that personally? To me, my intention is to never have anybody compare me to them and have them feel bad about themselves. Like that would absolutely, that is not my intention. Like my goal and my desire is to empower women to step into their strength, to feel the strongest that they possibly can, to embrace their musculature, their strong bodies, to embrace that.

So for me, that's been my desire, to kind of embody this strong person with muscle so that women feel empowered to aim, to build muscle and to look in the best way, a version of themselves, not me, obviously I have a different genetic makeup than somebody else. Like we were genetically and bio, but we're biodiverse, we're genetically diverse.

So it might be unrealistic for some women to aim to look exactly like me, but nobody should want to aim to look exactly like somebody else. So I always, and I say this, you know, in my posts, is I aim to be the strongest version of yourself, the best version of yourself, and not utilize me as a comparison, but rather as hopefully an inspiration of a woman that was struggling throughout her entire life and now has embraced her strength and my abilities. And it took years. I didn't suddenly wake up, lifted a couple of weights and I'm here. I didn't always have great form. That's one

of the things that people always praise, like great form, how are you able to do that? I didn't wake up doing that. It was just years of practice, years of kind of perfecting my craft to be able to do that. With this much awareness and attention about who you are now from the last, I guess, eight years, I think you've been on social media

that you said, like, and just the following and the views you get and the attention you get. 2019 actually. 2019, okay, so six years ago. I mean it's been no one knew who you were in the last six years a lot of people know who you are and you're working with one of the biggest celebrities in the world. What has that been like for you psychologically or emotionally to deal with now everyone's critiquing you, whether it be positive or negative, and you're working with big celebrities,

how has that been for you as a human? I think the biggest, the threshold that scared me the most was hitting 100,000 followers. It was like, whoa, there's 100,000 people that are looking at what I do. And then for some reason, it kind of normalized after that. It doesn't really. So every million, it's like, okay,

just another million, yeah, yeah. No, now that I take it for granted, by any means, I'm so grateful for the platform, for my audience. I never take it for granted, but it doesn't have that, you know, fear correlated with it. You know, it's not, because I know what I'm doing, I know what I'm saying, I feel to a certain degree,

so it doesn't, when I was just first starting out, obviously you're still kind of building your confidence and navigating that, so. But to kind of go back to, I think what you were asking, like how has that affected me personally? In the beginning, you do deal with a lot of, this person said that, so now, you know, am I really that?

Or, and then you just learned, at least I have learned to see that as not a reflection of who I am. I know who I am. I know the message that I'm trying to portray and I know that I'm there for service. That's what makes a purposeful life is being of service to others. And that's, I'm getting emotional, but that's what fulfills me is being of service and providing as much service as I can to as many people as I can especially women because I'm a woman and was you know in a household of women that have two younger sisters so that always has been kind of keeping in mind what my goal is and who I am and not

being affected by people that will will try to speak negatively in the process When do you start to think about your life of being in service to help others? When did I start to that was that like something earlier in your life or was that in the last six years like I want To start like really adding value and trying to serve people whether that's's five people or five million. I think that's always been, I think it came within the territory of like experiencing depression. I think that's, you know, I think that sense of purpose is linked to depression somehow.

So I was struggling with that for a while. How old were you? I mean I went to business school. I got a master's in business and you know I did this all of this accomplishment, graduated summa cum laude with the highest honors in three years and then in one year for my business degree. So, you know, I was accumulating all of these accolades and it just wasn't adding up. Like it wasn't fulfilling to me because it wasn't, you know, it didn't feel like it was coming from a sense of purpose

or of service rather to the greater good. And now where I am at, knowing what strength training and nurturing myself in all aspects, nutrition, like we were talking sleep, meditation, and recovery, like knowing what that has done for me, for my mental health, that's been kind of my driving factor to bring that to the world. Wow.

How long did you feel like you were experiencing depression for or your mental health was struggling? It started when I was in my teens, you know, like I said, with dealing with the eating disorders and then realizing that there was depression that was going hand in hand with that and anxiety. And as I say, those monsters in the closet never go away. You just develop better tools to manage them. So for me, working out is one of my main tools in my tool belt that I'm feeling a certain way I know I'm gonna go get a workout and it's going to shift my day everything so

There are those moments where I absolutely don't feel like working out, but I know what I Will achieve on the other side of that So that's I think one of my main motivating, along with wanting to be independent in my later years, wanting to have a quality of life and longevity that I can rely on. I think the other one is I don't want to feel depressed. I don't want to feel anxious. I don't want to deal with those things that I know I am predisposed to deal with.

You can't override those. That's just like the hand that you're dealt sure it's like what? Tools and your tool belt. Do you utilize to best deal? Absolutely. Yeah Wow What do you feel like is your biggest insecurity or fear now? I guess I'm always, I always think am I giving my best self to my audience, to the people that I influence. That is always my, the thing that if there is one thing that keeps me up at night, it's that. It's am I providing the best value that I possibly can out there to the world? So that's the one thing that I always strive to do better. That's why I launched the We Rise app. So I had an app prior to that and I relaunched and rebranded last January. So we're coming up on a year and I'm always striving to make it better

whether it's like with the latest research and and what it will be it will be lights light years ahead of what it is now because we're really aiming for it to be a female empowerment and development platform, not just a fitness app. And yeah, that's what we strive every day to perfect. How do you navigate not falling back into an obsessive perfectionist critical state versus progress, consistency, and a healthy balance? When you have that type of like older personality,

it's like, how do you make sure you don't go into that in extremes with work, you know, body, you know, perfection in a different way. Yeah, you're just more conscious of that self-talk. You're just more conscious of those patterns. I think that's with everything. You just become conscious of the way that you talk to yourself, conscious of the way that you talk to yourself conscious of

negative Past patterns and then you course correct and It is it is good enough. It is it is good because as we were talking about earlier, you know Great and perfection can be the enemy of good So I'm always conscious of that to not aim for perfection but to aim for value and good. Have you ever done like therapy also, emotional therapy instead of you know workout therapy? I have. What's been the biggest takeaway from that for you or biggest lessons? from that for you or biggest lessons? I'll be honest therapy for me has been... Didn't work for you? Not as much as working. Sure. But it works for a lot of people. It has,

it has, it's been a long time honestly since I've been in therapy and I definitely promoted like yes do therapy it's definitely great like I said all of these are just tools that we accumulate and then we use and whatever works best for you. For me it's been more self-therapy. I read a lot of I've read a ton of self-help books I've read you know books that you'd read at a collegiate level, you know. And that's how I self-educate and that's how I self-help and self-actualize and analyze. Maybe it's a good time to say I've also done plant medicine

and that has been huge help for me and kind of being my own therapist because that's the best way that I can describe plant medicine is being your own therapist, seeing yourself from the outside and looking at your patterns and looking at everything from a different perspective, kind of removed from that ego self.

Do you have a relationship with God or a spiritual practice? I have a relationship with God or a spiritual practice? I have a relationship with God, yeah. I don't know if it's in the context of the religion in a sense or maybe it is inclusive of all of us. One loving Creator that is good and wants what's best for us and that is not judging, but that is loving. What do you think God wants for you moving forward?

To continue doing this work and to really actualize that I am of help and service to others. Because I do at times struggle with that. Like I was saying before, am I doing my best? Am I really being of service to humanity, to others? So I think really leaning into that, that yes, you know, if I actually help just one person, that that is a life fulfilled. If I've changed course corrected somebody's path even by a small percentage, then that is an accomplishment. That's beautiful. Yeah.

Where do you think you'd be? Do you think you'd be as happy and healthy if you didn't have a relationship with God or a spiritual practice? I think it's good to have somewhat of a relationship with whatever you believe, kind of that higher power to be. I think it's something to lean on. I think it's something to lean on. For people, it's different. For everybody, it's different what that could be or look like and what image you have in your mind.

But whatever gives you that comfort that you're here for a reason. Yeah. Yeah. Did you have a spiritual relationship or when you were in your teens and early twenties and struggling with, you know, the depression in case? I had, my grandma raised me to be religious and say prayers every night and

and I think I lost that a little bit and now I'm back at you know saying my prayers every night and you feel more peace now? Yeah absolutely yeah. That's beautiful. Yeah. Your parents still around? Yeah, they are. They are. My parents have two younger sisters. They're all in New York. They're all in New York. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

They're still around. What's the biggest lesson both your mom and your dad taught you? My dad taught me to be strong and to persevere and to, yeah, he never complained. He never complained. He went from being a doctor back in Albania to being a janitor when he came to the United States, even though we're legally here and everything,

but that's what he had to do. He knew English, but he knew to put his ego aside and just do what needed to be done to support his family. And from my mom is to like that compassionate spirit. And also, even though it led to some things that weren't so positive in my life, like that striving to be the best also led to where I am today, I believe.

So yeah, I thank her for that. Wow, that's beautiful. What's the biggest lesson Kim's taught you? She's a hard worker sometimes. I thought I was a hard worker. So yeah, she inspires me in that way to be a hard worker. And beautifully balances that with having a family and having four children and spending quality time with them.

So having that balance, that's inspirational. That's cool. That's cool. You've got an app called the We Rise app. How many women are in this community right now in this, in this app? Oh my gosh. I mean, where is it? Thousands of thousands of women. Yeah. Thousands of women, tens of thousands of women are all over the world,

all over the world that are achieving their best, strongest selves. And I'm so excited for it. What do they get in the app? What's there? What are these women working on? What they're working on, what they get a lot. Within the app, what's in the app? So whatever experience level that you're in,

so if you're beginner, intermediate, advanced, if you're working out from home or the gym, there is a program that is for them and whether they want something to get started, like a 20-minute follow along that I'm with them every step of the way and kind of guide them through. They got that on there. So I think for every kind of walk of life, there is something in the app and there is a meal planning and recipes and macro tracking.

Right now we currently have an expert nutritionist and expert habits. First, she actually is one of like the four PhDs in the world that that works with with habits to just help people establish good habits, get rid of habits that don't serve them anymore. And then on the nutrition side, you know, speaking about like, what are macros? And then how do we ensure that we, you know, intake enough protein and all that. And that's just the beginning. We have huge plans. That's great.

Yeah. Well, where can they go to sign up for that? We arise.xyz. Okay. Awesome. I'm sure it's in your bio. It's on my bio. It's on my bio.

Yeah. I'm not wearing the clothing but I also have a clothing line calls into making women slightly a little bit more motivated by wearing some cute workout clothes to work out. Yeah. That's great. What can we do to be of best service to you moving forward with this community or people watching or listening right now? Spread the word.

Spread the word of strength. Spread the word that aesthetics will come as long as you put in the work to Aim for health and longevity. Yeah. Yeah And what's the best place to find you on social media? What's your Instagram for people to follow? Sonata.Greca Yeah, see you see how much I love self promoting You know in this whole conversation, this is probably like promoting. You know, in this whole conversation, this is probably like the most kind of slightly uncomfortable I've felt because I don't like self promoting. But yeah, without self promoting,

I guess what is of service then you don't get people to take advantage of that. That's true. Yeah, that's true. Where do you think you'd be if you didn't start putting content online six years ago? If I didn't. If you did not? I don't want to think of the famous jobs that I've done because it was not fun. But I would do something. I would be in this space.

I would be in this space somehow because I'm so passionate about it. So if I didn't have a presence, such a large presence in social media, I would probably do it in a small fashion even if it was outside of the nine to five, which I was doing actually before my, I was teaching yoga classes and I was training really on the side while having my, my nine to five. Um, and then, you know, I loved that aspect so much, which is what led me to, to, to kind of start doing this and putting myself out there, putting my workouts out there. And one thing led to another. And here we are today. So you were doing it on the side. You had a full-time job. I had a full-time job.

I had a full-time job, but then I was teaching yoga classes. And you were teaching strength training. And a little bit of strength training as well, yeah. It has advanced from that point, the starting point, to where it is now. But I was doing that on the side, and obviously doing my workouts, and then I decided, let's just put it out there.

Like whatever I'm doing every day. And you could see probably things have shifted from earlier on till now, but just put it out there every day. Get up in the morning, do my workout, film it as I'm doing a workout and to see where it leads. When did you start to notice that like, oh, this is starting to take off?

Like the content I'm posting daily, like, oh, it's actually getting out there and it's resonating with women. Yeah. I mean, pretty fast it started to happen. I mean, it didn't shift from like, I think I had like 2000 followers in 2019 when I started, if I'm one or 2000, when I first started. And it started to happen gradually and then exponentially. After that, I think that first period of like getting to

a few thousand was probably like the hardest cause it's like working out, you know, it's consistency and you don't see a ton of results, but then you stay with that because you don't, you know, you just can't tell the future. You can't predict it from just that short period of time. So like with anything else, consistency, consistency, consistency. So now I've got a couple final questions for you. This is powerful. Thanks for sharing and being so open today. I appreciate it. Of course. This is a question I ask everyone towards the end. It's called the three truths.

So it's a hypothetical scenario and question. Imagine you get to live as long as you wanna live and you get to accomplish every dream you have. But for whatever reason, you have to take all of your content with you when you die. So we don't have access to the videos you posted, this interview, it's all gone. Anything you create from

this moment moving forward. It's gone. Your app, it's gone for whatever reason hypothetical. But on the last day of your life, you get to leave behind three lessons to the world. And this is all we would have to remember your content by called three truths. What would those be for you? I think the biggest thing for me is to do everything from a place of love. So whatever you're trying to achieve, achieve it and somebody else but the fullest version of yourself. And the third

would be to treat everybody in a way that I don't know if necessarily you want to be treated yourself but in a way that I don't know if necessarily you want to be treated yourself, but in a way that I believe in a higher self, in the higher self would want you to treat, or God if you will, will want you to treat the fellow man and woman with just compassion and love and understanding, with with just compassion and love and understanding. Stepping aside from judgments and what you have been taught to to perceive.

Yeah, that's beautiful. Create from love, aim to be the fullest version of you and treat others with your kind of your highest self in mind. That's great. That's beautiful. I want to acknowledge you, Sonata, for your transformation and your ability to be consistent. And it sounds like it's very challenging leaving one country, coming to this place, and just having to deal with all the pressures of society, of school, of parents, and you needing to be

the parent as a teenager. That's a lot of weight emotionally and physically. So I want to acknowledge you for overcoming that challenge and overcoming the depression and the sadness and the anxiety and the stress that you faced. And for starting to tap into the healthiest version of you and being consistent with that version of you. Letting go of your old comparison ways and stepping into how can I just be my happiest fullest self so I acknowledge you for putting yourself out there also you know six years ago deciding to say hey I'm going to put my content out there and start to serve people the best way I

can and if it helps one person or millions of people I'm just going to do it consistently so I acknowledge you for for all of it And I appreciate you for opening up so honestly during this conversation. Thank you so much. I appreciate you saying that. Yeah, of course. Appreciate you having me here today. It was a very enjoyable conversation.

Thank you. Yeah, it's beautiful. One final question, Sonata. Sure. What's your definition of greatness? I think it's embodying again the true fullest version of yourself while being of service to others to the fullest capacity that you are able to. It's beautiful. Thank you so much for being here.

I appreciate it. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Of course. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. If you enjoyed this and if you found value, make sure to share this with one friend.

Just copy and paste the link and text a friend where you feel would be truly inspired by this episode as well. And also, make sure to click the Follow button on Apple or Spotify wherever you're listening to this episode because we have a massive episode coming up next that I do not want you to miss. So make sure to follow this and be on the lookout for the next episode coming with some

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and serve you moving forward. And I wanna remind you if no one has told you lately that you are loved, you are worthy and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.