IF IT AIN'T ON THE PAGE, IT AIN'T ON THE STAGE | SOSIE BACON + JOE MANTEGNA

Premiering on Jan 21st, Prime Video dropped As We See It which follows 3 neurodiverse 20-somethings who are roommates as they navigate getting their lives together and figuring out what they want to do. Played by actors who are on the autism spectrum, we see them go to work, push past their fears, have relationships with family and friends and more. In addition, we also see how their friends and family navigate their independence as well as the importance of having guidance by their aide. If you have yet to see this 8 episode series that is out now, there are spoilers in this interview that we had with Sosie Bacon (13 Reasons Why, NARCOS: Mexico, Mare of Easttown) who plays the life coach aide Mandy and Joe Mantegna (Criminal Minds, The Simpsons, The Godfather: Part III) who plays Lou, a father to Jack who is autistic. We talk about the importance of representation as well as diversity. We also talk about the themes that are discussed in this comedic drama.

ATHLEISURE MAG: What attracted you to wanting to be in As We See It?

SOSIE BACON: It was a great pilot script at a time that there were so many scripts coming in, but none of them was something that I was connected to – but I was auditioning for all of them. When you find a good one, you just hope that it’s randomly the one that you get. In this situation, it actually worked out that way as it never does. I think that the relationships are just so clear and so funny as well as touching. Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights, Parenthood, Roswell) has such a way with writing and every scene has such an arc and it’s a dream for an actor to be able to work with him because it’s easy. It’s all there, it’s all written and all you have to do is be in the character and be in the moment and play. So dream job!

AM: How did you prepare for the role of being Mandy?

SB: Originally, we shot the pilot 2 years before we shot the rest of the show because of COVID and all of that stuff. So with the pilot, I think that there were a lot of things with Mandy that were very similar to me – it’s actually the closest to my personality that I have ever played. I thought that that would be easy, but it was actually more difficult! I did my normal process of preparation which I will spare you, but I observed Elaine Hall who was our on set rep – their life coach like my character Mandy for Rick Glassman (Barely Famous, Undateable, Nobodies) Albert Rutecki, Sue Ann Pien (Ballers, Hellraiser: Revelations, Morgan Spurlock Inside Man). She has a program called The Miracle Project which is at the Wallis Annenburg Center for the Performing Arts adults on the spectrum do theater and write plays and they have aids there with them. I watched and observed and it was great. It was super informative and I was interested in finding out how they talk to each other, what’s the communication like, how much do they teach versus guide and that was so helpful. I learned a lot from that. Elaine was also on set all the time so I could ask her.

AM: Was there an additional person besides Elaine that told you about aides? I had never heard of this or knew that there was someone who was involved in that way.

SB: Yeah, Elaine told me about some people Mandy’s age who had that job sort of right after they graduated college and I talked to one girl who does this. It’s a job that people have and I wasn’t fully aware of it either. Elaine was just an amazing resource for all things about autism and aides. She has dedicated her life to it and I could just ask her questions all of the time and it was just incredible.

AM: One of the things that was interesting was that we see the 3 roommates, they have their own lives, they’re together and we see them with their families, but you’re character is the only one who truly integrates and sees the birds eye views with the highs and the lows - what was it like to be involved in this show that shares the diversity of what autism is?

SB: I think that that’s one of the great things about this show is that every person with autism is different. I think that sometimes people get wrapped up in these medical diagnoses that’s just a set of options that if you check off enough – you’re autistic – you know what I mean? There are things on there that I have, you know what I mean? It’s such a mathematical science with a lot of medicine, but everyone is completely different – like meeting me and then meeting my brother. I don’t think that there is one kind of mold to talk to any person in this world and I think that the beauty of the character that Jason wrote in Mandy is that she is adaptable. She is a person, open and non judgmental – she can navigate all of it. Elaine will tell you too – there are no sets of rules. Everybody will surprise you. Did I answer your question?

AM: Yes. To be honest, as someone who was not well versed in this topic, watching the series and the characters really opened up this world of what it means to be on the spectrum as the abilities are as varied as the goals, they are various focuses and needs/interests. There are some things that they can do that are easier than others and seeing it across 3 people really reflected that there hasn’t been a show showing autism like this in its varied forms and it was eye opening.

SB: Totally and everyone is different. It’s like what I said, it’s a diagnosis. I mean if you look at ADD this person has it and that person has it, but I feel like when you’re saying learning differences this term is kind of a joke. I don’t know what we’re weighing it against – who has the normal brain – I don’t know if I have ever met someone with that. What does that mean?

I like that they’re showing people at different levels and how everyone is experiencing life differently.

AM: Truly after watching the 8 episodes, I wanted there to be more and to go deeper into these stories! If there was a second season, what would you like to explore with Mandy and the clients that she has if you were able to give some notes?

SB: Well I certainly don’t want Mandy to quit – ha!

AM: That’s for sure!

SB: I think that there are so many different ways that it could go! I will leave that up to Jason, but I would want them to be able to stay together. I love all of the things that have happened. Things happen and we watch how they process them. To me, that’s my favorite stuff. I like to see friends and family deal with real life issues. Every single person in this show is dealing with real life issues they have so much room to have so many things happen. I want to see how they all deal with it!

ATHLEISURE MAG: What drew you to As We See It and why did you want to be involved?

JOE MANTEGNA: Well, I’ve said this before, but one of my sayings in my career is, “if it ain’t on the page, it ain’t on the stage.” In this instance, it was on the page. So when I read that first pilot script, I thought to myself that this was one of the best pieces of television writing that I have read in my career. Also having a personal connection where I have a daughter with autism who is 34 years old now. That and the quality of the script resonated with me very strongly. My initial feeling was, I want to meet with this Jason Katims regardless – even if I end up not being able to do the show because I want to talk to him and let him know how good I think that this is and how successful that I think that it should be. We’ll see where it goes from there. As it turned out, where it went from there was that I ended up being able to play the role and wound up doing all 8 episodes and I think it came out the way that I hoped they would. So it was all that I hoped that it would be.

AM: What was your process like in being able to play Lou?

JM: Part of it was being a father of a 34 year old daughter with autism. I did a lot of that preparation just in my life. Not that it made it easier, but it made it something that I could certainly relate to aspects of it as it’s not all the same – because it’s not. You know, people in the autism spectrum are going to run the gamut just like people who are not on the autism spectrum. People are people – people are different.

But in terms of prep, you know I have been doing this a long time. I’ve been an actor for over 50 years and I have been on the planet for 70 years. So if nothing else, I have a lot of life experience going for me. I think that all of those things come into play and sometimes it’s hard to point to one thing or a couple of things, but I was just happy to do something that I thought had humor, had pathos, was serious and yet could laugh at itself, make people laugh and be very honest.

It made it easy. I think you have to prepare harder for things that need the attention and needs the work. This didn’t need to be fixed.

AM: In watching the storyline between your character, Lou and his son Jack, there were two themes that kept jumping out. Advocacy – how Lou was with his son and how the son was trying to be so with Lou. The concept of passing was also evident here. Typically when this term is discussed it has a racial construct around it but here the story shares that you character wants to live his life and to pass as someone who doesn’t have cancer so he can just live his life and with Jack, we see him wanting to live his life in a way that no one knows that he has autism. Why was it important that these 2 themes needed to be explored?

JM: Because I think that that’s what happens in life. Again, it’s an honest portrayal in that life itself is not one dimensional. I’m always amazed by the fact that you can read a story and you figure that that person has the world by the tail and then you read a week later that that person committed suicide and then you wonder what was going on there. Because on the surface, it looked like everything was hunky-dory. That’s what I mean and I think it’s just that. Everyone has more complexities than are sometimes apparent on the surface. That’s what’s explored here as well between myself and Rick’s character.

AM: You know, after watching the 8 episodes, I was hoping that there was more! It was really good! How do you think that your character Lou felt about his son and all of the progress that he made?

JM: Well I mean, obviously it’s still a work in progress as it should be. In other words, if all is right with the world, we will get the opportunity to move onto episode 9 and beyond to be able to continue and tell the story. Where we end it is like, “ok, this is where we are at this point in the story.” If people want to see it badly enough, we will just keep on as we do in life. You know, we don’t know and no one has a roadmap of what their life is going to be. You don’t know what tomorrow is going to be and so you just take each day as it comes and play it by ear and see where it takes you. So that’s the story that we told in 8 episodes now let’s see if we have the opportunity to keep expanding on top of that to see where it takes us.

AM: I hope so! A few years ago, we had the opportunity to go to Autism Speak’s Chef Gala that they held here in NY and it was really amazing to be at that event and to hear from those that are driving awareness as well as to hear from those in the culinary world who have a personal connection. What I was struck by in this series was learning about the diversity of those that are on the autism spectrum and to be able to show it across 3 different characters. I hope that there are more episodes and seasons because it was beautiful and truly educational.

JM: Thank you and I agree. Without question, it’s very high quality and I think it deserves to be continued.

AM: If there are additional episodes and seasons, what would you like to tackle?

JM: I’d like to tackle Lou going into remission so that Lou is still around for awhile!

AM: Um right?

JM: Beyond that, let’s cross that bridge first and see where that takes us!

IG @sosiebacon

@joemantegna

PHOTOS COURTESY | Prime Video

Hear Sosie Bacon and Joe Mantegna on our show, Bungalow SK - which is a part of Athleisure Studio, our multimedia companion podcast network! Subscribe to be notified when the episode drops. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts or wherever you enjoy your podcasts.

Read the JAN ISSUE #73 of ATHLEISURE MAG and see IF IT AIN’T ON THE PAGE, IT AIN’T ON THE STAGE | Sosie Bacon + Joe Mantegna in mag.

S1. E13. | BUNGALOW SK WITH MISS NEW JERSEY USA GINA MELLISH

On today's episode of Bungalow SK, we catch up with Miss NJ USA 2020, Gina Mellish as we all continue to navigate quarantine and social distancing due to COVID-19. Gina shares her history in the pageant world, being crowned and how she continues to fulfill her duties even during these past few months. In addition, she talks about how she uses her personal journey and her platform to assist those who are dealing with domestic violence and its effects regardless of the kinds of interpersonal relationships that you're involved in. She even talks about her work with One Love Foundation. We chat about how you can identify if you or someone you know is dealing with domestic violence and how you can help. She also talks about how these situations take on a bigger need to assist those that need help during times of COVID-19. We also talk about the road ahead from preparing to compete for Miss USA as well as her love for the fashion industry.

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

S1. E12. | BUNGALOW SK WITH DAYA VAIDYA

On today's episode of Bungalow SK, we talk to Daya Vaidya who returns for the 6th season of Amazon Prime's Bosch as the Chief of Staff to the Mayor of Los Angeles, Jen Kowski. We find out more about the upcoming season as well as chat about the 7th and final season as they were recently renewed. In addition to her work in front of the camera, we talk about her work behind it and how she has worked with her husband on a number of projects. We also talk about how Hollywood continues to change as we look at the diversity within inclusivity for women and POC. 

LET THE GAMES BEGIN WITH BROOKE ENCE

We had a great time chatting with International CrossFit Star and actress, Brooke Ence who took her love of dance, fitness and being a natural athlete to another level. She shared the road to the CrossFit Games. We have enjoyed watching her in Wonder Woman as well as Justice League as well as in her new show where she plays a Resident Tagger in FOX's Ultimate Tag which takes the game to another level with an array of courses. She talks about her journey, the importance of timing, sacrifice and being ina team of people that are focused on her success. We also talk about her new app that she recently launched that allows us to stay fit and embrace a community that supports the efforts that she believes in.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We know you have a dance background and that you have been in the fitness industry for some time, when did you know that you wanted to work in this industry?

BROOKE ENCE: I never really knew that I wanted to be in fitness. As far as in dance and performance, since I was like 3. I really found CrossFit in preparation for an audition that I had for a show in Las Vegas called Le Rêve which is a Cirque du Soleil show. It really started as me training in CrossFit to compete against an individual athlete in 2013. I was doing it before hand while still going to school. I was a fulltime Dance Major at the University of Utah. I was one of stronger girls in the gym, I was on the team and I didn’t decide that I wanted to compete and do it as an individual until 2013 CrossFit Games when I was spectating. I didn’t expect other opportunities that came across and happened. The opportunities that came were byproducts of what I was doing. Now everything that I do, health, fitness, performance, dance, training, competing or just to have a voice and influence on people to live a happier and healthier life, I know that this is where I’m definitely meant to be. I still like to do other things like dabbling in movies and films.

AM: What is it about CrossFit that you enjoy? We know of a number of our followers and listeners that started it a few months ago and they’re just obsessed with it. Can you tell us what CrossFit is and what is it that people embrace about it?

BE: CrossFit as a sport is very different then CrossFit as a training methodology. The goal for training is to keep you doing the things that you love. You use it as a means to get better at doing other things that you do a sport or an activity. Beyond that, it’s about keeping people functional as long as they are living. Keeping them to do a series of basic functions and tasks so that they feel that they can do better and to be able to do things for yourself. It’s just about living a happy, healthy lifestyle that you can maintain forever.

As we get older, some things will be different, but the biggest goal is to keep you in whatever time that you’re on in your life journey as healthy as possible. I think that what people are really drawn to – people who come from an athletic background or played sports, at a certain age, if a professional athletic career wasn’t in the books for you, it’s a great opportunity for people to kind of do this and it feels satisfying to give them another chance to be really good at something competitive for that want and that drive. A lot of people maybe never were as they didn’t play sports and weren’t on team sports or anything competitive like that. It transfers over to how you work in your family, your business and it’s a community.

When it comes to fitness, when you’re thinking of truly having a better lifestyle, that’s how we create health and fitness longevity. You have to adjust your lifestyle. Being able to connect to a community where everyone is doing the same thing, you have these things that you can really connect with and relate to. It feels so amazing when you are able to do something that you have never done before and it becomes very addicting. It’s the opportunity and experience to become better, accomplish goals and to see yourself do things that you couldn’t do before. It's very motivating and you see yourself getting better. When you have a group of people doing it with you, you have the better chance of sticking with it longterm and making the lifestyle changes.

AM: What is involved? We’re definitely excited to hear from a World CrossFit Champion on what that is!

BE: Right! Just to clarify, I didn’t win the CrossFit Games, but I was the Champion of the California Regional and in my Rookie appearance, I took 2 first place finishes and I finished 14 in the world! When you want to get better at anything. You have to be willing to sacrifice, time, how bad you want it and when do you want it. Fitness isn’t free and the work that you’re going to put it in it is what you are going to get out of it. People are in training mode - they’re in that schedule all the time. It becomes like the most important thing. Everyone that is part of their team, everyone is thinking about that person’s training. You have to be super consistent. You’re training has to be really balanced. Your coach whether they are at your CrossFit gym or someone that is just for you. It’s this big road map that you have to think about in terms of looking at the big picture. You can’t take a week, it’s months and years of being really consistent. The better you get, the stronger you get, the harder it is for you to have adaptations and the longer it takes for you to get stronger – it takes time. The only way to do that and to reach those goals and get better is that you have to constantly push the limit so that your body can adapt to what you’re doing. It’s a full time job!

AM: In addition to that, you crossed over to Hollywood by being in Wonder Woman and Justice League. We enjoyed both of those movies. How is that to go into this part of your career and how did it take place?

BE: I always wanted to be in a movie growing up. I really wanted to be on Broadway! I spent most of my time doing dancing, singing and doing musical theater. Musical theater is much more theatrical. It was crazy to me to get a call out of the blue to read for a movie and I was just focused on my training in 2015 when they called me. I was on my way to the CrossFit Games and I almost turned it down!

AM: Wait what – it’s Wonder Woman, we love that movie.

BE: I found out that when they called me and I got the part, I thought it was cool and a great opportunity. I thought that we would be filming in Hollywood so I could continue to train in the gyms down there so I could keep up my schedule. I was worried that I would do this and what if I didn’t make it back to the CrossFit Games and it disrupts my training so much that I would let them down.

AM: Now on May 20th, you will be one of the Resident Taggers in FOX’s new show, Ultimate Tag which is hosted by NFL brother’s JJ, TJ and Derek Watt. Can you tell us more about this show and why you wanted to be apart of it?

BE: It is Ultimate Tag! It is the adult athlete version of a flag football version of tag and awesome. It’s high intensity, really fun – like most games we played as kids. You get beat up! I got beat up! I didn't know anything know anything beyond that when they called me. I was brought in extremely last minute. BE: It’s a brand new show and I wanted to try something new, do something exciting and be around people where we would have a really positive experience. It’s so much more than what you think it would be and I think that they have done a really good job in showcasing that in the way that it is filmed too. Fingers crossed that they have a second season and that they can get even better at being able to show the best way that an audience and the people at home can experience this! You’ll feel the intensity on the floor.

AM: As a Resident Tagger, will you be on the show every season?

BE: No so, we have a pretty big tagger team. Not every tagger plays every game. We sub taggers in and out. You don’t want one tagger being out there and taking too much time taking out one person. It’s so intense out there as you’re going from 0-100 that we play our teams the smartest way possible. We think about the strengths of the taggers to put the best person in based on their abilities.

AM: You must have been really tiring after filming each episode with so much energy and physicality going into it!

BE: For me, the other taggers were there when I went down to try out. They had been there. Fun Fact: Every time we played, it was my first time seeing the game and doing it! Every time I was like wow – it was my first time seeing the game and doing it! Every time I was like wow – my nerves were very high and coming from a very athletic background and playing a lot of sports growing up, even with CrossFit and the practice of adapting to things and learning on the fly and learning quickly. That helped me.

AM: That is insane! Many of us during this time have figured out how we can continue to keep our workouts going. What are some tips that you have that we can share that people should think about in terms of their fitness as well as items they can buy to aid their fitness goals?

BE: Of course, I’m going to just plug myself as I 100% stand behind this program – it’s called Naked Training App. We launched 2 at home programs. One is with body weight and one is with dumbbells. If you need some kind of equipment at your house, I would say that a couple pairs of dumbbells is great. We have all the videos to show you how to do things. What’s cool with what you’re trying to do when you’re working out, it’s so much easier when someone is there to show you what to do. It’s like, “what am I doing – oh that? Ok let me do that.” Not only do that, but my team creates the road map because we know we’re all here to get fit and strong. Our team does the work of programming it for you with the big picture in mind If you want to get fitter, stronger etc you do have to adapt with the times and your circumstances and to be realistic about it. You have to do more then just something. If you’re looking for minimal equipment and the goal in mind when programming is to get you closer to being a stronger, healthier more fit person – while the programmer understands where we are in our situation right now, you have a better chance of sticking to your goal while not sacrificing too much as we can’t really leave our house too much!

AM: For the Naked Training App, do you have nutrition in there as well as a sense of community?

BE: We do have nutrition. We have a Facebook Group. We have an ebook available to get you started and we do talk about nutrition through our Facebook Live and we're in the process of launching our own nutrition along with coaching. It will become much more than just hearing this information to get started – but then it would be in the person’s hands and a lot more 1-on-1 coaching and following. We didn't want to run too fast into nutrition without having the team behind it.

IG @BrookeEnce

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 121 + 126 Brooke Ence | PG 118 + 127 FOX | 122 Michael Becker/FOX |

Read the May Issue of Athleisure

Hear from CrossFit Star and FOX's Ultimate Tag Brooke Ence on our show, Bungalow SK - which is a part of Athleisure Studio, our multi-media podcast network! Make sure to subscribe to find out when the episode drops. You can hear it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts and wherever you enjoy listening to your favorite podcast.

Read the May Issue of Athleisure Mag and see Let the Games Begin with Brooke Ence in mag.

S1. E11. | BUNGALOW SK WITH SENIESA ESTRADA

On today's episode of Bungalow SK, we catch up with Seniesa "Superbad" Estrada, who is a WBA 18-0 flyweight boxing titleholder (you can also read her interview in Athleisure Mag's May Issue, #53). We talk about how she fell in love with the sport of boxing, how she broke through an array of challenges to get in the ring, her sponsors and how she wants to give back. We also talk about how she is staying in fighting shape as she prepares for her upcoming fight in July as we all navigate our routines in the times of COVID-19 as well as what it's like to have Danny Trejo in your corner!

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

S1. E10. | BUNGALOW SK WITH EMILY TYRA

On today's episode of Bungalow SK, we talk with one of our cover girls from our 2nd issue back in 2016, Emily Tyra who was our favorite actress on STARZ's Flesh & Bone as well as on CBS' Code Black. We talked about how she got into entertainment, her ability to sing, dance and act as well as her movie Harpoon that was on the festival circuit last year. We also talked about her ceramic brand, Rarebird.

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

S1. BONUS EPISODE | BUNGALOW SK WITH ELECTRIC ZOO EDM DJS

For our Athleisure Mag readers who enjoyed the Aug Issue (#44), you know that we shared our coverage of Electric Zoo that took place Labor Day Weekend on Randall's Island here in NY in 2019. We enjoyed this 3 day festival of EDM performances that took place across 3 stages. In today's bonus episode, we're taking you backstage with us on site as we talked with some of the industry's esteemed DJs and producers. You'll hear from EDX, our Aug cover SayMyName, Cash Cash, Boombox Cartel and Good Times Ahead!

S1. E6 | BUNGALOW SK WITH KIMBERLY FRIEDMUTTER

On today's episode of Bungalow SK, we delve into the power of the subconscious, going with your gut and leaning into your intuition! We sit down with Celebrity Hypnotherapist to a number of celebs, athletes and CEO's Kimberly Friedmutter. We find out how this skill can assist us through all aspects of our lives, how we're able to enhance this ability and using a checklist to ensure that we are optimizing it as well. Kimberly shares all of this, talks about her new book Subconscious Power: Use Your Inner Mind to Create the Life You've Always Wanted which is out now and loops us in on where she loves hanging out in Las Vegas as well as in Malibu!

Thanks for joining us for today’s episode of Bungalow SK. Make sure to follow, rate and review us on Apple Podcast. You can also follow and listen on additional podcast platforms including – Spotify, iHeart Radio, Google Play, Himalaya, Soundcloud and Stitcher Premium. Bungalow SK is a member of the multimedia podcast network, Athleisure Studio, part of Athleisure Media and Athleisure Mag. You can see our show notes at AthleisureStudio.com/Bungalow-SK and follow us on Instagram at @Bungalow.SK to find out who we’re talking with as well as what our guests are up to. Bungalow SK is executive produced by myself and Paul Farkas with sound editing by the Athleisure Studio team. Our music is courtesy of Icons8, with FOREVERT performing Renaissance. Our ad segment's music is EQUALS performed by Dural. I’m your host Kimmie Smith and I’ll see you next week at Bungalow SK.

BINGELY STREAMING

BETWEEN TWO FERNS: THE MOVIE

Netflix Originals

Netflix brings back the popular web series with Zach Galifianakis who showcases how he is the worst celebrity interviewer ever! The movie is filled with deadpan insults and plenty of pained expressions between the interviewer and the interviewee. Within the movie, he plays an altered version of himself and is tasked by Will Ferrell (who plays a cartoony villain of himself) to conduct 10 interviews in a span of 2 weeks in order for him to get a real network talk show that he really wants.

Throughout the movie, you're treated to a number of star-studded interviews (Keanu Reeves, David Letterman, Brie Larson, etc.) that all end horribly.

Ultimately, viewers will enjoy seeing their favorite celebs allowing themselves to be subjected to Zach's antics as well as trying to keep a straight face through it all.

THE MISSING CRYPTOQUEEN

BBC Sounds

Apple Podcast

This BBC Sounds podcast investigates the details of missing cryptocurrency OneCoin founder, Dr. Ruja Ignatov in 2017 who promised to change money forever. Host, Jamie Bartlett walks us through the finding of this case that includes: data leaked to the BBC found that the scam was worth between £3.6 - £4bn worldwide, and shows for the first time the scale in the UK. At least £26m was invested from the UK over one six-month window in 2016 - and maybe as high as £90-97m between 2014 - 2017 and over 175 countries had victims in the largest crypto-scam of all time that is still running to date.

Within 2 years of launching the company, they claimed to have over 3.5 million members with hundreds of thousands of investors and offices that opened in major cities around the world with events, she seemed unstoppable; however, rumors were swirling about the legitimacy of the currency and thus digging into the scheme that ended with Dr. Ruja vanishing.

BUNGALOW SK

Athleisure Studio

iHeartRadio

As you know, Athleisure Media is comprised of Athleisure Mag as well as our podcast network, Athleisure Studio.

These days, your calendar is supercharged and you find yourself having to pencil in when you need to breathe! As we're always moving and grooving between our offices, home, studio and out, we could all take some moments to spend time and hear from our faves in pop culture on what they're up to and how they keep it together as well. In Bungalow SK, you'll hear from your favorite celebrities and get the inside scoop on what they are working on.

Read the Sept Issue of Athleisure Mag and see Bingely Streaming in mag.

SUBCONSCIOUSLY SPEAKING WITH KIMBERLY FRIEDMUTTER

At Athleisure Mag, we've always been about the integration of mind x body x soul . We headed to the Ritz Carlton here in NYC to talk with Kimberly Friedmutter about her new book Subconscious Power: Use Your Inner Mind to Create the Life You've Always Wanted as well as her work as a Celebrity Hypnotherapist, the purpose and power of the subconscious, and how we can optimize these tools through all aspects of our lives.

ATHLEISURE MAG: So those that are not familiar with hypnotism, can you tell us what it is and what it entails?

KIMBERLY FRIEDMUTTER: Hypnosis is really a state of relaxation and a deep state at times. I’ve literally had clients snoring and drooling and I have had others that have stared back at me, but they are relaxed. It’s just different levels – just to explain that. So when people say what is trance and is it putting me in positions and a place that I don’t want to do – like when people see it in terms of being used for entertainment or in the movies with a swinging watch – that’s not what it is.

It’s a natural state of being for example, when you first wake up and you have that floaty feeling, that’s trance. When you’re just getting ready to drift off to sleep and you’re not really conscious, but not really unconscious, that’s trance. It’s basically setting the conscious thought aside, so that you’re more suggestable and more open to other things. Now this is also why people abuse drugs, they like that feeling and when you can do that naturally, it’s wonderful and you don’t have to use substances to get there as it is this beautiful natural state that we possess. Think of it in terms of when you’re watching a film and you know that the actors are the actors, but you shed a tear anyway. You’re emotionally caught up in it, they have entranced you. Or it’s like when you’re at a concert and everyone is waving their hands in sync with their phones on flame and your favorite entertainer hits the high note and everyone is in this moment of a euphoric feeling. You’re so relaxed that you feel like you’re having this out of body experience.

AM: Wow, sometimes we have taken a yoga/meditation class and when you are coming back from the meditation part, you sometimes do feel a little floaty and outside of yourself.

KF: Right and you are in a trance in meditation. Now the difference between meditation and hypnosis is simply that meditation is the zoning in on thought or in on non-thought. For example, “think of the breath, don’t think thoughts.” Whereas, trance is let it all come and zone out. So the zoning out is likening it to day dreaming. When you daydream, you’re not monitoring day dreams. You’re just letting it flow and that flow is trance as opposed to meditation where you’re linearly guiding something through to happen or not happen.

AM: How did you begin working in this field and how did you educate yourself on it?

KF: I would like to say that education really formed this structure where I sit. But really it’s the clients who really gave me the breadth of knowledge – getting in there and really exploring. I had a radio talk show in LA on KLSX 97.1 FM and it was the only FM talk station at the time. It was considered the Howard Stern Station at the time as that is where he was projecting from at the time. This was simply continuing education for the radio show and previous to that, I had been hypnotized for a lot of times for stage fright.

AM: Wow

KF: I know! I wanted to shrink in instead of shrink out! I didn’t want that to be an issue so I was a product of hypnosis and I thought, “wow is that all there really is too it?” In our society, we are taught “no pain, no gain”, “no guts, no glory” and it’s absolutely not the truth. So I thought, let’s see what happens and now you can’t shut me up – I’m all over the place! Clearly, I’m healed!

AM: So it had long term effects!

KF: Oh yeah, it can be the only thing you ever want to do if you want it to be. I happen to take direction well which is also why some people ask why I focus on high performing professionals and individuals that have really made a name for themselves in the world. The reason is exactly that – they will do it and they take direction well. They look for information from others and are not arguing their position or limitation which is very important.

AM: Is it hard for a Type A person to release their control to do that?

KF: No because Type A’s are Seekers, Searchers, Learners. Type A’s are out their for the game and out their to win it. They’re out there to succeed.

AM: Right a very – by any means necessary thought.

KF: Well when you say it that way, it comes off as it’s something that’s surgical and invasive and it’s not. It’s 100% organic, 100% natural and 100% sustainable. You are literally able to keep it private because it’s in your mind and you don’t have to telescope it out. The thing is we all have that search for inner peace and inner happiness and we all deeply know what that takes to get there. We have the answers – we really do. Hypnosis just gives you that little prod and permission that it’s ok to release those things and feel those things.

My husband was hypnotized for 20 minutes and he’s an architect – everything is very linear with him and it's all about facts.

Everything is very structured, planned and conscious this comes from your conscious. The subconscious is touchy feely and is all about your emotions. So he was hypnotized for 20 mins and he lost 60lbs. Now that’s that kind of character because he’s a Seeker, Searcher, Learner person that’s Type A and an architect.

My book is listed in the top 10 of what every lawyer should read. It’s the Top 25 books that America’s leading CEO’s are reading. So it does have this very interesting crossover with men in business. It’s a great gift for men and a great gift for boys coming up to learn – particularly the Get to Give chapter – I’m happy to point out. It’s not a gender specific book and there are very good principles in each chapter to read. I like to stress that because men really do get it and it does provide transformative changes in them too. Women like to corner intuition because we say, “women’s intuition” that we’re so smart and we use our gut, but the truth is that we all have that machinery and we all have that mechanism. It’s a beautiful thing and we do want to have our partner, your brother, our uncle to rise up to this. When we’re all going the same speed on the freeway, we can all do the same things and not be hampered by the one that doesn’t.

AM: So you were talking about how people can use this for weight loss –

KF: Yes and for sleep issues, anxiety and depression. Here’s the thing about hypnosis and trance is that it doesn’t have to be just for a problem. We’ve freed it and loosened it from it’s chains of being attached to a problem. It can also be out amplifying things that you do well to be better. So athletic performance for example. Performance such as something that I am doing with CNBC for entrepreneurs and CEOs which is also for performance-based things that you want to enhance or amplify.

AM: Hearing this now gives me an interesting perspective on what you do. Coming in, we were thinking of it from that 1800s parlor trick but learning that it’s a tool that can be used to optimize and oxygenate what you’re looking to enhance is really interesting.

KF: I love how you said that the 2 “O” words. This is what I say, if I brought in this fine piece of machinery and I sat it down in front of us and said here’s the plug, the machine and the manual – you’re going to take the book and to read how to use it. You have it and I’m not selling you the thing – you have it. You can’t get a surgery to get it, I can’t take it, you have what you have and you can’t get rid of it. So it’s about plugging in your mechanism and using your resources. The thing is, we’re all interested in ourselves and we all want an easy, happy life. How do we get there? So so simple. We have the mechanism and the ability to do it – it’s the use of it that we don’t know. All of our finest technology and software and beautiful things – nothing comes close to the mind. You take it with you, it’s packaged, it’s compact, it weighs 3lbs, it’s 4x4 and off you go. You don’t have to pack it – you won’t forget it. Science will say that you have it from the point on conception to the time you transition – some believe that it will just go on. That’s what I have the Soul/Spiritual section in here about Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson. You’ll see that I have terrific blurbs from Jennifer Hudson and Martha Stewart, Michael Beckwith (he actually married me to the architect because he was a pastor because I was an agape taker) – so I had a lot of Hollywood support for this. They get it and they’re so creative. They’re interesting and they have big lives and a lot of times, big problems and no different from the rest of us as we have the same issues, we’re just watching them because the focus is on the high performing individual.

So the whole thing is just so simple to use. Like finding lost items around the house – who wants that – in the home or in the office. Even in an email. I was trying to find it before I was talking with you and I said to my husband that I couldn’t find it and he was asking me if it was there and I said, “I can’t find it in this state.” He’s thinking that I couldn’t find it in my phone or in my device. I knew that in the state I was in I couldn’t find it and even a device will fritz out when you’re in that state with all that frantic energy – it doesn’t jive when you’re like that. You need to adjust yourself or to stop looking. I calmed myself down and then I was able to find it. I needed to find it in the state of the love of it and not the problem of it. It’s about the find of it and not the loss of it. The truth is, it’s not lost – it’s in there.

AM: Ooo that’s interesting that you say that. Our Co-Founder, when he gets in that frazzled state, nothing will turn on in terms of electronics. So we have to either move our technology out of the room –

KF: Or him.

AM: Or him and we just say, calm down to get everything settled again. The joke is that he’s like a Marvel character or superhero. So there must be some kind of kinetic thing going on there.

KF: Oh it’s energy. So here’s what happens. Anything that works on energy, works on energy. Anything that works on energy, fries out when it’s too much. We had an interesting and scary incident where a camera would have caught this and the camera did not catch it. It’s a wireless system and the camera caught our dog groomer that was going inside and outside of the house and you could see the dog as well, but it didn’t catch the event. I didn’t bring my phone and I didn’t worry about it because I knew the camera was catching the whole thing. What did I come to find out? It didn’t. So that gives great pause to energy. It’s about keeping it cool and it shows you that life won’t work with that kind of energy.

Again, to make your life easy like finding great parking spaces, when you meet with someone getting to know if they are good for you in the short/long term that you meet them – think of the time savings alone and what you have access to. We have a far-reaching ability to ascertain this information and impressions to get access to that even a blind person can do it.

The conscious mind thinks that way you are instructing it to do; however, the subconscious is doing the imagery and the big picture portion of what is going on. When we’re children, we’re very tapped into our subconscious and we also tend to sit within our primal state as well – sometimes kids bite other kids and they haven’t learned that they can’t do that. In the book, I talk about that as we get older, we learn and educate ourselves outside of the subconscious, so when we go to work and someone annoys us, we don’t bite our colleagues in the elevator.

AM: So what made you create this book?

KF: I was approached by a woman at Harper Collins. She asked if I would do this as she had seen me online and head learned about my practice. I said absolutely and in getting the group together and figuring out the structure of the book, it took me about a year to take my practice and to see what was digestible and what could be chewed on. By the time I handed in my proposal to her, she had left Harper Collins. The agent thought that it was interesting and agreed to put it on the market to see what it could do. Simon & Schuster wanted it and Atria Books was the publishing/imprinting house that did The Secret. The beauty about The Secret was that there was a feeling that yes we could emit this desire to get whatever it is that we desire. Part in part is where my gift comes from but the real question is where is this being emitted from? It’s coming from your mind and no one debates that. It’s very well studied and science is all over that and the subconscious mind and has been forever as you had mentioned with the hypnosis.

The reality is that if you're stuck and have an addiction to food, shopping or even an addiction to someone, there is an exercise in the book called the Saver/Sever where if you have this over attachment to a person, place or thing you can literally call it before you and you can detach from that thing so that you’re no longer this prisoner of that attachment. Some people when I ask them to see that Energetic Core, some people see this beautiful wisps of energy and some people see chains or rope – true bondage to that thing. Cyber Stalking is one of those things where you just can’t not do it sometimes. Those are the perfect candidates for those exercises. Those are some of the little hacks and one of the things that I’m very proud of with the book is that you don’t need a pen and paper and I wanted to make it super easy because we don’t have a lot of time and I call them Shelf Help books. Because you feel a lot better because you bought it and you’re like, “ok healed and you put it on the shelf.” But the reality is, I want you to have that manual for your machinery – you already have it, but this is just the how to guide on how to manage it. The reality is, we want to do things with our lives that makes things easier for us. Knowing and getting those impulses – you think of a friend and they give you a call. Or you get an email from that person or you give a call to someone and they say, “oh you were on my mind this morning.” All that is energy and that is the place that we’re talking about with this. Your consciousness is your task maker and your calendar keeper for the day. The subconscious is your inner child the part that you haven’t unlearned yet. The unlearning process is what makes us cranky, crass, disappointed, depressed and anxious. There is a chapter in the book called Tonkas and Tutus and it’s about putting that Tutu back on because that’s where it belongs and I do that as a gift of action. You realize that we are meant to be these beautiful, shining and magnificent creatures of light – you realize that you have that inner self that is clawing to get out and wants that light to be turned on.

AM: Do you envision doing another book?

KF: Yes we’re already working on it now. The first book that you drop, as I’m a first-time author – is your cornerstone. It’s the base information and from there, we fly – we fly.

PHOTO COURTESY | Dreamstime/Helgardas

AM: So what are the 6 principles that ignite the conscious mind and can you walk us through that?

KF: Sure. The first one is Coming into Accountability and that’s the first step, I think of everything that is meaningful. We need to know where we are – even on maps, it says location. So the first principle is really about your location and so I want you to be able to look at yourself holistically and for real – warts and all we say. The reality is that we can’t do the work until we know what it is. I don’t even like calling it work because it feels so effortless. The second principle is Tapping into Your Subconscious which is obvious and a lot of people don't understand how powerful it is and how much of it that you have. I'm here to tell you that you you’re right. When you think of Aunt Sue and she calls you – you have to see consciously that you are right to understand the power of your subconscious. The third principle is Do You Move Toward or Away? Now I like this one a lot because it is about orientation. You have coming into accountability, your tapping into your subconscious – where is your orientation? So going back to maps again, you would orient towards the direction that you want to go. You do not plug into maps that you want to go away from where you just were. So when it says, where are you heading to, you don’t say I’m headed away from Point A, you say, I am going to Point B so when you’re constantly l ooking at your life in retrospect, and you see that you have been flinging yourself away from circumstances, chances are you’re flinging into something of the unknown which is ok. But if you’re not happy where you are, that very well could be the reason why as opposed to focusing on where you want to go. Orientation of self is hugely important. The next one is, and this is sticky, and they throw their hands up - It’s Judge Thy Neighbor as Thyself. The point of this that we have let our judgement go by the wayside just like we don’t bite our girlfriend when she makes us mad. In this, I say that you must use ecology of judgment for yourself. Once you talk to someone who is unhappy, once you explore a bit of someone’s chronic unhappiness they will say that they used this mistake in judgement and that mistake. Look at Judge Judy. I talk a lot about her in the book. Not only is she magnificent, but the show itself garners so much attention, and why, because the show shows us did you use the best judgment for your ecology, your survival, your success, etc – that’s all she wants to show. Did you use good judgement and those judgements that she calls simply comes down to who used good judgement and who didn’t. Sometimes the thing that happened the person didn't have something unlawful, but they didn’t use good judgement and she fines them anyway. So she’s going to teach you out of your own issue. So judgement is super important and I show you how to do that and I show you how to judge energetically. When you meet someone are they good for me in the midterm, short term and long term? Also a judgement about privacy. Let’s be a bit particular about the who, what, when, where and why please. It’s helpful about that beautiful 8 year old person that’s inside of you. If you had a physical 8 year old next to you, would you look at the things that you look at, would you listen to the things that you listen to, hang out with the people that you would hang out with, go to the places that you go to – I think not. We really think that we’re big stuff, but we’re just that beautiful 8 year old creature inside and we need to use the ecology of judgement for him/her. The next one that people love is Give to Get. This is that energetic cycle, that loop. So if I hold both of your hands, you and I form a loop and energy is running through your body back to my body – if we let go and you stretch your arm out, it doesn’t have any place to go to generate or to recirculate. So if you give to me and I’m not giving back, then you’re not getting back anything and vice versa. Even the tomato plant does this. It grows, it falls off the vine and dies and it becomes fertilizer for the next new plant. Giving and getting is a universal law. Women are the worst at getting because they don’t want to say it and they just continue to give to such a point that it takes us into the next chapter which is Drought. When a women is in drought, I ask what kind of a giver/getter are you? Are you getting and giving? Sometimes the people who don’t get or the least to give – there has to be a flow of energy that flows in and flows out. I read something the other day that there was a popular phrase that said “cash is king” and now it's "cashflow is king" because anything that flows is king. Flow keeps us going. If I get, I distribute that to you, if you get then you distribute to me. It’s this movement that we’re in and once again, it’s this universal law that we’re in. I didn’t make it up, I just recognize it as a law of happiness.

When people ask, I am married to a very generous husband, an architect and what is great about that is that he understands flow. People ask, how did I get what I got and I say, I asked, I made it known. He’s not a psychic. The last principle is Play Big. You deserve to get and you deserve to give. The idea of playing big is not posturing and puffing it’s show up for me and show up for you. The reality is that we all need each other. We’re in a time of social collective consciousness which is fine, but then we must rise from it. In that it’s go for your dreams. Playing big honors that creative thing that you want to do regardless of whether you’re coming from a field like being an attorney and realizing that you want to become a writer. Just because you started out one way doesn’t mean that you have to stay that way and not become what you are meant to do. So show up for that thing that you’re meant to do and then get on with it. When you get to that chapter and that final principle – then you’re ready because the other clutter is gone.

AM: What is your day to day like?

KF: Well, I’m basically a home type body, but I travel a lot so I make it home wherever I go. The traveling is a lot of fun so I try to do zones. When I’m on the East Coast, I reach out and contact to as many people as I want to book or to group it all in. We do it in Europe as well. I like to be accessible and I don’t like to say no. I’d rather say yes and then figure out how to make it work out. The other side especially with Brad and his business is that we clump things together. So the minute that I have go time over here, then he will book his things and that's how we do it. He has offices all over the world. It makes it easy to do that. There’s a few emergencies here and there, but now with FaceTime and Google – I can literally do that all day long. When you have your clients, seeing things is great because you have all of those micromovements. I’m an expert at determining what is going on. I use the term diagnose loosely – not as a medical diagnosis. It’s easy for me to see the issues as it rises up off the page so prominently that that’s my super power – the ability to see what’s going on and to be able to get it at the cellular level. Many times, I am able to just think it to get there and I like getting the confirmation.

AM: I know you’re based in LA and in Las Vegas. Where can we find you grabbing a meal/drink, working out and shopping?

KF: In Las Vegas, it would probably be Cipriani (Wynn) or more likely home. Because home – I’m a homebody. Any philanthropic event we’d probably be at. So when people say, do you go out on the strip – yes for charity events and probably only for that. If we’re having dinner or things like that, it’s probably at home. We eat super clean and I cook a lot. It’s super simple to cook like that and I do pride myself that I went to chef school when I was modeling in Europe – a night school for that. I did that because I wasn’t the clubby type to go out to meet people. In LA, we like the Waldorf Astoria. We’re at The Ivy on Robertson all the time – we love it there. Malibu of course is great and we love Nobu, I used to live there before I met Brad.

When it comes to shopping, I love Norma Kamali here in NY I was just there and was so excited. So Norma walked in and we had our little visit and it was so great and now she’s holding the book. She has a new skincare line that’s out, it’s cleanser, scrub, tanner and moisturizer. Can I just say that the moisturizer is made out of olive oil and lime and not the fruit – the mineral kind. Never have I felt something so emollient so I’m going to order that for sure as I was running in. The smell, fragrance and feel was extraordinary. Shopping there is my favorite thing.

I work out a few hours a day. I do True Fusion which is a pilates/yoga hybrid. The gal who teaches it and does it with me – we have a neighborhood group of ladies that do it. I also do heavy weight training which is a surprise to most. I like it because it really does keep me feeling in survival mode. It’s a gentleman that does it who is a body builder type. I like to be a strong girl a strong female. When we work out like that – it makes everything like blow drying your hair and going to the potty a challenge – where your muscles touch anything. It’s a great feeling. In the morning my husband and I we both walk around a 3 mile loop with our 20lb weights on – we walk it fast – it can be a 3 hour thing. Mind/Body is important. My husband’s trajectory of his day changes when he does it in the morning. Connecting with nature is something that your body and mind needs. We start early in the morning because if we didn’t we wouldn’t get it in.

I have a lot of weight loss clients right now and it’s not because it’s summer it’s because we’re fat to the point that we are upset with ourselves. A client will say, I’m stressed – I eat, I travel – I eat, I have a child – I eat, I have a job – I eat, I’m out of money – I eat. So every reason comes down to, I eat, I eat, I eat and it’s not that. That’s all the more reason that we have to be ready, be the warrior, having to be fit. You have to say, I’m going after this with everything that I have and that mind/body connection is that. I’m a big believer that you can’t work off an unhealthy diet. You’ll hear me say that the kitchen is the gym. You can eat to a good body or eat to a bad body.

IG @KimFriedmutter

PHOTO CREDITS | Kimberly Friedmutter

PHOTO COURTESY | Dreamstime/Jacques Kloppers

You can hear Kimberly Friedmutter later this month on our show, BUNGALOW SK which is a part of Athleisure Studio, our multi-media podcast network! Make sure to subscribe to find out when the episode drops. You can hear it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts and wherever you enjoy listening to your favorite podcast.

Read the August Issue of Athleisure Mag and see Subconsciously Speaking with Kimberly Friedmutter in mag.

LAUNCHING A NATION WITH PAIGE MYCOSKIE

As we transition from the Summer to thinking about the Fall, we love when there's apparel in our closets that's truly seasonless and easy to move around, travel and do an array of activities in. At Athleisure Mag, we became major fans of Aviator Nation and started incorporating it into our celeb shoots last fall. In addition, our team has defintiely rocked these pieces when we've been on set, hitting a day of activities and more.

We took some time to sit down with Page Mycoskie, the brand's founder and designer who launched the brand back in 2006 with a focus on that retro vintage vibe and super soft fabrication. We remember her and her brother Blake Mycoskie (founder of TOMS Shoes) when they competed together on CBS' The Amazing Race season 2.

We wanted to find out how this brand was created, how being an athlete has tied into the ethos of the brand, how she approaches bringing on new designs and styles into the line as well as how she approaches finding and opening her stores at various locations. Along the way, we learned how integral music and specifically music festivals, as well as aviators, play into the brand and how manifesting her passions and interests continue to fuel the direction of this lifestyle brand.

ATHLEISURE MAG: Can you tell us about your background as you’re an artist, an entrepreneur, an athlete – how did this all come together in terms of your background and bringing you to the creation of Aviator Nation?

PAIGE MYCOSKIE: It’s kind of funny because ever since I was a young girl, I really had this mentality that I could do anything that I wanted to do. I really think that that came from hanging with my grandmother a lot. When I was little, I used to spend time with her during the day and she was super creative and super artistic. She would be like, “hey what do you want to learn today?” She was all about teaching me new things and I wanted to do creative things. It’s kind of interesting and I’d be like, I’d like to know about pottery and we’d spend the day learning how to do pottery and a lot of times, it was creative stuff. She was super artistic and she made her own clothes. So hanging out with her, I became very hands on and it’s super interesting now because a lot of what I do is very hands on. I think that that’s something that makes me very different from other people who start companies. I like to be super involved in all of the details at Aviator Nation.

It’s also funny to look back at the entrepreneurial thing. When I was little, I was constantly trying to sell things. Being an entrepreneur extends from that and I love being able to create things from scratch. I just loved the whole interaction of making something, selling something, earning money and then going to shop. Then being an athlete, that was an important part of this too. Now, I’m in a super competitive industry, the fashion world and being an athlete – ever since I was a young girl, I love doing sports.

Team sports was an important thing for me because the team I am building and the culture with the company is directly from when I was a child and on team sports with other people a lot. I think that being super competitive has always been inside of me and l like to compete because I like to win. Being an athlete and learning – the more you practice the better you will be and when you continue with that, you’ll be the best. I’m all about constantly making the best product and every time we do a production run, I’m all about testing the fabrics and new methods. It’s not just about putting out clothes every few months like new designs. It’s about continuing to make the product better. I think it helps that I wear the products because it’s all I wear. I’ll be like, “this is actually a little bit tighter than what I want it to be." Or I'd like to make this fabric a little lighter weight during this time of the year. Being an athlete, learning that the more you practice and the more you work with your team, the better that that team can be.

AM: What was that moment when you realized that you wanted to create this brand and what was the thought process behind the name, Aviator Nation? Your brand is really unique from your 5 stripes, to other designs, its gender fluidity and we love that you can literally look at your Instagram and see you truly building your company and the brand heritage that you present as well as continuity.

PM: It all kind of started with a personal obsession with clothes that are super comfortable and had this colorful look to them. I was living in California at the time and I had a job in a surf shop and I was doing photography. I didn’t go to school for fashion or for business. I went to school for journalism because I always liked to write and to tell stories. When I moved to California, I was interning with Shape Magazine for a little while and I realized that I loved the culture and the stories, but I couldn’t see myself working in an office.

So I got a job at a surf shop and I started to get into the retail world through that. I learned how fun it could be to work at a mom and pop shop and that was the beginning of my experience working in that world. What happened was, I personally had these ideas for clothes that I wanted to find and couldn’t. I would go shopping and the clothes were never soft enough for me. I have always been obsessed with my dads old t-shirts because they are so much softer then anything that was out there. Then I learned, that you could get them at thrift stores and I started shopping there and would look for old t-shirts. I just liked how those broken in garments felt. Then it was of course, not the right fit. So I found myself chopping off the bottom and cutting off the sleeves. I was manipulating these garments that I found at these thrift stores, Then it dawned on me when I found this one shirt – I loved how it fit and I wanted all my shirts to feel like that. I took the t-shirt a part and I laid out paper and made a pattern and bought a sewing machine and I taught myself how to sew. So I literally started doing it for myself because I couldn't find garments that felt the way that I wanted them to feel. Then, when I realized that I could make other garments that fit the way the t-shirt did with patterns and being able to sew, I could do the same thing with the designs that I wanted. So if I wanted sunsets or stripes, it was pretty simple because my skillset was there. I didn’t have experience. So I cut out stripes and put them on this garment and it was looking super cool and it was simple. So the reason why we do this applique technique now (which is essentially sewing fabric ontop of another fabric) was because that’s how we started in terms of creating a design to put on the garments.

Once I started to do that, I was wearing the clothes around town in Venice and wearing it to the surf shop that I worked at and everyone around me was asking about it, the brand that I was wearing and I told them that I made it myself. Not only did it feel good but the clothes felt good because I made them with this comfortable material from soft old t-shirts and the colors were attracting people.

AM: So where did the name come from?

PM: So growing up, my favorite movie was Top Gun and I had the movie poster on my wall, I still have it in my office. I just love that movie and I love the style of Tom Cruise and Kelly McGinnis and the aviator sunglasses were just such a key part of that style and that look. When I was little, I always had aviator sunglasses and all through high school and college – aviator sunglasses were always my go to. So I had this vintage collection of aviator sunglasses on my desk when I was thinking about the name for the company and I looked at them and thought, “I really love aviator sunglasses and I really love that word aviator and I feel that this brand is going to bring people together.” I always thought that aviator shades did that. I could have had a long night in college and then put on those shades and then I would look great. The aviator sunglasses were just the go to and I wanted the clothes to be the go to as well.

AM: Completely agree with everything that you’ve said as we’ve styled it in our shoots and have had great feedback and when we wear it around the city, the feedback is always so much fun. Especially when rocking the velvet ones which have such a retro vibe to them. How do you get your inspiration when you are creating the line?

PM: A lot of times, I will randomly think of something that I want to put into clothes. Sometimes things just pop in my head and I just want to see what that color combo would look like. Color is just a part of my brain. I’m always wanting to put colors together. I have Pantone books everywhere and I am always looking at putting them together. I walk around with a Ziploc bag of fabric in all different colors everywhere I go. I’ll be at the beach and I’ll say, I want to see this color with this color – so it just comes to me and I’m surrounded by old things all the time. I go to flea markets all the time because I love finding vintage stuff. I have hundreds of vintage skate boards and surf boards. I’ve always been really into retro stuff from the 70s and I have a ton of vinyl – album covers are a part of my inspiration because I’m playing vinyl all the time. I think that the old stuff that’s around me plays into it as well as it’s always around me. The color thing is just something inside of me – it’s weird.

Sometimes I’ll go to rock shows and different concerts. It’s what I do for entertainment. I don’t go to bars a lot, I’m not extremely social but I do love concerts and festivals and things like that. I remember when I thought about the velvet for example. I was backstage at a rock show and I was inspired by velvet curtains and things like that. It definitely came from Rock & Roll and there’s a lot of velvet in that world. I think sometimes my lifestyle whether it’s being at Venice Beach or at a rock show plays a little bit into my inspiration.

AM: In terms of product assortment, you have apparel, accessories and surfboards. Do you see other things that could grow into Aviator Nation as it really is a lifestyle brand.

PM: Yeah totally, I love creating new things whether it’s clothing, stores or whatever. I love building things from scratch. I see myself creating new products. It’s funny because I want to do everything, but I force myself to not do that because it could be taken the wrong way. I don't want to be that brand that tries to do everything. I really do try to draw it back and look at what I am really passionate about right now and focus on that. We just came out with outerwear this last year and that was something that I was super passionate about, but that we weren’t doing. I love snowboarding and I love the mountains and I'm always throwing on a jacket. I feel that the right jacket is a game changer and a jacket that you can travel with, stands up to the elements, it’s not too hot or too cold. I found this insulation that was kind of beyond what is being used right now – even with high end performance jackets. I want the best quality because it’s for me too and I like pushing the envelope on quality. Anyone who has my jackets understands. It's a super lightweight jacket that’s extremely warm and it packs down into your backpack. I’m also passionate about high top tennis shoes so right now I have a big collection myself and I’m always thinking that it would be cool to make shoes and doing a collection of high tops. Stuff that makes sense for me personally that I’m passionate about because it is authentic. For people that are fans of the brand, they’re all about authentic. I think everyone is becoming that way and it works well for business. This brand has been this way from day one as I started it making it for myself. If the quality is not good enough for me, then I am not going to put it on the shelf. I’m extremely picky.

AM: We appreciate the pickiness of it. You can literally travel in it without a problem, it photographs well, it‘s great and so soft.

PM: It’s crazy comfortable. I’m turning down washes all the time. I’m like that’s not good enough, it’s not soft enough. The people that work in my production at times they’re like, this is crazy this is soft and I’m like, “not soft enough.” I feel that the best feeling is like you don’t have clothes on at all. So if we’re going to make clothes, we should make them feel like you’re not. That’s what I like to think that the sweats feel like – it’s just an extension of your body.

AM: It seems like you partner with a lot of events including Austin City Limits Music Festival and Global Citizen. How important is it for you to grow your brand and to be aligned in that way?

PM: Yeah, it’s super important. It really happened organically. When I opened my first store on Abbott Kenney and built that stage on the patio, that was kind of the beginning of getting involved in the music world. I always say, “if you build it, they will come” very field of dreams. That’s what I did. I built this stage and I had all kinds of artists wanting to play on our little patio in Venice. Doing that was such a cool experience. Getting to know the artist and creating a place where bands get to play – Foster the People rolled in there one day and played on the stage and it was a couple of years before they got cool. That was happening all the time and now I have other stores with stages as a lot of my stores have these stages and I’m always saying yes to artists that want to play. It’s so fun and one day someone from Austin City Limits came into the store in Venice and they loved what I was doing. I really personally love Austin City Limits Music Festival and so when I met that person it was such a unique moment. When I did that festival, it was funny because I go to music festivals a lot – it’s part of my life and I’m always kind of feeling like I don’t want music festivals to be super commercialized and I felt like that old school vibe. I like to imagine what Woodstock would have been. I love when festivals aren’t super commercialized and built up and the one Austin really is a lot less commercialized than others. The thing is, it’s surrounded by trees and grass. Another big thing is that I felt like the artists as I’m friends with a number of artists now and was back then too – they were 3 years into having stages and a lot of the artists were burnt out I noticed – especially on the festivals. It was something that was fun but exhausting. They’d show up, they’d play their show and get back on the road. I have a lot of friends in the music industry and know how it is when they’re going on tour as I’ve actually joined friends on tour too. It’s grueling. So when the people at Austin City Limits came to my store and asked for me to get involved into what they were doing, they wanted to know that if I could do anything, what would I do?

It was an interesting moment and I said I wanted to do something for the artist. They just have these basic trailers backstage and they have their beer or water. They play their show and then they leave. Back in the day, the artist used to sit around and play music together and sit around and get to know one another. I know that because of my friends in the industry and their parents are people like Grand Nash. People who were in that world, I read a lot of books, seen a lot of documentaries and I know about how it was back in the day. I’m always about restoring the past. I told them, “what if I built a teepee that was backstage” and they could hang out there and it was just a place for the artist to chill in between their sets. They loved it and thought it was amazing. They let me build a teepee backstage where only the artists and friends and family of the artists could be and I designed it, drew it and had these Native American guys make it out of fabric and hand painted it. It has this cool rainbow look to it and we set it up backstage at ACL and it was the most incredible thing that I ever witnessed. Basically, I set it up and then bought some old vintage guitars and instruments and had it in there, candles, a couch and blankets. It was super chill and not commercial at all. They asked if I wanted signage and I said no, I just wanted a teepee. I made t-shirts that I was going to give to the artists as a gift and I make clothes and I wanted to make cool ones. The artists come to concerts but they don’t really get gear. So I wanted to make a shirt that I felt that they would wear and not the typical concert shirt. So I designed this shirt that was a vintage cool looking shirt that said Austin City Limits on it, but it was a cool one that didn’t look like the typical concert shirt. On the back of it, it actually said, “It’s All About the Music.” I felt that it was all about the artists and a festival is better if the artists is super stoked. Literally all day for the full weekend, artists would come into the teepee and they would sit down, pick up a guitar and jam out. We had The Alabama Shakes and Phoenix jamming out together.

We had Leon Bridges come in and sit down and start playing a song. He said he had just made up the song by being inspired in the teepee to make this song. It’s exactly what I wanted to happen and all the artists really started to love the teepee. It was a dream come true to come up with this environment. I think it made their experience at Austin City Limits so much better because it was so much more grounding for them, they made friends and they had the t-shirt.

Everyone wanted the t-shirt because they knew it wasn’t available but they wanted to know where they could get it. It was authentic to the artist because they had met us and hung out with us, the shirts were super soft and they probably had a bag filled with dirty clothes. Now we have done it with ACL since 2012, I’ve done a lot more festival shirts for others as well. We do the same thing where we take the teepee and it allows us to get to know the artists backstage and we make sure to make pieces where it doesn’t feel like the typical concert tee.

My thing is, I want to make gear that people will want to continue on wearing. As the customer myself, I will buy a shirt at a festival and not wear it. What you want to do is to wear a shirt that is super soft from the start and that you will want to wear. I make festival gear that is more fashionable and that people will want to continue wearing.

AM: Do you see the brand being at NYFW or at Miami Fashion Week?

PM: I think that with the swim collection, Miami Fashion Week is a great way to showcase that and I really love Miami. We did a small fashion show at the Soho House Miami when I first released our swim collection with the new velvet collection. I got invited to be a part of an event right at the time that it was coming out and it made sense. It was fun, a small show and I think doing fashion shows is really cool. I love putting the brand in front of a lot of people that love fashion. I think that sweats and swimwear really is fashionable. I don’t say no when I think that something comes about that makes sense doing. I think NYFW and Miami Fashion Week is great for us.

AM: Do you sponsor or have any athlete ambassadors?

PM: We have several athletes that shop with us that come in and a lot of times, managers reach out to us and ask if you want to sponsor. We’ll send them things and it’s about people that specifically and personally like the brand. We don’t have any specific sponsorships but we have a lot of athletes that shop in the store.

AM: As someone who is active and an athlete, what are 3 things that are always in your bag when you’re heading to the beach to relax or to surf?

PM: When I go to the beach to surf, I always have to have my speaker – a portable one that I love and I take everywhere I go. I always have a good book – I love to read and I’m into business books. It’s interesting to read on philosophies that entrepreneurs have taken. Maybe my ukele – I grew up learning whatever instruments I could get my hands on and I have always liked this instrument because it’s small and easy to carry around.

IG @PaigeMycoskie

You can hear Paige Mycoskie on our show, BUNGALOW SK which is a part of Athleisure Studio, our multi-media podcast network! Make sure to subscribe to find out when the episode drops. You can hear it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts and wherever you enjoy listening to your favorite podcast.

S1. E5. | BUNGALOW SK WITH PAIGE MYCOSKIE OF AVIATOR NATION

On today's episode of Bungalow SK, we talk to a creative that we have loved since popping on our radar on CBS' The Amazing Race. Paige Mycoskie who understands the importance of branding as well as giving her customers the comfort they need to maneuver throughout their day. As the founder of Aviator Nation, she fused her love for design, music and a retro aesthetic to create a brand that is known for its signature stripes and good vibes for men and women. With her brand popping up on athletes and being styled on such shows as TNT's Animal Kingdom as well as being included in photoshoots at Athleisure Mag, we find out how being at the right place at the right time has been a significant benefit to Paige's endeavors.

S1. E4. | BUNGALOW SK WITH SKINTE

On today's episode of Bungalow SK, we're focused on women's health which includes talking about collagen and natural elements that boost our bodies. In the news, we have heard about the importance of it for our bodies and why it's a vital resource. I sit down with the Co-Founders of SkinTE to talk with Dr. Amy Bader, Elizabeth Zieg and Bassima Mroue abut how they came together to create this ingestible beauty lifestyle brand with investors that include Spanx founder Sara Blakely, the iconic Diane Von Furstenberg, Supermodel Karlie Kloss and Bare Minerals' founder Leslie Blodgett and Brian Lee (of LegalZoom.com, ShoeDazzle.com, Honest Co and Art of Sport) . We talk about how they solved a problem by incorporating grass fed collagen with tea and essential ingredients, the importance of a positive corporate culture that believes in proper work balance and where we can expect to see them next.

S1. E3. | BUNGALOW SK WITH HILL HARPER

On today's Bungalow SK, we head to Detroit to talk to acclaimed actor, Hill Harper of ABC's Good Doctor, host of Wondery's Legal Wars, activist and philanthropist to explore his transition from law school to acting in an array of popular shows. In addition to talking about his acting career as well as one of our favorite podcasts that we noted in Athleisure Mag's Bingely Streaming, he shares the importance of financial maintenance, awareness and education.

S1. BONUS EPISODE. | BUNGALE SK WITH MOULIN ROUGE X MOULIN ROUGE BROADWAY

Today's bonus episode of Bungalow SK is pretty exciting and full of glam! I remember when Moulin Rouge came out with Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor. There was so much to love about the visuals, performances, music and more. In addition, it's when I became mesmerized by power duo Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martine. This film was made in partnership with the historic Moulin Rouge which debuted in 1889 and continues to have phenomenal shows in Paris. Flash forward to this summer when I sat down with principal dancer, Claudine Van Den Bergh Cook and Fanny Rabasse who has worked for a number of years as PR for the Moulin Rouge. They sat with me in Times Square to talk about the historic Moulin Rouge, the shows, how Claudine preps and of course, the costumes as well as how and where they are produced. We also talked about Moulin Rouge Broadway which just opened here in NYC as an extension of the partnership between this iconic performance house and Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martine. It's also interesting to note that during NYFW The Blonds which are known for their over the top style and celeb filled runway shows will be partnering with Moulin Rouge Broadway to present their SS20 line.

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

S1. E2. | BUNGALOW SK WITH STEFAN WEITZ

On today's episode of Bungalow SK, we talk about the importance of gut health and the journey that Stefan Weitz took in his personal health when diagnosed with MS in order to create recently launched Jetson, probiotic pills that are distributed seasonally via subscription. We talk about his days at Microsoft, being involved in the creation of Bing and how gut health is linked to so many things that take place in your body. 

Bungalow SK is a member of the multimedia podcast network, Athleisure Studio, part of Athleisure Media and Athleisure Mag. You can see our show notes at AthleisureStudio.com/Bungalow-SK and follow us on Instagram at @Bungalow.SK to find out who we’re talking with as well as what are guests are up to. Bungalow SK is hosted and Executive Produced by Kimmie Smith and Executive Produced by Paul Farkas. The music for Bungalow SK is Renaissance, performed by FOREVERT.

S1. E1. | BUNGALOW SK WITH BRAD GORESKI

On today's episode of Bungalow SK, we talk with Brad Goreski. We first met him on BRAVO's The Rachel Zoe Project as he stepped into the world of styling and being her assistant, he continued on with the network's It's A Brad Brad World and appearing on a number of shows including being a co-host on E! Fashion Police for a number of seasons and during Awards Season on E! Live From the Red Carpet where he gives the inside scoop on who he dressed, who is wearing what and making predictions on what designers we will see on the red carpets. His career has included being a Creative Director at Kate Spade and dressing a number of coveted celebs including Emily Ratajkowski, Demi Moore, Rashida Jones and Jessica Alba to name a few. He's known for rocking dapper style and never being afraid of color and patterns for his clients or himself.

With summer well on its way, we took some time to talk about how he got into the industry, how he is inspired to dress his clients, the importance of sunglasses - summer's accessory and MET Gala looks that he loved this year.

Bungalow SK is a member of the multimedia podcast network, Athleisure Studio, part of Athleisure Media and Athleisure Mag. You can see our show notes at AthleisureStudio.com/Bungalow-SK and follow us on Instagram at @Bungalow.SK to find out who we’re talking with as well as what are guests are up to. Bungalow SK is hosted and Executive Produced by Kimmie Smith. The music for Bungalow SK is Renaissance, performed by FOREVERT.

STYLE INSPIRED WITH BRAD GORESKI

We loved Brad Goreski when we first met him on BRAVO's The Rachel Zoe Project as he stepped into the world of styling and being her assistant, he continued on with the network's It's A Brad Brad World and appearing on a number of shows including being a co-host on E! Fashion Police for a number of seasons and during Awards Season on E! Live From the Red Carpet where he gives the inside scoop on who he dressed, who is wearing what and making predictions on what designers we will see on the red carpets. His career has included being a Creative Director at Kate Spade and dressing a number of coveted celebs including Emily Ratajkowski, Demi Moore, Rashida Jones and Jessica Alba to name a few. He's known for rocking dapper style and never being afraid of color and patterns for his clients or himself.

With summer officially starting this month, we took some time to talk about how he got into the industry, how he is inspired to dress his clients, the importance of sunglasses - summer's accessory and last month's MET Gala looks that he loved this year.

ATHLEISURE MAG: When did you know that you wanted to be in fashion and ultimately know that you wanted to be a stylist?

BRAD GORESKI: I think I knew from a very young age. I always loved fashion and putting looks together for myself and for my mom. I was always so aware of what everyone was wearing that I feel like this is kind of exactly what I was supposed to be doing. But the real turning point is when I was in college and I was looking for a summer internship and I landed at one in Vogue in NYC and the rest is kind of history. I just knew that it was where I wanted to be. I feel very lucky that I have been able to work in an industry that has been so welcoming to me for many many years now and I feel very very lucky!

AM: How do you get inspiration when it comes to styling your clients?

BG: Social media is such a great place to get inspired. There is everything from the past, present and future available to us there. I follow a variety of different people and different pages. It’s so fun to be able to see something like I noticed an old image of Marilyn Monroe the other day in a great black lace blouse, pencil skirt and heels and just the whole vibe of the setup! I said to myself, “I have to do this with one of my clients this summer.” It was just a really beautiful summery look and there are so many great trends this summer as well. It’s just really fun to keep up with these trends on social media.

AM: What are 3 trends this summer that we should be thinking about in terms of creating our dynamic look?

BG: Well one of the big trends that I’m loving in terms of the summer for men and for women is really bright bold color. Whether that’s a bright red or a royal blue or even something as crazy as a bright yellow. Thinking about bold color is one of my favorite trends! You can do that even in suiting with a blazer or even in shorts.

The second one is florals – florals are everywhere right now whether it’s a bigger floral or more of a micro floral – a smaller one – I think florals for men and for women is a nice summery way to kind of add a little bit of interest to your wardrobe.

Of course, number 3 is always having a good pair of sunglasses. I’m so happy to be partnering with the Vision Council to be talking about sunglasses and protecting your eyes this summer and also the best ways that you can purchase a pair of sunglasses and the steps that you can go through to be thinking about when you are buying a pair of sunglasses. You always want to be protecting your eyes and buying those that protect yourself from UVA and UVB rays. You want to look for that little sticker that we’re all familiar with on your sunglasses that let you know that they protect you from this. You also want to be able to have the right comfort and fit. You want to get a pair of sunglasses that really suits the shape of your face. Then you need to look at your lifestyle. What do you do throughout the day? Are you super active, are you running errands, do you run around with your kids? Next, what’s your style? Are you looking more towards a Marilyn Monroe style that is more vintage and has a cat eye or are you looking to be a little more classic and looking to do an aviator?

AM: These are great points and there are some people that opt not to wear sunglasses! What do you believe are some of the misconceptions that they have that results in them not wearing them?

BG: I think that there are a lot of myths out there about sunglasses. I think that some people believe that if it is cloudy outside, that they are not getting any UVA/UVB exposure. Whether it’s cloudy out or not, you are always at risk of UVA/UVB exposure. I think that also when people look at their sunglasses and see that it has a super dark lens, they think that they are getting the ultimate in protection. The only way that you know that you’re getting protection from UVA/UVB protection is when you see that little sticker that says that. You want to look for it for sure. I think that The Vision Council says that whenever you’re out during the day that you should be protecting your eyes with a pair of sunglasses.

AM: These are great points that we should always be mindful. As someone that I know travels quite a bit, what are 3 things that you tend to carry with you in your carryon when you travel?

BG: Very good question because I am taking off on a flight this afternoon! So, snacks – I always have to have them with me. I like to have my own with me because I like to eat on the airplane and it gets me through. I always have some bars, a little treat, I like to carry some almond butter with me. I always have earplugs with me as well because I like to have just quiet. I also like to have my headphones with me as well. The last flight I took, my head phones fell out of my bag in the backseat of the car and I really had to do some centering work. I was like, what am I going to do for 6 hours?

AM: That is the worst!!!! We have been fans of yours for a long time and love seeing you on E! Live from the Red Carpet. As the Met Gala taking place last month with its focus on Camp, what were your 3 favorite looks from this year’s carpet?

BG: Ooo that’s a good question! I am going to say that I loved Cardi B in Thom Browne, Katy Perry in the Moschino chandelier and I love Emily Ratajkowski in Peter Dundas I believe.

IG @MrBradGoreski

PHOTOS CREDITS | 1st pic BRAVO | 2nd pic SharpShooter |

Read the June Issue of Athleisure Mag and see Style Inspired with Brad Goreski in mag.

You can hear Brad Goreski's interview this month on our show, Bungalow SK which is a part of Athleisure Studio, our multi-media podcast network! Make sure to subscribe to find out when the episode drops. You can hear it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and wherever you enjoy listening to your favorite podcast.

INTRODUCING BUNGALOW SK

These days, your calendar is supercharged and you find yourself having to pencil in when you need to breathe! As we’re always moving and grooving between our offices, home, studio and out, we could all take some moments to spend time and hear from our faves in pop culture on what they’re up to and how they keep it together as well.

Hosted by Kimmie Smith, a Celeb Fashion Stylist, Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director of Athleisure Mag and Host of a number of shows in our multimedia podcast network, Athleisure Studio. When you plug into Bungalow SK, you’ll get to hang out with those that regardless of their background, are juggling their busy lives and have words of empowerment to keep us motivated through our day.