FOOD FOUND HER | CHEF KARDEA BROWN

Food storytelling has been something that we have talked about multiple times. In enjoying those bites, you’re able to get the intention that the chef has whether it’s their style of food, infusing a culture that they represent or are passionate about as well as how they want you to feel! Once you consume it, you have memories that are set that you will come back to again and again!

Chef Kardea Brown is the host of Delicious Miss Brown which gives us recipes and stories about Southern cuisine from the low country that highlight Gullah culture on Food Network! She is also a judge on the same network for Spring Baking Championship alongside Nancy Fuller and Duff Goldman! We wanted to know more about how she got into the culinary industry, her passion for food, having her show, her partnership at PEPCID, and upcoming projects that we should keep an eye out for! We talk about how food found her, coming to TV, being nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award and being a New York Times Bestselling Author.

We also delve into the issues surrounding food insecurity and her attendance on June 12th for Chef’s Tribute to Citymeals on Wheels fundraiser in New York, an annual tasting event, where PEPCID is the exclusive heartburn brand sponsor and 100% of public proceeds help Citymeals prepare and deliver nourishing meals to older New Yorkers in need. She teamed up with PEPCID, the #1 doctor recommended over the counter acid reducer brand, and is proud to support their efforts in the fight against food insecurity with Meals on Wheels America through their $50,000 sponsorship.

ATHLEISURE MAG: It’s such a pleasure to speak with you as we have been such fans of your show! Where does your love of food come from?

CHEF KARDEA BROWN: It would have to be not only the city that I come from, but my grandmother and my mother! They are some cooking women. They absolutely love cooking and I believe that it is one of our first loves. We have always found ways to spend time in the kitchen. I grew up around women that really loved being in the kitchen and I love food you know! Good food is always good for the heart and the soul!

AM: When did you realize that you wanted to be a chef?

CHEF KB:  You know, I believe that it chose me. My first initial thought was that I was going to become a social worker and that I was going to work in the not-for-profit sector, in my life. The universe would say that it was a bit of a course redirection like, “this is great, you’re doing great there, but I think that I have something bigger and better for you there that’s going to involve food.” That’s how it kinda chose me and I’ve always loved cooking, but I never thought that I was going to do it for a living! It was kind of like, this is your purpose and this is your mission. Here it is!  

AM: It’s so great to hear that! How did you get your own show, Delicious, Miss Brown which we love and we also love that you talk about your background coming from Gullah influences and things like that. How did that all come together?

CHEF KB: So, I was dating a guy at the time. We are no longer together, but we’re still great friends! I’m pretty sure that I owe my career to him! He signed me up to be on a show for the Cooking Channel and out of thousands of submissions, they chose me to do the show with Bobby Dean and it was all about taking that Southern food and making it light and fresh. He wanted to go to a house of someone who cooked heavy Southern meals and kind of flip that and make it into a lighter meal. So, I did that show and it didn’t get picked up by the network, but the network’s executives saw the show and said, “man, she’s really great! Has she thought about doing food television?” At the time, I was working at Big Brothers, Big Sisters and I wasn’t thinking about doing food or cooking on TV! Somehow, I ended up being on several shows after that and eventually, they pitched me to the network to have my own in the kitchen show and I would say about 5 years later, I got my opportunity to host my own show and now I’m in my 8th season!  

AM: That is incredible and congratulations on your recent nomination for your Daytime Emmy Award as a Culinary Host and in your category is Guy Fieri, Emeril Lagasse, Justin Sutherland, Andrew Zimmern, and Ina Garten! That is amazing!

CHEF KB: Blew my mind! To be mentioned in the same room and category with these greats, with these people that I grew up watching is insane and so it’s a great filling!

PHOTO COURTESY | Pepcid

AM: You’re going to be part of the 36th Annual Chef’s Tribute to Citymeals on Wheels, tell me about this and why you’re excited to be part of it?  

CHEF KB: Oh my gosh! I personally use PEPCID in my life! If you have ever seen any of my shows, I cook – you know I like to fry things, I like my spicy foods and all of the things that give you heartburn and so when the opportunity was presented, I thought it was a no-brainer.

The Chefs Tribute that is going on Jun 12th – I am really excited to be there! It’s for a great cause with Citymeals. They’re combatting food insecurity and that’s something that is very important to me because what I do for a living is to teach people how to cook. I can’t do that for people, especially when the demographic that watches Delicious Miss Brown, it’s usually between the ages of 25 – 56 and even older! So a lot of these people watch the show and I want them to be able to have the opportunity to be able to go to their local supermarket or have food delivered that makes my job easier! I want to be able to show you how to cook it and I need you to be able to have the food in order to be able to do that! So Citymeals is doing a really great job of that and combating food insecurity especially here in NY.

For this event taking place, PEPCID is the only heartburn brand that will be there and they have personally sponsored Meals on Wheels America with $50,000. So as soon as I heard of the initiative and PEPCID’s involvement, I said, sign me up!  

AM: That’s definitely exciting.

What is it that you enjoy about taking PEPCID? Do you take it before you eat something or is it after for those that have yet to use this?

CHEF KB: So, you don’t have to take it before. I usually take it after especially when I kind of feel the heartburn kind of starting. I know immediately that when I eat something, especially at night, I might eat something spicy or tomato-based which we do a lot in the Gullah culture. When I eat my red rice, I know that I will have to take some PEPCID immediately after to have a good night’s rest! Even when I film my show, I’m tasting, I’m eating constantly. I can’t do that if I’m suffering from heartburn. If you have ever suffered from heartburn, you know that it’s not pleasant. I take PEPCID immediately, it works just like that and it makes my job that much easier!  

AM: In addition to you hosting Delicious Miss Brown, you’re also judging Spring Baking Championship on the same network! We’re also huge fans of this show! What are you looking forward to with this show?

CHEF KB: Oh my gosh, Spring Baking Championship is one of those shows that I really stumbled in and it’s an amazing show! I have learned so much. It took me awhile to get into baking. I have always been a savory person, but now I do both! But now that I feel that being part of this show has taught me so much and being on the judging panel with Nancy Fuller everyone’s grandma and then Duff Goldman who is a pastry and cake genius! I’ve learned so much and I’m just really excited about what’s to come with the show and many more seasons! The show did really well last season so I’m really excited about more season with Spring Baking!

AM: It’s such a fun show and everyone is so creative! We couldn’t do any of those things, but we always love hearing Duff talk and how excited he is when he’s eating things!

CHEF KB: Yes! He really does get into it and he’s like the cake genius! He is the mechanics of the show and I feel like I bring in the heart where I’m like, “oh this is good, girl!” You know, that type of thing.

AM: You need both!

CHEF KB: Yes, you do! It’s a good balance!

AM: Last year, you dropped your cookbook, The Way Home: A Celebration of Sea Islands Food and Family with Over 100 Recipes, what was it like working on this project and you’re also a New York Times Best Selling Author!

CHEF KB: Yes, it was really fun! It was my first cookbook so I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into, but it was a learning lesson and it was an experience. I’m really happy about it because for so many years and actually decades, my family had these recipes within my family, but we never had a way to keep those recipes beyond word of mouth. So now, there’s a place where recipes can live and I really feel like I’m making my great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother proud by creating history within our families! Being that it is right out of the gate and it made it to the NYT Bestsellers was just mind-blowing to me. A little girl from Charleston, South Carolina had big dreams and I never dreamt that it would be this.

AM: Your journey has been amazing and we’d love to know more about your frozen food line! What’s it going to be and what can we expect from it?

CHEF KB: Oh my gosh! I can’t give all the details yet, but it’s going to be with a major distributor/retailer, and it’s going to be all the things that everyone loves about the South and the low country as many of the foods that you have probably seen on my show or people who have watched it who say, “man, I wish I could taste that!” You will be able to soon!

AM: We can’t wait to see it! Just looking at all of the things that you have done in your career, these are really big moment! Food is such a big vertical at Athleisure Mag, what do you want your legacy to be whether it’s on the culinary side or being an overall entrepreneur?

CHEF KB: You know, I want my legacy to be that I wasn’t afraid to take that leap of faith and that I somehow landed on my feet. If anyone ever has a dream, a hope, or something to aspire to – just do it! I literally did it and I had no clue what to do and somehow I ended up in a very great place! I want my legacy to be that I jumped, I landed, and it did well! If I can do it, anyone else can!

IG @kardeabrown

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

S2. E7. | ATHLEISURE KITCHEN WITH CHEF NICK WALLACE

On today's Athleisure Kitchen, we hop into the kitchen with Chef Nick Wallace who we enjoyed seeing his passion and love for Jackson, Mississippi. In addition to being the Founder and Executive Chef of Nick Wallace Culinary, Nick Wallace Catering and Nissan Cafe by Wallace, we enjoyed seeing him as a finalist in Top Chef Season 19 in Houston, Chopped episodes, winner of Food Network Canada's Fire Masters and he appeared on CNN's Nomad with Carlton McCoy. We talk about the importance of Mississippi when it comes to creating his dishes and bringing awareness to the culinary scene there. We also talk about why giving back to others is an essential and also how we can focus on creating great meals when we're busy that still have love and full flavors!

You can stay in the loop on who future guests are by visiting us at AthleisureStudio.com/AthleisureKitchen and on Instagram at @AthleisureKitchen and @AthleisureStudio. Athleisure Kitchen is hosted by Kimmie Smith and is Executive Produced by Paul Farkas and Kimmie Smith. It is mixed by the team at Athleisure Studio. Our theme music is "This Boy" performed by Ilya Truhanov.

S2. E6. | ATHLEISURE KITCHEN WITH CHEF JUSTIN SUTHERLAND

On today's episode of Athleisure Kitchen, I catch up with one of our faves, Chef Justin Sutherland owner of Handsome Hog and Big E, winner of Iron Chef America, Top Chef Season 16 finalist, co-host of TRU Tv's Fast Foodies and TNT/TBS' Taste the Culture and author of Northern Soul which is out now! 

We catch up with Chef Sutherland on being from the Twin Cities and the culinary landscape of Minnesota which includes an array of chefs from Andrew Zimmern, Yia Vang, himself and more. We talk about his approach to food, owning an array of restaurants, delve into his cookbook which presents Southern recipes with a Northern flair, being a culinary consultant for Allianz Field - home of the MLS' Minnesota United FC and how this sport is so global in nature from viewing it to those who watch and meeting their tastebuds expectations. We also talk about his co-founded apparel line, Hybrid Nation which focuses on the tagline of In Diversity We Trust as well as their capsule collection with MLS.

You can stay in the loop on who future guests are by visiting us at AthleisureStudio.com/AthleisureKitchen and on Instagram at @AthleisureKitchen and @AthleisureStudio. Athleisure Kitchen is hosted by Kimmie Smith and is Executive Produced by Paul Farkas and Kimmie Smith. It is mixed by the team at Athleisure Studio. Our theme music is "This Boy" performed by Ilya Truhanov.

CREATIVITY RULES | MARIA BRITO

A few years ago, we had the pleasure of meeting Maria Brito who is an award winning NY based contemporary art advisor, author and curator. She is known as a Power Players in the Art World and in 2020 she was named by ARTNEWS as one of the visionaries who gets to shape the art world. With her finger on the pulse of noted and rising artists, we wanted to catch up with her to talk about how she came to this industry, what it's like to build a personal collection versus when she is working with her clientele who includes A-list celebrities, demistifying art, the impact of NFTs on art, what her Art Basel experiences are and finding out about her book which is available next month!

ATHLEISURE MAG: You are a noted and well-respected power player in the art world. Prior to working in this industry, you graduated from Harvard Law School and practiced corporate law for a period of time. How did you come to the world of art and realize that this was an industry that you wanted to work in?

MARIA BRITO: I grew up in a family that prioritized art as a cultivation tool, like a hobby, but not a career. I went to every art exhibition, museum, gallery and artist studio my parents took me to, and it was really a very hands-on training for me. I continued furthering my passion when I moved to New York City in 2000 as a newly-minted attorney and started going to galleries and buying for myself.

AM: When you began building your personal collection of art work, what were you drawn to initially?

MB: I have always been drawn toward figuration, the human form, saturated colors, narratives that move me. I started collecting the work of Black artists way before all the galleries went crazy for them in the past 5 years. I am very proud of that.

AM: Can you tell us the difference between being a curator and an art advisor and why you love working in these areas?

MB: An art advisor is someone who makes suggestions as to what to acquire and why. It brings access and an eye to a client and it’s the eyes and ears of the art collectors who can’t possibly navigate the art market which is a global $300 billion market. A curator is someone who makes sense of how a collection looks together or envisions an art exhibition that has a theme that is coherent. The curator is an editor, the advisor is a strategist.

AM: Why is the concept of buying art and ultimately curating a collection intimidating to those that are outside of the art world?

MB: I think for too long people have had the wrong idea because what gets written in the big newspapers or reported on mainstream TV are the insanely high numbers that happen when a piece of art sells at auction for $200 million - that is intimidating. Or when people go to a gallery and the environment feels sterile and impersonal - that is intimidating. But that’s just the surface, there are thousands of galleries around the world as well as websites and art fairs that sell art priced under $5000 - people have no problem saving up money to buy a handbag for that amount of money or more. But a piece of art bought with a little bit of an understanding of the market can not only multiply its value 100x but also stay with you forever.

AM: How do you demystify the experience so that it’s more approachable to those that want to obtain art for their pieces?

MB: As I mentioned above, there are all sorts of levels in the art market. People take bets in emerging artists because they see the potential. There has never been a better time to collect or to be an artist. Besides, it’s all a cultural dialogue that is formed between the art and the collectors.

AM: I know that you have been an art advisor to Sean Combs, Gwyneth Paltrow and Tracy Anderson – what is the client relationship like in terms of making them aware of pieces, educating them about collections and ensuring that that it meets the requirements that they are looking for?

MB: I have hundreds of clients and they are all important to me. Every client gets a tailored approach with offerings that resonate to who they are and what moves them. That happens because I spend a really good amount of time getting to know my clients’ tastes and their objectives.

AM: Art Basel took place a few weeks back, what’s that time of year like for you and can you give us insight into how you navigate this show personally as well as when you’re doing it with/for your clients?

MB: That’s the busiest and most intense time of the year. It’s an insane amount of work because physically you have to go not only to Art Basel which can easily take 4 or 5 hours to see but to all the satellite fairs like NADA and Untitled which is where all the new talent gets to be shown. Clients come and walk around the aisles with me but the thing is that for the most part almost all of these galleries have circulated PDFs with all the images and the previews of what they will be showing so much of the good stuff has already been sold. That’s why an art advisor is so important for people who want to collect if they can’t dedicate themselves to building all these relationships with galleries.

AM: You curate art shows such as Greek Gotham in Mykonos a few years back with NY based artists such KAWS, Nir Hod, and Erik Parker, what do you look for when you are putting shows together like this?

MB: First I have an idea and then I let the idea marinate inside my head. Then I discuss it with the person who hired me to do the exhibition and then I go for the most talented artists I can approach who actually fit the idea or theme I had.

AM: How do you keep your pulse to the ground in terms of finding new artists and phenomenal pieces?

MB: By pounding the pavement! It’s easy to get complacent and more so now in a world that has gotten so digital but I still go to as many art galleries as I can every week, every art fair I can attend and artists studios when I can.

AM: Your firm Maria Brito LLC, includes your work as an advisor, but it also includes being an interior designer which seems like a natural progression with lifestyling as well as your fashion accessory design collaborations. Tell me about your firm and what your day-to-day is like.

MB: I actually don’t do interior design anymore because as a creative entrepreneur I know when to pivot - that business is good for the money but my mission in this life isn’t to place rugs in people’s homes. With accessories that was a very fun time but I did it for several years as an extension of my relationships with the artists and because there was nothing like it in the market. However, when my advisory practice grew and grew, and the headaches with factories and retailers also grew, I knew it was time to end that too. I still get called to consult with companies on product collaborations and I do that from time-to-time. Last year I launched two fine-porcelain collections with Showfields in collaboration with artists Cydne Coleby and Allison Zuckerman.

AM: Last year, NFTs became the conversation across all sectors of business. What does it mean to the art world and how are you navigating NFTs with artists you work with and clients that you curate/advise for?

MB: NFTs are a very important development in terms of digital ownership and because society is moving more and more toward a digital world, this movement found the perfect timing to flourish. Like everything that's new, right now it’s a lot of confusion, gray areas, speculation, like the wild west. My clients mostly collect art that is tangible, to live with in their homes or their offices, so while NFTs are a lot of fun, they will never replace physical art.

AM: Who are 3 artists that are currently on your radar that you’re looking at that we should be aware of?

MB: Cydne Coleby, Ryan Wilde and Cristina BanBan.

AM: Next month, your book, How Creativity Rules the World: The Art and Business of Turning Your Ideas into Gold drops. What was your motivation behind writing this book and what is it about?

There has never been a more crucial time than now to develop your creativity and your ability to innovate. Coming up with original ideas of value is today’s most precious skill.

MB: I wanted to debunk the myth that creativity is only for the few chosen ones or that it is genetic. Creativity is not about arts and crafts and cutouts or technical wizardry. Creativity is about fostering specific habits, making associations, and standing behind the ideas that come out of them. Whether you are an entrepreneur, an artist, or an employee, your creativity will help you turn the mundane into the extraordinary.

This is a book that helps leaders access their creative potential and profit from their ideas. It took me 13 years to be able to gather all the information that is here, and it’s a comprehensive, practical and actionable blueprint that will get you there even if you don’t think you can be creative and innovative.

I used every technique and everything that’s in this book to transition from a miserable corporate attorney to building an industry-leader seven-figure art advisory business and I have taught the same methods to people in companies as well as to hundreds of entrepreneurs, freelancers, managers, and artists through my online program Jumpstart.

I know these methods work and the time was right to bring them to a greater group of people through a book that is timely and timeless.

AM: Are there any projects that you’re working on that we should keep an eye out for that you’re working on?

MB: Writing a book, selling it at auction to a major publishing house and launching it is like having a full-time job on top of your full-time job. The book is the biggest project that I have worked on in a long time.

IG @mariabrito_ny

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | Maria Brito

Read the FEB ISSUE #75 of Athleisure Mag and see CREATIVITY RULES | Maria Brito 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.

BINGELY BOOKS

From Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner, Taraji P. Henson, comes an inspiring and funny book about family, friends, the hustle required to make it from DC to Hollywood, and the joy of living in your own truth.

With a sensibility that recalls her beloved screen characters, including Yvette, Queenie, Shug, and the iconic Cookie from Empire, yet is all Taraji, the screen actress writes of her family, the one she was born into and the one she created. She shares stories of her father, a Vietnam vet who was bowed but never broken by life's challenges, and of her mother who survived violence both in the home and on DC's volatile streets. Here too she opens up about her experiences as a single mother, a journey some saw as a burden but which she saw as a gift.

| HUNGRY HEART | Jennifer Weiner | Simon & Schuster |

Jennifer Weiner is many things: a bestselling author, a Twitter phenomenon, and an “unlikely feminist enforcer” (The New Yorker). She’s also a mom, a daughter and a sister, a former rower and current clumsy yogini, a wife, a friend, and a reality-TV devotee. In her first essay collection, she takes the raw stuff of her life and spins it into a collection of tales of modern-day womanhood as uproariously funny and moving as the best of Nora Ephron and Tina Fey. Born in Louisiana, raised in Connecticut, educated at Princeton, Jennifer spent years feeling like an outsider (“a Lane Bryant outtake in an Abercrombie & Fitch world”) before finding her people in newsrooms, and her voice as a novelist, activist, and New York Times columnist.

| THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH | Kermit Alexander |
Simon & Schuster |

In this gripping memoir, former San Francisco 49er Kermit Alexander shares his thirty-year-journey to redemption after the brutal murder of his family in South Central Los Angeles.

With vivid detail, former NFL All Pro and president of the NFL Players Association Kermit tells the full story of the murders that took his mother, sister, and nephews.

The Valley of the Shadow of Death begins when his father moves the family from Louisiana to LA. After his career with the San Francisco 49ers, the Los Angeles Rams, and the Philadelphia Eagles, Kermit returned to LA and lived a short drive from his beloved mother.

Bingely Books

At one point in time, everyone has had a roommate experience or two. The very idea of this subject generates an array of stories that could make you laugh, cry or stay confuzzled. 

New York Times best selling author (fresh off Maybe Someday) Colleen Hoover brings the story of Warren to life when he not only gets a roommate but one that is female! He’s excited about the opp;ortunities that could come from this pairing - or maybe not. 

His roommate Bridgette is not the warmest person and at times seems to be calculating. The tension that erupts between the two results into tempers that don’t allow them to be within the same room.  As uncomfortable as his living situation has become, Warren begins to think that anyone who has such a focus on hating everything could have the ability to love. Could all this hate transition into passionate love?

Even after enduring such strains, Warren decides to take on the ultimate challenge with Bridgette and decides he will personally test his theory. As curious as it sounds, he takes it upon himself to not only have her warm up to him but to learn the power of love.

Maybe.

Maybe Not.

| The Age of Reinvention | Karine Tuil |

Life is what you make of it and when this Gatsby-esque International Bestseller tells the story of Elite Manhattan criminal defense attorney, Sam Tahar has a life that looks great on paper. From good looks, the perfect family (include a wife from a prominent family) and well deserved prestige. In all accounts, his life is the perfect story. 

But this picture book lifestyle is not what it seems as Sam Tahar grew up as Samir Tahar. He grew up in a poor Muslim family in a gritty Paris apartment. By all accounts, his life was a social jail and one day he decided that he refused to be imprisoned in a life that was not his destiny. 

All his success sits on a lie and intricate love triangle that took place  years ago during his law school days. Ultimately, his decision brought hijm to America with a new identiy and life. Decades later, the love triangle resurfaces and forces Sam (Samir), his former friend Samuel Baron and Nina  collide to deal with the issue of becoming someone else.

| Catching the Sky | Colten Moore with Keith O’Brien |

Author Colten Moore is a six times X-Games medalist and a pioneer in the space, shares a story about finding happiness, family and the connection between brothers.

This autobiographical novel introduces the Moore family whose generations grew up and were nurtured by the vast prarie in the Texas Panhandle. Unlike previous family members, Colten and Caleb did not embrace working on the land and with cattle. They wanted to follow their dreams athletically and trailblazed within the world of X-Games within freestyle ATV and snowmobile circuits.

Colten shares the path to success via sacrifice, determination and the  challenges that come  when passion drives your path in Catching the Sky. His journey and dreams, which are shared by his brother is a deeply moving account with a fresh year ahead.