Read the MAY ISSUE #125 of Athleisure Mag and see #TRIBEGOALS in mag.
PHOTO CREDIT | Unsplash/Hardik Sharma
Mobile entertainment has evolved into one of the most influential parts of modern digital culture. What once centered primarily around television broadcasts, desktop gaming, and scheduled media consumption now operates within a fast-moving smartphone ecosystem built around continuous access, instant interaction, and personalized experiences. Smartphones no longer function simply as communication tools. For many users, they have become the primary gateway for entertainment throughout the day.
This shift transformed how audiences engage with media, gaming, livestreaming, social platforms, and interactive digital experiences. Traditional entertainment categories are increasingly overlapping as users move fluidly between apps, streaming platforms, games, and real-time digital environments.
The broader entertainment industry has adapted rapidly to these changing habits, and online gaming platforms have evolved alongside them.
One of the biggest changes shaping modern entertainment involves the growing amount of time users spend interacting with mobile devices. Smartphones now support everything from short-form video and livestreaming to mobile payments, gaming apps, podcasts, and social media engagement.
Entertainment consumption no longer revolves around fixed schedules or single-purpose devices.
Modern users increasingly expect immediate access to content and seamless movement between different digital experiences throughout the day. This behavior encouraged entertainment brands to redesign platforms around flexibility, accessibility, and continuous interaction.
The shift is especially noticeable among users who move between streaming apps, mobile games, social platforms, and interactive casino-style environments where they can play slots at MrQ while accessing themed game collections, instant-play mobile features, live jackpot systems, fast-loading interfaces, and app-style navigation optimized for smartphone use. Rather than separating gaming from broader digital entertainment habits, many users now treat these experiences as part of the same mobile ecosystem they interact with daily.
Entertainment increasingly revolves around convenience and accessibility.
Earlier generations of digital media were often passive. Users watched television programs, browsed static websites, or consumed pre-recorded content with limited interaction.
Modern entertainment platforms operate very differently.
Today’s users expect interactive systems that respond dynamically to their behavior. Swipe-based navigation, live comments, personalized recommendations, real-time updates, and responsive interfaces all contribute to more active forms of engagement.
This broader trend influenced industries across streaming, gaming, social media, and digital entertainment platforms.
Interactive design now plays a major role in keeping audiences engaged within increasingly competitive mobile ecosystems.
The rise of streaming platforms also transformed the broader entertainment landscape. Livestreaming, short-form video, creator-driven content, and on-demand viewing introduced audiences to entertainment environments built around immediacy and continuous activity.
Users became accustomed to instant access and constant interaction.
This expectation now extends across many digital experiences beyond streaming itself. Gaming platforms, social media apps, and interactive entertainment services increasingly incorporate similar engagement systems such as live notifications, real-time updates, activity feeds, and dynamic visual interfaces.
The distinction between media consumption and active participation continues becoming less defined.
Modern audiences increasingly prefer entertainment experiences that feel responsive and continuously evolving.
Mobile gaming played a major role in the expansion of smartphone entertainment culture. Earlier gaming ecosystems often required consoles, desktop computers, or specialized devices. Smartphones made gaming far more accessible to wider audiences.
Today, gaming exists as part of everyday mobile activity rather than a separate entertainment category.
Users frequently engage with mobile games during short breaks, commutes, or multitasking sessions throughout the day. This accessibility helped normalize interactive entertainment across a much broader demographic range.
The influence of mobile gaming also encouraged many entertainment platforms to adopt faster interfaces, reward systems, achievement mechanics, and real-time engagement tools that support shorter but more frequent interaction cycles.
Another major trend influencing mobile entertainment involves the dominance of app-based design. Modern users expect platforms to feel intuitive, responsive, and visually streamlined regardless of the entertainment category.
This expectation reshaped digital platform development across industries.
Entertainment apps increasingly prioritize smooth scrolling, touch-friendly navigation, personalized home screens, simplified onboarding, and frictionless interaction systems. Users now compare every digital experience against the best-performing apps already installed on their phones.
The result is a broader shift toward platform simplicity and mobile-first usability throughout the entertainment economy.
Companies capable of creating seamless app-style experiences often gain stronger long-term engagement advantages.
Modern entertainment ecosystems increasingly revolve around real-time interaction. Notifications, live updates, instant recommendations, multiplayer systems, live chat functions, and timed events all help maintain user attention across digital platforms.
This real-time structure reflects broader changes in how audiences consume content.
Instead of waiting for scheduled programming or fixed entertainment sessions, users now engage continuously with digital platforms throughout the day. Entertainment increasingly functions as an always-accessible environment rather than a scheduled activity.
Many gaming and entertainment platforms now operate more like ongoing ecosystems than isolated media products.
The expansion of mobile payment technology also accelerated growth across digital entertainment industries. App-based transactions, digital wallets, biometric authentication, carrier billing, and instant payment systems all reduced friction between users and entertainment platforms.
This convenience significantly improved accessibility.
Users increasingly expect subscriptions, purchases, deposits, and account management systems to function instantly within mobile environments without complicated verification or banking delays.
The integration of fast payment systems helped entertainment ecosystems become more seamless overall while supporting broader growth in smartphone-based digital services.
As mobile entertainment becomes increasingly immersive and accessible, discussions around healthier digital engagement continue growing.
Organizations such as Ofcom continue researching digital media behavior, online platform accessibility, and evolving communication technologies that influence how users interact with entertainment environments.
Balancing innovation, accessibility, and responsible digital design remains an important part of the broader conversation surrounding modern entertainment ecosystems.
As platforms continue competing for user attention, responsible interaction models will likely become even more important.
The rapid expansion of smartphone-based entertainment demonstrates how deeply mobile technology reshaped modern digital behavior. Users increasingly expect entertainment experiences to be instant, interactive, visually engaging, and accessible from anywhere.
Traditional media boundaries continue fading as gaming, streaming, social interaction, and digital entertainment become more interconnected within mobile ecosystems.
As smartphones, app design, real-time systems, and mobile infrastructure continue evolving, entertainment platforms will likely become even more immersive and integrated into daily life.
The future of digital entertainment will not revolve around isolated media formats. It will be shaped by how seamlessly different forms of interactive content fit into the everyday habits of mobile-first audiences.
People unwind differently after a long day. Some grab dinner with friends. Some head out for wine night. Others are happy scrolling on Instagram for hours. But the one thing that can consistently reset you mentally and physically? Your home.
A calming home can catch you before stress does. Cozy corners make you stay put for a while. Natural decor silences the buzz in your head. The right home features help your body relax, too. Here are seven wellness-inspired home features to help you unwind mentally and physically.
Cluttered rooms look like they hold onto stress. Tight layouts make everything feel louder. A home that helps you unwind needs breathing room. That’s why empty pockets of space matter.
Open spaces create that mental pause. Fewer barriers. More flow between rooms. Consider shifting to an open layout for the living room. Or building more negative space into your bedroom. Let furniture sit with intention. Don’t let it crowd every corner. Keep walking paths clear. That way, movement is easy. The home feels lighter. Your thoughts follow.
Dark rooms aren’t exactly the best for lifting the spirits. They make mornings feel slower. But light changes that. It softens edges in a room. It effortlessly makes everything more awake. Including your senses.
Work towards getting tons of natural light in your home. Big windows in living areas help. But smaller spaces matter, too. A home gym with sunlight coming through while you move changes the energy of a workout. Kitchens feel fresher. Hallways feel less closed in. Keep window coverings light. That way, the sun can come through easily during the day. You get a home that feels alert during the day and calm in the evening.
Meditation is one of the best relaxation techniques. It lets the mind stop running in circles. It helps you slow down. But in a busy home, it can be hard to find space to meditate. So, carve out a dedicated corner specifically for that purpose.
Set up a small area to be your meditation corner. Set up your favorite mat there. Keep the space clear of clutter. That way, your eyes don’t get distracted. Pick a spot with low foot traffic. Add one calming detail. Maybe a plant or a soft lamp. The goal is calm. Your brain will link that corner with slowing down. It becomes easier to step into meditation mode when you need to.
Homes can look too sharp when everything is metal or glass. It looks clean. But it can also feel cold after a long day. Wood changes that mood. It adds warmth to the space. That warmth helps the body ease into rest. It signals the mind to slow down.
You can start small. Wooden floors. A mahogany coffee table. These touches bring a grounded feeling into daily spaces.
Love that feeling? Take it further outdoors. A timber-framed patio becomes an extension of that calm. It can turn into a morning yoga spot. Or an evening stretch space. Just make sure to get a good local supplier for your timber frames. For example, in Northern Virginia, wood has to handle shifting humidity and colder winters. Materials must be carefully chosen to avoid warping. If you’re in that area, work with a reputable timber frame supplier in Ashburn, VA. They understand local conditions and can guide builds that stay strong through the seasons.
Your nervous system responds with a calmer baseline in greener spaces. That means lower stress and a slower mental pace for you. So, consider adding refreshing indoor plants to your spaces.
Position your houseplants with intention. Choose a few larger plants for corners and smaller ones for shelves or tables. Rotate them occasionally. That way, they get the right amount of sunlight. Place them where you naturally rest. Make watering them a part of your unwinding routine. Your home will instantly feel fresh and relaxing.
People often see bathrooms as mere functional spaces. But they’re one of the easiest places to build a reset zone. A spa-inspired bathroom turns routine into moments of relaxation. Especially after a long day.
Decorate your bathroom to mimic a spa. Focus on soft lighting. Add warm towels for deep comfort. Keep counters clear for zero visual noise. Play with essential oils and diffusers to create a calming fragrance. Put face masks on display. Anything that can help you build a sense of a soft, comfortable life whenever you freshen up.
A busy mind needs a place that pulls it out of overthinking mode. Screens keep the brain alert too long. That’s why scrolling in bed doesn’t always help the body fully relax. A quiet corner for reading creates a softer landing for the mind. That’s why a reading nook is amazing for mental wellness.
Make your reading nook simple yet inviting. Pick a spot near a window. Add a comfortable chair where you can curl up. Use soft, warm lighting that doesn’t strain the eyes at night. Sit there with your book of the month, and your thoughts will naturally slow down.
A wellness-first home helps you unwind every day. Open spaces calm the nerves. A reading nook slows your thoughts. Natural textures make you feel warm. With the features above, relaxing becomes second nature when you’re home.
Picture walking into that kind of space after a long day. Your shoulders drop. Your mind stops holding onto external noise. You actually stay still for once. All because your house does part of the calming work for you.
PHOTO CREDIT | Unsplash/Keagan Henman
Workplace presentation has changed significantly over the past decade. In many industries, uniforms and team apparel are no longer viewed simply as functional clothing requirements. Increasingly, businesses are treating apparel as an extension of brand identity, workplace culture, customer experience, and team cohesion.
This shift is visible across hospitality, retail, wellness, fitness, logistics, healthcare, construction, corporate services, and event-based industries where presentation now plays a larger role in how businesses are perceived by both customers and employees.
As modern businesses compete not only on products and services but also on experience and branding, custom apparel is becoming an increasingly important part of professional visibility and internal culture.
Companies are investing more carefully in how teams present themselves because appearance, consistency, and professionalism often shape first impressions long before direct interactions begin.
Traditional workplace uniforms were often designed primarily around practicality and standardization. While functionality still remains important, businesses today are increasingly looking for apparel solutions that combine comfort, branding, durability, and modern design.
Employees now frequently wear branded polos, performance fabrics, lightweight outerwear, fitted work shirts, embroidered jackets, branded caps, and athleisure-inspired work apparel that feel more contemporary and wearable throughout long shifts or active work environments.
This evolution reflects broader cultural changes surrounding workplace expectations. Modern employees often value comfort, flexibility, and appearance more than previous generations, especially in customer-facing industries where presentation directly affects brand perception.
At the same time, businesses increasingly recognize that apparel can influence how customers interpret professionalism, organization, and operational quality.
Companies operating in industries such as hospitality, wellness, fitness, healthcare, and retail often prioritize cohesive team presentation because visual consistency helps reinforce trust and brand recognition.
Rather than viewing uniforms as a simple operational requirement, many organizations now treat workplace apparel as part of the overall customer experience.
One of the biggest reasons businesses are investing more heavily in branded apparel is the growing importance of visual branding across modern commercial environments.
Consumers today interact with brands across multiple touchpoints including physical locations, social media, digital marketing, events, and customer-facing staff interactions. Businesses increasingly want consistent visual presentation across all of these environments.
Custom apparel helps reinforce that consistency while also strengthening brand visibility in everyday operations.
As workplace presentation becomes increasingly connected to customer perception, many businesses are investing in custom embroidery services for uniforms, outerwear, hats, polos, and team apparel that help create a more cohesive and professional identity across customer-facing environments. Embroidered branding in particular continues gaining popularity because it offers a polished and durable appearance suitable for both casual and professional settings. Many companies prefer embroidery for work apparel because it often provides a cleaner and more long-lasting finish compared to temporary branding methods.
This is especially relevant for industries where employees regularly interact with customers, clients, guests, or event attendees. Businesses increasingly understand that even small visual details can contribute to how professional, organized, and trustworthy a company appears in competitive markets.
Beyond branding and customer visibility, team apparel also plays an important role internally within organizations.
Employees often respond positively to apparel that feels professional, modern, and intentionally designed rather than generic or outdated. Well-designed workwear can help create stronger feelings of belonging, team identity, and workplace pride.
This becomes particularly important for businesses operating across multiple locations or larger teams where maintaining consistent culture and presentation can be more challenging.
Shared visual identity often helps reinforce:
team cohesion
professionalism
organizational consistency
workplace morale
employee recognition
customer confidence
Many companies now place greater emphasis on creating apparel programs that employees genuinely feel comfortable wearing rather than simply enforcing basic dress requirements.
This reflects broader workplace trends where employee experience and organizational culture are becoming increasingly important for recruitment, retention, and overall workplace satisfaction.
Research and workplace analysis published through the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) continues emphasizing how workplace culture, employee engagement, and organizational identity influence modern business performance and employee satisfaction.
These broader workplace trends are contributing to growing business interest in more thoughtful and professional team presentation strategies.
The rise of athleisure fashion has also influenced how businesses approach team apparel.
Many modern work environments now prioritize clothing that balances professionalism with comfort, flexibility, and mobility. Performance fabrics, lightweight materials, moisture-wicking designs, and more relaxed styling have become increasingly common across industries that previously relied on more rigid uniform standards.
This is especially visible in:
fitness studios
wellness brands
hospitality businesses
event staffing
healthcare environments
logistics operations
creative industries
Businesses increasingly want apparel that employees can wear comfortably throughout long shifts while still maintaining a polished and recognizable appearance.
As a result, the line between traditional uniforms and lifestyle-inspired workwear continues becoming less distinct.
Many organizations now choose apparel styles that align more naturally with contemporary fashion trends because modern presentation increasingly influences both employee satisfaction and customer perception.
This is one reason branded outerwear, quarter-zips, athletic polos, modern caps, and performance-based work apparel continue growing in popularity across B2B apparel markets.
PHOTO CREDIT | Unsplash/Mediamodifier
Another major reason custom apparel continues growing is its adaptability across different business sectors.
Different industries require different combinations of durability, branding visibility, weather resistance, flexibility, and professional presentation. Modern customization services allow businesses to create apparel solutions tailored to their operational needs while maintaining consistent branding standards.
Hospitality teams may prioritize polished customer-facing presentation. Logistics businesses may focus more heavily on durability and visibility. Fitness brands often seek apparel that reflects wellness culture and active lifestyles. Healthcare providers may emphasize cleanliness, comfort, and practical movement.
Customization allows businesses to balance operational function with branding goals more effectively.
Businesses also increasingly use branded apparel outside traditional daily uniforms. Event teams, trade show staff, promotional campaigns, corporate retreats, onboarding programs, and client-facing activations frequently incorporate customized apparel as part of broader brand-building strategies.
This reflects how workplace apparel has evolved into a larger communication tool rather than simply a functional necessity.
Customer expectations surrounding professionalism have also evolved significantly in recent years.
Consumers often associate cohesive team presentation with organization, reliability, and operational quality. Businesses that invest in professional presentation may therefore strengthen customer confidence even before direct conversations begin.
In competitive industries especially, visual consistency can help businesses stand out while reinforcing brand recognition across physical and digital environments.
This has become increasingly important as social media and online visibility continue influencing how customers evaluate businesses. Team apparel now regularly appears in:
marketing photography
social media content
behind-the-scenes videos
promotional campaigns
event coverage
recruiting materials
As a result, workwear increasingly functions as both operational apparel and marketing infrastructure simultaneously.
Businesses that once treated uniforms as secondary operational details now often view them as part of a broader branding ecosystem connected to reputation, customer experience, and organizational identity.
As businesses continue prioritizing brand consistency, workplace culture, and customer experience, custom apparel will likely remain an increasingly important part of professional operations across many industries.
Workplace apparel is no longer only about standardization or dress requirements. It has become connected to branding, employee experience, customer perception, and organizational identity in ways that continue expanding alongside modern business culture.
At the same time, evolving workwear trends influenced by athleisure, comfort-focused design, and modern branding strategies will likely continue reshaping how companies approach uniforms and team presentation in the years ahead.
For many businesses, custom apparel is no longer simply clothing. It is becoming part of how organizations communicate professionalism, culture, and brand identity every day.
PHOTO CREDIT | Unsplash/Mediamodifier
The creator economy has changed magically over the last few years. Traditional celebrity merchandise once dominated fashion collaborations and fan apparel. But nowadays, creators, streamers, podcasters, YouTubers, & other influencers are building powerful personal brands. These rival mainstream entertainment firms.
Merchandise is no longer just a side project for influencers. It has become a major revenue stream for them. This is an important part of a creator’s distinctiveness. Many creators hinge on branded apparel. They depend on exclusive product drops & community-driven fashion. Thus, they can strengthen audience loyalty. Meanwhile, this generates recurring income.
Custom hoodies are dominating creator fashion. Hoodies can come with minimalist streetwear aesthetics & oversized graphic designs. These have become the go-to merch item. Influencers are using these a lot these days.
Their popularity comes from a combination of comfort & versatility. Plus, these have branding potential & emotional connection with fans.
Hoodies have become the foundation of creator merchandise. This is because they appeal to a wide audience. Meanwhile, they also offer a high likelihood of profit.
Hoodies are universally wearable. They are not niche apparel products. They work across genders & age groups. They match many climates & fashion styles. Do you follow a gaming streamer or a fitness influencer? Or do you like music or lifestyle, creator? Hoodies fit naturally into everyday wardrobes.
There is another big reason hoodies dominate creator merch. That is their perceived value. Fans see hoodies as premium apparel. These are not like o T-shirts or accessories. Hoodies let creators charge higher prices. Also, these can help keep healthy profit margins.
Hoodies offer a large design surface. People use this for creative branding. Influencers can try with-
Signature phrases
Public tags
Simple logos
Creative artworks
Typography-driven designs
Inside jokes relatable to loyal followers
This flexibility can make your custom hoodies go viral. These are well-suited for generating recognizable creator identities.
Modern audiences no longer want generic merchandise. They want oversized logos placed on basic apparel. Fans are increasingly drawn to identity-based fashion. This feels personal, meaningful, & exclusive.
Personalized merchandise can result in an emotional hit. This is because it makes followers feel connected to the maker’s community & values.
Many influencers now release custom hoodies. They can show-
Fan-selected colorways
Custom texts
Unique graphics
Community-based artwork
Area-wise collections
Special event designs
These customization tactics transform hoodies. They’ll become collectibles. They won’t simply stay as generic apparel.
Limited drops also create urgency. Let your followers know that a hoodie collection may never return. Purchase intent is sure to increase significantly. Scarcity marketing has become a fine method in creator commerce.
Fans are no longer buying only for utility. They are looking for identity & exclusivity.
Social media apps have heavily driven the hoodie culture.
TikTok, Instagram Reels, & YouTube Shorts continuously expose audiences to creator fashion trends. These feed the public short-form visual content. A hoodie worn casually in more than 1 video becomes part of a creator’s familiar image.
“Outfit of the day” content, mirror selfies, livestreams, & behind-the-scenes posts all contribute to repeated visibility for creator apparel.
This repeated exposure works as subtle marketing. Fans regularly see creators wearing their own merchandise. This normalizes the garment. And this increases the demand.
Viral moments also contribute to a merch’s success. A creator can wear a hoodie during a trending livestream or a controversial moment. Or, he can wear that during a challenge or a collaboration. This will instantly drive thousands of sales.
Fashion & content are now deeply entangled. Merchandise is no longer separate from the creator’s online persona. This has become a chunk of the content itself.
Modern creators approach merchandise launches strategically. They don’t simply upload logos onto products.
Limited-edition hoodie drops are now a major monetization method. This is getting much hype in the creator economy.
These launches often include-
Countdown drives
Pre-order windows
Limited launch livestreams
Early-access memberships
Subscriber-only assortments
Scarcity increases excitement. Hence, this plan will encourage fast buying.
Some influencers also bundle hoodies with digital products. Or, they go with premium experiences. See below:
Private Discord access
Bonus content
Online courses
Exclusive livestreams
Fan club memberships
This creates extra perceived value. Meanwhile, this also strengthens audience retention.
As creators grow, many eventually rethink their strategy. They shift from simple stuff to full apparel companies. They start as a hoodie collection. Then, they evolve into a scalable fashion business. Also, it can have more than 1 product line.
Launching creator merchandise used to require large investments & inventory management. This also needed manufacturing contacts & shipping logistics.
Today, technology has removed many of these fences.
Modern design & print-on-demand platforms empower creators. They can produce custom hoodies. They don’t have to keep up with inventory / handle fulfilment by hand.
Tools like Canva simplify the process of making custom hoodies. It will let creators design visually appealing apparel. They can use beginner-friendly templates & drag-and-drop elements. They can also try the typography tools & branding assets.
This accessibility is mainly important for micro-creators & niche influencers. They may not yet have massive audiences.
No one needs to pour thousands of dollars upfront. Creators can now-
Design products rapidly
Launch small test assortments
Validate audience demand
Scale fruitful designs with time
On-demand production also cuts financial risk. Plus, this makes modified merchandise more accessible than ever.
The future of creator merchandise is moving toward deeper personalization & digital integration.
AI-assisted design tools are helping creators a lot. They can create unique graphics, slogans, colour palettes, & branding concepts in a very short time.
Hyper-personalized apparel may soon let people customize creator hoodies. This can be done with:
Modified usernames
Regional references
Community badges
Interactive design elements
Sustainability is becoming a huge priority. Many audiences now prefer brands that use eco-friendly materials. They are looking for on-demand manufacturing processes. These can reduce waste.
Another rising trend is the link between digital identity and fashion. As online communities develop through gaming, virtual worlds, and digital avatars, creator merchandise may become increasingly hybridized with physical and digital experiences.
Future hoodie drops could include-
Digital collectibles
Avatar clothing integrations
NFT-linked apparel
Virtual fashion access
Interactive community rewards
Creator merch is evolving far beyond traditional clothing.
Personalized hoodies have become the default of modern creator merchandise because they combine fashion, identity, community, and monetization into a single product category.
Their universal appeal, strong branding potential, and emotional connection with audiences make them among the most effective products for influencers looking to build long-term businesses.
With social media culture continuing to evolve, creators are discovering that custom hoodies are not just a revenue generator but a way to deepen fan loyalty and expand their personal brands.
Thanks to modern customization tools, the barriers to entry are coming down, allowing even small creators to launch professional-quality merchandise collections and compete in the fast-growing creator economy.
Read the MAY ISSUE #125 of Athleisure Mag and see THE PICK ME UP in mag.
Read the MAY ISSUE #125 of Athleisure Mag and see KUMQUAT BEAUTY in mag.
In this month’s issue, our front and back cover story is with 3X World Series Champ, 10X All Star, Boston Red Sox DH, FOX Sports Analyst and Owner of Ozama Rum, David "Big Papi" Ortiz. We talk with him about baseball, his love of the game, his career, being an analyst for FOX Sports, competing in Masked Singer, his latest venture Ozama Rum, being a family man, and his legacy.
Next month, BCB Brooklyn will take place from Jun 9th + 10th where the hospitality industry comes together to learn about new spirit brands as well as those that have been on our bar carts for quite some time! We always love checking in with Jackie Williams, EVP of BCB Brooklyn to see what we can expect when we hit the trade show floors in Industry City next month. In addition, next month we will have a post recap of brands and offsite events we attended as well in our JUN ISSUE #126.
We kicked off the beginning of this month with our DEC ISSUE #60 cover, EDM DJ/Producer Benny Benassi. With the release of his album, Feel the Bass, he launched it in a number of events around the city from Marquee, Marquee Skydeck, riding and DJ'ing at the TD Five Boro Bike Tour, and more! We talked with him about his passion for music, why he came to NYC to drop his album in this way, and what he loves about his latest album.
We've been fans of the iconic band, The Rolling Stones and with their launch of Crossfire Hurricane Rum, this spirit is the merge of the band's love of Jamaica and their time recording there as well as creating a spirit that embraces their music and pushing the envelope.
We have enjoyed seeing Hemky Madera play a number of roles including one of our favorite shows, Queen of the South as well as Perry Mason! Currently, he is in Netflix's The Lincoln Lawyer, HBO's Euphoria, and is back in Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu. We talk about how he approaches his characters and what he looks for in his projects!
We head into the world of Hip-Hop Freestyling when we sit down and chat with Red Bull's Marlee Hightower to talk about her MOTIV crew and MOTIV Dance Studio. She shared how she got into the industy, competitions that she participated, her work with artists that have included Janet Jackson, Pharrell Williams, and Coldplay. We also talk about her upcoming projects.
This month we had our THE 9LIST Event Series at Lore Bathing Club in NYC's NoHo. We had members of our readership/community attend this newly opened bath house where you can enjoy cold plunges and saunas in a 75 mins session. We sat down with the team of LBC to find out more about bathing culture, its historical roots, and what can be enjoyed when you come to this destination.
Next month, we will be at Gov Ball and ahead of this jammed pack weekend of music, food and vibes, our pre-coverage will share what you can expect from this festival.
This month's The Art of the Snack takes us to Midtown in NYC to an amazing experience of Indian cuisine at Chatti by Regi Mathew. Having a meal here is not just an amazing series of dishes, but it is an immersive experience that starts from the time you walk in until you take your last bite.
This month's Athleisure List comes from The Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection and Four Seasons Mykonos!
Our 63MIX ROUTIN3S comes from EDM DJ/Producer Benny Benassi, ABT principal ballet dancer Christine Shevchenko, and Muse New York Hotel. All 3 share what they do, enjoy, or have in the Morning, Afternoon, and Night. Our 9LIST STORI3S comes from Red Bull Hip-Hop Freestyler, Marlee Hightower where she shares her must-haves in beauty, style, and fitness. Our 9PLAYLIST comes from global icon and fashion designer Victoria Beckham whose collaboration with GAP has made everyone excited! She shares with us what is on her playlist in her GAP X Victoria Beckham playlist. Our THE 9LIST 9M3NU comes from Chef Regi Mathew of Chatti, Chef Henry Laprte of Salt Hank's, and Big Papi.
Read the MAY ISSUE #125 of Athleisure Mag.
The athleisure and wellness audience has its own quiet relationship with random video chat platforms in 2026. It is not the way most people would expect. The audience that defines itself by morning runs, mid-day Pilates classes, and afternoon green juices is the same audience that opens a random video chat tab at 10pm, talks to a stranger for fifteen minutes, and goes to bed. The crossover surprises outsiders. It does not surprise the platform operators, who have been watching this user segment grow steadily for the past three years.
The reason is straightforward. The wellness audience is large, mostly under forty, mostly female, and spends substantial time on phones in the evening. The random video chat format is one of the things that fills that evening time, alongside scrolling, streaming, and texting friends. The platforms have noticed and have started tuning their video and queue experience for this audience specifically.
PHOTO CREDIT | Pexels/Pavel Danilyuk
Wellness culture is rigorous during the day and lonely in the evening. The morning workout, the meal prep, the meditation app, the journaling are all solo activities that demand discipline. By the time the evening arrives, the body is tired and the mind is restless. The dedicated wellness routines do not include a social wind-down.
The random video chat platforms fill exactly that gap. Open the app, get matched with someone, talk about the day, listen to theirs, log off. The interaction is short, low-commitment, and does not require curating an Instagram-ready presence. For an audience that spends most of the day performing wellness on social media, the unfiltered nature of a random video conversation is part of the appeal.
The platforms that get repeat traffic from this audience are not the household-name social networks. They are the Omegle-style and 1-on-1 cam services that have evolved over the past decade. The original Omegle ran for years and was a reference point for the format. The newer entrants compete on queue speed, video quality, regional filtering, and gender filtering.
Some platforms have come and gone. Hotmegle ran for a stretch and built a meaningful audience, but the user base migrated after Hotmegle started losing activity over the last year. The wellness audience tends to be early to switch platforms when the queue experience deteriorates, which makes them a useful early-indicator group for the broader platform landscape.
A typical session for this audience runs between five and twenty minutes. Most users cycle through three or four matches in a single evening. The conversations are mundane and that is the point. They cover the workout that morning, the work that day, the weekend plans, the show they are watching. The platforms are not used for hookups or for any high-pressure interaction. They are used for the small, replaceable conversation that the modern internet has stopped offering at low friction.
The wellness audience tends to set a hard time limit on these sessions. Half an hour, then phone goes down, then bed. The discipline that runs the workout schedule also runs the evening platform time. It does not always work, but the intent is there.
The hardware setup for this audience has standardized. A ring light, a USB microphone, and a tidy corner of the bedroom or living room. The aesthetic is closer to the at-home yoga setup than the gaming station, which tracks with the user base. The platforms work fine on phones, but the dedicated users have moved to laptops for the better camera angle and the cleaner audio. Wireless earbuds are common; over-ear headphones are rare in this segment.
This setup overlaps with the at-home aesthetic that the broader athleisure lifestyle coverage tracks across its workout-room and recovery-corner features. The same audience uses the same physical space for morning meditation, lunchtime stretches, and evening video chat sessions, which has its own quiet logic.
The wellness audience tends to be cautious about identity in random video chat. First names only. Background neutral. No mention of specific workout studios or local businesses that could be cross-referenced. The audience has learned the rules and applies them consistently. Account information stays minimal. Webcams get covered when not in use.
This is not unique to wellness users. It is a feature of how adults who spend a lot of time on social media now think about platform hygiene generally. The line between personal life and personal brand is carefully managed, and the random video chat platforms are treated with the same separation that the rest of the personal-brand layer gets. The shape of that vocabulary, where personal life and public persona stay carefully separated, has been documented across the broader style and structure analysis of modern athleisure culture.
The next year will probably see continued growth in this audience segment. The platforms that have invested in better video, smoother queues, and tighter moderation will capture more of it. The platforms that have stuck with the older, hostile-feeling interface will keep losing share. The wellness audience does not tolerate friction well and migrates fast.
The platform consolidation will continue. The current landscape has dozens of platforms. The strongest two or three will absorb most of the user base over the next two to three years, with smaller ones serving niche subgroups. The wellness audience will be inside the top platforms because that is where the queue economics favor a clean experience.
The pattern is not really about random video chat. It is about how adults who spend long days performing online find the unfiltered conversation they need. The wellness audience is more visible than most because the contrast between the curated morning workout video and the unfiltered evening platform session is striking. The platforms are not glamorous, and the value is in the variety and absence of pressure.
This month’s APR ISSUE #124 cover is with the Rip and Dip Queen herself, Chef Ayesha Nurdjaja, who is the Chef/Partner of Shuka and Shukette! She’s known for her bold Mediterranean flavors and has showcased her passion for cooking on a number of shows including joining S4 of Bobby’s Triple Threat on Food Network! We had the pleasure of seeing her at last year’s NYC Wine Food Festival and her love for what she does is evident when meeting her!
We sat down with her to find out how she got into culinary, her restaurants, looking ahead to S5 of Bobby’s Triple Threat, which will be back in September, her first cookbook which drops this Fall and more!
ATHLEISURE MAG: What was the first dish that you ate that made you fall in love with food?
CHEF AYESHA NURDJAJA: My father was a chef, and my mother is an instinctive cook with a talent for making everything absolutely delicious. I always felt like I grew up on the original set of Chopped, getting to eat the best food from two people trying to outdo each other.
If I had to pick just one dish it would be the one that inspired me to cook, Lidia Bastianich’s risotto-stuffed tomatoes. Thanks to my parents, I had always been a great eater, but it wasn’t until then that I realized that I loved to cook.
I watched her on TV and taped the episode. Making this dish gave me a whole new connection with food. It awakened my soul because I made it with my own hands.
AM: When did you realize that you wanted to be a chef?
CHEF AN: I remember when I staged at Felidia. I was stuck between the dish pit and the pastry station, watching this unspoken symphony of cooks, chefs and dishwashers working to put out this gorgeous food. It was like watching ballet. There was this choreography that everyone executed seamlessly, responding to cues that I didn’t understand yet. It was so beautiful. I soaked it all in the way people do when they go to the opera. It really was an emotional experience for me. And that was the moment that I knew I wanted to be a chef.
AM: Tell us about your culinary background, where you went to school and kitchens you trained in.
CHEF AN: I trained at ICE and got my degree, but it wasn’t until I started my first job at Felidia that my real education began. Felidia was my dream restaurant. I finessed my way into a position there and started out sweeping the floors and washing dishes. I steadily worked my way through every job in the kitchen, eventually ending as a sous chef. I learned about real restaurant life, and boy, was it a crash course. Long days filled with learning, failures, and celebrations of growth. There were cuts, burns, tears of happiness, and many times I thought to myself “what am I doing here?”
I went on to work in some of the best restaurants in New York, including Picholine with Terrance Brennan and Missy Robbins’ A Voce. These were my “Yes, chef!” years, where the hours were long and the environments competitive. You had to prove yourself every day. I learned how to butcher, how to make pasta, how to run every station with efficiency and purpose, how to create new dishes and how a restaurant is run. I saw great leadership and where I wanted to do things differently. I took in everything, and the experience prepared me to be the chef I am today.
AM: How would you define your style of cooking?
CHEF AN: My cooking is rooted in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine, featuring bold, bright flavors built on solid technique, using seasonality as my North Star. The dishes look effortless, but behind them is the precision and discipline. I developed working in fine dining kitchens, and they are full of craveable soul.
My cooking is about the table. I believe food is meant to be shared, torn, scooped, passed around, and celebrated together. That philosophy shapes how I cook and how I design menus, which developed into my “Rip and Dip” mantra.
AM: You have received a number of accolades including James Beard Award Semifinalist in 2022 and 2023 and for 2026, you are a Finalist for Best Chef NY State. What has this meant to you and how excited are you for this distinction?
CHEF AN: I am so humbled. I grew up thinking I would be a lawyer, because that’s what my parents wanted for me, then threw away conventions to follow my heart. Getting these accolades from my peers is the greatest recognition possible. The years of hard work, dedication and sacrifice were about learning, honing my craft and my constant desire to be the best that I could be.
The Best Chef: New York State category is so special. The New York City restaurant scene is so competitive - I mean there’s an average of three or so restaurants on every block. So to think that the James Beard Foundation recognizes my restaurant as one of the best, not just in the city, but in the entire state, makes me speechless (which is no small thing for me!). It is such a great honor, and I hope it will be an inspiration for others that when you put your all into something, even your biggest dreams are within reach.
AM: You have been a chef at a number of restaurants. What has it meant to you that for the past decade or so, you have been the Executive Chef and partner of Shuka and Shukette at The Bowery Group. What has that meant to you to be there for a significant period of time and to grow your concepts?
CHEF AN: Discovering your own cooking style is a key milestone for any chef. I joined The Bowery Group as the chef at Hundred Acres, an American farm-to-table bistro. But the food that inspired me was Middle Eastern/Mediterranean. Then, I inherited the Shuka, and it’s the restaurant where I really got the opportunity to create my signature culinary style. I started to sneak in spices like turmeric and would layer in other middle eastern flavors. Once given the chance to start from scratch and open Shukette, I wanted to create a restaurant that I would personally be a regular in. It was kind of like wearing a dress without spanx – I was still cooking, but felt free with two feet on the ground.
AM: Tell us about Shuka as you created this restaurant. Why did you want to open it, what is the cuisine served here, and what is the ambiance like?
CHEF AN: My Italian grandmother was an adventurous woman for her time. She migrated here from Italy and lived in Cobble Hill. For her, cooking was a part of her role as the family matriarch. She would shop for ingredients and take me along. We shopped on Atlantic Avenue, and it was like getting our passport stamped. We would try shawarma, medjoul date cookies, za’atar flatbreads, hummus, and more. She ignited this curiosity within me about all the different kinds of flavors out there.
Even though I was obsessed with Italian cuisine and the power of “flour + water = pasta,” on my days off, I would still find myself at Mediterranean and Middle Eastern restaurants to get my rip and dip fix.
The generosity of spirit that is inherent in the cuisine was deeply resonant with me, and eventually, I convinced my partners to let me throw a Middle Eastern feast for New Year’s Eve. It was a hit, and Shuka was born.
I love a party so the vibe of my restaurants are always high energy. And you can’t have a party without great music, so there is always a fun playlist. The food comes fast and it’s a little loud. You move a little closer to talk. You share what you’re eating. It feels like you walked into a surprise party with your favorite people and you never want to leave.
AM: What are 3 main dishes that are a must-try when we come in for our next meal there?
CHEF AN: I love working with peak-season produce, so the menus at both restaurants are always changing. But there are certain things that would make our guests riot if we ever take them off the menu. It’s impossible to pick just three. When you come to Shuka, you have to start with the Labne which we make every day. It’s thick and creamy (not your typical labne), and is always adorned with seasonal toppings. One of my favorites is strawberries with harissa, lime and basil.
You also have to have the Whipped Feta + Pistachio Dip. It’s the first dish I ever created for the Shuka menu, and is studded with pistachios, herbs and garlic.
Lastly, the Fried Halloumi. It’s like meteorite craters of crispy fried halloumi drizzled in our spiced yogurt sauce and showered with tons of za’atar. Are you sure you only want me to pick three?!
AM: What are 3 cocktails that we should enjoy at Shuka?
CHEF AN: I’m a sucker for a frozen drink - a good one that is not overly sweet and where you can taste the alcohol. For me, that’s the Limonana, made with fresh squeezed lemon juice and vodka. Regardless of the weather outside, the limonana always puts a smile on my face.
The Ankara is a little exotic. It is a bourbon-based cocktail that is finished with a lemon-turmeric cordial and ginger juice. I love the flavor combinations. It is savory and perfectly balanced between warm and spicy – just like me!
I don’t drink tequila often, but if I’m in the mood for it, the Tangier hits the spot. It’s made with spicy tequila, pineapple juice and lime and kissed with a little sesame oil.
AM: 4 years later, you launched Shukette! Tell us why you launched this sister location, the cuisine that is available here, and the ambiance?
CHEF AN: I had more to say. One restaurant could not possibly contain all my creativity. With Shukette, I was able to design from scratch, so it really has my personality. After working in basements for most of my career, I knew I wanted an open kitchen that lets me be a part of the action in the dining room. I love interacting with guests and being on the line with my crew. I wanted to blur the lines between the front and the back of house. I finally got to see the positive reactions to my food - eyes rolling in the back of their head, insisting that everyone else at the table taste what they just did right now. The playlist is fire, because for me the music is just as important as the food. It creates the vibe that I crave - curated chaos, flames in the background, warm and attentive service, and a rip and dip conga line of dishes coming to your table.
AM: What are the similarities/differences of these 2 restaurants?
CHEF AN: Shuka is like my firstborn, the one who follows curfew and plays by the rules, while Shukette is her wild little sister. She turns up the music a few notches. There’s more theatrics, almost an element of entertainment.
AM: What are 3 dishes that we should order when we come to Shukette?
CHEF AN: We make four breads to order at Shukette; something that I was unable to do at Shuka. Our Frena is the queen, but the other three are neck-and-neck. The Frena is made to order in a cast iron pan, which creates a crispy bottom and pillowy top pocked with dimples that perfectly house large pieces of confit garlic. This bread is meant to be ripped and dipped into any of our dips, but it also stands on its own. A pro move is to order one for each person and share the other breads.
Our Joojeh Chicken is cooked entirely on the grill, creating a nice crispy skin packed with delicious flavors of saffron, dill and yogurt - it is possibly one of the juiciest birds out there.
And our Fish in a Cage represents the cuisine so well. I wanted to choose a local fish, so porgy it is! The whole fish is glossed with a harissa-tomato glaze, and served with grilled vegetables, charred lemon and zhoug. It is light but packed in flavor, and served in the cage that it is grilled in.
As a bonus, if you come in the Summer, don’t miss anything with tomatoes or our crispy fairy tale eggplant!
AM: What are 3 cocktails that you suggest that we should try there?
CHEF AN: We’re known for our Gazoz, a spritz-style cocktail made with natural infusions of fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables that celebrate the season and topped off with my favorite wine, champagne!
AM: After cooking for over 20 years, where do you continue to look for inspiration?
CHEF AN: Inspiration is everywhere. In my heart, I’m still a cook. I love working with ingredients and coming up with new dishes with my team. I have been working in the kitchen for over twenty springtimes, and I’m still a little giddy when the first peas hit the market.
Travel is the other thing that always inspires me. I love to discover new places and seeing how they treat familiar ingredients, or use things that are new to me. I still feel like there is so much to learn.
AM: How do you balance your time between these 2 restaurants?
CHEF AN: Balance is a difficult concept. Everyone talks about it but does anyone really ever achieve it? For me, the most important thing I do is encourage my staff to take ownership of the restaurant so that when I am “balancing” my time between both (and all my other projects) I can count on having people that are really invested and believe in upholding my vision.
AM: You have been competing on TV for Food Network since 2009! We actually met you briefly at last year’s NYCWFF as you were at Chef Jean Georges’ (another recent fabulous cover story with Chef Gregory Gourdet) with previous cover, Chef Esther Choi, and you landed on Food Network’s 2025 Hot List. How important has it been to you to add TV personality and culinary competitor to your portfolio in addition to being an Executive Chef?
CHEF AN: NYCWFF is always a great time. Being on TV has opened so many doors for me. I love being recognized by the fans. They want to take pictures and they root for me regardless of how the judging goes. It has been an amazing experience.
AM: You joined S4 of Bobby’s Triple Threat, how did you get attached to this show and what was it like competing on this show?
CHEF AN: Bobby Flay called and asked me to come on the show. I was thinking, he has to be joking. I never wanted to cook competitively, so I immediately said, “no”. Then he said, “yes” and it went on that way for a while. I couldn’t refuse him, so eventually I agreed on the condition that he train me. He got in the kitchen with me and showed me the ropes and now I’m a Titan.
AM: Will you come back for S5? What are you looking forward to for next season?
CHEF AN: Yes, I am back for Season 5, and can’t wait! Spoiler alert – we have 12 episodes this time, rather than 10!
AM: We also saw that you were part of this year’s Puerto Rico Food and Wine Festival! Why did you want to participate, what did you make, and what did you enjoy about being part of it?
CHEF AN: I love Puerto Rico, so it’s a no-brainer for me. I love being down there. The weather is perfect, the food is always great and the people are incredibly warm and welcoming. I went down to the festival last year, so when they asked me back, I jumped at the chance. Plus, coming from New York, why would I say no to the beach in April?
You know that I am the dip queen, so I brought my Carrot Hummus with garlic yogurt, sesame, harissa, chives and za’atar pita chips. It was a hit!
AM: You have a cookbook coming out! Tell us about Mediterranean All the Way! Why did you want to launch the cookbook and what has the process been like for you?
CHEF AN: Yeah, I’ve got a cookbook coming out – finally! It’s called Mediterranean All the Way, and it’s how I actually cook, not how people think chefs cook. I didn’t want to make one of those books that looks pretty, but makes your head spin halfway through a recipe. You’re cooking, not performing surgery, you know? I just want to give people that feeling like, oh, I can actually do this. The book’s out October 20 and I can’t wait. There are over 120 recipes, and none of them are pretentious. Big herbs, bold spices, food you actually want to eat and share. If it feels like I’m standing next to you in the kitchen telling you to stop overthinking it and just rip the herbs and get on with it, then I did my job.
AM: What do you want people to walk away with when purchasing the book and making recipes from it?
CHEF AN: Confidence. I want people to stop treating cooking like a test they’re going to fail. The recipes are built for real life – you can mess with them, swap things, push them a little. That’s the point. There’s a music theme in the book too, because that’s my other obsession. Cooking is the same idea. You’re layering flavors the way you layer sound. You need a bassline, you need something sharp, something bright. Once you get that, you can do whatever you want. So find your groove, trust your taste, and start having fun with it.
AM: Will you do any events around the launch of this book?
CHEF AN: Have you met me? I’m not just going to drop a book and call it a day. There’s a full tour coming, plus some other fun events to celebrate. The book is available for pre-sale now, and be sure to keep your eyes glued to @ayesha_rare on Instagram for all the juicy details - you won’t want to miss it.
AM: Are there any other projects that you want to share that we should keep our eye out for?
CHEF AN: Season 5 of Triple Threat premiers in September. For all the fans, just wait, this season is the best yet. And if you haven’t watched, now is the perfect time to catch up on previous seasons so you’re ready for what’s coming next.
AM: When you’re not working in your restaurants, doing culinary competitions etc. how do you take time for yourself?
CHEF AN: This will sound crazy, but I cook. Just not in a restaurant. I have people over, we eat, we hang out, it turns into a whole thing. I don’t know how to cook small - never learned, and not interested - so everyone leaves with containers. That’s just how it goes at my house. I’ve had the same group of girlfriends since I was a kid, so there’s no performance there. It’s easy. That’s my reset, just being around my people. And I love to go out to eat. It’s nice to be on the other side of the dining room once in a while. A good steakhouse, a cold martini, maybe a cigar, that’s a perfect night.
AM: With over 20 years of experience under your belt, what do you want your legacy to be seen as when people think about you, your passion for food, and more?
CHEF AN: More than anything, I hope to be an inspiration to the people I work with. Not just better cooks, but better positioned, more confident, actually moving forward in their careers. This industry gave me everything, so I take it seriously. You build good kitchens, you mentor people, you open doors where you can. That’s the work. If that’s what people remember, I’m good.
IG @ayesha_rare
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | Front Cover Clay Williams | PG 16, 19 - 21, 24 - 27 Jen Davidson | PG 38 Paul Farkas | PG 40 - 43 Food Network | PG 29 - 37 Shukette | Back Cover Alexa Bennett |
Read the APR ISSUE #124 of Athleisure Mag and see RIP AND DIP QUEEN | Chef Ayesha Nurdjaja in mag.
PHOTO CREDIT | Unsplash/Mohamed Masaau
Life is busy. If you seem to spend most of the year moving from one task to the next, it can often be tricky to switch off.
So, when your holiday finally arrives, the pressure to make the most of it can be just as stressful. You might end up racing through your itinerary, barely registering the meals you eat and day trips you take.
When you only get a week or two to disconnect from the ‘on’ version of you, it might be time to try a ‘do nothing’ holiday. This type of break gives you permission to stop organising every hour and simply enjoy being away from your routine.
The problem with overplanned trips
It’s so easy to fall into the trap of treating holidays like project management tasks. You book the earliest flight to maximise your time and set a 6am alarm for a guided tour when you get there.
By day three, you can easily need a holiday from your holiday. Cramming every hour with excursions creates a low hum of stress that mimics the pressure of your usual working week.
Removing this rigid structure gives your mind the breathing room it craves. Dropping the itinerary allows you to wake up naturally and let your mood direct your day.
What doing nothing actually looks like
To embrace this relaxed type of holiday, shift your focus towards slower days where time loses its grip.
You might spend a gentle morning reading by the pool or wander down to a local beach. The secret lies in leaving massive, unstructured gaps in your daily schedule.
Refusing to plan your afternoon creates space for spontaneity, whether that means a long nap or a second cup of coffee while watching the waves.
How simplicity improves your holiday experience
Taking a break directly lowers your cortisol levels. When you remove the daily debate over where to eat and whether you’re sticking to your budget, your brain stops processing threats and begins to recuperate.
Booking an all-inclusive holiday where everything is taken care of can go a long way towards helping you switch off. Knowing that you’ve covered the basics like food and amenities means you don’t have to worry about unexpected costs. So, you’re entirely free to enjoy your environment.
How to plan a low-effort getaway
Prioritise simplicity. Start by selecting a single base location, preferably a self-contained resort or a quiet coastal village, to remove the stress of moving between hotels.
Pack only the essentials, like light clothing, a couple of good books and comfortable footwear. This helps with bypassing the baggage carousel and strolling straight to your transfer.
Prioritise properties that emphasise physical comfort, such as those offering direct beach access or excellent on-site dining, over destinations that boast a long list of nearby tourist attractions.
By deliberately slowing your pace and resisting the urge to explore every corner of a destination, you allow your body and mind to genuinely reset.
We have been fans of Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Sammy Hagar whether from his solo career, as a member of Van Halen, or in super bands! He is a noted singer/songwriter, guitarist, an entrepreneur with an amazing portfolio, and philanthropist. Whether it’s his music, restaurants, spirit brands, etc. he is about loving life and enjoying it to the fullest.
His latest venture is one that is important to him as it is about longevity and nourishing your body as he continues to tour and has his residency in Vegas at Park MGM. Red Rocker Essentials is a line of vitamins that he partnered with noted wellness supplement guru, Wayne Gorsek, who founded and sold Vitacoast, and with Nature Labs, has this new line of products, as well as Sammy’s own supplements. We sat down with this duo to talk music, life, and the importance of vitamins as we navigate our day to day.
ATHLEISURE MAG: Before we delve into Red Rocker Essentials, we’d like to talk a bit about your music.
When did you first fall in love with music? I have been a fan of yours for decades. And so being able to connect with you is definitely a pleasure, Sammy Hagar.
SAMMY HAGAR: Well, I’m thrilled. Thank you! But, you know, I think probably the first time I went crazy and said, “wow, I want to do that,” was when Elvis Presley - I was like 4 years old or something... My teenage sisters were watching his debut on TV or it might have been the Ed Sullivan Show or whatever it was, but Elvis Presley comes on and my sisters are sitting there going crazy right? Screaming, holding their faces - watching a guy in black and white on TV you know.
I’m going, “wow, that’s pretty cool you know?” I might want to do that right? I want to be that guy. But really, my dad was always singing and whistling and he could yodel country music. He was listening to Hank Williams and Hank Snow and people like that. I’d sit in the car and hear him sing to the radio. That kind of got my attention too. I was kind of raised around music, even though no one played music around me. Everyone kind of liked music. My sisters would dance and they’d dance with me, you know, and my dad would sing to the radio. I guess I was influenced by music right away.
AM: When did you realize that you wanted to be a recording artist? You’re an amazing guitarist, a vocalist, you write songs...
SH: Well, I had an older friend that used to go to school with my brother and he played guitar. I used to always dress the part. My sisters always had me looking like the latest rock star, whoever it was. It was Elvis Presley or whoever the next person was, my sisters would comb my hair like that and roll up my sleeves. I swear, they dolled me up all the time like I was their playmate.
I think this guy who played guitar, he came over to my house to see my brother. He’s going, “did you ever think about being a singer?” And I’m going, yeah, you know, and he played guitar. So he started playing guitar and I started singing a couple songs. I knew a few songs from the radio, same kind of thing. So I started a band with him. He took me to see The Rolling Stones when they came to San Bernardino Swing Auditorium the first time they played in America and that was where I lived. George Babcock from a radio station, 590 AM, brought The Stones and we went to see them. And I just said, that’s it. Boom. I saw their first American performance and I wasn’t even driving a car yet, you know. So this guy had a car and we drove over and I think that’s what really did it.
Then to play guitar, that was just wanting to be a singer. My friend played guitar and I just sang all the time. Then I went to see Cream’s first American performance with Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker at the Whiskey A Go Go, I went into a music store the next day and I stole my first guitar! I mean, I hate to say it, but I wanted to play like that and I knew I was going to sing like Mick Jagger and I’m going to play guitar like Eric Clapton!
That really set me on my course and that’s all I wanted to do. You couldn’t have talked to me out of it. I thought I was going to be rich and famous someday and I was determined. Pretty lucky guy, I’d say, you know? But I did the work.
AM: Oh, you did the work. I mean, you have been part of so many different bands as well as being a solo artist!
Before we delve into Red Rocker Essentials, Wayne, can you tell me a bit about your background and what led you to the wellness industry?
WAYNE GORSEK: I just learned a little more about Sammy! I didn’t realize Elvis inspired Sammy. Look at my shirt (Editor’s Note: Wayne’s shirt is a button down that has Elvis on it).
SH: What a trip!
WG: It’s actually made by the clothier that supplied Elvis in Memphis.
AM: Oh, wow.
WG: It’s made in America. I got like 5 of them. I’ll answer your question 2 ways. What got me into music as I grew up in Illinois. My family had horses, so I started out learning, Glen Campbell, Country Western music. And then as I got in my teen years, I watched Smokey and the Bandit. I got a black Trans Am. I started to get into Classic Rock. First concert was Eddie Money. Then I discovered Sammy.
In fact, Sammy, I grew up by St. Louis. You said that you had the record amount of tickets sold in St. Louis I think you said.
SH: Yeah, I still do! I think I still hold the record of the most tickets ever sold by one artist in in one city in St. Louis and I don’t know how that happened! But you know, Wayne I’d tell you in a second if I knew how that happened! I would have made that happen in every city!
WG: Well, I think Sammy, his songs relate to us folks in the Midwest. I Can’t Drive 55.
AM: I’m from Indianapolis originally. So yes, it definitely syncs in with the Midwest.
WG: Yeah! Trans Am and Eagles Fly. I mean, so many great songs and the St. Louis rock station really supported you.
SH: Yeah, yeah, they definitely did.
But Wayne, I think your question is not how you got into Sammy Hagar. It’s how you got into vitamins, then you met Sammy Hagar, and then we did vitamins together. Now, can you follow the damn questions here, Wayne?
WG: Haha Yes! The way I got into vitamins, I grew up believing that doctors could fix everything. My grandparents raised me, adopted me, and I have a lot of good memories, but the bad memories were when I entered my teen years, they entered their 70s. This would be in the 80s, and they got a lot of diseases. They got Parkinson’s, arthritis, depression, heart failure, you name it. I thought the doctors could fix them, took them to a lot of doctors, and I saw a lot of side effects, a lot of big bills. The bills now are probably 4X higher now if you go to the doctor. I saw lots of side effects with the drugs, and I thought there’s got to be a better way.
So I went to the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine Library, nights, weekends, and I studied what is Parkinson’s, and what is arthritis? How do you fix these things? I came across nutrition. I came across herbs, vitamins, foods.
So I take these articles from the medical journals to their doctors, and the doctors admitted they knew nothing about it. They don’t teach them in medical school. So I started going to the vitamin stores and buying 8, 10, 12 bottles of all these herbs, vitamins, and I saw that they helped them. I realized that the average person isn’t going to do all that research and they’re not going to go out and buy 8-12 bottles so I decided to start a company that made a good multi that would work. Put it all in one and it did work. My last company we sold billions of dollars, we did IPO, sold to Kroger, and this is my second now!
AM: Wow I am very familiar with your first company, Vitacoast so you are definitely well versed in this space!
How did the two of you guys come together? Sammy, you’ve always been focused on wellness and longevity. How did the two of you come together?
SH: Well, I guess Wayne came to see me in concert in Las Vegas, and this is a story that he told me. But he said, “wow, this guy at his age, sure has got a lot of energy! Of course he needs that energy to keep doing what he’s doing if he wants to keep doing this, you know.”
We had a little conversation and I said, no, I’ve always been in the supplements and here’s what I take and here’s what I do. He’s going, oh, “you can do better than that. You know, some of these supplements have things in them that really aren’t good for you, or they’re not the best quality of Vitamin B, or the C that has a little bit more, and those organic products out there. He asked me if I read about everything that I take. I’m spending about two seconds on the back of a bottle! It’s got the stuff I want and then he’s going yeah. but where’s it coming from?
He just said come on down to my lab and let’s work on some stuff. So I went to the lab. I didn’t just say, “oh throw my name on some vitamins.” No, hell no man! I went down there and put on the suit, the hairband and went through a sterilization program. And we spent the whole damn afternoon in there. I was really impressed and I was very interested in upgrading my supplements. So, here we go, you know?
AM: Wow.
SH: I also want to say that there were things that were important to me like energy, natural energy without the crash, heart health, and flexibility!
Over time, I have figured out what I needed because I know as I get older, my joints are getting stiff. I need flexibility on stage. If I go out there and I’m not warmed up and I really haven’t really stretched well before I get out there – it can be tough. You get out there in front of thousands of people and your energy level – that adrenaline spikes and you do crazy stuff and if you’re not flexible, you’ll throw your back out, which I have done many times. I have thrown my neck out. You’re coming off the next morning feeling like I have head banged too hard. But, yeah, things like that.
I’m concerned about my heart because my mother had heart disease. My brother had heart disease. It’s in my family. I get myself checked out all the time about that. So, you know, I mentioned that. And I like an energy boost, but I can’t stand the products that are out there. I won’t mention the names, but I cannot even take 1 sip out of 90% of the assortment that exists right onw of those energy drinks. I don’t do it. I don’t drink coffee before a show either because it dries out my throat. So I used to take a little sip of a Coca-Cola and stuff like that with my rum or my tequila in there to get the relaxed buzz for a relaxed energy rush.
But anyway, Wayne says, no, I got you. I got you on all this stuff. The energy without the crash. You’re crashing because of the caffeine. You have to have different intake for it. So he knows all the answers to all that stuff. He’s the one that created this stuff for me to fit my lifestyle and my fans are you know almost my age some of them are my age and older even and um so I thought, “hey this is a good thing to pass on to them.” If it works for me with what I do, it’s going to [likely] work for you in your everyday life and that’s kind of the way I’ve always went about my restaurants, the way I’ve always went about my music.
If I have a message in my music it’s usually something that I wanted to tell my fans that this is a cool way to live. You know, I wrote the song Cabo Wabo, because I discovered Cabo back when it was undiscovered sand I said, “man you guys got to go to this place, you know you got to go there!” I mean, I’m telling you right now you go there you’re gonna be happy. So, I built a place down there for them, it’s really the way I think about my fans. It’s my family first, and my fans, they’re my extended family. So I think about them right along with the rest of my family, you know? And so that’s why I wanted to create this stuff. I want to upgrade them. Everyone takes vitamins. I bet you 90% of my fans take them, but half of them are probably taking stuff that’s been sitting on the shelves too long. It’s about taking a better supplement. So I’m trying to help them out.
WG: Well, you know, Sammy, you’re accurate. The typical multi, there’s tons of studies showing they don’t work because they got too little actives and they use forms of B vitamins that most people can’t utilize and absorb. So, we put in the active Bs that you can utilize. And we put in enough to work, levels that are much higher than the worthless daily values. If you want to be healthy, you cannot take the minimum. You’ve got to take optimal levels, which are much higher than the minimum DVs.
SH: I didn’t mention when I take my supplements. I personally don’t take my supplements until I have a decent meal. You know, like I don’t take them first thing in the morning because I just don’t like the way they feel on my stomach. A lot of times I take my supplements if I have a big lunch, I take them with my lunch, but I take them with food. And I think it’s really important that that’s half of what they do. You’re not living on the supplements. You’re living on the food you’re taking. You take supplements with it and you. get more of the nutrients out of the food and out of your supplements and it goes into your body better. It’s all about assimilation to me.
WG: Well said, well said, spot on.
SH: Yeah, so he didn’t teach me that. I knew that already. It is better with food. It is better with food. I really recommend that. A heavy vitamin can be rough on your stomach in the morning with just water.
WG: When you look at Sammy’s supplements, it’s a vegetarian capsule, you absorb that in just minutes. It breaks down in minutes, not hours. Some of those tablets from other brand never break down.
AM: So you have the initial products that launched last month. Are there going to be additional products that you plan on adding to this line?
WG: Oh, yes. Absolutely. We started Sammy’s line with Men’s, Women’s, Multi Energy Drink Powder.
SH: I’m open to new products as I get older for more brain health and a little bit more cutting edge stuff. Right now, we’re doing a good job. We’re putting good stuff in the normal stuff.
AM: Right.
SH: I’m an experimental guy. I’m willing to say, let’s go for some life extension products here. I rely on Wayne to guide me through that because I don’t want to get out there and just start taking a bunch of stuff and find out later, oh, no, you shouldn’t have taken that. So Wayne’s my guru here, you know. He’s my nutritional guru, substance guru, you know. I’m so happy since I ran into Wayne because he’s just so knowledgeable about all this stuff. You know, a lot of people will just try and do anything. And, you know, you can do more harm than good sometimes. So, yeah, we’re looking to expand as soon as we get everything just right.
AM: And what does this look like in terms of like rolling it out to consumers? Obviously, people can go to the website and different distribution/retailer points. But when you’re on tour or on your residency, will you be sharing this with fans in terms of awareness?
SH: Well, the awareness part, I always wear shirts. Like right now, I got my Red Rocker Beer shirt. I’m always sharing my apparel with my products and I get tattoos on my arm like Cabo Wabo, Santo, Beach Bar products and that’s Bogus Otis. I’m just one of those guys like a NASCAR person, but I don’t have to put the suit on. I just put the tattoos on. I don’t want to take my shirt off. Rather than shove it down their throats or talk about it too much. I drink my tequila on stage. I drink my rum on stage. It’s real. It’s organic with me. I own these companies except for Wayne here, but it’s still my stuff. I can’t make vitamins. So I have Wayne to do it. I don’t just endorse things and I never have. So that’s why I’m willing to get the tattoos. That’s a real endorsement.
I wouldn’t sell vitamins in concert. People that follow me, they go to my website and look at it all the time and tell them where they can get things. You know, the world’s so much about online right now. But I think Wayne’s got it covered. That’s his distribution thing. He’s got it down with his stuff. His stuff’s good stuff. It’s in all the good stores.
WG: I currently manufacture about a million bottles a month for some of the largest retailers – my customers. As Sammy grows, he’ll never outgrow us you know and we do plan to expand as he said - products for brain memory, cognitive, and joints. We can pretty much help people with any health concern with the right nutrients.
AM: That’s amazing. Sammy, We’ve been a fan of yours musically as well as an entrepreneur. Santo is a great tequila, Cabo - we went with friends because we heard the song growing up.
What do you want your legacy to be known as since you have been involved in so many things in your life as a musician and as a successful entrepreneur?
SH: Oh, my! I want my legacy just to say that, you know, I want people to smile when they think of me. I want to make people happy to make their lives better. I want to help people that I can help. You know, Paul Newman said something one time I saw him in an interview and it just changed my life. It was years and years ago after he had died. But it was at a benefit where he said, you know, “when you’re in a position to be able to help people and you see someone that needs help, you have to do it. If you see a person fall down, you’ve got to stop and pick them up.” I thought, wow, it just really touched me. I thought, yeah, I can help people. You know, I got extra money and I’ve got the ability to make people happy. So, when I walk out on stage. I want to make people really happy. I want to bring them joy. And I want to make them cry, too. I want to touch them deep in their hearts. I always want to leave them at my concert with a ballad. I don’t leave you with this big, crazy, high-energy song that makes you want to run out in the street and get in a car wreck. I’m going, no, no, no, no. You’ve got to settle down. I like to touch their hearts at the end of a show so that they remember it. In the morning, they smile. They wake up, and they remember the show, and they think about it, and they start smiling. And it makes them feel good. That’s my legacy. I’m gonna make people feel good and enrich their lives in any way I can.
IG @sammyhagar
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDIT | Rob Shanahan
Read the APR ISSUE #124 of Athleisure Mag and see THE RED ROCKER | Sammy Hagar in mag.
We have been a long time fan of June Ambrose who has been in the industry not only for decades, but if you grew up watching music videos done by Hype Williams, saw epic style statements by Busta Rhymes and Missy Elliott - you were enjoying a living masterclass by June Ambrose. You were seeing her work. The clothing, the hues, the storytelling that was done that was bordered by the videos, lyrics, dancing, and more. She set the tone and continues to do so in her projects.
This stylist, Costume Designer, and Creative Director continues to push the envelope. She recently launched another capsule collection for Naturalizer X June Ambrose. We talk with her about the shoes, her approach to her work, and what we can keep an eye out for!
ATHLEISURE MAG: When did you first fall in love with fashion?
JUNE AMBROSE: I fell in love with fashion before I even had the language for it. Growing up in the Bronx, style was survival - it was expression, armor, aspiration. MTV just amplified what I already felt in my bones. I realized early that clothing could shift energy in a room. That was my first understanding of power.
AM: When did you realize this could be your career?
JA: The moment I saw that my point of view could move culture - not just dress it. When artists trusted me to translate their sound into a visual language, I understood this wasn’t just styling and costume design… it was authorship. That’s when it became a calling.
AM: How would you define your personal style and 3 favorite accessories?
JA: My style is intentional contradiction - tailored yet fluid, disciplined but expressive. It’s what I call Authentic Intelligence.
My essentials? A statement heel (always), fun hat, and a fun and iconic shaped bag that feels like art.
AM: Where do you start creatively on a project?
JA: I always begin with narrative. Who is this person? What is the emotional temperature? I build from story, then silhouette, then texture. I’m not dressing bodies - I’m designing moments that add punctuation to your look.
AM: What have been your 3 favorite projects that you have done?
JA: Building Missy Elliott’s iconic persona, starting with her Supa Dupa Fly music video, launching women’s basket and motor sport catergory for Puma, and building the STYLE-LETICS universe. Each one pushed culture forward in a different way.
AM: Tell me about STYLE-LETICS and Naturalizer?
JA: STYLE-LETICS is where fashion meets velocity. It’s a new category where the elegance of pumps and sandals moves like a sneaker. My partnership with Naturalizer was rooted in a shared belief: comfort should never compromise style. Together, we challenged the idea that fashionable shoes require sacrifice.
AM: Tell me about the Macy’s event that took place this month.
JA: At Macy’s Herald Square, we didn’t just host an event - we activated a movement. Women stepped into the arena, tried on power, and walked in confidence. It was immersive, high-energy, and deeply personal. Style became a shared experience.
AM: What was your approach to the capsule collection?
JA: Precision. Each drop was engineered for versatility and transformation. I wanted silhouettes that could move from work to play and dancing all night without losing intention. Every piece had to perform - emotionally and physically.
AM: What do you love about your partnership with Naturalizer?
JA: It’s alignment. They understand that a woman’s life is dynamic - so her wardrobe must be too. We’re not just designing shoes, we’re designing freedom and taking risk.
AM: We always like asking our faves about 3 workouts that you love doing!
JA: Pilates for elongation, strength training for power, and walking - intentional, styled walking - for clarity. Movement is part of my creative process.
AM: How do you replenish your cup?
JA: I disconnect to reconnect. Silence, travel, and moments with my family. Stillness is where my next vision reveals itself.
AM: Are there any upcoming projects that we should keep our eye out for?
JA: Expansion of the STYLE-LETICS universe - new silhouettes, deeper storytelling, and hopefully global activations. And of course, continuing to build platforms where style and culture intersect in meaningful ways.
IG @juneambrose
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | June Ambrose X Naturalizer
We had the opportunity to talk with various team members from Women’s Health Sport and Performance (WHSP) Institute which was Co-Founded by Dr. Kate Ackerman which integrates research, education, and specialized clinical care under one roof to advance female athlete health. With over $50 million in funding, it focuses on closing the gap in sports science, offering evidence-based, personalized care for female athletes across all ages and levels.
We wanted to find out a bit more about her background, her connection to athletes, and what we can expect from the institute.
ATHLEISURE MAG: Before we delve into WHSP Institute, can you tell us about your athletic background as you rowed in college and still row currently as well?
DR. KATE ACKERMAN: Yes. While I was an active kid, I was much more into music and theater before I got to college and discovered rowing. Rowing has been an integral part of my life ever since. I rowed throughout college, competed on the national team after I graduated, made lifelong friends and met my husband through the sport. I’ve been one of the US Rowing team physicians for almost 20 years and continue to row and sometimes compete as a masters athlete. That lived experience informs how I care for athletes and understand the physical and psychological demands of high-performance sport. It also reinforces my commitment to improving athlete health and safety across all levels.
AM: As a doctor, you have such an impressive background. Can you tell us about that and what led to you becoming the Co-Founder and Director of WHSP Medical and WHSP Institute?
DR. KA: My academic background really just evolved from curiosity. I believe in lifelong learning and I’m fortunate to have found things I’m passionate about. My clinical and academic career has focused on sports medicine and endocrinology, with a particular focus on female athlete health, and advocacy for women’s health and participation in general. Over time, it became clear that there were significant gaps in how we understand and care for female athletes and active women, from research to clinical practice. When generous donors with aligned interests came along (Clara Wu Tsai and Jane and David Ott), founding WHSP Medical and the WHSP Institute was a natural extension of that work. Our goal is to bring together clinical care, research, education, and advocacy in a way that is truly interdisciplinary and evidence-driven, while centering the unique physiological needs of women.
AM: You chair a number of committees from US Rowing Medical Committee, Co-Chair of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee Women’s Health Task Force, member of the World Rowing Medical Commission, member of the Women’s Tennis Association Women’s Health Taskforce, and are a Deputy Editor of the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Why do you like focusing on female athlete health?
DR. KA: For far too long, female athletes have been underrepresented in research and underserved in clinical care. That gap has real consequences from injury risk to long-term health outcomes. I focus on female athlete health because it is a health equity issue and a performance issue.
When we better understand female physiology (for example, hormones, biomechanics) and girls’ and women’s sporting environments (such as access to resources and how they’re treated), we can learn how biology and environment interact and work to optimize health and performance.
So much of our sports medicine and sports science has been based on men. I’m happy to continue to care for male athletes. But it’s incredibly rewarding to be part of advancing the field of female athlete health, which is finally gaining the attention it deserves.
AM: What are your day-to-day roles and responsibilities at WHSP?
DR. KA: That part is a bit daunting! My role spans clinical care, research leadership, education, and organizational strategy. Clinically, I care for athletes with basic sports medicine musculoskeletal injuries to those with complex conditions, such as REDs, hormonal dysfunction, bone health issues, and medical mysteries. I love teasing apart complex medical conundrums– a collection of signs and symptoms that seemingly don’t have a connection, but may all fit together with the right investigation. I also enjoy working with our team of providers (sports medicine, nutrition, psychology, rehabilitation) to ensure we’re delivering comprehensive, evidence-based care. It is deeply satisfying to be able to provide quality care all under one roof, putting the needs of the whole patient first. On the research side, I help set our research agenda and guide projects that advance our understanding of female physiology and performance– from sample collection to writing protocols, study manuscripts, and eventually clinical guidelines. In addition, a large part of my role involves building partnerships, mentoring trainees, and shaping the broader vision of the Clinic and Institute.
AM: What are some of the research projects that you are excited about or that have been released?
DR. KA: We’re particularly excited about work focused on energy availability, menstrual health, and bone stress injuries in athletes. We’re also advancing research on how hormonal fluctuations may impact performance and recovery, which is an area that has historically been overlooked. Another key area is improving screening and early identification of relative energy deficiency in sport (REDs) and related conditions, so we can intervene earlier and more effectively. As we continue to expand our team of WHSP-based researchers and our team of international collaborators, we’re growing our work in the postpartum and postmenopausal athletes space, as well. All of this is with the intention of translating scientific discoveries into practical tools that clinicians, coaches, and athletes can actually use.
AM: What are some topics that you are looking forward to finding more about?
DR. KA: There is still so much to learn. I’m especially interested in better understanding the interaction between hormones and performance, particularly across the lifespan from adolescence through menopause. There is a lot of noise in the media and online about what girls and women should do to train, what they should eat, what supplements they should take, what they should be tracking. So much of it is at best, anecdotal. At WHSP, we’re testing theories to advance the science, in addition to creating a space where people can come for honest answers about what is really known thus far. At this stage of my career, I’m fairly good at reviewing data, understanding the limitations of certain hormonal assays and sports science study protocols, and interpreting scientific literature. And I’m humble enough to know that I want to be surround by excellence in other fields to make sure we have lots of talent investigating an issue. I love working on interdisciplinary research teams, because we all know a bit about each others’ fields, but together we bring much more depth to a project, which always makes the work better and more reliable. I have a deep sense of responsibility for ensuring we enlist diverse expertise, so that we can to do quality work and share findings in an accurate way.
AM: As we navigate 2026, what can we expect to see in terms of WHSP, whether it’s studies that have been released, activations, etc.?
DR. KA: In 2026, you’ll see continued growth in both our research and clinical programs, as well as the expansion of the WHSP Academy within the WHSP Institute. We are launching new studies focused on female athlete health and performance, while also increasing our educational initiatives for clinicians and athletes. Additionally, we’re building strategic collaborations across sports organizations and research institutions to accelerate progress in this field. Our goal is to continue leading with data-driven, impactful work that improves outcomes for female athletes globally.
AM: Tell me about the Biennial International Female Athlete Conference and what takes place there.
DR. KA: The Biennial International Female Athlete Conference is a cornerstone of our educational mission. Before WHSP was even a figment of our imagination, I co-created the FAC in 2013 to bring athletes, coaches, parents, health providers, researchers, and other experts together every other year to connect and share the latest science and best practices for female athlete health and performance. It was the first of its kind, and like what we’d like WHSP to be, it has become a bit of a mothership for how to bring people together to connect, collaborate, and learn from each other about female athlete health and performance issues. What started as a 2-day conference with under 300 attendees has grown into an inperson and virtual, 4-day, international event that sells out during early-bird registration and draws about 1500 people representing over 40 countries. We’re currently deciding if it should keep its present size and location for consistency and opportunities for people to effectively meet and connect. Like everything I’m excited about, the conference is highly interdisciplinary and relationship-building is an important element there. The FAC covers topics such as REDs, hormonal health, mental health, injury prevention, and performance optimization. I hope the FAC and WHSP continue to inspire and foster advanced knowledge for female athletes and positive change for women.
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | WHSP Institute
Read the APR ISSUE #124 of Athleisure Mag and see WOMEN’S HEALTH AND SPORT’S PERFORMANCE.
A Spring Staycation taken during the week is peak refresh vibes. We stayed at Muse New York where we previously shot an editorial photoshoot a few years ago for our MAR ISSUE #87. We looked forward to our suite, private balcony, and a spacious bathroom as a way to reset!
Since our last time being at this hotel, Little Opus has opened for a great restaurant option throughout the day as well as to enjoy cocktails, there are a number of events to enjoy at the hotel as well as amenities. It’s also located to enjoy and navigate a number of restaurants nearby. We chatted with Natalie Bogan, the property’s General Manager to find out what we need to know about the property as well as why travelers, staycationers, and even those who live and work in the neighborhood should swing by.
ATHLEISURE MAG: As we navigate the Spring and get ready for the Summer, The Muse Hotel is in the heart of the city! What is the vibe of this hotel whether you’re on a staycation, traveling for business, on vacation or swinging by for a meeting?
NATALIE BOGAN: The Muse is a boutique Midtown retreat. Intimate, design-forward, and quietly polished, it offers a more personal New York experience just steps from the energy of Times Square. Whether visiting for business, leisure, or a staycation, guests enjoy the feeling of being in the center of it all while tucked away in a refined city escape.
AM: Tell us about the common areas of the property that guests can enjoy.
NB: Our common spaces are designed to feel warm, inviting, and effortlessly stylish. The lobby flows into Little Opus, our all-day café, bar, and restaurant, where guests can enjoy morning coffee, casual meetings, cocktails, or unwind throughout the day. Debuting June 2026, we are also excited to introduce The Pocket, our intimate new jazz venue that will bring live music and vibrant energy to the hotel experience.
AM: You have a number of room options available for guests, can you tell us about them?
NB: Our guestrooms are designed as a calm retreat above the energy of Midtown, blending comfort, style, and thoughtful details. Each room features a working desk, mini fridge, smart TV, in-room safe, and make-up mirror, with still and sparkling water stations available on every other floor. Guests can choose from a range of accommodations, including Grand King rooms with a custom king bed and suites with pull-out sofas for added flexibility. We also offer eight spacious balcony rooms with private terraces ranging from 200 to 500 square feet, perfect for stepping outside, unwinding, and taking in sweeping city views.
AM: What amenities are offered for guests staying at the hotel?
NB: A curated collection of amenities ensures a seamless and memorable stay, including high-speed Wi-Fi, a 24-hour fitness center with Technogym equipment and Pelotons, in-room dining, and concierge service with curated local recommendations. Little Opus, our all-day café, bar, and restaurant, and The Pocket, our intimate on-site jazz venue debuting in June 2026, further enhance the experience, along with exclusive discounted partnerships across wellness, lifestyle, and city experiences.
AM: What can you tell us about Little Opus?
NB: Little Opus is the social heart of The Muse and a favorite hidden gem for both guests and locals. Our all-day café, bar, and restaurant transitions effortlessly from morning coffee and breakfast to lunch, evening cocktails, and dinner. Warm, stylish, and inviting, the space is elevated by signature artwork from Markus Sebastiano, adding to its creative New York energy. Guests can also enjoy live jazz music on the last Tuesday of every month, along with rotating weekly specials that bring something new to discover with each visit.
AM: For those coming for Breakfast, what are 3 dishes or items that we should have in mind when we are swinging by?
NB: Breakfast at Little Opus is the perfect way to ease into the day. Three favorites to have in mind are our Farmer’s Market Avocado Toast, the Savory Breakfast Bowl with seasonal vegetables and chili lime yogurt, and our seasonal Honey Oat Cinnamon Latte, which is a personal favorite and the perfect cozy start to the morning.
AM: When it’s time for Lunch, what are 3 items that we should think about enjoying with friends and family?
NB: Lunch at Little Opus is fresh, satisfying, and perfect for a Midtown break with friends, family, or colleagues. Three favorites we love are The Opus B.L.T. with thickcut applewood bacon, our Vegetarian Composition with grilled seasonal vegetables and house-made balsamic glaze, and one of our Seasonal Grain or Salad Bowls that are light, flavorful, and city-ready.
AM: As we shift into Dinner, what are 3 dishes we should be thinking about at this time of day?
NB: As the evening unfolds, Little Opus takes on a warm, inviting energy. Notable dishes include our Pan-Seared Salmon, cooked to perfection and beautifully balanced, K-Town Chicken Wings with bold flavor and just the right kick, and our wagyu sliders. Or, if you’re like me, just order truffle fries, a Caesar Salad, and a Diet Coke for the ultimate girl dinner.
AM: For those that are looking to swing by for Happy Hour or pre/post dinner drinks, what are 3 cocktails that we should consider when relaxing?
Our favorite seasonal cocktail is the Honeyed Eleanore crafted with honey sourced directly from our rooftop hive. Bright and refreshing, it highlights natural sweetness balanced with citrus for a distinctly local and memorable sip.
For timeless favorites, the Marquee Martini remains a crisp, refreshing guest staple. We’re also proud to continue our partnership with Woodinville Whiskey, an award-winning Washington State bourbon rooted in craftsmanship and estate-grown grains from a three-generation family farm. Showcasing that collaboration, our Good Morning, Tonight offers a playful, breakfast-inspired Old Fashioned that guests can customize to their taste.
AM: Tell us about the bees on the roof, your partnership with Alvéole, and the Bees Knees Cocktail.
NB: The 19th floor is home to our active beehive, maintained in partnership with Alvéole, a leader in urban beekeeping focused on sustainability, education, and pollinator health. These rooftop bees support local biodiversity, and their honey is harvested seasonally for use throughout our food and beverage program.
We also celebrate this ingredient through the Bee’s Knees, a classic Prohibition-era cocktail made with gin, fresh lemon juice, and honey. Simple and refined, it highlights the natural sweetness and versatility of honey in a bright, citrus-forward drink.
AM: For those bringing their dog to stay with them, what can you tell us about the Welcome Package for them?
NB: Our welcome package is designed to make four-legged family members feel right at home from the moment they arrive, featuring a plush bed, water bowl, and a special keepsake gift to remember The Muse long after their stay. Through our partnership with Procure Impact, we source select items from Turn2U Productions, supporting a mission that creates meaningful employment opportunities and promotes inclusive growth.
AM: We love getting into the gym, what can you tell us about the Fitness Center?
NB: Our 24-hour fitness center is designed for travelers who want to maintain their routine without compromise. Featuring brand new Technogym equipment and Peloton bikes, the space offers a sleek, elevated and highly efficient environment, ideal for everything from an energizing early morning workout before meetings to a restorative reset after a day in the city. Guests can also enjoy personalized Muse workouts available both in the fitness center and in-room, with the option to further enhance recovery and overall wellbeing through our Muse Wellness partnership with Technogym.
AM: Are there any special packages that we should have in mind when we are thinking about booking our upcoming stays that you would like to highlight?
NB: We love packages that help guests experience more of both the hotel and the city. One seasonal favorite is our Midnight Muse package, inspired by Times Square’s Midnight Moment, the world’s largest and longest-running digital public art program. Each night from 11:57 PM to midnight, contemporary artwork is displayed across 92 digital screens from 41st to 49th Streets, creating a true only-in-New-York experience just steps from our front door.
We also offer our Picnic Package in partnership with PikNYC, designed for effortless exploration of the city. It features a thoughtfully curated picnic selection perfect for enjoying in nearby parks or along the waterfront, making it easy to step outside and experience New York at your own pace.
AM: Are there any perks that we should be aware of that guests can enjoy when booking?
NB: Guests are in the center of it all, with direct access to Broadway, Bryant Park, Fifth Avenue, and Midtown’s most iconic attractions, while still returning to a hotel that feels intimate and tucked away. Through our neighborhood partnerships, guests receive exclusive discounts and preferred access with RiseNY, Comedy Village, GlamSquad, and Joanna Vargas Spa.
Our concierge team is always on hand to curate these experiences, creating a more personalized and connected New York stay.
AM: Tell us about Shiny and why you wanted to have this as an option for guests.
NB: Shiny is our digital tipping platform, created to make guest recognition easier in an increasingly cashless world. It gives guests a simple, seamless way to thank the team members who helped make their stay special, even without carrying cash. For us, it was important to offer a modern option that supports our associates while keeping the guest experience thoughtful and intuitive.
AM: What can you tell us about the neighborhood and what we should know about it?
NB: Our neighborhood captures the essence of New York. Located in the heart of Times Square, guests are steps from Broadway theaters, world-class shopping, and the city’s most iconic energy. We are also just off Sixth Avenue, making the hotel especially convenient for corporate travelers with offices along the corridor. It offers the perfect balance, allowing guests to be in the center of it all while returning to a space that feels calm, intimate, and removed from the pace outside.
AM: Are there any special events coming up that we should know about whether we are staying on property, or we happen to be in the neighborhood?
NB: We are eagerly anticipating one of the most exciting additions to The Muse this summer: the arrival of The Pocket. Launching in June, it is the newest project from Grant Gardner and Martin Porter, Michelin-starred hospitality veterans behind Jazz Standard, Crane Club, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Blue Note.
Designed to evoke the intimacy of New York’s legendary 52nd Street jazz rooms of the 1940s and 1950s, The Pocket places music at the center, with exceptional acoustics and some of the finest sightlines in the city, creating a truly immersive experience. The opening roster features world-class talent including Wynton Marsalis, The Mingus Big Band, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Donny McCaslin, and Lakecia Benjamin, setting a sophisticated tone from the very first performance. True to the founders’ hospitality background, the venue will also offer an elevated food and beverage program, inviting guests to begin the evening with dinner and cocktails before settling in for a refined and unforgettable night of live music.
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | Muse New York
Read the APR ISSUE #124 of Athleisure Mag and see SPRING STAYCATION AT MUSE NEW YORK in mag.
PHOTO CREDIT | Courtesy of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We always enjoy sitting down with those that are enhancing the culinary landscape wether they are making great dishes or telling us about them! Chef Monti Carlo, Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Senior Editor of Food & Dining talks with us about why she enjoys cooking, her passion for it, being on MasterChef and her cookbook, Spanglish!
ATHLEISURE MAG: When did you first fall in love with food and why you enjoy working in this space?
MONTI CARLO: I think the first time I understood food had real emotional power, I was six years old. We had just moved from Puerto Rico to Houston, and I didn't speak a lick of English yet. I wasn't ready for how muted life in the States was, how everything felt unfamiliar and cold.
There’s a story in the book about me having a total meltdown at school a few months after we moved to Houston, Texas. I had accidentally written a curse word on a spelling test because I barely understood English yet. My first-grade teacher snapped my favorite pencil in half and screamed at me in words that made no sense to me. I mustered all of my six-year-old rage, flipped my desk and ran away.
It wasn’t really about the pencil. I was a six-year-old and felt lost. I missed Puerto Rico. I missed hearing Spanish around me. I missed understanding the world without having to stop and translate everything in my head first.
I got into a whole lot of trouble that day. But that night, my mother made sancocho, a Puerto Rican beef and root vegetable stew. It was a recipe my Abuela (grandmother) made for us weekly. Even though I couldn't vocalize it then, I'll never forget the way the smell of that cilantro-scented broth transported me back to my island.
What I learned eating that bowl of stew took me decades to understand. Food can comfort you before you take a single bite. I learned that a humble dish can carry the memory of your Abuela's voice. It can carry your identity. It can carry the space that feels most like home.
If you’re paying attention, food tells you everything you need to know about the people who made it. You can see the effect of migration in a dish. You can see the ingredients that were used as a celebration and those that were used as part of survival. You can tell what traditions cooks fought to hold onto, and what flavors reminded them of home.
That’s what I love most about working as a food editor. Every restaurant, every recipe, every menu is really a story about people trying to preserve some part of themselves.
AM: You were the first Puerto Rican woman to compete on Gordon Ramsay's MasterChef. What was it like to be there and what was your biggest takeaway from this experience?
MC: One of the things the producers kept asking us was to "put ourselves on the plate." For me, that immediately meant the flavors I grew up with in Puerto Rico. But the interesting challenge was that many of the ingredients central to Puerto Rican cuisine simply weren't available in the pantry.
So, I had to cook the way many diasporic people live: through adaptation and improvisation.
I remember making a Puerto Rican-style shepherd's pie topped with sweet mashed plantains, essentially a pastelón. I made a scotch egg with canned crab because canned crab is something I grew up with at my Abuela's house.
MasterChef taught me something that later became central to Spanglish: authenticity is not rigid. Food doesn't stand still, frozen in time, like a display in a museum. Cuisine evolves when people migrate. Sometimes you lose ingredients but you adapt with substitutes.
I realized that what I had spent my entire life doing, taking Puerto Rican flavors and memories and finding ways for them to survive inside unfamiliar spaces, was its own kind of culinary language. Like I say in my book, if my kitchen could talk it would speak Spanglish.
AM: Tell us about the culinary scene in Atlanta and why you feel it is the most exciting?
MC: Atlanta feels exciting to me because it still feels emotionally honest. There are cities where dining has become so performative that you can almost feel chefs cooking toward the hot new trend. Atlanta has a culture of people who cook from lived experience, and there's a deflection of the pressure to flatten yourself into something universally palatable.
You see it in West African chefs exploring the connections between their foodways and the American South.
It is the Caribbean chefs reclaiming narratives around diasporic cuisine. It's Southern chefs addressing history through food. It's in the immigrant-owned restaurants building entire communities around dishes that remind people where they come from.
And because Atlanta is a majority Black city with such a strong immigrant population, the culinary scene reflects conversations happening around identity, migration, and culture in real time. It's not static. It's alive and deeply personal.
That makes it one of the most creatively fertile food cities in America right now.
AM: What do you enjoy about being the AJC's Senior Editor of Food & Dining and what does it mean to you to be there?
MC: What matters most to me is creating a more diverse library of food stories. Food media has historically treated many cuisines, especially immigrant cuisines, Black cuisines, Caribbean cuisines, working-class cuisines, as interesting only once they become trendy enough for mainstream validation. But the communities shaping American food culture have always been here.
I am working with writers that are interested in documenting the family-owned strip mall restaurant making regional Guatemalan cuisine. I want AJC Food and Dining to tell the story of the Nigerian pop-up that's finally turning into a permanent space. I want to highlight the Puerto Rican chef rebuilding a community through intimate dinners.
I also take seriously the responsibility of writing about labor, affordability, and survival within the restaurant industry itself.
To me, food journalism is never just about recommending where to eat. It's about documenting who a city is becoming.
AM: What are the stories you enjoy working on in the food space and why is it important to share those stories?
MC: I'm drawn to stories about migration, poverty, reinvention, and cultural preservation because so much of what we now call cuisine was born from people making something beautiful from next to nothing.
For example, I'm fascinated by the ways diasporic communities preserve identity through ingredients even when geography changes. The way Puerto Rican families in the South adapt recipes based on what's available locally. The way immigrant restaurant owners build spaces that become emotional gathering points for entire communities.
I also think a lot about how cuisines change once mainstream culture embraces them. Suddenly everyone wants the food, and that's fantastic. But very few people talk about the families who were cooking it when it was considered cheap, strange, or unworthy of attention.
Good food writing should preserve context, not erase it.
AM: Your cookbook Spanglish is out this month! Why did you want to create this cookbook?
MC: I wanted to write the kind of cookbook I rarely saw growing up: one that understood food as both recipe and emotional archive. A book that tells real, unpolished stories.
Spanglish begins with leaving Puerto Rico at six years old and arriving in the States, unable to speak English. And from there, the entire book becomes about what it means to build identity in the space between two very different worlds.
The recipes are deeply traditional Puerto Rican flavors mashed into continental American favorites. I have dishes like morcilla sloppy joes, sofrito tomato soup with bacalaíto onion rings, and guanábana pound cake, because that's what the diaspora looks like to me.
The book is really about adaptation without shame.
For a long time, people treated Spanglish (the language) as something broken. But I see it differently. Spanglish is evidence of survival and resilience. It's what happens when two realities learn to exist side by side.
The food in this book works the same way.
AM: Gordon Ramsay wrote the foreword for your cookbook! What does it mean to you to have him do that?
MC: It feels deeply full circle because Gordon met me during one of the hardest periods of my life. At the time, I was a broke single mother facing homelessness trying to rebuild everything from scratch through food. So having him write the foreword for a book that tells the complete story, not just the television version of it, feels incredibly meaningful.
Gordon understood the emotional core of the project. He understood this wasn't simply a collection of recipes. It was a story about survival and identity told through food. That means the most to me.
AM: What are three food trends you're excited about right now?
MC: 1. Diaspora cuisine being discussed with more specificity.
I'm excited that conversations around Caribbean food, African food, and Latin American food are becoming more regionally nuanced instead of being flattened into generalized categories. Puerto Rican food is not Cuban food. Jamaican food is not Trinidadian food. And people are becoming more curious about those distinctions.
2. "Humble" ingredients being treated with seriousness and care.
Ingredients once associated with poverty or working-class cooking, like canned meats, root vegetables, offal, preserved seafood, rice dishes, are finally being recognized for the ingenuity and history they carry. That feels important because so many immigrant cuisines were built from necessity and creativity.
3. Restaurants becoming more narrative-driven.
I find more and more that people want to understand who cooked the food. They want to know where the recipe came from, what story shaped it, what family memory lives inside it. Technology has left so many of us feeling isolated and that has diners craving emotional connection again, not just aesthetic dining experiences. And honestly, I think that's healthier for food culture overall.
Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.
In a world filled with endless notifications, crowded schedules, and constant screen time, many people are looking for ways to slow down and reconnect with themselves. Wellness trends have shifted beyond fitness apps and skincare products. Today, self-care often includes creating moments of calm, comfort, and intentional living. One surprising habit making a strong comeback is vinyl listening.
Vinyl records were once viewed as nostalgic collectibles from another era. Now, they are becoming part of modern wellness and self-care routines. From relaxing after a long workday to setting the mood during yoga sessions, listening to vinyl offers a personal experience that digital streaming often cannot match.
The process of choosing a record, placing it on a turntable, and listening to it from start to finish has become more than just entertainment. For many people, it is a ritual that supports mindfulness, relaxation, and emotional well-being.
Modern life moves quickly. Most entertainment is available instantly through phones, tablets, and smart devices. While convenience has benefits, it can also create feelings of overstimulation. Constant scrolling and multitasking leave little room for intentional pauses.
Vinyl listening encourages the opposite experience. It asks listeners to slow down and stay present. Unlike streaming playlists that shuffle endlessly in the background, records invite focused attention.
The physical nature of vinyl also adds to the experience. Holding album artwork, reading liner notes, and carefully placing the needle on the record all create moments of connection. These small actions help people step away from fast digital habits and enjoy something more tangible.
For many wellness-focused consumers, these slower rituals feel grounding and calming.
Music has always played an important role in emotional health. People use music to relax, process emotions, improve focus, and create comforting environments. Vinyl listening builds on those benefits by making music feel more immersive.
Many listeners describe the sound of vinyl as warmer and richer than that of digital formats. Whether the difference is technical or emotional, the experience often feels more personal. Sitting down to listen to a full album can help people disconnect from stress and reconnect with memories, emotions, and creativity.
Certain albums also become part of personal wellness routines. Someone may start their morning with jazz records while preparing breakfast or unwind at night with calming acoustic music. These routines create consistency, which many people find comforting during stressful periods.
Music therapists have long recognized the emotional impact of music. Today, everyday listeners are building their own forms of music therapy through intentional listening habits at home.
The rise of home wellness culture has changed how people design their living spaces. Homes are no longer viewed only as places to sleep or eat. They are becoming personal retreats focused on comfort and balance.
Vinyl setups now appear in meditation corners, reading spaces, home gyms, and cozy living rooms. Turntables, speakers, and carefully selected records contribute to an atmosphere that feels peaceful and inviting.
Many people pair vinyl listening with other wellness activities, such as:
● Journaling
● Yoga
● Stretching
● Cooking
● Reading
● Meditation
● Skin care routines
● Candle-lit evenings
The visual appeal of vinyl collections also plays a role. Records add warmth and personality to a room while reflecting personal taste and identity.
This blend of aesthetics and mindfulness fits naturally within modern wellness culture, especially among younger consumers who value intentional living.
One reason vinyl listening connects so strongly with self-care is the idea of ritual. Wellness experts often discuss the importance of routines that help people transition between different parts of the day.
Simple rituals can lower stress and improve emotional balance. Brewing tea, taking evening walks, or lighting candles are all examples of calming routines. Vinyl listening works in a similar way.
The process itself encourages mindfulness. Listeners slow down long enough to choose music intentionally instead of allowing algorithms to decide for them. They often sit with fewer distractions and engage more deeply with the experience.
These rituals also create healthy boundaries around rest. Instead of continuing to scroll through social media late into the evening, many people are replacing screen time with music-focused moments that feel restorative.
Vinyl collecting has also become connected to self-expression and identity. People often choose records that reflect their personality, memories, or emotional connection to certain artists and eras.
In wellness culture, self-expression is closely tied to emotional well-being. Personal spaces, hobbies, and routines help people feel more connected to themselves. Vinyl records support that idea because collections are highly personal.
Some listeners seek nostalgic albums tied to childhood memories. Others explore jazz, soul, classical, or indie music to create specific moods at home. The act of curating a collection becomes part of the enjoyment itself.
Retailers like https://evergreenvinyl.com have also helped make vinyl culture more accessible by offering records, turntables, CDs, and collectibles for both experienced collectors and newer listeners. Still, the focus remains on the overall experience rather than the products themselves.
Although vinyl listening can be deeply personal, it also supports social connection. Hosting listening nights, sharing favorite albums, or introducing friends to new artists creates meaningful interactions away from screens.
Many wellness trends today emphasize authentic connection. People are searching for activities that encourage real conversation and shared experiences. Vinyl naturally supports that environment.
Unlike passive background music, records often become conversation starters. Guests may browse collections, discuss favorite albums, or listen together without distractions.
This social aspect has helped vinyl culture grow across different age groups. Younger audiences are discovering classic albums for the first time, while older listeners reconnect with music they loved years ago.
The shared appreciation for music creates a sense of community that many people find refreshing in an increasingly digital world.
Younger consumers have embraced vinyl in ways that surprise many industry experts. Despite growing up with streaming services, Gen Z and millennials continue buying records at an increasing rate.
Part of this appeal comes from authenticity. Physical music feels more permanent and meaningful compared to endless digital libraries. Owning an album creates a stronger emotional connection than simply adding songs to a playlist.
Vinyl also aligns with several broader lifestyle trends, including:
● Mindful consumption
● Home-centered entertainment
● Digital detox habits
● Vintage aesthetics
● Intentional hobbies
For younger listeners focused on wellness and balance, vinyl listening offers an activity that feels calm, creative, and rewarding.
As wellness culture continues evolving, people are likely to seek more activities that encourage presence and intentionality. Vinyl listening fits naturally into that movement because it combines music, ritual, design, and emotional connection.
What once seemed like an old-fashioned format has become part of a modern lifestyle centered on slowing down and appreciating meaningful experiences. Vinyl records are no longer only about nostalgia. They now represent mindfulness, creativity, and personal comfort.
In many homes, listening to records has become a daily ritual that helps people disconnect from stress and reconnect with themselves. Whether it happens during a quiet morning, an evening bath, or a relaxing weekend at home, vinyl listening offers something many people are searching for today: a chance to simply pause and enjoy the moment.
Last Summer, we first learned about NRTHRN Strong a cross-country skiing inspired method when they were doing a pop-up throughout the Summer in the Hamptons. We also learned that they were having a permanent studio in Flatiron and attended their preview last Fall to check out the studio. We went back a few weeks later during the Food Network NYC Wine & Food Festival, and we took an early morning class and it was great to see how this low impact workout is a total body workout!
Flash forward to this month when we held our Athleisure Mag Summit® Series event on Apr 6th where we had readers and members of our community, to try out a class! We took some time to chat with Founder, Nicoline Roth to hear about the method, why she created it, and her studios here in NY and in Copenhagen!
ATHLEISURE MAG: Tell us your background and how you came to the fitness industry?
NICOLINE ROTH: So my background is originally not within the fitness industry. My background is in business, but I grew up as an athlete. I played golf at a relatively high level and I played handball as well on a high level. So I’ve always been into sports. I’ve always been into doing things outdoors. I’ve just in general always been very active. My whole family has always been very active. All of our vacations, we’ve never done like a sunbathing vacation. It’s always been like hiking or biking or skiing.
So I just always loved movement. So, being active and also just you know always being interested in various concepts. When I came to New York 10 years ago to go to Columbia University, that was my first introduction to boutique fitness and I was so mesmerized especially by SoulCycle. It was about the design, the lights, the instructors, and the sound. I like when you walk into a space, just like a restaurant, and you feel that there’s a purpose to everything in the space. And they’ve been very intentional about that design.
So that’s kind of like the way I’ve gotten into fitness. During COVID, I was living in Copenhagen. My brother had this machine that was developed for cross-country skiers that we today know as the Northern Trainer. He was training on it at home for a 90 kilometer cross-country ski race called Vassaloppet in Sweden. I started training on it myself and I just instantly felt that it was the best training I’d done for my life. I’d never try to work out where I simultaneously uses, so many muscles. I never tried an endurance training that really pushed me without making me feel like crap!
You could do it, but you didn’t feel like it was like running you know a marathon. You could do it and you got a really good endurance, but it didn’t kill you. You could work on your balance. I loved all these slow movements I started doing that was giving me the sculpting effects of it. It was just so fun. So I got in touch with a Pilates instructor and we started trying to do some programming around the machine. The machine had existed for 15 years before we took it over and then kind of like an idea started to grow in me. What if I owned this machine and I changed the design of it and then I created a workout around the machine that went beyond just like a workout for triathletes or cross-country skiers and that was the start of it. So it’s kind of like my background in business, seeing what was happening in the U.S. taken together with what I already knew of fitness that led me to NRTHRN Strong.
AM: We thought you were a track girlie. But hearing your story, we see that too!
NR: Yeah, no, I was a handball girl.
AM: Wow.
NR: Which is not a big sport here, but it’s a huge sport in Europe. I actually miss playing.
AM: What led to the creation of NRTHRN Strong?
NR: Well that was my former experience and then finding the machine. Then during COVID, I started thinking about what if we created a concept that would be rooted in Nordic values. It should be rooted in my relationship with nature. Of course, it should be centered around this incredible machine.
So my family and I, we acquired the global patent for the machine and we bought the company that manufactures it. And then I spent a year learning manufacturing, redesigning the machine, creating the interactive tablet that there is on the machine. And then we knew the goal with the concept was to take it to the US. But since I had no experience of running a studio, we wanted to do a proof of concept in Copenhagen first, which we opened in 2022. And then shortly thereafter, we started looking for a location here in New York City. It was really about bringing kind of the Nordic feel to the US, but of course still... do it in a way that speaks to the American people. So our Copenhagen studio is very international the way that the instructors teach is also in a very American way. So we try to do that first there and people love it!
AM: It’s great hearing how all of this came together.
How do the Nordic principles of balance, connection, and resilience come together in NRTHRN Strong?
NR: I think in the Nordics, people have a very deep relationship to being in nature and being active in nature. It’s just a part of like how we grew up. You meet together with people and you create communities not to train your bodies, but to be outside and all the joys that come with that. I think we try to kind of bring that into the studio. Resilience shows itself through the machine and the training. As you know, it’s developed for cross-country skiers which is one of the most complete and hard workouts that you can do. It trains the full body, but besides cross-country skiing it’s transferable to so many other sports. You have strength aspects, you have coordination, and you have endurance. You can transfer that to biking, to swimming, to running. In that way, we kind of bring the resilience together. Balance is also at the core of Nordic culture. We bring that through in our workouts by saying you don’t have to go all out every single day. That’s also why we have different formats. So you have the Sculpt format that’s more like resetting, slow, working on mobility, working on your balance, working on your course ability, but it’s not like you walk out of the class and you’re dead! You feel really good after that class.
AM: High endorphins when we left!
NR: Exactly! In terms of connection, we’ve tried to be very intentional through our studio, how we build our community, and how we speak to our members. I personally try to be very present in the studio here and to get to know people, like truly who they are, get to know their names, where they come from.
And then it’s obviously also through a lot of the design choices that we’ve done. I find the Northern Lights to be one of the most beautiful natural phenomenon that you can find. We’ve tried to capture that in the studio room where the lights are changing in the purple, the blues, the greens kind of hues that come from the Northern Lights. And the rest of the space we’ve tried to make it very, very simple, minimalistic - yet warm. So it doesn’t have a lot of things in there you know you come in, you’ve got exactly what you need, but the coloring and the materials is done with that Scandanavian minimalism in mind, but it doesn’t seem cold.
AM: Exactly.
NR: It’s a warm gray, but it’s also like a mountain color. So again, we’re thinking about how it is in nature and bringing that into the studio.
AM: Well, you’ve talked about the machine. It feels like the first time that we were on the machine, we used it in a number of different ways because we were even standing behind it and doing the pulls from there, and then this time we’re doing a lot of cross.
Can you tell us more about the machine and the poles? It’s interesting because it seems to be 3-4 different poles that can be used.
NR: Yeah, so the machine has more than 15 different exercises. The foundational move on the machine is called Double Pulling. That’s a classic cross-country skiing technique. And the machine mimics this with a near perfect correlation. So that would be, like, you on the slopes. Same goes for Diagonal Pulling. It’s also very similar to Diagonal Pulling on the slope. The rest – when we’re working, we push with the poles, we pull with the poles, we do sides with the lateral and we do rotational moves. So the machine kind of works in the way that you would move your body on a normal basis.
So it’s in a multi-planar motion. So it’s a full range of motion around. All of the exercises that you do at the front of the machine, you can do it at the back of the machine in the opposite direction. If you’re working your triceps at the front, you turn around, you’ll be working your biceps.
Same goes with your Double Pulling. So you’re using your core. If you do that at the back, you’ll be working your entire back. If you did a workout where you did 10 tricep extensions at the front, followed by bicep curls, right? You’ll have a very balanced workout. So that way it’s super good for your body.
AM: For those who’ve yet to try it, what are the class offerings that you have?
NR: We have three.
We have Strong, which is our signature format. That’s strength infused with cardio. You’re 60% on the machine, 40% floor. So you alternate. It is heavy on resistance. There are small cardio intervals throughout the workout and on the floor, you do use heavy dumbbells so this is a high intensity vibe. It’s still low impact.
Then we have our Sculpt format, which is Pilates inspired, but it integrates a lot of mobility work and balance work as well. You do a lot of exercises standing on one foot so you’re working all the smaller muscles on our knee for example. This is all about mind to body connection. You always start the workout with a small breathing exercise. And then you end the workout with a small breathing exercise. So it’s kind of like a full circle moment where you’re really trying to center yourself.
Then we have our Cardio format, which is endurance training. So this is 70% on the machine. A lot of interval training, a lot of Double Pulling. This is all focused about training your VO2 Max. Your VO2 Max is how well your body uses oxygen during exercise. It’s one of the most important longevity markers for your body. There’s so much focus on strength training but that must not be overlooked. It’s so important to train your VO2 Max and that’s what we do in the cardio format.
So they’re very different the three formats. What’s similar in them is that it’s all low impact. There are no high impact moves in our workouts at all.
AM: It’s great that there aren’t large jumping movements.
NR: No, exactly.
AM: A number of our readers are athletes, semi pro’s etc. and they have acquired injuries in their knees, lower back, and wrists. And the fact that you can do the workout and when you leave, you may have I have certain parts of your body that you know definitely got a workout, but it doesn’t feel crazy. Because there’s certain workouts where you leave and you know you will have to strategize how to lift a glass of wine and to get your legs up on your couch!
NR: Oh yeah!
We actually get a lot of people that have running injuries and then they thought they could never really push themselves endurance-wise again. And then they realize you can here without feeling that impact.
AM: We were speaking earlier about lighting and even the music. Can you talk about, what your focus was in that area?
NR: When I work out, I want to be in a zone. I want to get outside noise and everything from your daily life, I want it out of my head and I want to be there in that moment.
AM: Right.
NR: When you’re in a dark room that’s immersive, it has this effect on you where you just get into your zone.
AM: Absolutely!
NR: I find that if I am in a very light room training, it takes nothing for me to get distracted. You’re looking around and so on. When you’re in that dark, immersive room, you really get into your zone. The movement on the machine is so fluid. You have that flow when you’re going.
So it’s so easy to get into your zone, especially when you have the lights around. I am personally very inspired by the Northern Lights and so that’s why we chose those lights. The lights are a little different from every class. So when I chose the colors from the Northern Lights, I tried to match them up with where you are heart rate-wise. So you have a higher heart rate in our stronger cardio classes. So if you look at the heart rate zone colors, they’ll start in the green and the blue, and then they go up, and you have the orange, your pink-orange, and then you go up to the red, right?
AM: Wow.
NR: So we kind of match the lights in every class with the heart rate zone. In our Copenhagen studio, we actually have a full-on red for our cardio class. We don’t do it this year because the red is not in the Northern Lights and it needs to match. But we have one that’s very close to it here. We still have the interactive tablet so you can follow your stats, but I don’t want it to become a driving force for the entire room. You would need to be able to choose to look at it, but you can also just like be in your zone, right?
AM: So you have themed classes. What are the theme classes that are coming up for the Spring and Summer? You’re currently in a challenges going on right now for April.
NR: So right now we have a two minute Double Pulling challenger in every Strong class. We are planning a very fun event coming up. It’s going to be a marathon challenge. So it’s going to be outdoors in New York City and it’s going to be like a 4 hour event. You do 42 kilometers Double Pulling on the machine. We’ve done it 4 times in Copenhagen and it is the most fun workout. So we gather around 20 machines. You sign up with the crew as a team of 1 up to 5. So, most people can’t do a full marathon on the machine. I would go in a team, right? And I do the workout for us in the office. So you can sign up in a team and do it. But it’s such a fun event. So that’s a big thing that we’re planning. We will have challenges coming next month as well in every class.
And then we sprinkle in fun. In March, we had a lot of themes in terms of music in the classes, we’ll bring that back again that was very popular. The Taylor Swift were obviously sold out. So maybe we bring Taylor Swift back again.
AM: Last Summer, you launched in the US with your Hamptons pop-ups. Are you going back to the Hamptons this Summer?
NR: We will go back to the Hamptons, but not in the same way. We’ll focus on unique events throughout the Summer. So we have some fun partnerships coming up. We’re not ready to announce it just yet, but we’ll be at various beach clubs, hotels, outdoor events close by water.
AM: Our readers and community travel. For those who are going to Copenhagen, can you tell us more about the Copenhagen studio?
NR: So we have people, when they start here and go there, they’re like, why don’t we live there? So the Copenhagen location is quite big. It’s on the water so we have a sauna club. We do guided sauna sessions as well. It’s on the canal so you cold plunge and then you go back to the sauna. So you go back and forth, but it’s compared to going to a sauna here in New York, you can’t even compare the experience because you’re jumping in with a morning view or an evening sunset. It’s a totally different thing so we have that. Then we have this concept here - the Strong concept, we have a recovery room, we have an open gym space as well, we have a café, and then we have a studio that we call Revival that’s more focused on breath work, meditation, and mat work. So it’s quite a big place. But it’s incredible. On a Saturday or a Sunday there, you’ll see people that are there for, I’m not even lying, like 3 hours.
AM: We can imagine that.
NR: They go from concept to concept, and then they hang out in sauna. They buy coffee in the café and they hang out with friends. It’s like a wellness oasis.
AM: Are you thinking about additional locations for NRTHRN Strong?
NR: We are looking around the city. We haven’t found a location yet, but it is something that we’re considering.
AM: When you’re not in the studio, how do you take time for yourself?
NR: I like to go golfing on weekends. I go to Chelsea Piers, they have a driving range there. I like to spend time with my friends here in the city. I like to be outdoors. You know, it’s New York, I walk everywhere. In Copenhagen, I drive everywhere. Here, I walk everywhere. I never get uninspired by walking around the city. I think that’s what I do more, mainly. And then on some weekends, if I can, I love going out to the Hamptons and just relax. If I go there, I make sure to do a lot of ocean swimming. It’s what I miss the most about Copenhagen. So I do that when I’m in the Hamptons.
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | NRTHRN Strong
Read the APR ISSUE #124 of Athleisure Mag and see NRTHRN STRONG with Nicoline Roth in mag.
We’re a few months away from the start of the upcoming NFL season, but while we wait, we caught up with Super Bowl LVII Champ JuJu Smith-Schuster, Wide Receiver for the Kansas City Chiefs to talk about the upcoming season, his nuptials, and partnership with Just For Men® Gray Reverse.
ATHLEISURE MAG: We’re all looking forward to the upcoming NFL season! What are you excited about as you get ready to hit the field?
JUJU SMITH-SCHUSTER: I’m most excited to be back around my teammates and players. Going into my 10th year, I look back and appreciate that I’ve been very fortunate to play for great teams, and now I’m just excited to give it another go this year.
AM: What is gameday like for you in terms of pre-game rituals?
JSS: There’s two songs that I always listen to before each game. I also love eating Mambas, and going through my normal routines like praying before each game. I always pray for my team, myself and our health.
AM: How do you approach your tunnel style?
JSS: It’s very important to me. When you look good, you feel good and you play well. It starts first with your hair. I get a haircut every week, and being able to partner with Just For Men is important because with Gray Reverse it’s important to me to make sure I look good and play well. I’m huge into fashion - I even have my own clothing brand. It’s a way for me to express my thoughts, feelings and emotions.
AM: Why did you want to partner with Just for Men?
JSS: For me, partnering with a brand like Just For Men fits into my lifestyle. I see myself as a guy who puts in work, and Just For Men is a leading name for hair and grooming, and for me, that’s what I’m all about.
AM: Why is it important to have a proactive anti-aging grooming routine?
JSS: I’m getting to that age where everyone’s calling me “unc.” Just For Men Gray Reverse is the ultimate anti-aging hack and it is super easy to apply. You can apply the serum to wet hair, dry hair and it really goes a long way in your grooming routine.
AM: You’re about to get married, how do you balance between the festivities around your wedding and training during the off season?
JSS: I’m getting married this year and it’s going to be so fun. My soon to be wife is the planner, I’m more like “Hey, I’ll just show up.” She’s been so great about putting this all together and planning. I’ll be on camera a lot, so it’s important for me to begin using Gray Reverse now. She is big into beauty, so she inspired me to have a good grooming routine.
AM: What can you tell us about how you will groom and style yourself for the wedding?
JSS: The morning of my wedding I’m planning to golf, and I’ll need to get ready, take a shower, brush my teeth, fix my hair and apply Gray Reverse to help me feel young and feel super confident. I told my fiance that if I hit a hole in one that morning, I will come straight to the wedding early. That would be awesome.
AM: Tell us about Afi Fire and what we can expect from that?
JSS: My clothing brand is called Afi Fire, and in Samoian it means “A fire inside.” It relates to having that fire in you about what you’re passionate about. I just dropped collection three, of Afi Frost, in collaboration with a tattoo artist in Polynesia named Fred Frost. The brand is really about expressing my passion through clothes.
AM: Tell me about The JuJu Foundation!
JSS: The JuJu Foundation is a non-profit foundation where we lift young kids and elders in spirit and give back in so many ways whether that’s football camps, donations and more.
IG @juju
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 80 Just For Men | PG 82 - 85 Evan Sanders/Kansas City Chiefs | PG 86 Bri Ali/Kansas City Chiefs
Read the APR ISSUE #124 of Athleisure Mag and see PRE-SEASON | JuJu Smith-Schuster in mag.
PHOTO CREDIT | Unsplash/Huy Nguyen
Getting dressed looks very different today than it did years ago. In the past, many trends focused mostly on appearance and outfits were often designed to impress people visually, even if they felt uncomfortable after a short time. Tight materials, stiff jackets, and painful shoes were treated as normal parts of looking polished.
That idea slowly started to disappear. People began wanting clothes that fit into real life instead of making daily routines harder. Comfort became more important, but personal expression did not vanish because of it. If anything, modern wardrobes became more creative once practicality entered the picture.
Many consumers now prefer pieces that can work in several situations during the same day. Someone might wear the same look while working remotely, meeting friends, shopping, traveling, or going out for dinner later in the evening. Because of this, brands started paying more attention to flexibility, softness, and movement.
Social platforms also influenced shopping habits. Instead of only seeing runway photos or luxury campaigns, people started following creators who shared realistic styling ideas. Everyday outfits suddenly became just as interesting as dramatic editorial looks.
This shift changed the direction of the industry in a major way. Relaxed fashion stopped feeling careless. Casual staples became cleaner, sharper, and easier to style for different occasions.
There was once a belief that dressing well required sacrifice. Many accepted discomfort because it was connected to elegance and sophistication. Restrictive jeans, heavy fabrics, and difficult shoes were common parts of everyday style. Today however, modern shoppers want garments that allow movement and feel good during long days. As schedules became busier, interest in wearable pieces naturally increased.
Loose trousers, oversized blazers, soft knitwear, and supportive sneakers slowly replaced many restrictive options. Even workplaces started embracing more relaxed styling. Shoes once considered too casual are now paired with tailored looks and structured outerwear.
Another reason behind this change is practical spending. Buyers want items they can actually use often instead of pieces that remain untouched inside a closet, so everyone became more selective about purchases and started looking for value beyond appearance alone.
At the same time, casual looks became more refined. Better cuts, softer materials, and cleaner styling made relaxed outfits appear intentional rather than sloppy. Small details made a huge difference.
Modern routines played a major role in reshaping wardrobes. Remote jobs, flexible schedules, frequent travel, and wellness culture all influenced what people expect from clothing.
Many no longer separate outfits into strict categories like office wear, gym attire, and weekend basics. Instead, they want adaptable pieces that work throughout the day without needing constant changes.
Matching sets, oversized shirts, lightweight jackets, and stretch fabrics became more popular because they support comfort while still looking polished. This balance matters to people who spend long hours moving between different activities.
Travel habits also changed shopping priorities. Frequent flyers and commuters started looking for wrinkle-resistant materials, breathable layers, and comfortable shoes that still look stylish. Garments that transition easily between different settings became more valuable than highly specific trends.
Wellness culture influenced this shift too. Many individuals became more aware of how fabrics and fits affect mood and confidence. Feeling physically comfortable started connecting with emotional ease as well.
As a result, practicality stopped feeling boring and became part of modern personal style.
One of the biggest changes happened with everyday basics. Items once linked mainly to lazy weekends or gym sessions slowly became more elevated.
Hoodies, oversized tees, joggers, knit sets, and sweatshirts entered mainstream style in a completely different form. Designers improved fabrics, tailoring, and color palettes so these pieces looked cleaner and more versatile.
Sweatshirts especially experienced a huge transformation. Years ago, they were mostly associated with workouts, school uniforms, or staying home. Today, they appear in carefully styled looks alongside structured coats, denim, boots, and layered accessories.
Wearing custom-designed sweatshirts became especially popular because they combine comfort with individuality. Embroidery, vintage-inspired artwork, neutral tones, and minimal graphics helped these items feel more polished.
Social media helped accelerate this movement. Influencers showed audiences how relaxed basics could look intentional instead of careless. Layering played a huge role in that transformation. A simple sweatshirt paired with tailored trousers or a long coat suddenly looked more modern and stylish.
This shift made casual dressing feel more expressive instead of less creative.
Modern shoppers expect more from clothing now. Looking good still matters, but practicality matters too. Because of this, many companies started focusing on comfort-driven details. Stretch fabrics, breathable materials, wrinkle resistance, and lightweight layers became common parts of everyday collections.
Outerwear evolved as well. Many jackets now include hidden storage, weather-friendly features, and softer construction without looking bulky. Shoes are designed to support long periods of walking while still appearing polished enough for social plans or professional settings.
Even office attire changed. Softer materials and relaxed cuts replaced many stiff designs that once dominated workplace wardrobes. Brands realized people want garments that support movement and fit naturally into busy schedules. Nobody wants to spend money on something that feels impossible to wear comfortably for several hours.
Practical details stopped feeling separate from good design and became part of what makes clothing attractive in the first place.
The industry will likely continue moving toward flexibility and ease because consumer expectations have changed permanently. People became used to garments that support movement and adapt naturally to different parts of life.
Technology will probably keep shaping this direction. More companies are experimenting with lightweight materials, temperature-regulating fabrics, and adaptable designs that improve comfort throughout the day. At the same time, creativity will remain important. Consumers still want individuality reflected in what they wear. Comfort alone is not enough. People also want confidence, personality, and originality.
That combination is shaping the future of modern style. Practical dressing no longer feels plain or uninspired. Instead, it feels connected to real routines and genuine lifestyles.
Fashion became more functional because everyday life changed. People stopped wanting garments that looked impressive but felt uncomfortable after a short period. Instead, they started choosing pieces that combine ease, versatility, and personality.
Relaxed tailoring, elevated basics, and polished casual staples all became more popular for this reason. Sweatshirts, oversized layers, supportive footwear, and soft fabrics gained wider acceptance because they fit naturally into modern routines.
Today, practicality is no longer viewed as the opposite of good taste. In many ways, it became one of the main reasons contemporary dressing feels more authentic, wearable, and relevant to daily life.
