SMOKING AND GRILLING WITH CHEF DAVID ROSE

It has been quite a year and yet, 2020 continues to roll on. In the midst of a lot of uncertainty, there have been things that remind us how life was prior to living in the pandemic that has taken place across the globe. This holiday season will be a bit different than what we have experienced with us socially distanced and not partaking in holiday parties and events that we have been used to in the past. We caught up with Chef David Rose to hear some tips on how we can tackle this year's season.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We enjoyed seeing you as a finalist on Season 13's Food Network Star, being a Food Network personality and a number of shows. How do you define your cooking style?

CHEF DAVID ROSE: My cooking style is kind of a mix of a couple of different things. First off, my family is Jamaican and I am from the tri-state area so there is a huge cultural melting pot. I would say that I cut my teeth in terms of cooking in the South. So you see a lot of Southern influences and twists on my recipes. But I was also classically trained in the French arts at Le Cordon Bleu where I graduated summa cum laude back in 2006 – very proud of that one right there! I would say that my cooking style is elevated Southern with a Caribbean French Twist and a bit of international influences. So I'm sort of a man of mystery and a chef of mystery! I like to keep people on their toes and to keep them guessing.

AM: The Athleisure team throughout quarantine has enjoyed a number of the dishes from Omaha Steaks so we know that they are more than just steak and chicken as they have sides and desserts. As the Executive Chef for Omaha Steaks, what is the synergy between you and the brand and what can we expect to see between you and them in this partnership?

CHEF DR: Definitely. I am a huge smoking and grilling fan and fanatic! I have about 4 or 5 grills so I think that smoking and grilling unleashes the natural amazingness and flavors that you can find over at Omaha Steaks. From one of my favorites, the Tomahawk Ribeye that nice luscious bone eye and then there is the file as well as the strips and the T-bone. You also can’t go wrong with a lobster tail as well. I’m pretty sure when offered a surf and turf, nobody ever ever said no! A lot of those things go really well together. As far as being Jamaican, you know we eat everything. Whether it be chicken, it’s beef, turkey – whatever. We love everything and you can find so many assortments of proteins from ready to eat sides and ready to eat desserts. It’s all on the web-site and I’m excited to be able to bring my Southern influence and Caribbean influence to an incredible company known for their meat and protein portfolio in order to exude and explore and to showcase my style of cooking with Omaha Steaks.

AM:We’re in holiday mode and obviously celebrations look a little different this year with virtual get-togethers and gatherings. What tips do you have especially for veteran hosts that will be putting on dinners that are slightly scaled back then what they’re used to.

CHEF DR: I think that 2020 is a year that nobody has experienced and I’m pretty confident in saying that. According to a new Harris Poll, more than half of Americans are planning to celebrate with 5or less people and 1/3 of Americans are opting or are considering Zoomsgivingwhich is through the joy of Zoom whichI’m pretty sure that everyone has become acclimated with during quarantine. You can celebrate that experience of cooking and eating even if you’re not able to do it in person but can through the magic of Zoom or other virtual platforms.

The holidays can be very anxious especially if it is the first time that you have ever cooked a turkey. We have a 10lb pre-bast-ed turkey that gets shipped to your door-step. What I recommend is that the #1mistake that most rookies make when they are tackling a turkey is not allow-ing enough adequate time for the turkey to thaw. You always want to allow for at least 3 days for that turkey to thaw. If it’s a 10lb one, you want to give it the full 3 days and if you want the crispy skin that we all love and is indicative of a turkey, you want to uncover it in a roasting rack for an additional 24hours. By doing that, it’s going to dry the skin out and give you that golden brown crispy turkey skin every single time. As far as doing all of that. We also suggest making your turkey a day ahead of time. It allows you to have a stress free, anxiety reduced day on Thanksgiving. When you do that, you want to take the turkey out, remove the breast, the thighs, the legs and the wings. The key thing is to allow the turkey to rest and come to room temperature. What you do then is put it inside of the fridge. When you remove the turkey from the fridge on Thanksgiving day, you just need to reheat it and then you’re just focusing on the sides, the appetizers and my personal favorite – the desserts. Another way to shave some time from the prep is to buy some mix and match sides from the site as there are a lot of options. We also have a great partnership with Wine.com where we have some packages that can be purchased.

I always say, that being ready, being prepared and keeping your freezer stocked with a plethora of goodness means that you’re always going to be the hero at any Thanksgiving or Zoomsgiving table.

AM: What are your go to mains and sides that you enjoy having around?

CHEF DR: One of my favorite things is a Prime Rib Roast. I think that this reigns supreme at any holiday dinner table. I just love to eat that bone when I’m done. I’m a gnawer Athleisure, I’m a gnawer. If you have dogs, the dogs will appreciate that as well. The great thing about a Prime Rib Roast is that I can be shared with families, it’s great for leftovers – you can make a prime rib sand-wich the following day. To me, nothing screams celebrations, nothing screams holidays more than an amazing Prime RibRoast. We have an amazing selection of those as well.

AM: What are some recipes that we should keep in mind as well as we are navigating this holiday season?

CHEF DR: What I would recommend is that you want to go and brine the turkey to add additional flavor. These pre-basted turkeys are already pre-brined. They have their brown sugar, their honey and so it’s not just about the flavor but the color so it has that golden brown deliciousness. Now some of my personal flavor recipes is that I love doing compound butters. They're great for steaks, they’re great for roasts and I recommend if you want to get that juicy lush turkey breast, is make that. A compound butter is a fancy way to essentially say a butter with herbs like thyme, rosemary, sage and garlic. To get that re-ally juicy and luscious turkey breast, you take that compound butter and you slide it under the skin and slather it all over the breast. Now what that does is that when that turkey slowly cooks and we know that that fat of the butter is where the flavor comes in – it just makes it taste amazing with great texture 10 out of 10 times.

AM: Like you said earlier, 2020 no one can say that we have ever seen anything like this! How do you plan on ringing in the New Year?

CHEF DR: I think everyone is looking for-ward to ringing in 2021 and what I’m planning on doing is having a nice Prime RibRoast, maybe a filet or Ribeye on the grill– one of these amazing food packages where you can’t forget about your libations! For me, a nice glass of bourbon and just enjoying one of my favorite pairings– steak and bourbon. You can’t go wrong with that.

IG @ChefDavidRose

PHOTOS COURTESY | OMAHA STEAKS

Hear Chef David Rose on our show, Athleisure Kitchen - which is a part of Athleisure Studio, our multimedia companion podcast network! Subscribe to be notified when the episode drops. Listen on iHeart-Radio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, AmazonMusic, Google Podcasts or wherever you enjoy your podcasts.

Read the Nov Issue #59 of Athleisure Mag and see Smoking and Grilling with Chef David Rose in mag.

UNSTOPPABLE WITH TRACY TUTOR

As our long time readers know, a number of our cover photoshoots have taken place in phenomenal luxury residences here in NYC as well as other locales around the country. So it's no surprise that we love reality shows that focus on luxury real estate. The OG of these programs includes BRAVO's, Million Dollar Listing. Both NY and LA focuses not only on the housing market in those cities but also follows the brokers to understand what their lives and interactions are like as they are closing multi-million dollar deals.

Tracy Tutor is the first female broker to join the cast of Million Dollar Listing LA. Her no-nonsense ability to wheel and deal, put her clients in check when needed and her belief in empowering those around her comes through the screen every week. In addition, her understanding of the industry due to her years of work within residential as well as her work with her father, Ronald Tutor of Tutor Perini on the commercial side of the business makes her someone you enjoy watching. While she has had successes in her career, and in the show, we saw her navigate divorcing her husband and being a mom of 2 daughters. We took some time to catch up with Tracy to talk about her work, balancing being a mom, how she has embraced fitness into her lifestyle and what she thinks about the current market in these times.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We have enjoyed seeing you on BRAVO’s Million Dollar ListingLA by shaking it up as the show’s first female multi-million dollar real estate broker, with your industry know-how, business savvy, and amazing outfits! We know that your father is a noted civil and building contractor, Ronald Tutor, I’m sure that you were aware of the industry from a young age but, what was the moment when you realized that you wanted to work in real estate?

TRACY TUTOR: The truth is, that it was not at all what I had planned. I was an actor and had studied theatre in college. After a couple of years of auditioning post-graduation, I realized that I didn't want to wait around for someone to tell me I had gotten the part. I knew I was good at selling myself, so it wasn’t much of a stretch to sell houses. Candidly, I knew I could sell anything, so I’m glad I picked a product that happens to have the highest return on my investment.

AM: Prior to focusing on residential real estate, what was your path in this industry and what is it about residential that speaks to you?

TT: Residential sort of fell into my lap, after making the decision to stop pursuing being an actress. Residential is about an emotional connection but it’s still a business. I love the marrying of the two! As we know, emotion and business (one is not quite like the other) so when you are able to navigate between the two, that is what excites me.

AM: As one of the top agents at Douglas Elliman Beverly Hills within their Sports & Entertainment division. You’ve represented noteworthy brands, iconic architects, consulted for luxury five-star hotels as well as serving as a US Ambassador for the Royal Atlantis Resort and Residences in Dubai – just to name a few. How has it been juggling all of these roles, projects and opportunities?

TT: I always say if you are not striving for something new and pushing yourself, you are just surviving.

AM: What is your process when it comes to deciding on upcoming projects that you and your team will participate in?

TT: I rarely turn down a project, but when I do it will be about one of two things.

1. Unrealistic price expectation.

2. Ego. I think ego is the toughest to get beyond. I have learned how to get around unrealistic sellers and price, and have many have strategies to get around that in most cases, but ego....well, at my age, Idon’’t have time for it.

AM: Tell us about how you joined the cast of Million Dollar Listing LA and why you felt that this was something that you wanted to do with your brand?

TT: I was on season 9 showing a property of Josh Altman's and we were able to put a deal together on the listing. During the course of shooting, we had great chemistry on screen together. After the show aired, the producers approached me and asked if I had any interest in discussing joining the cast. The rest is history.

AM: What is it like filming each season with you and your team as well as with the other brokers that are also in the cast?

TT: It is a lot of work for all of us. Remember, we already have full-time careers and the show generally shoots for 12 months, so there are days where a normal 10 hour day becomes a 13 hour one. It is hard to juggle the clients and shooting, but we get out there and do it because it is the best marketing tool we could ask for and we are all grateful for it.

AM: One of the things that we have enjoyed watching you on the show is how you speak your mind, you demand more and how you’re not willing to settle. Have you always been this way and how can one get that mindset when they are in their boardrooms in their life?

TT: It really is about fear, isn’t it? That is what truly holds us all back from achieving our highest potential. I have always had the instinct to challenge the system and push back. But to be truly good in the proverbial “boardroom” you have to embrace fear every day, feel and acknowledge it and then put it away so that you can trust your instincts to guide you when you need it the most. If you can’t hear what your gut is telling you because there is so much noise and insecurity in the way, then you can’t win the room. It’s that simple.

AM: How important is it to you to empower women to own their space, handle ego and deflect power plays?

TT: I love women. I believe we are the stronger sex. Period. Mentally, emotionally, spiritually. We have unfortunately for centuries been told we are the weaker sex, so believing in our power, doesn’t come naturally to us. I love that discussion and reminding women that they are all lions, they maybe just haven’t heard their roar yet. We should listen to our intuition more. It’s our greatest gift and trusting it, learning how to use it to our advantage and giving it a real voice is what separates us from our male counterparts.

AM: What led you to creating your best-selling book, Fear is Just a Four-Letter Word: How to Develop the Unstoppable Confidence to Own Any Room?

TT: I knew that I was lucky to have the platform representing women on a show dominated by men. I was hyper-aware of my industry and felt particularly passionate about sharing my experience as a woman in this business.

AM: Do you think that you will continue to write additional books in this area?

TT: I think the next one might be a more personal journey. Who I am in business is greatly affected by my personal experiences. I want to take my own advice to be fearless enough to talk about it.

AM: What words of wisdom do you have for women who are navigating their careers?

TT: Read my book and don’t let anyone tell you what you are capable of. Only you can define that.

AM: How do you balance the demands of a full career, filming, being a mom of 2 girls and your personal life – how do you take time for yourself?

TT: I forgive myself every day for the lack of perfection and I am honest. I am stretched as most working moms are; add in a divorce and the desire to have love in your life again and you have to be forgiving. I schedule time to not do anything. I mean really. I will say I am booked on a Sunday so that I can have that time to do whatever I feel like doing and sometimes that is absolutely nothing and it is fantastic.

AM: We know through the show that you went through a divorce while still having a very full schedule. How did you take going through this process and putting those emotions into focusing on health, fitness, and wellness?

TT: I don’t think that divorce propelled me into health/wellness and fitness. I think owning my truth and finding happiness within myself propelled me there.

AM: What is your preferred method that you enjoy to do when working out?TT:I love to mix it up but what I have found with my body now is that I don’t try to kill myself with anything too high intensity. I love weight training because you have to be mentally strong to push up weight be-yond your comfort zone. I like that challenge. It’s a time where I don’t think about work or friends or family or stress. I focus on my goal for that hour and give it 100%.

AM: Our readers are always looking for routines to add into their workout. What are 3 workouts you do for arms, 3 for abs, and 3 for glutes that you do?

TT: Arms: when I am walking on the tread-mill (which I do 5 days a week for an average of 45 minutes,) I carry 3 lb weights and do arms. 4 sets of 30 reps of each exercise:

o Curls

o Tricep kick backs

o Bicep extensions

o Shoulder press over head

ABS: 3 sets of 30-45 seconds each – upper ab first:

o Slow bicycles

o Toe touch with 10 lb db

o Suitcases

o Then lower – grab a pilates ball and place under small of back

o Out an inch and in an inch

o Single leg toe taps with ankle weights

o Both legs toe taps

Glutes: 4 sets of 20

o Hip thrusts with band – warmup

o Hip thrusts with 20 lb ball on hips

o Barbell squats

o RDL’s

AM: 2020 has been quite a year to navigate from COVID-19, social justice and the election to name a few. How have you been dealing with this especially as a parent of children?

TT: Let’s just say that I am welcoming 2021 as are my children.

AM: In terms of the real estate market, what do you think the impact of COVID-19 will be as we close this year and transition to 2021?

TT: Despite a couple month shutdown, we have rebounded quickly and I anticipate a strong 2021.

AM: What is your advice for those that are debating on whether they should buy a personal home or even one for investment purposes?

TT: Interest rates are at an all-time low and that gives someone attempting to get into the market strong buying power. So my advice is get out there and speak to your banker or financial advisor and discuss your options.

IG @TracyTutor

PHOTO CREDITS | PG 119 + 120 Matt Sayles | PG 123 Tracy Tutor |

Read the Nov Issue #59 of Athleisure Mag and see Unstoppable with Tracy Tutor in mag.

THE BACHELORETTE S16. E11. | TAYSHIA + THE ROAD TO HOMETOWNS PART II

If you have yet to see episode 10 spoilers are ahead! Tonight, ABC’s The Bachelorette begins with Tayshia thinking about Hometowns. Chris Harrison meets the guys and lets them know that they need to come up with fun dates that will let Tayshia get an idea of what it would be like to be with them. In addition, they are looped into who from their families will be there as they have also gone through testing and quarantine to be there to share this experience.

First up is Brendan which the two have had a great connection since day 1! Their date included carnival games complete with prizes and his niece being on the date. As we get to the evening, we finally meet Brendan’s brother and his sister-in-law. You can definitely see his connection with his family and how they are so close. While chatting with his brother Daniel, he lets her know that he would be ready to marry her.

Zac brings a NY inspired date and teaches Tayshia how to be a NYer so he teaches her how to hail a cab, they ride in their cab Flinstone style and they come to a bagel and coffee stand that is by a “brownstone”. They hop back into the cab and enjoy a slice of NY pizza and then they have a backdrop of Central Park. It’s such a cute date and feels very NY in the most simplest and epic ways possible. His brother gets down to business and asks her the hard questions. Zac’s dad lets her know that he is uncomfortable with the situation but is comfortable with her. Although his dad wouldn’t go through this process, he can appreciate that Zac’s smile says that there is something there. Zac tells his mom that although he has always said he didn’t need love or to have kids, he now realizes that he does and it’s because of Tayshia. Zac also thanks his mom for her strength and that it is a big reason why he is alive and can navigate through life.

Ivan introduces Tayshia to Filipino cooking and they get to bond on this fun date. Ivan’s parents are direct and sweet. They advise her on having the right conviction and doing what needs to be done if she intends on Ivan being her husband. Both parents are impressed by her. They also give him a reality check in leting him know that this would not be a process that they would go through! We finally meet Ivan’s brother! The love that he has for his brother and how he is inspired by how he raised his daughter is something that you can see as he speaks.

We finally come to the last date with Ben. Her date entails rollerblading in “Venice” and going to the “beach.” Seeing them transport themselves to another place and just being able to have a natural conversation is a great thing to see especially because he has been one of the mysterious contestants. Although his family vibed well with Tayshia, we’re bummed that he didn’t tell her he loved her.

The men head to the rose ceremony and Ben tells Chris that he loves her and of course, Chris asks if he told Tayshia. He admits that he didn’t and hopes that he has the chance to tell her. Brendan, Ivan and Zac are given a rose. Ben’s undoing is the fact that he kept his thoughts to himself and didn’t let her know what he was thinking. When she walked him out, it seemed like she was trying to give him another chance, but he just couldn’t formulate the words. We definitely can’t wait until the 2-night finale to see how everything ends up!

Each night, we’ll tweet The Bachelorette and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!

Each week we will let you know who our faves were last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns (it will be interesting to see how Hometowns will take place - we’re assuming families will be quarantined) if we were choosing right now! We will also say who we think should take it all. Poor Brendan has responses that are deemed inconclusive which makes Tayshia hesitant. Zac answers that he has cheated on someone which makes Tayshia uncomfortable. Riley is asked his name to set a baseline and the red bulb goes off!

We also suggest a podcast that we’re newly obsessed with, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour which is hosted by Rachel Lindsay (contestant on The Bachelor Season 21; The Bachelorette Season 13) and co-hosted by Becca Kufrin (contestant on The Bachelor Season 22; The Bachelorette Season 14) to get their feedback!

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LAST EPISODE

Ben, Ivan, Brendan and Zac made it to Hometowns We felt that Zac would propose to her and that she would accept.

WEEK 10 (TAYSHIA’s 7th)

Hometown dates with Ben, Brendan, Ivan and Zac were fun to watch. We’re doubling down and cheering for Zac to propose to her as well as to get a yes!

WHO’S LEFT

BRENDAN

IVAN

ZAC

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THE BACHELORETTE’S CONTESTANTS

BEN, 29 - Indianapolis, IN

BENNETT, 30 - NY, NY

BLAKE, 29 - Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

BRENDAN, 30 - Milford, MA

CHASEN, 31 - Walnut Creek, CA

DEMAR, 26 - San Diego, CA

ED, 36 - Pittsburgh, PA

EAZY, 29 - Dallas, TX

IVAN, 28 - Dallas, TX

JASON, 31 - Rutland, VT

JAY, 29 - Langhorne, PA

JOE, 36 - North Woodmere, NY

JORDAN, 32 - NY, NY

KENNY, 39 - Chicago, IL

MONTEL, 30 - Boston, MA

NOAH, 25 - Tulsa, OK

PETER, 32 - Everett, MA

RILEY, 30 - NY, NY

SPENCER, 30 - San Diego, CA

TYLER, 27 - Morgantown, WV

ZAC, 36 - Haddonfield, NJ

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

THE BACHELORETTE S16. E11. | TAYSHIA + THE ROAD TO HOMETOWNS PART II

If you have yet to see episode 11, spoilers are ahead! Tonight on ABC’s The Bachelorette we get right into it with the impromptu 2 on 1 showdown which has a rose on the line between Bennett and Noah. She talks with both of them in the same setting and is shocked by their level of petty. She then talks with each one privately. In talking with Bennett, he explains that he doesn’t question her integrity and intentions. It seems like she sees his side. Then she talks with Noah and explains that she thinks that he is the common denominator. He defends himself by stating that he was given a “gift” by Bennett and he just wants her to know the kind of person that Bennett is. She says that she will think about it as she needs to be able to focus on finding a man and not being in between their petty drama.

After deliberating, Tayshia explains that she can’t give Bennett the rose and walks him out. When she comes back, she lets Noah know that this is not a win for him and she’s not giving him the rose right now, so he will have to wait until the ceremony. She continues to meet with the guys so that she can focus on the guys that she wants to continue her journey with. In addition to Bennett who was sent home earlier in the evening, Spencer, Demar and Ed are also eliminated.

After a crazy night, JoJo comes by the guys place and lets them know that Hometowns will be next week and she will be meeting with their families. Ben also finds out that he will have a 1-on-1 date. They will hop on a scooter to find their date location. They navigate themselves around the resort to end up enjoying a drink and chatting. She still feels that she is trying to figure out what makes Ben tick and at that moment, she doesn’t know if she would give him a rose. But with a dinner coming up, she will get her answers to make their path clearer than it is at the moment. When they sit down to dinner, Ben explains that he attempted suicide twice and that he owes his sister everything as she saved him, even though she has no idea that this happened. He also shares that he went to therapy and was intentional about it so that he could be the best person that he could be. Connecting over his vulnerability in sharing this story made her feel close to him and he received the rose as well as a moment in enjoying their private concert.

The group date includes Zac, Brendan, Ivan, Noah and Riley. Blake finally gets what he wanted - a one-on-one date with Tayshia. Nothing says date-time like a polygraph test. JoJo also lets them know that Tayshia will also be taking this as well. Answers that the detector deems true will have a green light bulb, those that it finds false are red and if the detector can’t tell, then the orange bulb will light up. Clearly, when she meets up with the guys after the group date, she has a number of questions. First up is Zac! Tayshia will not tolerate cheating and Zac admitted that he had. This is triggering for her and she addresses it as that is why her marriage ended. Zac admits that it was his first girlfriend in 6th grade - so it’s nice that she knows the full story and makes us like Zac even more for her. Brendan explains that as someone who had been previously married that he’s excited about her meeting his parents, but he also wants to make sure that whoever meets them is someone that he knows will not make them feel negative. Riley who even got his name wrong is the one we want to know more about. Apparently, he is sitting on some serious secrets that due to the proximity of Hometowns he has to loop her in on. He lets her know about his family and why the name change took place as well as his family issues. She is so impacted by the guys that she lets them know that she will hold off on giving the rose as it wouldn’t be right to do so and wants to think about it. She leaves the party feeling great and sees Bennett waiting at her place. He pitches himself and lets her know that he loves her. Next week, we’ll be treated to 2 nights (Mon and Tues) of The Bachelorette.

Each night, we’ll tweet The Bachelorette and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!

Each week we will let you know who our faves were last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns (it will be interesting to see how Hometowns will take place - we’re assuming families will be quarantined) if we were choosing right now! We will also say who we think should take it all. Poor Brendan has responses that are deemed inconclusive which makes Tayshia hesitant. Zac answers that he has cheated on someone which makes Tayshia uncomfortable. Riley is asked his name to set a baseline and the red bulb goes off!

We also suggest a podcast that we’re newly obsessed with, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour which is hosted by Rachel Lindsay (contestant on The Bachelor Season 21; The Bachelorette Season 13) and co-hosted by Becca Kufrin (contestant on The Bachelor Season 22; The Bachelorette Season 14) to get their feedback!

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LAST EPISODE

We cheered on Ben, Ivan, Brendan and Zac. We felt that Zac would propose to her and that she would accept.

WEEK 9 (TAYSHIA’s 5th)

When it comes to Hometown’s we think that it will be Ben, Brendan, Ivan and Zac - but we still think Zac will find love.

OUR HOMETOWN PICKS

BEN (Copy) (Copy)

IVAN (Copy) (Copy)

BRENDAN (Copy) (Copy)

ZAC (Copy) (Copy)

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THE BACHELORETTE’S CONTESTANTS

BEN, 29 - Indianapolis, IN (Copy) (Copy)

BENNETT, 30 - NY, NY (Copy) (Copy)

BLAKE, 29 - Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (Copy) (Copy)

BRENDAN, 30 - Milford, MA (Copy) (Copy)

CHASEN, 31 - Walnut Creek, CA (Copy) (Copy)

DEMAR, 26 - San Diego, CA (Copy) (Copy)

ED, 36 - Pittsburgh, PA (Copy) (Copy)

EAZY, 29 - Dallas, TX (Copy) (Copy)

IVAN, 28 - Dallas, TX (Copy) (Copy)

JASON, 31 - Rutland, VT (Copy) (Copy)

JAY, 29 - Langhorne, PA (Copy) (Copy)

JOE, 36 - North Woodmere, NY (Copy) (Copy)

JORDAN, 32 - NY, NY (Copy) (Copy)

KENNY, 39 - Chicago, IL (Copy) (Copy)

MONTEL, 30 - Boston, MA (Copy) (Copy)

NOAH, 25 - Tulsa, OK (Copy) (Copy)

PETER, 32 - Everett, MA (Copy) (Copy)

RILEY, 30 - NY, NY (Copy) (Copy)

SPENCER, 30 - San Diego, CA (Copy) (Copy)

TYLER, 27 - Morgantown, WV (Copy) (Copy)

ZAC, 36 - Haddonfield, NJ (Copy) (Copy)

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

THE BACHELORETTE S16. E10. | TAYSHIA + THE ROAD TO HOMETOWNS PART I

If you have yet to see episode 10, spoilers are ahead! Tonight, ABC’s The Bachelorette brings Chris Harrison (JoJo did a great job) back into the show as he lets us know that he dropped his son off at college. He also gives a recap of how Tayshia has cleaned house while he has been gone. After their catch up session, we head straight into a 1-on-1 with Blake. The last time we remember the two of them having a real conversation is when he let her know that it would take time to get out of his shell. He was still caught up on Claire and Tayshia was understanding. The guys don’t know that Bennett has popped back in - that will definitely be a bit of drama. Their date includes a reiki master who will help them seek what they are looking for. Through a series of exercises that are meant to come together, she realizes that the vibe and connection isn’t there. Blake feels like he can get there, but they don’t make it to dinner and she sends him home. She’s not done yet, as she heads over to the guy’s place to talk with them. She lets them know how tough it is, but that she appreciates what they are doing. She then asks Riley to come with her so that they can talk. Although she feels connected to him and has enjoyed his vulnerability, she doesn’t feel that she can get there as her heart isn’t where it should be with him.

With 2 eliminations behind her from the night before, we head into the daytime rose ceremony with the remaining 5 guys (plus a secret Bennett spot) and Ben is the only one with a rose feeling a sense of security. As they all look at one another waiting for Tayshia, they share their feelings with one another until Bennett walks in. While the guys figure out his reappearance, Chris lets them know that there will not be a cocktail party and they will head straight to the rose ceremony as her mind is made up.

She sends home Bennett and Noah and is left with Ivan, Brendan, Zac and Ben! Tonight, we also get the Men Tell All which is always an interesting event that takes place as you head into Hometowns.

In terms of the Men Tell All, they have also included Yosef from Claire’s season! There is no audience due to the intimate nature of the times that we’re living in. We’re loving the set which they should think about continuing to do. But it’s good that they’re still doing the elements that we all enjoy watching when tuning into this particular show. It was great to hear more from Tayshia and we can’t wait to get into Hometowns tomorrow!

Each night, we’ll tweet The Bachelorette and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!

Each week we will let you know who our faves were last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns (it will be interesting to see how Hometowns will take place - we’re assuming families will be quarantined) if we were choosing right now! We will also say who we think should take it all. Poor Brendan has responses that are deemed inconclusive which makes Tayshia hesitant. Zac answers that he has cheated on someone which makes Tayshia uncomfortable. Riley is asked his name to set a baseline and the red bulb goes off!

We also suggest a podcast that we’re newly obsessed with, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour which is hosted by Rachel Lindsay (contestant on The Bachelor Season 21; The Bachelorette Season 13) and co-hosted by Becca Kufrin (contestant on The Bachelor Season 22; The Bachelorette Season 14) to get their feedback!

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LAST EPISODE

We cheered on Ben, Ivan, Brendan and Zac. We felt that Zac would propose to her and that she would accept.

WEEK 10 (TAYSHIA’s 6th)

Hometown’s will have Ben, Brendan, Ivan and Zac . Our predictions have been pretty spot on this season and we think that Zac will propose and get a yes!

OUR HOMETOWN PICKS

BEN

BRENDAN

IVAN

ZAC

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THE BACHELORETTE’S CONTESTANTS

BEN, 29 - Indianapolis, IN

BENNETT, 30 - NY, NY

BLAKE, 29 - Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

BRENDAN, 30 - Milford, MA

CHASEN, 31 - Walnut Creek, CA

DEMAR, 26 - San Diego, CA

ED, 36 - Pittsburgh, PA

EAZY, 29 - Dallas, TX

IVAN, 28 - Dallas, TX

JASON, 31 - Rutland, VT

JAY, 29 - Langhorne, PA

JOE, 36 - North Woodmere, NY

JORDAN, 32 - NY, NY

KENNY, 39 - Chicago, IL

MONTEL, 30 - Boston, MA

NOAH, 25 - Tulsa, OK

PETER, 32 - Everett, MA

RILEY, 30 - NY, NY

SPENCER, 30 - San Diego, CA

TYLER, 27 - Morgantown, WV

ZAC, 36 - Haddonfield, NJ

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

GOOD VIBES ONLY WITH SOFI TUKKER

This month's cover story features 2 X GRAMMY-nominated musical duo that we have been a fan of for awhile now. SOFITUKKER's music can be heard in some of your favorite Apple commercials, TV shows and even when you're hopping on your Peleton. This group is known for their jungle pop vibes and continuing to expand their footprint in the world through their creativity. We talked with them about how they began working with one another, how they got into the industry, their body of work and what they have been doing as they have navigated this time of quarantine.

ATHLEISURE MAG: Prior to becoming the powerhouse duo that you are, when did you fall in love with just music in general?

TUCKER HALPERN: I have always been in love with music. I played the drums and I was in garage bands growing up. But it al-ways took a backseat to basketball. That was my whole life for such a long time until I was like 20 – 22. For me, I didn’t really fall in love until the way that I am today until I got sick in college. That’s when I started turning my attention to something else. I really just fell in love with dance music and house music and stuff.

SOPHIE HAWLEY-WELD: I can’t really point to a specific period in time where I fell in love with music. It’s always been something that I have enjoyed listening to and I have always been dancing. I would always dance and be in musical theater as a kid. I started writing as a means of music therapy actually in middle school. I would play the guitar and I would write about my feelings. I found it so therapeutic to honestly just write about my experiences as opposed to thinking about it. It was my primary way of getting through my angst.

I was really into jazz and I took jazz singing lessons. I started to realize that I liked Brazilian jazz more than any other kind of jazz. I started taking Portuguese and I said, “hey, if I love this music so much, I should probably start taking lessons in it."So I really started loving the music and moved to Brazil for a bit and I just kept it going. I think it’s a long story but music is just such an experience in the way that you fall in love with it.

AM: We’re big fans of jazz music in our team and our co-founder’s great uncle was Joe Henderson, tenor saxophonist.

SHW: Cool!

AM: We love bossa nova as a form as well, what is it about this genre of music that pulls you in?

SHW: I just find it so intimate and sexy and soothing. I think that the language is perfect for jazz and singing. I think that it’s very vowel-y. I think it’s perfect and when you’re listening to it, the singers are whispering into the microphone.

AM: Pretty much.

SHW: Yeah and I just really enjoy that whole vibe.

AM: How did you guys meet one another and was the moment when you realized that you wanted to work together and that you had those traits that would be really beneficial together?

TH: Well, I think that I had to convince Sophie to do that – that I had traits to add to her repertoire. But the story goes, I was DJing after my basketball life in college during my senior year. I was DJing tons of house parties – like college stuff, but it was cool under-ground stuff. One of my friends asked me to DJ after this art show. We went to Brown and it was at this show in Providence in downtown like at a warehouse thing. I went early to set up and Sophie was the acoustical per-former at the art show and I think that there was only 10 people there. But I was sort of setting up and watching her perform with a couple of friends that I knew from my music classes at school. She was amazing and she was only singing in Portuguese and it was really beautiful bossa nova music which I had never really heard much of before.I thought that it was really cool but it was really slow. Like REALLY slow – like 4BPMs – I swear! I was like, man this would be so much cooler if it was more upbeat and had a house beat behind it. When she sort of finished and it was supposed to be my turn to play, I actually said casually,“hey keep playing and I’m going to bringing a beat with it.” So like, looping the intro with a house music track and I put it really slow at the tempo that they were playing at and then I started speeding it up and I said, “just follow the tempo.” She start-ed singing the song at a faster beat that was behind it. So I said, “ok this is going to work.

After that, I think she stayed for my set – did she?

HW: I did.

TH: You must have – you had to. She was probably hitting on a guy that was there ha.

SHW: Of course haha.

TH: So the role reversed. I had to introduce myself to her after I played and I was like, what were you singing. She told me that they were original songs that she made. I asked her if I could do a remix of the last one that she was singing. She agreed but told me that there was no real recording of it. I said, “cool, come over to my apartment tomorrow – a dorm apartment and let’s rerecord it and I’ll make an electronic version of the song. She did come over and we did start making a different version of the song and –

SHW: We just started working every day and making new projects. It was so easy to work together. Were we even friends? We started working with each other for a long time but we weren’t hanging out socially. We just had a great work friendship.

AM: That’s mind-boggling! You’d think that the two of you started this as being best friends or at least really good acquaintances.

SHW: Yeah we didn’t even hang out with one another outside of making our music. We were just making music. Eventually, Tucker convinced me that I should come to NY. Then I thought, “wait, who is this guy?” I talked to people that I knew that we had in common and I was like, “do you vouch for him and should I move to NY with him to create a band with him?” They were like, “oh yeah, he’s a great guy – you should go with him.”

AM: What is your process like when you do sit down and create music together? Do you guys have designated roles?

SHW: Yeah. Every song is very different. But for the most part, Tucker is at the computer and I’m on the guitar and writing most of the lyrics. Now he’s singing a lot more which is cool. It’s also because as the band has evolved we have done the same as well.

AM: You guys have worked with so many artists over the past few years, what are you guys looking for when you are deciding on collaborating with people outside of yourselves?

TH: Honestly, I think that we’re just looking at people with good vibes. We love working with friends and people that we admire and look up to. That actually has a lot to do with the vibe that they are putting out into the world. We enjoy working together. One of the coolest things about collaboration is about putting out like a baby into the world that you created together and then being able to celebrate that together. Then being able to perform it together. You’re sort of bonded with that group forever. It will sort of always be a part of who you are. It’s just fun and it also gets you to have that opportunity for that music to have a little more freedom.

Because you’re able to work with another artist who has their musical sound, we don’t have to worry about whether that music has the SOFI TUKKER sound and if itis really in our world, having that aesthetic and that palette because it’s a collab-oration. So it can also live in Icona Pop’s world or someone else’s world. So it can have a little more risk and it can be a little more out there. Maybe not more out there as I think SOFI TUKKER songs are out there.

AM: Oh yes in the best possible way!

TH: Right I love out there. In a way – the collaboration has a way of being able to be out there – you know what I mean?

AM: Yeah. It’s about blending. When you have two collaborators that you know their work separately, come together it’s a hybrid that’s undefined and gives you the space to create. That’s so exciting when you see that come together.

TH: You get me.

AM: Yes! Our team has done fun projects outside of Athleisure Mag. Our Style Director had the opportunity to style Nile Rodgers a few years ago and her style has its signature and Nile is known for his. So the two coming together to create a look really took the pressure off of her as they both had a united vision without her wondering how it would go against her aesthetic. She could just sit back and enjoy the work and embrace his vibes and interests while adding in her touches.

TH: Exactly, it’s fun to have the other create fingerprints on it as well.

AM: Prior to COVID-19, you guys had a number of tours that you were on and creating a number of amazing shows. In prep for this interview, when we have told people that you guys are the cover, everyone would tell us about their show experience when jamming out with you guys and how it was the best night of their lives. So many people have painted a picture for us about your shows, but for those that have yet to go, what is it like for one of your in-person shows?

TH: I don’t remember.

AM: It feels like so long ago!

SHW: It’s like an electric orgasm!

TH: It’s all that energy coming together on one wavelength. It’s like losing your shit. You know when you’re like 13 with your friends and you’re listening to music on your boombox in your room and you’re like dancing on your bed – like losing it? I try to bring the adult back to that – to that primal nature.

AM: Do you guys have pre-show things that you do to get your mind ready for the show and then things that you do when the show is over? You guys are pushing through so much energy that it’s unimaginable how much you guys must hype yourselves up and then come down from that whole effect.

SHW: It is a p-r-o-c-e-s-s.

TH: We have different processes.

AM: Assumed!

TH: I’m going to let Sophie go as it’s such a process.

SHW: I’m really sensitive to stimulus as a person. I have to warm up to and then cool down from it or else I would never be able to survive. Basically, hours before the show my prep begins. 4 hours prior to the show, I will have my last meal. About an hour before the show, I start my vocal exercises. They are very physical and funny. That will go for about an hour and a half. Down to the hour, I know exactly what I am doing. After my vocal warm-up, I will do my physical warm-up. It’s about rolling out my body and it’s intricate. For the last 5 mins, we will dance around and psych each other up. You know, just jumping around with nervous energy.

After the show, then I have a vocal cooldown and then ideally, there’s a bathtub or a shower that also helps me to come down.

AM: Although that was an unexpected answer, love hearing this and knowing that there is such a thing as a vocal cool down is something new to us!

SHW: It doesn’t take that long. It’s just learning about putting the vocal in the right place in your mouth if that makes sense. That way you don’t get hoarse. When you talk right after singing, it can be really draining on the voice.

AM: Totally. Tucker?

TH: Mine is a little simpler. Before the show, we both pretty much treat it like a basketball game. It’s all about the warmup, being able to blast music – usually, dance music. It gets more intense as it goes. The first hour maybe a bit more chiller. By the end, it could be trance by the time we’re ready to go out so we're losing it. I’m really big into warming up because if we don’t do it or don’t do it long enough, my hamstrings will just bedone and then it’s all over. Right before we go out, we really hype each other up and Sophie gives me a 5-star on the back, like a really hard one. And it always hurts, but it stings and it gives me a little extra jolt which I like – but I don’t miss it that much haha!

SHW: What?

TH: I call it the 5-star. Sophie didn’t know that that’s what I call it until now! It’s a big slap on your back – it’s a 5-star. Afterwards, I ice up my knees and my feet with bags of ice or an ice bath type of situation.

AM: Um truly like a basketball player!

TH: Yeah, it’s very similar to my routine when I was a basketball player. We kind of run around and go nuts on stage. When I come off stage, my shirt is entirely dripping in sweat. It’s like a full hour and a half of going nuts. So I really have to ice but I don’t have to do the wind-down when we go back to the ho-tel after shows, I can just lie on the bed and fall asleep a minute after raving. Sophie has to do like a full 2-hour yoga wind down. When we used to share a hotel room for the first couple of years because we had smaller budgets, it was not ideal to share a room. I’d want to put the TV on so that I could watch SportsCenter and fall asleep to it and she could not have any light stimulation or noise or she would not be able to fall asleep. She has like earplugs and an eyemask. If I had the TV on even in silent, she’d be like, “nope the light flickering is fucking me up.” I was like, “this is ridiculous.

AM: You guys have had such a successful career, you have 2 GRAMMY nominations, you’ve played a number of festivals, I al-ways love hearing your music when it's an Apple (Best Friend) or Peleton (Purple Hat) commercial – we’re huge fans of HBO’s The New Pope. So when we heard, Good Time Girls the opening song –that was amazing. What does it mean to you guys to have so much of your music placed into so many pop culture areas?

SHW: I think that we feel really lucky to be able to be in that space! It’s a great way for people to be able to connect to our music and it’s just such a great opportunity.

AM: Even as we navigate COVID-19, you guys have continued to stay connected with your fans. How did your daily con-certs from home start and how impactful has it been to be able to provide this to your fans? Especially when we’re in a moment where you can’t really, travel, tour etc.?

SHW: It started very organically and by accident. Tucker was DJing and I was working out. Our friend came down and started live-streaming what was happening. People were watching and it was really fun and we said let’s do it again. I think on the 3rd day, Tucker was like, we’re going to do this every day until COVID-19 is over. Obviously, little did we know that we would still be at it. What we’re doing is different than our live shows as this is a DJ set and has been so much fun. Honestly, it’s been one of the most meaningful moments that I would say of my life. We're in this moment in time right now where people are feeling loneliness and are suffering and we are able to bring people together every single day. Everybody that is coming together are our friends and our community is now called the Freak Famand it’s grown to be this big community outside of ourselves. They have come together and they’re so inclusive and warm– it’s been great to see and gives us hope. This year, we’ve seen a lot of things about our world that hasn’t been great so to see that there are people like this has really been something that I have loved being able to be a part of.

AM: Are these shows thematic by genre, country or dedicated to specific portions of your fan base? Do you guys just freeflow every day?

TH: The Freak Fam is really so world wide that our music is really for everyone out there. It’s interesting because there are so many different time zones and languages that for those, it would feel odd to be specifically towards just one place because it's so diverse. We have done specific shows like an all Australia set for Australian radio where it live-streamed and it only featured artists from Australia. We’ve done some Mexico specific ones – we’ve done it. But for the daily streams, we just try to keep it inclusive for everyone.

AM: When you guys createdTreehouse, there are so many good songs on it. How long did it take you to make it and what was that like?

SHW: It’s so different now versus then.

When we madeTreehouse, we didnt have real time off. We basically used the time in between our tours. We would go to the studio, work on the songs, etc. Since it was done that way, it probably took a year to get that album out. There would be gaps where we couldn’t work on songs for a number of months as it would be a couple of days here and a couple of days there.

AM: Last month we interviewed you andIcona Pop about the release of SPA which we loved. We just caught the video recently as we have it on repeat. What was the thought behind having Jordan Firstman and Mia Khalifa also being included in this video and how did that come about?

SHW: I think it started out with Icona Pop as they were friends with him. We’re so lucky that we were able to have them in their as they are so iconic and I love their videos. They’re both so cool and iconic in their own way.

AM: You guys have the interactive e-con-cert coming up on Yoop on Mar 12, 2021 at- live from their eSPACE in Nashville. How did this come together and how are you working in terms of being prepared for that one?

TH: We’re so excited about this one. We’ve been waiting for the right kind of virtual experience that would fit what we would want that would be really unique and would be different from going and watching one of our live shows from YouTube or something. We were looking for a platform that had a real two-way traction. One of the main parts about our show is the connection between us and the fans and the real give and take and not just for our enjoyment although we definitely do have that. But the shows have a real live effect as it gets everyone on the same wavelength which is an important part about our show. To try to do that in a virtual world through technology, we thought that this platform would be a great way to do that. It has no lag between communication. People can clap at the end of shows or scream and we can hear that. There are these 3 big movie like screens in front of us where the crowd would normally be and there’s the ability to scroll through thousands of people who are listening in from their house. We can even pick them out and hear them with no lag time.

It’s the first thing that we have seen that is close to a real show and being able to get that real energy. We watched a couple of them as they were getting their plat-form going and just watching the kinds of interaction between the artist and their fans, talking through the songs and see-ing everyone interacts – it was such a cool experience. It made me really thing that you were there in that experience altogether. You know it’s live. I’ve seen some live streams and it looks like it was just pre-recorded shows that you’re watching. That’s cool, but for us we want to try to really have that live feel.

AM: In these times that we’re living in right now, how are you spending your time in quarantine when you’re not doing your daily shows? Are you working on your next album or finding new hobbies that you didn’t know that you had?

SHW: We’ve never had this much time be-fore ever! It’s really interesting. We have been working on a lot of new music. I'm not going to announce anything specific.

AM: Thought so.

SHW: But, there is a body of work!

AM: Nice.

SHW: But we have never had this amount of time where we could work on songs like this. So we’re really excited about that process. I mean, we try to get outside a lot. I’ve been DJing every day. I wasn’t really DJing before this time. So I spend a lot of time practicing DJing now and I spend a lot of time doing tutorials. I take guitar lessons as well to take the time to work on my craft. I love being able to do that and I also play things in our DJ set of things that our Freak Fam is doing. It could be poetry or things that they are doing and so I will work on that. There’s a ton to do!

AM: How do you guys stay inspired?

SHW: I’d say that the DJ sets that we're doing right now are really inspired. It’s energizing and it’s fun to try out a set or song and see how it works. Then we can go back and work on it more and then try it out on a set again. It’s really cool to be able to have that feedback when we're working on something. We can go directly from studio to set to play it.

AM: A lot of people are thinking about what next year will look like in terms of returning to IRL events and things of that nature. Have you guys begun to sketch out what plans to doing something like that will look like? Or are you looking at circling that date in hopes that you can actually do that show or particular event?

SHW: I would say that we’re trying not to get our hopes up!

AM: Same!

SHW: I think that we actually haven’t even gone there. Like obviously our team is there creating plans, but in our hearts, we just believe that today is what today is and tomorrow is what tomorrow is. But it’s really hard mentally to go past anything like a month. I mean how the world is right now and what it will be, we know it’s really unpredictable right now and that’s all we can predict!

AM: We’ve literally had the same conversations on this end. When can we do IRL shoots, attend events etc. To be able to think about that and to think about the safety around those elements is just a lot to take in because the plans become so fluid and it’s definitely hard to predict. It’s too soon!

SHW: Yeah.

AM: What do you guys think about the fact that because you have had so much virtual/digital engagement and even hearing about this new platform that your show on the 4th will be on, everyone regardless of their vertical has embraced these concepts. When things at some point in life do get back to being in person, will you guys maintain some of these virtual nuggets that you have been playing around with and that people have enjoyed even when they can move around more freely?

TH: For sure! I think that he whole world has definitely embraced the virtual element in all industries. I’m sure a lot of companies are saying, “you know, we don’t really need that office space. We can do it from home and save all of this money.” I think that it will be the same in the music industry. We can’t get everywhere and there are still places that we have never been able to go. We have played in a lot of places but there are so many places that we haven’t been able to play for many reasons. Sometimes it’s just as simple as the currency of that country as doing it would mean that we would financially lose money and people can’t afford the show. I think there is such a good use of virtual shows and our DJ sets whether it’s geotargeted or geo-locked and can only be seen in certain places, I think it’s going to be really useful.

You can have people watching you from all over the world and be united and that doesn’t have when we have our in person shows. Only people in that space/that town get to be in that moment. It can accomplish something sometimes bigger and sometimes more broad. Because it’s free (not the Yoop show,) but what we have been doing is, hopefully, it’s just a 1-click for free mouse move as the barrier into entry. Those who may not have known us well enough to pay for a ticket or two to make a plan in their week to see us can do it now because of this platform when they wouldn’t have prior to. So there is always a good use for something like this and I think it will get creative when the world is back to the new normal or whatever it is.

AM: What do you guys see as being next in terms of the SOFI TUKKER brand? Launching a fashion line, getting into acting – are there other areas that you want to be able to embrace in addition to your successful music career?

SHW: Tucker is a thespian!

TH: No not really! Haha

SHW: Haha I don’t think my sarcasm translates well to print haha!

AM: Haha we caught it!

SHW: So we have our body of work that we are working on right now and I don’t think that we have ever been so proud of the music that we are making. We definitely are interested in launching projects of course.

TH: If you have anything in mind, we’re around!

AM: Of course!

SHW: We don’t have any booking plans right now to get in the way of that.

TH: We want to be able to continue to do what we’re doing and to grow the FreakFam as well! When live shows return, we want to be able to do it in a hopefully big-ger and more exciting place than where we left off. It’s exciting and we’ve loved being able to find ways to keep growing and to work with so many great people.

SHW: It’s been a really tough time as I’m really far away from my family. So that’s tough so to have the work that we do –our music and our purpose and to have a community that is so vibrant it really helps. It takes a time that is really tough and difficult and helps me and others get through it. It makes it a lot easier to focus on things and to be able to be excited about them.

AM: Clearly you guys inspire people with everything that you do. So we always like asking people who are 3 people that you know or admire from afar that have in-spired who you are today?

TH: There are so many people and I think when you think about the people that we have learned from – when we started the group or band or duo – still don’t know what to call it 5 years later ha! We start-ed, we were really uncomfortable taking photos, being on social media and we wouldn’t take selfies because we thought it was lame. Then something as simple as seeing other friends of ours do what they did and were amazing at social media, that was inspiring to us.

For me in short, it would be Larry Bird.

AM: Yes! Our Co-Founder loves Larry Bird!

TH: Is she from French Lick?

AM: No, Indianapolis but she’s all about him and you can never say anything wrong about him – his work ethic and focus is amazing.

TH: Exactly. I’m from Boston and as a sports guy, I grew up idolizing his work ethic, how hard he played and how hard he practiced. When I watched him play, that was always instilled in me and I learned it from sports. I knew that if you’re not working, someone else is getting better. It’s not like everything is a competition but it is competitive and that is motivating for me.

AM: In our Style Director’s home state, they believe in Life is Sports and Sports is life. How you are in sports is how you're going to go about life. So it is a competition and in many ways, that competition will be with yourself. And the reality is that someone else is also doing what you are doing so you need to be ready to perform. It’s a great point!

TH: A lot of what I learned there, we have brought into our world here. Being a captain on a college basketball team and working together – a lot of those skills are also applicable in what we do now and it was great to bring it in here.

SH: I’m going to give you an emotional answer because my grandfather passed away recently. I would say that he is one of the reasons why I am who I am today and he inspired me. A – he always treated me like I was the most special person in the world. The thing about him is that I think he actually treated a lot of people that way so it wasn’t just about me. That’s how he was with people and when he interacted with them, he made them feel that way. Feeling seen and having that kind of love in my life made me believe in myself and made me want to give that back to other people so that others could be seen and feel special. The other thing is that he was always jolly and I never heard him complain and I think that that value is something that we have also brought into the community and the band.

IG @SOFITUKKER

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS

Athleisure Mag's virtual cover shoot was shot by Co-Founder + Celebrity Photographer Paul Farkas. Throughout this shoot, Paul used an iPhone 11 Pro, iPad Air 2, Facetime and Clos.

STYLE CREDITS

Athleisure Mag's Celeb Fashion Stylist, Co-Founder, Creative + Style Director Kimmie Smith shares what she used to create the cover editorial with SOFI TUK-KER for a number of fun vibrant looks.

LOOK I | LOUNGE STYLE

FRONT COVER, PG 16 + 19 | SOPHIE: DIPPIN' DAISY'S Show Off Bralette + Friday Night Pant | MAISON MIRU Halo Oval Hoop Earrings in Sterling | EXPERIMENTAL JEWELLERY CLUB Gold Pyramid Stud Bracelet | NIKE Sneakers | TUCKER: RUSSELL ATHLETIC Tie Dye French Terry Hoodie + Short | PUMA RS-2K Messaging Sneakers | SOFI TUKKER Yellow Choker Chain |

LOOK II | SPORTY STYLE

BACK COVER + PG 20 - 25 | SOPHIE: L'OEUFPOCHE Cloud 9 Crop Pullover | L'ETOILE SPORT A-Line Skort | MAISON MIRU Halo Oval Hoop Earrings in Sterling | Nike Sneakers | BABOLAT Pure Aero Tennis Racket | TUCKER: ALO YOGA Idol Hooded Runner + Chill Short | MATADOR MEGGINGS Cubed Meggings | PUMA RS-2K Messaging Sneakers | SOFI TUKKER Yellow Choker Chain |

LOOK III | WEEKEND STYLE

PG 27 - 32 | SOPHIE: BALANCE ATHLETICA Tie Dye Hoodie | PANGAIA Lightweight Recycled Cotton Track Pants | MAISON MIRU Halo Oval Hoop Earrings in Sterling | PUMA RS-Fast Sneaker |TUCKER: MUNICIPAL Standard Issue 300 Hoodie | PUMA X KIDSUPER STUDIOS Track Pants | Nike Sneakers | SOFI TUKKER Yellow Choker Chain |

LOOK IV | STUDIO STYLE

PG 35 - 39 | MUNICIPAL Sport Utility Hoodie + Jogger |

LOOK V | CASUAL STYLE

PG 40 + 41 | KALORE Ivory Satin Top + Stretch Pants | MAISON MIRU Halo Oval Hoop Earrings in Sterling | STELLA MCCARTNEY Holographic Sneakers |

LOOK VI | CHILL STYLE

PG 42 + 43 | BALANCE ATHLETICA Tie Dye Hoodie | MUNICIPAL Crossover Short |

IG @PVFarkas

@Shes.Kimmie

Hear EDM musical duo SOFI TUKKER on our show, #TRIBEGOALS - which is a part of Athleisure Studio, our multimedia companion podcast network! Subscribe to be notified when the episode drops. Listen on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts or wherever you enjoy your podcasts.

Read the Nov Issue #59 of Athleisure Mag and see SOFI TUKKER in mag as well as their 9PLAYLIST 9MIX.

SHE EMPOWERS WITH CHESLIE KRYST

We enjoyed talking to Miss USA 2019 Cheslie Kryst who recently crowned Miss USA 2020 Asya Branch. During her reign, she competed at the Miss Universe 2019 competition and finished in the top 10 repre- senting the United States. She was also a part of a historic period where for the first time, all 4 major US based pagent holders were black women including Miss Universe 2019's Zozibini Tuni of South Africa, Miss America 2019 Nia Franklin and Miss Teen USA 2019 Kaliegh Garris.

We talked to the longest reigning Miss USA on how she got into the pageant world, her platform, being an attorney and her work as a correspondent on EXTRA.

ATHLEISURE MAG: So what drew you to wanting to be in the pageants?

CHESLIE KRYST: My mom actually was Mrs North Carolina US 2002. She won this pageant for married women and I was 10 or 11 years old. I just remember feeling like my mom was famous. There were kids in my middle school who would ask me for my autograph. People who didn’t know my name before or who I was – I just remember saying that there was something cool about this. I knew at some point that I would compete.

AM: What drew you into wanting to stay in the pageant system in terms of initially competing and whether you plan on still being involved in activities that took place during your reign after the crown?

CK: Yeah! I think what kept me involved was seeing that pageantry could be a springboard into other places and that it could be a platform that you wouldn’t have otherwise had access to. I remember seeing photos of Halle Berry for years competing and she was the first runners up and then she was Miss USA and I was like, “oh my God. She’s an Academy Award-winning actress, I want to be that one day. How cool would that be?" Or seeing careers that people like Kenya Moore has had and to see how people who have been in this system, competed and how they have gone on to be these incredible public figures and I wanted that. I continue to compete not only because I wanted to reap the benefits, but because I was reaping the benefits. You prepare for interviews so your skills in that area are sharpened. You're thinking about what to wear on stage so you’re constantly thinking about styling so you have that more than someone else who may not be focused on what they’re wearing like that. It’s a big high-level goal that even if you don’t win you don’t lose either.

AM: You were recently the co-host of the Miss USA Competition as well as being able to crown the winner, what was that like especially as we’re navigating things in this time of COVID-19 that you were still able to put on a great show that people enjoy watching – especially with it being Graceland in Nashville as well as knowing your reign was over as you passed the baton?

CK: It was so much fun and it was a great transition out of my role into what my new life would be. For the final Miss USA Competition, I was an analyst and it was really cool to be able to go back and forth between the co-host interviewing me on stage and then back of house to talk about what we just saw on stage as well as to hear who I thought would continue to advance. It was so much fun and it was a literal translation of what my transition would be from being on stage and being a titleholder to being the person who assesses what is happening on stage guiding the viewers through what is happening. That was incredible for me and it took away those feelings of what would be sadness for the end of my reign.

AM: You have had the longest reign. What was the platform that you focused on during your time that you wanted people to be aware of?

CK: I focused on Social Justice and also became the Global Impact Ambassador for Dress for Success. I talked about on one hand as Dress for Success as an organization and on the other hand, criminal justice reform as a topic and continuing to advance on this issue obviously on the criminal federal level as well as the state level. Both of these topics were important to me. For Dress for Success, I got to go on a nationwide tour where I would meet with local affiliates and their clients, talk to professional women and to attendees about how important this organization is and how they could continue to support it. I got to see first hand the people that were being benefited by it and that was really important to me.

AM: Clearly you had a lot on your plate. How were you able to do the duties of Miss USA, you’re an attorney as well and also being a correspondent on Extra! How were you able to do all of that at the same time? Doing the prep for this interview, busy for you was an understatement!

CK: I was busy and it was quite a year and a half. Lucky for me, Miss USA is a full time job. So as soon as I won, I took a leave of absence from my law firm so I wasn’t actively practicing law while I was fulfilling my duties as Miss USA. I think that if I had been doing both, it would have been impossible for me to do both well. I did take the time away and now that I have ended my reign, I have decided to refocus on my career as a correspondent in working with EXTRA full time and have been placed on inactive status in North and South Carolina where my licenses were previously active so I’m not practicing law right now.

I mean, it was craziness when I was trying to go from appearances for Miss USA and then sprinting to red carpets to cover for celebrities for EXTRA like Gayle King.

AM: How did EXTRA come about as that’s such a fun show and you’ve been there for over a year!

CS: One of the producers for the show saw me win and she saw some of my interviews and had formed a close relationship with the President of the Miss Universe Organization, Paula Shugart as well as knowing others in the organization and she had served as a judge for us as well. She talked to them about being able to meet me and we talked about being able to do special correspondence. My first 3 interviews were Zendaya, Lizzo and Millie Bobby Brown. I just remember thinking, “wow you guys couldn’t start me off with someone that was less famous?” But Iike that they had confidence and me and in those interviews, they went well and kept bringing me on for assignments and eventually brought me on as a regular correspondent.

AM: What have been some of the most engaging things that you have done in your time as an EXTRA correspondent?

CK: There’s so many! Some of the red carpets have been really cool with actors and celebrities. I think it can be overwhelming sometimes when it’s your first one. I remember my first red carpet it was for a television show that had been turned into a movie. I just remember that there were so many celebrities and I remember Martha Stewart being on the carpet and she was randomly taking a picture on her phone in my direction while I was interviewing someone and I thought, “Martha Stewart is aware of my existence possibly.” That was a cool moment. I have been able to interview some great people like Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks, Henry Golding a couple of times and he was so sweet. I remember asking him who he was wearing and he said, “my wife dressed me.” She was literally standing behind me and I said, “thank you, you did a great job.” I’ve learned that the celebrities that I meet, they’re just real people and a lot of them are so kind and giving of their time and cool to talk to.

AM: How is it for you to prepare when it’s a one on one interview where you have a set period of time with someone versus something like a red carpet scenario where it’s one right after the other?

CK: For sure. You still try to research on the red carpet and to be aware of celebrities who could possibly be on the red carpet from background information, the movie that they are involved in etc. If it’s an event or a release, you want to know that as well so that you have that general knowledge. For smaller one on one interviews, I have more time to just focus on that person which I like. You don’t have to worry about having that publicist who grabs their client to get them into the next interview or that they’re really really tired after doing 7 interviews on a red carpet. It’s always great when you get a relaxed environment and people feel that they can take their guard down to talk to you. There’s also junkets where they are more like to red carpet and you have that back to back. So you just always have to do that prep.

AM: Tell us about White Collar Glam. It’s such an interesting concept and our readers would love to know more.

CK: It’s a blog that I started years ago as workwear fashion for women. I started it because I remember being in law school and there was a competition that I was preparing for trial bar. We made it through our regional competition and made it to nationals. I made it to nationals for this multiday competition and I brought 3 suits with me and one by one they were ruined while I was there. There was no air conditioning in one court room so I sweated through my suit and you could see the sweat marks from the outside.

The next day, I wore a different suit and it ripped while I walked to the court! So I was left with my last suit which was a little too big for me and it was drowning me. I remember just being frustrated and I was like, “I have this important competition and I need to focus on that, but I’m thinking about this suit and I don’t even know where to get another one.” My trial coach offered to take me to Brooks Brothers to get another one. I didn’t know a lot about it at the time except that it was expensive. My coach offered to buy it for me and I was like, “you can’t buy me a $600 suit.”

Luckily, my fellow competitors who were on my team from my school had banded together and fixed my first suit and we ended up winning the competition. After law school, I wanted to think of a way to create a resource to other women who may have been in my situation. You ruined a suit and didn’t know where to shop, you didn’t know where to get a suit that was affordable, accessories questions etc – I researched this and started to put together my blog. I wrote articles to answer questions that I think every woman has had at some time.

AM: It’s very cool – unfortunate that you ruined your 3 suits!

CK: Right? But it had a happy ending!

AM: Right and it’s something that people definitely could use!

What do you look at in terms of the legacy that you want to leave behind not just with your involvement in the Miss Universe Organization but also just what you’re doing with people?

CK: I hope that people remember that women are multidimensional. This can’t be hammered into society enough! We constantly have to be reminded that just because a woman is beautiful doesn’t mean that they can’t be smart and have an interest to do business ventures. For some people they look at Kim Kardashian who is a beautiful woman and a reality TV star and she built from that but she is incredibly business savvy. She has built this empire because she is driven, works hard and wants to provide for her family. Women are these beautiful creatures who have varied interests and it shouldn’t be limited because society can’t broaden their own perspective! That’s what I hope people will remember about me. I am an attorney but I also like walking around in swimsuits and competing in pageants. It’s one of my favorite areas of competition but in my free time, I will advocate for Dress for Success and love spending time with my family. Women are multidimensional and shouldn’t be limited.

AM: Are there other projects that you have going on that you are able to share?

CK: For sure! Besides working with EXTRA, I have also signed with a few Speaker’s Bureaus that I really love doing. With Miss USA, I loved speaking on women’s empowerment and social justice issues which continue to be important to me. I will continue to do this traveling – well not traveling so much now, but talking largely virtually now about this. Beyond that, I’m also a Diversity Advisor for the law firm that I previously worked for as an attorney. I knew that in the immediate future, I didn’t want to practice law but I connected to my firm in this new capacity so that I could work on inclusion and diversity plans with the firm and helping them to make sure that they are achieving that especially in an industry that lacks diversity and needs help. I’m talking about the entire legal industry as a whole in terms of inclusion, diversity and equity.

IG @CheslieKryst

PHOTO CREDITS | PG 55 Sage Media Group Photography | PG 56 Miss Universe Organization | PG 60 Blue Method Films | Editors Note: Photos in She Empowers with Cheslie Kryst were taken prior to COVID-19

Hear Miss USA 2019 Cheslie Kryst on our show, Bungalow SK - which is a part of Athleisure Studio, our multimedia companion podcast network! Subscribe to be notified when the episode drops. Listen on iHeart Radio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts or wherever you enjoy your podcasts.

Read the Nov Issue #59 of Athleisure Mag and see She Empowers with Cheslie Kryst in mag.

THE BACHELORETTE S16. E9. | TAYSHIA + THE SHOWDOWN

If you have yet to see episode 9, spoilers are ahead! Tonight on ABC’s The Bachelorette we get right into it with the impromptu 2 on 1 showdown which has a rose on the line between Bennett and Noah. She talks with both of them in the same setting and is shocked by their level of petty. She then talks with each one privately. In talking with Bennett, he explains that he doesn’t question her integrity and intentions. It seems like she sees his side. Then she talks with Noah and explains that she thinks that he is the common denominator. He defends himself by stating that he was given a “gift” by Bennett and he just wants her to know the kind of person that Bennett is. She says that she will think about it as she needs to be able to focus on finding a man and not being in between their petty drama.

After deliberating, Tayshia explains that she can’t give Bennett the rose and walks him out. When she comes back, she lets Noah know that this is not a win for him and she’s not giving him the rose right now, so he will have to wait until the ceremony. She continues to meet with the guys so that she can focus on the guys that she wants to continue her journey with. In addition to Bennett who was sent home earlier in the evening, Spencer, Demar and Ed are also eliminated.

After a crazy night, JoJo comes by the guys place and lets them know that Hometowns will be next week and she will be meeting with their families. Ben also finds out that he will have a 1-on-1 date. They will hop on a scooter to find their date location. They navigate themselves around the resort to end up enjoying a drink and chatting. She still feels that she is trying to figure out what makes Ben tick and at that moment, she doesn’t know if she would give him a rose. But with a dinner coming up, she will get her answers to make their path clearer than it is at the moment. When they sit down to dinner, Ben explains that he attempted suicide twice and that he owes his sister everything as she saved him, even though she has no idea that this happened. He also shares that he went to therapy and was intentional about it so that he could be the best person that he could be. Connecting over his vulnerability in sharing this story made her feel close to him and he received the rose as well as a moment in enjoying their private concert.

The group date includes Zac, Brendan, Ivan, Noah and Riley. Blake finally gets what he wanted - a one-on-one date with Tayshia. Nothing says date-time like a polygraph test. JoJo also lets them know that Tayshia will also be taking this as well. Answers that the detector deems true will have a green light bulb, those that it finds false are red and if the detector can’t tell, then the orange bulb will light up. Clearly, when she meets up with the guys after the group date, she has a number of questions. First up is Zac! Tayshia will not tolerate cheating and Zac admitted that he had. This is triggering for her and she addresses it as that is why her marriage ended. Zac admits that it was his first girlfriend in 6th grade - so it’s nice that she knows the full story and makes us like Zac even more for her. Brendan explains that as someone who had been previously married that he’s excited about her meeting his parents, but he also wants to make sure that whoever meets them is someone that he knows will not make them feel negative. Riley who even got his name wrong is the one we want to know more about. Apparently, he is sitting on some serious secrets that due to the proximity of Hometowns he has to loop her in on. He lets her know about his family and why the name change took place as well as his family issues. She is so impacted by the guys that she lets them know that she will hold off on giving the rose as it wouldn’t be right to do so and wants to think about it. She leaves the party feeling great and sees Bennett waiting at her place. He pitches himself and lets her know that he loves her. Next week, we’ll be treated to 2 nights (Mon and Tues) of The Bachelorette.

Each night, we’ll tweet The Bachelorette and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!

Each week we will let you know who our faves were last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns (it will be interesting to see how Hometowns will take place - we’re assuming families will be quarantined) if we were choosing right now! We will also say who we think should take it all. Poor Brendan has responses that are deemed inconclusive which makes Tayshia hesitant. Zac answers that he has cheated on someone which makes Tayshia uncomfortable. Riley is asked his name to set a baseline and the red bulb goes off!

We also suggest a podcast that we’re newly obsessed with, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour which is hosted by Rachel Lindsay (contestant on The Bachelor Season 21; The Bachelorette Season 13) and co-hosted by Becca Kufrin (contestant on The Bachelor Season 22; The Bachelorette Season 14) to get their feedback!

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LAST EPISODE

We cheered on Ben, Ivan, Brendan and Zac. We felt that Zac would propose to her and that she would accept.

WEEK 9 (TAYSHIA’s 5th)

When it comes to Hometown’s we think that it will be Ben, Brendan, Ivan and Zac - but we still think Zac will find love.

OUR HOMETOWN PICKS

BEN

IVAN

BRENDAN

ZAC

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THE BACHELORETTE’S CONTESTANTS

BEN, 29 - Indianapolis, IN

BENNETT, 30 - NY, NY

BLAKE, 29 - Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

BRENDAN, 30 - Milford, MA

CHASEN, 31 - Walnut Creek, CA

DEMAR, 26 - San Diego, CA

ED, 36 - Pittsburgh, PA

EAZY, 29 - Dallas, TX

IVAN, 28 - Dallas, TX

JASON, 31 - Rutland, VT

JAY, 29 - Langhorne, PA

JOE, 36 - North Woodmere, NY

JORDAN, 32 - NY, NY

KENNY, 39 - Chicago, IL

MONTEL, 30 - Boston, MA

NOAH, 25 - Tulsa, OK

PETER, 32 - Everett, MA

RILEY, 30 - NY, NY

SPENCER, 30 - San Diego, CA

TYLER, 27 - Morgantown, WV

ZAC, 36 - Haddonfield, NJ

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

THE BACHELORETTE S16. E8. | TAYSHIA + JOJO

If you have yet to see episode 8, spoilers are ahead! Tonight on ABC’s The Bachelorette we see that JoJo Fletcher is on tonight’s episode! Chris is taking his kid to college so she will be hosting this week - which is so fun (we also love that she can design a house, flip a house and has an amazing Etsy collab filled with fab decor). The first date is with our Style Director’s dear friend, Franco Lacosta (he has been apart of a number of the dates that involves photography and keeping the memories of that date) who styled the date, photographed it and had pieces from his line, Franco Lacosta NY as well. Tayshia and Zac had a fun date of different outfits wearing eveningwear and bridal. The date continued with their dinner which allowed Zac to share things that he went through from getting a brain tumor, beginning to take medications, getting married and realizing that he went down a dark road that led him to a 4 month stay in rehab. The very rehab facility that he attended, he is now on the board. We liked Zack initially when we first met him so we’re glad that he is continuing on as he will get the rose.

A group date of art and expression is next on the list. The guys will need to sketch a nude couple (although they were thinking that they would be stripping down again). Bennett gets the chance to sit with Tayshia as they are making their artwork. It’s essentially an arts and crafts date that allows them to share more about one another. She ends up hanging out everyone later on in the group date and getting to know them more. We find out more about Ben how he battled an eating disorder which is a topic that people don’t think about as it pertains to men. We have always liked Ben and we think that he’s definitely on Tayshia’s mind for sure! Tayshia gives a rose during the group date to Ben and it’s not just because he got buck naked during the artistic portion, but him sharing his story.

For Tayshia’s one on one date with Eazy, they decide to conquer their fears and go on a ghost hunt on the property that they are staying at. We were so excited to see how they were progressing and learned that she felt that she couldn’t get to where he was and ultimately, sent him home! This was a surprise for sure as we thought that he was definitely in the lead.

WIth Eazy being sent home, JoJo comes in letting the guys know that the cocktail party is still happening, but prior to that she will need to speak with Bennett and Noah to find out about the petty drama that is taking place. JoJo also shares that there is no way that both of them will be able to stay and one will be sent home prior to continuing on.

Prior to the cocktail party, we see Noah and Bennett waiting on Tayshia. After going back and forth, Bennett leaves and comes back with a present for Noah, It’s a series of gifts that refer to the fact that Bennett feels that Noah is young and too immature. When Tayshia arrives, she tries to let them speak but comes to the conclusion that she will not continue with their mutual childish games. We’ll have to wait until next week.

Each night, we’ll tweet The Bachelorette and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!

Each week we will let you know who our faves were last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns (it will be interesting to see how Hometowns will take place - we’re assuming families will be quarantined) if we were choosing right now! We will also say who we think should take it all.

We also suggest a podcast that we’re newly obsessed with, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour which is hosted by Rachel Lindsay (contestant on The Bachelor Season 21; The Bachelorette Season 13) and co-hosted by Becca Kufrin (contestant on The Bachelor Season 22; The Bachelorette Season 14) to get their feedback!

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LAST EPISODE

We cheered on Ben, Ivan and Eazy and added Brendan because Tayshia seemed to have an instant connection with them. We felt that Brendan would propose to her and that she would accept.

WEEK 7 (TAYSHIA’s 3rd)

When it comes to Hometown’s we think that it will be Ben, Brendan, Ivan and Zac - but we still think Zac will find love.

OUR HOMETOWN PICKS

BEN

IVAN

BRENDAN

ZAC

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THE BACHELORETTE’S CONTESTANTS

BEN, 29 - Indianapolis, IN

BENNETT, 30 - NY, NY

BLAKE, 29 - Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

BRENDAN, 30 - Milford, MA

CHASEN, 31 - Walnut Creek, CA (Copy) (Copy)

DEMAR, 26 - San Diego, CA (Copy) (Copy)

ED, 36 - Pittsburgh, PA

EAZY, 29 - Dallas, TX

IVAN, 28 - Dallas, TX

JASON, 31 - Rutland, VT

JAY, 29 - Langhorne, PA

JOE, 36 - North Woodmere, NY

JORDAN, 32 - NY, NY

KENNY, 39 - Chicago, IL

MONTEL, 30 - Boston, MA

NOAH, 25 - Tulsa, OK

PETER, 32 - Everett, MA

RILEY, 30 - NY, NY

SPENCER, 30 - San Diego, CA

TYLER, 27 - Morgantown, WV

ZAC, 36 - Haddonfield, NJ

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

ATHLEISURE MAG | #59 NOV 2020

ATHLEISURE MAG | NOV ISSUE #59

In this month’s issue as we continue into the fall, our Nov Issue #59 is covered by one of Athleisure Mag’s favorite EDM artists, SOFI TUKKER. Our virtual cover shoot showcases fun vibrant fashion worn by the duo ranging from varying forms of lounge and WFH looks. We talk to them about their musical background, how they came to working with one another, a number of their achievements and how they have navigated these past few months by continuing to stay connected with their fans and their upcoming econcert that takes place on Dec 4th! This month we interviewed Miss USA 2019 Cheslie Kryst who is also a full time correspondent for EXTRA. We talked about her competing in the pageant system, recently crowning Miss USA 2020 at Graceland earlier this month. In addition we talk about her work in law, her focus on social justice and the importance for empowering women. We’re fans of BRAVO’s Million Dollar Listing franchise and this month, we interviewed Million Dollar Listing LA’s Tracy Tutor to talk about her work in the residential luxury market, being a broker in a competitive industry, how she balances her life as a mom, her focus on fitness and how she empowers women. Just in time for Thanksgiving and the upcoming holidays, we talked with Chef David Rose, Food Network Personality and Executive Chef of Omaha Steaks. He talks about how we can still celebrate even thought our holidays will look a little different. He provides tips and his go to meals that he enjoys smoking and grilling. We also talk with Chef Ruben Rodriguez in this month’s The Art of the Snack about his latest restaurant, Amigo Nia. He shares his culinary influence, what you can expect when enjoying pickup and delivery as well as his plans as he heads into 2021.

This month, our cover SOFI TUKKER shares their 9PLAYLIST as well as providing a fun video of their 9MIX. Normani shares her favorites and why in our 9LIST STORI3S.

Read the Nov Issue #59 of Athleisure Mag here.

THE BACHELORETTE S16. E7. | TAYSHIA MAKES MOVES

If you have yet to see episode 7, spoilers are ahead! Tonight on ABC’s The Bachelorette we find out that there is a group date for the guys to write a song about Tayshia. The winner will win a one-on-one date. We thought that Kenny (who manages boy bands) would be a shoe in on this one. Now of course, you can manage a band and not be able to sing or write, but we had hope. But it was Ivan who brought it home. Having the opportunity to hear about his Filipino-Black background, how important family is to him, his role as a big brother, how he processed his brother’s incarceration, stepping up to be there for his niece, his thoughts on 2020 in terms of social justice and more - made us really like him so much more! Hearing Tayshia recognize that he gets where she is as she is of Mexican-Black descent and grew up in Orange County, when she tries to respond on how George Floyd and other incidents have impacted her, she is brought to tears. This was such a moment that really made them bond and also grapple with the entire situation. Let’s not forget that she is only the second Bachelorette that is Black and the upcoming Bachelor will be the first Black Bachelor in the franchise which will kick off in early Jan! Needless to say, Ivan gets the rose and enjoys a night of wine, games, and watching home videos.

The next day, a group date (without Noah who ALREADY has a rose - we have to say, that he’s much better without the mustache) meets up with Tayshia, former Bachelorette Becca and previous Bachelor contestant Sydney. The guys in this date are broken up into groups on a scavenger hunt. This activity feels a bit interactive because everyone on the property can hear some of the tasks that they’re doing - but, it’s all in good fun. Although Zack gets the rose from this portion of the group date, you can tell that she is actively looking to make bonds and give each guy a chance.

It seems like a couple of guys got the same idea to visit Tayshia at her room to try and broker some time. Ben was scolded last episode for waiting to connect with her and she let him know that the date was over. Ed apparently went to the wrong door and knocked on Chris’ door. Chris did let him in - but I guess there aren’t any bonus points being made for being able to come to his room and to enjoy a drink with him.

Tayshia has the cocktail party with all the guys and Noah brings up a few things that include the guys questioning him getting the rose. So she talks to the guys to set the record straight and to cancel the remainder of the cocktail party. Needless to say, the tension has hit yet another level as a number of the guys who have yet to talk with her are concerned as well as those that have already secured a rose. So now, we move into the last portion of the night. Tayshia eliminates: Chasen, Joe, Kenny

Each night, we’ll tweet The Bachelorette and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!

Each week we will let you know who our faves were last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns (it will be interesting to see how Hometowns will take place - we’re assuming families will be quarantined) if we were choosing right now! We will also say who we think should take it all.

We also suggest a podcast that we’re newly obsessed with, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour which is hosted by Rachel Lindsay (contestant on The Bachelor Season 21; The Bachelorette Season 13) and co-hosted by Becca Kufrin (contestant on The Bachelor Season 22; The Bachelorette Season 14) to get their feedback!

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LAST EPISODE

We cheered on Kenny, Eazy and Joe and added Brendan because Tayshia seemed to have an instant connection with them. We felt that Kenny would propose to her and that she would accept.

WEEK 7 (TAYSHIA’s 3rd)

When it comes to Hometown’s we think that it will be Brendan and Eazy from last week are in the mix. We’re going to add Ben and Ivan into this group - but we still think Brendan will find love.

OUR HOMETOWN PICKS

BEN

IVAN

EAZY

BRENDAN

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THE BACHELORETTE’S CONTESTANTS

BEN, 29 - Indianpolis, IN

BENNETT, 30 - NY, NY

BLAKE, 29 - Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

BRENDAN, 30 - Milford, MA

CHASEN, 31 - Walnut Creek, CA

DEMAR, 26 - San Diego, CA

ED, 36 - Pittsburgh, PA

EAZY, 29 - Dallas, TX

IVAN, 28 - Dallas, TX

JASON, 31 - Rutland, VT

JAY, 29 - Langhorne, PA

JOE, 36 - North Woodmere, NY

JORDAN, 32 - NY, NY

KENNY, 39 - Chicago, IL

MONTEL, 30 - Boston, MA

NOAH, 25 - Tulsa, OK

PETER, 32 - Everett, MA

RILEY, 30 - NY, NY

SPENCER, 30 - San Diego, CA

TYLER, 27 - Morgantown, WV

ZAC, 36 - Haddonfield, NJ

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

THE BACHELORETTE S16. E6. | TAYSHIA'S FIRST ROSE CEREMONY

If you have yet to see episode 6, spoilers are ahead! Tonight on ABC’s The Bachelorette we finally get a full episode of Tayshia as she goes on an array of dates with the guys in the house. Tonight’s dates took us through finding out the kind of guy that she wants through drills, wrestling and an awkward group date! We also see Tayshia settling into her role, squashing conflict and getting in some grooming advice.

Unfortunately, tonight’s episode is not drama free with a double dip date that took place with Noah. Maybe the drama between Ed and Chasen will be directed toward them. Since the rose ceremony took place in the middle of the episode, we’ll have to wait until next week to see who will continue on as they navigate through the journey. Before the next rose ceremony, we will also see a few more dates and we’ll see whether Noah will still be asked on a date as he jumped into a group date in this episode.

Each night, we’ll tweet The Bachelorette and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!

Each week we will let you know who our faves were last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns (it will be interesting to see how Hometowns will take place - we’re assuming families will be quarantined) if we were choosing right now! We will also say who we think should take it all.

We also suggest a podcast that we’re newly obsessed with, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour which is hosted by Rachel Lindsay (contestant on The Bachelor Season 21; The Bachelorette Season 13) and co-hosted by Becca Kufrin (contestant on The Bachelor Season 22; The Bachelorette Season 14) to get their feedback!

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LAST EPISODE

We cheered on Kenny, Eazy and Joe and included Spencer because Tayshia seemed to have an instant connection with them. We felt that Kenny would propose to her and that she would accept.

WEEK 6 (TAYSHIA’s 2nd)

When it comes to Hometown’s we think that it will be Kenny, Eazy and Joe from last week. We’re going to add Brendan into the mix - but we still think Kenny will find love.

OUR HOMETOWN PICKS

KENNY

JOE

EAZY

BRENDAN

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THE BACHELORETTE’S CONTESTANTS

BEN, 29 - Indianpolis, IN

BENNETT, 30 - NY, NY

BLAKE, 29 - Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

BRENDAN, 30 - Milford, MA

CHASEN, 31 - Walnut Creek, CA

DEMAR, 26 - San Diego, CA

ED, 36 - Pittsburgh, PA

EAZY, 29 - Dallas, TX

IVAN, 28 - Dallas, TX

JASON, 31 - Rutland, VT

JAY, 29 - Langhorne, PA

JOE, 36 - North Woodmere, NY

KENNY, 39 - Chicago, IL

MONTEL, 30 - Boston, MA

NOAH, 25 - Tulsa, OK

PETER, 32 - Everett, MA

RILEY, 30 - NY, NY

SPENCER, 30 - San Diego, CA

TYLER, 27 - Morgantown, WV

ZAC, 36 - Haddonfield, NJ

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

9PLAYLIST | LEBRON JAMES

Read the Oct Issue #59 of Athleisure Mag and see 9PLAYLIST | LeBron James in mag.

THE DROP WITH STEVE AOKI

We're sure that we have all been listening to a lot more music as we have navigated these past few months as it's a way to transport ourselves to another level even when our environment may look way to familiar at this point. This month's cover of Athleisure Mag is entertainer, DJ, record producer, music executive and entrepreneur Steve Aoki. We've always been fans of the energy that he creates when he's at his shows, his music as well as his focus on putting good into the world with The AOKI FOUNDATION whose primary goal is supporting organizations in the brain science and research areas with a specific focus on regenerative medicine and brain preservation.

In addition to our virtual cover editorial shoot with Steve, we delved into his career, his label DIM MAK, his placement in the Smithsonian Museum, the importance of diversification while being true to the core of business, Neon Future series, Blue: The Color of Noise and his process in music and collaborative projects.

ATHLEISURE MAG: What was the moment when you realized that you wanted to be in the entertainment industry?

STEVE AOKI: Oh man entertainment is such a broad word and some of these answers are probably not going to be straight forward. I got into music when I was a teenager and then that became my whole life blood. Everything I did was involving music in every facet of life. It just became my lifestyle. From the friends I chose, to the food I ate – when I was growing up as a teenager – there was a very specific kind of music that I listened to and everyone was vegetarian. Pretty much everything down to the way that I dressed. It just became – it just became me so. So once I figured out what I wanted to devote my life to, that of course, changes over time. So from when I was a teenager, to college, to post college, young adult – my music style changed and the way that I interpreted music and played music changed as well.

So, I was in bands in the beginning and then I became a DJ and then at that point, in the early 2000’s, I actually started seeing that what I was doing with music was actually making a profit. It was making money. Because up until then, I never looked at music as a profitable enterprise. I never thought about it that way because you give so much to something, if you really care about, it’s not like you care about getting something back. What you get back is the love that it gives you, the feelings that it gives you, the community that it brings to you. As I started DJing, I started realizing that at that point I was DJing small clubs and festivals. That’s really when that major moment came when I was like, “wow I’m on a big stage and I need to not just play records and music” – which some of them were my own and a lot at that time, were of the culture. It then became, how do I engage with these people and entertain these people?

So then that term, “entertainment” came into the fold much later in my career. I would say that it came into the fold when I played Coachella the second time in 2009, not even the first time. It was that moment when I had the budget and I could build out the stage design and I could think about ideas that could present to different parts of my show like stage diving. These stage dives aren’t like a moment where you are methodical, you feel the moment, everyone’s ready for it and you jump into the crowd. There are moments when you think, this is going to engage with people, this is going to be entertaining. I bring my raft out and I start floating on the people, they haven’t seen that yet – that’s entertaining. There’s all these little things that I did with the people like the cakes. It’s an entertaining part of a Steve Aoki show. People remember for the rest of their lives and they’ll say, “40 years ago I saw a Steve Aoki show, I don’t remember the songs but he did cake my friend in the face and it was the best day of her life!" You know what I mean?

AM: Exactly yeah!

SA: I would say 2009 it all came together. Long answer for you!

AM: But that’s a great answer though. It’s all about a progression and just how things come together.

How would you define your musical style?

SA: My musical style is very fluid and of the moment and I like that. I like that like, it’s very much a gut and it’s based on feelings and it’s always going to change. It’s always going to change with my feelings and however way I feel about things or the moment on how I internalize that and not just consume, but how do I create that and how do I create from that?

I think that that’s something that I learned at a young age. When you are inspired or when you absorb something that makes you feel a certain way that it hasn’t made you feel before, like you know the best way for me to engage with that feeling is to create from it. It’s like anything, when you do it over and over again, you just get better at the process of doing it. You might not be great at it in terms of the output, but you get better at the process and that’s what’s more important than the output because the output is entirely subjective. Whether someone likes it or not is not what’s important. That’s another thing that I learned through this whole thing – whether people like my music or my output shouldn’t reflect why I did it and why I liked the process of it. I think about that question and it’s very complex. It’s not just I’m EDM or I’m this. Music is always going to change and it’s based on feelings. If you take down all the identities, all the titles and the genres – if there was no such thing as hip hop or rock or EDM and people were just like, “yo I just like the song.” When you hear a song for the first time and you’re listening to something that is totally different – you shouldn’t be limited to, “this is weird that I like it.” It shouldn’t make you feel weird. If it makes you feel really good, then that’s the whole point of it.

AM: Right and sometimes listening to the same artist and the same song at different points in your life, have a different connection and you can enjoy it. Our co-founder’s great uncle was tenor saxophonist, Joe Henderson and as a kid hearing him, she didn’t respect the fullness of his work.

SA: Yeah.

AM: And then in college, there was a whole other world of understanding that gave those songs meaning.

SA: Right right!

AM: You are someone who has worked with so many artists across so many different genres as a DJ, musician, producer, music exec – what is that process like for you when you’re thinking of collaborating with somebody?

SA: Yeah, when I’m collaborating with different artists, I think that one of the biggest lessons that I have learned is to just go in there and go in with a blank slate. A lot of people want you to come in there with all of your ammunition and basically all of your knowledge base. I’d rather go in there as a student. You know, they want to work with you and at this point in my career, they want to work with you too! I know what I can bring to the table, but it’s almost like when you watch an improv comedy skit, you never know what’s going to happen. Like, “hey someone say an action – running, someone say a sport – wrestling,” and then you kind of take those moments and you just be free on where it will go. That journey is really exciting to come from that place. Of course, your intuition and experience in terms of how and the way you process and supply chain your music and the way you work your music – how you’re going to work all of that – it’s innately going to come out. Sometimes you need the structure, but I prefer having the blank slate for the most part. Unless if you’re on a time crunch – a time crunch is a whole other story. Because then I’m like, “ok I just need to have the hook.” From the hook, I’m able to build you know – I can build that idea. I generally start from there if I can’t get into the studio with the artist. I just need a hook. I just need that part that gets stuck in my head and I will allow that to just linger in my head for a long time and then melodies start coming out in the studio and then I pick the best one. You stay on that melody for a day or two to make sure that it’s the right melody – because sometimes the first time you’ve heard it, it’s the best thing that you have ever heard and then you realize a day later, “oh my God, it’s awful.”

AM: Definitely! What’s that like when you have something that’s already existed. We love Michael Jackson – Thriller (Steve Aoki Midnight Hour Remix) and I also like Steve Aoki & Darren Criss - Crash Into Me cover of Dave Matthews Band. When people already know the songs, do you have a different approach when you’re deconstructing it to make it your own?

SA: Yeah, yeah exactly. When I do remixes of my own tracks – like in the case of Crash Into Me with Darren Criss (Glee, Hollywood, The Assassination of Gianni Versace), I can’t play the original at my own shows because it’s too mellow. When I’m playing an EDM show, I need that energy bursting at the seams and I need that drop to do exactly that. I need the dance floor to be bouncing. It’s all about Darren’s voice, Dave Matthews incredible lyrics, the melody and you combine that with a huge drop that’s signature to my sound and people will just lose their minds you know? You want to push purposeful.

AM: Are there genres that you've yet to do that you want to place the Aoki touch on?

SA: Yes. I mean there is no genre that can limit me. I just – I want to work with every genre and I really want to keep spanning the globe. That’s the other thing to, I travel so much and I’m so fortunate to be able to hear and know and learn about not just what’s happening in different parts of the world that are already popular, but also like what’s brewing. What’s brewing in South Africa, when I was out there, I was listening to some music and it was like, “yo this is the next wave in South Africa.” I want to know about it and I want to meet them. I want to hear the songs and I want to get the vibe, the flow and the dance culture that’s with it. You know, music brings people together so you have to understand what kind of dance moves that they are doing to it. How are they bringing it to their culture. Basically, I just want to keep expanding, keep exploring and it’s limitless. There’s always something new out there.

AM: How did you feel being the first EDM artist to be included in the Smithsonian? How impactful was it to see your gear housed in the same space as DJ Bob Casey’s from the 50's as well as Grand Masterflash’s turntables and now you’re literally being enshrined in such a historical place?

SA: Even when you say that out loud …

AM: It’s mindblowing.

SA: It’s totally wild you know? I remember when I went to the Smithsonian after they asked if we would be part of it. I met with them and did the interview there and walked through it and I felt like I was leaving my body and watching myself and I was like, “holy shit!” I just freaked out. I mean, it’s incredible you know – an incredible feeling. It’s the kind of thing that you’ll say, “wow in 60 years someone is going to say in the 2010’s there was an Asian DJ and there was a thing called EDM and this is what people did when they went out to festivals. And here is a typical show.” It was really cool to think that wow, 60 or 70 years later, someone is going to look at that and say, “that’s cool.” And you know, in that regard to, I’m proud that you know, I’m representing for Asians in that way too.

AM: As someone who is as busy as you are, who does travel so much, why is fitness, health and wellness so important to you?

SA: Oh God, it’s so crucial and integral. You have to train your body and mind to be able to run the marathon over and over again. You can’t just wake up – before you get out and run, you have to stretch. Before you do anything – I mean, I’m stretching constantly and that stretch is mindfulness. And as I do more mindfulness, actively, and I start learning more about myself – my mind, my body rhythms – it’s really fun. When you’re sitting there meditating, some people think, “oh it’s so boring.” When you get into that space, you get into where you’re finally supposed to be – it’s incredible to get into that space where nothing else really matters. That phone call, that schedule – all these things in life – comparing yourself to this person to that person – that thing – the anxieties of the world. If you can calm all of those things, it’s a really wonderful place to learn to get to. I think that it’s not just for someone like me that was running around like I was prior to COVID-19 like I did, I think it’s really helpful for everybody. For me especially, I need to absolutely make sure that I’m on the practice and I just love having it.

AM: Just looking at your portfolio, it’s so expansive between your music, Pizzaoki, your label DIM MAK as well as DIM MAK En Fuego, your clothing lines, companies that you have invested in like Liquid I.V. which we are huge fans of. How important was it for you that regardless of the vertical, to diversify your portfolio beyond your industry that you work in whether it’s creating ventures or investing?

SA: I mean, yeah, in life, I think that diversification is always a positive. Of course, you know it says a lot when you see someone that dives into their craft 110%. I’ve seen that in Japan especially, with artists that’s into their craft whether it’s even sushi chefs that spend their entire life just focusing on that and I love that – I love that. I’m such a fan of that and I admire and I respect that. It’s important that I have that too because my main core the whole of my operation is music. Music creation, music production and playing – playing my music out to the world. That has to be grounded. That has to be an anchor and platform and if I don’t have that, I can’t diversify. I think what the important lesson is here – is that diversification is always positive. You need to have your main business, whatever it is, whatever your main passion is – it has to be grounded so deeply into what you do and you have to be a craftsman in that space. Once you have that, then you can start building outward. You know, we only have one life, experience it. Experience as much as you can. All of these different things that were created in all of these different worlds is extremely fun for me. I enjoy it. I love it and if I didn’t love it, I wouldn’t be doing it. You have to love what you do and you have to love the process – not what is actually going to be in the end result. It’s always about the process.

AM: With so many artists, because of COVID-19 doing their performances virtually and I know that you’re known as a Techno Futurist Optimist with an interest in the intersectionality between humanity and technology, how do you think this digital reliance will impact the industry long term once we’re able to get back into a new normal.

SA: I think that in a hopeful sense that we will all get back to what we all love. You can’t deny live experiences and live shows. There is nothing that compares to that. A virtual show is like 1/10th of the experience and not a 100% of the experience. That’s why they were so big all around the world. We’re social creatures and beings. We love being around people and experiencing things together. We’re not a solo species. We need to feel energy and those feelings with other people. You can’t deny that and I think that hopefully, there will be a vaccine that will be administered around the world where we don’t have to worry about COVID deaths and COVID tragedies that are happening. But until then, the digital space is what I had to do. I think that all of us have had to take that because now there is an infrastructure being built around the digital space of experience and it’s evolving quite quickly. You know, I just played an Oculus show where you put on an Oculus headset and you’re talking to people from all around the world. As a fan watching the show, you can look to your right and your left and there’s another fan watching that same show from a different country. You can actually socially engage with them. The infrastructure is being built in such a way that there’s going to be more of a catch and they will be able to bring more of a better experience. I think that once we get back to IRL shows, there will still be that people will want to do that and be apart of that. I think that at least with COVID and people being in that business, it has created a space for it to grow. But, you can’t compare that when you’re talking about a live show.

AM: Last year, you published your memoir Blue: The Color of Noise, why did you want to write this and what was that process like for you?

SA: It took me about 6 years. It took me a long long time. It definitely wasn’t like, “ok, I’m going to get this done – I just need to do this.” It was an ongoing process and it started out being like the history of DIM MAK first. So I was like, DIM MAK is going to hit 20 years – we’re at almost 25 now. I thought I would do the history of DIM MAK, a 20 year book and I started writing stories about when I started DIM MAK back in ’96 when I was in college. I wrote about the struggles and all of the good stuff that you want to read – incredible stories. Then I realized, this was more about a memoir about my life and DIM MAK is a part of my life. It’s a big part of my life, but I felt that I should expand more and at that point, a few years after as I was touching on the history of my label, I started talking about the harder things that were very difficult to open up about like the death of my father (editors note: Hiroaki "Rocky" Aoki, a wrestler and restaurateur who founded the restaurant chain Benihana), the death of some of my friends that made a huge impact on my life and then as I got deeper, I started seeing a therapist that helped me to actually bring out some more of my introspective feelings that had to be kind of unearthed. You know, it was therapeutic to be able to write the book and a lot of that went into it. I also – you know when a lot of people think about the history of Steve Aoki, they say, “oh yeah, he’s the guy that throws cakes at people at shows.” Well I just wanted people to know that there is a lot more than just that.

AM: You dropped Neon Future IV this spring which I know is part of the Neon Future series that you began in 2015, tell us about the series in general and what can you share about the 27 track album that you just dropped?

SA: Neon Future is a concept that I came up with and is exactly what you said earlier. I really look at the future as an optimist and I look at technology with an optimist lens. I look at tech in a way that can help us and enhance us to be more of a creative or imaginative species. At the end of the day, we want to save ourselves and saving ourselves will be saving our planet as well. With tech, we can advance that and become more of an intelligent species. That’s why Neon Future is a colorful future. And so really making sure that for me personally, the musical concept, I wanted to educate it by having scientists on the album. So it’s not just about having a collection of songs for each album, but to really validate my point, I reached out to scientists that were very difficult to get a hold of. Some of the people were harder to get a hold of than some of the biggest talents that I have worked with. I had to do a lot of explaining, fly and meet people and do a lot of work in that regard because I care so much about that space and I also love bridging the science community and the electronic dance music community in a way that hasn’t been done before.

Like Ray Kurzweil to Yuval Harari to J.J. Abrams to Bill Nye and so forth and so forth. It started off as one album and the second album was going and then I said, you know what, it’s too good to end. Then the third and then I built the studio between the second and the third and I call it Neon Future Cave and then between the third and the fourth album, I started creating the comic Neon Future with Tom Bilyeu because Neon Future really deserves to be graphically laid out with its storyline. Which presents a world that we can imagine and with every comic book story, you need to have conflict so we had to make it like a dystopia that we want to make it like a utopia instead of the opposite. It just kept on growing and it had a mind of it’s own and it became AI! It became its own thing. It’s almost funny that this project almost became it’s own powerhouse that I couldn’t even stop which is kind of cool. We’ll see. Because of my next project, this puts Neon Future IV as the last of the series so far. We’ll see if it continues as I have a few other concepts that I want to develop. My main baby is Neon Future that’s for sure.

IG @SteveAoki

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS

Athleisure Mag's virtual cover shoot was shot by Co-Founder + Celebrity Photographer Paul Farkas. Throughout this shoot, Paul used an iPhone XR, iPad Air 2, Facetime and Clos.

STYLE & GROOMING CREDITS

Athleisure Mag's Celeb Fashion Stylist, Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director Kimmie Smith and Groomer Sheena Zargari share what they used to create this fall menswear style editorial of Out & About Style, WFH and Fitness.

LOOK I | OUT & ABOUT STYLE

FRONT/BACK COVER PG 26 - 37 | DIM MAK COLLECTION X DIAMOND SUPPLY CO Denim Jacket | SIKSILK X STEVE AOKI S/S Oversized Essential Tee + Loose Fit Riot Denim | LACOSTE Storm 96 Lo Sneakers |

LOOK II | WFH

PG 22 - 25 | SIKSILK X STEVE AOKI Oversized Hoodie + Relaxed Short | LACOSTE Storm 96 Lo Textile Sneakers |

LOOK III | FITNESS

PG 16 -21 | ALPHA INDUSTRIES Apollo II Hoodie | DIM MAK COLLECTION Leggings | DECKERS X LAB S/S K-ST 21 Sneakers |

IG @PVFarkas

@Shes.Kimmie

@Sheena_Zar

Hear DJ/Producer Steve Aoki on our show, #TRIBEGOALS - which is a part of Athleisure Studio, our multimedia companion podcast network! Subscribe to be notified when the episode drops. Listen on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts or wherever you enjoy your podcasts.

Read the Oct Issue #58 of Athleisure Mag and see The Drop with Steve Aoki in mag.

THE BACHELORETTE S16. E5. | WELCOME TAYSHIA

When ABC’s The Bachelorette kicked off last month, we thought that we wouldn’t be sharing weekly updates etc with Clare Crawley. With our insider info and as many people found out in weeks leading up to the first episode, we knew that she would not be The Bachelorette for the whole season. Each week we watched and last week, we finally saw her onscreen; however, the guys didn’t meet her, thus we held off from a recap. So tonight with one of our faves firmly in the seat, Tayshia Adams, we’re excited to go back to our scheduled posts on what took place, who we’re thinking will get down on the knee and more!

We meet Tayshia after Dale Moss proposes to Clare and they make an immediate exit after a long day of one on one time with one another. Meanwhile, the remaining guys who have no idea what’s going on except for the fact that Clare is not interested in them as she found love, believe that they will pack up the next day to return home after spending all the time quarantining to find their love journey. Chris pops in to let them know that should they choose, they can stay as they have another Bachelorette coming and they have until later tonight to decide if they will stay or not. The remaining 16 guys debate, take time etc and they all decide to stay. They meet Tayshia and are cautiously optimistic, although we know that Jason is having a hard time along with a few others. But smooth sailing in 2020 is not exactly something that stays around, Tayshia is pulled to get her limo moment with 4 additional guys who join the house. Their icy reception by the other men reminds us that it will be a bumpy road. We take a bit of a break to do a catch up with Dale and Clare. We hoped that there wouldn’t be an hour+ segment with these two. Thankfully they literally got their 15 mins and we were in the midst of Tayshia’s first dates which every guy was guaranteed that they would have one whether it was a group date (water basketball with some of the new guys thrown in) and a one on one. We also loved that on her first night, although first impression roses were given, she cleared the air quickly by saying that she wasn’t going to send anyone home so that she got time with everyone. This night also brought Jason’s feelings up when he let her know that he would be unable to stay due to falling in love with Clare. We’re still absorbing everything that happened, but we’re glad that the fun is back in the show and we have our eye on a few that we will be interested to see how things go!

Each night, we’ll tweet The Bachelorette and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!

Each week we will let you know who our faves were last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns (it will be interesting to see how Hometowns will take place - we’re assuming families will be quarantined) if we were choosing right now! We will also say who we think should take it all.

We also suggest a podcast that we’re newly obsessed with, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour which is hosted by Rachel Lindsay (contestant on The Bachelor Season 21; The Bachelorette Season 13) and co-hosted by Becca Kufrin (contestant on The Bachelor Season 22; The Bachelorette Season 14) to get their feedback!

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LAST EPISODE

We know that we liked these guys even though Clare was Team Dale all day - but we’re loving Kenny, Joe, Eazy and Zac. Kenny’s proposal will be accepted.

WEEK 5 (TAYSHIA’s 1st)

It’s too soon so we’re going to roll over most of last week’s picks. But we’re going to swap Zac for one of the new guys, Spencer (we’re not fans, but there is no denying that she is intrigued by him). Kenny, Eazy and Joe are still in the Hometown picks. We still think that Kenny will propose.

OUR HOMETOWN PICKS

KENNY

SPENCER

JOE

EAZY

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BEN, 29 - Indianpolis, IN

BENNETT, 30 - NY, NY

BLAKE, 29 - Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

BRENDAN, 30 - Milford, MA

CHASEN, 31 - Walnut Creek, CA

DEMAR, 26 - San Diego, CA

ED, 36 - Pittsburgh, PA

EAZY, 29 - Dallas, TX

IVAN, 28 - Dallas, TX

JASON, 31 - Rutland, VT

JAY, 29 - Langhorne, PA

JOE, 36 - North Woodmere, NY

KENNY, 39 - Chicago, IL

MONTEL, 30 - Boston, MA

NOAH, 25 - Tulsa, OK

PETER, 32 - Everett, MA

RILEY, 30 - NY, NY

SPENCER, 30 - San Diego, CA

TYLER, 27 - Morgantown, WV

ZAC, 36 - Haddonfield, NJ

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

WE'RE @ THE SPA WITH ICONA POP + SOFI TUKKER

Over the past few months, we have navigated a number of life changes that have given new meaning to the term and ever evolving, "new normal." In the midst of these crazy times, we have also embraced things that we have always enjoyed - even if it is in a new way! Once again, music comes to the rescue as it makes our activities enhanced on all levels. When we first heard of Icona Pop and SOFI TUKKER's song Spa, we loved the fact that it had fun lyrics, a catchy tune and embraces something that we have been enjoying from home.

We had to catch up with both groups to find out how this song came together, how they have been working in these times and what they have coming up!

ATHLEISURE MAG: We have been fans of Icona Pop and SOFI TUKKER for a number of years – from pre partying, at the club, fun dinners, at PROPEL CO:LABS Fitness Festival in NY, Ultra Music’s Party here in NY during NYFW and when we’re cycling in studio. We also love hearing your music in commercials, shows etc. So it’s no surprise that when your team sent us the link to Spa, we’ve been jamming to it for the past few days and feel that it definitely needs to be in the mix of Athleisure songs for sure. Before we get into the song, how have you been spending these past crazy months?

ICONA POP: Wow thank you for all the love and support, that means a lot!

In the beginning, we felt very lost. Everything got canceled and life was just weird.

We decided first to take the time to reflect and breathe for a second. But after that we got so inspired so we locked ourselves in the studio and been super creative from there.

It started with us djing online and then we started our ”rave spa”. We´ve been connecting with all our fans around the world. And the best part is that we’ve had the time to sit down and write a lot of new music.

We’ve come to really appreciate the things you can do from your studio and laptop.

SOFI TUKKER: We started livestreaming on basically the first day of lockdown. At first, it was really random. Soph was working out and Tuck was Djing and our photographer started livestreaming the whole thing. We did it again the next day with Soph also DJing and it was so fun to connect with people so we committed to doing it every single day. We have been doing daily live dj sets every day now for 122 days. It's turned out to be such a meaningful time, being able to connect with people daily and find joy and positivity, even in pretty dire times. The community that's built around the sets calls themselves the Freak Fam and it keeps growing!

AM: In terms of staying fit, what are your workouts like and have you embraced new modalities especially during these crazy times?

IP: Its been very cool to join live stream work outs and also a lot of Swedish gyms have been having outdoor activities.

We try to move everyday before going to the studio. Doesn’t matter if its gym, walking running or whatever. But that really gives you endorphins and makes you stay focused the rest of the day.

It’s also different depending on how stressful it is, how much time and also how you´re feeling in your body that day.

Usually when its stressful or you have a lot in your head and you still need to release some steam, its amazing to lift weights, but also to do things that make you calm down like yoga or pilates.

ST: I've found working out to help so much during these times. I don't feel as stir crazy cuz I really am using all my energy in a day! I go on really long bike rides, I do HIIT training in the backyard, I practice yoga, I use the Peloton, I go rollerblading, I go on runs, I workout on the beach... pretty much anything, I try to switch it up all the time and keep my body guessing!

AM: How has creating music been for you during this time?

IP: It's been both good and bad.

We get a lot of our inspiration from traveling and now we’ve been in the same place for months. But somehow it's like life catches up with you and you can tap in to emotions that you haven't had the time to explore before.

Also the pressure to release music has been very low. But somehow we’ve released more music then in years this year. Feels like people really need it right now.

ST: We've been able to get so much done, since we aren't traveling!! We've created a ton of new music, and we usually test it out during the livestream and then workshop it and bring it back into the studio to tweak. It's a really fun way to make music and really cool to involve everybody throughout the whole process more than ever.

AM: How do you stay inspired as there is more time being at home versus traveling and having in person events?

IP: We absolutely love hugging and kissing our fans, so we really miss that. Even though we love seeing the world, the traveling part can put a lot of pressure on your body. So we guess its been good to stay at one place and slow down for a minute. And also, it's been very interesting for us with all the new ”normal” routines.

ST: The daily DJ sets really inspire us. We are constantly listening to music and testing it out and seeing how people react. And we've started doing a couple days a week of guest dj sets, so we are really active in the livestreaming world and constantly feeling inspired by not just the music we're playing but also the music other people are playing in their sets.

AM: Both of you have found great ways to stay connected with your fans, do you have any virtual events that we should know about and have you started working on IRL events?

IP: We live for our "Rave spa” that we have on our instagram live.

We try to do it once a week and then people can ask us whatever they want while we dj and are having a spa. We also do QandAs with our fans and try to involve them a lot in our everyday life. We also been playing live at empty clubs or arenas and streaming it to different places. We have an amazing live show prepared so as soon as the world opens up for touring, we will be there. We can’t wait!

ST: Yessss! Aside from our daily dj sets which you can find @sofitukkeroffical on twitch and @sofitukker on facebook and IG live, we are doing our first ever eConcert!!!! It's on December 4th and it's really excited because with this technology, the community will actually be present with us during the live show. We will be able to really see and hear everybody who is with us, with big screens in front of us while we are performing live. We can't wait. We haven't done our live show since the pandemic started and this will be truly next level technology we can't wait to all be together! You can find tickets on our website sofitukker.com.

AM: How do you define the Icona Pop sound?

IP: Electronic pop, driving drums, chanting choirs and a punk attitude.

AM: How do you define the SOFI TUKKER sound?

ST: We try not to define it so that we can always stay open to whatever inspires us in the studio. But it's always made to dance to, and we try to keep things joyful. Even in more emotional lyrics, we are a big fan of the cry-dance track.

AM: How did Spa come about and what was the intent behind creating it?

IP: We´ve been big Sofi Tukker fans for years. We bumped into each other in a elevator in New York and fell in love with them and decided to write together. A couple of weeks later we sat in the studio together and we started to talk about how much we love going to the spa. And realized That, that is the best way of ending every evening. After a show, a stressful day, if your being at a club, imagine to end that party night in a spa :) What a dream!

ST: We had wanted to get into the studio together for a while so we were soooo giddy when we finally were in there together. We vibed so well together and had big friend crushes!! So we were just goofing off and having fun and I think spa just came up in conversation and naturally made its way into a song. we were both vibing on acid house and techno and at first thought it didn't even need lyrics, but then we had so much fun with them.

AM: What was the thought behind both groups coming together?

IP: It felt so right from the instant second we met. Its all about the energy, and we really felt how we were vibing the second we met. Like we’ve known them for years.

ST: We have been Icona Pop fans for a while and then we randomly met each other in an elevator in New York and became instant friends. We knew we had to get into the studio together cuz we had such a good vibe among us.

AM: What are you doing in terms of promoting this song?

IP: We've done a lot of online interviews, zoom chats with our fans, playing the song in our dj sets and the response have been great so far. We love our fans, they are so creative. We get so happy when they put up videos of themselves in robes, cucumbers on their eyes, having a sparty in their living room.

ST: Rebranding cucumbers as "cukes" from now on.

AM: Will you guys collab again on another song together?

IP: Absolutely, we've already talked to Sophie and Tucker that we have to write more music asap and go on spa tour together.

ST: We'd love to!

AM: When you’re spa’ing from home, what are 3 things that you have to have to get into that mood?

IP: A robe

A good facial (Zo skin care - sulfur mask) And to lite some candles (its all about the mood).

And some great music off course. Our absolute favourite thing is the sauna. Its the best way to relax :).

ST: A candle

A robe

A bathtub

IG @ICONAPOP

@SOFITUKKER

PHOTO CREDITS | PG 44 Icona Pop's Yoye Lapogian | PG 47 + 48 SOFI TUKKER Squid | PG 42 + 43 Composite Pictures Yoye Lapogian/Squid |

Read the Oct Issue #58 of Athleisure Mag and see We’re @ The Spa with Icona Pop + SOFI TUKKER in mag.

LIVING IN THE MOMENT WITH GIANNI PAOLO

Since 2014, Sunday night's meant watching the latest episode of STARZ Power which is co-created by Courtney A. Kemp and Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson. As season 6 came to a close for its series finale, we were already anticipating the promise of a series of spinoff shows that would continue to follow an array of characters as well as a prequel to show us how it all started. Power Book II: Ghost launched its first episode on Sept 6th and has already been greenlit for a second season. STARZ has also greenlit Power Book III: Kanan and Power Book IV: Force.

This month, we caught up with Gianni Paolo who joined Power in seasons 5 and 6 and is one of the leads of Power Book II: Ghost. In addition to shooting him in fall style for our virtual shoot, we talk about being a hockey player professionally, pickup hockey games, his experience being in Ma, reading for Power, joining the cast and how his character continues in Ghost. We also talk about how he's looking at his career and how he is engaging with various projects.

ATHLEISURE MAG: Before we delve into your acting career and being on Power, you were a hockey player for a lot of your life! What drew you to this sport?

GIANNI PAOLO: Honestly, I don’t even remember starting playing hockey. From what I can remember of just being alive, hockey was apart of my life. My dad was a big hockey fan so he wanted us to play. So all 3 of us, my 2 brothers as well, were hockey players. I literally started skating when I was 2 or 3 maybe and it’s all that I can remember, just my dad being the one that put us in.

AM: Then you got drafted and continued to play! What was that moment when you realized that just as much as you loved hockey, you actually wanted to do acting?

GP: I was kind of juggling with both of them and kind of struggling with the idea of both of them probably my whole high school career. So I got drafted to the Quebec Junior Hockey League when I was 16.

It was so funny because everything would keep drawing me towards acting and not hockey. Just small things would happen every single month, week – where I would fully immerse myself in hockey and then things would just get sidetracked. It just kept pushing me towards acting and when I got drafted, I was like, “ok this is what I’ve gotta do and my parents have put so much money into this,” but then there were so many things that just kept pushing me towards acting. So it just became something that I just had to do. It wasn’t like I was like, “I like this” – it was something that I just had to do.

AM: Do you still play? I know that you don’t play it professionally, but are you still involved in the sport?

GP: Yeah, I’m in NY right now because we’re still shooting. When I’m in LA, there is a Monday night league with CAA which is a talent agency which also represents a bunch of NHL players. I pretty much have a friend on every NHL team.

I play with probably 50-60 guys that are the top NHL players right now. So I get tickets to any game I want and it’s great. So they come out and skate too because CAA represents a lot of them as well. There’s also Jerry Bruckheimer (Bad Boys, Top Gun, The Amazing Race) who skates and other actors like Michael Rosenbaum (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Neighbor, Smallville) – people who are actors but there is this whole entertainment industry hockey league which I love! So I play every Monday night and also I play a lot. I play 3 times a week if all of the leagues are going at the same time. My manager who is also a hockey player, he has a team on Thursday nights that we play and then there’s another director that I know and he has a team on Tuesday nights and he was like, “whenever you can play, just come by and play.” So, I play a lot and I’m still pretty involved in the sport.

AM: That’s crazy. Yes, people all over the country play it, but you never think about people doing it in LA and at 3 times a week!

GP: I know! No one thinks of hockey like a pickup game – basketball yes, but not hockey and there is a HUGE hockey community in Los Angeles as well as in the entertainment industry.

AM: You’ve been in a number of shows and movies. I know that Ma came out last summer. What was it like to be in that production?

GP: Honestly, when we were filming that movie, it was the best month and a half in my entire life! Then we were told that we had reshoots because we had to shoot a couple of more things. So I was like, “yeah we have to go back.” Basically, we lived at the director’s Tate Taylor’s (The Help, Filthy Rich, The Girl on the Train) house and every night, we’d wrap and we’d sit around the fire and he’d make food and the whole cast Octavia Spencer (The Help, Hidden Figures, Self Made) and Juliette Lewis (The Act, August: Osage County, Natural Born Killers) – it was the most incredible experience of my life. And then actually, I wound up being able to stay as we did the reshoots in Nov and I stayed another week with Octavia and everyone so we had Thanksgiving there. You can see it if you look him up in Architectural Digest on YouTube – you can see his house and it’s just this massive house with ATV’s and woods and hunting. It was just like one of the best experiences in my entire life. Filming it was really the joy that I had in it. It’s hard to not look at the final project and say, did this do everything for me that I wanted it to do – so I just take the bigger experience from filming it as part of it!

AM: In prepping for your shoot, we talked with our friends in the industry letting them know that we were working with you. Of course people were excited as they couldn’t say enough things about how much they loved Power as well as Power Book II: Ghost." What was it that drew you to Power the show and then ultimately, the character?

GP: It’s actually really funny because I almost wasn’t going to audition for the show because I had already booked Ma and it was only a co-star and it was only 1 scene in season 5. That was all it was. I wound up calling my mom saying that I had this self tape to send to NY because they cast in NY and I was in LA. I told her that it shoots around Christmas time and I knew that Ma was coming out and I wanted to be prepared for when we were going to film that. It actually worked out because the episode was shooting at Christmas time and I’m from Rhode Island so it made sense to just do it because I was going to be home anyways. My mom also loves the show so she said, “please just do it. I love Power.” I had not seen the show at that point. But for some reason, it was a show that was on my list. So I said, “ok fine, I’ll read for it.” I sent them a self tape and heard literally the next day that I got it. Since it was a local hire, I had to fly myself out there and put myself up. I had to do all that and we wound up shooting the scene and the director said, “how’d that go?” Hernan Otano was the director of Power as well as Ghost. I said that it was good – the character was this cocky lacrosse player. I was like, “sure, I get this stuff all the time.” He wound up saying that the next 2 takes were mine and that I could do whatever I want. I ended up improving a ton and being funny and just really went for it because I knew that the next 2 were mine and I was going to do it. So he let me have fun and when I watched the episode, all the improv made it and the stuff that was written, didn’t. I knew that they really liked what I did and then thy ended up calling me back for season 6 and gave me a storyline. And then, as season 6 happened, 50 ended up giving me a hit and said, “you guys are going to takeover." I didn't know what he meant because when Power finished, I had only done 4 episodes in season 6. I was like, “50 lied to me – he said we’d take over and the show is ending.” I wound up getting the call and hearing, “no, you’re one of the leads in the spin-off.” I was like oh my God – yes! It was literally a co-star that turned into a recurring role that turned into a lead of a whole spin-off. It’s a crazy story!

AM: That is a crazy story! For those that may need to catch up, tell us about your character Brayden Weston and what do we get to know more about him as we’re watching "Ghost?"

GP: Brayden comes from a wealthy family and he winds up meeting Tariq at Choate, a boarding school that Tariq is sent to because his sister wound up getting killed. He winds up being Tariq’s roommate and they get close because they find out that they both like money. We start selling drugs together at Choate and then Tariq gets kicked out – so you don’t see Brayden anymore. In Ghost, Brayden winds up reconnecting with Tariq. We’re at the point right now where they’re getting back into business because Brayden, even though he is privileged and grew up with money, he loves the streets and the thrill of selling drugs, money and that’s just what Brayden loves. That’s kind of the character – this kid who loves the thrill of selling drugs, money and power and that’s just kind of where he’s leaning right now. What I have been thinking in my head and have been telling people is he’s a lot like Walter White in a sense. He’s this green guy that gets involved in the drug world and he loves it. As much as Walter in Breaking Bad would say that he is doing it for his family, you wind up seeing him say, “I liked it – I was good at it.” That’s kind of how I see Brayden in a sense. He is truly good at it and loves to do it.

AM: The show launched in Sept earlier this month and you guys are still in production. What has filming this show been like in terms of it being this spinoff show. What’s it like being on this set?

GP: I honestly love it so much! Michael Rainey Jr. who plays Tariq, the show is about him after his dad dies. He is my best friend in the world. We hang out every night and I get to go to work with my best friend every day. I really love the entire cast and there is not one person that I don’t hang out with – we all hang out together. With Power, it was already a family that I was coming into and everyone had already met as they worked with one another for 5 years. I came in new and didn’t really know anyone. Michael and I connected kind of in season 6, but really when I came back to film Ghost that’s when Michael and I got close and now I go to work with my best friend every day. It’s good with everyone coming in, besides me and Michael, there are 2 other people that were in Power as well – everyone else was kind of new or newer to the show. So we were all coming in new together except for a couple of people. But with Power, it was already a family for 5 or 6 years when I came in.

AM: I know that you’re a fan of 50 Cent and it must be amazing to work with him. What advice has he given you that you have really embraced in being able to work so closely with him?

GP: I can’t believe that I get to work with 50 Cent everyday! I had hip hop posters all over my room and it’s all I listen to! It’s just crazy. When I see him, I’m like, “nah this isn’t real! That’s not 50 Cent.” Something that I really take from him is truly that he doesn’t care at all what people think about him. You see the things that get picked up in the media it’s 50 Cent this and 50 Cent that. He says whatever he wants and does it in a smart way where obviously he’s promoting. Contrary to what people think, he’s not just starting beef for no reason. He’s starting beef because every time his show is coming out, he’s in the news all the time. It’s genius if you think about it!

What I got from him is that he will say what’s on his mind and what he thinks. Obviously with me, I don’t have as much leeway – I didn’t get shot 9 times! I’ve gotta be careful. He truly does and says what he wants. He doesn't cater to the industry. That’s also something that I don’t do. I’m not going to post or say something because that’s what people want me to do. That’s not who I am and not who I will ever be, do you know what I mean? That’s how a lot of people are in this industry because they want to work and I get that, but that’s not who I am. 50 is truly that person where I’m like, this is how I want to shape myself so that I can live my life and not be scared to say what is on my mind or how I feel.

AM: In looking at your Instagram, clearly being in the gym is a big part of your routine. Why is health and fitness so important to you?

GP: I don’t know. I think it’s because I was in the gym every day playing hockey. This is kind of what I equate it to. When I moved out to LA and I stopped playing hockey, it was very sudden. I stopped playing hockey with a rigorous schedule and a week later, I was in LA and I wasn’t playing competitive hockey ever again. The next week, I’d eat so much because we’d be burning 3,000 calories a day just skating on the ice and then we’d go upstairs to the gym and we’d be burning so many calories that I’d just eat all day long. So when I got to LA, I was eating the same but I wasn’t skating like I was and I was like, “oh My God, this is a problem. I have to take things seriously.” I didn’t get overweight, I mean maybe a little because I worked at a restaurant so that’s pretty easy to do. But I knew I had to take my fitness more seriously. That’s when I truly fell in love with it. I didn’t know how much I loved fitness when I played hockey because it was like a job. You go to the job. When I started working out, I started boxing and doing Jiu jitsu. I started weight training. When I did it for hockey it was specific. We would do squats and things like that and I hated that. Now, when I’m in the gym, I get to work out on things like my arms and my abs which makes me look good. I truly don’t go to work to film until I have gone to the gym. I have to workout before I go to work. I’m crazy about it. It’s literally my number one thing before I go to work to film, production, a TV show etc I make sure that I know the local gym, where I will be working out, how I will get from the gym to set – that’s literally the number thing that I worry about. It’s the one thing that makes me truly happy. If I workout and get a good lift in, I know I will feel great and have a great day on set. If I don’t get a good lift in and don’t eat right, I’m gonna have a rough day. So, I’m tuned in with my body and self so that I know it’s the most important thing in my life.

AM: What’s a typical workout with you like?

GP: I have one of my best friends who is also a trainer who sends me a lift every morning so that I wake up to it. We do this consistent/inconsistent thing where we do the same thing for a couple of weeks and then totally change it up. It’s kind of a lot of chest, shoulders, biceps, triceps when I’m going to be on camera with my shirt off. Honestly, my legs are so big now that I can’t fit into any jeans now because of skating for 18 years. My thighs are so muscular and massive that I could never do legs and they would still be great. So I never have to do legs anymore. I do a lot of cardio - we’ll do bike sprints, a minute on 11 on the treadmill, a minute at 5 for a light jog. We kind of do the high intensity workouts as well. A lot of heavy weight lifting, cardio and abs. Not so much anymore with legs.

AM: What do you eat in terms of staying in shape and what are the splurge foods you enjoy?

GP: I have a protein shake every morning with collagen and I put some creatine in there for some size and a nice little egg white protein – that’s my morning/post lift drink. Then I will have 4 eggs and a little bit of turkey bacon to put some meat in. I’m a huge fruit eater. I eat it all day throughout the day and maybe it’s not good for me because it has a ton of sugar in it, but I eat a ton of fruit. I just love it and I didn’t realize how much I love it until I realized that I would rather have that over candy at this point. For dinner, I’m a big protein and meat eater so a pound of turkey or a pound of beef I’ll eat. Then obviously, I try to go low carb. I tried keto for a little bit, but I thought I was going to die so I stopped doing that. I feel like I need a little bit of carbs for my workouts to be up to par. I try to go low carb/high protein as best I can.

My splurge food – I love Chinese food – I love fried chicken, it’s my favorite. Last night, it was Michael Rainey’s birthday and we went to Philippe’s and I went to town. I had Lo Mein, we had chicken satay, spring rolls. Last night was kind of my night, it was his birthday and I splurged. Today, I was back in the gym in the morning and sweating it all out and I’m back to normal!

AM: We love podcasts and are a huge fan of True Crime. I know that you love stand up comedy and you were a talent broker and co-producer for Theo Von’s (Road Rules, Last Comic Standing, Reality Bites Back) podcast This Past Weekend as well as the talent booker for Andrew Santino’s (I’m Dying Up Here, This is Us, Friendsgiving) Whisky Ginger. What drew you to being involved in podcasts in general?

GP: When I moved to LA, The Comedy Store it’s one of the greatest places in the world. You go to The Comedy Store and the best comedians go back-to-back like 10 of them! Like one of their tickets when they’re on the road is $200! I would go and Chris Rock would drop in and he’d do his Oscars monologue and then I’d see Kevin Hart drop in out of nowhere. I saw Daniel Tosh – all these guys that don’t ever tour – they come in and do 15-20 mins. Dave Chapelle – it was crazy! So when I first started going to The Comedy Store, I have always been into standup comedy, but not until I went there did I think it was insane. One day, I came and I saw this comedian, Theo Vonn, and I thought, “oh man, he’s so funny, this guy is going to blow up.” I started listening to his podcast which he was doing in his kitchen. I went to go film Ma and I was listening to his podcast in my trailer and one of the PA’s came in and I knocked on my trailer to tell me that they were going to bring me to set. He heard me listening to Theo and it was funny because Theo didn’t really have that big of a following at this point and it was a cult thing. The PA asked if I listened to him and I told him that I thought he was great. He said that Theo grew up on his dad’s farm and that he would connect the two of us if I went back to LA. I went back to LA and it was kind of slow for a few months after filming so I hit up the PA and said that I wanted to help Theo with his podcast to help him with social media as well as to book some guests. The next day, I met with Theo and cut to a year later after booking guests, working on his social media and all that stuff – he went on Joe Rogan and blew up – he has a million and a half followers. The podcast – we get millions of listens a month. I saw him at The Comedy Store and I knew that he was funny and knew he was one of the funniest people I had seen in my whole life.

Obviously with filming, it’s tough for me to be able to juggle both and that’s why I stepped away for a minute. I did a lot of work with Andrew too to help him with his social media and with guests during quarantine and the COVID-19 stuff that was really tricky too. I helped him because I met all these guys through Theo and they know who I am and how I work and how I am able to figure out social media in a way because I’m younger and these guys are 36-40 year old. They don't know as much so I kind of figured out a way to maneuver through it. I have been helping out a lot of these guys do a lot of the social stuff. I don’t know what drew me to podcasting. I listen to a lot of Inside the Actor’s Studio, Off Camera with Sam Jones, Hollywood Reporter stuff. I like podcasting personally because it’s not Jimmy Fallon – there’s nothing wrong with that. You go on Jimmy Fallon and you’re asked to tell a story about this shark that bit you. It’s like, ok cool I can tell this pop corny story. But when you’re on a podcast, you’re going indepth with a person and you’re really getting to hear what they want to say as opposed to a pre-interview that’s like 5 minutes and then they’re like, “ok let’s just say this.” I think that the podcast is more of what I love and the crime stuff is good and I listen to a ton of podcasts. I think it’s just the realness and the uncensoredness. I like raw comedy.

AM: You should keep an eye out for Showtime’s The Comedy Store!

GP: YESS! I did see that. That’s a documentary and they actually did a scripted show I’m Dying Up Here and Santino was on that too and was one of the lead characters as well as Erik Griffin. That was a cool shot to watch!

AM: Do you have charities or organizations that you’re apart of that you give your time to that you like to bring awareness to?

GP: I post a decent amount to my Stories. The way I work, it’s not that I don’t like it. I just feel like when people go on their social media and say go to this place and donate to this cause. Some people do it in a gross way in my opinion. They’re saying do this or do that and in a sense, it makes people not want to do that. I know for me, I’m like no – I’m not doing that. It’s like your guilting people. The way I am, I say, “this is something that I love. You don’t have to like it, I love it and if it is something that you would like, here is the info.” So I go live on Tik Tok sometimes and people can send you money through Tik Tok live. All the money that I get, I send to the Toucan Rescue Ranch. I love this organization, they're in Costa Rica and I like the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. I love animals to be honest! There’s nothing that animals can do about their situation. I love wildlife. They’re so interesting to me. That’s why I’m geared towards that. I am a person who is involved in it but silently. I know I have a platform where I can make more money but I don’t like when people throw things in your face to say look at what I am doing. It’s not how I am. Sure I’d love to help the cause but if you don’t like toucans, that’s fine on you. I was supposed to do stuff with the California Wildlife Center when I got back from filming but we stopped filming for COVID-19 and they had all these restrictions. I think that doing more towards my career actually in turn helped my career. I was taking 10 classes a week writing all of these scripts so that when I did more stuff that I loved – playing hockey again and getting more into stuff like that – it gave me room to actually grow instead of choking so much. It’s something that I have learned over the past couple of years.

I also love cars so people post them all the time. I’ll post a Porsche or something as I’m a huge car enthusiasts and then the next post will be about toucans or the ocean and people will be like you can’t love cars and the ocean! I’m like why? I can like the ocean and cars. They don’t think it makes sense. People want you to be one way or the other, but I post what I like.

AM: Are there other projects that you want to take on? You have had so many things that you’ve been involved in that you have been able to do – what’s next for your portfolio?

GP: I want to do a franchise so bad! I went to Comic Con for a panel last year for Ma. It was the coolest experience in my life. I had never been into comic books and that world. When I went there, it was incredible to see the fans screaming for these shows and movies.

I was like, “these people love these movies and shows that much?” They have a massive fan base. I truly want to be apart of a Twilight or something cool that has a big fandom. It’s something that I want to be apart of. Obviously, I want to be able to do the A24 movies and the indie movies like a Safdie Brothers movie would be incredible. I want to do a franchise. The good part is that you make your money from the franchise and you get that fanbase and you can do whatever you want to do for you. That’s when you can do the A24 movies, the indie movies. The Spectacular Now is one of my favorites. Doing those movies that are not for a big audience, but when you have a name and they see that you can man a franchise, then they say, ok we’ll give him this project and see how he does and he can bring his base over there. You can prove yourself on how good you are on acting. That’s the things that get me excited about the future.

AM: We can see you in a Fast & Furious movie.

GP: Oh I would love that! I’m racing cars and I’m saving toucans!

AM: Who are three people that have influenced you to be where you are in your career?

GP: It’s so funny because when I go back and look on who I said a year ago – it always changes. Someone who I consistently look up to is 100% Mark Wahlberg. He’s everything that I aspire to be. He gets up – he has that gym and I want that gym that he posts in his house on his Stories everyday. It’s incredible and I want this massive gym in the house that I can go with boys and lift in the morning. Business wise, the guy is a genius. He has all of these businesses that he has been a part of. Career wise, I probably wouldn’t pick the same kind of movies that he has – some yes definitely. Others probably not but him in general and the way that he has maneuvered his career is someone that I look up to.

Also, obviously Leonardo DiCaprio who everyone looks up to. I would do every single movie he has ever done as they’re incredible. Obviously when you get to a certain point, you get to pick and he knows exactly what he wants to do and what he likes as well as to try. So that’s someone I really look up to.

Someone that I really liked when I moved out to LA and I was watching Sons of Anarchy, right when I finished hockey and I had started acting, Charlie Hunnam (The Gentleman, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Pacific Rim) is just a badass. He in a sense wanted to play that role and moved out to LA. He was a big part of my influence to move out to California. I’d say those 3.

Other actors that I’m loving right now would obviously be Robert Pattinson (Twilight franchise, Tenet, Harry Potter franchise) who is doing so well and is blowing up. Bill Skarsgård (It, Deadpool, The Divergent series) from It – those are the guys that I try to look for right now when they have things coming out.

IG @GianniVPaolo

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS

Athleisure Mag's virtual shoot was shot by Co-Founder + Celebrity Photographer Paul Farkas. Throughout this shoot, Paul used an iPhone, iPad, Facetime, Clos, Canon Mark IV; and selected Canon lenses: EF 50 f/1.2 L, EF 24-70 f/2.8 L II, and EF 70-200 f/2.8 L II.

IG @PVFARKAS

STYLE & GROOMING CREDITS

Athleisure Mag's Celeb Fashion Stylist, Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director Kimmie Smith and Groomer Bruce Dean share what they used to create this fall menswear style editorial.

LOOK I | OUT & ABOUT STYLE

PG 37 - 41 | ALO YOGA Traverse Pull Over + Polar Moto Joggers | REVO X JEEP Aviators | ATHLETIC PROPULSION LABS Techloom Wave |

LOOK II | FITNESS STYLE

PG 42 + 45 | ALO YOGA Polar Moto Joggers | ATHLETIC PROPULSION LABS Techloom Wave |

LOOK III | AFTER WORK STYLE

PG 46 | PROUD Be Creative Zipper Polo | MAVI JEANS James Ink Williamsburg | ATHLETIC PROPULSION LABS Techloom Chelsea |

LOOK IIV | LOUNGE STYLE

PG 50 + 52 | AVIATOR NATION 5 Stripe Hoodie + Sweatpant Charcoal Set | ATHLETIC PROPULSION LABS Lusso |

GROOMING | M.A.C. Cosmetics | Aquage Hair Care |

IG @Shes.Kimmie

@BruceDeanBeauty

Hear STARZ Power Book II: Ghost, Gianni Paolo on our show, #TRIBEGOALS - which is a part of Athleisure Studio, our multi-media podcast network! Make sure to subscribe to find out when the episode drops. You can hear it on iHeart Radio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and wherever you enjoy listening to your favorite podcast.

Read the Sep Issue #57 of Athleisure Mag and see Living in the Moment with Gianni Paolo in mag.

9LIST STORI3S | Mike Piazza

Read the Sep Issue #57 of Athleisure Mag and see 9LIST STORI3S in mag.

YOUR VOTE COUNTS WITH KAL PENN

As we get closer to the election (national, state and local), we've all been thinking about the issues, what we want our next 4 years to be and who will get us to where we want to go. This month's cover is Kal Penn who we have enjoyed in House MD, Designated Survivor and of course the Harold and Kumar movies. Kal has always had an interest in civics and even took time from acting to serve during the Obama Administration as the Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs.

We were excited to hear about Kal Penn's new show that launches on Sept 22nd, National Voter Registration Day on one of our favorite networks - FreeForm. In Kal Penn Approves This Message, he talks about the issues in this non partisan show to get voters prepared and empowered to vote. We find out more about this show that he hosts and executive produces, how it ties into FreeForm's larger PSA focus and what he was surprised to learn.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We know that you’re the Co-Executive Producer and the host of Kal Penn Approves This Message. Before getting into the show itself, why did you want to create this 6 episode series?

KAL PENN: That’s a great question. Over the last few years, I’ve had different producers and folks reach out and say that they had this political show and they were looking for a host and what I thought of it. Those shows were fine, but they were a little more vitriolic and polarizing than I would have liked. It’s not really my thing and so when we had this window of time during this pandemic, my writing partner Robin and I were brainstorming and we thought about shows that we liked. I liked the Daily Show and I love CBS Sunday Morning – so what if we combine the two and had a show that was funny first and comedy morning. The monologue instead of talking about the 24 hour news cycle, what if we made the monologue about a particular issue? It’s funny, but it’s nonpartisan and it’s issue based. That way your field piece which is very funny, would be an extension of that which is around the issue and then your guest instead of someone who comes on to sell a book - and there is nothing wrong with that as I hope to be able to do that one day soon BUT for now, what if your guest was someone who was an expert in their field as opposed to someone who needed to sell the book or the movie which is the traditional guest bookings. In that case, your interview should end with some sort of call to action that people could take regardless of their political views if they care about a particular issue. Leading up to the election, it seemed like the best way to couch that for the miniseries leading up to the Nov election. If we’re lucky enough to get extended beyond that, then it would be on civics things broadly. So that’s kind of how it all came together.

AM: That’s very cool!

KP: Yeah, thank you.

AM: How important is it to tackle the issues of the day to empower Millennials and Gen-Z voters when they’re hitting the polls?

KP: Very important! I think that you look at of course the Presidential Election takes up a lot of the airwave space. There are so many local and state elections like school boards that people are voting on and a lot of those things have an impact on our communities much more than who sits in the White House on a day to day basis. They all go hand in hand though.

Some of these elections are being decided on by just a handful of votes. That’s the difference between whether you and your 8 friends showed up to vote or not. It can be pretty critical. Even in terms of the Presidential Election, of course if you live in a battleground state, your vote is weighted so much more than if you're a NYer or in Oklahoma. But even in NY or in Oklahoma, we get this question a lot – “I’m a Conservative in NY or I’m a Progressive and live in Oklahoma, my vote doesn’t really matter right?” It’s like, no it does because if enough people with your point of view even move the needle to where you see, "wow we have a 2 or 3% uptick of Progressive voters in this district in Oklahoma or vice versa with Conservative voters in NY”, the people in positions of power have to take that into account. They have to decide, “am I going to represent these people or will they get replaced one day because I’m not,” with this district moving into a particular direction. It’s all those reasons. So man, it’s so important for those couple of reasons that make a difference.

AM: Was there a specific issue that you guys will focus on in these 6 episodes where you learned something surprising in that episode or something that you hadn’t thought about previously?

KP: There’s a lot yeah! Even in our first episode, it’s about the youth vote in general and how the voting age got to be 18. So we were like, “ok how did the voting age get to be 18?” I remember it’s the 26th Amendment and it was passed in the 70s right?

AM: Right!

KP: Ok, there was that, but then it’s like, how did that happen? And the point of origin for that is after WWII all of these service members were coming home and they were 18/19/20 years old and they had just fought the Nazis and they come home and they’re not allowed to vote because they’re not 21. So they start this movement to get the right to vote at 18 – the age that you could go off to war to die for your country. It took decade just for that to become the 26th Amendment and that’s insane that it took that long. The reason why we talk about it is that it is an opportunity to recognize why we all have the right to vote at 18 to begin with. Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or a Third Party person - it's all still relevant. The point is, you should vote when you turn 18 because you have that right and a lot of people worked very hard for a very long period of time to get us that right to vote.

AM: How excited are you as we know this show launches on National Voter Registration Day to be apart of this movement and this ongoing campaign that FreeForm as a network is doing in terms of PSAs to get this awareness out there?

KP: I love it because the FreeForm PSAs and stuff have been very uplifting, jokey and it’s not taking things too seriously, but it also is underscoring the real opportunity here for young people to participate. And that’s what I like about our show here too. Our set is essentially a celebration and we have a pinball machine and some fun jokey stuff, but there’s also a lot of books on the shelf from icons of American History. Everyone from Angela Davis to Ronald Reagan. Now you don’t think of Angela Davis and Ronald Reagan in the same sentence often, but the point of both of them is that these are people in American History who as things get more and more polarizing, one person may be more familiar with one of those humans than the other and they both played such a pivotal role in who we are today and why. The other pieces of the set are things that we celebrate. There is a whole bunch of imagery around women and science, astronomy and all of those things are because people decided to vote for candidates who used our tax dollars to fund these things. So those things belong to us. We should celebrate them. That space station is ours! I mean we share it with other countries so maybe that’s a bad example, but you know that stuff is stuff that we created together as Americans and we should be celebrating. To me, I think that that tone works really well with the tone with FreeForm and obviously Hulu which we air on the following day. It’s celebratory and that’s what we want. We want to be able to make people laugh, come together and to understand the issues a little bit better.

IG @KalPenn

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | FRONT + BACK COVER, PG 16-25 Freeform/Robbie Fimmano | FRONT + BACK COVER, PG 16-19 + 25 Editorial Design by Athleisure Mag |

Hear Kal Penn Approves This Message Executive Producer and host, Kal Penn on our show, #TRIBEGOALS - which is a part of Athleisure Studio, our multi-media podcast network! Make sure to subscribe to find out when the episode drops. You can hear it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and wherever you enjoy listening to your favorite podcast.

Read the Sep Issue #57 of Athleisure Mag and see Your Vote Counts with Kal Penn in mag.

TURNING NEGATIVES INTO POSITIVES WITH SUZANNE SOMERS

This month, we caught up with one of TV's favorite sitcom actresses who also made an impact in the fitness world as an icon. We talked with Suzanne Somers about how a series of events took place that got her into the industry, how she nabbed one of her most known roles as Chrissy Snow of Three's Company, how leaving this role created an opportunity for Thighmaster as well as her focus on women living their best lives as the navigate the process of aging. She shared her insights as well as the negative moments that she forged into positives and her ultimate success.

ATHLEISURE MAG: What was the moment when you realized that you wanted to be in entertainment and to be an actor?

SUZANNE SOMERS: There was no moment. You’d think that there was a moment and you’d think that there was a dream. But I am a recovering Catholic and I got pregnant the first time that I had ever had sex. I was 17 or 18 – I was very young. The other day, my granddaughter said, “you got pregnant and lost your virginity on the same day?” I said, “yep”. So at that time, it didn’t matter whether you liked the boy or not, you were going to get married. I found myself walking down that aisle that I didn’t want to walk down in an outfit that I hated. My mother and I went to buy it and I remember her saying, “it shouldn’t be too white.”

What came out of that was this baby. I mean at 18, who wants to have a baby – I didn’t I’ve been very honest with my son about that and said, “who wants a baby at 18? I didn’t know you.” When I delivered him, I looked at these little eyes that were all bunchy and out of my mouth came this statement, “I promise that I am going to make a good life for you.” I did. I figured it out. I got pregnant at 18, I gave birth one month after my 19th birthday and I got divorced from the father and it was just me and my son against the world. I was never going to stay with the father, I knew that. I was the first person in my family to ever get a divorce and the first person in my hometown who ever got that divorce and I kept that promise.I didn’t know how to be a mother. My son never got into drugs, he never got into alcohol. I believe that we’re hard wired and when I had my baby, I knew I was going to make it right and I had the wisdom to know that part. I am so proud of him. He’s a good father, I wish that I had had a good father like him. He has 2 little girls that are now in their 20’s. They’re not screwed up although they are entitled – because that generation is. I did my part!

AM: Growing up, many of us remember seeing reruns of Three’s Company and then as we got older, seeing you on Step by Step. What was it about taking those roles and being on those shows that you enjoyed being part of them?

SS: By the time that I got to Step by Step, I was pretty ensconced in that world of sitcoms. But honestly, when you’re talking about the lead up to all of that, then it goes back to when I got the lead of Guys and Dolls in high school. I played Adelaide and I didn’t know that I had any talent. I tried out because the rest of the classes were too hard for me. But I did love Fine Arts. I loved music, singing, acting. I got a scholarship to college and there was no one in my family that had ever gone to college and no one in my hometown that I knew had gone to college.

I got a music scholarship and do you know what I chose? I was so dumb. I chose a Catholic girls college – that was the worst place that I could choose to go to college. Then 2 months into college, I got pregnant. Here I was, the first person in my family to go to college and the first one in my family to have that opportunity and I got pregnant. I thought that all my dreams were out the window. The last night of the show, that guy came and at the time, I didn’t know who he was. He was really well known in radio and his name was Walter Winchell – he had a trademark look of a beige raincoat and a pork pie hat. He walked up on stage that last night and he went right to me. He walked up to me in his NY accent which I had never heard before in my small hometown of California and he said, “you’re going some place sister.” That was fortuitous. Then when I got pregnant, I felt that my college dream was over and I had to go to work and I felt that I didn’t have any talent or skills that I knew of. I’m trying to make a living so I got a job as an extra, the lowest rung on the whole showbiz totem pole – you couldn’t go any lower. I made $32 a day and that was how I was able to survive.

My childhood was actually terrible. I look at people who have had negative things that happened in their life and I tell them, use it – make this be your asset. My father became my asset. The fact that he told me growing up that I was a piece of crap all the time, that I was a nothing, that I was a zero, he would make his hands shape into a big “o” – he would tell me all this stuff. So you believe how you are programmed and that was my programming. So when you ask me, “what was your dream and how did you end up in this business?" I'm an accident and I had talent that I didn’t know that I had. I now encourage people that come from a negative to use that as your opportunity – because you want it more then the average person. Every time my dad would say these things, I would think to myself, “I’ll show you.” One night, I was on stage and I was headlining a concert in Vegas at the biggest room in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand, he was in the audience and it wasn’t revenge or anything. I called him up on stage and if ever there was a moment where I had the “I’ll show you,” it was that night. He was so proud of me. I sang him a song – “you made me love you, I didn’t want to do it – I didn’t want to do it.”

AM: Wow

SS: Kind of poignant right? The negatives are the positives. So I had another thing that happened. After I divorced my husband who I never wanted to marry in the first place, I fell in love with Alan Hamel (Anniversary Game, Wedding Party, Lou Grant). I had taken an extra job and you know I walked into Studio C in ABC San Francisco and I was hired to be the prize model. It was like Vanna White but not as glamorous and all. I would open the refrigerator and pull the drawers out and show that it just wasn’t any kind of refrigerator but it was a refrigerator freezer.

When I walked into that studio, I met Alan Hamel and my knees felt weak. I had never felt like that. It was almost like we had known each other in another lifetime. So we started dating and I would meet him at his hotel. Everything that my mother would tell me not to do, I didn’t care. I felt like, I’ll show you. I’m in love with this guy and there is nobody like him in my hometown. I owned my power although at the time I didn’t see that. I did anything that I could to have a date with Alan Hamel.

I’m reading the trades one day and they say, there’s an interview for a guest starring part on a sitcom called Lotsa Luck with Dom DeLuise (Blazing Saddles, The Muppet Movie, Smokey and the Bandit II). The description was, small town girl doesn’t know who she is and doesn’t know who she wants. I thought, that’s me. I tell Alan and he says that’s great, I’ll pick you up at the airport. So I gather together 50 bucks – probably sold a jacket or something that I owned. I flew to Los Angeles and he picked me up. The whole reason I wanted to fly is because of that kiss he would give me in the car. It was this romantic kiss that I just couldn’t believe that you could feel like that. He drives me to Burbank for the interview. I didn’t know that you needed an agent, I didn’t know that you need them to set up an appointment. I just thought that you just go over there and had to be there at the time. I walk in and they ask me why I’m there and I say that I have an interview for the Dom DeLuise talshow. I had never had a professional part before as I was just an extra. I didn’t know that the one extra part that I had had when I was in the Thunderbird would catapult me and I was a writer at the time.

I see the girls walking in, signing in and receiving their scripts under my lashes. I read my part for a guy that I would end up doing sitcoms with, he said, “very nice.” I said, “I know that I’m exactly who you’re looking for because I’m a small town girl, I don’t know who I am and I don’t know what I look like.” He said he would give me a call back. I thought great and I went to reception and told them that I had a call back and she said that was great and I asked her what it was. Johnny Carson walks in. I look up and I’m like that’s Johnny Carson. He’s looking at me and walks over to me and says, “hey little lady, what are you doing here?” I proudly said that I had a call back because I now know the lingo. He asked for what show and I told him and he said that Dom DeLuise was a great friend of his and he wished me a lot of luck. I gave him my little book of poetry and didn’t realize that on the back the only credit that I had listed was that I was the mysterious blonde in the Thunderbird of the movie which I hadn’t seen because I couldn’t afford to go to the movie. I knew that it was a dumb credit and I didn’t know who George Lucas was. I eventually did do a one woman show on Broadway 10 years ago called, The Blonde in the Thunderbird – I didn’t know anything.

I guess when he went back to the office on Wed, he read the back of the cover and saw the credit. I was booked on the Tonight Show for that Fri – can you believe it? I didn't have a dress to go to the show. But I guess, I wrote a bag check or whatever you do when you're desperate – desperate people did desperate things. I always had the mentality of “I’ll figure out tomorrow what I did today.” I bought a one shoulder long gown to the floor - I should have worn a short one as I didn't realize that my legs were my asset. Fri night, Alan drives me over there as I couldn’t afford a taxi. I’m standing behind that famous curtain in that aqua dress – I’m the mysterious girl in the Thunderbird and I don’t know that that’s anything and I hear Johnny Carson say, “we’ve all wanted to know who the mysterious blonde in American Graffiti was. Well we found who the mysterious blond was and it’s Suzanne Somers.” I was so nervous and thinking, “you were?” The curtain opened and I walk out to an audience who was cheering and I didn’t know what that was for. I go out there and he liked that he had never met someone so naïve about Hollywood – he liked me. He was from Iowa – he liked simplicity. He was so nice to me and so good to me. I sit down after the applause stopped and he let me know that they didn’t get that kind of reaction from guests very often. I wasn’t acting like anything. He started having me on once a month to read from my book of poems and my little book of poetry became the best selling book of poetry in America from all the Tonight Show appearances. He was so great, they would place an isolated camera on him so that as I read my poems, he would have over the top reactions to go along with it.

One night, after so many appearances, a guy by the name of Fred Silverman who was the president of ABC Television had already casted Chrissy Snow and neither of them had tested very well. They knew that they had a hit with the show, but this one part was not testing very well. Fred later told me, “I got the girl. I’ve seen her on the Tonight Show all the time. So I get called in for an interview for a sitcom that I have never heard of and no one had because it hadn't been heard of called "Three's Company." The rest is history and you know. I got it and I was the most surprised person in the world to find myself on the #1 sitcom. That’s how I became who I became and I guess because I had natural talent, I was able to play the ping pong game with John Ritter (Hearts Afire, Bad Santa, Child’s Play). I didn’t realize then that he was the most talented physical and comedic actor. He was so good and I recognized that when I would watch him and I could see how talented he was. I learned by watching him. Within a year I understood comedy. Even though I didn’t study comedy, I understood the music of it and comedy is musical it’s set up – set up – beat. The writers got that and when they started writing John and I, it created a tension on the set with Joyce DeWitt because she had studied under scholarship, she was under contract. I had never had an acting class, had never studied and it made her so angry with me.

AM: We see you in that part and to see all of the happy accidents that took place to make that happen!

SS: I think for your readers, it’s a story to know that no matter where you come from and it’s about using the negative things in your life as positivity and that’s what I do. I’m looking outside right now on the 93 acre land that I live on watching sheep chase each other and I grew up living in a closet hiding from my father’s temper. We had a lock on the inside of the door so that no matter how hard he kicked at it – he couldn’t get us.

AM: How did you partner with ThighMaster? That’s a fitness icon right there!

SS: Right! I get these huge opportunities that come into my life. I get on Three’s Company which shoots to #1 at a time when it really mattered. Our show had the highest demographic across all television. I had the highest demographic of all women at that time and I had never heard of demographics. When I signed onto Three’s Company at the time, I was like where should I sign and just signed! I didn’t have a lawyer, I didn't care about how much the pay was, but by year 6 when my contract was up, I recognized that monetarily, I was worth something. It pisses people off when they realize that you know their worth. At the time, the men were making 10-15 times more than the women. I now recognize my worth and I wanted to be paid what they were being paid. Laverne and Shirley had just renegotiated with ABC and they gave them a colonic as I like to say so they were ready for my husband when he came in. They had already decided that the next big female star that would try to get paid what they were worth, would be made an example of. When my husband walked into the meeting with all the men, all the lawyers and all of that they decided as my husband says, “that you were fired before the moment that I walked in.” He said that I wanted to be paid X as that is what the men were being paid. I was waiting at home because he had left that morning – there were no cellphones there.

I can tell by the fact that he’s not running up the stairs and there’s not that long of a way to walk. He meets me where I am, looks me in the eyes and says, “you’re out.” I asked what he meant. He said you were fired before I walked in. I wasn’t getting a raise and I wasn’t going to be on the show he said, “you’re O-U-T out.” I died inside. The greatest job that I had ever had, I made a jewel and I figured out Chrissy Snow myself. I created this character where most people don’t like dumb blonds and I took this person from a small town, who didn’t know what she was or what she looked like and created someone that is beloved to this day. Wherever I go even in Jerusalem and Warsaw, Poland – people point out Chrissy Snow. Not only was I out, but it became this thing where not one woman backed me up and they all felt like, “who does she think she is?” Everyone was afraid to talk and I don’t hold it against them, but it was to their detriment because in not supporting me, I could have made life a lot sweeter for all of them.

Now, I had to find a job because we were living a life of means because we thought we could afford the house that we had just bought. My husband was very well known in Canada and ironically could become the Johnny Carson of Canada because that’s who he was up there. He had the late night talk shows – at one point he had 11 series on at the same time. So Alan made a deal for me at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. I knew that I could sing and that I could dance a little because of Guys & Dolls. People said, what's your credit and I said, “well I had the lead in Guys & Dolls in high school.”

Some people came to me and pitched us ThighMaster. It was originally called The V-Bar. My husband and I always debate on which one of us named it as he thinks he did and I think I did, so I just say we both did.

AM: You mutually named it.

SS: Yes we mutually named it. We both said, you put it between your knees and squeeze and that became the byline. Oh God, Johnny Carson loved it, Jay Leno loved it, David Letterman loved it and comedians loved the name and the byline! That’s what we started doing. After we sold 10 million – again no plan. Life is a journey and it’s about following the flow and life will take you on the right road. ThighMaster started us on the road and we became and we’re seen as brilliant marketers. So I lost one job and got another job and then I got another job with Step by Step. I was just talking to Patrick Duffy (Dallas, The Bold & The Beautiful, Welcome to Sweden) this morning – the other great husband that I have had in my life. He is the most kindest, funniest and we got along great. He is very humble, doesn’t care what he looks like, where he comes from and he simply loves to work. His wife passed away and that was the saddest thing as he so adored her. He and I got along so great – that’s what led me to what I now do. In this pandemic, I have thrived during this time. Do you want to know why?

AM: Yes.

SS: I fractured my hip. I’m on a crutch and I’m having a hard time moving. Alan and I have been doing the Facebook Live Show that people love! When the pandemic started, I invited everyone to bring their own tequila, salt and hors d’oeuvres where I tell people about my products and I just finished my 27th book called A New Way to Age and I don’t know how or why but when you write 27 books, you learn something. I have interviewed so many doctors and they trust me. I’m able to speak for them in a language that my followers understand. By the time I interview a doctor, I verify everything and get approval on their interview so that they can learn about hormones, how to replace what you do when you’re aging. I love the way I look and how many people when aging feel this way? I have a great sex drive and aging is about worn out parts. You have to understand that your hormones wear out at a certain level and they have to be replaced and to understand how to replace them through lab and blood work and to have your doctors analyze where this is and how to put back what you have lost in this process. It includes what you need. Aging is great – just know what you need to do to put those items back. The women who love me, have learned so much from me and that’s what we do every Tues and Fri night. 25 million of my books have sold globally and they have the opportunity to learn a lot, have fun with me and to see my husband and I who have been married for 50 years. That’s what happens when you replace worn out parts. It’s my proudest achievement. I loved Chrissy Snow and treated her demise like a death in the family and then I made that negative work for me and I made falling in love with Alan Hamel work for me and my baby who I had at a young age I turned that for me. I live a happy and blessed life that I can be proud of.

IG @ SuzanneSomers

PHOTOS COURTESY | Suzanne Somers

Read the Sep Issue #57 of Athleisure Mag and see Turning Negatives Into Positives with Suzanne Somers in mag.