PRIDE ISLAND 2019

This month marked Athleisure Mag's 3rd year of being media sponsors for NYC PRIDE! In addition, this year WorldPride took place throughout the month here in NYC. WorldPride has been in existence for 20 years and has had 6 times that it has been showcased; however, this year was the first time that it has taken place in the US. It came to NYC as a means to honor the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising Commemorating the historic event where the modern movement began in 1969.

This year's theme, "Millions of Moments of Pride" included events ranging from panels, parties, movie nights, brunches and more. Being able to share the events as they took place as well as attending them is part of the fun of celebrating during this time of year while also supporting and being an ally to our LGBTQI+ community. The events culminated in one of our favorites - Pride Island. This event takes place over the last 2 days of pride and includes a number of performances from an array of entertainers. This year included Grace Jones, Teyana Taylor, Kim Petras, Amara La Negra and Madonna! Check out amazing moments from PRIDE ISLAND.

PHOTO CREDITS FOR NYC PRIDE + WORLD PRIDE | THIS PG - 67 Mary Kang | PG 68 -71 Sansho Scott | PG 72 - 79 Benjamin Lozovsky |

Read the June Issue of Athleisure Mag and see Pride Island 2019 in mag.

BINGELY STREAMING

1865

Wondery

Spotify

This Wondery podcast takes its listeners to the moment that President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. We are immediately introduced to a cast of characters that are left to grapple with a coup that threatened to shake up the bureaucratic system of power. Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton takes the task of ensuring that those who are meant to run the country stay in play while also ensuring that the line of succession remains intact with Vice President Andrew Johnson becoming President. While maintaining order, he also has to make various concessions as a means to maintain order which includes putting some of his beliefs on the shelf while navigating the interests of the country.

Bending to Southern interests, attempting to greenlight initiatives that involve reconstruction for newly freed slaves, as well as finding John Wilkes Booth, and additional mysteries that surround this actor turned conspirator envelop every part of Stanton's decision making and progress of the US. With all of these issues, 1865 shows how Stanton will betray his friends, his integrity and the very constitution that he is trying to protect under the veil of maintaining justice for the country.

CULPABLE

Tenderfoot TV + Black Mountain Media

Apple Podcast

For fans of To Live & Die in La and Up and Vanished comes a new True Crime story, Culpable. This podcast's focus is on those cases that have yet to be settled and what justice has not been served. We are taken to Mississippi to find out about what has been deemed a suicide by Christian Andreacchio on Feb. 26, 2014. He was found in his bathroom of his apartment with a single gunshot wound to the head. But there is evidence that shows that not only was this a homicide, but a premeditated murder. Host Dennis Cooper investigates this story and probes those who knew him and were with him in his last hours to find out what truly happened in order for his grieving family to finally put the issues revolving around his death to rest.

DESIGNATED SURVIVOR

Netflix Originals

With 2 seasons on ABC, Designated Survivor was saved by coming to Netflix with episodes being released weekly!

The story of lower-level cabinet member, Tom Kirkman who through succession is elevated to President of the United States continues as he continues to ensure that the country stays together. As designated survivor, he continues to navigates threats that are made to the country by those outside of it and even those he works with on his staff. In each episode fans watch as he maintains the balance of continuing to grow within his position while supplying humanity to address the issues that he and the country face each day.

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

ATHLEISURE MAG | #42 JUN 2019

This month, our cover is graced by Michelin starred Chef and Restaurateur, George Mendes. We talk about his restaurant Aldea as well as his pop up concept currently at Chefs Club Counter in NYC. In addition, we interview 4 x NBA Champion, John Salley to talk about how he came to basketball, his forray into the wellness and health industry as an investor and gifting for Father's Day. We also interviewed Celebrity Fashion Stylist, Brad Goreski to talk about his style inspirations, summer's perfect accessory, being a Co-Host on E! Live from the Red Carpet and his thoughts on the Met Gala! We also interviewed, fitness icon, Denise Austin about being an innovative in the industry, her success with her shows and what she is currently focused on. In addition, as our third year of being media sponsors for PRIDE, we included imagery from PRIDE ISLAND with performances by Madonna, Amara La Negra, Teyana Taylor, Grace Jones and more. In addition, we have a number of our monthly features showcasing athleisure culture.

Read the June Issue of Athleisure Mag.

CONTACT HIGH

We enjoyed Contact High, a Visual History of HipHop: Pop Up Experience at the Hasselblad NY Experience Studio in Soho. The exhibition celebrated the recently published book Contact High: A Visual History of Hip Hop by Vikki Tobak, documenting the history and progression of Hiphop and some of its key influencers over a 40 year span.

Curated by Vikki Tobak, based on the bestselling book of the same name, and with creative direction by Fab 5 Freddy and forward by Questlove, it includes works from 60 photographers forming a chronological journey from old-school to alternative hip-hop. The ultimate companion for music and photography enthusiasts, Contact High is the definitive history of hip-hop’s early days, celebrating the artists that shaped the iconic album covers, t-shirts and posters beloved by hip-hop fans today.

On display at the pop up experience were images made with various Hasselblad cameras from Janette Beckman, Danny Clinch, Armen Djerrahian, George Dubose, Jamil GS, Danny Hastings and Jayson Keeling.

Founded in 1941, Hasselblad is the leading manufacturer of medium format cameras and lenses. Made in Sweden, Hasselblad cameras are renowned for their iconic ergonomic design, uncompromising image quality and Swedish craftsmanship. For over half a century, Hasselblad cameras have captured some of the world’s most iconic images – including the first landing on the moon - and helped shape the way we look at the world through genuine photographic artistry. Trusted by NASA and used by the greatest photographers in the world, Hasselblad continues to create products with uncompromising image quality that inspire. In 2016, Hasselblad introduced the world’s first compact mirrorless digital medium format camera – the X1D.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We loved seeing the contact sheets presented in the book at Hasselblad's pop-up experience exhibit. When did you come up with the concept for the book and how long was the process making it?

VIKKI TOBAK: The whole process took about three years for me to write and research the book, but the idea came from me actually working in the music business in the early ’90s. I worked for an indie Hiphop label called Payday Records and Empire Management and worked with a lot of young Hiphop artists. I would coordinate a lot of their photo shoots, so I also met all these young photographers way back then. As I started my writing career and became a journalist working for bigger news organizations like CNN, I saw how they treated their archives, contact sheets, and historic photos and got to thinking about all the photos that I had worked on in my younger days – all the photographers who had these archives they were sitting on. So I set out to tell that story: The story of the photographer and a deeper story of those photos.

AM: How did you go about connecting with and interviewing the photographers and essayists featured in the book to hear about the accompanying stories of the shoots and how the images were created?

VT: I t wasn’t easy because photographers don’t generally like to show their contact sheets, they don’t like to show their outtakes or imperfect moments. So I started by going to the photographers who I already knew and who really trusted me with their stories. One by one, I started reaching out to Janette Beckman, then to Delphine Fawundu, Jamil GS – photographers that I have been on-set with when they photographed young Jay-Z, young Mos Def, young Gang Starr… I started writing a column for a magazine called Mass Appeal while I was researching the book. At first, the photographers thought it was kind of weird, like, “You want to see my contact sheets?” And I was like, "Yeah, I want to hear the back stories and I want to see all those weird photos of the person not looking into the frame or the photos that you shot of what was going on around them to kind of give it a more candid, documentary feel. And they loved the idea because they also like seeing each other’s contact sheets – photographers work really independently, so just seeing the work of their peers and just seeing that all these photos lie on a historic continuum (if you will) was really great. They realized that they were part of this great collective that documented this music, this new music that was created in our lifetime and was really something that nobody had ever seen before. They visualized that music.

AM: Did you have the title “Contact High” going into the project, or did it emerge during the course of the book?

VT: I didn’t have the name at first but it came to me pretty quickly. It just kind of popped into my head very early on. I had a good laugh with myself because a lot of Hiphop is associated with weed-smoking and hanging out. But more than that, Contact High speaks to immersing others into this world, this kind of bubble. It speaks to bringing people not just into one photo but bringing them into the world where that photo lives.

AM: We see chronologically, the first featured shoot kicks off in 1979 in the Bronx with Kool Herc. How is it to trace the past of Hiphop visual culture from its early days as a small subculture?

VT: Because I’ve been writing about the music for so long, I understood that this was the music that started with everyday people in neighborhoods, in communities. A lot of the earlier photos are not of the big stars but are of the dancers, the DJs, the kids from the neighborhood where a lot of the MCs came from. You see photos from the early days of Brooklyn and the Bronx all these places where the culture was born. Those early documentary photos also talk about the fact that this is much bigger than the music and much bigger than just this cultural phenomenon that we now know is kind of leading our mainstream. You can trace the history through the photos from the late ’70s and see it going into other cities, all of which have their own styles. You see it go into L.A., which had a very specific look and feel to it, to New Orleans, to Houston, to Detroit, to Atlanta. All the artists and photos that came out of that are super distinct, with their own flavor. So you have to see it and not just hear it. That’s what the contact sheets do.

AM: How was it to have Fab 5 Freddy as a creative director with the book?

VT: Oh my goodness, he’s a dream. He is a historian, he was a part of the culture, and he also gets this as part of the larger storytelling of Hiphop. As soon as I told him about this project, he got it right away. To be able to go deeper into these photos, he also realized there had never been a real retrospective done of Hiphop photography. Individual artists had sort of had little shows here and there but never on this kind of scale. So he not only wrote an essay for the book (which was incredible), he’s also in a lot of photos in the book.

And when it came time for me to curate the show’s exhibition, which we now have at the Annenberg Space For Photography in Los Angles through August 18 and which we hope to make a traveling exhibit after that, I knew he was the right person to be the creative director because he just got it – he got the whole project. We worked great together. He’s now working on so many amazing things related to the culture: He has a new film on Netflix called The Grass Is Greener about cannabis policy and the history of music in the black community. I like that he is a deeper, broader thinker – more than just about the music and more than just about the style. He sees how all the dots connect, which is why I really wanted to work with him.

AM: Core roots and aspects of athleisure are steeped in Hiphop style and culture. We love seeing Adidas, Kangol, Dapper Dan, and an array of other iconic fashion and culture laced throughout the images and contact sheets. What are some stories that the photographers and essayists offered about Hiphop style from the early days to rising to mainstream as a truly dominant and global authoritative stature?

VT: The whole phenomenon and athleisure wear and just comfort was really something that started in Hiphop, absolutely. Young kids were very aspirational in wanting certain sneakers or wanting a certain look, but at the same time this was all super personalized and all flipped on its head to have a very unique look and feel that was very Hiphop. So they started trends, they started a lot of the sneaker culture that you see right now: Run DMC and Adidas, the whole Nike Air Force 1 movement. A lot of even little details like the baggy sweatsuits, the caps, all that kind of stuff was very much self-styled and sort of remixed, if you will, from mainstream fashion. To see it come 360 now and be thriving as mainstream fashion is really cool. All these elements that were originally just about being an individual are now available to everyone.

AM: Tell us more about your spotlight on the importance of telling the story of women and Hiphop in the book.

VT: It wasn’t really a decision to play it up in the book. For someone who has always worked in the industry (as a woman, obviously), writing about the music for years, women have always been a really strong part of Hiphop, both in front of the camera and behind it. I had so many incredible black women editors when I was a writer; so many women ran the label that I worked for: Lucia Cortez, Silvia Rowne, really powerful women. And then of course the artists….

People ask me a lot, “How did you find all the women photographers in the book?” They were there all along. It wasn’t an effort on my part to become equitable – I wish I could say it was, but it just is. To me it’s just been something that I recognized always, and I think it’s a little bit of a stereotype with Hiphop. If you look at Hiphop as a culture, women have always been super prominent.

Also, April Walker started Walker Wear, and a lot of people didn’t even realize she was a woman because Tupac and Treach from Naughty By Nature were her spokespeople. There was this big wave of streetwear entrepreneurs in the early ’90s, and she should really be commended as part of that: she and all the women stylists who gave Hiphop its look in terms of selecting baggy clothes for Mary J. Blige or a lot of the other looks. I think all those women deserve to be celebrated and remembered.

AM: What have you seen with having such a multi-dimensional audience by design as it cuts across music, Hiphop, photography, portraiture and selfies, as shown with such acclaim, like the dynamic Amazon chart success across categories?

VT: A lot of people say Hiphop is now post-genre, so there’s not just one kind of Hiphop, there’s not just one kind of listener or audience. Hiphop now is global on all levels – it’s not just the subculture in a neighborhood anymore. The elements of it have been appropriated. That’s a loaded word; I guess a better word would be integrated into all facets of fashion and music. Kids in the suburbs listen to it, everyone listens to it, but at its core it will always be a music that speaks truth to power. That attitude will always come through in the photos, that attitude will always come through in the lyrics and all the different offshoot of any music culture. But now it’s a global phenomenon. Biggie has this line in one of his songs where he says, “You never thought that Hiphop would take it this far.” Indeed, a lot of people thought it was going to be a passing fad. It’s just really beautiful to celebrate the men and women who documented this culture that has not just stayed around but now defines many facets of our shared lives.

AM: It’s so interesting – and a treat – to get such an extensive intimate look at contact sheets and outtakes and see the interplay of photographers and artists in the creative journey together. What are some behind-the-scenes stories in the book about how the shoots started and went?

VT: Oh my goodness, I have so many. The one that people bring up most often is the story of Biggie in the crown that was taken by Barron Claiborne because it is a very stern-looking photo. The story behind it is that Barron was a young black photographer who was given the opportunity to photograph a fellow young black man and wanted to go against all the cliché imagery that he was seeing in the mainstream media at the time. He decided to photograph Biggie as a king. The editor of Rap Pages Magazine, a woman by the name of Dream Hampton, saw the importance of Barron’s vision of portraying someone like Biggie as royalty. In fact, that photo was called King of New York. The photo almost didn’t happen because Puffy/Diddy, who was leading Biggie’s career at that time, thought that he would kind of look like Burger King. So there was a lot of behind-the-scenes back-and forth, and it was interesting to hear the “this classic photo almost didn’t happen” accounts. I really like that photo for sure. I would say that’s a really good story.

AM: What are some accounts from the photographers about their work at that time? What cameras and gear were they shooting with, and did they comment about how it impacted the look and feel of their work and narrative?

VT: A lot o f big photographers – Janette Beckman, Danny Clinch – love shooting with medium-format Hasselblads. Lugging medium-format cameras around different neighborhoods, on the subways, is a little more challenging. But they always said it was very worth it. Not only did they produce this very beautiful, serious, historic moment, the Hiphop artist also felt that way. Janette Beckman shares the story about when she showed up in Hollis, Queens to photograph Run DMC. She had brought her Hasselblad on the subway from Manhattan way up to Queens. When she showed up, they understood that she was serious – not just here to take a few snapshots of us but here to really photograph us. Same goes for Danny Clinch for the Big L album covershot taken in front of his stoop in Harlem. Same thing. I feel like the photographers loved using Hasselblad medium-format because it set the tone.

AM: What have you heard from newer photographer fans, who love seeing contact sheets and negatives as a secret workflow?

VT: In digital culture, Instagram, imagery in general is very disposable in many ways, and we’re also bombarded with a lot of it. For younger fans, it’s often hard to imagine a world where you didn’t see the photo instantly or where you didn’t erase any photos. They’re also used to seeing a lot of finished product. The concept of contact sheets is important because it shows the stakes and it shows growth and it shows the artist in an imperfect setting and it shows the photographer working their process out, their creative process of trying to get the lighting right or not quite getting one out of 36 photos or one out of 12 photos right if you’re shooting medium-format.

So for young people, they see that the process takes time, and a lot of mistakes were made. That’s really important in this day and age. I think they really appreciate it - seeing photos of a young Kendrick Lamar in the studio where he looks kind of tired or frustrated recording his debut album. It’s a different Kendrick Lamar than the Pulitzer Prize winner with this amazing album on the other side of the process. So young people are really loving it. Also, just picking up on all those great style elements of the early days. A lot of it has definitely come back, and a lot of younger fans don’t even realize it’s been around for years and years.

British photographer Janette Beckman began her career at the dawn of punk rock working for publications such as The Face and Melody Maker. She shot bands from The Clash to Boy George as well as three Police album covers and documented the youth culture of the era. Moving to NYC in 1983, Beckman was drawn to the underground hip-hop scene where she photographed the pioneers of the culture such as RUN DMC, Slick Rick, Salt-N-Pepa, Grandmaster Flash, Big Daddy Kane, and LL Cool J.

Beckman has published five books: ‘Rap, Portraits & Lyrics of a Generation of Black Rockers’, ‘Made In The UK The Music of Attitude 1977-1983’, ‘The Beckman has publi-Breaks, Stylin' and Profilin' 1982-1990", 'El Hoyo Maravilla’ and ‘The MashUp, Hip Hop Photos Remixed by Iconic Graffiti Artists’.

Her dedication to documenting the outliers of society remains evident in the works she creates surrounding subjects such as Manhattan based dirt bike bandits, The Go Hard Boyz, an illegal girl fight club in Brownsville, New York, and the hardnosed rodeo riders of the River City Rodeo in Omaha, Nebraska. Her work has been shown in galleries worldwide and is in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Museum of the City of New York and the Musée des Civilisations de l’Europe. She is represented by the Fahey Klein Gallery. She continues to live and work in New York City today. Beckman’s commercial work includes assignments for clients such as Dior, Kangol, Levi’s, Schott, and Shinola.

ATHLEISURE MAG: How did you know you wanted to make portraits growing up?

JANETTE BECKMAN: I always liked portraits, I used to visit a lot of museums like the National Portrait Gallery in London as a kid and stare at the paintings, imagining what life was like in the 1800’s or whenever.

AM: Tell us about the London punk scene in the late-70s and how you became immersed?

JB: I came out of art school and the punk and youth culture scenes were happening on the streets. I was always into music and style, so it was natural for me to start documenting what I saw on my doorstep. I started working for a weekly music magazine called Sounds and soon was photographing 2 or 3 bands a week.

AM: What led you to NYC in the early 80’s and how did you start photographing rap groups?

JB: I saw my first Hiphop show in London in the fall of 1982 and that Christmas I came to NYC to visit a friend. The trains were covered in graffiti, kids with boomboxes on the platform. I loved it.

AM: What were some of the first Hiphop concerts that you attended, and how did the blend of DJs, rappers, break dancers and graffiti artists speak to you and what you saw with the culture at large?

JB: The first Hiphop concert was in London in 1982. I was blown away by the sounds and visuals, rappers, DJs, graffiti writers, break dancers all on stage together - I photographed Fab 5 Freddy, Grand Mixer DST, Afrika Bambaataa, RockSteady Crew, Double Dutch Girls, Rammellzee, Futura, Dondi - legends of the culture.

AM: Tell us about the 1984 shoot with Run-DMC for The Face magazine.

JB: The British magazine The Face commissioned me to photograph Run DMC. They gave me a phone number, which turned out to be Jam Master Jay’s mom’s house. I spoke to Jay and we arranged to meet at the Hollis subway station. Hollis turned out to be a leafy suburb in Queens. I walked down the street with him, met Run DMC hanging out under the trees on a spring day with some friends, and began taking photos - I got that shot in the first few frames. It was really a moment in time.

AM: What camera and lenses did you shoot with? How important was it to be shoot-ready when approaching shoots those days?

JB: I had a Hasselblad with an 80mm lens, I had 3 backs (12 shots in each), always ready/loaded.

AM: What was it like to work with Def Jam?

JB: Def Jam was a small label. I was also working with other small labels like Next Plateau and Sleeping Bag. They would bring their artists ’round to my studio. I had shown my portfolio to Lyor Cohen and Def Jam started to hire me. The first shoot I did for them was when Bill Adler, the Press Officer for Def Jam, brought LL Cool J to my studio for his first press shot.

AM: We loved seeing the early Afrocentric style reflected with your work with Tribe Called Quest. How did this come about and what was the day like?

JB: I was a huge fan of Tribe Called Quest and Hiphop style was becoming more Afrocentric. We decided that we wanted to shoot in nature. We were in NYC and the trees were still bare, so we went to the Chelsea Flower Market and found this greenery. The band had their little cousin with them and we had him in the shot too.

AM: What are some of the similarities and differences between shooting album covers and magazine candids and portraits?

JB: Album covers are square, you have to think about that when you are composing a shot. Magazine pages are usually vertical.

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF CONTACT HIGH: A VISUAL HISTORY OF HIP HOP, BY VIKKI TOBAK | Fugees - Jayson Keeling | Jay-Z – Danny Hastings | Kanye – Danny Clinch | Memphis Bleek - Armen Djerrahain | Mos Def - Jamil GS | RUN DMC – Janette Beckman | Salt-n-Pepa – Janette Beckman | A Tribe Called Quest – Janette Beckman |

Read the May Issue of Athleisure Mag and see Contact High in mag.

THE NINE LIST

Read the May Issue of Athleisure Mag and see The Nine List in mag.

ATHLEISURE MAG | #41 MAY 2019

The May Issue of Athleisure Mag is covered by CNBC's Co-Anchor of "Squawk Alley," Morgan Brennan who's sectors include manufacturing, defense and space. She showcases fun looks for the summer. Laila Ali chats with us about her undefeated boxing career. We also focus on 90's Hip-Hop artists who were pictured at the beginning of their career in Contact High talking about the culture as well as capturing them in iconic moments. The month of May has a number of awareness focuses. We talk with The Laurus Project and their focus on Breast Cancer Action. In honor of Mental Health Awareness month we have two articles focusing on mental health awareness. Dr. Sanam Hafeez who talks about what mental health is as well as how we can identify issues and how we can rectify it. Dr. Heidi Hanna shares how stress has benefits as well as its fatal aspects. We have a number of roundups that include beauty, style and fitness; gifts for Father Figures and items to consider for the Summer and all of your travels.

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

ATHLEISURE KITCHEN WITH GAIL SIMMONS

Earlier this month, we had the honor of sitting down with one of our culinary faves at NYC's The Kitchen Table in NoLita with Gail Simmons. In addition to her role at Food & Wine Magazine, she is also known as a judge on BRAVO's Top Chef. We talked with Gail about her journey in food journalism, the importance of working throughout the food industry to gain invaluable knowledge of professional kitchens, Top Chef history, food diversity, how she maintains calm when planning for guest arrivals for food celebrations, key ingredients in her kitchen this Spring, where we can find her shopping in Brooklyn and more!

ATHLEISURE MAG: So tell us about your background and how you came to work in food journalism?

GAIL SIMMONS: It’s sort of a long story and I have always started with a love for food. I graduated from college and didn’t know what I wanted to do with my career and everyone else seemed to know what they wanted to do with their degree out of college. All I knew was that I loved to cook and I loved to write. But back then, that wasn’t necessarily a one plus one equals two situation. People were just starting to cover the food world. The term food media back then just meant writing for a handful of magazines or a couple pages of newspapers and there wasn’t the kinds of opportunities that they are now. But I knew that cooking was my passion and so I got a job first as an intern in a magazine and as an Editorial Assistant in a newspaper as sort of a lifestyle food and travel section. I realized that in working everyday around all of these different subjects that food is really what I am more interested in. Then I was given this really great piece of advice that anyone can write as you can practice on your own and that’s what you have editors for, but if you want to differentiate yourself and really make a mark in the food world then you really need to understand the professional kitchen and learn to cook.

So I picked up, packed up and moved to NYC and went to culinary school and from there I worked in a few really tough, but incredible professional kitchens as a line cook and always with an agenda that I wanted to write about it and knowing that I never wanted to be a chef in a kitchen full time. When the time was right and I had a lot of experience and felt that I really understood how to cook well properly with a good foundation, I moved back into writing first with Vogue Magazine as an Assistant to the Food Writer and then for a chef doing events, marketing and PR all sort of learning around the events of the restaurant industry in every different aspect of what it takes to work in the food industry. About 15 years ago, I landed at Food and Wine Magazine and I’ve sort of been there ever since.

AM: That is a journey and what was the moment while you were on this food journalism track that you realized that you wanted to enhance your brand and make that jump into TV as well?

GS: I didn’t actually. I never ever consciously thought, I want to enhance my brand as a personality – the word brand, was never in my language or in my purview. I never thought about going on to television it was always about writing and publishing for me back then – 14 years ago. I did a little bit of food television in my early days on behalf of Food & Wine because often morning shows would need someone to talk about recipes, wine trends from the magazine or what we were doing for our spring issue ,so I was the one that would often go on because I had the cooking and marketing background to go on and be able to do cooking demos and to talk with the anchors and the hosts. So that sort of became what I did for the magazine and about a year into my job at Food & Wine, BRAVO came to Food & Wine with this idea of a reality show about the lives of professional chefs and they wanted to call it Top Chef and they wanted to partner with Food & Wine to teach them about the world of food and cooking and in exchange, they would put one of their editors on the judges panel and so they screen tested me and asked me to do it and I have been doing it ever since. I never meant to do it, I never sought it out, but we also certainly never knew that it was going to be a hit show and that it would last this long. We’re going into our 17th season and it doesn’t seem like it is going to be slowing down.

AM: We love your authenticity and in doing the research to chat with you, it was amazing to see how many areas of this industry that you have touched to immerse yourself in this space. Clearly this is why you can speak about so many aspects of it due to your knowledge.

GS: For me, everything I did up until now, and what I continue to do, feeds into my experience and my knowledge. I don’t think that I could have ever gotten the job on television had I not done all of those things. I think that being able to speak to the real life of professional kitchens, which is what our show is about – we want to speak fairly and honestly in a constructive way and understand the work that chefs do. I think that you need to have a working knowledge of that to come across to your audience not only as authentic, but in a way that the audience of a show can identify with you because the audience can’t taste the food. You really become the taste buds for your viewers and I think that all of the work that I have done and before leading up to Top Chef helped prepare me.

AM: What led to you creating cookbooks and what is that process like for you when you’re making them?

GS: I think that these days, cookbooks for me was a very natural offshoot for everything that I do and finding a place where all of my favorite recipes could live that shaped me and make me who I am and recipes that I have learned and brought home from my travels that have become staples in my household and I wanted to just share those with everybody because I am asked for them so often. It was a great opportunity to put them in one place.

The process was rigorous. It took me 2 years to write my most recent book. 2 years is sort of par for the course and sometimes it can take many, many more. From conception to publication, so it was an all encompassing process. It was so much work in every aspect – testing, developing, testing, rewriting the recipes, editing etc. Writing all the head notes, the introduction, making sure that they are accurate having someone else retest for that accuracy. I really wanted to make sure that every recipe in the book not only sounded delicious, but was absolutely attainable for everyone to make at home.

AM: That’s intense. Going back to Top Chef, we have had the pleasure of interviewing Chef Brooke Williamson and Chef Richard Blais previously in Athleisure Mag as well as on Athleisure Studio’s podcast network show – Athleisure Kitchen. What is it like for you as a judge to be on Top Chef? What is the process like for you and how do you get yourself prepared for those moments that are taking place?

GS: I mean we have been making this show for so long that we have gotten it down to a science. It’s a great process though as we have a great crew that has worked with us for so many years and everyone really understands what every episode takes. So we’re a pretty fine tuned machine. I would say that the most important part of what I do is balancing - being constructive and fair with the challenge that is being presented every episode and making sure that I am speaking to that challenge and what all the different chefs that are doing. The great thing about the show is that we travel to a different city every single season so I always do a little research about the place because the location is going to inform so much about the cooking, the ingredients and the history. You know, the history of Charleston is going to be different then the history of Boston which is going to be very different than the history of Kentucky or California. I think it really plays a role and is what differentiates our show from all others.

AM: It’s also so inclusive to food diversity from a geographical standpoint. This season’s Top Chef was in Kentucky and one of our Co-Founders is from Indiana and many of the recipes that were made this season were also indicative of areas she grew up in and which allows audiences to connect from that standpoint as well.

GS: Exactly there is a lot of food overlap and that is what makes our show so fun. You don’t have to be a great cook to identify with loving food or understanding the history of this country. Food plays such a great role in that and in our families in the way that we eat, the way that we go out, the way that we celebrate and we try to stay true to the locations that we go to.

AM: How would you define, your style of cooking?

GS: I think my cooking is spontaneous and changes with a season. I’m a mom and I think my food has changed a lot since I became a mother. I want flavor and I want it to be healthy and easy to make because I don’t want to give people recipes that will take them 3 days in the kitchen and I certainly don’t have time to dedicate that. So my style really calls from all of my travel experience and my childhood which has a lot of influences. People always ask me, “what’s your favorite thing to cook?” I never have one favorite thing, it always depends on the time of year, where I traveled to last, the ingredients that I am most excited about and then ways that I go about organizing them and being the most efficient in the kitchen to get the most flavor by doing the least to the great quality of food that I have.

AM: Because you have done so much in the food industry, are there other projects that you would love to be a part of that you have yet to tackle – but would want to?

GS: I think there are so many things. There is so much travel that I want to do and I think that giving back to the community that helped me for so long is really important to me and there are so many ways to do that right now. Cooking is such a life skill, so not only does it nourish people, but it teaches people to translate that skill into a job anywhere where they are. Certainly, there are so many things where food applies to our lives, whether it’s politics or math and science. Teaching my child to cook, you become some conscious of that and so just teaching is always in the background for me, whether it’s through books or in television championing my industry, and giving back to my community through all of these different channels is always top of mind and there are always more things to be done.

AM: With Spring being here finally as we see the leaves on the trees – there are so many Spring holidays coming up and reasons to just come together just because. What are some trends taking place in the kitchen that we can incorporate right now into our dishes just to change things up?

GS: I think that Spring is just the most exciting moment in the year because we have all just been in hibernation for so long and I got real cozy with lots of soups and stews over the winter but I am ready for bright new ingredients. I am really excited about bringing all of those fresh herbs, fresh flavors, different fruits and vegetables into my diet that I haven’t been able to get all winter long. But I also want to be efficient with what I am cooking and because there are holidays in the Spring where you are cooking for a crowd often of all ages with family and friends with Easter and Passover – you really want to optimize your time in the kitchen. My entertaining strategies are always about finding recipes that you can be organized with and prepare as much as possible with in advance, so that when guests do arrive you’re just doing the minimal to get food on the table so that you can spend time with them.

AM: People come by unexpectedly sometimes. What do you suggest that we should always have in our fridges so that we can ensure that we are always ready as sometimes you never know when Auntie May comes by!

GS: Yes and there’s nothing to eat – it’s true! I mean I think with a few simple ingredients, whether it’s breakfast, lunch or dinner, there are ways to use them so that you’re picking ingredients that are versatile. A few products that I love are having lots of fresh herbs in my fridge and lots of citrus as they can be added to lots of things from pasta to cottage cheese. They can be turned into so many things in so many different ways. Or even eggs that they can go on top of. I love keeping good quality dairy products as they are always in my fridge. As I said, herbs and citrus, cheese, eggs, and then as much fresh ingredients as possible. So if you have salad greens or you have a few key bowls of berries, you can make 100 different things. Breakfast for example, is a time where I feel that people run out of ideas. There are a ton of things going on in the morning or if you’re entertaining in the morning there is a lot you have to do so quickly. If you have people over for brunch for Easter for example, if you can think a little ahead of time – you can make a really beautiful statement with minimal work. One thing that I always advocate is big batch cooking. I love making granola for example and I make it a week in advance in a big batch that I can eat throughout the week and I can have it as my go-to to put on top of things in the morning. Or just eat it as a handful to grab and go as a snack. When you have granola and some fresh berries, granola in the fridge and cottage cheese, then there you have the perfect protein packed, versatile and easy breakfast parfait that looks great and beautiful for everyone.

AM: When you are planning for 8-10 people that you know are coming for a dinner party, people get overwhelmed with the idea of tackling this – what do you do?

GS: I always make sure that I make my list and be organized. I can never underestimate how important that, is especially when you have guests arriving. Try not to do too many things and remember that you can ask for help. I think that people forget to do that. If I’m having people over, I want to think 2 days out about what I can do and then 1 day out, what I can do. Sometimes that feels daunting – no one has 3 days to make a meal, but I’m not talking about major cooking. Just marinating your meat in the morning so that 8 hours later when you cook it, it has all that flavor that is already done. That’s just 20 minutes in the morning and then you’re ready to cook as soon as guests arrive and it’s the same when you’re making your dressings in advance if you’re making a salad. I love making bowls – grain bowls for example, so doing things like making the dressing in advance, washing the lettuce, if I’m using quinoa or another grain like that – cooking it in advance really takes 15 minutes and then it’s cooled and ready to go and it’s in your fridge and all you’re doing is really assembly.

AM: What are 3 ingredients that you always have in your kitchen that are really good for versatile dishes?

GS: I would say that right now it’s fresh herbs, lemons because I use every part of the lemon from the juice to the zest and Hood Cottage Cheese because I feel it is the most versatile dairy product that I have that everyone loves and you can do so many things with it.

AM: Do you have some recipes for those of us that are busy and running around that are easy to satisfy and easy to make as well?

GS: One recipe that is my go to because it’s great for lunch, it’s great for a snack and it can feed a crowd and it’s easy to batch it up for 10 people or to just have a personal bowl of when I need something that is healthy and really satisfying – I make a really delicious Mango Avocado Salsa. Lots of lemons, lots of lime juice and lime zest and fresh cilantro tossed with fresh mango and avocado and I put it on a base of Hood Cottage Cheese with Black Pepper in a bowl. My little trick is I always make a little well in the center of the cottage cheese using the back of my spoon and I pile all the salsa right in the middle so that when you’re dipping you’re getting a little of both and you’re not searching for one ingredient or the other. I find that it’s a great after school snack for my kids, it’s a great appetizer for a dinner party or the perfect quick lunch for me on the go and it really doesn’t require many ingredients.

I talked with you about the grain bowl which is another one to make in advance and then the granola that I make all the time for breakfast for parfaits. Because if you have some fresh wash berries in the fridge, you can have your granola that you made before and all you have to do is layer it on together.

AM: Are there other ways that cottage cheese can be used beyond what someone would think is their “traditional” use?

GS: I think that cottage cheese is having this renaissance moment because people are rediscovering it from their childhood. First of all, it’s packed with protein which is a bonus, it can be used the same way that you use other dairy products. I love it in smoothies, I can use it in place of ricotta for pasta and lasagna. My kids love it and my little baby loves it for breakfast in the morning. It has texture and a rich creaminess and it's a great item to have around.

AM: You’re based here in NYC, where can we find you working out, grabbing a meal/cocktail and shopping?

GS: In NY the options are endless and I live in Brooklyn – I love my neighborhood. It’s a quiet treelined neighborhood in Brooklyn. There’s a lot of great places to eat nowadays. I’m really obsessed with eating at a lot of places with fresh little small plates and a glass of wine so there’s a great wine bar close to me called June that I love and another wine bar with great food called Frank’s Wine Bar. When I’m in downtown NY, where we are today in NoLita – I love eating at a little Middle Eastern spot that has really fresh fast casual food called In the Dez, it’s delicious and right up the street. That’s where you can see me grabbing food.

Working out - now that the nice weather is out, I can pick up running again. I love running, but I don’t like running indoors so winter is kind of out for me and I take a break from running. But I live near the Brooklyn Promenade so running from my house to the Brooklyn Bridge is sort of my go to run when the weather is nice. If not, then I’m a spinner so you can catch me at SoulCycle.

And shopping – what kind of shopping?

AM: Well whatever, whether it’s for clothes or food – it’s so open!

GS: I mean, that’s a tough one! Shopping – I’m shopping for lots of things all the time! Let’s see, I love Veronica Beard for clothes, she’s a great designer that I wear a lot from these days. For food, what I love about my Brooklyn neighborhood is that it’s so old school in that instead of going to big huge grocery stores, there are small shops so I have my local butcher that I love, there is an amazing Middle Eastern store that I get all of my spices and things like pita and fresh bread and things like that. I’m at the regular grocery store buying all of my pantry items too.

AM: Your makeup is always great and you have great skin. As someone who travels a lot, what are 3 skincare products that you use?

GS: I have really dry skin so traveling definitely takes a toll. But I am also someone that doesn’t use 50 products a day because I’m someone that has to get up and go and I am always in a rush. So 3 products that I love my under eye I believe in helping as much as possible because tired is real. I’m a big fan of Drunk Elephant Vitamin C under eye cream that I use all of the time. There is a really beautiful store here in NYC and there is another in Boston and in a few other locations possible in DC, and It’s called Follain that has the most non toxic products from body to face to make up and hair products that are not only good for the planet, but with ingredients that are pure and all natural – so I use a lot of their products. I love Naturopathica skin care. I use a bunch of their products – I love their Daily Moisturizer and there’s this Body Balm that I absolutely love OSEA. They carry it at Follain so I get it there, but I initially got it as a gift and I’m obsessed with it. I love the smell, it’s rich and luxurious and really a great natural and beautiful skincare product for your whole body.

AM: You’re very busy. How do you take time for yourself to just recharge and disconnect?

GS: It’s a hard thing to do and it requires actual carve out time on the calendar for sure. Working out and clearing my brain is really important. I have to force myself to do it, but for me, it’s not about losing weight as obviously staying healthy is important. It’s about clearing my head and destressing because I know I will feel better at the end of the day if I can. I love that I live in NYC and I don’t have a car and that I can walk everywhere as I find that therapeutic. Cooking is also something that lets me relax at the end of the day. There is nothing that I like more than anything at the end of the day, relaxing with friends where I can sit around the table and I can cook for them and destress and really connect with the people that I love the most and that to me is taking a great time for myself. Once or twice a year, I like a really good massage and date night with my husband is also nice every once in awhile! We forget to do it, but when we do it’s always important.

IG @GailSimmonsEats

You can hear this interview with Gail Simmons May 3rd on our show, Athleisure Kitchen, which is a part of Athleisure Studio, our multi-media podcast network! You can hear it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and wherever you enjoy listening to your favorite podcast shows.

Read Athleisure Mag’s April Issue and see Athleisure Kitchen with Gail Simmons in mag.

COCHON555 2019

This month, Cochon555 returned to NYC at Weylin in Williamsburg, Brooklyn to present an epic food competition that pairs 5 local chefs, 5 heritage pig farmers and 5 sommeliers together. The chefs each have one whole heritage breed pig. Each year, Cochon555 has competitions in an array of cities. At the end of the season, the chefs that won each city compete in Chicago in order to be 2019's winner of the Grand Cochon. Since 2016, Athleisure Mag has been a proud media sponsor of this event as we're all about sustainable eating as well as being introduced to the chefs creations as well as supporting food vendors that participate in this event.

This event begins with a judging round where this year's judges included an array of food professionals that included Brady Lowe (founder of Cochon555), sommeliers, a member of the International Culinary Education, foodie personalities and even our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director as well as Co-Executive Producer/Host of Athleisure Kitchen.

This year, Kimberly Plafke of (Executive Chef of Grand Army Bar/paired with The Piggery - Mulefoot), Christina Bartloli (Executive Chef of Gelso and Grand/paired with Spring House Farm - Large Black), Garrison Price (Chef and Culinary Director of Cafe Clover/paired with Autumn's Harvest Farms - Berkshire), Allan Walker Hodkin (VP of Culinary of The Grey Dog/paired with Dogpatch Farm - Mulefoot) and Seungjoon Choi (Executive chef of Hortus/paired with Debragga, New York's Butcher - Gloucester Old Spot) competed.

The Somm Smackdown was comprised of Anna-Christina Cabrales (General Manager and Beverage Director of Morrell Wine Bar), Wei Liu (E&J Gallo WInery), Stefanie Schwartz (Olmstead), Betsy Ross (L'Avenue at Saks Fifth Avenue) and Kristen Goceljak.

In addition to the judging of the tasting meal, there is also a panel of judges who select a winner from the Punch Kings to see who the top mixologist of the night is. Fellow foodie enthusiasts have the opportunity to try the foods that are created at this event which includes 1,500lbs of heritage breed pork whether they have a general admission or VIP ticket.

A portion of all sales will benefit Cochon555's sister charity, Piggy Bank.

NYC's winner for this leg's Prince of Pork, was Seungjoon Choi of Hortus, the winner of the Somm Smackdown was Anna-Christina Cabrales, General Manager and Beverage Director of Morrell Wine and Maison Pickle was the winner of the Punch Queen.

PHOTOGRAPHY | Paul Farkas

IG @Cochon555

Read Athleisure Mag’s April Issue and see Cochon555 2019 in mag.

ATHLEISURE MAG | #41 APR 2019

We’re excited to drop this issue with our April cover girl - Trinity Fatu who goes by Naomi in the ring at WWE! She is also on E! Total Divas! We enjoyed shooting this cover while she was here for WrestleMania! Of course we talk about how she got into wrestling by transitioning from the NBA’s Orlando Magic as a cheerleader, what it means to be a WWE Superstar, her coupleship with Jonathan Fatu who goes by Jimmy Uso in the WWE and more. In addition, we have a number of interviews with BRAVO Top Chef judge Gail Simmons, iconic British jewelry designer Stephen Webster, WTA Sloane Stephens and more! This year. we’re media sponsors for the 3rd year in a row of Cochon555’s NY leg as well as being a judge this year. Our food editorial shares a bit about this epic event! As always, we have a number of features and make sure to follow our podcast network on Athleisure Studio as a number of these interviews will be on this network shortly.

Read the April Issue here.

S1. E8. | #TRIBEGOALS WITH LAILA ALI

In today's episode of #TRIBEGOALS, we talked with undefeated boxer, Laila Ali who continued her father's, Muhammad Ali’s legacy, by excelling in the sport as well as trailblazing outside of it. Laila embraced being a TV Personality by hosting OWN's Home Made Simple, participating in Dancing with the Stars as well as Celebrity Apprentice. We took some time to chat with her about the importance of fitness, nutrition and how we can focus on Spring Cleaning during this time of year.  

Check out the latest episode on Athleisure Studio’s podcast network

ATHLEISURE LIST | TSION CAFE

Beejhy Barhany, an Israeli Ethiopian opened Tsion Cafe in 2014 in Harlem's historic Sugar Hill district. Her goal was to bring the Ethiopian and Mediterranean healthy culture and living to the Harlem community because this area was her home. The location of Tsion Cafe is famously known for being Jimmy's Chicken Shack. Back in the 40's, that's where Malcolm X and Redd Foxx were frequently spotted hanging out and where jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker Jr., washed dishes before his big break.

She sees Tsion Cafe as a medley of Ethiopian, Israeli and American cultures. Guests can enjoy these foods,

live music and art of the community when dining at Tsion Cafe.

Three signature dishes that should be enjoyed is the Ethiopian Veggie Combo - Shiro atakilt, red lentil, kik alicha, gomen, beets served with injera; Tsion Eggs - caramelized onions, smoked salmon with injera and Shakshuka - 4 poached organic eggs sauteed with organic tomato, onion, pepper, spices and cilantro with bread.

Inerja comes with a number of the meals at Tsion Cafe, it is made with teff grain, a tiny round grain that is native to Ethiopia, it is also gluten free. The fermentation process takes about 3-5 days. This process is what gives injera its mildly vinegary (sour) taste. At Tsion our injera is made in-house, so it is always fresh.

Teff is rich in protein and contains many essential vitamins and minerals that are good for your digestive system, metabolism and immune system.

The dishes are from recipes that were passed down from her grandmother and mother and live on as a legacy to celebrate them at Tsion. These women influenced and shaped her into the woman she is proud to be today. Due to her global travels, she has added her twist and flavor to these already flavorful dishes.

Beejhy wanted to tell her story. As an Ethiopian-Jewish women in Israel and then the US, the narrative of Judaism did not include the thousands of years of history and cultural relevance that the Ethiopian Jewish community added to the larger story of Judaism. She started a non-for profit that created cultural showcases in the NY tri-state area, encouraging filmmakers and artists to have the opportunity to exhibit their works while promote the cultural heritage of the Ethiopian Jewish community. In doing these regularly, food became a cultural staple at these showcases. The response encouraged her to open the restaurant. It was an important way to showcase her culture in the community, and food is the gateway to learning a new culture.

Guests can enjoy a brand new menu that includes appetizers/bar menu, dinner and brunch which included Falafel. Recently, they introduced new handcrafted spirits to the drink menu. Patrons can enjoy their outdoor patio area while enjoying their meals.

TSION CAFE

763 St Nicholas Ave

NY, NY 10031

www.tsioncafe.com

IG @tsioncafe

Read the March Issue of Athleisure Mag and see Athleisure List | Tsion Cafe in mag.

ATHLEISURE MAG | #40 MAR 2019

This month Athleisure Mag is covered by Wilhelmina models’ Mietta (Front Cover) and Theresa (Back Cover). This issue also includes interviews with Celebrity Fitness Trainer to Ne-Yo and Kevin Hart – Ron Boss, model and swimwear designer Monica Hansen of Monica Hansen Beachwear, Adam Carolla with car trends and Chef Navarro of TREVI in Las Vegas in this month’s The Art of the Snack.

As always, we have a number of our features and roundups that we include in each issue and on some articles, you will see links to our multimedia podcast network, Athleisure Studio (#TRIBEGOALS, Athleisure Kitchen, The Road to Tokyo 2020 and Bungalow SK) and is on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast and additional platforms.

Read more from the March Issue of Athleisure Mag.

COMMUNICATION ESSENTIALS WITH DR. V

When it's coming from a place of love and concern, we're all about a straight shooter. We've been team Dr. V since we first saw her years ago on BRAVO's LA Shrinks, where we were introduced to this Clinical Psychiatrist that was never shy to tell you how it is and to call you on your crap! We continued to follow her as she appeared on a number of daytime, primetime and reality TV show spots, including as a host on WE TV's Marriage Bootcamp. We took some time to talk with Dr. V about her job as a Clinical Psychologist, the power and importance of communication, her new book Bad Advice and of course being on Marriage Bootcamp.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We fell in love with you on BRAVO’s LA Shrinks as well as on the The Real Housewives of NJ and on WE TV’s Millionaire Matchmaker and Marriage Bootcamp! Can you tell us how you came to Clinical Psychology as a career and then how you were able to parlay that into you being on Reality, Daytime and PrimeTime TV?

DR. V: You know I knew from a very young age that I was very equipped to solve problems. So I kind of went from the stoop to the screen. As I sit here talking with you, I think about how I used to sit on my neighborhood stoop and solve problems. It was a very working class neighborhood where all the houses were connected – row homes. So it was the kind of place where people would gather out front in front of people’s stoops.

I remember being super young like 4-5-6 and hearing people discuss their lives in very intimate ways! I mean a lot of shit goes down on the stoop for sure! So I would listen and it seemed like people would have this idea that somehow their problems were unsolvable. At a very young age, call it naivete or hopefulness, I never saw it that way. I always thought that the problems could be solved and I would go into my own head and solve the problem.

Like I’d be like, “wait let me tell you how shit goes – this is not a big problem.” I would go inside myself and be like, this is easy guys, it can’t be this hard. By the way, this is very different than giving advice. Because when you’re young, you’re able to use and even when you’re older – you use what’s called Executive Functioning in your brain. It’s when you’re able to re-engineer problems. I think that at the end of the day to get back to your first question, I had a very early development of that in my brain of Executive Functioning and being able to see problems and than rearrange them, which is different then giving advice. I don’t even like to give advice by the way – I stay away from it.

AM: We like that you make that distinction because hearing you say that – definitely is a difference and to do so at such a young age and to understand that is phenomenal.

DR. V: It’s the idea that solutions and advice are different. I think that when you come from it at that perspective, how can we work together to find a solution as opposed to “I’m the expert, I know better than you and you don’t know what you’re talking about.” Fuck that – we can work together and find solutions. I think that at the end of the day, that’s how I got started in Psychology and it was at that young age – I knew I was able to re-engineer my own problems and other people’s problems.

Taking that a step further, I sought after higher education. You had pointed out Clinical Psychology which is different the Counseling Psychology and other forms. Clinical Psychology just means that it’s research based and as a science lover, I love doing research. But at the end of the day, it’s really just that I was dumb enough to take the longer route – that’s really what’s happening! You tack on another couple of years for your dissertation, so a lot of doing the same things, just the degree of Clinical Psychology which is a PHD has more of a research focus where Counseling Psychology has more of a counseling focus – talk therapy. So that’s really the only difference there. I love research, I love doing it, collecting other people’s research. Anyone of those degrees, they can also share that same love of research – it’s just required as a PHD in Clinical Psychology to do the research for the degree.

So how I found myself, I was there on the stoop re-engineering everyone’s problems and I gained enough confidence to tell people what if you did this or what if you did that? And I think that coming from a very working class Italian neighborhood where there was a sense of community, the volume was turned up and we never had enough of anything but love and emotions – I think I developed a way of communicating that I had to be super clear. I had to make my point super clear and it has to land! Because for Uncle Rocky to take in my advice or my solutions – it has to land. Because of that, that was Prime TV talk as it has to land and it has to make an impact. If not, it’s not entertaining or there is no reveal or whatever entertainment words we use.

I think that is how I find myself in front of the screen and I battle on a regular basis – my own shyness. I know it doesn’t come off that way, but I am a very shy person.

AM: We would have never guessed that!

DR. V: Oh yeah! I am incredibly shy and I have had to really talk myself through my own levels of courage. Obviously as I have gotten older, it’s gotten easier as I will be 47 and I am sitting in this bath of “I don’t give a fuck” – but I battle this on a daily basis in front of the camera. I battle this by getting so into the process that I forget that the camera is there. I immerse myself into the person that we are talking to or the project that we are dealing with and I really have to forget that the cameras are there and I am able to cope better with my shyness and I can hone in on the person I am talking to?

AM: How important is communication with the person that you are talking to whether it’s a significant other, a friend etc?

DR V: Well communication defines the relationship. It is the key to every aspect of our lives. Communication, if we were to think of it as our form of expression and creativity, it leaves us room to be able to take in feedback about our communication. Your sense of self expression isn’t my way of self expression. The way that you communicate is not the way that I would creatively do so. The words that you choose, the metaphors that you give and how you choose to communicate with someone else is really quite magical. Communication and how we communicate in the world defines who we are, defines the relationship, defines our friendships and really is the most important ingredient in life!

I don’t like when people say, “that person can’t communicate effectively.” It just means that you can’t hear their message. Communication is co-created. We don’t realize that as humans we help each other feel things. As we sit on the phone with one another, we help each other feel things and this is what sets us a part. We’re almost contagious to each other. Communication seems like it’s such a simple word, but to me it’s more then just that word and it embodies so much more! It embodies the self expression, how you perceive yourself and others – it’s creative. It’s a creative endeavor.

AM: It’s a great point as for years we use to say, “this person isn’t an effective communicator.” One day we thought, we should try to figure out what this person is saying as they are making a point, they seem to believe it, perhaps we’re just not getting it. So we started re-engineering. Hearing that this person said x and then trying to get the meaning behind it really makes us understand what you just shared as they had a different method and that it is a creative process to understand what is being said.

DR. V: Right and then from that place, you’re able to go to where I excel with solutions! You’re able to find the solution. If someone isn’t communicating effectively if we use that word, you’re immediately put on your heels, you’re set off, you’re turned off – when you categorize it in that way. We need to be more curious and ask more questions instead of having this knee jerk judgement. There is nothing more that makes things go wrong then taking a cruise on the SS Judgmental! Once people begin judging each other, things go wrong. When we get curious and ask questions, you’re better able to understand the person you’re talking to. If you’re curious in a genuine and relaxed way – I have been in situations where I was curious but being a bitch and I was asking questions only to hide my annoyance and that wasn’t good! But when you do it genuinely, that person gets curious too and then they relax too!

So when we talk about communication, it’s obviously one of my favorite topics – I see it differently. Usually when people are bringing it up, they mean it in a, “we just don’t communicate well” kind of way. That’s when I say, “we have to ask more questions.” We’re allowed to help each and other. My husband and I have been together for 22 years and I think it was about 5 years in where I would create narratives for him. I would write him in an email, which is a little condescending haha – I’m not going to lie. This would take place during an argument where he would go to his respective work and I would go to my respective work and I would say let me help you. In quotes I would write what I wanted to hear and he would write back, “wow I didn’t know it was that easy as I would have said that to you. I just couldn’t find those words and didn’t know the words you wanted to hear.” This would go on for 3-4 years about what I needed to hear. A lot of people would say, “that’s not genuine – he should know what you need to hear.” But no, not at all. Sometimes it’s ok to help people figure out how to love you. Because that is a creative endeavor. Many people say that men and women have different language styles, but I don’t believe that. I think everyone wants the same thing. Both men and women want to be loved and to love – everyone wants it. How people get there is very different and men aren’t pushed or taught to be emotional leaders, “boys don’t cry” – this sort of toxic masculinity has infiltrated our society to a point where it has stopped men’s growth to express how they’re feeling. Men get this bad wrap for not expressing how they are feeling and women feel like they have to consistently be the emotional leaders or that we’re all emotional brains and we’re crazy – no it’s just that you don’t understand her – she’s not crazy.

AM: We were going to ask about the difference in love languages between men and women. But we like hearing how you were able to articulate what you said and what you wanted to hear reminds us that when we're talking to our significant other, we’ll say that we know you said x, but what I actually here is y. This makes the conversation a lot longer to break down the components of what’s said vs felt vs what we should do.

DR V: Right it becomes a creative endeavor. When you’re saying what you heard and what was felt it actually entails a vulnerability. So not only are you attempting to have better communication, but your partner is learning about you, who you are, what makes you tick and your deepest vulnerabilities which invites them to do the same. When we talk about men and women and their differences, men are not able to show their vulnerabilities as a society. They are uninvited to that party usually. So when they get with someone who is an emotional and has a creative expression of how they use language and are able to communicate what you feel, these men are like, what the fuck?

I have so much empathy for that struggle and form of expression and I don’t believe that we’re talking in different languages. Everyone knows what it’s like to be sad, hurt or to feel vulnerable and both men and women feel that. It’s how we express those emotions that matter.

AM: With us being firmly in the New Year, a lot of people are looking at their resolutions, being their best selves etc. What is the best way for people to optimize their lives without feeling the pressures of changes that may not have taken place or come out the way that they had hoped?

DR. V: Wow well patience is it’s own kind of confidence. It takes patience with other people and ourselves to attain goals. It’s a trust in your self and in the process. If you have fallen off of the wagon or have fucked up, it’s never wrong to start again. It’s always right to start again!

AM: So you released Bad Advice last fall. What led you to writing this and tell us more about this book!

DR. V: Look, I was just tired of hearing things repeated back to me – bad advice. Theories are very important! How we walk through the world and how we define our world is through theories and words. If those theories aren’t correct and are in fact, scientifically wrong – where does that leave us? I was inspired to write this as I’m just irreverent in general and I love to punch holes in things. I just got tired of hearing these one liners that seemed to have blown up even more so on the Internet like: “Just be yourself”, “You can’t love anyone until you love yourself”, “Expectations lead to disappointment” or “Follow your bliss” – it’s like birds flying! Because we’re passing around this bullshit more and more, I got curious about it. Is it really true that you can’t love anyone until you love yourself? Is that true? In the event that you need to hear, just be yourself – does that help? Is it helpful? Do expectations lead to disappointment – is that true – I got really curious! I found these statements and of course, I have my own hypothesis. I collected pieces of Bad Advice that enjoy the shit out of me and I debunked them in the book with heart and humor and it’s a super fun read. It’s one of those books where my hope is you get done reading it and you say, “you’ve never thought of it that way.” Then I have done my job as an author. My favorite books were always those that I would close them and be like, “Oh my God I never thought of it that way – that is so interesting.” You’re able to affect how people view the world.

AM: How long did it take for you to put that together?

DR. V: I would say that while the writing process was 2 years, it’s a lifelong project for me. There were so many pieces of Bad Advice that I didn’t include that I am still collecting them.

AM: Will there be a part two?

DR. V: Yes! I feel that I have been doing this my whole life. I am a very curious person and I always ask myself, how do I know this to be true and forget about bad advice – I’m just curious about the world. What we know – how do we know this to be true and forget about bad advice. Who is the messenger – who is saying it, why are we saying it and who is coming from? I ask myself things like this all the time.

AM: How can someone identify when bad advice is being given to them?

DR V: When it denies your humanity. When it denies what you feel. For example, “Nobody can make you feel bad without your permission” – that’s a chapter in the book. That is like the worse advice that I have ever heard. I get it. My mom used to say it to me when people would make fun of my name. We say it because we want to help people but what it does – I mean when was the last time you gave someone permission to hurt your feelings?

AM: Um never!

DR. V: EXACTLY! Like I will give you permission to hurt me? It doesn’t make sense. So when it denies your humanity and how you’re feeling then you know it’s bad advice!

AM: You’re so right. I mean I can see why we say it because we’ve all heard it from other people who meant it from a good place. But when you think about it, it’s kind of taking a knock at you and you’re internalizing it!

DR. V: You’re right and so for a split second, you’re put in a an area of denial and those emotions come back double fold because you’re trying to hold back from what you really feel. When it comes to relationships, “you can’t really love anyone until you love yourself.” Look, we are meant to love people that is what humans do. So you’re going to love people and your self doesn’t give a fuck about what you think of you. It also creates a “series of events” first I love me, then I love you it implies that love is linear and it’s not – it’s co-created. But we hear love yourself and we’re all the while being conditioned to self hate! Self hate is very real, but the concept of self love – no one tells you how to love yourself. Do you know why? It’s because it’s impossible to love yourself the way that you would love someone else because it’s not supported by brain circuitry. You’re going to love other people and that’s just what will happen – it’s what we do. It denies your humanity – you will love people regardless – you may not love them well, but that’s not what we’re talking about.

AM: How do you prepare for your work on WE TV’s Marriage Bootcamp, especially with all of the different personalities that are involved? How do you ultimately get them to the relationships that they desire?

DR. V: Well bigger personalities require bigger jolts. They require different methods. So, the goal of Marriage Bootcamp is to provide a cellular experience which jolts the system. What I love about the show is that my goal isn’t to keep the couple together. It’s my hope, but it’s about choice. Is this the person that you should be with? It’s about re-engineering that problem – is this the person for you? With all the evidence given to you over the last 10 days, do you want to be with this person? It’s about giving the couples the information they need about themselves and the relationship and asking them to make a choice.

My hope is that they do, but then again staying together is not always the right choice. It may be that they need to live a part. This is what I love about the show – our stakes aren’t in whether the couples stay together, but that the right choice is being made for the person and the couple.

How I prepare for the show, well before those 10 days, I get a lot of sleep. I don’t sleep for 10 days!

AM: We’ve been a fan of the show for years, but we can only imagine how it must be to be there in your position. With such big personalities how do you take the space you need so that you can do the best work for them?

DR. V: Well I’ll tell you. I have been in the field for – I started volunteering at Mt Sinai at 20 – I’ve been doing it a long time, 25 years. You really do learn how to separate yourself and it came naturally over time for me. I know when I need to restore myself and when I begin to become a judgey asshole. I’ll say wow, “I really need to take a break because this person is really getting on my fucking nerves!” Because you can’t help people if you can’t find something to love about them. That is the truth. You have to find something about them that you love and that you like. If you don’t like them – you can’t help them. It’s an incredibly professional and profound thing to admit that this person is tapping into something in me that I don’t like. I need to take a step back and to restore myself and grow from that. That’s what I love about the work because I am consistently growing and being pushed to my own limits season after season after season. I love that – whatever field can I grow and learn in a fun and chaotic way haha!

AM: Everytime we see that you’re back for another season we’re like she’s still hanging in there!

DR. V: Haha Dr. V is still alive! It’s funny because when people are put in a therapeutic environment when they may attack me or say something to me – I feel their pain. They are really talking to pieces of themselves. I feel like I have a deep empathy for that.

As a side note. You know what’s funny about Marriage Bootcamp? That show is so fucking crazy and YET when I watch it on TV – they actually make the drama LESS! They don’t even need to make it more dramatic like a lot of reality shows do. They don’t edit it a certain way to make it more dramatic. I was there – I know that that was way more intense than what they are showing. I think that is what has made the show last for 13 seasons, because the drama is already there. So they don’t have to do much!

You get to see some of your favorite personalities in a different light. Like Brandi Glanville on Marriage Bootcamp was not the same Brandi Glanville on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. People who follow her and love her got to see her in a different way and that’s amazing to me.

AM: You’re based in LA – where do you love grabbing a meal/cocktail, working out and going out for a little shopping?

DR. V: Let me tell you – I love a good diner! I’m from Philly – I did my education in NYC and there is nothing to me that beats a good diner. Kitchen 24 in Hollywood is open 24 hours. I can go there and get egg whites and feta. If I am working late and I need to wind down, I can get a margarita at 3am in the morning – it’s the best place on earth – it’s like my mother’s kitchen! There is nothing like a good diner.

I love to cycle and I feel that at my age it’s so great because you’re not compounding your joints. I’m a big SoulCycler and I do that 2 times a week. For shopping, I love style but I’m not much of a shopper. I’m not one of those women that get up and say, “I’m going to go shopping.” I can’t handle that, but I do love shopping online. I don’t have to shop, they just send shit to me, “we think you’ll like this.”

AM: Are you a beauty girl and do you have 3 must have products that you enjoy using?

DR. V: Ok I want to tell you that I recently decided to go from a rose kind of color to more of a peachier color for my face, lips and eyes. I’m completely obsessed with Stila Cosmetics that has these Liquid Eyeshadows that are glitter! The Bronzed Belle for brown eyes and a little olive skin is so gorgeous! Girl, I got the small one - the travel one and I keep it in my purse – that’s how much I love it! That’s my shadow and I like that it is so glittery and pretty. I’m obsessed with MAC’s Spring Sheen Shimmer Blush and it’s the most beautiful, peachy shiny and luxurious look!

AM: We love a peach moment!

DR. V: I know! Peachiness adds a beautiful alive and awake color. The right peach shades just are natural but then you’re wearing makeup. Then I just recently changed from Chanel’s Foundation to Santees – no. 280 and it’s beautiful! I know you said 3 but the 4th one popped into my brain – so you know it’s the winter months and you want a little color on your face. I am in love with La Luxe The Face and it is an illuminating and self tanning drops. It can be placed in any moisturizer or even an exfoliant that you put on your face at night – you can control the color with the amount of drops you put in. I love that you can just have it in your moisturizer. I use it as night and I get up and I love that I wake up with color on my face! It’s beautiful and one of my favorite products!

AM: We believe that your vibe is your tribe from a #TRIBEGOALS perspective. Who are 3 people that you look to for inspiration?

DR. V: I find that people in my immediate environment are inspiring. When I am feeling unlovable and I can think of nothing good about myself, I turn to my husband. There is so much unconditional love I can turn to him and he is able to help me see me through his eyes. That is a really beautiful thing when you can count on someone to recenter you. Then, the hopefulness of children. I have a 10 and 12 year old boys and a 2.5 year old daughter. The hopefulness of kids is just so inspiring me and when I am feeling a little cynical, I hang out with them! That spark of hopefulness is boom right there! I am also 1 of 5 so I have a few sisters and one brother and there is nothing like the love that a sibling has! No one can get under your skin or build you up like a sibling. I feel that as I have gotten older, I have relied on my immediate relationships to bring a sense of purpose, meaning and fulfillment and I’m really happy about that. I value these relationships with my life!

IG @Doctor_V_

We enjoyed chatting with Dr. V and you can hear this interview at Athleisure Studio, our podcast network with one of our latest episodes of #TRIBEGOALS. Enjoy wherever you hear your podcasts including Spotify, Apple Podcast and Google Podcast.

Read more from the Feb Issue of Athleisure Mag and see Communication Essentials with Dr. V in mag.

S1. E2. | Athleisure Kitchen with Chef Marcus Samuelsson

We’ve been a fan of Chef Marcus Samuelsson for over a decade starting with enjoying his Deviled Eggs at Red Rooster in Harlem! We’ve enjoyed seeing him on Food Network when he’s judging Chopped or seeing him on BRAVO’s Top Chef. Whether he’s releasing a cookbook, or opening additional restaurants, we know that Marcus is always creating innovative dishes that are focused on phenomenal taste, dynamic flavors and comfort foods that we need. In today’s episode of Athleisure Kitchen, Marcus cooks us a meal that we should make for date night, talks about his formula in opening as well as finding the perfect locations for his restaurants and the importance of Harlem Eat Up, his food festival that highlight his city, chefs and music of the neighborhood.

To see the meal that Chef Marcus Samuelsson prepared, check out the video below check out the interview in Athleisure Mag’s Feb issue!

ATHLEISURE MAG | #39 FEB 2019

This month Athleisure Mag is covered on both of its covers by Brandon King, Jonathan Jones and Obi Melifonwu of the New England Patriots Super Bowl LIII Champions and the shoot took place at Serafina Tribeca. We interview them about the win as well as their passion for the game. This issue also includes interviews with Boston Celtics' Al Horford, producer and entertainer Drumma Boy, Celebrity Chef and TV Personality Marcus Samuelsson of Red Rooster, WE TV Marriage Bootcamp's Dr. V and fashion designer, Christopher Raeburn.

Read the latest issue here.

S1. Ep 1. | Athleisure Kitchen with Chef Brooke Williamson

The latest episode of Athleisure Studio’s culinary show, Athleisure Kitchen just dropped today with Chef Brooke Williamson.

When it comes to culinary competition shows, BRAVO’s Top Chef is one of our favorites. We enjoy the quick fire challenges, restaurant wars and watching competitors navigate across the show. We also like finding out about their restaurants and often seeing them re-appear on future seasons or other shows. On season 10, we were introduced to Chef Brooke Williamson, who came in second only to come back in season 14 - to win it all! In addition to these accolades, she is the Co-Owner and Co-Chef at The Tripel, Playa Provisions, Hudson House Bar, Da Kikokiko, Small Batch Icecream and Triplikit in Southern California. We find out more about her creativity, how she got into the industry, how she keeps fit and it all together.

BINGELY BOOKS

SHOE DOG

Phil Knight

Simon & Schuster

In Shoe Dog, Nike's founder and board chairman Phil Knight gives an inside view on being the man behind the swoosh. He shares how the early days of his company started as a feisty startup which grew into one of the most iconic brands in the world. This CEO walks readers through mistakes that were made, his struggles and sacrifices that he took to grow his company.

His story begins after graduating business school and borrowing $50 from his father to import high-quality, low-cost running shoes from Japan. Selling them out of the trunk of his car in 1963, he grossed $8,000 in his first year versus currently having annual sales of $30 billion.

Although many know about the beginnings of Nike, Phil Knight is a shy man that has always been a bit of a mystery. In this book he explains the highs and lows, how he curated his employees to be ambassadors of his brand and to embrace the ethos of what his company stands for.

BECOMING

Michelle Obama

Crown Publishing Group

First Lady Michelle Obama gives a first hand account in this memoir about her life as well as embracing her role in the White House. In addition to being the First African American First Lady to serve, she has also been known as an advocate for women and girls in the US and around the world. In addition, one of her most notable platforms is her initiative focused on ensuring that families pursue healthier and active lives.

In addition to her platform, Michelle talks about engaging with the media that she embraced from appearing on Ellen, Carpool Karaoke and other outlets as well as being scrutinized in other areas within media throughout her husband’s presidency.

Ultimately, this memoir walks readers through her life, who she was prior to her marriage, being a wife and raising two girls in the limelight. We are introduced to her childhood in the South Side of Chicago and we get an inside look on the public and private aspects of her life.

MILK STREET TUESDAY NIGHTS

Christopher Kimball

Little, Brown

Tuesday night recipes are reserved for easy dishes to make that can be executed after your busy day of work, post happy hour drinks etc. But Milk Street, created by Christopher Kimball (formerly of America's Test Kitchen). This book includes a number of recipes that makes Tuesday night’s meals something that you can get excited about.

Regardless of your cooking skills, readers will find an array of meals that will get them through the middle of their week. Dishes include: Peruvian ceviche or glaze potatoes with gochujang.

Read more from the Jan Issue of Athleisure Mag and see Bingely Books in mag.

ATHLEISURE MAG | #38 JAN ISSUE

Our editorial, Winter Chill showcases fitness, lounge, on the go and evening wear and is modeled by Charlie and Alyne of Wilhelmina models. In this issue which focuses on all things regarding a fresh start to the New Year, fitness, wellness and more – we talk with Celebrity Fitness Trainer Lacey Stone of E! Revenge Body with Khloe Kardashian to talk about how she got into the fitness industry, her approach with working with clients an the importance of creating superheroes. We also have a fun interview with BRAVO’s Top Chef, Chef Brooke Williamson about her restaurant group, her love for cooking an how she got into the industry. When it comes to nutrition, we like to kick off the year to find out about what we need to be mindful of eating regardless of what are food journeys are, in this month’s issue we talk with Amanda Baker Leimen MS, RD to find out about rich nutrient foods, non-starchy veggies and more.

As always, we have a number of our features and roundups that we include in each issue and on some articles, you will see links to our multimedia podcast network, Athleisure Studio which has a number of shows that we launched in #TRIBEGOALS (Lacey Stone as well as Sara Happ was recently include), The Road To Tokyo 2020 (US Track & Field Natasha Hastings) and more.

See the entire Jan Issue of Athleisure Mag.

ATHLEISURE STUDIO | INTRODUCING THE ROAD TO TOKYO 2020

What does it take to be an athlete that dedicates years to making a national team and to compete on a global stage for the coveted medal that defines their career. We all enjoy watching the Olympic Games whether it’s a sport, a specific athlete or just getting into the competitions. Before they hit the stadium, there are years of work, drive and focus that take place with countless training session, coaches, and qualifying competitions. Athletes come from various backgrounds and walks of life. They sacrifice their lifestyle, homes, jobs and personal life to prepare for and win these monumental moments and leave a lasting legacy.

The Olympics is a registered trademark of the International Olympic Committee.

The Road to Tokyo 2020 is produced and mixed by the team at @AthleisureStudio

AthleisureStudio.com/TheRoadToTokyo2020 | Instagram: @TheRoadToToyo2020 | @AthleisureStudio

ATHLEISURE STUDIO | S1. E1. #TRIBEGOALS WITH LA LA ANTHONY

La La Anthony has had a phenomenal career that began in radio, continued with her being a host on MTV's TRL, continuing on to a series of successful seasons of her own reality show on VH1, being a bestselling author and of course her role on STARZ Network’s Power as LaKeisha. As she is currently back on set filming another season of this epic show, #TribeGoals took a few minutes to talk with her about who she is inspired by, how she is able to stay organized in the midst of a busy schedule while juggling being a mom and more.

Check out #TRIBEGOALS on Athleisure Studio, Athleisure Mag’s multimedia podcast network.