SEEKING SOULMATES WITH MALIN ÅKERMAN

We caught up with Malin Åkerman who we enjoyed watching in SHOWTIME's Billions as Axe's wife. She's back in AMC's Anthology series Soulmates. Each episode has a different story and cast that talks about the meaning of this concept and what it means. We wanted to find out about the show, her process on shooting it and her upcoming projects which will launch later this year.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We love this concept of AMC’s new Anthology show, Soulmates which launches in Oct. Can you tell us about the show and the character?

MALIN ÅKERMAN: Yeah sure. We’re looking into the future a little bit where they have developed a test where you can find out who your soulmate is which is a crazy concept. It’s really crazy. It’s such an interesting show to create and everything that comes with it with all the complications, the victories and everything that is involved with creating a test like this. It’s an interesting concept. For our episode, my character’s name is Martha. We find her in not such a great place. She just has no luck in relationships and seems like she is always picking the wrong guy. She has no faith in herself and she does take this test because she feels like she does need to find her soulmate or she is going to mess up her life. But, it might not have been the best answer for her.

AM: What drew you to wanting to be part of this show?

MÅ: I love Brett and Will which are such fantastic writers. I loved the name of it – Soulmates and it got me to say, “ok. What’s this all about?” There’s always a big conversation about soulmates. Whether or not we have them, whether we have more than one is it even a pure concept. So I was fascinated and curious with what they were going to write about. I love this episode and I thought that it was really smart because it begs the question of soulmates, begs the question of whether or not we should be looking on the outside for things like that instead of going inward and working on ourselves and finding self love before going out into the world. We always search for a magic pill with someone else, but we can’t do that we have to find it in ourselves first. I think it was an interesting concept.

AM: As an actor, was it different for you to approach being in this show that’s only one episode versus something like Billions where you were in multiple ones? Is that different when you’re thinking about character development?

MÅ: It’s like a mini movie really. We pick up in a place where it’s shorter, but it still feels like the same concept, where you’re going, “ok this is the character’s arc for this amount of time.” It’s kind of nice because you get some kind of closure in the end of the episode. Most of the time episodes in other kinds of shows are left to be a bit open ended. It was great and it felt more like doing a film.

AM: You have some pretty cool films coming up. You have Chick Fight with Alec Baldwin. Can you tell us about this movie that you’re staring and producing?

MÅ: I’m really excited about that. It is coming out Nov 13th. I produced that film and I’m starring in it. Alec is you know, he’s a legend. He was amazing and I’m so happy and we were so lucky to have him. It’s a really great female forward, wonderfully cast movie that just focuses around women. My character basically is down on her luck, everything is falling apart and her mother has just passed on 2 years prior. This is where we find her. Her friend brings her to this Fight Club and it is essentially created by a therapist that realizes that women never have an outlet. We're taught that our femininity has to be portrayed differently than masculinity. We’re not allowed to be rageful or too tough because then we’re a bitch and all of that kind of stuff. This is a free place for women to be able to get their rage out, but consentually and in a ring. Therefore, it creates this really great opportunity to get some really great stunts in and a lot of comedic moments.

AM: And then there’s also Friendsgiving and that cast looks amazing to have so many people coming together for this. How did that come about?

MÅ: That’s a good friend of mine who wrote that. And that’s loosely based on that we were both going through a breakup and she started writing about how different people go through a breakup differently. She put it all into one day and made it on Thanksgiving because the holidays are so crazy. We had had some Friendsgivings together and she thought, what a great way to put a film together. These two women are going through a breakup in their own right and bringing all of their kooky friends together. It’s a really great holiday film with some great comedic actors.

IG @malinakerman

PHOTOS COURTESY | AMC Soulmates

Read the Sep Issue #57 of Athleisure Mag and see Seeking Soulmates with Malin Åkerman in mag.

9LIST STORI3S | KIM KIMBLE

Read the Aug Issue of Athleisure Mag #56 and see 9LIST STORI3S | KIM KIMBLE in mag.

BING3WATCH | SUCCESSION

Read the Aug Issue of Athleisure Mag #56 and see BING3WATCH | SUCCESSION in mag.

BINGELY STREAMING

MILLION DOLLAR BEACH HOUSE

Netflix Originals

Netflix

We can't get enough of reality shows in general and when it comes to those that are focused on real estate, sign us up! When you're finished bingeing watching Selling Sunset, make sure that you check out Netflix's newest show that focuses on Nest Seeker International's agents as they sell homes in the Hamptons. As is the case with this formula, we'll be introduced to an array of personalities of realtors and brokers that are taking on a hot destination, watching how they do their business, how they stay ahead of the competition and how they work together as an agency as well as individually! In addition, we can transfer our wanderlust through them and be transported to new locales. Of course, we're definitely waiting to see what kinds of drama they will get into as well!

I MAY DESTROY YOU

HBO

HBO + HBO MAX

We meet Arabella Essiedu (Michaela Cole) and her friends in London living their best lives. Arabella is a Twitter star turned author working on writing her 2nd anticipated book while in the throws of procastination and serious writer's block, with her best friend Terry Pratchard (Weruche Opia) who is a struggling actor and her other best gay male friend Kwame (Paapa Essiedu). We follow Arabella as we focus on her finishing her book. She takes a trip to Italy and meets a man who calls her out on her vices, when she is back home, she opts to take another break to go out and is sexually assaulted; however, she spends the remainder of the season putting together the details, dealing with her stages of grief, what it means to be a victim and getting her power back.

In the midst of her focus on herself, she also learns how her interactions as well as being present with her friends shift as well. Ultimately, she realizes that after a year since the incident, she has to get her life together and she can't do it alone. This powerful and emotional series just completed so it's worth doing a proper binge.

EVEN THE RICH: THE HOUSE OF VERSACE

Wondery

Spotify + Wondery+

Even the Rich delves into some of the richest families, couples and systems and shows that although they have wealth, access and lives that are on another level, they also deal with the same issues of loss, betrayal and ambition. This season has included a number of stories that are covered within a few episodes from the Royal family, The Murdochs, Gettys, Beyoncé & Jay-Z and they are currently delving into The House of Versace. Within each story, there is a primary focus such as how Gianni's siblings Donatella and Santo's initial involvement within the the family business shifted over time - especially after his death.

This conversational pop culture podcast is hosted by Brooke Siffrinn and Aricia Skidmore- Williams and is filled with anecdotes, stories from and behind the headlines as well as their own insight into what took place.

Read the Aug Issue of Athleisure Mag #56 and see Bingely Streaming in mag,

LIVING WITH PURPOSE WITH BORIS KODJOE

As we begin to transition from summer to the fall, we've all been navigating this crazy year that continues to challenge us as we go about our days. For many, it has encouraged us to go beyond ourselves to live our best lives, bond with our families and to put a lot of good back into our world.

This month's cover is Boris Kodjoe, who we have enjoyed in Showtime's TV series Soul Food, CBS' Code Black, NETFLIX's House of Cards and on ABC's Station 19. We talked about how he came to acting, preparing to shoot the 4th season of this show. We also talk about how he has utilized his platform in order to provide masks for First Responders through his #HopeForHeroes initiative, focusing on social justice as well as inspiring everyone to get their physical and mental health aligned in order to be their most optimized selves.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We’ve been a fan of yours since Showtime’s Soul Food and seeing the interaction with the Josephs family and how they remind us of a number of our own family members and then other shows that are our favorites from CBS’ Code Black, Netflix’s House of Cards and now ABC’s Station 19, what was the moment that you realized that you wanted to be an actor?

BORIS KODJOE: You know, it was a process because I started going to acting class in my mid 20’s because I wanted to learn to be able to speak better English. Growing up in Germany and coming over here for college, I still wasn’t a very good English speaker. I could communicate but I had a very strong German accent. So in order to be able to speak better, a friend of mine suggested that I should go to acting class to show me how to enunciate and breathing techniques and stuff. That’s when I started going to class. Throughout auditing some classes and going through that and then being able to put up some scenes and stuff. I fell in love with it. It wasn’t a very traditional way to get into the business, but that’s my story.

AM: That’s a great story! At what point did you feel that you had made it as an actor? Was it a specific role, a show, an accolade or just the body of work that you had created?

BK: You know, I’m not sure what that is in terms of making it as an actor, right? I think that we have different objectives at different points in our careers and our lives really. It’s a journey and once you understand that, you can let go of some of the pressure that you put on yourself. Instead of focusing on the destination, you focus on enjoying the journey and I guess the moment that I realized that this was my way of making a living, was halfway through Soul Food. It’s when I realized, “ok, I am starting my career and this is what I am going to be doing." It’s a great feeling when you have an idea on which direction your journey is going to go. Even if it is just for a short moment in time. I’ve been lucky that I have been on this journey for 20 years now.

AM: Do you have a specific process when you’re deciding whether you’re going to take a role or a specific show? You take on so many characters that have such a depth to them. How do you decide what makes sense for you?

BK: You want to be able to relate to what the character is going through, We’re in a business where we get to work with so many talented people. I’ve learned so much with different actors, directors and producers so it’s a combination of the scripts, the production, who’s involved and also where I am in my life. I have 2 kids, I’m married, we live in Los Angeles and sometimes, I don’t want to spend 5 months in Bulgaria to shoot a movie in the winter, right? Because the kids need me around and I need to be around. In a case like that, I would say, “ok I am going to do a show here.” So it all depends on what the situation is at the time and what the script looks like.

AM: We enjoy seeing you as Captain Robert Sullivan on Station 19. What is it about the character that made you want to play him and what was it about the show that made you want to join that cast?

BK: It started with Shonda Rhimes. I have been a fan of hers for a very long time and I have always wanted to work with her and this was a great opportunity for me to be a part of Shondaland. Her and Krista Vernoff are changing the way that we watch TV. So that was the first reason and then the cast is family. They’re just beautiful, beautiful people that I have grown to love and just become close with. And then it’s fun to play a fire fighter. That’s something that I had wanted to do as a child. You know – that or being a cowboy or a train conductor haha. It was a childhood dream come true to be able to ride in these big trucks, put on the gear and be able to run around to be able to represent these real live heroes on the front lines. They’re risking their lives every single day for us – it’s an honor.

AM: This past season, we got to know a lot more about Robert as a person. We specifically remember when we watched the episode about ICE coming to raid the restaurant and looking at how impactful that scene was and your character was telling Pruitt Herrera (Miguel Sandoval) about why he felt compelled to intervene. Were there elements of your family history that were utilized in that scene and was that hard to play?

BK: Yes and no. Obviously, it’s a creative process so there were some fundamental building blocks that were taken from my real life. My maternal grandfather fought in the war in Germany and so he had a whole lot of stories that he told me when I was a really young kid that I remember. They obviously took creative license in order to make it applicable to the story and to create an analogy to what’s going on today. Which I thought that they did a great job with.

AM: Are there any nuggets that you can tell us about the upcoming season and when are you guys going back into production?

BK: We actually go into production this week!

AM: What!

BK: Yeah, they put a lot of safety measures in place in order to keep us safe and to keep everyone – the whole crew safe that is involved in the production. ABC and Disney, they have done a really good job in making sure that we are all safe and that we can do our jobs.

I have to speculate myself because I’m not sure what’s going to happen. All I can tell you is that clearly my character has been through a lot – getting married to Andi (Jaina Lee Ortiz), having the surgery to alleviate some of the chronic pain that he has been suffering through for years, the substance abuse that got him in trouble – so there are a lot of things that are at stake right now for Robert. In this new season, clearly we’re going to address all of that on top of this new world that we’re all living in – this COVID world. There’s also social justice and equality with the struggle that we’re in. Krista Vernoff, Shonda and everyone at Shondaland take pride in creating dialogue by way of storylines that are introduced that challenge people to confront some of the issues that we are dealing with. So I am certain that we will deal with some of them – the real life issues whether it’s the pandemic or the racial justice issues that we’re dealing with still and again. I’m sure that we will see some of these pop up in our scripts.

AM: We’re sure about that too. One of the things that we love about this show is the fact that there are these great crossover episodes with Grey’s Anatomy. How is it for you to be able to engage with that whole cast as well as to go into that portion of their audience as well? That must be such a fun thing that you are able to do a bit of a dual play there.

BK: You know, the Grey’s Anatomy family is a part of our family. We’re part of their family, they’re also tremendous human beings over there and they are super talented and super nice. Anytime we get to play with the other team, it’s always a lot of fun. Again, it’s an extended family so everybody is real close, we love each other and it’s a really great situation for us to be in.

AM: With COVID-19, it’s changing a lot of things that we would normally do. We’ve been preaching to our readers the importance of washing their hands, wearing face masks and social distancing. We first learned about GymWrap last year via our cover, WWE + E! Total Divas' Trinity Fatu/ Naomi who has been an ambassador for the brand. You have this amazing initiative with #HopeForHeroes. Can you tell us more about that and how GymWrap is involved as I know your wife, Nicole Ari Parker is the founder. How did it come together and what are you doing?

BK: Watching the news everyday in the beginning of March and realizing the devastating impact that this pandemic has had on this entire country and the entire world. Seeing how many people are struggling to put food on the table, losing their jobs and the essential workers and the first responders and all these people are putting their lives at risk and risking their safety every single day to keep us safe. They’re struggling without PPE and without appropriate gear to keep them safe, Nicole one day said, “hey, why don’t we manufacture masks? We have a great operation with great people that have been supporting us and have been working with us.” So we called the team together and said, “how quickly can we manufacture these masks?” Credit to our team, they did an amazing job to turn this around really fast and we were able to create the #HelpOurHeroes initiative. With this initiative, we have now shipped over half a million dollars worth of free masks for our heroes on the frontlines, essential w orkers and first responders. I’m so thankful for the support that we have gotten from our fans and from everybody that’s out there who has gotten together to support these initiatives and those who have bought these masks from us.

It’s the least that we can do. We’re in a fortunate position where we can support others or can lend a hand, I think that it is our responsibility to lead collectively and individually. We jumped right in. Again it was Nicole’s idea and the GymWrap team got together really quickly and hopefully we will be able to keep on doing this for a long time.

AM: It’s important while this is going on for everyone to come together and coalesce around this. While we have this pandemic going on, we also have the focus of social justice and the #BlackLivesMatter movement taking place as well. We enjoyed seeing on your Instagram that you have actually utilized your platform to have these videos to talk about deconstructing buzzwords and hot button issues. Why was that so important for you so that people can be aware and understand all of the different things that are surrounding this issue?

BK: Being Black and living in this country, I think it requires you to have a sense of awareness and it requires you to use whatever tools you have – voice or platform to support the movement. In order to support our struggle for equity, our struggle for equality, our struggle for social justice or equal housing, education, healthcare. Those should all be basic human rights granted to every single person who lives here and it hasn’t been that way in 400 years.

To me, it’s an inherent responsibility that POC, Black people carry that has to be expressed and voiced. That’s how we raise our children, we have these dialogues with these children every single day to equip them with knowledge to teach them about history – to make them understand how important it is for them to speak up and to be a part of the solution. I think we’re in a pivotal moment in history where the #BlackLivesMatter movement has touched every corner of the planet. We see more people than ever get on the streets and protest and voice their outrage about what has happened and not just with George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and countless others. The systemic racism that has been prevalent here for hundreds of years and has been put in place systematically and really mechanically to create this huge gigantic, generational wealth gap and inequality. I always try to see the silver lining and I think that the pandemic has helped us focus on these social justice and equality issues because in the past 6 months, when everything came to a standstill we were finally able to focus on this movement and not be distracted by other things.

That’s how I look at it. I think it’s important that we continue to mobilize and galvanize everybody out there to co-ordinate and make sure that we don’t just stand here and watch. I think it’s important that we formulate a real plan for action and that we appeal to our allies. Whether it’s corporations, organizations, communities and individuals, to state very clearly that it’s not enough not to be racist anymore. You have to be anti-racist. Because racism is not just the overt violence and the hatred that we see on TV. Racism is also ignorance. Racism is apathy. Racism is privilege. That’s all part of the system that has been put in place to systematically and continuously oppress Black people. It’s time for white people to join in and speak up and not look away because they’re not affected or they think that they’re not affected. People need to realize that with equality, with economic equity comes a stronger economy. So, this shouldn’t be a divisive issue movement. This movement should band us together in order to create a better country, a stronger country, an economically stronger country and a more equitable and equal country.

AM: We have the election coming up, do you plan on using that as well to make sure that people are registered to vote, the methods by which that they can do so and additional points that you will be speaking to?

BK: Absolutely! That’s where it starts. We have to mobilize and go out and vote. We have to fight for our right to be able to access polling stations and not fall into the trap of being discouraged to get out and vote. Every single vote counts. My wife and I have definitely supported the voting efforts. It’s so important and this election is the most important election that we have ever had. It’s crucial that we get this guy out of the White House as soon as possible.

AM: With all of these things that are going on as a parent, how difficult is it during these times to educate, protect and deal with all of these issues that have converged together at one time. We watch children who are involved from mask wearing, socialization, social justice etc. It must be a lot as a parent to have to navigate all of these things.

BK: It is a lot. The masks – the psychological effects of the pandemic, the social justice issues that are raging, not being able to see your friends, sitting in the house, being constricted, not having an outlet, not being able to go out and play basketball with your boys. Those are things that are going to affect children even as we’re going back to school now. There’s millions and millions of children now that don’t have the opportunity to engage online the way that they should because they don’t have the access to work wireless, they don’t have the devices, they don’t have parents present in the home because they have to work. It’s terrible – it’s really terrible and we are going to see children struggle for a long time because of these past 6 or 7 months. It’s sad. A so called super power, one of the top developed Western industrialized countries who are leading the world in technology and in science – arguably in the top 3 – isn’t able to appropriately support children in their schooling. It’s embarrassing. It’s embarrassing that the government hasn't done the necessary things to prevent almost 200K+ people from dying, to prevent over 5M people from being infected, to put testing in place for everybody as well as contact tracing. It’s absolutely embarrassing and disgusting. The effects are going to be felt for years and years to come and our children will have the burden and shoulder the weight of this year for the next 10 years. I’m really upset about it because it’s really so unnecessary.

AM: Wow it is.

One of the things that we looked up in preparing to talk with you today is the inaugural ESSENCE Full Circle Festival in Accra Ghana. We know a number of people that attended this event last year. What was the purpose of this event and why was it so important for you to be involved in it?

BK: It was important because first of all the president from Ghana, his excellency Nana Akufo-Addo he asked Bozoma Saint John and myself if we would host an event celebrating the Year of Return (Editors Note: The “Year of Return, Ghana 2019” was a major landmark spiritual and birth-right journey inviting the Global African family, home and abroad, to mark 400 years of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in Jamestown, Virginia which affected the kith and kin that were forcefully taken from Africa. This event celebrated the cumulative resilience of all the victims of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade who were scattered and displaced through the world in North America, South America, the Caribbean, Europe and Asia.) which was obviously in 2019. Of course we agreed, Bozoma was born in Ghana and my father is from Ghana. I have a very close relationship with the country and with my family there. We started working on Full Circle Festival as a celebration of our ancestry and our collective accomplishments looking back 400 years since the beginning of the slave trade. Traditionally, Western media has changed the picture of Africa that is disgraceful. That it’s a place and continent of war, corruption, poverty, hunger and starvation and this is just not true. We wanted to change that narrative and show people that Africa first of all is not a country, that Africa has the youngest population in the world of any other continent and that Africa also has 3 of the fastest growing economies in the world. Their technology and manufacturing is thriving in Africa. There’s amazing economic development opportunity on the continent. We come with a great culture and diversity with languages, food, music and beautiful locations. Not just for tourism, but like I said, for engaging in business.

The world’s reaction to what we did was tremendous. I had no idea that we would start this title wave and we ended up being able to contribute to adding $1.9B to the Ghanian economy in 1 year just by way of Year of Return. The increased interest and excitement of not just Ghana but Africa as a whole. It’s important for African Americans or any other members of the diaspora to understand that a lot of the issues or most of the issues that we’re dealing with here are directly related to the fact that we don’t know our history.

We don’t know where we came from. To reconnect with our ancestry and our heritage – our culture also means that we are reconnecting with our source. We’re reconnecting with our strength. We’re reconnecting with our power. We’re reconnecting with our beauty and our diversity. That redefines how we see ourselves and it redefines how we see our future and where we’re going with our future. It’s a tremendously important movement to create a bridge to our diaspora and the continent for more and more people to visit and to experience and to engage with the continent.

AM: I know that you have done 2 events there already, do you foresee doing other types of this nature obviously as things settle themselves down in terms of travel etc.

BK: Absolutely – we’re not going to stop. After Full Circle Festival started 2 years ago, other African countries started inquiring about having similar events and bringing more people. It’s a proud and humbling thing to be able to contribute to more and more people experiencing the continent.

AM: You’re known for being in really great shape and we enjoy finding out about workouts that you do that we should include in our own routines. Do you have workouts that you can share?

BK: I think that rather than focusing on specific exercises, it’s important to understand that you can be healthier, stronger and happier if you start including some healthy habits into your life. It doesn’t mean that you have to go into the gym for an hour and a half every day. All that means is that you commit to doing something each day to start adding some healthy habits to your day. That could be sitting for 5 minutes in total stillness and observing your breathing when you get up, meditate, doing easy and simple exercises for 5 or 10 minutes a day. Whether it’s squats or sit-ups or pushups – whatever you can do. You’ve got to start where you are. Oftentimes, we’re discouraged when we look at exercise videos and all of this advice that’s out there because we’re not there yet. Or it may not be the level that we’re able to obtain with the 6-packs and the gladiator physiques and it’s just not real for us because we have a job, responsibilities, bills to pay and kids to raise. We don’t have time to spend on ourselves for an hour and a half a day.

So with KoFit, we’re trying to show people that all it takes is 5 or 10 minutes a day to start moving and changing your life in a different direction. That’s what it’s all about. We do it as a family because it is more fun and it’s more sustainable.

AM: It’s fun to see that whole dynamic in there with KoFit. Why is health and wellness so important to you individually as well as to your family as a whole? AthleisureMag.

BK: Health and wellness is important because it goes hand in hand with your mental and your spiritual right? If you want to optimize your potential as a person, you can’t leave out your body. The body is where your emotions live and your physical dictates how you feel. If you are morbidly obese and struggling with conditions like heart disease and onset diabetes, you can’t fully enjoy your life and it’s just a fact. A lot of these issues we’re dealing with on a health level are avoidable. It’s important to claim your power by way of taking care of your body because your body is taking care of you. You have been blessed with your physical being, why not take care of it? The physical, the mental and the spiritual goes together. If one is lacking, you can never hope to maximize your potential.

AM: How do you take time for yourself as well as to focus on your coupleship with Nicole? It’s great to see you guys do projects and philanthropy together. How do you make sure that you guys are staying connected and that you take the time that you need to take care of yourself?

BK: You have to make it a priority and you have commit to each other and make sure that you are present, attentive and that you take care of each other and family comes first. There are struggles and you have to put in that effort and work. Sometimes there’s miscommunication and we go through our own things and go through patterns of things that we have had since we were kids that rear their ugly heads when we’re adults. We have to then confront those things and then talk, and talk some more and then some more. It’s a process – a journey. I think that you have to be able to give each other the space to make mistakes and not run for the hills. That’s the key.

AM: That’s true.

BK: Yeah, a lot of people when they see a little bit of a challenge, they run. So I think that’s one of the things that we really believe in that – I’m going to mess up, you’re going to mess up let’s give each other the space to grow, evolve and make mistakes. We all have flaws and great qualities like everyone else.

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

BK: We’re going to really dive into KoFit the next couple of months because there’s no gyms open and even if, people are hesitant to go out and pay all of this money for gym memberships. We want to give people tools to stay healthy and happy at home. That’s not just working out, it’s mindfulness, breath work, meditation, yoga – things that as a culture we haven’t traditionally believed in but it is an important part of us being healthy and strong. We’re going to dive into that – my brother, his wife, Nicole and the kids to show people how easy it is to start creating some of these habits.

Then I’ll start working on Station 19 which will take me from all the way to May. We’re going to shoot from this week to May. It’s going to keep me busy for the next 9 months. I’m also working with the 2% Initiative that Robert Smith has introduced recently. It allows us to create pathways for big organizations and corporations of Fortune 100 companies to support Black communities across various sectors whether it’s banking, education, social justice, media, entertainment to start making some headway in reducing the generational wealth gap.

AM: What do you want your legacy to be?

BK: The most important part of my legacy is my kids. Those are 2 human beings that I raised and will be here long after I am gone. Hopefully, I have raised them in a way that has allowed them to find their purpose to be kind, empathetic, considerate and treat people with respect and love. Then I want to be known as some body who tried his best, learned from his mistakes and has hopefully touched a few people.

AM: We like talking to our changemakers as they inspire people and they are doing amazing things inside and outside of their verticals and communities. Who are 3 people that you have been inspired by that have assisted you where you are today?

BK: There are so many people – wow. I’ve always been inspired by great writers. Ta Nehisi Coates he’s a trailblazer, an activist that I really admire and respect. Right now, these are some of the people that I think are really important to the movement. Nikole Hannah Jones who started the 1619 Project with the New York Times. She’s somebody I admire and look up to. I admire some of the NBA players that are outspoken like LeBron and Chris Paul and people who are actively using their huge gigantic platform for change with police reform, social justice – I really admire these guys who are really outspoken right now.

IG @BorisKodjoe

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | FRONT + BACK COVER, PG 16, 38, 42 + 44 Brandon Bobbins | FRONT + BACK COVER, PG 16, 38 + 42 Editorial Design by Athleisure Mag | PG 18 - 37 + 40 ABC Network Stills, Promo and BTS |

Hear activist, philanthropist and Station 19's, Boris Kodjoe 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 Aug Issue of Athleisure Mag #56 and see Living with Purpose with Boris Kodjoe in mag.

SOMETHING YOU SHOULD KNOW WITH GUNNAR PETERSON

This month, we chat with one of our favorite celebrity fitness trainers Gunnar Peterson who has worked with a number of your favorite personalities from Khloe Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez and more. In addition, as the Director of Strength & Endurance for the Lakers, we talk with him about how he has worked with his clients and the team to keep them on their routines. He also shares advice on movements that we can do at home regardless of whether we have equipment or not. He also shares his thoughts on returning to gyms and studios as the country is in various stages of reopening.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We always love being able to talk to you and being able to optimize our workouts and here in NY we have been in since March 13th. Thankfully, we got all of our equipment that we needed and we had no idea how long that we would be staying in due to COVID-19. What did you suggest to your clients in terms of equipment that they should have on hand?

GUNNAR PETERSON: I love that you guys got your equipment right away because it seems to me from what I heard, that the people that didn’t get it right out of the gate automatically had to line up and there was a delay. I have a very strange relationship with equipment – you can call it an addiction or a relationship whatever you want. That said, look whatever you have – even if you have nothing, you can still make it work. I would suggest adjustable dumbbells, a piece of cardio equipment that you enjoy, an assortment of bands, an auxiliary piece of cardio – think jump rope, a utility bench, a stability ball and that is all best case scenario. Worse case, we will get busy with water bottles, soup cans, a broom stick, a stepping stool, a couple of pieces of scrap cardboard. If you have that kind of stuff lying around it doesn’t have to be a mish mash like that, I actually thought those through it’s not grab bag you can come out of this lockdown in better shape. How’s that for a statement on standby?

AM: Love that statement. About a week before this quarantine, we had bands and a few other things, but didn’t really have dumbells, weight plates and other things like that so I was on Amazon and started amassing these items. And once we were in quarantine, you couldn’t get anything. We were pretty well stocked on our end.

GP: I heard it from people that are planners and those that get out ahead of things like this. There were other people that told me that they had nothing and that they had given everything away. Ever since they had started coming to me, they had given everything away as they didn’t need it in their house anymore because they came to me. I was like, “oh I’m sorry – like I’m supposed to be the person to blame for this.”

The household items though the water bottles and the soup cans, broom stick an ottoman – you can fill up garbage bags with laundry because they have the handles built in and scrap pieces of cardboard or a towel. You can use a scrap piece of cardboard if you’re outdoors on the lawn or turf. If not on a towel if you have a hard surface like poured concrete or hardwood floors. Any of those towels can work for leg curls, hip curls, hip bridges, ab extensions, chest flys there are so many movements you can do on the floor with that. People are like, “cardboard?” and I’m like yeah. I actually demo-d that workout online for someone out on the lawn, you put your heels on the cardboard and you do a leg curl in and put your hips up and your hamstrings and your glutes are good to go.

AM: What are 3 movements for abs, and legs, butts and arms that we should include within our routines as we’re always looking at changing it up a little bit and just optimizing that workout?

GP: For abs I would say, think bicycle crunches where you’re pulling left knee into right elbow and you’re up and semi crunched the entire time so that you’re abs which is all about time under tension the TUT Principle. The abs are engaged the whole time and you’re working that transverse rotation bringing the right elbow to left knee while extending that right leg and pulling the right leg in and extending the right leg and the left elbow to the right knee.

Also abs in extension which comes down to you being on your knees, toes in contact with the ground in sort of like a coffee table position and then extend the arms by sliding a towel out or if you’re on a piece of cardboard then you’re on cardboard. You want to extend them and working abs in extension is important and not just working them in inflection and also athletically – a lot of the strain happens when people will go into extension against resistance and they weren’t prepared for it. So you want to work on extension. You can also do that single arm right? You can fly one arm out and bring it back and the other arm up and bring it back just to create an uneven load.

The third one I would say is the hip bridge. So, using that same towel, put your forearm on it, extend your body and think about keeping a straight line between all of the h’s – head, hip, heels – straight line. Lower the hips down, draw the abs in. Your cue is when you pass center line pull your abs in and then bridge up so now you’re working frontal plane abs. So those are the movements for abs.

For legs, I would say squats and you have a number of squat movements to choose from whether it’s a basic squat, a sumo squat, a split squat, kick stands – there are a million ways to do that. But you definitely want to hit a squat and you should do that loaded because you’re working a big muscle group and it can handle an exterior load.

Then I would add clock lunges. Picture yourself standing in a center of a clock right where the hands are right where the hands meet in the middle. With your right leg step to 12 step to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 which involves a full pivot again the transverse plane. Then bring it back to 12 and then with your left leg, go to 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 and back.

Then I would say, single leg deadlifts and if you need that, do it next to your dresser, counter or a willing family member so that you can stabilize. You want to hinge at the hip and have something in your hand, something weighted whether it’s the water bottle or a dumbbell – whatever you have and down to your hip and then come up so that you have a stretch in your hamstring. Push through your heel and your big toe as you stand up so you fire the glutes and continue through that – you’re a lot stronger. A lot of people say, “aww my back.” Don’t worry about your back. You’re going to go in that position through your life so many times, you have to strengthen it. You’re doing yourself a disservice to not strengthen it.

And for glutes, I would say a lateral lunge. A deep lunge out to the side and really getting low on that because you want to hit gluteus medius and power through back to the starting position and alternate sides.

I would say a hip bridge, you can do that single leg or double leg. So put one foot up – one foot off the ground. You’re lying on your back, create a triangle between where you’re up from the ground and where your heel is on the ground and then bridge up by driving into the heel on the floor which is a single leg version. The double leg version, obviously both of your heels are on the ground.

Then I would add something explosive and plyometric. A tuck jump and you can do those in place. The goal is not to drop down super low into a squat and jump. Think about when you see someone jumping at a volleyball net or when they’re getting a rebound from a basketball – they don’t drop their hips all the way to the floor, they literally hinge at the hips and explode upward. So think of that kind of jump.

For arms, I would say something in a curl and I would spice up the curl a little bit and do it in a split stance. I like to create the offload, I like to make the core fire even more and do whatever your scheme is half of it with your right leg bag and left leg forward and then you drop down relatively low and then switch the split and repeat the same number of the reps of the curls.

That’s 1 the 2nd one would be a close grip push up. So keeping your hands relatively narrow and more importantly than that, tuck your elbows into your sides so you can feel your ribcage slide down against your forearm on the way down. If it’s too hard to do them on the floor, instead of doing them on your knees – I’m not a huge fan of that, I would say do them off of something. Elevate the hands versus just staying on your knees. So you’re still getting that fully planked position whether you come up and do it on an ottoman or at the end of a bed or on the end of a couch depending on your fitness level right?

Back in the day, Zsa Zsa Gabor did a workout video (Editor’s Note: of course we had to check out this video which is 30 mins of Zsa Zsaisms, working out and is worth watching) and she actually had 2 body builders come out and she just leaned back and did the push up off their chest. So she was still standing at a 5° incline but you can work backwards to any level of fitness. I want to say that she was in her 70’s when she did it so kudos to her for still doing the work.

AM: That’s pretty amazing!

GP: I know, when I saw it, I thought, “you have to give her credit for that.”

The 3rd one would be a press overhead. And that’s not for your arms, biceps, triceps, but it’s for your shoulders. If you look at the side view of the arm, almost half of that is the cap of your shoulder. So overhead pressing of any kind whether you alternate, palms forward, palms in – you just want to make sure that you get the shoulders. Especially since a lot of clothing in the summer time is exposing the shoulder.

AM: I know on your Instagram, that you created quarantine courses for your family to do. How important is it for your to incorporate movement especially with children and what do you suggest to do to keep them engaged?

GP: For us, it’s a priority. It’s not for everybody but it is for us. The kids learn how to move and use their bodies, how to work through things that are difficult and I think that that’s a life metaphor and you get to spend real quality time with them and I would suggest mixing in things that you know that they like as well as things that they need. That’s the challenge of being the parent. You challenge them and then you reward them with something that is good for them. My kids love Propel, they love the electrolyte water and there are 0 grams of sugar and I know that post workout, they need the electrolytes so it’s such an easy reward and sometimes I will put it at the end so right when he comes off the course, they’re there. They can pick the flavor and you’re empowering them with that.

AM: In addition, you have been participating in a number of IG Lives doing various workouts during this time of quarantine, how important is that to you to do those things and let people across the internet to have people workout with you and also engage with you?

GP: It’s important for me because A it keeps me sharp on the selfish side. I like doing anything that I can with the fitness community and the fitness industry as a whole. If I can add to that collective, then count me in. It’s not like I am putting on the Propel fitness stuff in my backyard, but if I am giving something that can approximate that during a time when we may have to push that back in a calendar then I’m all for it – sign me up.

AM: Across the US, we have various levels of openings on city and state levels. A lot of gyms and studios are doing that as well and a lot of people are excited to go back to their favorite spaces, but there is a lot of apprehension to in terms of whether the gyms themselves are actually prepared to be opened. What are your thoughts on how we can return to them safely and what we should be looking for when we enter? Should we be bringing items with us?

GP: You said it first – safety right? Be smart and be safe. Make sure that you’re doing the right thing and if you see someone who isn’t, instead of tattling and being condescending – I would share with them what the right approach is and be open if they share with you. We can all get better together. Remember we all heard a lot of information in the last 5+ months and we all process it differently. There are a lot of beliefs, so it’s better to be open and tolerant until we have all the facts locked down. I know I said lock down, but I said that on purpose!

As far as what you bring, I am a big fan of bringing my towel and water to the gym. I bring my towel and my Propel. You might want to double up and bring gloves, I don’t know the science on that one yet, but I’m OCD enough that I’m taking my towel and Propel with me for sure. I’m not going to be needing water fountains for a little bit if I can help it.

AM: For sure! You’re the Director of Strength & Endurance Training for the Lakers, our favorite team!

GP: Ah I love that!

AM: The Lakers have been our team since the 80’s.

GP: Not a fair weather fan, I like that!

AM: With the NBA completing their season and getting closer to the Playoffs, what has this time been like for you in terms of working with the team, preparing them prior to going to the bubble in Orlando and during this season?

GP: So our Strength Staff, a guy named Chattin Hill (Lakers’ Associate Head Strength & Conditioning Coach), Ed Streit (Lakers’ Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach) and I put together a Fit Kit and we sent the Fit Kits to the players early on. I don’t think that we got the jump on as early as you did, but we were a couple of days behind. We sent those to the players and we also emailed and texted them daily individualized workouts and all that was done within days of the lockdown. We also held and this ended up being great, but there was an element of comedy to it, we held Zoom workouts a couple of times a week to maintain the interaction, to keep the camaraderie up, trash talking – that was the great job of our GM Rob Pelinka and it ended up being great. There were times when the strength staff were a little disjointed and disconnected in doing it all on Zoom, but it created a moment of levity during some of those uncertain times. I’m sure you guys went through it too! There were times when the lockdown felt super annoying and there were times when it felt super scary! Like it was legitimately, “let’s not poo poo this guys. This is real.” Then you just develop a system. I’m sure that there is a psychology there of numerous phases that we all went through and having those workouts allowed those guys to keep connected and also allowed them to keep connected to us allowed them to keep connected to us which was key.

AM: Wow! When we did our last photoshoot it was with Rachel Nichols from ESPN. It was literally the day after the NBA announced that they were postponing the season. We’re literally sitting with her coming off of ESPN, doing the shoot and we’re looking at each other saying, “is this the last time that we’re going to be doing this for awhile?”

GP: I know Rachel and I like her. She’s very smart and she’s not taking any chances. If she did that then she did the right thing and hats off to her! I’m not surprised actually that she did it the right way.

AM: She is amazing and she was an awesome cover for us in March.

Obviously, the word “typical” feels like a very strange word right now, but what is a typical day or week like for you right now in terms of all the stuff that you’re doing?

GP: The only thing typical is that everything changes every day. I make sure to get some kind of workout in for myself, call it selfish, call it self preservation. I use the down time to connect with my family as well as a lot more Face Time calls with my brother, my parents and I think that it’s probably fair to say that our house as well as my sock drawer has never been neater! I have a lot cleaned up – everything is clean!

AM: You’re always working on so many things, is there anything coming up that we should know about or that your happy to announce with everyone?

GP: Lots of irons on the fire, that’s the way that I like it. I’d rather do than talk so let’s see what actually materializes after this. I will say that I have not been idle, definitely not going to sit around and do nothing. There’s definitely good stuff coming up though – definitely! More than just Instagram obstacle courses. Although I did enjoy those I’ve gotta say!

AM: As someone who is working with your clients whether it’s in person or virtually, doing things with your family and you have all of these different projects, how are you taking time for yourself just to make sure that you have the time that you need?

GP: So, I emphasized and the things that I struggle with the most – sleep and recovery. I’ve been working on that for the past 4 years and I’ve really made that a concerted effort to bump those up. I’m far from perfect for sure but it is still a focus and I have been able to improve it. I make sure that I get my workouts in which keeps me sane and it also makes me less of a jackass around my kids and my wife so that’s a priority ha!

AM: Haha I know they appreciate that! So we love asking our changemakers who inspire so many people who are 3 people that inspire you that have gotten you to where you are now?

GP: My parents and I have to put them together. A, for no backlash and B, because it’s the right thing. My parents for just the way that they weather storms. They have been married for over 60 years and I’m sure it hasn’t been perfect, but they just finish what they start kind of thing. My brother who is a super successful business man and all around greatest most generous guy going and I’m going to keep it in the family and say my wife and kids. They really inspire. It’s those days that you get up and go, “I’m getting up today because I know my purpose.” Obviously, you know that it supports your family, but they make me better!

Years ago, I worked for Jennifer Lopez for a long time and that’s not name dropping a lot of people know that. I wrote her a note one New Year’s morning. It just hit me that I was so thankful to have had the opportunity – I was still working with her, but I wanted to acknowledge it in real time. The opportunity to work with her – my working with her made me want to do my job better because I saw how well she did her job and how hard she pushed. I wrote her a note and I just said, “I want you to know I recognize this. I was always going to push myself and I was always going to strive for greatness, but being around you for this many years and watching how you do it has just made me A, be a representation of you at the same level, but also just to hold myself accountable because I see how hard you go and the standard to which you hold yourself.”

IG @GunnarFitness

PHOTOS COURTESY | Propel

Hear Celebrity Fitness Trainer and LA Lakers' Director of Strength & Endurance Gunnar Peterson 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 Aug Issue of Athleisure Mag #56 and see Something You Should Know with Gunnar Peterson in mag.

THE TRANSFORMATION WITH KIM KIMBLE

When it comes to creating dynamic hair in film, TV, photoshoots, videos, red carpets (Met Gala, Oscars, etc.), Coachella and cover editorials (Vogue, Vanity Fair, etc.), Kim Kimble is a known name in the industry. Her level of creativity and transforming her clients to another level has been seen on Beyoncé, Shakira, Mary J. Blige, Zendaya and Kelly Rowland to name a few. This 3rd generation hair stylist has grown her brand to include a full line of products from wigs, extensions and hair care. For 5 seasons, she shared the business of hair from her salon, team and her celeb clients on WE TV's L.A. Hair. In addition, she continues to challenge herself as she takes on projects that showcase that her there are no bounds to her vision of dominating the industry that she loves so much.

ATHLEISURE MAG: What was the moment that you realized that you wanted to be a hairstylist?

KIM KIMBLE: Well in all honesty, I’m a 3rd generation hairstylist so my mother and my grandmother also did hair. I was around it all my life; however, I wasn’t convinced that I would do it forever. I would do hair, work my way – after I got my license, I worked on hair as I made my way through fashion school as I wanted to be a fashion designer. That was my dream at the time. In all honesty, once I started doing hair, one day I realized that I love the challenge of it. I saw you could do more than just stand behind a chair. Early on – they called it Platform Artists Hair Stylists, there were hair shows and I could see that there was more then just doing this. Once I saw the transformation of my clients in my chair, when they would get out of my chair – that’s where my slogan, ‘Great Hair Equals Confidence,” came from as I saw the change in my clients when they would get out of the chair and how they would transform. I would see it later when I would work my celebrity clients and they would get on stage and how they would become a whole other person.

That gave me a lot of purpose and even with creating products and things like that, seeing the change and how it could make a difference in a person’s life – there is something about that that fulfills me. So I was like, I’m sticking with hair and gave up fashion.

AM: What was the project that made you realize that you had made it?

KK: Oh wow. I mean when I did BAPS, that was my first movie and that was pretty great for me. I had so many milestones in my career. But I think that once I started working with Beyoncé and I saw respect. I started getting so many different people reaching out to work with me. I started seeing the change of being accepted for different magazines and being able to do different covers. Then I knew that the career was really taking off and was onto something special. You know, I was able to transform my career and I saw a change. One day, you’re doing your thing and then the next day you’re like the most sought after hairstylist in the world because of one client. I got to experience that. I was doing celebrities before I met her and I was doing film before I met her. How I met her was through film, but in all honesty, I really took off and everything changed. When her career started taking off as a solo artist as her career was huge with Destiny’s Child, it was her solo career when I started working with her and everything changed.

AM: What does it mean to be Kimbleized?

KK: Well Kimbleized, the phrase came from one day when I was on WE TV’s L.A. Hair, my reality show. I mentioned it in a confessional that she has now been Kimbleized. It means that she has been touched by the Kimble, her hair has been certified by Kim Kimble and transformed by Kim Kimble in the Kim Kimble style and in the Kim Kimble way. I said it one day in an interview and then they put these chimes behind it and I was like, “yes” and I had an epiphany and I said, “everyone is going to be Kimbleized.” When I have finished someone’s hair I will tell them, “you have just been Kimbleized.” It’s also because when I’m with my clients, I spoil them so well when they get their hair done that they don’t want to go to anybody else. Your life has been changed and you want Kim Kimble to do your hair. It’s a whole thing.

AM: In talking about your show, it was one of the first ones that I knew of that incorporated your whole team, having the nail artists that was there and showing the culture of getting your look put together. What was the confluence that happened that made you think that you wanted to do a show?

KK: In all honesty, I’m a creative person. I used to produce hair shows and events like that. So I had the producer/creative bug in me. I had been trying to create these shows for a minute but I hadn’t been successful. I wasn’t really trying to do one surrounding me and my squad. That’s not what I was pitching. Then I gave up because I hadn’t had any luck doing that and I didn’t get picked up. It happens a lot. You go out there, you pitch, sometimes you’re hot and sometimes you’re not. I stopped pitching, gave up, said forget it and then a producer reached out to me and asked if I would be interested in coming in and having a show that was about me and my team. They knew there was someone who was looking for something like that. I said, “yeah ok, whatever.” I didn’t think that it would happen. At first I was a little nervous about doing something like that because I know how dramatic the salon, stylists and artists are. But you know that that’s what the shows look for, but I didn’t know if I wanted to put my business or brand in a situation that would affect me. I know that I had seen some of the shows and there was a little negativity there and I’m a control freak. I wanted to be in control of my brand and what I did. I didn’t want to put my brand in the hands of just anybody.

With the shows, those contracts are real serious. I didn’t even get to go on the pitches, I didn’t know who they pitched or what they did. All I know is that I was on a show called Let’s Stay Together on BET in Atlanta and I get a call and they say, “guess what? Your show has been picked up by WE TV.” I was like, “what?” It happened so fast that I didn’t even get a chance to think about it. I’m like that, I will just jump in feet first and just see what happens. I jumped into it. Was I nervous? Yes. I worked on TV and films, but I hadn’t worked on any reality shows. I didn’t know what that was like. I did a lot of television in terms of makeovers and interviews so I had done some things – it helped break me in, but it was a completely different thing.

The day the cameras came into the salon, I was like, “oh my God, what have I just done?” I didn’t know anything about this and it ended up working out just fine. I would do it again. It was dramatic, 5 seasons, but I was very proud of what we did. It was dramatic in front of and behind the camera, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. A lot of people really admired and loved the show. Every time I’m on my social media, I’m asked if L.A. Hair is coming back, what am I doing, will there be another show etc. They don’t realize that I’m a hair stylist first and not a television personality first. My day job is always working with clients. So when you saw that on the show, a lot of that stuff was real jobs that I had done and they allowed us to bring a camera. Sometimes it would be stuff that we would create for opportunities, but a lot of them were people that I had worked with. Some of them were people that I had not worked with and it was my first time working with them. It was important for me to show what we really do. The realness, running a business and a lot of people underestimate entrepreneurship which is interesting for women and especially women of color. There are a lot of women entrepreneurs and a lot of times in shows they may think that people want to see the drama, but they also want to know about running a business. It was important for me to share a lot of the things that were going on in the business, things that I did on set and that’s why people liked it – it was the real deal.

There was a little drama here and there and I would have people call me and say that they were going through the same thing at their salon. People can relate because everyone knows this is what salons bring and that’s why I was nervous because I knew that we were about to look real crazy on there. I’ll be honest with you, I’m not ashamed of any of it. I think it was a great opportunity and I know a lot of people have a lot of bad things to say about reality TV, but I will be honest with you. I don’t put anything out there that I don’t want out there! If I don’t want it out there, I don’t do it. What TV does is bring out who you are. It really brings it out whether you want it to or not. I will put that out there that if you want to do reality TV, then be careful because who you are will come out. A couple of times I got heated, but that’s real though. You can’t blame anybody who is focused on their business or their brand. I’m not afraid to let people know that I am territorial when it comes to taking care of my clients and I don’t want people taking advantage of me. I’m a business woman and I enjoyed it. I hope to get another chance as we’re looking at other opportunities which will be a little different. I don’t know if we’ll do L.A. Hair again because the times have changed and that’s been done – so I don’t know if we will do that again.

AM: You have created iconic looks and just recently with Beyoncé’s Black is King video with the 30ft braids. How do you come up with your concepts and what is that process like?

KK: This particular process was interesting. When we work together, we create boards and on this one, we started with Africa early on when she was doing Lemonade. I felt that natural hair was wear we wanted to go, her weave was more natural textures. We looked at the beauty of Africa and I was looking at women. I keep referring to Lemonade and going back there because that whole concept was about women early on before we had relaxers and that kind of stuff. We started with a lot of different African inspirations for hair. When she did Black is King, it was more about Africa and with The Lion King – what it would be like and discovering the beauty of Blackness. That’s what was amazing about that project. There were a couple of things that I had worked on for some of her videos. She has a creative director team and we were talking about a 30ft braid that needed to be long so that it could wrap around the body. Of course, that didn’t happen, but the wig was made and I have an amazing team of braiders that have worked with me on many projects. I dream up something and we get together and it’s like a lab. We test it out, do a couple of samples to see how it works and then it becomes something that we execute. When Beyoncé dreams something and says she wants this or that, we just create it – that’s what we do. That’s why I like working with her. It’s a lot of fun, it’s creative and I like to be challenged. Those challenges can be something crazy like a 30ft braid, Ivy Park beads in my braid – but you get with the team and we make it and we made history.

When I worked with Nicki Minaj, she had been wearing long hair and I wanted to do pink braids because she likes pink. I got together with the team and I said, “hey let’s do pink braids to the floor.” We broke the internet. I have been blessed to have great opportunities that are allowed by artists who create. I’m just an out there person when it comes to this and I like it!

AM: In addition to your great talent and custom work, you also have a line of products and hair as well. How important was it to you to bring this to market to round out your empire?

KK: This is the thing. With the celebrities that I work with, a lot of people want the same celebrity look and they want to know what you use and how to use it for that same look. A lot of the items were created to fit the needs of my clients. A lot of my clients are the inspiration behind these types of products. I started creating them to fit the mood of my customers.

In about a week or so, I am launching a line for Sally Beauty for natural hair. I’m excited about it, it’s an amazing line. I did it because on L.A. Hair people would message me on social and they would ask me what they could do to put on their natural hair. I have natural hair and creating great products, it’s so hard to find the right curl mixture. So we create those products because we need these items that work well in our hair. Sometimes they’re too greasy or they’re good with the hydration but they don’t quite get the style right. You have a lot of people that create lines, but they’re not hair stylists that have been doing hair for so many years. They don’t understand how hair works and what kinds of products are best suited for the hair. It’s another part of the creative process and it’s something that I like to be able to do.

AM: What are the other projects that you have on the horizon that we should know about as you’re always doing something.

KK: I’ve been doing a lot of consultations with clients online which has been a lot of fun actually! I can help them through this whole time to get their hair together for color, extensions and wigs. I’m creating a line of wigs which I am launching for HSN and I just told you about the products launching at Sally Beauty. A lot of people don’t know that we also do hair tools and there can be movie and TV shows that I’m working on coming up. I created a digital TV show on my own. You’ll be hearing about it soon. It’s not ready just yet we’re shooting it now but keep an eye out. It’s really great because it’s fun. You know Kim Kimble is always doing something even in the middle of a pandemic child!

AM: Honestly, if you’re able to do so. The pandemic has been a great time to launch, refine, pivot and deploy. People are a little more accessible at the moment.

KK: Exactly.

AM: We always like asking our changemakers as you are definitely one and you’re a trailblazer and being Ms Transformer, who are 3 people that inspire you to be where you are in your career?

KK: That’s easy. Madame CJ Walker, Jas On and my mom. Those are the people that inspire me.

IG @KimbleHairCare

PHOTOS COURTESY | Kim Kimble

Hear Celebrity Hair Stylist Kim Kimble 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 Aug Issue of Athleisure Mag #56 and see The Transformation with Kim Kimble in mag.

ZEROING IN WITH DWYANE WADE

We're excited that we're in the midst of the playoffs for the NBA season, whether your team is playing or you're just happy to have basketball back on TV! Even though we're socially distancing, it's a way for us to feel like we're together. We caught up with Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers veteran, 3 X NBA Champion Dwyane Wade who is also commentating the games for TNT in 'Inside the NBA'. In addition to number of projects that he is working on, Dwyane is the Co-Founder of Budweiser Zero which is a non-alcohol alternative to enjoying a beer solo, with friends or after a great workout.

ATHLEISURE MAG: Prior to the launch of Budweiser Zero, tell us about your initial work with Budweiser and your synergy with the brand?

DWYANE WADE: I started working with Budweiser a little over a year ago when they did the “This Buds For 3” film for my retirement. Most recently, I was part of the Whassup reboot that came out a few months ago with DJ D-Nice, Chris Bosh, Candace Parker and my wife, Gabrielle Union, focusing on checking in on your friends when COVID first hit. I’ve always respected what Budweiser has built and their continued work with athletes. Entering the non-alcoholic market has always been of interest to me and this project seemed like a natural progression of my relationship with Budweiser.

AM: There has been a rise in the beverage industry for zero alcohol beers. Why is this important for those that are athletes or are focused on their fitness endeavors to have this as an option for their celebratory moments?

DW: The non-alcohol category of beer is rapidly growing and with Budweiser Zero, we are able to bring some familiarity into the category. Budweiser’s brewing heritage alone helps redefine pre-existing expectations and associations with non-alcoholic options.

Oftentimes, people feel like they are giving something up with a non-alcoholic option, but we are trying to change that perception and create more opportunities to celebrate life’s moments, both big and small. A focus for me when helping to develop the product was thinking about the athlete’s experiences during the season. Being in the game for so long, I can understand the need for a drink option that lets a player stay on their game but still enjoy social moments and celebrations.

AM: You are the Co-Founder of Budweiser Zero, what drew you to being involved in this and to take on such a role with the brand?

DW: It’s important for me to work with brands who have similar values and priorities that I want to accomplish. When I sat down with Budweiser to start talking about what Budweiser Zero would become, the synergy was there and felt like a great use for my platform, post-basketball.

AM: What can we expect to see for roll out of this launch and how will you be involved?

DW: Budweiser Zero started rolling out in the US in March, but officially launched at the end of July, and will soon be available in Canada and the UK. Budweiser Zero will play a huge role in the sports world, for both athletes and fans. Athletes who are in training or in season, but still want that classic, refreshing beer flavor without compromising their game now have that option. Once fans are able to return to stadiums, Budweiser Zero will become the beer of the ninth inning and fourth quarter. While alcoholic beverages can’t be served at this time, fans can continue to enjoy Budweiser Zero till the last moment of the game. Beyond athletes, I think this product will resonate with consumers looking to cut back on sugar or alcohol and those looking to participate in social occasions without feeling the effects the next morning.

Budweiser and I worked together on this from the start to bring Budweiser Zero to life and I’ll also be sharing the beverage with my friends currently playing in The Bubble.

AM: Tell us about Budweiser Zero as well as elements that you had a direct impact on in terms of bringing the product to market.

DW: Budweiser Zero is Budweiser’s first zero-alcohol product with zero-sugar and only 50 calories. Budweiser Zero is light and crisp and has the same refreshing full-flavored taste people know from Budweiser. I worked with Budweiser from the inception of the idea and helped design the attributes and packaging of the product.

IG @DwyaneWade

PHOTO COURTESY | Budweiser Zero

Read the Aug Issue of Athleisure Mag #56 and read Zeroing in with Dwyane Wade in mag.

ATHLEISURE MAG | #56 AUG 2020

This month’s cover and back cover is ABC’s Station 19, Boris Kodjoe. Our cover shoot editorial – Living with Purpose, talks about Boris’ career, how he came into acting, preparing to shoot the upcoming season of Station 19, the importance of using your platform to raise issues regarding safety in these times as well as social justice, his fitness brand KoFit and more. This interview will also be in an upcoming #TRIBEGOALS podcast episode. We also have an interview with Celebrity Fitness Trainer Gunnar Peterson as we talk about working out from home, how he advises his clients to maintain his workouts, how he worked with the Lakers to ensure the safety and continued training of the team heading to the bubble and his thoughts on gym and studio openings. His interview will also be on an upcoming episode of #TRIBEGOALS. We check in with 3 X NBA Champion Dwyane Wade who is the Co-Founder of Budweiser Zero a non-alcoholic beverage. He talks about his work with the brand, importance of this category and more. We caught up with Celebrity Hair Stylist to a number of our faves from Beyonce, Shakira, Kelly Rowland and Mary J. Blige. We found out what Kim Kimble has been up to with a number of her projects including her hair care brand, her salons, TV opportunities and more. You can hear her episode on an upcoming #TRIBEGOALS. We also found out more about tea, how it benefits our bodies, the importance of having a ritual with the founder of Art of Tea, Steve Schwartz. You can hear his episode on an upcoming Athleisure Kitchen. We get the intel on how we can maintain our oral care with Dr. Brian Harris who is also the founder of Klen.

Read the Aug Issue #56 of Athleisure Mag here.

BING3WATCH | KILLING EVE

Read the July Issue of Athleisure Mag #55 and see BING3WATCH | Killing Eve in mag.

SOMETHING YOU SHOULD KNOW | HARLEY PASTERNAK

COVID-19 has effected every aspect of our lives from our routines, our work, how we interact with one another and more. When it comes to working out at your favorite studios, the impact is felt here as well. We took some time to catch up with one of our favorite Celebrity Fitness Trainers and Nutritionists, Harley Pasternak who has trained Kim Kardashian, Charlie Puth and Ariana Grande to name a few. He shares how we can build our home studios, advice he has given his clients as well as what to expect (as well as what to bring) when we return to gyms and studios.

ATHLEISURE MAG: Here in NY our team began staying at home March 13th and we quickly got our equipment as we had no idea how long we would be staying home due to COVID-19. What did you suggest for your clients in terms of equipment that they should have on hand?

HARLEY PASTERNAK: Home fitness equipment has become a real scarcity in our new normal. The first thing I tell people to do, especially since the weather is nice, is to walk. Walking does not require any equipment and will definitely help you keep track of how much and how intensely you move. Next, I would opt for TRX suspension straps because they are fantastic for training and the posterior chain. Dumbbells are also great, if you can get them, since they are so versatile and don’t take up too much room. A bench, preferably an adjustable bench, also allows for countless strength moves. Otherwise, some sliders, a hip band and a glute ham roller would be high on my list of things that would make working out at home even better and more efficient. On top of that, recovery tools like foam rollers would be great to implement.

AM: Although we were fortunate to get our dumbbells, weight plates and bands - many have not been able to get those items. What would be substitutes for these items to have a productive workout?

HP: Cans of soup and water bottles are great substitutes for dumbbells, and large jugs of water or laundry detergent could work for kettle bells.

AM: What are 3 workouts for abs, 3 for legs and 3 for butts, 3 for arms that we should include within our routine?

HP: Pike planks, bicycle crunches, and twist planks are great to work your abdominals and fire up your entire core. For legs, walk lunges, lateral lunges, and hamstring curls with either sliders or a TRX band are great to do on a consistent basis. To work your glutes, I recommend single leg bridges, hip thrusts, and lower body Supermans.

AM: For those with families, how important is it to incorporate movement with their children and what do you suggest to keep them engaged?

HP: Now more than ever, it is critical to keep kids moving as much as possible since we are spending so much time indoors. Kids are really a product of their environments and respond well to behavior modeled by their parents. If your kids see you working out, working out becomes natural to them. Incorporating them into your workouts is even better and it makes it a real family affair. My family and I go on walks together which is a great way to stay connected and get some moves into our day. My wife and I also do strength circuits together with our four and six year olds. We even let our kids earn credits through doing exercise that allow them to have screen time.

AM: We follow your IG and we like your series on the #2fer. Can you tell our readers about this and why you created these posts?

HP: I created these posts because when COVID-19 hit and people started to quarantine, a lot of people felt frustrated that they could not access a gym or their favorite fitness instructor. Therefore, many fitness professionals created overly complicated fitness programs online and some even charged for it. After seeing this, I thought it would be nice to create a program with just two simple moves every day that require no equipment and are completely free and accessible for everybody to do. The feedback was incredibly positive, and it felt good to help people during a very difficult time. I emphatically believe working out should be accessible for everyone.

AM: We also love your posts that show you and your kids trying different fast foods as a means to show balance. Why is this important and in your tastings, have you found brands in this category that are healthy?

HP: The idea for these posts started with a client of mine ordering fast food to our house. My kids have never tried McDonald’s before, and I wanted to capture it on film. It was a really funny experience and when I posted it, it very quickly got over 40,000 views. I thought it was important to show people that there’s many sides to somebody who lives and teaches a healthy lifestyle. It’s important to allow us adults, and especially kids, a chance to taste everything in this world as well as to practice both indulgence and balance. The problem arises when we indulge too often and it becomes part of routine. We do these fast food experiences once a week and have a lot of fun with them. By allowing my children to try everything, they no longer yearn for these “forbidden” foods because they realize they are not forbidden, and often, they are not that delicious, and often give them a tummy ache.

AM: What are 3 power foods or snacks that you suggest that we enjoy pre/post workout?

HP: I’m not really a fan of pre-or post-workout meals. That’s really more having to do with bodybuilder or high-level athletes dealing with performance. I mainly focus on health and physical transformation. Other than having some caffeine 60 to 90 minutes prior to a workout, I focus more on creating three meals and two snacks a day, and then decide where to fit in my workout rather than the other way around.

AM: What are 3 healthy indulgences that we can enjoy?

HP: I think healthy indulgence is often an oxymoron. Most of the things that I find indulgent are really not healthy. Chocolate chip cookies and french fries are indulgent, but not healthy. However, I do think it’s healthy to indulge sometimes and not think about having to be healthy. I try to live by the 85 to 15 method: 85% of the time I eat clean and 15% of the time I eat what I want.

AM: Across the US, cities/states are in various levels of reopening. Many gyms and studios are reopening and although many are excited to get back to their routines, there is some apprehension amongst those working out and even for gyms that are preparing to reopen. What are your thoughts on how we can return to gyms/studios safely, what should we be looking for when we enter these spaces and are there items that we should bring with us?

HP: That’s a good question and one that is constantly changing. To be honest with you, I think it’s a little too soon to go back into indoor fitness spaces with multiple people huffing and puffing. These last few months where people have not been able to use health clubs, they realize that they’re able to get most of what they need to get done without an elaborate gym or fancy equipment. That being said, a well-equipped fitness facility has a lot more tools for you to train your body in fun and creative ways. There’s also the element of socialization. People really miss being in a group with group energy and a sense of belonging. Unfortunately, this may have to wait a little bit longer. If you do choose to go back to the gym, try to go at non-peak hours. I would also suggest maintaining a safe distance from those around you and making sure to wipe down any equipment you touch before and after use. I also suggest bringing your own hydration so you don’t have to share the drinking fountain. Propel Powder Packs, for example, are packed with electrolytes and easy to throw in your workout bag to make sure you’re properly hydrated.

AM: Via IG, we saw that you and Ariana Grande were doing an in-person workout, what are you personally doing for you and your clients to ensure mutual safety?

HP: I see very few clients in person and do the majority of my training online. For a few clients, we work out together at my studio in my outdoor gym. When doing this, both of us wear masks and keep a proper social distance. We also wipe down all surfaces of equipment that are touched by the clients, have replaced our cable attachments with copper-coated antimicrobial attachments, and have the gym deep cleaned twice a day, which is the same amount of cleaning we utilized before COVID. So far, so good.

AM: You have always stated that we should consume no more than 30g of sugar a day as it can lead to diabetes; however, sugar also has an impact on our immunity. Can you tell us about that?

HP: There are great number of studies that have shown the impact of sugar on our immune system. When we consume a high amount of sugar in either a meal or beverage, it can cause a temporary suppression of our immune system. Chronic consumption of a high sugar diet can also contribute to insulin insensitivity, obesity, and possibly even type two diabetes. These are all three incredibly high-risk factors for COVID complications as well.

AM: What foods can assist in raising our immunity?

HP: Vitamin D, Vitamin C, and Zinc are all great to help support a healthy immune system. I like to incorporate Propel Vitamin Boost into my hydration routine because it has 100% of the daily recommended value of Vitamins B, C, and E. It is great to drink to during my workouts to stay hydrated as well as make sure that I get my vitamins in.

AM: As we continue to stay healthy from home, what should we be doing to optimize ourselves?

HP: Managing stress is important. Try not to have too much screen time, especially before bed, and make sure you are getting enough quality and quantity sleep. This will help keep Cortisol levels in check and ensure they don’t get out of whack and suppress your immune system. Staying physically active and hydrated is also very important. And most importantly, please wear a mask.

AM: As someone who is working with his clients whether in person or virtually, spending time with your family and working on a number of projects – how are you taking time for yourself in your downtime?

HP: Good question. I make sure I have breakfast and dinner with my family every day and weekends are all about my kids. As I’ve gotten older, I have realized how important prioritizing family and personal time is. I like to golf every Sunday morning, and make sure I have a date night at least once a week with my wife.

IG @HarleyPasternak

PHOTOS COURTESY | Propel

Read the July Issue of Athleisure Mag #55 and see Something You Should Know | Harley Pasternak in mag.

S2. E6. | #TRIBEGOALS WITH 4 X NBA CHAMPION, ENTREPRENEUR & PHILANTHROPIST JOHN SALLEY

On today's episode of #TRIBEGOALS, we catch up with 4 X NBA Champion, John Salley. Avid listeners know that we spoke with him last season on this podcast show and always enjoy when we have the chance to get his thoughts. He talks about gifting for dads and grads, his appearance and commentary on ESPN's The Last Dance and words of advice as we navigate what is going on at this time.

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

AUTHENTICALLY MATT BARNES

This month, we caught up with retired NBA Champion Matt Barnes who played 14 seasons in the league. His ability to bring his energy and focus to the court was seen on a number of teams from the LA Lakers, Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings just to name a few. His unapologetic honesty and loyalty to himself as well as who he works with shined through on the court and continues to be seen through his philanthropy, his skincare brand HUE For Every Man, the cannabis industry, as well as his focus on social justice. With the confluence of COVID-19 and the movement of #BlackLivesMatter, he continues to be at the forefront of ensuring that voices are heard and that people understand the importance of voting at the local, state and national level for changes to be made. He has lent his voice to rally's in his hometown of Sacramento for George Floyd as well as Stephon Clark. We talk about this as well as his successful podcast All the Smoke on SHOWTIME, his enterprises and the upcoming NBA season and playoffs and the importance of sports as we navigate challenging times.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We just wanted to kick it off that we’re excited to be talking with you about your basketball career, your skincare brand as well as the current state of things that are taking place right now. We’ve always enjoyed seeing you and have been following your career since you got into the league and how unapoligetically authentic that you are as a team player and someone that plays hard and how you use your platform to benefit others and to just bring awareness to the forefront.

MATT BARNES: I appreciate that very much. I try and I enjoy it so thank you.

AM: Of course! When did you fall in love with the game of basketball and what was the moment that you realized that you wanted to play in the NBA?

MB: I’d probably say that I fell in love with the game of basketball – hmm. I actually grew up as a football fan. Football was the sport that I was better in and naturally more gifted in. But I continued to grow so basketball, I kind of picked it up and started taking it more seriously probably around 7th grade. That’s when I started really playing a lot more. But back then, we just played, it wasn’t so much working out. It was just another sport that I took seriously. It kind of took me to being lucky enough to make it to the NBA.

AM: You played on a number of teams with amazing athletes. What do you feel your legacy is in terms of the sport?

MB: Just a real guy that was a great teammate. I played as absolutely hard as I could and I never took a play off, never took a game off and I left it all on the court.

AM: In your opinion, when a player is going on in their career, what is the process like when you realize that you’re going to retire and that you’re about to transition to that next phase of life and did you find that hard?

MB: My retirement was kind of subtle. I had just signed a new contract for 3 years at the beginning of the season. I had actually just retired and it was actually just a perfect storm of winning a championship although it didn’t really pan out the way that I had planned it but, winning a championship and missing my kids – I mean, I was going through a divorce at the time when I wasn’t able to see my twin sons as much as I wanted to. I figured that I had gotten 14 years in the NBA and I wasn’t supposed to be there. I figured it was time to transition and to see what was next. I was actually excited about my transition so I ended up retiring at 37.

But I started to think about business and what was next. I mean, the average NBA career is only 3 years and I beat that. At about year 8 or 9 when I was in the NBA, I started thinking about what’s next. So I started investing in things that I kind of enjoyed, that I liked, that I could use and that I could promote. Most people think that kind of stuff happens fast – they don’t realize how long the process is until if the company actually makes it and until you start making some real money off of it. A few business decisions that I had made 4 or 5 years prior with me being in my final season when I had made the championship started coming into fruition and showing a little bit of money, so that’s when I said that now was the time to retire. My transition has been smooth for me, luckily. I’ve been able to transition into media, then social justice and all the things that I am passionate about along with first and foremost, being a single father of 3 kids. I coach my kids, and I am a very hands on dad with my 18 month old son, so retirement has been amazing and I feel like, I’m going to be able to have an impact on the world post-career than during my playing career.

AM: We love seeing you as an analyst on ESPN for The Jump (we recently had Rachel Nichols as our cover for issue #51 earlier this year) and Get Up. What do you like about sports broadcasting?

MB: What I like to do and why I got into the space, is to give them the other side from a players point of view. From what we’re thinking with 2 mins to go in the fourth quarter of a big game or overtime of a big game. How we deal with injuries or how we deal with family and travel. Like, you can be a great reporter, but would never be able to give that kind of insight or detail because you’ve never played. I think as a player, it’s our duty to give the raw and real integral details of what makes our job so unique and so special. I see these days that so often so many people that have never played the sport, want to disrespect people and talk crazy about people and kind of don’t appreciate how hard it is for us to be in that position in the first place. You know what I mean – to be a professional that’s like 1%. You have a better chance of being struck by lightening than being in the NBA. To give a clear cut understanding of what it’s like to walk in those shoes and then to be able to also talk about it for the first time – well not for the first time, it’s slowly but surely becoming more popular to have African American men that are able to get our point across. They don’t have to tell our stories anymore. You know, there are so many guys that have their platforms now that have a voice and they can tell our own stories now and sports is just part of it.

AM: What led you to being a part of HUE For Every Man which is a natural, multi-cultural brand. What stars aligned to do this and why was it so important that you wanted to be attached to this?

MB: I was always known during my career for having the best haircuts and cleanest hairline.

AM: This is true.

MB: I mean my hair, when I was approached by HUE and I found out first and foremost that it was a great product line, but then Jessica Estrada (CEO of HUE For Every Man), she has been amazing. She pours her heart and soul into this company. She’s a blue collar worker and that’s what I was in the NBA, so part of me really wanted to help her to fulfill her dream and to get this off the ground. I wanted to see what we could really do with it. On the multi-cultural side, I’m Italian and Black. Now more than ever, we’ve been divided and so many things are targeted for either a white audience or a Black audience. There’s no real in between and there are a lot of people who are in between these days. There are a lot of biracial people out there. So really, the message for every man is that at the end of the day, we’re all men, we’re all human and it kind of speaks to more of an understanding of what this country needs right now.

AM: What are your 3 must haves that are go to products within HUE For Every Man?

MB: I use the pomade but my favorite product is the awakening mist. Because, I’m a cannabis user and I smoke throughout the day and the awakening mist is always something that refreshes me. Obviously, it helps my skin and I really enjoy it and I give it to all my friends and they really appreciate it so those are my 2 favorites along with the shampoo and the conditioner. The conditioner has a really special smell to it that I really like. Most people, when you get a celebrity or an athlete, they attach their name to it and it may not even be a product that they use everyday. I’m such a person that has always been real and true and I speak my truth. This is something that I really believe in and something that I really use and I want to make it work.

AM: Are there new products that are about to launch that you can tell us about?

MB: I’m also going to get into the CBD skincare line. I’m an advocate of cannabis and realizing how amazing CBD is and educating people on the plant as a whole, I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to jump into the space. I’ve been told that I have nice skin, so it just made sense and I also realized that there are not too many people in this space that talk to my demographic. Skincare is something that we care about, but it’s not really spoken on. So if I make it with the movement to make it cool to care about what your appearance is as many people think of it as something that only women do. Men care just as much about their appearance as women do. So, if we can do something for lines and get people on a cleansing routine, moisturizing and realizing how important moisturizing is for your skin. It’s on a personal level, but it’s also on an educating level. We need to let guys know that this is the only face that we have. You have to take care of your skin and your appearance.

AM: We recently started listening to your podcast All the Smoke with you and Stephen Jackson, it’s such a clever show. How did you come about creating the concept, the two of you deciding to work together and what’s your process like in terms of booking the people that come on your show?

MB: We were former teammates and he’s one of my closest friends. We were both respectfully working with ESPN and FOX Sports. We would always get people on social media asking if we would do something together, but we were working for our networks. One day I said that we had to do something together. With me being with ESPN/Disney and FOX – we need to kind of walk the line, but I know that the podcast – even though I didn’t really know what it was, I knew that people felt it would really speak to them. He and I would be good at. We tried it and SHOWTIME took a chance on us not really knowing what we were capable of and we struck gold! We wanted to come in as a sports podcast because obviously, that’s what we’re known as. We also wanted to shift more towards culture as a whole.

We wanted to humanize our guests and let them know the other side of their favorite celebrity, athlete, musician or whoever it may be. Everyone already knows what we’re known for. I play basketball, I rap or I play football – you know that, but what are they really like off of the court? What are they in to, what are their day to day lives like – so humanizing people was something that I wanted to do. Through our long careers, we’ve been able to make a lot of friends and connections. The majority of our guests – all of them, we have booked them ourselves based off of personal relationships as well as our ability to being real. A lot of our guests will somewhat let their walls down and really freely and comfortably speak to us. It’s worked.

AM: Well 2020 has been an interesting year between us quarantining with COVID-19, #BlackLivesMatter, tackling social justice issues and the 2020 election that is around the corner. In looking at your Instagram, you’re out there on the forefront. How important is it for you to use your platform, to push for changes and to get other people to raise awareness regardless of people’s skin tones to ensure that this movement keeps progressing?

MB: I think it’s important. I experienced a lot of racism growing up and it culminated in high school where my school was vandalized and the building was nearly burnt by the KKK. I faced racism growing up and I have always been really sensitive to the subject. Just to see the current state of America, we have never been more divided. Things have continued to happen and it’s almost normalized to where you think that this is normal – Black people being killed now. It’s unfortunate but it has been happening so much. I think what happened with George Floyd obviously boiled not only our country but the whole world to say that we have had enough. We’re upon a big change and as someone who has always been vocal, I am speaking on different matters and this is just something that I am very passionate about. I feel like that this is the first time in over 400 years that the world hears us and particularly the United States. So now, we have to have a plan and me using my platform, showing people what I am doing and trying to educate people. I think that we have to have a plan of intelligence. Now that they are listening, we have to know what we want and the only way to get what we want is to vote. It’s not just about voting for the president, it’s about your local level. People don’t know that most laws are made and passed on the local and the state level. Just continuing to educate people, trying to do my part and getting my friends to help and really understand the power of our community and when we come together that we can change the world.

AM: Being able to see how people have come together and to know that we have to follow through to continue to make our voices heard by making our votes is essential. In addition to this taking place, with the absence of sports, I’m sure you like the rest of us were riveted to ESPN’s The Last Dance as we get ready for the NBA basketball season to resume. What do you think about the format that will take place to complete the season and to head to the playoffs?

MB: I think it was great you know? Normally, when the world is having a crisis, sports is something that we can always turn to. It’s been a hell of 2020 like you mentioned, and 2020 took away sports. So for the NBA to be coming back, it’s slowly but surely becoming America’s past time. I love that they were able to come to some sort of solution or understanding to get back on the court and to really help start the world to heal. We obviously have so far to go, but sports has always been that one time that people can come together. I think that now, more than ever, that’s what we really need. I’m every excited about it and it wouldn’t seem right if we didn’t have a champion this year and now we’re going to be able to get a chance to get that.

AM: We couldn’t agree more. We’re sure that you have a number of projects going on, whether you’re talking about in front of the camera or behind it, are there things that we should be looking forward to in order to keep our eye out for it?

MB: Obviously, you can catch All the Smoke on SHOWTIME right now although we’re in negotiations for a new deal so hopefully, that happens! Also, I’m continuing to produce and create content that I’ll start really getting out there on different networks and platforms as it’s taken over my love of sports – just being able to create content and being able to share true stories, real stories and do inspirational stories. I’m starting to that and I just signed with ICM to help me build my goal and that will be cool. I’m doing a lot in the cannabis space right now trying to educate people on that. Continue to follow that. Last but not least, educating people in a fun way on politics and teaching them on how meaningful it is. Not so much about not being passionate overall in voting for the president or whatever, but finding causes that you’re passionate about and building on those. That’s a small step to getting people first and foremost to register, getting them interested and hopefully getting them all the way interested in being able to understand how powerful their voices are to this country.

AM: We always like to end our interviews asking our changemakers who you clearly are – who are you inspired by. Who are three people who have inspired you to be at the point that you are at now?

MB: Nipsey Hussle RIP. Kobe RIP. These guys because of their focus and dedication on their craft and their obsessive nature – like their beautiful mind to be great. I think that both of those guys were great in their own way and they would have only become greater before their lives were cut short. Someone else that I look up to which is a big thing – I look up to someone like Michael Strahan. Someone who is able to be a formal athlete, able to speak on sports, crossover to mainstream media as well which is something that I would like to do.

IG @Matt_Barnes9

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 16 - 25 Matt Barnes + Editorial Design by Athleisure Mag | PG 27 + 33 Ray Chavez | PG 28 - 31 SHOWTIME |

Read the June Issue #54 of Athleisure Mag and see Authentically Matt Barnes in mag.

BING3WATCH | WESTWORLD

Read the Jun Issue #54 of Athleisure Mag and see BING3WATCH | WESTWORLD in mag.

S2. E5. | #TRIBEGOALS WITH NBA CHAMPION, ENTREPRENEUR, PHILANTHROPIST, CANNABIS EDUCATOR & SOCIAL JUSTICE ACTIVIST MATT BARNES

On today's episode of #TRIBEGOALS, we talk with Athleisure Mag's June cover for issue #54 veteran NBA Champion Matt Barnes who played 14 seasons in the league. His ability to bring his energy and focus to the court was seen on a number of teams from the LA Lakers, Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings just to name a few. His unapologetic honesty and loyalty to himself as well as who he works with shined through on the court and continues to be seen through his philanthropy, his skincare brand HUE For Every Man, the cannabis industry, as well as his focus on social justice. With the confluence of COVID-19 and the movement of #BlackLivesMatter, he continues to be at the forefront of ensuring that voices are heard and that people understand the importance of voting at the local, state and national level for changes to be made. He has lent his voice to rallies in his hometown of Sacramento for George Floyd as well as Stephon Clark. We talk about this as well as his successful podcast All the Smoke on SHOWTIME, his enterprises and the upcoming NBA season and playoffs and the importance of sports as we navigate challenging times.

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN WITH BROOKE ENCE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

IG @BrookeEnce

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

Read the May Issue of Athleisure

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

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

FROM THE RING TO THE WORLD WITH DARIA BERENATO

We're excited to have Daria Berenato for this month's cover. She wrestles in the WWE under the name of Sonya Deville. This athlete started as an MMA fighter and transitioned into becoming a WWE Superstar who uses her platform as an activist for the LGBTQ community, supporting those that are looking to break barriers and of course continuing to expand her empire in fashion, acting and more. We also talked about her upcoming fight with former tag team partner, Mandy Rose on WWE SmackDown on May 8th!

ATHLEISURE MAG: Great to catchup with you and an honor to have you as our cover as we've enjoyed having Nattie, Carmella/Leah Van Dale, Naomi/Trinity Fatu, as well - when was the moment that you realized that you wanted to be an athlete?

DARIA BERENATO: Oh my God, an athlete? From the first! I used to play basketball at 4 or 5 years old in the driveway. I spent my entire life playing sports from basketball to lacrosse, soccer, track and field. Then on to MMA – Mixed Martial Arts to professional wrestling. So, I don’t even know what my life would look like without sports!

AM: I remember you on WWE Tough Enough but you actually started as an MMA fighter! What was it about that sport that drew you to it and what was your transition to wrestling and joining the WWE?

DB: Yeah so when I was 15 or 16 years old, I was in high school and I played school sports my entire life. I just wanted a change of space and I wanted something different. I always had dreams of graduating from high school, moving far away and being on TV and acting as that was always a passion of mine. I wanted to explore something else also. I didn’t know if it was going to be playing a musical instrument or a marital art.

This was a discussion that I had with my mom one day. I had been watching a lot of MMA videos and had been watching Gina Carano, a big female fighter back in the early 2000’s/2010 probably when I was watching her. I thought it would be so cool to see a chick in a cage and get into a fight and then you see her interviews in a dress. It was so cool to see someone so badass and then to be able to see her feminine side. I liked the idea of someone being beautiful and then being tough at the same time. It was really cool and I became obsessed with the MMA. I started watching every UFC and every Pay-Per-View fight night and eventually I was like, “I want to fight MMA,” and my mom was like, “I don’t even know where you would do that around here.” There weren’t any UFC gyms around here to do that. I went to a local boxing gym that was 45 minutes from my house and I started boxing judo and Jiu-Jitsu and I just loved how pure the sport was. I loved how it was a one woman sport, but that you had a whole team of coaches and training partners that you needed to work with together to get the win and stuff. It was just a really cool community and I loved it. So I moved to Florida to train with American Top Team which is one of the best teams in the world when I was 17. Literally, the day of my high school graduation, I drove down to Florida.

AM: Wow!

DB: Yes. I’m really impulsive like that. When I want something, I will do anything to get it and my heart and my mind is 120% in what I do. So yes, MMA is what I did. I fought and trained while also pursuing acting at the same time. I did that for the next 4 or 5 years and finally, I was hosting AfterBuzz TV podcast in LA where I was living at the time. Maria Menounos, is also part of the WWE family and used to be on E! News.

AM: She’s actually in this month’s issue as well! Completely random that this happened!

DB: No way! Aww that is like so perfect! So her and her husband owned Afterbuzz TV and they became mentors to me. They just took me under their wing and told me that they loved my attitude and they loved my spirit. They thought that I could do something special. So the WWE asked Maria to be on Tough Enough as a contestant and she was like, “hell no. I’m too old for this. But I have the perfect girl and she’s a fighter.” They called me and they thought I was going to say no because they thought that I was so MMA that I wouldn’t want to depart from it.

But they called me and I said yes right away because I saw the opportunity. I didn’t necessarily think that that meant leaving MMA at that moment, I just thought that it was a competition and reality show that sounded like a good opportunity. I just said, let’s do it. That led me to WWE and I ended up getting it. I mean, I was working my butt off to be ready for the tryout and to do the best that I could. I kind of felt out of place at tryouts because there were a lot of bikini world champions like Mandy and fitness models and I was just this little rough around the edges Jersey girl who fought MMA. I definitely stood out in that sense.

A couple of months later, I was hired and the rest was kind of history. I just fell in love with the world of WWE. It was everything that I had always been looking for. It was the performing and competition aspect all rolled into one for my career. Honestly, it was so meant to be and it’s just exactly where I should be.

AM: In terms of Sonya Deville, can you tell us about this persona and what are the similarities and differences between you and her?

DB: When I was first developing Sonya’s character, she was very simplistic at first. She was just a badass that was an MMA fighter who was coming into this world. All she cared about was fighting and winning. She’s a very straight to the point kind of character. Over time, being with Absolution (trio that comprised Paige, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville) on RAW and being on Fire and Desire (tag team of Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville) on SmackDown with Mandy and working with Paige in the past. It all kind of added to the persona of Sonya Deville. Because life experiences make us who we are as people.

So that’s kind of the case with Sonya. She was definitely third wheeling it a little with Absolution and with Fire and Desire, took a backseat to Mandy Rose because it was about Mandy’s magazine covers ironically. It was Sonya always taking the back seat to everything that Mandy was doing because that was just the dynamic of the team. So, Sonya had enough and a lot of what you’re seeing now on SmackDown is a compilation of everything that Sonya has been through emotionally. Everyone is starting to realize that Sonya is a bad B.

AM: Yeah she is!

DB: She doesn’t mess around and she has a little bit of an anger issue I think that we are starting to see and a little bit of an anger problem. But she’s calculated and much more calculated than what I think that we ever thought Sonya was. She’s not as impulsive as she once was. She’s more calculated and every move and everything that she does is made with intention and purpose.

AM: You guys have a fight this Fri on SmackDown!

DB: Yes we do!

AM: The internet is all over the place talking about this. So many of our readers are asking what you can tell us about this and any goodies you can tell as we will drop this issue a few hours before your fight!

DB: Oh wow! I think that you’re going to see a side of Sonya Deville that you have never seen before. Nobody has ever seen this before! She’s been waiting to get her hands on Mandy Rose for years! You have to understand that this isn’t something that just developed over night. The fans are just seeing it happen overnight because Sonya has been keeping it inside just planning and bottling it up. They have to understand that this is a plan that has been coming to fruition that has been in the works for 4 years. 4 years that Sonya has been getting stepped on and has been keeping a mental piggy bank of things that she can use against Mandy Rose. You’re going to see all of that come to fruition on Friday night!

AM: Oh my gosh. Well obviously we can’t wait to see all of this, how it develops and what happens afterwards.

So right now, when you look at the word normal, it’s an interesting word to say, but when you look at an average week as a WWE Superstar, what is it like with you training, getting prepared for matches and you guys are actively still participating in your sport where others are not able to do this. How has that been for you?

DB: We’ve all just kind of developed our own systems at home. Because obviously no gyms are open so I have been training in my home gym that I have built over the past few months. It’s great and I’m blessed that I have it as it is a space that allows me to stay in shape and ready at all times for the ring.

When we show up to film, it’s a completely closed set and we’re doing everything that we can – no crowd nothing! I think it’s pretty remarkable to see that we are able to go forward in a way that is still keeping everyone safe and healthy, but also being able to put a product on television right now so that people can hopefully be distracted for a few hours of their week and not have to think about everything else that is going on out there in the world right now.

AM: We totally agree with you. When your shows were coming out, we wondered how you would be able to do what you guys do without an audience. But when you’re watching it, you’re still seeing the drama as if there were a million people in that room. We commend you for that. The amount of travel that you guys do, the hours you spend going from one place to another while being fresh faced and ready to give it all for your fans is just something that you guys do as a team that is so great.

DB: Thank you. I mean being part of the WWE, it’s a very special thing and very unique. Because of the scheduling, the travel, the amount of shows that we put on a year that people don’t realize. So in a time like this, we have to reinvent the wheel a little bit and recreate. It’s fun for me as an artist and as a performer. It’s been super fun for me to have to dig a little deeper and to see what we can do to still put on an incredible show without the fans. Obviously, the fans are a huge part of what we do.

AM: In terms of training, what are your go-to workouts that you focus on to stay fit and what are workouts that we can do at home?

DB: I switch it up almost every day. Because it obviously gets monotonous to do the same thing every day. I’ll wake up some mornings and do a mile run or an 8-10 mile bike ride on the days that I don’t feel like lifting weights. Some days I don’t feel like lifting weights and my body is telling me to take it easy on the weights. So I’ll just do some cardio on some days or do some laps to the pool. Some days I will do a full on lift mode for weight training. Usually I will do a high intensity workout or a circuit workout one day a week. Then the other 3 or 4 days, I will do an actual weight lifting workout which will have a back and thigh day, shoulders and tri day or a lower body day. That’s kind of how I break up my week.

I’m always switching it up and I always say that if you have a kettlebell or a dumbbell, there is so much that you can do. The options are endless and they’re still available if you go on Amazon and so many other websites that are still selling them. Resistance bands are so amazing. I have a couple of at home workouts that are on my YouTube channel – Daria Berenato. You just have to reinvent the wheel a little bit right?

AM: What are your 3 power foods that you like to eat when you're training?

DB: Redcon1 Mint Chocolate Chip Protein is my favorite thing in this entire world! I’m obsessed. There’s these Kodiak Protein Pancakes mix that are the best in the entire world that I have had in my entire life. Eggs are then my day one go to! I probably have them 6 days a week if not 7. Eggs are so easy and I will do egg whites a lot too. It’s easy to get protein.

AM: One of the things that we love about you is the fact that we know that you’re athletic, you have a fitness focus and you also enjoy eating fun stuff like donuts and other things like that. That’s so important as coming from a fashion/fitness perspective, there are so many people that make others feel bad that even those who do take care of their bodies – that there is a stigma if you engage in that. You’re able to hold both of those things and you normalize that. Why was that so important to you to include that and bring it into your brand for fans to also see that.

DB: I truly believe that life is all about balance. I definitely have a type of personality where if I become focused on working out, I become obsessed with working out. If I’m dieting, I become obsessed with dieting. I’ve always kept a really healthy balance with my diet. Ever since stopping MMA, in MMA you’re dieting and your carb depleted and calorie depleted because you’re cutting weight for your fight. That was super stressful on the body and the mind. So when I switched over to WWE as a professional wrestler, where we don’t have weight classes and a weight to make, I kind of promised myself never to diet that hard again just because I didn’t like how I felt even mentally doing it. Now I have developed something that works for me. Everybody’s body is different, we have different genetics and we work out and train differently too. But I have gotten my body to a point where I know what I can and can’t have in a week and what I need to do to burn it off if I do want to have it. That’s how I think. Work hard, play hard is definitely a motto that I have that follows me into the kitchen too. I love donuts, I love pizza – I probably have pizza once a week, I’m not even going to lie.

AM: Nice.

DB: Yup, I have those pancakes, they’re protein – but they’re still pancakes. I have them probably once or twice a week. I like to enjoy my food for sure. Me and Mandy had our donut show DAMANDYZ DONUTS which is now Daria’s Donuts! We don’t do that show together and I have been producing my own content for that show. I think she has been doing her own show. I don’t pay attention to her in what she does. It’s been really fun to try different donut places all over the world and I cooked my own for the first time.

AM: How’d that go?

DB: It was an absolute mess in the kitchen! But they actually didn’t taste that bad!

AM: Well there you go!

DB: I baked them, I need to fry them next time.

This week, I’m dropping a poolside workout for my fans. So it’s a really cool brand that we have created with Daria’s Donuts and is everything that we have talked about with health, fitness and a little bit of enjoyment and lifestyle stuff.

AM: What is your favorite donut in your favorite city?

DB: In Louisiana, I’ll never forget when I took a bite out of this donut. It was in Lafayette, Louisiana and it’s called Meche's Donut King. It’s a tiny little hole in the wall. Best donut that I have ever had in my life.

AM: What donut was it?

DB: A hot, classic glazed donut. But it was warm, the bread was moist and it was just perfect.

AM: I've been a fan of E! Total Divas and have enjoyed seeing your storyline on it. What was it about being on this show that made you want to be apart of it?

DB: They auditioned me for Total Divas two years in a row actually. The year before, they decided not to add anybody new. When they asked me to do it, I immediately said yes. I love Total Divas, I think it is one of the coolest shows because it gives the mainstream demographic a look into our lives. People don’t watch wrestling – like growing up, I didn’t watch wrestling. But I remember walking into my mom’s room and she had on Total Divas. It was the episode when Nattie busted her nose or something like that. I’ll never forget it. I asked my mom who the girls were and if they were wrestlers because I couldn’t understand it. She explained it to me and I knew I wanted to do that.

I swear on my life, I went online and went to apply. I don’t remember why, but I couldn’t apply. Either I wasn’t 18 yet or at the time, you couldn’t have tattoos. Either way I forget. There was some stipulation on the website where I told my mom that I couldn’t do it yet. It’s really funny because life comes full circle!

I was intrigued through Total Divas because I watched E! It was such a cool look to show our world and what goes on behind the scenes for those that don’t watch wrestling. Maybe looking at it could help them get into wrestling, enjoy the sport and fall in love with it just like we did. It’s really been fun and it was a no brainer when they asked. Of course, I was nervous about putting my whole entire life out there – my family, my friends and my relationship. That was nerve wracking. Obviously, it's much more nerve wracking to be yourself on camera versus playing a character on camera. It was a really cool experience and I feel like I have learned a lot more about myself doing it and I would definitely do it again.

AM: Who are you close to in the WWE that you consider being in your squad?

DB: Well Mandy was. Liv Morgan, Carmella – those are the ones that I’m closest too. Bayley, Becky Lynch – those are like my girls.

AM: Love that. Once again seeing all of those interactions on the show is fun for the Athleisure Media team as we love seeing a number of the people that we have done photoshoots and interviews with and seeing how their personalities on the show are just like when they were with us on set. Or seeing a scene and knowing that we were with them the day before.

DB: Right! That’s funny. We have such a good locker room because we all get along so well – we’re blessed. We have Trin, Saronas – we have such a cool locker room.

AM: We have been media sponsors for the past 4 years of NYC Pride as we think it's so important to celebrate and be allies to the LGBTQ community. As the first openly lesbian Superstar in the WWE how important was it for your to share your sexuality and how can the WWE improve representation and equality?

DB: Absolutely. It’s funny and I’m reminded every single day why I share my story and why I’m open about my life to the fans. Obviously, it’s not the easiest decision and not the easiest way to live. It’s much easier to just be yourself and to think that no one needs to know. I chose to share my story and I’m s happy that I did because I hear from people every single day that they are struggling with coming out and figuring who they are and sharing it with their loved ones, family and friends. We’ve made leaps and bounds in the LGBTQ community and in the world with acceptance and equality. But there is still so much to do. The fight is never over and I think it is so important to have an ally in the public eye. For me when I was growing up, the only gay person that I ever saw on TV was Ellen Degeneres and so there wasn’t many other representatives that I knew at the time.

So for me, a closeted gay girl that grew up in a small town in south New Jersey, I didn’t even think that it was a thing. I didn’t think that I could possibly be gay because I didn’t know anybody that was. I would have thoughts and I would push them way down in there because I didn’t think it could be. It seemed far fetched and I didn’t allow myself to be who I was. I find a lot of light in being able to do that for this generation’s Daria. I want to be the voice for the little me that never had one. For all of these kids, teens and adults who are dealing with these things now – they know who they are but they don’t have anyone to talk to about it or they don’t think it’s ok – just help them with their struggling emotions and let them know that it is more than ok. It’s more than ok to be who you are, it’s more than ok to love who you love and there is nothing to be apologetic about. Anybody who is meant to be in your life, will remain in your life, those who aren’t will exit. Everything happens for a reason and there is no love that is not pure.

I like to be that voice because I know all to well that feeling of not feeling you have anyone to relate to.

AM: What LGBTQ initiatives do you support?

DB: About a year or two ago we worked with WWE to get the first line of LGBTQ wrestling shirts. I got my “Put Your Hair Up and Square Up” rainbow shirt, Finn Balor got his, Becky Lynch got hers, Charlotte Flair – a bunch of Superstars I think 10 of them got them. The proceeds of the rainbow shirts went to GLAAD We were on the GLAAD Pride parade float in the NYC World Pride Parade. I was the representative for that! I got to ride the float and to represent WWE which was a super cool experience. We did the Spirit Day Lounge and NY ComicCon a few years back in NY. Slowly but surely, we’re getting a lot more involvement with community and I push for it every year. We’re always having meetings about it and what we can do to represent.

I have my own line called Rainbow Love which is completely LGBTQ friendly forward clothing line. One of the first shirts that we dropped said, “You Are Not Alone” with the Suicide Prevention Hotline on the back. It’s a super cool shirt and one of my favorite designs in the entire line. It’s so strong and it’s just so powerful. It just speaks for itself and lets you know that you shouldn’t be afraid to talk – to reach out for help to talk to somebody as we’re all going through shit and life isn’t every easy, but there is always a light at the end of the tunnel with a silver lining. It’s ok to have a Heavy Heart, but Rainbow Love. There’s a bigger line which is called Heavy Heart which this is apart of.

There’s a bunch of different ways that I try to do stuff like that. This year, I had planned on being on 6 or 7 Pride floats with the WWE behind me. Obviously, plans have changed on that a little bit, but we are working and talking about how we can be there to support virtually.

I look back at myself before I came out and know that I wasn’t able to be myself. When you’re keeping this secret from people that you are close with and those that you love the most, and you can’t act the way you want to in public it’s such a depressing feeling – it affects and manifests in ways that you can’t imagine and you don’t realize it. I mean, hindsight is 20-20 and all I can say to people is that being open and honest with who I was was the best decision that I ever made.

AM: Tell us about Quibi's WWE unscripted series "Fight Like a Girl."

DB: This was a really cool project. WWE partnered with Quibi which is a network with bite sized videos and a new series called “Fight Like a Girl,” focuses on a young woman who wants to make changes in her life for the better. She is teamed up with a WWE Superstar to help reach those goals and accomplishments. They go through a training program at the state of the art WWE Performance Center in Orlando as well as an extensive physical training, emotional training, mental training and mentorship program with Superstars. It’s really a cool show. I was partnered with a girl named Samantha who was closeted to half of her family and she was nervous to tell her father’s side. We just talked honestly and I just told her my journey and I think she was able to relate to the things that I said. I used fitness and force and working out as my biggest crutch when I was going through everything. It was my sanity and happy place when I was going through a lot of the stuff that I have been through. I think she was able to relate to that and she really got into working out and got in incredible shape and it was such a cool experience to see her total mind and body transformation. It was really cool.

AM: Circling back, we were talking about your clothing line, Rainbow Love, how did the line come about?

DB: My good friend Bobbie owns Black Craft clothing which is in Hot Topic and a couple of other stores. He wanted to expand and make a new line as he had been working on that for years. He wanted to make a new line, Heavy Heart and he called me up to be apart of it. He said that he didn’t know the kinds of things that I was into, but he knew that I wanted to make a clothing line anyway. He asked me if I wanted my own line under Heavy Heart. I would be able to name it, come up with the concept – whatever. We went back and forth for months with ideas and throwing things against the wall to see what would stick. I told him that I wanted to do something that I was passionate about and I didn’t want to just throw a logo on a shirt and call it a day. I suggested doing a LGBTQ forward line and he thought it was dope. We came up with the “You’re Not Alone Shirt” with the Suicide Prevention Hotline and a few other shirts, another one called True Colors, a couple that just says Rainbow Love with a cool graphic of my face on it. We just hand designed all of the stuff and we wanted the line to be very raw. We wanted it to speak for itself and let people know that it is ok to express your emotions and to be as dark or as bright as you feel. Life’s not always perfect and it’s ok to be in your feels. It’s ok to have a Heavy Heart, but Rainbow Love. It’s been really cool and I think the fan response has been incredible.

We’re trying to set something up where maybe one of our product’s proceeds will go to a charity or maybe a percentage of all of the products will. We don’t know all the details yet but we are working on that. I just want to be able to help in any way that I can with Suicide Prevention and LGBTQ community in general. It’s been so cool and my fans love it because it is something that they can relate to. The clothing line is friendly to them. It’s more inclusivity that’s subtle but really sweet at the same time.

I wanted it to be clothes that I would rock everyday that you would see me in. I wear the shirts all the time and it’s totally my vibe. Obviously, it’s black because I wear a lot of that, but it’s got the color pop on it too and that matches with my personality as well. I am a little social butterfly despite my dark character persona with Sonya Deville. It’s relatable and true to who I am.

AM: A number of people from the WWE like Dwayne Johnson and John Cena have gone on to having movie careers, competition reality shows etc - do you have plans to follow in their footsteps?

DB: That’s been a goal of mine as acting is my passion and my first dream! Something I have always kept in mind is that you have to go where your path takes you. You have to work hard, but if life hands you a lemon – you have to make lemonade. That’s what I did. I got a little off of the path of becoming an actor, but I actually found something that could get me there in a better way in my opinion. To follow in the footsteps of John Cena, Dwayne Johnson and Dave Bautista – guys that have come over from WWE and stepped into Hollywood. That’s ultimately the long time game plan. I want to act in television and in film. I’d love to be in The Mandalorian or The Fast and The Furious.

AM: Could so see that.

DB: Right? It would be so fun! I feel like I have created a little brand for myself with WWE and that’s just going to continue to grow and it will make the transition nice and smooth. In the meantime, I have been working with an acting coach, Sean Whalen for the last 2 years. I have been putting in extra hours which isn’t always easy when you’re on the road, but it has helped tremendously with everything that I do from WWE to acting. That’s my goal to be the first female that has made that huge leap.

AM: What advice do you have for women and girls on how they should blaze their own trails in career and in life?

DB: Well if it helps any – I was called crazy and ridiculous. I was 17 moving out of my house saying I was going to be a professional MMA fighter and an actor in a time where Ronda Rousey didn’t exist yet in the UFC. It was a horse of a very different path and no one thought that I was capable except for myself. The power of believing in yourself is so strong! I would say, say less – do more. Put your head down and work your ass off and you can literally accomplish anything. My story is a testament to that. There were so many times that I got down on myself and I said, "I'm not going to make it," I still woke up every day at 6am and trained for 4 hours and then bartended until 2am and did it all over again. You’ve got to grind if you want it. Just don’t ever give up on your dreams. There’s nothing more gratifying in your life than living your dreams.

AM: We like asking people who are 3 people that inspire them in their careers or in life whether you know them personally, follow them online etc?

DB: Ellen Degeneres for sure, Gina Carano and I’m going to go with my mom. Everyone plays a certain role. Ellen showed me at a very young age so much strength and resilience. She wasn’t only in a very male dominated world but a hetero dominated world. She broke down so many barriers for women and LGBTQ people. She’s inspirational in her own right and went through so many struggles being who she is.

Gina Carano was the first pioneer of the MMA for women and was one of the first huge female superstars that people would actually pay to go see. She’s incredibly badass.

My mom is just the definition of unconditional love and support. Although everyone else called my dreams crazy, she did not call them crazy and for that, she is my day one!

IG @SonyaDevilleWWE

PHOTOS COURTESY | PG 16, 26, 28, 30 + 32 WWE | PG 18 + 21 Vince Trupsin | PG 22, 24 + 39 Ryan Loco | PG 35 TOTAL DIVAS -- Season 9 Gallery -- Pictured: Sonya -- (Photo by: Brian Bowen Smith/E! Entertainment) | PG 36 TOTAL DIVAS -- Maui Vacation -- Pictured: (l-r) Carmella, Sonya -- (Photo by: Mario Perez/E! Entertainment) |

Hear WWE Superstar & E! Total Divas', Daria Berenato/Sonya Deville this month 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, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts and wherever you enjoy listening to your favorite podcast.

Read the April Issue of Athleisure Mag and see From the Ring to the World with Daria Berenato in mag.

S1. E7. | BUNGALOW SK WITH SAMANTHA BUSCH

Avid readers of Athleisure Mag know that in 2018 (Issue #27), we had Ashley Busch, wife of NASCAR driver Kurt Busch as our cover. In today's episode of Bungalow SK, we chatted with her sister-in-law, Samantha Busch, wife of NASCAR driver, Kyle Busch. Samantha is known for her fashion sense, her boutique - Avant the Label, being a mom and being one of the stars of CMT's Racing Wives. We also talked about IVF and how she is helping those who are in the process of that journey as well as the importance of staying connected especially during the current times as we all do our part to #flattenthecurve and #stayathome.

Today's interview with Samantha Busch is via her partnership with Walmart Family Mobile, an affordable wireless solution for families to stay connected, organized and a step ahead during the busy racing season. 

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

S2. E1. | #TRIBEGOALS WITH NBC'S LAW & ORDER: SVU JAMIE GRAY HYDER

We're excited to kick off the second season of #TRIBEGOALS and today's episode comes from our 50th cover star, Jamie Gray Hyder of NBC's Law & Order: SVU. After our Feb Issue cover shoot which took place at Dream Hotel Downtown in TAO Group's PHD Rooftop Lounge + Terrace, we caught up with her to talk about her career which has included being in David Guetta's ft. Sam Martin "Lovers on the Sun" video, voice acting for Call of Duty, HBO's True Blood, USA's Graceland and of course being in the main cast of NBC's Law & Order: SVU, Detective Kat Azar Tamin. We talk about how she prepares for her roles, what it's like to get into character on the show with stories that are ripped from the headline and what it's like to hang out and work with her colleagues Mariska Hargitay and Ice-T.

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

FINDING THE THROUGH LINE WITH JAMIE GRAY HYDER

We can't tell you how many times we've enjoyed watching NBC's Law & Order marathons whether it's the flagship program, Criminal Intent or SVU. We love our fair share of True Crime and the squad members that we get to know each season. When Law & Order: SVU came back last fall, its 21st season (they have now been renewed for an additional 3 seasons), marking it as the longest running drama series in history. Along with more stories ripped from the headlines, advocating for victims and getting to know many of our faves, Jamie Gray Hyder joined the cast as Officer Katriona "Kat" Azar Tamin who is learning the ropes, coming in with her style of tracking criminals and learning how to grow with her squad.

This month's shoot for our 50th issue showcases a number of pre-Spring looks worn by Jamie Gray Hyder who is known for her voice acting work in the Call of Duty video games, HBO's True Blood and a number of other projects. We took some time to find out more about how she got into the entertainment industry, how she prepares for her roles as well as how it is to be in this acclaimed and iconic show!

ATHLEISURE MAG: We’ve been fans of yours since you’ve been on HBO’s True Blood, a number of our readers play video games and have enjoyed your voice acting on them. Can you tell us how you got into the entertainment industry?

JAMIE GRAY HYDER: I’ve been acting since I was a kid. I’ve been a classically trained vocalist since I was really young. I have always been performing and then when I got into college and studying straight acting and kind of left the musical theater world, that’s when I sort of honed in on film and television and working on screens. So after college, I moved out to LA to try to get it going.

AM: What have been some of the shows that readers have seen you in prior to NBC’s Law & Order SVU?

JGH: My first sort of big break was on True Blood. They initially hired me to do a smaller part for 2 episodes and we all worked together really well and they liked the character. So I ended up staying for 2 seasons. For me, that was a huge learning experience and a huge validating experience. To work with HBO as my first home is something that I am really grateful for.

AM: You are so extremely versatile. We’ve enjoyed seeing you in a number of ways such as David Guetta’s music videos. How do you prepare yourself for all of these different types of opportunities?

JGH: You sort of have to find the through-line in what you bring to each one and for me that came down to getting comfortable with what I already bring to the table. Self-awareness is really important because that’s going to be the thread that binds it no matter whether you’re doing video games, television or music videos. If you’re not comfortable with yourself and comfortable with sort of what you provide on naturally, then you’re not really going to know where to go from there.

For me, becoming more comfortable with myself and increasing my self-awareness was a tool that I think has helped me through all of the different mediums.

AM: So Law & Order as a franchise, we can’t tell you how many hours a week that we have enjoyed watching it. It’s something we love watching whether it’s Law & Order, Criminal Intent or SVU. How did you get the call that you are joining the cast?

JGH: Initially, they brought me on to do a few episodes as a guest star and we were going to feel out her role as a regular. Then when they decided to keep me and called me, I lost it and I started crying. I couldn’t believe it because not only am I a part of such a legendary show, but such a historic season. So I get all the weight that comes with that even though this is my first season. So to be tied into such a monumental achievement for the show has been something that has is very rare and something that I am really grateful for.

AM: Tell us who is Officer Katriona “Kat” Azar Tamin?

JGH: Officer Kat and Jamie actually have a lot in common when it comes to being driven and sometimes stubborn and independent. Kat is more reserved when it comes to, I think, her personality, but when it comes to the way she approaches her work and fighting for these victims, she really leads with her heart. I think you’ll see her attempting to create more of a balance between her head and her heart as we continue on. Right now, she is still a little bit rough around the edges kind of learning how to conduct herself in this new world and this new set of rules and structure. While she is a little bit out of line here and there, I think that as she grows and becomes more comfortable with her role in the squad room I think you’ll see her settle in a little bit better.

AM: What is it like working with this amazing cast of characters and people such as Ice-T and Mariska Hargitay. What is that like as we have a number of Law & Order fans who would love to know.

JGH: I learned so much from them both professionally and personally every day. Ice has sort of had my back very much so from the beginning just like Finn has had Kat’s back from the beginning. He and I connected instantly over my work in the music industry. My side job in LA was working at a recording studio called Record Plant. So I worked there for 4 years and dealt with a lot of the same people and personality types and scenarios that Ice has kind of grown up in. So we shared a lot of those kinds of experiences. With Mariska, it’s sort of a daily lesson in how to lead and how to inspire and motivate people. All of my castmates have families and they all have children. They all come in and focus and bring a fresh energy every single day. That’s easy for me as a new person, but thinking into working on something for 5-10-20 years, you might get jaded. Every single one of my castmates comes in fresh daily which is something that I find super impressive.

AM: You guys cover a lot of really heavy topics. In terms of preparing, as your episodes are inspired by cases that took place in real life, and I’m sure there is a lot of work in terms of understanding the victim, how you would play the role, how it would be like for them to come to you etc. How do you take that on as it seems like that would take a lot to be in those positions?

JGH: Before we do each episode, we are sent a whole research packet that has a bunch of news articles and things that all deals with the scenario that we are dealing with on the show. While we don’t necessarily represent certain people or events, often times we are pulling from the news and real people. For me, it’s very much a motivating factor. You have to put aside whatever you’re dealing with personally and really give value to what you are doing because there are real people dealing with these types of issues in their real lives. While we have to keep it light on set as much as we can because we are dealing with heavy material every single day. I think that approaching it with a little bit of reverence is the way that we all really justify what we are doing and just knowing that there are real people out there that are being positively impacted by our show is something that is never lost on us.

AM: So you guys are currently filming season 21 right now. What is a week like when you’re balancing between filming for the show and then what do you do when you’re not on set?

JGH: I chill in my apartment a lot. Because we can work long hours. Some days are shorter than others. We typically shoot 5 days out of the week, 10 months out of the year. It’s a 9-5 and you really have to think of your dressing room as your office and your trailer as your office and take that down time and be productive with it. It can be grueling, but you just remind yourself how lucky you are to be in this position every day and that helps get you through it. When I get home, I just like to hang, and chill and cook and watch movies. I’m happy to be in NY and I have a lot of exploring to do.

AM: What do you do while you’re here – where could we see you working out, going shopping or grabbing a bite?

JGH: I love Japanese food so I am always trying out a new Japanese restaurant. As far as working out, I work out at a fight gym.

AM: So the recent episode you were in, we saw you boxing - that was not something new for you?

JGH: No, that was kind of inspired by my routine already and they said we want to incorporate that and they had a storyline that they had been working on and so it all worked together. So a few days a week, I’m over at Gotham Gym. I work with trainers there. My preferred method of workout is technique and fight training and that’s what I do a few times a week.

AM: With summer coming up and people wanting to look fit and their best, what are 3 boxing moves that people should put into their routines?

JGH: Something super simple that anyone can do at home and you don’t need to pay a lot of money to do it and you don’t have to have people tell you to do it is jumping rope.

AM: Ugh we’re not a fan, but it’s so good for you so we power through it.

JGH: When I first started, I said oh my God, I’m so shitty at this. But then you keep going and just doing 3 minutes before getting into my workout every day – it gets your co-ordination in check, it gets your rhythm in check. For me, it kind of wakes me up. So this is something that anyone can do and benefit from.

AM: So you love to cook, what are 3 things that we can see you cooking?

JGH: I like projects. So I will typically pick a cuisine and say, “what about Korean? I love the Korean Cheong Soups how can I make one at home?” I really enjoy cooking projects that involve going to specialty grocery stores whether it’s a Korean grocery store, a Japanese grocery store, an Indian grocery store – I kind of like exploring new ingredients. I will pick something that feels foreign to me to learn about different foods but then you get to know more about different cultures that way at the same time.

AM: What are philanthropies, charities or platforms that you like to give your time to and support as well as to draw awareness to?

JGH: I work a lot supporting the Armed Forces and Veterans causes that’s really important to me. I specifically work with organizations that help to aid the transition to active duty and civilian life. Some of those include the Student Veterans of America. They are an organization that has liaisons at over 1,500 campuses across the country that help newly, people who are newly coming out of the service and want to get their Bachelors degree. They’re older and have a full life that they have to work around so they have an organization that helps to get around those hurdles to make achieving a higher education easier for those that are coming out of service. When I worked at Call of Duty, I worked with the Call of Duty Endowment which helps place veterans at high paying full-time jobs and in addition to veterans, I work a lot with mental health organizations such as the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and I work a lot with Cannabis Reform. So those are my 3 major things and they often overlap in a lot of ways as well.

AM: That’s inspiring. What are acting projects that you could imagine doing and would like to have offered to you that are on your bucket list?

JGH: For me, it comes down to the types of work. I love being physical and that’s one of the things that I love about the episode on SVU. I loved being able to be physical, to fight and to do stunt work and getting into it that way. Any job that really requires me to by physical or learn a new skill. Working in other languages and accents and things like that is something that also appeals to me. I also really love animation because you get to voice characters that you would never get to play on screen and it allows you to sort of stretch that muscle a little more.

AM: With the summer coming up, do you have any place you’re going or somewhere on your bucket list to go to?

JGH: Loving Japanese food the way that I do, I love traveling to Japan. I have been once before and so my fiancé and I are doing a honeymoon of sorts and going back to Japan to have a retreat - a relaxing week in some of the onsen towns that’s more nature based places. It would probably be in Northern Japan. That would be the next big trip.

AM: When you’re flying, what are 3 things that you like to have in your carry-on that make traveling more comfortable?

JGH: Snacks – I always like having those. I usually like to have an oil or lotion which keeps your hands from getting dry. I also like to bring my essential oils like lavender or peppermint and to put it behind my ears. It doesn’t disturb anyone else but it keeps me in my own cocoon of sorts and it keeps me in my comfort in that way.

IG @JGHyder

We shot our 50th cover at the Dream Downtown Hotel within TAO Group Hospitality's PHD Rooftop Lounge and at the Winter Rose Garden Lobby Bar. These areas are just a couple of properties available at this destination that vacationers, those traveling for business and those who are enjoying a staycation can enjoy when visiting. We wanted to find out more about them as well as what you can look forward to as we transition to the Spring and the Summer.

ATHLEISURE MAG: Before we delve into the specific spaces we shot in, please tell us about Tao Group Hospitality as we find these restaurants, nightclubs and day clubs are global multisensory experiences.

TAO GROUP HOSPITALITY: Tao Group Hospitality is a leading restaurant and nightlife company that develops, owns and operates many of the worlds most recognized restaurant and entertainment venues under various brands including but not limited to Tao, Marquee, Avenue, Lavo, Beauty & Essex, Vandal, The Highlight Room, Luchini and Koma in major markets across the world. Tao Group Hospitality’s corporate headquarters is located in New York City, with locally-based managing partners and a full-time marketing and operations staff in every other market.

AM: What cities are Tao Group Hospitality properties located in?

TGH: New York City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Singapore, and Sydney.

AM: Are there new properties that we should keep an eye out for in 2020 for Tao Group Hospitality?

TGH: Top secret – stay tuned!

AM: The Lobby Bar is a fun space and for the winter, you have it themed as the Winter Rose Garden. What was the thought behind this installation, and will there be additional themes for this this year?

TGH: The Winter Rose Garden is complete with a bar & wall made out of 15,000 red roses complete with red accent furniture, candles, and rose-infused cocktails. Food and beverage offerings at The Winter Rose Garden include the Crispy Truffle Mac & Cheese Balls and the Primrose Cider cocktail with a side of rose-infused ice cubes. This magical rouge oasis at Dream Downtown was designed to cure a bad case of the winter blues and will be activated for a limited time only so stop in today!

AM: Are there 3 signature cocktails and dishes in this bar that guests should enjoy while in this space?

TGH: Blanc de Blanc ($19) – Ciroc Coconut, Creme de Cacao, Amaretto, Almond Milk, Almond Milk Foam, Shaved Chocolate; Lavender Dreams ($18) – Don Julio Blanco, Lemon, Pea Flower Tea, Simple Syrup, Egg White and Primrose Cider ($18) – Barking Irons Applejack, Cinnamon Syrup, Lemon Juice, Sparkling Rosé, Rose Ice Cube.

AM: We have spent a number of nights, NYFW events and more at PHD Rooftop Lounge. When did this space open and what is the vibe of this penthouse space?

TGH: Having opened in June 2011, PHD Rooftop Lounge continues to be the ultimate penthouse, featuring timeless and luxurious finishes. With an exquisite panoramic Manhattan skyline view that includes direct lines of site to the Hudson River and Empire State Building, guests come to relax on custom-built Italian leather banquettes with marble tables, and cozy seating niches located on the outdoor terrace.

AM: What are 3 signature cocktails and dishes that we should enjoy when being here?

TGH: Dream Girl ($19) – Bacardi Limon, Cointreau, Raspberry; Strawberry Fields ($19) – Don Juilo Blanco, Fresh Strawberry, Basil and Ginger Towers ($19) – Ketel One, Fresh Ginger, Mint, Ginger Beer.

AM: What kinds of events are held at PHD Rooftop and as we head into the Spring and the Summer, what events should we mark on our calendar?

TGH: TBD! Follow us at @PHDRooftopNY to stay up to date with things fun for Spring / Summer 2020!

AM: Tao Group Hospitality has additional spaces within Dream Hotel Downtown, please share those with a little information about these as well as upcoming Spring/Summer events?

TGH: Join us every Monday night at Meatpacking hotspot, Bodega Negra, for the weekly themed dinner party – Loco Mondays. Amidst the intimate and moodily-lit “Tudor Hacienda” decor, watch as performers kick off the evening of vibe dining with music from DJ Select, followed by tabletop performances from a rotating line-up of mesmerizing acts such as burlesque dancers and fire-breathers. Enjoy menu offerings from Corporate Executive Chef Brad Warner with small plates such as fresh ceviche, tacos and generously proportioned dishes like Shrimp Alambre and Enchiladas, complimented by a selection of handcrafted mezcal and tequila cocktails; followed by the famous Don Huevo dessert from Corporate Pastry Chef Paola Marocchi. The perfect spot to host your birthday, visiting friends or simply just a way to turn your Monday around, this is a party you do not want to miss.

Located on the lower level of Dream Downtown in New York City’s Meatpacking District, The Electric Room is the perfect spot for late-night dancing and after-dinner drinks. The intimate room accommodates approximately 100 people and features a full bar servicing high-end spirits and specialty cocktails. The room provides a distinct cool Britannia feel with sofas featuring the Union Jack Flag and custom back-painted antique mirrors by artist Chris Stain that adorn the banquette wall. Relax among photography and artwork by Sante D’Orazio and Marilyn Minter, while two gothic-inspired chandeliers provide intimate lighting for a curated, one-of-a-kind experience.

Escape to The Beach at Dream Downtown, the outdoor/indoor restaurant located at Dream Downtown hotel in Meatpacking District. Spanning 5,000 square feet, The Beach includes a glass-bottom pool, full-service bar, pool deck, sand beach, two private cabanas, and over 50 chaise lounges. The café located adjacent to the pool features a casual all-day menu created by Corporate Executive Chef Brad Warner with highlights such as The Beach Burger and Baja Fish Tacos, which pairs perfectly with a seasonal cocktail menu. As one of New York City’s most beloved Summer staples, The Beach features a pergola filled with lush greenery, hanging lamps, lattice chairs, overhead twinkling mason jars, and oversized plant walls all surrounding the pool area and is open during the Summer season only.

IG @DreamDowntown

@TaoGroup

@PHDRooftopNY

@DreamBeachNYC

@BodegaNegra

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS

Athleisure Mag's cover story was shot by Co-Founder/Celeb Photographer Paul Farkas, using 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, MAKEUP & HAIR CREDITS

Athleisure Mag's Celeb Fashion Stylist, Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director Kimmie Smith, MUA Jessica Bonilla and Hairstylist Lea DeLoy share how Jamie Gray Hyder's look was created for the cover editorial.

LOOK I | FITNESS STYLE

PG 24-29 | ULTRACOR Aster Luna Bra, Aster Legging and Aster Polaris Zip Up Hoodie |

SKINCARE | PONDS Dry Skin Cream | GLOSSIER Coconut Skin Balm | GIOVANNI Refreshing Rose Water and Aloe Mist | MILK MAKEUP Hydro Grip Primer |

FOUNDATION | L'OREAL Infallible Foundation Shade 475 | RIMMEL LONDON Concealer Shade Buff | L'OREAL True Match Powder Shade W2 + W4 for the center of the face; W7 for the perimeter of the face | FENTY BEAUTY Sun Stalk'r Shady Biz Bronzer |

BLUSH | MILANI Luminoso |

HIGHLIGHT | JOUER Skinny Dip |

EYES | ANASTASIA BEVERLY HILLS X AMREZY Eyeshadow Palette using Shade OG on the eyes | MAYBELLINE Lash Sensational Mascara |

LIPS | FENTY BEAUTY Gloss Bomb |

HAIR | Added THEURGY Gypsy Soul Styling Lotion throughout dry hair to maintain control of the hair and creating smooth hair before creating two inverted French Braids | Pulled out a few wispy pieces for an undone effect |

LOOK II | RELAXED STYLE

PG 16-22 | PARADISED Kelsey Jumpsuit in Vanilla | LAGOS Blue Caviar Beaded Bracelet x 2 | ATHLETIC PROPULSION LABS Women's TechLoom Bliss in Rose Dust/Nude | NAVAL SURFACE AND MINE WARFIGHTING DEVELOPMENT CENTER Hat |

EYES | ANASTASIA BEVERLY HILLS X AMREZY Eyeshadow Palette using Shade OG, New Yawker and Yugo was added on the Lash Line | ARDELL Trio Lashes applied |

LIPS | COVERGIRL Sienna Lipstick |

HAIR | This look showcased soft beachy waves | Sprayed in THEURGY Out of Body throughout dry hair for hold and heat protection | The wrap curled throughout curling curling everything away from the face | Finished with THEURGY Shape Shift for added extra root lift and sexy, messy texture |

LOOK III | OUT & ABOUT STYLE

FRONT COVER, PG 30 - 34 | THE FOLD Seville Coat Multicoloured Wool | OLIVIA VON HALLE Bella Jet Black Silk Camisole | MAVI JEANS Adriana Mid Rise Super Skinny in Black Denim | UNO DE 50 A Tickle with a Feather Necklace | MLB WASHINGTON NATIONALS World Series Hat |

LIPS | The lip was changed to DOSE OF COLORS More Creamer Please |

HAIR | Previously for the 2nd look, the hair was curled | For this look, the hair was pinned back on the sides | The hair was finished with a light mist of THEURGY Retrograde Hairspray workable spray |

LOOK IV | SPRING NIGHT'S GLAM STYLE

BACK COVER PG 36 - 39 | OLIVIA VON HALLE Capability Nika Full Length Robe | LUNYA Washable Silk Slip Dress in Deep Night | LAGOS KSL Cuff Bracelet | VIRGINS, SAINTS & ANGELS San Benito Crystal Magdalena in Blue Velvet |

EYES | BK on the lash line

LIPS | MILANI Red Lipstick in Kiss Matte Necklace |

HAIR | Hair was pulled up into a “Done/ Undone” top knot pulling out pieces from all around the hairline for soft texture |

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Read the Feb Issue of Athleisure Mag and see Finding the Through Line with Jamie Gray Hyder in mag.