Speaker 1: This is Conversations with Olivia Jade and I Heart Radio podcast. Oh,
Speaker 1: we're really jumping right into this. Hi, how are you well? First, Hi,
Speaker 1: miss you. I know it's been on. I mean it's
Speaker 1: almost been a year since we started this. The Dancing
Speaker 1: with the Stars process hasn't been almost a year, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it has, because I remember I remember Labor Day, like
Speaker 1: right before Labor Day was like my last for I
Speaker 1: was like, this is the last party, this is the
Speaker 1: last moment, like it's time to hit it. Yeah, you're
Speaker 1: actually so right, because I remember coming back from like
Speaker 1: summer vacation basically and starting right away. That's insane. Well,
Speaker 1: I didn't even do an intro. We got thrown into
Speaker 1: this right away. I have Cody Riggsby on my podcast today.
Speaker 1: He is one of my favorite people. We were on
Speaker 1: Dancing with the Stars together, and if you guys don't
Speaker 1: know who he is, I'm gonna let him give his
Speaker 1: own introduction so you can really make it perfect. Take
Speaker 1: it away. Oh wow, Like you know, when you're like
Speaker 1: doing an intro of yourself, it's like it's like shouting
Speaker 1: your resume and it is a little narcissistic. But listen,
Speaker 1: I worked hard So, my friends, I'm I'm Cody Riggsby,
Speaker 1: former Dancing with the Stars contestant and uh Peloton instructor
Speaker 1: for over eight years now. And maybe you've seen some
Speaker 1: of my videos clipped on TikTok for a nice uh
Speaker 1: laugh a little l O L here and there, um,
Speaker 1: and I'm excited to be here and reunited with the
Speaker 1: beautiful Olivia Jan. I'm so happy you're here. What have
Speaker 1: you been up to recently? Like, what's the last year
Speaker 1: that you that I haven't really seen you? What's it
Speaker 1: had in store? Um? A lot, you know, Like I
Speaker 1: left Dancing with the Stars and I took a little
Speaker 1: time for myself on the holidays, but then it was
Speaker 1: just like a lot of work being brand deals or
Speaker 1: stuff at Peloton, um pr stuff like that. I'm working
Speaker 1: on some stuff this summer that I can't necessarily talk
Speaker 1: about right now. But like when people do that, a
Speaker 1: bitch can't like hurt a contract or like gout a
Speaker 1: contract that's coming up. I know. I hating like that.
Speaker 1: I also hate when people are like just wait, I
Speaker 1: have this coming on, or like you guys can't handle
Speaker 1: what I'm about to do. I'm just like okay, but
Speaker 1: you know what, Honestly, um, this summer, I've been really
Speaker 1: just kind of focusing on myself. I think I came
Speaker 1: to a moment where I was like, all right, work
Speaker 1: is great, and I love working and I love building
Speaker 1: whatever I'm building here. But for a very long time,
Speaker 1: probably like two or three years, I've been so focused
Speaker 1: on work that I've taken I've kind of lost a
Speaker 1: little bit of myself. So I think for the past
Speaker 1: like three months, I've really been focused on healing and
Speaker 1: like find doing things that nourish me, even if that
Speaker 1: means like not chasing a dollar. If that makes right, Okay,
Speaker 1: I wanna I want to come back to that because
Speaker 1: I think that's an important conversation, but just to kind
Speaker 1: of kick off the episode, I kind of want to
Speaker 1: hear about like where you're from, how you got started.
Speaker 1: I know that you were a background answer before Peloton,
Speaker 1: and can you just explain a little bit about like
Speaker 1: how you even got into this space, how you started
Speaker 1: with Peloton, and like kind of if somebody was listening
Speaker 1: and they want to have a similar trajectory or like
Speaker 1: a similar career path, how somebody that's not in that
Speaker 1: position to do so, could I mean, that's a that's
Speaker 1: a great, a great question, and I'll kind of get
Speaker 1: into my story of it. And I think I think
Speaker 1: the more before I even tell the story. I think
Speaker 1: the moral of the story is a lot of success.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's just being at the right place at the
Speaker 1: right time. But you've got to make sure that you're
Speaker 1: the right person that's going to be at the right
Speaker 1: place at the right time. So if you're not like
Speaker 1: prepared for an opportunity that's going to hit you in
Speaker 1: the face, uh, you might not get that opportunity. So
Speaker 1: I think it's always good to be doing the work,
Speaker 1: even if you don't know what's next. So that's kind
Speaker 1: of a moral story or where where I hit it.
Speaker 1: But you know, I was born in Los Angeles. I
Speaker 1: lived there until I was about eight. Me and my
Speaker 1: mom and like three cats and two dogs packed into
Speaker 1: a Chrysler and like moved across the country in the
Speaker 1: nineties and we settled into Greensboro, North Carolina, where I
Speaker 1: grew up from eight to twenty two. Um, in like
Speaker 1: high school and college, I was very much like into
Speaker 1: musical theater. But um, I was like a really good
Speaker 1: dancer on my own. So a friend told me to
Speaker 1: go um intern at Broadway Dance Center here in New York.
Speaker 1: So I did that the summer of my freshman year
Speaker 1: of college, and that's where I really fell in love
Speaker 1: with New York City. And I honestly this I got
Speaker 1: to express myself as a gay man, and I knew
Speaker 1: that I wanted to, like really come to this city
Speaker 1: and be able to live the life that I wanted to.
Speaker 1: So through college, my focus was always to come to
Speaker 1: New York. So I moved to New York in two
Speaker 1: thousand nine. I've been here thirteen years. I can't believe it.
Speaker 1: UM and I started kind of just doing a bunch
Speaker 1: of odd end jobs. I worked in fashion, I worked
Speaker 1: in I worked at restaurants, I worked retail. I was
Speaker 1: just really doing anything to make a buck. And then
Speaker 1: I kind of I got into the commercial dance world
Speaker 1: for about five years, where I got to do some
Speaker 1: really cool stuff. I dance for Katy Perry and Humanna
Speaker 1: do SNL like. I love that. I loved that because
Speaker 1: it had so much passion. But I think I was
Speaker 1: missing was purpose and in all honesty, when you're a
Speaker 1: backup dancer, you're kind of doing You're doing things to
Speaker 1: elevate another person. You're doing things to make other people
Speaker 1: look great, and you're not really creating a foundation for yourself.
Speaker 1: So I became kind of unhappy and didn't really have purpose.
Speaker 1: And one, you know, one summer, I was like, all right,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna like pump the brakes on the dance world.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna manifest that something great is gonna come. I
Speaker 1: don't know what it's gonna be, but honestly, I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna put my head down do a but like too
Speaker 1: many odd end jobs as I can to make a
Speaker 1: dollar and find financial stability. And honestly, like six months later,
Speaker 1: Peloton landed in my lap. Um. How Yeah, I was
Speaker 1: working at this club called The Box. I'm sure you do,
Speaker 1: and it has a very like risk Abe or Less show,
Speaker 1: But I wasn't actually dancing in it. Um. I was
Speaker 1: just working in front of the house, helping the bottle
Speaker 1: service girls at night. And the chore the choreographer of
Speaker 1: that show knew I was a dancer and he had
Speaker 1: a connection to Peloton, and so he was like, Hey,
Speaker 1: this company, this like startup is looking for, you know,
Speaker 1: people that are into fitness, and I kind of gotten
Speaker 1: I got into fitness to book dance shops because you
Speaker 1: gotta look a certain way. And I was an entertainer
Speaker 1: and that's what they were looking for. So I sent
Speaker 1: my head shot in resume and I got an email
Speaker 1: back and went in for an interview and I got
Speaker 1: the job, and I was I was really lucky because
Speaker 1: it was a new company. They were they were figuring
Speaker 1: themselves out. I kind of had the ability to fake
Speaker 1: it till I make it, you know. They were just like,
Speaker 1: here's this cute boy, and he's fun and fun and
Speaker 1: has a personality, so like, let's give him a shot.
Speaker 1: And I was really lucky that I started Pelton at
Speaker 1: kind of in the infancy because I got to really
Speaker 1: make a lot of mistakes. I got to figure myself out.
Speaker 1: I got to um observe and watch some really fierce
Speaker 1: people like Robin Urson, like Jess king Um and kind
Speaker 1: of just absorb their fierceness and how they discovered themselves.
Speaker 1: And for a while, I feel like I was trying
Speaker 1: to be robbing and I'm not robbing. I'm not an
Speaker 1: ultramarathon r. I'm not a bad asspictch like she is,
Speaker 1: Like I'm just I'm not her and so I think
Speaker 1: once I started to embrace who I was and let
Speaker 1: that shine in my classes, people started to resonate with
Speaker 1: that and connect with that. And I'm glad I had
Speaker 1: that period of time to like not know what I
Speaker 1: was doing, so that, you know, when the pandemic hit
Speaker 1: and Peloton blew up, I was ready. I was ready
Speaker 1: for prime time and I knew who I was and
Speaker 1: I knew what my classes were, and that's kind of
Speaker 1: where I was able to connect with people throughout the pandemic.
Speaker 1: And so that goes back to the world story, like
Speaker 1: kind of two occasions where it's like the right place,
Speaker 1: the right time, but be the right person, right. So
Speaker 1: was the long winded answer, was that what you were
Speaker 1: looking Yeah, That's exactly what I was looking for. I
Speaker 1: loved it. It was perfect. Um, So when you would
Speaker 1: say that, would you say that because of the pandemic?
Speaker 1: That's where you're like, I'm just so curious how somebody
Speaker 1: that's a Peloton instructor can just absolutely blow up on
Speaker 1: social media then go on Dancing with the stars, Like
Speaker 1: how the hell did that happen? Like how did you
Speaker 1: get such a following? Like obviously I know you and
Speaker 1: your personality is infectious. But how did so many strangers
Speaker 1: that get forty five minutes of your time on a
Speaker 1: bike or however long it is, Like, how did that translate? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I always like pinched myself like I got so lucky,
Speaker 1: like I won the lottery. When it comes to a job,
Speaker 1: A profession that keeps me rooted in purpose, allows me
Speaker 1: to help other people, allowed me to like really discover
Speaker 1: myself and my best self. Um, you know, I think
Speaker 1: I think there's the stereotype of a fitness instructor and
Speaker 1: they're always like super high energy and always super positive,
Speaker 1: and they have everything figured out and they have this
Speaker 1: perfect body, and that's sometimes not relatable. And I could
Speaker 1: I I would watch other instructors, not a peloton, but
Speaker 1: just other instructors in the industry, and I kind of
Speaker 1: like cringe or be like, oh, you're being so kind
Speaker 1: of fake. And so I just treated every class like
Speaker 1: I was in a in a I was on a
Speaker 1: zoom call, or in a room full of like my besties,
Speaker 1: and like we're shooting and I'm going to talk about,
Speaker 1: you know, messy stories in my life. I'm gonna talk
Speaker 1: about nostalgic things about songs, I and just going to
Speaker 1: like be an open book. And I think people really
Speaker 1: connect and relate to just someone who's you know, pushing them,
Speaker 1: but also showing their messiness and showing who they are. Um,
Speaker 1: I think when we try to be perfect, it's boring
Speaker 1: when we show our messiness, our flaws are you know,
Speaker 1: I don't want to say stupidity, but like we're all
Speaker 1: kind of stupid. So like when I can make fun
Speaker 1: of myself when I'm stupid, like people relate to that
Speaker 1: and we'll connect to that. And that's also like my purpose.
Speaker 1: Like fitness is a scary space if you're starting fitness,
Speaker 1: if you're starting something new, you can feel intimidated because
Speaker 1: you don't want to look them. And I purposely kind
Speaker 1: of get on the bike and active, fool and act
Speaker 1: um so people are not scared to try something new.
Speaker 1: I actually was having a conversation with a friend recently
Speaker 1: just about how like just if you're in any sort
Speaker 1: of I think media space, or you're like a public
Speaker 1: figure of any kind, how important it is to be
Speaker 1: relatable and with these like I think recently on my podcast,
Speaker 1: with the guests I've had on I've tried to like
Speaker 1: maybe teach the listeners something, not me personally, but the
Speaker 1: person I'm interviewing. Would you say that you have like
Speaker 1: one thing? Because if someone were to ask me, like,
Speaker 1: what would you say, Like you're an expert in I
Speaker 1: don't actually mean like expert literally, but I would say, like,
Speaker 1: the thing that I probably know most about and can
Speaker 1: talk most about confidently would be like makeup and skincare.
Speaker 1: What would yours be? That's interesting if you have one? No,
Speaker 1: I think it's a little obscure. I think I'm I
Speaker 1: think I'm an expert at loving myself and allowing myself
Speaker 1: to be who I am, um, and that means accepting
Speaker 1: accepting who I am. I think for a long time,
Speaker 1: in multiple stages of my life, I tried to change
Speaker 1: or omit parts of me and that wasn't fully loving
Speaker 1: myself or or honestly so, I think loving myself and
Speaker 1: doing it in such a radical public facing way is
Speaker 1: what I'm an expert at. And I hope to inspire
Speaker 1: people to love themselves radically and to accept themselves and
Speaker 1: to express themselves as radically as they can with no apoli.
Speaker 1: And that that includes the flaws, That includes the stuff
Speaker 1: that we don't like about ourselves. How did you get
Speaker 1: to a place of loving your flaws then, because I
Speaker 1: think that's something I mean, I struggle with that. I'm
Speaker 1: sure so many people listening struggle with that of just
Speaker 1: like wholeheartedly. Because I think I can sit here and
Speaker 1: be like, yeah, I love myself, I'm proud of myself,
Speaker 1: like whatever, But there are so many times and moments
Speaker 1: in my day where I'm just sitting there like just
Speaker 1: to be really real, like I'm just so hard on myself.
Speaker 1: If I'm filming, if I'm filming a YouTube video and
Speaker 1: I have if I'm if I'm positioned a certain way,
Speaker 1: if I feel like, oh that angle must look bad.
Speaker 1: I haven't even seen it yet, just in my head,
Speaker 1: just constant like that's probably bad. It ruins my day.
Speaker 1: And then I'm like in a constant like I hate
Speaker 1: myself this day, Like why did I even try? Like
Speaker 1: how did you get to a point where you're just like, Okay,
Speaker 1: even if it is a flaw or something that I'm not,
Speaker 1: we're proud of because it's me. Yeah, it's It's definitely
Speaker 1: been a big process. I think also think about the
Speaker 1: world that we live in. Everything is super curated, everything
Speaker 1: is position perfectly. We're constantly consuming social media or news
Speaker 1: or TV or film or magazines, and it's always this
Speaker 1: perfectly curated thing. So of course in our head we're
Speaker 1: constantly aware of these things and we're constantly judging ourselves. Um,
Speaker 1: for me, I think what really started my journey was
Speaker 1: probably six years ago, going through a really hard breakup
Speaker 1: and that feeling of having what they call like the
Speaker 1: rug pulled underneath you, where you literally fall on your face,
Speaker 1: you fall down, and it is it's not worth it
Speaker 1: to stand back up and be the same person that
Speaker 1: you were when you fell down. Oh I love that.
Speaker 1: It's not it's you're not. There's things that happen in life,
Speaker 1: like breakups, like grief, like disappointment, like failure that can
Speaker 1: really bring us down, and we have to be aware
Speaker 1: that those moments are teachable lessons and those are moments
Speaker 1: to be grateful for because that is the opportunity, that's
Speaker 1: the door opening to you becoming an evolved, a more
Speaker 1: evolved version of yourself, a new version of yourself. And
Speaker 1: so that moment for me was like laying the foundation
Speaker 1: for the next evolution of who Cody was, and I
Speaker 1: really leaned into like a meditation and mindfulness practice. So
Speaker 1: that allowed me to really observe my thoughts and just
Speaker 1: see them as thoughts instead of letting those thoughts run wild,
Speaker 1: instead letting them pass and not getting so attached to
Speaker 1: them and that I know that's like a little obscure
Speaker 1: and a little bit like but that's the whole practice
Speaker 1: of meditation, right, yeah, yeah, And that was really powerful
Speaker 1: for me, um, And that kind of really started my
Speaker 1: journey of like self love. And so then you develop
Speaker 1: you kind of developed that school of allowing the thoughts
Speaker 1: to pass. But then you start to be aware of
Speaker 1: who you are and the things that you do, and
Speaker 1: then you can't help but laugh at yourself. You can't
Speaker 1: help but laugh at the same repetitive thought or the
Speaker 1: or the same action that you're doing, and you're like, wait,
Speaker 1: why are you doing that? Like you you said you
Speaker 1: want to stop that. So, like you can get frustrated
Speaker 1: with it, you can get mad at it, or you
Speaker 1: can kind of laugh at it and treat yourself a
Speaker 1: little bit a little bit of kindness and love. Um.
Speaker 1: And so I think it's just like building that that.
Speaker 1: I think it's building that relationship with yourself and making
Speaker 1: time within your day that you are developing a relationship
Speaker 1: with yourself, which is really hard, really hard in the practice,
Speaker 1: but also like you know, it's it's yeah, no, but
Speaker 1: that's great advice. I also feel like I just resonate
Speaker 1: a lot with what you say about, like how we're
Speaker 1: in a world where we see such a curated perspective
Speaker 1: and that can make it a little bit more challenging
Speaker 1: to be easy on yourself and forgive yourself for certain
Speaker 1: things because you see everybody else what seems to be
Speaker 1: a perfect life and I'm sure some people see us
Speaker 1: online and think like wow, that like success and that's
Speaker 1: great and whatever. And it's like, also, we can probably
Speaker 1: both just sit here in a test that we've gone
Speaker 1: through in our heads as well. Yeah, you gotta have
Speaker 1: a little bit of grace. Like grace is a thing
Speaker 1: that I'm I'm really focused on right now. Is you
Speaker 1: kind of you only know what you know at the moment,
Speaker 1: and so you've got yourself the grace and forgiveness of
Speaker 1: the mistakes that you made that you make and try
Speaker 1: to do better. But yeah, let's just laugh at like
Speaker 1: Instagram is not real, TikTok is not real. News is
Speaker 1: not real um, and then laugh at ourselves when we're
Speaker 1: trying to fit in that in that box, we're not
Speaker 1: meant to fit in that box. So make a relationship
Speaker 1: with yourself. Let's laugh at the world, and like also
Speaker 1: laugh at ourselves so we're not taking it so seriously.
Speaker 1: I kind of love that too, because it's like, if
Speaker 1: you are in a moment of sadness, if you can
Speaker 1: think to that and be like, Okay, I still feel
Speaker 1: like I'm gonna laugh at it right now. I think
Speaker 1: you can genuinely convince your mind to think that, like
Speaker 1: like at a certain point, it's literally fake it till
Speaker 1: you make it where it's like at a certain point
Speaker 1: you will start to find the things that you maybe
Speaker 1: we're hard on yourself, like a little funny. So I'm
Speaker 1: going to try that, Thank you so much. And also
Speaker 1: it's also like giving yourself, giving yourself space to be
Speaker 1: sad though like don't fight it, Like go be sad
Speaker 1: for a little bit. If you're going through a break up,
Speaker 1: if you've lost your job, if you are having fights
Speaker 1: with your friends, like okay, to be sad, like have
Speaker 1: those moments, but after a while, you're gonna heal from it.
Speaker 1: You're going to grow from it. And then once those
Speaker 1: kind of let's start to pop up more so Okay,
Speaker 1: like I'm gonna laugh at myself for like dwelling on
Speaker 1: this a little bit too much, right, I love that. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's transition into Dancing with the Stars because obviously we
Speaker 1: were both on the same season, season thirty. I honestly
Speaker 1: feel like we had a great cast. Like it was
Speaker 1: a great cast, yes, yeah, And I loved it because
Speaker 1: even though it was a competition, like I think we
Speaker 1: genuinely like we never wanted any anybody to go home.
Speaker 1: We wanted everyone to do their best, and it really
Speaker 1: support group. Yeah, and like it was it was sad
Speaker 1: when anybody went home. And also like we were the
Speaker 1: only people that knew what was going on, and that
Speaker 1: was just I look back and I'm like, wow, I
Speaker 1: did that, like so crazy. I still think back to
Speaker 1: it and I'm like, I was dancing on national TV
Speaker 1: with zero dance experience. Who let me you had? Okay,
Speaker 1: you had zero dance experience, never danced before, not even
Speaker 1: like a ballet. Asked like nothing nothing, you know, maybe
Speaker 1: I took ballet when I was like one years old
Speaker 1: and I ended out one and a half. But like, no,
Speaker 1: not in any time I can remember in my life.
Speaker 1: I am so gagged by that because I was like,
Speaker 1: I think this girl is lying, like I know more
Speaker 1: dance than she is giving away because I love dancing though,
Speaker 1: Like I remember growing up like around my family and stuff,
Speaker 1: and we'd play like music in the kitchen at night
Speaker 1: and I'd be dancing around the kitchen with my dad.
Speaker 1: But like that's as far as my dance experience. But
Speaker 1: sometimes it is better to like, like, for me, ballroom
Speaker 1: was hard because I danced in such different ways that
Speaker 1: it felt so foreign. So maybe being so fresh and
Speaker 1: no experience it was almost better because you could just
Speaker 1: absorb it and like move into it totally. That's kind
Speaker 1: of what I was talking to Amanda Clutes about when
Speaker 1: I had her on the podcast a while back. I
Speaker 1: was like, really, was it tough for you because you
Speaker 1: had a lot of dance experience. She was like, it
Speaker 1: was harder because like I had to learn, like this
Speaker 1: a completely new thing from something that I already kind
Speaker 1: of knew before. Yeah. Well she all always looked flawless too,
Speaker 1: So Lade absolutely slate everybody slate. Everybody was so good. Um,
Speaker 1: How did you get the offer? Who called you? Was
Speaker 1: it like, did somebody reach out directly? Was it a
Speaker 1: d M? Did it go through your team and did
Speaker 1: you say yes right away? Um? It went through my team,
Speaker 1: And it was something that we've been talking about kind
Speaker 1: of all summer. We're like, hey, I've been kind of pitching.
Speaker 1: My agent was kind of like pitching me for it,
Speaker 1: but like Jamesmen Stars, wasn't like completely on board, but
Speaker 1: like it was kind of always happening, And honestly, I
Speaker 1: don't even remember getting that. I think I didn't really
Speaker 1: get the final offer, like Okay, this is happening until
Speaker 1: like mid August, so maybe three or four weeks before
Speaker 1: the show was actually happening. I think. So. I think
Speaker 1: that's how it was, because I remember having conversations about
Speaker 1: it probably in June of last year and be like, Okay,
Speaker 1: that's cool, and then by the time August got around,
Speaker 1: I was like, okay, I'm giving I'm kind of just
Speaker 1: like I'm assuming that it's not happening. Um, And then
Speaker 1: it happened, and there was kind of a few days
Speaker 1: where I was like, am I sure I want to
Speaker 1: do this? Because the thought of it really really created
Speaker 1: a lot of anxiety in me. I was like, that's
Speaker 1: gonna be so new and so challenging and so different.
Speaker 1: Um so I'm glad. I'm glad. I like took a
Speaker 1: breath and told myself I could do it. But there
Speaker 1: was a lot of anxiety, And you know, once I
Speaker 1: committed to I was like, all right, here we go.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like you had? I mean, obviously it's
Speaker 1: so different being in a ballroom dance competition than being
Speaker 1: on a bike, But do you feel like you had
Speaker 1: because you were used to maybe performing? I guess you
Speaker 1: could say, like in some degree publicly with Peloton, that
Speaker 1: it made the nerves a little less intense or just
Speaker 1: so different. No know, I like I was nervous every
Speaker 1: nervous every week. You know what I was really nervous
Speaker 1: is like camera blocking on Sunday. I was always so nervous. Actually,
Speaker 1: I feel like I put more pressure on that than
Speaker 1: even the show because if I didn't have a good
Speaker 1: camera blocking, it made me really nervous for the show
Speaker 1: because I was like, well, if I messed it up here,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna have enough time to get it right
Speaker 1: on Monday. So it was I was a nervous wreck
Speaker 1: the entire time. There was so much anxiety, but I
Speaker 1: worked through it and battled through it, but there was
Speaker 1: there was sometimes that it was just like that whole
Speaker 1: show is it's something you can't explain. No, It's like, I, no,
Speaker 1: I don't I don't think that. I don't think people
Speaker 1: understand the amount of pressure that that we're under. Um
Speaker 1: it's mental and emotional gymnastics, and yousually gotta really like
Speaker 1: fight through it because it's like it's the dance, it's
Speaker 1: your partner, it's the judges, it's the media, it's people
Speaker 1: online trolling you. Like as much as you don't want
Speaker 1: to look at it, like you look at it and
Speaker 1: then like you let these thoughts gin in your head.
Speaker 1: It is. It's one of the toughest things I've ever done.
Speaker 1: And as as grateful as I am for it, I
Speaker 1: was so happy when it was done. I was just like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm ready, I'm so glad it's over. Like I was
Speaker 1: just like, thank God. And you also had like a
Speaker 1: really crazy start because if you guys watched it, you
Speaker 1: would remember this. But Cody had COVID in the really
Speaker 1: early stages of the show, and nobody knew what to do,
Speaker 1: Like we were like, how does and he had to
Speaker 1: perform on fucking Zoom Zoom. Essentially it was zoom And
Speaker 1: so we did a jazz number from my house. I
Speaker 1: was doing it from my place in New York, Chirl
Speaker 1: was doing it from her place in l A. And honestly, though,
Speaker 1: like I feel like we slayed it and they did
Speaker 1: play it. The hat the hat come on. We did
Speaker 1: the best with what we had. It was. It was
Speaker 1: an initial and you know what, I remember getting that
Speaker 1: call and I was just like there was a moment
Speaker 1: I was like I might quit. I might just like
Speaker 1: I just might bow out because this seems so complicated.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad that I didn't. I'm so glad that
Speaker 1: you made it to the finals. So I'm really glad
Speaker 1: you didn't tap out of it because that was so
Speaker 1: fun to watch. And I feel like, also what was
Speaker 1: really cool about the whole experience was like kind of
Speaker 1: seeing everybody grow into themselves, Like like I just feel
Speaker 1: like I remember like between like I can say for myself,
Speaker 1: I feel like I grew into myself so much more
Speaker 1: than watching like Joe Joe and Sunny and like all
Speaker 1: these people that just really like found themselves because of
Speaker 1: the show. Was like, I don't know, it's actually really
Speaker 1: impactful and cool to see. Absolutely when we had like
Speaker 1: our cat like the cast was rooting for each other,
Speaker 1: and I think when we saw like great dances or
Speaker 1: a moment of growth, like we're like yes, yeah, it
Speaker 1: was a really loving environment. So what have you been
Speaker 1: up to after the show? Now we can get into it.
Speaker 1: I want to hear about what you were saying in
Speaker 1: the beginning about your healing journey a little bit and
Speaker 1: just kind of focusing on you and alright, right right right, um, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think you know. I got back in November, so
Speaker 1: it was like the holiday season. After that, I was
Speaker 1: spending time with friends and family, and then January. January
Speaker 1: hit and it was like really focused on Peloton, working
Speaker 1: with different brands, um, a little bit of travel, and UM,
Speaker 1: I was just doing so much, like all my days
Speaker 1: were packed. My calendar was like I would like look
Speaker 1: two months in advance. I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: every week is so much, so many things going on
Speaker 1: and I love to be busy. Um, but I think
Speaker 1: I hit a marking probably like February, where I felt
Speaker 1: really disconnected for myself, and I remember talking to my
Speaker 1: therapist and just being like, I'm not depressed, but I'm not.
Speaker 1: I don't feel like myself, and there's moments of sadness.
Speaker 1: And I think when I analyzed it a little bit,
Speaker 1: you know, coming from Dancing with the Stars, you have,
Speaker 1: like all of you have so many like adrenaline, adrenaline,
Speaker 1: emotional spikes and these highs that when that's removed, I
Speaker 1: don't think your body in your mind know what to
Speaker 1: do after after that process. It does that make sense?
Speaker 1: And so I just felt like really off, probably in
Speaker 1: February and March and recently I kind of hit a
Speaker 1: space whereas like I need to press pause or like
Speaker 1: pump the brakes on some of my work and and
Speaker 1: really tapping into the power of know of being like no,
Speaker 1: I don't I don't need to do this right now,
Speaker 1: Like this isn't this isn't important to me, or I
Speaker 1: there will be another opportunity. I don't need to take
Speaker 1: this one right now, um, and instead coming back to
Speaker 1: my roots of that self love and taking care of myself,
Speaker 1: because even in the past two years, I might I
Speaker 1: was going to therapy, but I remember being kind of
Speaker 1: like super exhausted at points where I wasn't going into
Speaker 1: that space and maybe like really working through or talking
Speaker 1: through or figuring things out, and so like I was
Speaker 1: showing up, but I was going through the motions, and
Speaker 1: my meditation practice had gotten less and less and less
Speaker 1: and less, or just wasn't a lot more infrequent, And
Speaker 1: so I kind of hit a mark in in May
Speaker 1: where I was like, all right, I need to get
Speaker 1: back to myself, create a morning routine where I'm where
Speaker 1: I'm finding time every day to meditate, to journal, to
Speaker 1: take care of myself, do things that I love, like
Speaker 1: listen to music. Um. Even like one thing right now,
Speaker 1: which I was talking to a friend is like getting
Speaker 1: dressed and looking cute and feeling cute, like even if
Speaker 1: I'm just going to get coffee or going for a walk,
Speaker 1: and it's it's literally for nobody else but me, but
Speaker 1: that's something that brings me joy. Is just like looking
Speaker 1: cute and having a fierce outfit, and that is like
Speaker 1: healing and selfish me. Um. And so for me, that
Speaker 1: is what I've been focus is focusing on this summer
Speaker 1: and enjoying time with friends. I'm gonna I'm going to Europe.
Speaker 1: Next week for two weeks. So that's that's gonna be
Speaker 1: really good. And I'm glad to kind of take this
Speaker 1: season of taking a break, taking a breath, and then
Speaker 1: going into September putting my head down and working on
Speaker 1: some some new content at Peloton, working on some other projects.
Speaker 1: I know you want me to say what it is like,
Speaker 1: I won't ask a girl, Like you know, there's always
Speaker 1: a season for everything, and right now that season is
Speaker 1: taking care of myself, enjoying life, breathing, laughing, dancing, and
Speaker 1: then I think going into the fall back to school season,
Speaker 1: it's like, put your head down, do some work and
Speaker 1: work on new stuff that's exciting. Yeah, what's it like?
Speaker 1: A day in your life? Look like in Cody Race World?
Speaker 1: It's so it's so random. But like I wake up
Speaker 1: every I've been trying to set my alarm for seven am.
Speaker 1: I know it's not super early, but it's early. Wake up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I wake up. I go have a glass of water,
Speaker 1: I have a cup of egg whites, I go meditate.
Speaker 1: Do you eat really healthy? No? Okay, because I'm like,
Speaker 1: do all fitness instructors are they on like some strict,
Speaker 1: amazing clean diet? I mean listen if I it's summer
Speaker 1: and I want to eat more clean so that I
Speaker 1: feel cute and all that sort of stuff. But I
Speaker 1: think just balance. Yeah, I guess it's balanced. It's like
Speaker 1: I have my routine probably Monday through Friday or Saturday,
Speaker 1: and then I give myself a little bit of grace
Speaker 1: to like indulge have fun. I also just don't drink
Speaker 1: that much. It's not my favorite thing. So I think
Speaker 1: drinking is one that really affects people more than they think.
Speaker 1: And so over the years, I've kind of just like
Speaker 1: lessened my relationship with alcohol. Not that I'm so over
Speaker 1: or don't drink at all, but I just I'm really
Speaker 1: intentional about when and if I drink um, and then
Speaker 1: I usually go to the gym, I slay my workouts,
Speaker 1: I have meetings on zoom or in person. I teach
Speaker 1: a class um. It's it's crazy. Last week I was
Speaker 1: putting in like I'm like twelve hour days, like seven
Speaker 1: to seven. It's just NonStop with how many classes do
Speaker 1: you do in one day? In one day, usually only one,
Speaker 1: maybe two, and usually if it's two, it's two shorter ones.
Speaker 1: But I'm I'm teaching for to five classes a week. Wow,
Speaker 1: not crazy, not not too much, but you know it
Speaker 1: does take its toll on the body. Yeah, because you
Speaker 1: also have to be like on when you're doing You
Speaker 1: can't just be in the back of the class like
Speaker 1: I'm working out, I'm doing it today, Like You've got
Speaker 1: to be the one that's hyping everybody else up in
Speaker 1: the class. Yeah, And I think that's the most challenging parts,
Speaker 1: Like physically my body. I've been doing it for eight
Speaker 1: years now, so like my body is so conditioned to it.
Speaker 1: But it is really like turning on being like being
Speaker 1: a personality, like bringing the energy to a class, especially
Speaker 1: on those days when I don't want to do it.
Speaker 1: And there's plenty of those days where I'm like, I
Speaker 1: love my job, but I am not in the mood
Speaker 1: to like be happy Smiley Cody right now. But figure
Speaker 1: it out, you know, figure it out. Do you feel
Speaker 1: like from Dancing with the Stars or maybe not even
Speaker 1: cousin Dancing Stars, but just in general of like social
Speaker 1: media being a thing and then you obviously having such
Speaker 1: a presence on social media because of Peloton and people
Speaker 1: loving you on there, like it's presented so many new
Speaker 1: opportunities in just like a different space for work. Oh absolutely,
Speaker 1: Like I'm so grateful for the platform that Pelton has
Speaker 1: given me. Um, you know, I've I've gotten to doing
Speaker 1: with the stars. I do speaking engagements, which I have
Speaker 1: a few few this fall and I'm excited about. And
Speaker 1: that allows me to kind of share my story and
Speaker 1: in a in a different way and like in more
Speaker 1: in depth way. Um. You know, I've got to work
Speaker 1: with with with amazing brands. And honestly, the time that
Speaker 1: I invest outside of Peloton is actually like I try
Speaker 1: to invest more outside of the fitness world. Like I'm not.
Speaker 1: I don't try to do more fitness things outside of Peloton.
Speaker 1: I try to find opportunities and skill sets that I
Speaker 1: have and opportunities that will be in alignment with that.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I've got to do some some really cool stuff.
Speaker 1: And um, I'm like forever grateful for the platform and
Speaker 1: what it what it gives me because you know, I
Speaker 1: grew I grew up so broke, like so poor. It
Speaker 1: was just me and my mom, and I never thought
Speaker 1: that I would have this level of level of success
Speaker 1: and so it yeah, you look back and I'm just
Speaker 1: grateful for it. Yeah, It's really like life changing. Huh. Absolutely. Um, well,
Speaker 1: I won't keep you because I know you're busy, But
Speaker 1: thank you so much for coming on the podcast today
Speaker 1: and honestly just being so real and so open. It's
Speaker 1: one of the things I love about you. I think
Speaker 1: that people are really going to resonate with this episode
Speaker 1: because of your realness, and I really appreciate it. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for having me. I love this little reunion.
Speaker 1: I know me too. Hopefully I'll be in New York
Speaker 1: soon so I can come see you and say, hey,
Speaker 1: let's do dinner or something. I might be I might
Speaker 1: be in l A. I think like middle of October,
Speaker 1: so I might try to go to Dancing with the Stars.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, please tell me. If you go, I
Speaker 1: will come with you. Yeah, let's go on a date
Speaker 1: to Dancing with the Star. I would love that. Okay,
Speaker 1: we'll have the best day. You're the best, and I'll
Speaker 1: talk too soon. All right, Hi, everyone,