Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, welcome to Amy and TJ and Majokamo today.
Speaker 1: I'm saying that because we have a very special and
Speaker 1: very poor guest that a lot of people know. And
Speaker 1: right before we started, he was like, y'all got my
Speaker 1: name right?
Speaker 2: I was like, yes, of course, Matty Majakamo, who doesn't
Speaker 2: know how to say his name.
Speaker 3: But I got.
Speaker 1: Nervous because I screwed up vander Plump.
Speaker 3: Right, this wasn't long ago, right, I guess it's true.
Speaker 2: And he kept saying vander plump. Once you say it
Speaker 2: wrong and we tease each other, you keep saying it.
Speaker 3: I don't know. It's pretty funny.
Speaker 1: Home with Jakamo was fresh on my mind, so I
Speaker 1: keep saying that. I keep saying it. Everybody knows this dude.
Speaker 1: I was asking you, what's the right way to put it?
Speaker 1: A beloved Peloton.
Speaker 2: Instructors, I would say he is one of the most
Speaker 2: beloved Peloton instructors because he just radiates joy and positivity
Speaker 2: and he makes people actually enjoy running on the treadmill.
Speaker 1: Okay, well, you needed that motivation this morning because we
Speaker 1: were we were set for what today.
Speaker 2: We're supposed to do a five miler today. Yep, it
Speaker 2: got cold again, So back on the treadmill. And you
Speaker 2: went this morning?
Speaker 4: And I punted, Why did you punt?
Speaker 3: Because we had a really late night last night?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 3: Is that really what you're going with? One hundred percent? Okay,
Speaker 3: that is absolutely why I punted.
Speaker 1: What's a late night?
Speaker 3: We went to bed at two thirty in the morning.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's a late night for me especially. I haven't
Speaker 2: done that in a very long time.
Speaker 1: It sounds very we I Actually we got home and
Speaker 1: I fired up the stovetop grill at like twelve thirty
Speaker 1: and I started cooking. I grilled chicken, I grilled salmon,
Speaker 1: made some dope salads. What was the what movie did
Speaker 1: we put on?
Speaker 2: I it was delicious and I don't remember which we
Speaker 2: In fact, it's funny. I pulled up my phone because
Speaker 2: I was checking into my daughter, and I saw that
Speaker 2: I was searching horror movies to stream.
Speaker 1: The good friend of mine is in town every week,
Speaker 1: and I had a meeting last night at seven o'clock. Yep,
Speaker 1: and used to I had a busy day. Are getting
Speaker 1: ready and I saw the note from him, and I
Speaker 1: almost and I sawry brother, but I saw a text
Speaker 1: from him, and I went, ugh, he's gonna want to
Speaker 1: go out.
Speaker 3: And you said, babe, change of plans. We're gonna have
Speaker 3: to go out. Yes.
Speaker 1: So one meeting ended at nine and then we made
Speaker 1: our way up to kick it with my boy, and
Speaker 1: that's why we ended up with the late night we had.
Speaker 3: It was a fun night.
Speaker 1: It was a fun night.
Speaker 3: It was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: It was a very good night. So that's why you punted.
Speaker 1: And you could have used some Maddie Majocamo motivation this morning,
Speaker 1: because it wasn't enough with me nudging you. You wouldn't, I
Speaker 1: know I.
Speaker 2: And that's honestly, it's rare. I usually suck it up
Speaker 2: and go anyway.
Speaker 1: That's true.
Speaker 2: Today was a rare day. But I just figured I
Speaker 2: could do it later, and I can you know. I
Speaker 2: actually thought it'd be really fun after talking with Maddie
Speaker 2: to then use like to go and use one of.
Speaker 3: His treadmill runs with me. So I'm gonna try it
Speaker 3: out today.
Speaker 1: Okay, Mattie, Mattie, tell tell, what would you tell a
Speaker 1: person who or this one who just went out, had
Speaker 1: a hard night, was going at it, and this morning
Speaker 1: you're supposed to get up and run the five? Do
Speaker 1: you punt or what motivation would you give to that
Speaker 1: person to go ahead and still make it happen.
Speaker 4: This morning, I'm standing in full counterpoint to you, whipper snappers.
Speaker 4: Was I was in bed with PBS News Hour at
Speaker 4: eight pm last night, so I need to really reevaluate
Speaker 4: my life. But no, I would say get up and
Speaker 4: do it, unless, of course, you're feeling such a level
Speaker 4: of fatigue that it's just not going to be worth it,
Speaker 4: because people people really want to push through it. But
Speaker 4: I will tell you, if you are tired and you
Speaker 4: are not feeling right and you go hit it, sometimes
Speaker 4: it works in the opposite direction. So it's o'll get
Speaker 4: you punted. See for the sports.
Speaker 2: I will do it later this afternoon, yes, and possibly
Speaker 2: tomorrow morning.
Speaker 3: I have to do the five. I'll get it in.
Speaker 3: I love that though, because you're right. I didn't want
Speaker 3: to do it either.
Speaker 1: But I was up at five this morning and started
Speaker 1: working and prepping, and I'll say, you know what, let
Speaker 1: me just go ahead and do this thing. And she
Speaker 1: I thought you would get motivated by you know I.
Speaker 3: Usually do yeah, you know.
Speaker 1: Once I put the socks on and then the shorts
Speaker 1: got on, and I'm like, Okay, this will do it.
Speaker 3: Oh, the shirt's on, now, this will get it.
Speaker 1: The shoes are coming, She's still.
Speaker 2: I sometimes get tempted and then say all right, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna do it. And I never regret a run, That's
Speaker 2: always what I say. But today I do not regret
Speaker 2: not running this morning.
Speaker 1: Man, you do it for a living, but you have
Speaker 1: to have days where you don't want to get on
Speaker 1: that treadmill.
Speaker 4: Are you kidding?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Of course, Oh my god, Like sometimes daily and GJ,
Speaker 4: I've heard you talk about this dreadmill, and there are
Speaker 4: days where I feel like it is a dread mill.
Speaker 4: But I always say, like, no matter what, Like I
Speaker 4: could probably count on one hand in almost forty years
Speaker 4: of workouts that I'm like, oh, yeah, I regretted that
Speaker 4: work Yep. Obviously we have to be honest with ourselves
Speaker 4: and our bodies. If there's an injury, that is a
Speaker 4: mistake that people make. And and I think it's actually
Speaker 4: the fitness industry's fault because for a really long time
Speaker 4: it's very trendy to be like, work hard, play hard.
Speaker 4: It doesn't count a lesson. Yeah, that real like radio
Speaker 4: poison w W and obviously a peloton. That's that's that's
Speaker 4: not what we preach. I mean, if you need to
Speaker 4: take the rest, to take the rest. That being said, yeah,
Speaker 4: challenge yourself a little bit and sometimes okay, get out
Speaker 4: of that discomfort. You gotta put the batsuit on. It's
Speaker 4: your socks. That's what gets you in the mood.
Speaker 2: He thought I was gonna get me like, I was like,
Speaker 2: oh god, he's actually really running.
Speaker 4: I should go.
Speaker 3: I was taking my time. I was noticing that you.
Speaker 2: Took a lot of time making always like I heard
Speaker 2: you open the drawer. I'm getting the running drawer open.
Speaker 1: Yeah, put on the watch.
Speaker 3: Yes, I'll go now.
Speaker 4: It gets the day star. I I too, ran on
Speaker 4: the tread today and it just gets it just it
Speaker 4: just it flicks that switch. I am on, I am ready.
Speaker 4: And the reason why is I knew that for today,
Speaker 4: for this conversation, I needed to get on that tread
Speaker 4: just to get the juices flow and just to get going.
Speaker 4: And I will say, since typically when I have a
Speaker 4: microphone and maybe a camera on me, it's very nice
Speaker 4: to be sitting stationary while I do this versus because
Speaker 4: usually I'd be walking or running when I have a
Speaker 4: microphone on.
Speaker 2: So how your job not only is to you know,
Speaker 2: inspire people, but to motivate them. How do you motivate yourself?
Speaker 2: You know, because that's something I'm always in awe of.
Speaker 2: If I'm on the dreadmill dreadml and I'm not feeling it,
Speaker 2: I don't have to be all happy and spunky and
Speaker 2: letting everyone else, you know, come into the joy of
Speaker 2: running when I'm not feeling How do you motivate yourself?
Speaker 4: Sure? Sure, I mean you kind of step away from
Speaker 4: it and you understand that there's a bigger picture. And
Speaker 4: I know that in other parts of my life, I
Speaker 4: want to be alert and focused and present, and I
Speaker 4: know that there's nothing else that gets me there unless
Speaker 4: I've taken that thirty minutes, sixty minutes, sometimes ninety minutes
Speaker 4: a day where because it's my job where I'm like, okay,
Speaker 4: I'm giving this back to myself now. I'm not an
Speaker 4: innate lover of the physical activity or even sports. My father,
Speaker 4: My father was like all star sports, baseball, basketball. My father,
Speaker 4: all he wanted me to do was like, He'll play
Speaker 4: some kind of ball. But I hope you have a
Speaker 4: soundboard for some sound effect.
Speaker 3: I just looked over.
Speaker 4: I even dropped off the cross country team in high
Speaker 4: school after two weeks. I just it's not innate within me.
Speaker 4: And until I really trained and like really taught myself
Speaker 4: to love it. And I really didn't fall in love
Speaker 4: with it until about college, I mean twenty years ago maybe,
Speaker 4: and now it's my life.
Speaker 1: But you said didn't fall in love with fitness or
Speaker 1: were you gifted in some way in athletics in any
Speaker 1: particular sports.
Speaker 4: I'm tall, I got long legs. They move.
Speaker 3: That's about it.
Speaker 1: That is, it doesn't translate all wait, basketball player, were
Speaker 1: we dance?
Speaker 3: No coordination?
Speaker 4: A little bit?
Speaker 3: Okay a little bit?
Speaker 4: And so you know my message to that is, like,
Speaker 4: you know, and that's why I think I found the
Speaker 4: audience that I have found. And I don't think it's
Speaker 4: much of a surprise that it's you know, women ages
Speaker 4: thirty five plus all the way up through my mother's
Speaker 4: age and into seventies and some eighty year olds. I mean,
Speaker 4: you know, the Peloton platform is so inclusive, which is
Speaker 4: why we love it.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I teach a lot of walking classes too. As much
Speaker 4: as I love, love, love to run, there's just something
Speaker 4: about walking. Where are my walking shoes today that people.
Speaker 4: It's just so accessible and it's the thing that we
Speaker 4: all know how to do, especially in New York City,
Speaker 4: that's for sure.
Speaker 3: That's all we do well.
Speaker 2: And I wanted to tell everyone I fell in love
Speaker 2: with you doing some of your workout classes. You do
Speaker 2: strength training and you do the treadmill. I did some
Speaker 2: of your strength training classes. But I was like, who
Speaker 2: is this guy? He is just so beautiful, like you
Speaker 2: just have a beautiful soul.
Speaker 3: Day's right there.
Speaker 1: I almost stopted when she said I fell in love
Speaker 1: with you, and then I remembered, Okay, he has a
Speaker 1: fiance that's a dude, so might be okay, just fine,
Speaker 1: all right, But I.
Speaker 2: Posted something on Instagram because your workout was so amazing.
Speaker 2: I just wanted to share it with everyone else. And
Speaker 2: then you DMed me and we started dming back and forth.
Speaker 3: But it was what three years ago, we figured.
Speaker 4: Out years ago. I looked for the time stamp. I
Speaker 4: was like, wow, I honestly thought it was maybe a
Speaker 4: year ago or so, and this is how I've fallen
Speaker 4: in love with both of you and even your extended family.
Speaker 4: Like Nikki, I'm like, okay, so I know the I
Speaker 4: know all the casts of characters. I know who you
Speaker 4: work out with, and you know, I know where you run.
Speaker 3: Well, my uh my cousins.
Speaker 2: I saw that you said you're a gunkle. I would say,
Speaker 2: they're my cousins. But they love you and we had
Speaker 2: brunch with them last weekend and they were just saying
Speaker 2: to me, is there any way you can get Maddie Mujokamo.
Speaker 3: On the podcast?
Speaker 2: Yes, But then I texted him and said he said yes,
Speaker 2: and they are.
Speaker 3: They were so excited.
Speaker 2: But you have such an impact on people, and I
Speaker 2: know you you get a lot of feedback obviously with
Speaker 2: Peloton because you're seeing real time.
Speaker 3: What Oh is it all good? It is it all positive?
Speaker 3: It's a mix.
Speaker 4: It's a mix, you know, and you both are privy
Speaker 4: to this. People like to tell you how to do
Speaker 4: your job unsolicited and live your life unsolicited. But no, overwhelm,
Speaker 4: it's overwhelmingly positive. I always say working for a Peloton
Speaker 4: and being a Peloton instructor is the coolest job in
Speaker 4: the world, full stop, period. There's not another better job
Speaker 4: out there, because I mean, how many jobs do you
Speaker 4: do that you go to work on a daily basis,
Speaker 4: sometimes a minute by minute basis, and you are immediately
Speaker 4: validated by the people who you've just taught or connected with. Right,
Speaker 4: it's oh, I love you, Oh my god, that joke
Speaker 4: was so funny, and oh my god, I love that
Speaker 4: song and like, your hair looks great today.
Speaker 1: Tell me, well, we're talking about you said, you're getting
Speaker 1: I haven't done Peloton, So you guys are getting real
Speaker 1: time feedback as you're doing your classes, right, and you said, oh,
Speaker 1: it's overwhelmingly positive, But does do you ever allow it
Speaker 1: might be ninety percent when it comes to positive negative
Speaker 1: any of the negative ones get to you? Do you
Speaker 1: find yourself disappointingly even sometimes like I can't believe I'll
Speaker 1: let that one get.
Speaker 4: To sure, it's taken some time, taking some time. I'm
Speaker 4: outspoken in a way. And again, kudos to Peloton for
Speaker 4: letting us be individuals.
Speaker 1: We're not.
Speaker 4: We're not two dimensional cardboard cutouts of fitness instructors. You
Speaker 4: know that we're just like fitness memes. Walking fitness means
Speaker 4: we're real people and again similar to you all, like
Speaker 4: we live our lives on camera and when you've done
Speaker 4: it for now, I've been with Pelotons six years and
Speaker 4: and you have a following that has watched your ups,
Speaker 4: your downs, your your they can tell, they can almost
Speaker 4: tell when you're just not yourself. And that's funny when
Speaker 4: that comes in, they say, you weren't yourself today? What
Speaker 4: is wrong? Sheila in Oha, Iowa says, You're like, wow,
Speaker 4: okay again the four agreements. You don't take it. You
Speaker 4: don't take it personally right, You're just like they're just
Speaker 4: seeing and they are invested. And that's sort of how
Speaker 4: we always kind of deal with it. And it always
Speaker 4: pushes yourself, pushes you to just be a little bit better.
Speaker 4: We say, right, one percent better, just a little bit
Speaker 4: better every day.
Speaker 1: But the pressure to be on I mean, I'm asking
Speaker 1: for a friend here, but what you just talked about,
Speaker 1: somebody can tell when you're having an off day. How
Speaker 1: do you handle that feeling that you always need to
Speaker 1: be totally the the best you that people recognize and know.
Speaker 4: You use it. You use it just like a performer
Speaker 4: would on Broadway, just like a TV journalist would use it.
Speaker 4: You you use it what I love because I am
Speaker 4: a former journalist. I started my career in TV news
Speaker 4: and broadcast. It's all I ever wanted to do as
Speaker 4: a kid. Was to do what you guys do. And
Speaker 4: I realized that, you know you, you can allow yourself
Speaker 4: to really be genuine and be true and actually have
Speaker 4: an opinion. It took me a really long time at
Speaker 4: Peloton to have an opinion because I was so trained
Speaker 4: as a journalist that literally I remember my producers. I
Speaker 4: think I was teaching like a It was something like
Speaker 4: a nineties class and I was talking about who did
Speaker 4: you love more? In Sync or Backstreet Boys? And I
Speaker 4: didn't pick a side. I was like, I love them both.
Speaker 4: They were like, Maddie, you really need to work on
Speaker 4: having an opinion about things, and boy, do I have
Speaker 4: my opinions now.
Speaker 1: So wish one in Sync or back I'm a.
Speaker 4: Backstreet Boys fan. I'll be honest with you and curious. Again,
Speaker 4: like I said, kudos to Peloton. They allow us to
Speaker 4: have our opinions. You know, I'm a member, a proud
Speaker 4: card carrying member of the queer community, and it's very
Speaker 4: important to talk about queer issues, especially at this point
Speaker 4: in our culture, history and time. And they let me.
Speaker 4: We're doing a just a few weeks trans Day of
Speaker 4: Visibility is coming up. We always do a national coming
Speaker 4: Out Day class pride comes around, and girl, I am
Speaker 4: a walking rainbow.
Speaker 2: I want to go back to the beginning. You you
Speaker 2: said you dreamed your whole childhood of being a television journalist.
Speaker 2: The dream came true.
Speaker 3: What happened?
Speaker 4: It was the hustle. It was really the hustle. I
Speaker 4: was kind of at I got out of college. Gosh,
Speaker 4: at a time where it was two thousand and eight,
Speaker 4: I mean, like the economy would just crushed and as
Speaker 4: you know, everybody was just grabbing for their jobs. I
Speaker 4: was like, well, let's see how we can do this.
Speaker 4: I started the NBC Page Program after like interning everywhere,
Speaker 4: I mean, I entered into GMA. My first internship, this
Speaker 4: is funny, was with a short lived show on MSNBC
Speaker 4: when it was in Secaucus.
Speaker 5: Oh, I've worked there in Seacock Seacock in Secock, Seaclocks
Speaker 5: in the right Where am I going weekends with Maury
Speaker 5: and Connie?
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I was there when that was going
Speaker 2: when for Olderman all the time. That is so, so
Speaker 2: we were probably walking down the hall at the same time.
Speaker 4: I was just like a little geek there with my
Speaker 4: you know, with my little suit on whatever, making copies.
Speaker 4: So that was my very first I was like, oh wow,
Speaker 4: I really like this. And Connie Chunk couldn't have been
Speaker 4: like better. She was like the best person in the world.
Speaker 3: Oh she oh and Marey the two of them together.
Speaker 6: It was a short lived show, but yeah, no so
Speaker 6: and and I just had this love of TV.
Speaker 4: I got into the NBC Page program and I found
Speaker 4: myself on air after I was I was shooting for
Speaker 4: New York one my very first week. I was just
Speaker 4: learning the gear and Hurricane Sandy happened, so they were
Speaker 4: like all hands on deck. I was like, I don't
Speaker 4: even know if you can use this thing, and like
Speaker 4: we didn't go home for like ten days and it
Speaker 4: was just you know, Manhattan in a full blackout, fires
Speaker 4: and water, and so I was like, oh wow, this
Speaker 4: is really cool. And then trying to like make the
Speaker 4: money was a really hard thing. And so you as
Speaker 4: you know, you one man banned it. But I'm also gigging.
Speaker 4: I'm like, okay, I'm also personal training and I'm doing
Speaker 4: boutique fitness and it was bartending. At one point I
Speaker 4: was talking about the hustle. I mean, not to like
Speaker 4: toot my own horn, but like I would go downtown
Speaker 4: teach boutique fitness at five am, five am, six am,
Speaker 4: get in my car, put my suit on, drive out
Speaker 4: to wherever my story was, either in Long Island or
Speaker 4: in Jersey. This is when I was working for WRNN
Speaker 4: and file my story as like fast as I could,
Speaker 4: and then I would go to the bar and work
Speaker 4: at the bar. Wow, I was bartending.
Speaker 1: How long did you do that rutin?
Speaker 4: Not long because it wasn't sustainable. It just wasn't sustainable.
Speaker 4: And as a freelance reporter, I mean I was making
Speaker 4: one hundred and forty bucks like a day, Like it
Speaker 4: wasn't it wasn't much.
Speaker 1: But did you make a determination like that this this
Speaker 1: path is the one that's going to work better than journalism. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I just sort of fell in love with I was like, oh,
Speaker 4: fitness really and as you know, local news, oh wee drums,
Speaker 4: you know, you're just like, oh no. I got to
Speaker 4: a point where I was like, wait, how is this
Speaker 4: story affected how I was telling the story? Affecting anybody?
Speaker 4: Like when it comes down to like really grasping for
Speaker 4: a story where there's no story or.
Speaker 6: Just something that scause we both came up through local news,
Speaker 6: so you survived.
Speaker 3: I don't know how it was. It was awful.
Speaker 2: I mean, ninety hour weeks and I made twenty two
Speaker 2: thousand dollars a year I think, and after four years
Speaker 2: I was making twenty eight thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 4: If we did have sound effects, that would be the
Speaker 4: slide whistle right there.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Not good. Yeah, it was really not good. And I
Speaker 4: felt and I felt like my executive producer really didn't
Speaker 4: understand me. Oh, I even changed my name. It was
Speaker 4: really like my last name too hard to say. So
Speaker 4: I changed my last name to Thomas. And I got
Speaker 4: to a point I was I on that through Thomas
Speaker 4: what I really Yeah, I know, I know BOO want
Speaker 4: Matthew Thomas boring, so boring, and so nobody knew me.
Speaker 4: And then I was like, now I have to do
Speaker 4: something a little bit more like genuine, to authentic to
Speaker 4: who I am. And then I just started like teaching
Speaker 4: boutique fitness full time. I was like, wow, I can
Speaker 4: make money, started to get personal training clients and I
Speaker 4: knew I was actually helping. Yeah, and then Peloton came
Speaker 4: along and they were like, oh, do you want to
Speaker 4: actually do something that will pull together everything that you
Speaker 4: ever trained for in your entire life. She's like, yes, actually, yes,
Speaker 4: the TV stuff, the news stuff, even talking to people
Speaker 4: at the bar and just getting to know people's stories.
Speaker 4: And so it's that's why I say it's the best.
Speaker 4: It's the best job in the world.
Speaker 1: How long have you been Maddie though, I've always been Maddie. Okay,
Speaker 1: you've never gone by Matthew or met it's been mad
Speaker 1: Mom calls me Matthew when she's she's gonna call.
Speaker 4: She's gonna call at any point because she's like, where
Speaker 4: can I listen? I said, well, it doesn't come out
Speaker 4: right away. What time are you doing at eleven? So
Speaker 4: she will call me at some point.
Speaker 3: But your story you didn't come out until college.
Speaker 4: Yeah, right around college.
Speaker 3: Did your family know?
Speaker 4: They they knew what I told them?
Speaker 3: And what was the reaction?
Speaker 4: It was, it was okay. My father was amazing. My
Speaker 4: father was immediately accepting. He I'll never forget it. It'll
Speaker 4: it'll be in my autobiography one day and I was like,
Speaker 4: you know, he was like, you could never tell me
Speaker 4: anything that would make you me love you less. And
Speaker 4: then my mom like like all good, like Italian, Roman,
Speaker 4: Catholic moms do they She just thought it was all
Speaker 4: her fault, and but we got we really got through it,
Speaker 4: and now she's, Oh my god, she's my biggest fan.
Speaker 4: My mom's my mom's amazing, and it was just they
Speaker 4: needed and again it was you know, it was almost
Speaker 4: twenty years ago and things, thank god, things have changed.
Speaker 4: They haven't changed enough. If we look at the headlines,
Speaker 4: we know that they have not changed enough. But I
Speaker 4: was very lucky and they surrounded me with love, even
Speaker 4: though it took some time. I always like to say,
Speaker 4: especially when I'm talking to parents of queer kids and
Speaker 4: talking to those queer kids as well, your parents need
Speaker 4: time to come out as well. So like you've had fifteen, sixteen,
Speaker 4: twenty thirty years to come to grips with it when
Speaker 4: you bestow this information onto your parents, and likely they
Speaker 4: already know in some way, shape or form. I still
Speaker 4: don't know how my mom didn't know. I was like
Speaker 4: listening to like original Broadway cast album. I love to
Speaker 4: shop with her. We'd go to aerobics class.
Speaker 3: At fourteen.
Speaker 1: This was weird.
Speaker 3: I'm like, girl, how was your day? I love you?
Speaker 3: Did you always know? I?
Speaker 4: Yes? And no, Like I don't know I think I
Speaker 4: loved I was drawn to like fabulous women, so like
Speaker 4: if Britney Spears was on a poster on my wall.
Speaker 4: But I think I liked her for other things, you know.
Speaker 4: And then I was also like, oh my god, Leo
Speaker 4: to Garbria.
Speaker 3: Wow, oh god, so there's a stirring.
Speaker 4: And then I and then I really I was like,
Speaker 4: oh that's it. I mean after going to kind of
Speaker 4: a fire in Brimstone, Roman Catholic School, Uhallian Brothers School
Speaker 4: that obviously didn't have anything like a g S A
Speaker 4: for sure, that's not the path I chose. And then
Speaker 4: I went to n Yu and I was like, get
Speaker 4: me to the gayest school.
Speaker 3: N Yu. My daughter is a junior at n y U.
Speaker 4: That's at least.
Speaker 3: Who's in Berlin. She's in Berlin study abroad.
Speaker 4: She's studying really hard.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: She's been sending me pictures of her laying in the.
Speaker 2: Sun and yes it's it's yes, Oh yes she has.
Speaker 3: She's she's told me all about it.
Speaker 4: She's cool.
Speaker 2: Yes, Well, I'm going to visit her and she wants
Speaker 2: me to go with her.
Speaker 4: I'll give you some some tips. It's hard to get.
Speaker 3: It, oh, I know. They got rejected.
Speaker 2: She was telling me all about it, like but she
Speaker 2: eventually she did, but she's been rejected a couple of times.
Speaker 4: It happens. It happens. You have to be very very yeah,
Speaker 4: you just kind of.
Speaker 3: You can't talk. You should, you can't talk in line
Speaker 3: to get in.
Speaker 4: It's an incredible place. It is a it is a
Speaker 4: club built in a former power station in former East Germany.
Speaker 4: There are no mirrors and they basically they tape up
Speaker 4: the camera on your phone so you'll never see a photo,
Speaker 4: live photo of anybody inside. And I will tell you
Speaker 4: it is miraculously. There will be thousands of people in
Speaker 4: this club. Nobody touches you. You go, hind, I know
Speaker 4: you guys party hard now the morning, nobody touches, nobody
Speaker 4: touches you. You're like, oh my god. There's just something
Speaker 4: about the Germans, just like they understand like personal space
Speaker 4: and there's an etiquette and there's rules and if you
Speaker 4: don't abide by that, like then you will get kicked out.
Speaker 2: This is fascinating. I'm I'm you're making me excited. I
Speaker 2: got to try this out. I watched me get rejected.
Speaker 2: I won't get in and then we'll give you a
Speaker 2: sheet of Okay, okay, cool, But you started the first
Speaker 2: gay fraternity at NYU.
Speaker 3: How did you do that?
Speaker 4: I don't know why I did it, but it was
Speaker 4: and you know what, it was really interesting. It was
Speaker 4: just that I knew that I was coming to New
Speaker 4: York City. I knew that New York City was a
Speaker 4: very very big pond, right, so I needed to find
Speaker 4: a community. And as a young gay person, you know,
Speaker 4: I mean, at eighteen, you can't even get into bars.
Speaker 4: But like even if you you, I mean, I had
Speaker 4: a fake idea. Of course, it's maybe not the best
Speaker 4: place to find your fellow travelers, if you will. And
Speaker 4: I was able to create this chapter of Delta Lamb DeFi,
Speaker 4: which is the first fraternity again built on you know,
Speaker 4: the same you know, the the same parameters and bastions
Speaker 4: of Greek life as any of the you know, major
Speaker 4: colleges and and major chapters of fraternities and sororities. But
Speaker 4: it's it's for for queer menuh and queer identifying men.
Speaker 4: They've changed the language, which is fantastic. And yeah, I
Speaker 4: found a little family which was very cool, and that
Speaker 4: is why I came out to my parents because they
Speaker 4: rode up a story in the Washington Square Post Journal.
Speaker 4: I forget the school newspaper, and then the New York
Speaker 4: Post picked up the story, and I knew my parents
Speaker 4: and my uncles all read the New York Post. So
Speaker 4: I was like, oh God, I should definitely tell them
Speaker 4: that I'm gay before they read this in the New.
Speaker 1: York Quite a second, man, you you formed a gay
Speaker 1: fraternity before you even told your parents.
Speaker 4: Yeah, talking about putting the cart before the horse, you
Speaker 4: kind have almost forced your hand, you know, I did.
Speaker 4: I did, but I was ready. But I did. I
Speaker 4: was ready.
Speaker 1: It's something stood up. When she asked you about your
Speaker 1: coming out story, you said it went okay. It was
Speaker 1: how you response were and you talk about your day
Speaker 1: and your mom. But were you surprised? What were you
Speaker 1: expecting from? Did they respond exactly where you thought they?
Speaker 4: The opposite? The opposite. I thought my dad would just
Speaker 4: going to kind of get quiet and maybe be like,
Speaker 4: you know, he's a sensitive guy, which is which is great.
Speaker 4: He's not. He's not he's not a Tony soprano type.
Speaker 4: It's a sensitive guy. And my mom is kind of
Speaker 4: exactly what you figure she she would be. And I
Speaker 4: just thought she just you know, she needed her she
Speaker 4: needed her time. And we got to laugh about it.
Speaker 4: And now it's funny to go back and like tell
Speaker 4: them what my point of view was, and she's like, oh,
Speaker 4: that's not how it went. I was fine.
Speaker 3: I was totally how did it go?
Speaker 1: Like what was the setup to say, hey, guys, I
Speaker 1: need to talk. Was it over the phone? Did you
Speaker 1: go home to go?
Speaker 4: I enlisted the help of my eldest sister. I love
Speaker 4: my sisters. I have two sisters. They are They're amazing moms.
Speaker 4: They are I'm so lucky. I'm I'm the boy in
Speaker 4: the middle. It's like the best, the best way to
Speaker 4: be there. Incredible. And I told my older sister, you know,
Speaker 4: interestingly enough, it was a point and I think my parents'
Speaker 4: marriage that they actually weren't communicating. It was just how
Speaker 4: it was, you know, after you've been together for decades,
Speaker 4: and I think they thought we were bringing them to
Speaker 4: the table to like be like, this is an intervention,
Speaker 4: you need to talk to each other. I think they
Speaker 4: thought we were like gonna gonna come and marriage.
Speaker 3: Yeah, totally, the kid, that's so funny, we are taking.
Speaker 4: Over And and I said no, like i'm I'm I'm gay.
Speaker 4: And then actually at the point in time, my younger sister,
Speaker 4: who was a teenager, she walked into the room and
Speaker 4: my mom actually turned said no, no, no, don't like go back,
Speaker 4: go out of the room. And then Alyssa and I
Speaker 4: my older sister, were like, no, no, no, you stay
Speaker 4: right here. We're gonna have this conversation as a family.
Speaker 4: So I was very I was really lucky. I was
Speaker 4: really lucky because again, even today, and you know, the
Speaker 4: nonprofits that I work for, like the Oli Forny Center,
Speaker 4: they help these kids who don't have that experience, that
Speaker 4: experience goes very different, or they don't even have the
Speaker 4: luxury of being able to have that conversation. They're tossed
Speaker 4: out before they even get the words out of their mouth.
Speaker 4: And it it's just it's it's a tough.
Speaker 1: Thing because.
Speaker 4: As a parent, and I'm kind of looking at that
Speaker 4: as my future as a parent. Isn't your only purpose
Speaker 4: as a parent to make sure that that kid is
Speaker 4: safe and happy and it's not about you? So why
Speaker 4: would anybody throw their kid out? I just don't. I
Speaker 4: just don't get it, especially for for something as little
Speaker 4: as small as this. Small piece of small little tile
Speaker 4: of the mosaic that you are as a person.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's such a good way to put it, and
Speaker 2: I think so many people listening will appreciate that because
Speaker 2: it's something that unless you've gone through it, or you
Speaker 2: know you have to go through it, you can't even
Speaker 2: imagine what that process or what that feels like as
Speaker 2: as the child or as the parents. So I know
Speaker 2: you're doing such good work helping people walk that path.
Speaker 2: You walked the path and you found love.
Speaker 3: And I was telling TJ.
Speaker 2: I watched, Oh my gosh, your engagement video.
Speaker 4: Did you cry?
Speaker 3: I cried?
Speaker 4: I cried.
Speaker 3: I cried.
Speaker 2: That was it is one of the most beautiful proposals
Speaker 2: I have ever seen in my life.
Speaker 4: Evan really turned it out.
Speaker 3: I mean he did.
Speaker 2: Anyone else who's looking to propose to anyone, you, I
Speaker 2: don't think you could do it better.
Speaker 4: And we got really lucky because there was a lot
Speaker 4: of that. We had crazy rain in September here in
Speaker 4: New York, and he, I mean, I was so surprised
Speaker 4: because I'm the planner, so I'm I I know the facts,
Speaker 4: I know where we're going, I have the passports, I
Speaker 4: have you know, it's me. I'm doing the grocery shopping,
Speaker 4: I'm cooking. Evan does a lot, but if you're listening,
Speaker 4: you and I do more.
Speaker 2: But set the stage and I and I encourage anyone
Speaker 2: to go onto your Instagram and to watch this because
Speaker 2: it's so beautiful.
Speaker 3: But set the stage. And you were surprised.
Speaker 4: Oh I was. I was so surprised. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 4: it even kind of went went viral.
Speaker 3: People love love.
Speaker 4: People love love. There's so much shit out there. They
Speaker 4: love love, and that's why you know people love you guys.
Speaker 4: It's just like I, Oh my god, I was on
Speaker 4: like a zoom up until it was in September. It
Speaker 4: was in September. It's like five He's like, we need
Speaker 4: to be ready at five thirty. We're going to a
Speaker 4: friend of his is very involved with the Met Museum
Speaker 4: and we're going to go for a private after hours
Speaker 4: tour of the Met. And typical jaded New Yorker being
Speaker 4: in New York City for twenty years, I've been to
Speaker 4: the Met. Why do I It's five point thirty on
Speaker 4: a Wednesday, Like, why come on? Like we have other
Speaker 4: things to do. So I was really talk about like
Speaker 4: not getting out of the house and I was like,
Speaker 4: I don't know what am I wearing? What are there people?
Speaker 4: What are we doing? And he' said yeah, like where's
Speaker 4: something you know nice? I was like, okay, fine, And
Speaker 4: then we get there and it is a gorgeous night,
Speaker 4: gorgeous after having like literally booke ended with rain NonStop,
Speaker 4: the sun never came out. And we do this forty
Speaker 4: five minute tour with two friends of ours and his friend,
Speaker 4: and you know, I'm doing my best at not feigning interest.
Speaker 4: The met is amazing. It's culturally just unbelievable, so I'm
Speaker 4: I'm really getting into it. And then his friend is said, Oh,
Speaker 4: we're going to go up to the terrace up the
Speaker 4: rooftop garden, and I was like, oh, yeah, it's nice.
Speaker 4: We'll take some photos it's like the sunset whatever. And
Speaker 4: then we go up there and I see like a
Speaker 4: table with some champagne glasses, like, oh, they must be
Speaker 4: having an event up here later. And then we kind
Speaker 4: of they have this beautiful art installation up top and
Speaker 4: I kind of walk around it and that's when I
Speaker 4: saw my mom. That's when I saw his dad, That's
Speaker 4: when I saw our friends, and I start I start
Speaker 4: bawling because and he said it in his proposal. He said,
Speaker 4: I know how important family is to you, and I
Speaker 4: have been working for months to get everybody together because
Speaker 4: I want to ask you two questions and yeah, he said,
Speaker 4: he was cute. You do you want to get married?
Speaker 1: First?
Speaker 4: I said yes. Second question, do you want to get
Speaker 4: married to me? And I said yeah, and so son
Speaker 4: it was. And then oh and then of course Broadway
Speaker 4: dweeb Jessica Vasque for those of you, your Broadway lovers,
Speaker 4: you know Jessica Vosh. She's like one of the most
Speaker 4: famous Alphaba's and she's a friend of ours. And then
Speaker 4: she is there with her brother playing guitar, and she
Speaker 4: starts singing our song Golden Hour by Casey Muskraves, and
Speaker 4: I'm crying again.
Speaker 3: I'm like, you're getting me.
Speaker 4: Alphaba is sitting singing Casey Muskraves right now. When we're
Speaker 4: getting married? How am I gonna pay for this wedding?
Speaker 3: When is? When is the wedding?
Speaker 4: We're gonna give ourselves a little bit of lead time.
Speaker 4: So we're doing peak fall Foliage in October twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4: So and everybody wants to come. Okay, what else are
Speaker 4: you toe volks about the wedding? What kind of wedding?
Speaker 4: What is there anything? Actually? We are so gay?
Speaker 3: How gay are you?
Speaker 4: This is how gay we are to We are having
Speaker 4: a brunch ceremony, wedding, getting married at gay brunch, and
Speaker 4: then we're gonna take a break and then we're gonna
Speaker 4: have a big party and it's gonna be a show.
Speaker 4: We're gonna have opera, We're gonna have drag, we're gonna
Speaker 4: have Broadway. There might be fire breathing people.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, this sounds Where is this happening?
Speaker 3: And when can we expect the invitation?
Speaker 4: Uh so here's the punchline that we're getting married. We're
Speaker 4: having a gay wedding in cocksack y New York.
Speaker 3: I don't think we're gay enough to be invited.
Speaker 6: No, no, no, oh my goodness, that is going to
Speaker 6: be a party.
Speaker 4: It'll be a who you know?
Speaker 1: You mentioned how important is it? There is no question
Speaker 1: at all. You're going to be.
Speaker 4: Parents, no question, no question. Family is. Family is as
Speaker 4: much a part of my brand as my awesome hair
Speaker 4: these days, Like I mean, family is. I talk about
Speaker 4: family so much And I've always wanted to be a
Speaker 4: dad though you know I love a man and I'm
Speaker 4: going to form it. We are doing, we are, we
Speaker 4: are you you heard it here first breaking news. I mean,
Speaker 4: we are. We are fully on our fertility journey. It
Speaker 4: is as I'm sure many of your listeners can attest
Speaker 4: to because it's their lived experience. It is a twisty
Speaker 4: turney rollercoaster, emotionally fraud exciting, scary thing. And you know,
Speaker 4: when you're a same sex couple, there are hoops you
Speaker 4: have to jump through. And I and I will tell you,
Speaker 4: without giving too many details, our our egg donor lives
Speaker 4: in a southern state and we we we made a
Speaker 4: very very determined and intentional decision to not do the
Speaker 4: egg donation in the state that she lives in. We
Speaker 4: did in DC, which is great, and so we do.
Speaker 4: We have a few little as my mom calls them,
Speaker 4: Anna's and Elsa's.
Speaker 3: Or a freezer somewhere.
Speaker 2: I mean, with all the with all the news regarding
Speaker 2: embryo's IVF, all of all of these issues are now
Speaker 2: at stake or in play, which is shocking to so
Speaker 2: many people who are desperate and want to be amazing parents.
Speaker 2: How has that played a role in your timeline. I mean,
Speaker 2: are you concerned.
Speaker 4: I think we're safe with with how we've chosen because
Speaker 4: we did all the work ahead of time, and we
Speaker 4: have this amazing coordinator who has helped us from start
Speaker 4: to finish, and she's there. She's as much a therapist
Speaker 4: as she is somebody who helps just make sure we've
Speaker 4: crossed all the t's and dotted all the eyes.
Speaker 1: It is.
Speaker 4: Science is so cool, though, Science is so cool. And I,
Speaker 4: as you said to Jay, I am fully I know
Speaker 4: that things can can change in a way. They have
Speaker 4: and we've changed our expectations again and again and again.
Speaker 4: And we've been doing this for about a year now,
Speaker 4: and we're not planning on getting pregnant until right around
Speaker 4: the wedding anyway. And and I think I'll be a
Speaker 4: good dad. And Evan really loves cartoons, so I'm like,
Speaker 4: there's no way we can pick this up. Like this
Speaker 4: is too this is too too good.
Speaker 1: I'm curious. I'm like, what's he watched?
Speaker 4: Oh my god, every Oh he's he's he's a competitive
Speaker 4: Pokemon player. So there's a lot of Pokemon in my house.
Speaker 1: Those events where they go out, Oh yeah, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: he's he's not the Pokemon Go where you see the
Speaker 1: kids come mindlessly.
Speaker 4: It's a traffic Wow, bad bad idea. No, he does
Speaker 4: the battles. We've been watching Avatar on not not James
Speaker 4: Cameron Avatar, the other The Airbender Avatar. Know they just
Speaker 4: did the live action.
Speaker 1: We watch a lot of TV. What are you watching
Speaker 1: right now? We just picked up We're big horror movie fans.
Speaker 4: I know you said that opposite of you.
Speaker 1: I'm just about to you don't have a favorite horror movie?
Speaker 1: One you could name that your.
Speaker 4: I mean the Exorcists, okay, and one could probably say
Speaker 4: that the live action Cats was a horror movie.
Speaker 3: We tried to watch that, So what's your no?
Speaker 4: I mean, if I'm really in it, like God, like
Speaker 4: the French ones are really messed up. High tension, high tension.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's hot tension whatever it is.
Speaker 3: But yes, is a little.
Speaker 4: Summer is so freaking hereditary. I could only watch a
Speaker 4: little bit.
Speaker 2: Of a child decapitated and I had a hard time
Speaker 2: with that one as well.
Speaker 4: I mean, you guys have limits. You went to Sweeney
Speaker 4: Todd on Valentine's Day, so it's like nothing says I
Speaker 4: love you like cannibalism.
Speaker 3: Well, it's it's on brand for us. Basically, I would say, probably.
Speaker 1: Yes, what are we watching right now?
Speaker 3: We just picked up ninety Fiance.
Speaker 2: We just picked that up, but we went through every
Speaker 2: single episode. I think that exists a below deck.
Speaker 4: Okay, all right, so you're a Kate fan?
Speaker 3: Oh? Yes, are you watching The Traders? No?
Speaker 4: Okay, no, please, please know. I implore you. Really, I'm
Speaker 4: not getting paid by Peacock to say this, because I
Speaker 4: this show is so good and it's it's did you
Speaker 4: ever play Mafia in college? It's there, there are there
Speaker 4: are traders amongst this group of what they say, faithfuls,
Speaker 4: and it's amongst the group. They need to figure out
Speaker 4: who are the traders? Who are It's like the mole
Speaker 4: almost right, and it is. They have cast it with
Speaker 4: like reless, you know, but like some of our favorite
Speaker 4: reality show personalities.
Speaker 3: And Kate's all in it.
Speaker 4: And Kate's in it. She kind of comes in at
Speaker 4: the last minute to like kind of shake.
Speaker 3: I would think she'd have to be a trader.
Speaker 4: She's justly maybe.
Speaker 3: Up to her.
Speaker 1: You remember we watched one episode where the guy walks
Speaker 1: around and touches on the shoulder who the trader is, right, that's.
Speaker 3: That we did see one.
Speaker 4: Alan comming Is is a remarkable host. And in Scotland, Scotland,
Speaker 4: you can skip the first you can skip the first season.
Speaker 4: UK is really good. This season that's happening phasor Parks
Speaker 4: is it is her show? Like if they could give
Speaker 4: an Oscar away for a reality she would get it.
Speaker 3: What season is this?
Speaker 4: This is season two?
Speaker 3: Okay, we should do that is watch watch it and
Speaker 3: let me we've been watching.
Speaker 4: We should at TV. We should all be on it
Speaker 4: next season.
Speaker 6: Agreed, let's do it today. Wait would you like to
Speaker 6: be Oh? I would be on it in a second
Speaker 6: trader would I'm a faithful, faithful so I would be
Speaker 6: there to like get the money for the group if
Speaker 6: they tap me for a trader.
Speaker 4: I could probably do that.
Speaker 3: But I think you could do both.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think you could.
Speaker 1: You said, there's some things you like to talk about
Speaker 1: and things that are in the headlines here. What what
Speaker 1: is it that you are seeing that concerns you when
Speaker 1: it comes to the LGBTQ plus community, And it will
Speaker 1: only get necessarily that you want to I'm not asking
Speaker 1: you some political views or political leanings or political candidates,
Speaker 1: but what are you seeing that that concerns you and
Speaker 1: also encourages you.
Speaker 4: For sure, for sure, no, I appreciate the way that
Speaker 4: you pose that question, because again at Peloton, we understand
Speaker 4: that no matter what your political leaning is, you're gonna
Speaker 4: come to us to work to work out. And so
Speaker 4: I am very clear that like I'm not out here
Speaker 4: to talk about politicians, I can stand up for the
Speaker 4: issues that I believe ring true in my heart. Our
Speaker 4: heart is really heavy for next and next Benedict's family
Speaker 4: right now, and that's an issue that I've talked about
Speaker 4: for a really long time, because the insidiousness of something
Speaker 4: like a bathroom bill seems to be something that we
Speaker 4: should be less concerned about, considering that there are a
Speaker 4: lot other things happening in this world and the twisty
Speaker 4: turney nature of the media and some politicians trying to say, oh,
Speaker 4: don't you know, look over there, don't look over here,
Speaker 4: when lives are truly at stake, and when it comes
Speaker 4: to young people, I mean, come on, this is our
Speaker 4: this is our future. And the fact that they would
Speaker 4: even try and make an argument that, oh, no, this
Speaker 4: for the listeners that didn't don't know about this, it
Speaker 4: was a young person in Oklahoma who there was There
Speaker 4: was an altercation in a bathroom and this person did
Speaker 4: not necessarily identify with the gender that was prescribed of
Speaker 4: the facility they were in, and they were attacked by
Speaker 4: three older students and went home, went to the hospital,
Speaker 4: and then a day later passed away. And so obviously,
Speaker 4: as you know, they'll pick apart what the reasoning for,
Speaker 4: and there's an argument saying, oh it was it was
Speaker 4: just my chance, it was unrelated, unrelated, and that they
Speaker 4: were really that really makes my head want to spin
Speaker 4: and it gets me really, really angry. This is where
Speaker 4: I get really activated, because it's eleven states that have
Speaker 4: bathroom bills.
Speaker 1: And.
Speaker 4: Come on, like, where is where is the straight man
Speaker 4: in a wig who's showing up and walking into a
Speaker 4: women's bathroom? I just don't see it. And so again
Speaker 4: heavy heart with next day, they had a great rally
Speaker 4: at Stonewall. The other day, Sara Ramirez was out there
Speaker 4: on the megaphone and to the listeners with queer kids
Speaker 4: or queer people in your family or friends, and especially
Speaker 4: as we approach the political season, please listen to them.
Speaker 4: As we edge closer and as we get more entrenched
Speaker 4: into what likely will be the ugliest political season we've
Speaker 4: ever seen in our lifetime.
Speaker 3: And deep breath, everybody just signed.
Speaker 4: Everybody, you please exercise and find the things that that
Speaker 4: make you feel feel better.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Sorry, I told her I was gonna come in here
Speaker 4: and bring sunshine.
Speaker 2: You know, but these are also important issues that we
Speaker 2: are in a huge political year, and I know one
Speaker 2: of your messages is to do the research, be aware,
Speaker 2: and to vote.
Speaker 4: More importantly, that's it, hands down, vote, don't get donka.
Speaker 4: I know nobody is excited about either of these candidates.
Speaker 4: You still need to vote.
Speaker 5: Vote.
Speaker 1: You know what, how do you have a conversation about
Speaker 1: Because there are people in other parts of the well meaning,
Speaker 1: good folks who have whatever reason they have for being
Speaker 1: against whether if it's for a bathroom bill or if
Speaker 1: it's against the LGBTQ plus community. I have a problem
Speaker 1: with it. There was something, Mattie, and I was always
Speaker 1: disappointed in my reaction. I wonder what you would have
Speaker 1: said to this guy. I was in Kentucky years ago
Speaker 1: covering a story and I was leaving the hotel, this
Speaker 1: little motel and the a family coming out, white family, parents,
Speaker 1: two little kids. Guy comes up to me, Oh, man
Speaker 1: on TV. It starts talking, nicest guy, We have the
Speaker 1: greatest conversation. They're warm. Oh man, you guys are great.
Speaker 1: Everything's great, nicest guy ever. And then he asked me
Speaker 1: what I was doing in town when I was covering.
Speaker 1: I was covering the story of the woman what's her name?
Speaker 1: The she wouldn't give the marriage licenses to gay couples
Speaker 1: in Kentucky. This was I can't remember her name, but
Speaker 1: you know what I'm talking about. I said, I'm there
Speaker 1: to cover that story. And in that moment he switched
Speaker 1: on a dime and he said, you know what, man,
Speaker 1: all that is and gay guys and trans got that
Speaker 1: that's just the guys trying to get into the girl's bathroom.
Speaker 1: So a guy that in that moment I found is
Speaker 1: a really decent guy. It just bo he turned. Now,
Speaker 1: how do you how would you have responded to that
Speaker 1: guy in that moment? And how do we have conversations
Speaker 1: and bring people in who's some are decent folk. We
Speaker 1: can't just assume everybody's a bad person, obviously, and there
Speaker 1: are some terrible folks out there, But what would you
Speaker 1: have done in that moment?
Speaker 4: The best piece of advice is from Oprah. You got
Speaker 4: to meet them where they are, meet them where they are.
Speaker 4: So you really, I mean not like you're gonna sit
Speaker 4: there and talk to this guy for an hour. But
Speaker 4: you're a journalist, you know, now, why would you say
Speaker 4: that did something happen to you in your past that
Speaker 4: it is traumatic that you feel? Can you show me
Speaker 4: the sources that this is happening in real time? Again?
Speaker 4: This is why I watched PPS News hour after I
Speaker 4: left News. I was like, I am going, I am
Speaker 4: going to the source that just makes me not anxious
Speaker 4: about the about the world. And yeah, and it really
Speaker 4: can be the media's fault. People are choosing, people are
Speaker 4: choosing sides. And then even with the with the way
Speaker 4: that news is now propagated through TikTok, you cannot learn
Speaker 4: about these major global social, economic political issues that are
Speaker 4: affecting our world in a thirty second TikTok.
Speaker 1: Right, that's part of the problem. You say you meet them,
Speaker 1: whether are you sit down, you have an hour long conversation,
Speaker 1: But all the conversations we're having are in forty five
Speaker 1: sent clips.
Speaker 2: I know it's hard to change people's minds, and people
Speaker 2: seek out information that reinforces their beliefs instead of challenging
Speaker 2: it or making them see it from another perspective. And
Speaker 2: that's part of the problem, because that's what these news organizations,
Speaker 2: media companies know how to cater to the audience they want,
Speaker 2: and so it's unfortunate. We know, those of us who've
Speaker 2: been in the news business exactly what goes on. It
Speaker 2: is a business, and so unfortunately the information you're getting
Speaker 2: isn't necessarily objective or even thought provoking. I love what
Speaker 2: you said, and this is such a good tool for
Speaker 2: anyone who's in any sort of I don't want to
Speaker 2: say disagreement or argument, but when you have different points
Speaker 2: of view, instead of reacting, defending or telling someone they're wrong,
Speaker 2: be curious about why they think the way they think.
Speaker 2: That is beautiful. I love how you just put that.
Speaker 2: That is really it really is something. If all of
Speaker 2: us could do that more, sure there'd be less argument
Speaker 2: and more understanding.
Speaker 4: And I think that's why people come to work out
Speaker 4: with us. Sometimes, you know, yeah, it's it's there are
Speaker 4: certain days it's you know, it's hard when there's news
Speaker 4: about next and now I have to go teach a
Speaker 4: thirty minute class and I have to be all rainbows
Speaker 4: and butterflies, and but it can be an escape and
Speaker 4: if you you can I don't want to say sneak
Speaker 4: because that sounds nefarious. You can offer nuggets to people
Speaker 4: in a way that and again the sort of the
Speaker 4: beauty of my job is unlike a television set or
Speaker 4: even if you are listening to those podcast chances are
Speaker 4: people who are listening to this and they might be
Speaker 4: doing something else right TV, you're cooking, you're kind of
Speaker 4: half watching. When you're on that tread with us, I've
Speaker 4: got you captive, which is pretty cool, pretty cool, And
Speaker 4: so it's important for it to be palata b liceerly
Speaker 4: and everyone want to say anything that I'm going to
Speaker 4: make somebody turn it off, because even in my own family,
Speaker 4: I have people with completely differing views. But any think
Speaker 4: it was Harvey Milk that said, you know, they vote
Speaker 4: differently if they know one of us, so you got
Speaker 4: to come out of come out of the closet. Is
Speaker 4: like it's a great quote, come out, come out, like
Speaker 4: they vote with us if they know us.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, Harvey Milk.
Speaker 4: But I do like Milk, so.
Speaker 2: You know, I the one thing I also want to
Speaker 2: ask you about, just in terms of fitness, because this
Speaker 2: to me is so important. You very much say that
Speaker 2: you were not into fitness, you didn't like it, you
Speaker 2: didn't want to do it, you wanted nothing, you didn't
Speaker 2: want to be a part of it. And then look
Speaker 2: at you, now, how did you?
Speaker 4: What switched? What changed?
Speaker 3: Because so many.
Speaker 2: People out there feel the same way, and on any
Speaker 2: given day, I feel that way today this morning, the
Speaker 2: hits keep coming. But what changed in you? And what
Speaker 2: could you what advice could you offer to someone else
Speaker 2: who says, you know what why I don't have time
Speaker 2: and I don't want to do it and it's not
Speaker 2: worth it?
Speaker 3: What changed? And how could someone else learn from what
Speaker 3: you did?
Speaker 4: I just realized I need to be needed to be
Speaker 4: more healthy in my life. I felt like I was
Speaker 4: kind of living sedentary. I didn't like the way I felt.
Speaker 4: I didn't like the of course that goes hand and hand.
Speaker 4: I didn't like the way that I looked. And I
Speaker 4: knew that I had the tools necessary to be able
Speaker 4: to make a change. And so you do need to
Speaker 4: find the thing that you love. So like I understand
Speaker 4: you have this. You both have this really complicated relationship
Speaker 4: with the dreadmill because you know, at the end of
Speaker 4: the day, we're not hamsters. We're just not hamsters, and
Speaker 4: the tread mill is asking you to be a hamster.
Speaker 4: That's why I love the Peloton tread a lot. That
Speaker 4: sounds really salesy, but no, it's like I get to
Speaker 4: get on that thing, that amazing piece of machinery. And
Speaker 4: if you guys haven't run on the tread plus, by
Speaker 4: the way, the tread plus is like amazing. And you
Speaker 4: get to run with these I mean talk about being inspirational.
Speaker 4: You know, you get to run with Jess sim So,
Speaker 4: you get to run with Kirsten Ferguson, and you're just like, wow, okay,
Speaker 4: they are giving me the inspiration, the motivation that I need.
Speaker 4: I realized that once I started to do it, go
Speaker 4: out for my runs, start lifting weights, that yes, I
Speaker 4: loved to see the effect. I was like, oh, hey,
Speaker 4: I'm like, you know, nineteen years old in New York City.
Speaker 4: I'm like, Tim gonna be hot, right, I wish. But
Speaker 4: that was just a fun benefit of it. It was
Speaker 4: the I'm pointing to my temple friends listening. It was
Speaker 4: what was happening in my brain. It was my mental health.
Speaker 4: I said, well, okay. The mental health benefits far outweigh
Speaker 4: even those you know benefits and that you see in
Speaker 4: the mirror. And I will say, and so you need
Speaker 4: to find what you love. If if okay, no shade,
Speaker 4: if you hate the tread, you do not have to
Speaker 4: run on the tread. You can swim, you can do yoga,
Speaker 4: you can do gymnastics, you can walk. Trapeze, you can walk, right,
Speaker 4: So that's did you just throw trapeze? I said?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 4: I said trapeze?
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm the only one confused by that.
Speaker 3: Do I incorporate that? It sounds fun?
Speaker 4: Don't they have that? Chelsea?
Speaker 3: I've always wanted to do that. Thank you, not that.
Speaker 4: Yes, I know where you run, don't see you?
Speaker 2: I know. Wait, let me ask you this. I know
Speaker 2: you have an alter ego, Marah Marah thanner.
Speaker 4: I don't know what you're talking about.
Speaker 3: Have you ever run a marathon?
Speaker 4: I have run half marathons? Okay, really right the best?
Speaker 4: So it's half marathons for me. And yeah, you're you're
Speaker 4: learning something. This is I bet you a lot of
Speaker 4: people surprise. I've never run a full marathon. It's on
Speaker 4: the list. Oh wait, you said you want to do Berlin.
Speaker 3: I did Berlin.
Speaker 4: Oh you did Berlin? I did?
Speaker 3: I did Berlin.
Speaker 2: And yeah, we are now kind of addicted to doing
Speaker 2: at least a marathon a year.
Speaker 4: The vision Board has Chicago, he did, listen, New York.
Speaker 4: I really want done New York twice.
Speaker 2: I've done New York three times, three times, and I've
Speaker 2: done Chicago once. But I really want I had this
Speaker 2: in my head that I wanted to do the six Majors,
Speaker 2: which are in New York, Chicago, Boston, Tokyo, and London.
Speaker 4: Tokyo's this weekend. Bex is there you run with Bes Gentry? Ever, No,
Speaker 4: all right, Becks is amazing.
Speaker 3: But okay, so when's the marathon going to happen?
Speaker 4: It's possible that it could have might be the Berlin Marathon.
Speaker 4: It all depends because I think I'm going to be,
Speaker 4: you know, kind of busy next year, and i'd like
Speaker 4: to do it before children.
Speaker 3: It's a really good idea.
Speaker 4: So that's right your wedding, Yeah right, So don't mark
Speaker 4: my words here, people.
Speaker 2: Well, Berlin is fun because when you cross the finish
Speaker 2: line in a well in New York and other places,
Speaker 2: what I know, you know what I'm about to say,
Speaker 2: because it was my favorite part of the marathon. They
Speaker 2: don't have water stations or gatorade stations. They have a
Speaker 2: big thing of beer. So you and honestly, we've talked
Speaker 2: about this before.
Speaker 3: Sometimes there's nothing better than an ice cold beer after
Speaker 3: a long run twenty six it's I mean, I've got
Speaker 3: southern roots. It comes out sometimes you spit thottle sunflower.
Speaker 3: Nothing better.
Speaker 2: Matthew, Well, my dad ran with me, and so did Dicky,
Speaker 2: and so did my cousin, and we all laid in
Speaker 2: the grass and drank that beer and just it was
Speaker 2: the best.
Speaker 4: Reward, best beer you've ever had.
Speaker 3: It was the best beer I ever had.
Speaker 1: You do in the half coming up the New York City.
Speaker 4: I'm not signed up for anything right now, but I'm
Speaker 4: thinking about it. I'm thinking we've been, you know, pretty
Speaker 4: busy with life and whatnot. So it's it is been
Speaker 4: on that treadmill a lot.
Speaker 1: But can I ask about the tree You said tread two.
Speaker 4: Why the tread plus tread plus why? Oh, it's it's
Speaker 4: slat belt. It's a very just wonderful cushiony like running
Speaker 4: on clouds. Its back on the market, and that is
Speaker 4: I personally, no shade to my colleagues who teach on
Speaker 4: the bike. The bike is very nice, but the tread
Speaker 4: plus is like, that's the real that's the real deal
Speaker 4: for me. My parents, my parents have it. And actually
Speaker 4: during so right around when we kind of first connected,
Speaker 4: I mean kind of in the throes of the pandemic,
Speaker 4: we we got we got scrappy. I mean, kudos to
Speaker 4: Peloton for being Okay, what are we gonna do. We
Speaker 4: set up something like fourteen remote studios in our homes
Speaker 4: and I went I went home to Rhode Island and
Speaker 4: taught in my parents' basement on their tread plus And
Speaker 4: they have I tell this story so many times and
Speaker 4: not the first time Sheild has heard it. My parents.
Speaker 4: You know, it's like a drop ceiling or in the basement,
Speaker 4: it's like maybe a seven foot ceiling on six '
Speaker 4: one the treads, it's almost like a foot off the ground.
Speaker 4: So we had to build. We had to we had
Speaker 4: to literally build a fortified box over me so that
Speaker 4: I could teach for the cameras and they could still
Speaker 4: see my head and I wouldn't crash my head.
Speaker 1: Into the No.
Speaker 2: Peloton was a lifeline during the pandemic. I mean it
Speaker 2: was really, really was. I I never missed a day.
Speaker 2: I was so thankful for what you all did because
Speaker 2: it was so helpful. I think in the in the pandemic,
Speaker 2: people either stopped working out altogether and just say effet,
Speaker 2: or people I got probably the fittest I ever was
Speaker 2: during a pandemic. But it was in large part to
Speaker 2: you and to your colleague. So thank you.
Speaker 4: That means, that means a lot. We hear that, We
Speaker 4: hear that a lot, and it's great because we formed
Speaker 4: those really wonderful relationships with people, and we do. Like
Speaker 4: that's the thing. It's not just like a one way thing.
Speaker 4: I answer my DMS and I see the comments and
Speaker 4: I know who's been taking my classes for six years
Speaker 4: and I know who had a baby. That sounds creepy,
Speaker 4: but like, no, you do. They celebrate people posts. You know,
Speaker 4: you're just you all get inbound, you know, And it's
Speaker 4: that's the that's the best part of it. It's there's
Speaker 4: a a tried and true, authentic relationship building aspect to
Speaker 4: the job.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, last to wrap from me here, not
Speaker 1: quite a not quite rapid fire, but there's something I'm
Speaker 1: sure people are curious about you or your health and
Speaker 1: your fitness. So I'll start with this. How many hours
Speaker 1: of sleep a night? Do you get?
Speaker 4: Eight?
Speaker 1: You get eight?
Speaker 4: No matter what?
Speaker 1: All right, so you get in So that's bedtime and
Speaker 1: what and up at what time?
Speaker 4: We're usually in bed by ten? Do do my math right?
Speaker 4: And like six fifteen?
Speaker 1: Yeaheah? What's your favorite shoe to run in?
Speaker 4: Oh? I'm wearing them right now. And I didn't do
Speaker 4: this on purpose, but these are my Brooks. These are
Speaker 4: actually the new Brooks glicerin stealth Fit twenty ones. Fantastic.
Speaker 4: I really flat foot, Like I kid you not there
Speaker 4: when I you know, you go in the pool and
Speaker 4: you you see your footprint?
Speaker 3: How's that when you wear heels?
Speaker 4: Oh my god, I know, well size fourteen, you know? So, yeah,
Speaker 4: I need like a fortified arch, I need a I
Speaker 4: need a chunky I need a I need a chunky wedge.
Speaker 4: So you continue, so yeah, but yeah, I love I
Speaker 4: love the Brooks. That's not an endorsement, but it is
Speaker 4: what I'm wearing today, and I.
Speaker 1: Do love these glass She jumped in because the heels
Speaker 1: question is not well, I didn't know that. The other
Speaker 1: thing your diet. Do you always get in three meals
Speaker 1: a day? And what type of things are you?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I try, I try, and again, I'm always like
Speaker 4: cautious because as you know, it's it's so customed to
Speaker 4: each and every every every person is different when I
Speaker 4: eat versus what you eat. You, I know. The grossest
Speaker 4: thing that I do, Sure, I do. This is the
Speaker 4: browest thing that I do. I chug egg whites in
Speaker 4: the morning. Wow, I do? I do? I get that
Speaker 4: Trader Joe's. I know, I know the faces in this room.
Speaker 4: I know, and you know what, It's fine. You just
Speaker 4: plug your nose and it tastes like milk. And then
Speaker 4: and then I do my my ag one and then
Speaker 4: I drink my coffee. After I do the I wait
Speaker 4: for the coffee so you don't have the crash.
Speaker 1: Wait a second, you put in egg whites something and
Speaker 1: then coffee in the morning.
Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, And then I teach, Wow, when's the bathroom?
Speaker 3: It happens at some point. It happens at that point.
Speaker 1: Some point.
Speaker 4: Sometimes we're surprised.
Speaker 3: Okay, I'm done with and.
Speaker 1: Scene.
Speaker 2: You know, I am just so happy to finally meet
Speaker 2: you in person, and I knew you were going to
Speaker 2: be this amazing.
Speaker 3: Just bright light.
Speaker 2: And uh, it's just an honor to be able to
Speaker 2: actually get to sit down with you hear your story,
Speaker 2: and I just you know, want to thank you. I
Speaker 2: think on behalf of all the people who watch you,
Speaker 2: follow you, are inspired by you and work out because
Speaker 2: of you. I know you know you've changed lives and
Speaker 2: you're still doing it. So your purpose. I love that
Speaker 2: you switched your career because you wanted to have an impact.
Speaker 2: You're doing that. And thank you for sharing all of
Speaker 2: this with us and with everyone listening.
Speaker 4: Thank you. You both are wonderful and I really appreciate
Speaker 4: it's such an honor to be here.
Speaker 1: Well, Matthew Thomas, Folks, you can catch him at.
Speaker 3: Matthew Thomas.
Speaker 2: You're like, you're the opposite of Matthew Thomas.
Speaker 1: But no, what is the message to end on this?
Speaker 1: What he wrote to you and you said he wanted
Speaker 1: to be the light? What was the he used a phrase?
Speaker 4: I said, I'm bringing some sunshine. Listened to the past
Speaker 4: two episodes, there are a lot of feelings. I said,
Speaker 4: well listen, if if you didn't want me to, if
Speaker 4: you didn't want feelings. In today's episode, you shouldn't have
Speaker 4: brought me in, and we brought some feelings.
Speaker 1: But she spoke of it in a way that he
Speaker 1: is going to light the place up with his energy
Speaker 1: and with positivity. And there were even a couple of questions.
Speaker 1: I was about to ask you, and I switched him
Speaker 1: up to make sure it wasn't a downer or I
Speaker 1: wanted you to criticize something. But you talk about toxic positivity.
Speaker 3: Is that a thing?
Speaker 4: Oh, that's totally Oh that's because it's disingenuous. It's disingenuous
Speaker 4: and it's and people see right through it.
Speaker 3: Okay, you can't always be that happy.
Speaker 4: You can't be happy. I I use I use you
Speaker 4: know this analogy of you know, it's like it's if
Speaker 4: you're an optimistic person on a cloudy day, you know
Speaker 4: that the sun is still beyond the clouds. You know
Speaker 4: that sun's gonna come out. That's about being an optimistic person.
Speaker 4: People say, oh, mad, you're you're so happy. How do
Speaker 4: you stay so happy? I'm oh, believe me. I have
Speaker 4: voodoo dolls at home.
Speaker 1: I should we should add how do you do it?
Speaker 1: And the
Speaker 3: Pat the patent