If you're a Peloton user,
then you definitely know Emma Lovewell from her powerful workouts,
her affirming pep talks and her bumping playlist and they are bumping.
But Emma wasn't always the fierce fitness warrior.
We know today she's out with a new book all
about her journey to healthy living and self acceptance.
It's called Live Learn Love. Well, Lessons from a Life of Progress, not perfection.
And Emma Lovewell joins us now, thank you so much for being here. Shannon
having me, you look so different out of your Peloton clothes. I
know and not in Spandex and Lycra.
But I'm glad you're here to share this book because it is an amazing journey.
Why did you feel it was important?
Especially now in your life to be so transparent with your story?
Sure. I mean, in my classes, if you take my Peloton classes, which I know you do,
you hear me share little snippets of my life, little stories of inspiration,
but they're, you know, 32nd segments, right?
So I was like, I wanna stay down
and really take my time and think about what I
wanna say to the world and talk about my history,
my stories and why do I say the things that I say,
why do I believe the things that I believe and you are more
forthcoming with in your classes about your life than some of the other instructors
which I think helps people gravitate towards you and wanna take your classes
more because it is like therapy going to one of your uh sessions.
You're like, oh, I know
the pep talk has that always been a part of your life to be just encouraging.
I think the more vulnerable I am and open with myself,
it encourages other people to be really open and vulnerable with themselves.
And I want to create that type of connection, especially virtually,
how do we connect with the 7 million members we have across the world?
And I think if I can share little parts of myself that it connects with other people,
it allows them to see me and to open themselves up to.
I can't believe this all started with a Craigslist ad.
You gotta talk about this ad that change your life and led you to the world of
Yeah, I mean, I like to think of our life as a series of, you know,
opportunities and yeses and doors opening because I said
yes to things and no to other things.
And so uh ad on Craigslist was uh calling for,
it was a $50 modeling job that was looking for somebody who,
a woman who felt comfortable in a gym and I applied to it.
I got it. I ended up meeting this amazing photographer who put me in touch with
a modeling agency, worked with them.
And then from them,
I booked my first job with Peloton as a kick
starter for their Kickstarter campaign as an actor slash model.
And that's how I ended up meeting the whole Peloton team back in 2012, fast forward
a few years later. And then I was instructor number 11,
six years ago. Now, there you go. Work that out.
Now, have you always been this disciplined to stay in great shape and, you know,
always be working out?
Um
No, I don't. I mean, there are days
I'm glad to hear that. I
feel like working out. I don't always want to.
Um, but I have been a very active person my whole life, even as a kid, I played soccer,
lacrosse, I was a lifeguard on Martha's Vineyard.
And, um,
so I was always very active and movement for me and you'll read this in my book.
It's just all it's been with me.
It's like my best friend,
music and movement are the two things that have stuck with me and gotten me through
some really hard times and been with me
through some really important career moments as well.
So when you are in that rut and you can't get out, you're like,
I don't feel like getting out of bed I don't feel like working.
What would you say our viewers should do? Because I know we're all in that,
that
Yeah,
I mean, put on a cute outfit, your favorite workout outfit,
your favorite leggings or shorts or what not?
Put your favorite song on start moving for five minutes. And if that feels good,
uh maybe that turns into 10 minutes, 20 minutes,
but we don't need uh an hour long workout every single day to feel good.
And I said that you're going to your classes like therapy.
But you said writing this book was also like therapy for you.
So what did you maybe learn about yourself through this process?
I write about um some challenging moments.
My parents' divorce my mom's cancer diagnosis, a lot of difficult things and
reliving them and having difficult conversations with
my family while writing this book was um
therapeutic for sure.
And I, I definitely um learned how to really open up to my family in a way like we had to
have these difficult conversations that we hadn't had in 10 or so years and
they didn't want to have them. But we've, and we've all changed since then.
So how can we
talk about these difficult things again now as who we are now,
which is very different than who we used to be.
Yeah.
It's probably why you have the subtitle, which I love progress, not perfection.
Talk to me about that.
I love that phrase.
And it's kind of just stuck with me my whole life because I am a perfectionist and I
am very motivated and ambitious and I've pushed myself
really hard and I think sometimes I realized,
you know, perfect
doesn't actually exist.
It's this thing that I've been striving for, we all strive for it. But once we realize
there's no, I've never met anybody who's like, oh, I'm perfect now. I'm good.
I'm done. I don't need to exercise. I don't need to eat well, like I'm good.
So it really is that journey.
And if we all just come to terms with that journey that
we're just trying to be a little bit better today than yesterday.
And also growth is not linear. So every job is not gonna be better than your last job.
Every relationship is not gonna be better
than your last one.
But we're here for the journey.
We're here for the process and speaking of acceptance and growth, you know,
you talk a lot about that in your book, especially racial,
racially because your mom is from Taiwan and your dad is white.
How have you come to
embrace your racial background and your parents through this process?
My relationship with my mom is something I talk a lot about in this book and it's very,
it's evolved.
And then
throughout the years, we did not get along very well when I was a teenager.
Um And now I realize what a rock star my mom was,
she moved from Taiwan to the United States.
Um She created a home and a family with very little resources
and there was not a large Asian community where I'm from.
And so I look back and I think, wow, my mom is such a rock star. She
went through so much to create a life for my brother and I for our family.
And even after a divorce and all that,
she stuck around and she made a home and I just really admire her for that.
And I,
uh I talk a lot about my heritage and growing up
with her and I used to be a little embarrassed about,
about it as a kid.
And now I'm just so proud, I'm so proud to be who I am.
Look at that full circle moment. I love that. I love that.
You can actually share that too
and have your family take part in that and reading it.
Keep up doing everything you're doing. You're doing a great job.
Keep the gardening going, keep the cycling going and keep the writing going.
I can't wait to read the next book. Thank you so much, Emma Lovewell.
Thank you so much for joining us. Make sure you check out the book and check her out on.