Katie Austin: Moving For Your Mind

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. Hi, I'm Katie Austin, and here's why I should be an SA swimsuit. And I did this every year until I got it, which is, if you think back, like, oh, Katie, you're really posting it to the public here. Delusional confidence, by the way, absolutely delusional, because I was like, year four, I'm going for it again. In 2020, I filmed my audition tape for the fourth time, and thank God I was surrounded by my best friends, and they were like, post it. I first heard back in March that I got it. It was on other castings of 22,000 girls. It got narrowed down to 15. And then they picked two girls. Your body being looked at even more so. How was that for you? I kind of put that on myself because I'm in the fitness industry. Yeah. Where in this weird subconscious way, my product is me. And it's like this weird mental F up. You're not valued by your looks. Your worth is not based on that at all. I have really learned that my worth goes so much beyond what I look like. Lemon Drops, we are back with another episode. I am so excited for this girl chat. Also, do we like lemon drops or should we switch to Mr. Fantasy said about calling our lemon drop squeezies instead? I kind of like squeezies, but maybe we interchange with them. But anyways, today's episode is such a fun chat. I sit down with Katie Austin, who is a fitness entrepreneur, certified personal trainer, sports illustrated model, and digital creator who's built a career around making movement feel approachable and sustainable. She grew up in a family where fitness was a big part of everyday life, but over time she's worked hard to carve out her own path and wellness space. Katie opens up about how anxiety played a major role in her decision to step away from competitive sports and what that chapter of her life really felt like. She shares how her relationship with fitness has evolved over time, shifting from working out for weight loss to moving her body for her mental health and why finding workouts you can actually stick to, even if it's just walking matters so much katie also talks about what it's like when fitness is such a big part of her career how she makes time to work out for herself and the story behind her landing sports illustrated this conversation is so sweet listening to it you feel like you're just sitting in the room with us and i'm so excited for you guys to hear it katie welcome to the squeeze hi thanks for having me i'm so excited i know this is so this is so fun because i feel like i've obviously just seen you on the internet for a long time, but we have a lot of mutuals. We do. Go Lions. Go Lions. I'm just by association, my best friend, but go Lions. Yeah. I mean, me too, technically, but no, it's- It's fun to be a fan of a team though. I love sports and I love knowing someone on the team. And so that's been really fun. Yeah. I know. I feel like this, I'm kind of similar. I'm an only child and I grew up, I always say my dad raised me like a son. I just watched all of the sports and did all of the things. Um, and it's kind of hard to be like a sports fan football wise. I feel like in LA, cause all the teams have always just like moved and gone. So when my husband and I started dating and he was a Lions fan cause he's from Michigan, that was like fun to like, it's really fun to go to the games there. Even like, um, we have friends that were with the saints organization for a long time. So even going to like games there, like games where the city is so for that team, it just completely changes it. No offense to LA, but it doesn't have the same energy. You know, I've been to a lot of basketball stadiums, football stadiums and the arenas and stadiums and other cities, just like it's everything. And I feel like LA just doesn't match that. And so I fully agree with that. The Lakers are pretty loved here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I like what you said about knowing people on the team because now we've become friends with so many people on the Lions. And when Aiden Hutchinson got hurt, that was the first time we knew someone like her on a very personal level that got injured. And it really just changed my view of sports after that because like people just get injured. Like so like it's such a very, very common thing. Every game someone gets injured. Like it's just something that I feel like we're numb to in a sense, like as the viewer. But when you actually like know the person and they're injured and you see how much it changes their life, like every time someone gets injured now, I'm like, I really think about it. And you're actually thinking about your friend and it's like this like personal tie where it's just like, oh, you know, so-and-so got injured. So-and-so got traded or they lost. And it's like, oh, boo that team. Oh, this athlete sucks. It's like, no, do not say that. I actually grew up, my dad is a sports agent. So I grew up with an affinity to his players a lot. like, you know, Chris Paul, I was very close to Stephen Curry and all the Curry family and all those, um, the players that I'm a huge fan of that my dad represented that I've known, you know, David Robinson since I was born type thing. And so with all these players, people call me like people, my, my audience sometimes DMs me like, you're the biggest bandwagon in the whole entire world. I'm like, no, you don't understand as an agent's daughter, you are just truly tied to your friends. And when they get traded or they're on another team, that's who you have an affinity for because you want to cheer for your friends, of course. And it's like such a deeper love towards the player and the game. Yeah, yeah, that's so true. Oh, wow. Yeah, so you've been really connected to sports. Yeah, but basketball mainly. Like, you know, my dad's, he has football, but basketball mainly is his main thing in tennis. So I played tennis my whole life too. I ended up choosing lacrosse. And so I played that in college. But it, of course, same amount of pressure. I felt immense pressure my entire life as an athlete, but like nothing in my head compares to tennis because it was so individual. I feel like maybe the same goes for golf as well, just because you don't have teammates to relate to. Like I was so lucky in lacrosse. I had all my teammates to kind of like, you know, banter with, to like talk smack with or something wasn't going right with the coach or whatever. Like we were on the same team, like 11 girls, we shared that same field and we were against the opponent. And like for tennis, it's so mental. It's so heady. Yeah. No, that, yeah. I, I could not ever, could not ever do that. Wait, lacrosse is so cool. How did you get into that? I know it feels random when I say it now, people are like, dang, you are a tough girl. And I'm like, no, actually it's a very graceful sport. And so I grew up in Virginia and it was, you know, the main sport where I'm from my high school. I'm like living in my glory days. I just turned 32 and I'm still like my high school was number one in the nation. Um, truly it was number one nation. We were really good. And so I played since I was seven years old and it was just really ingrained in my hometown and it was like you I felt like I was d1 in high school and I was doing run tests I was lifting in sixth grade which if you think about how tiny I was I was I had to do the mile test in fifth grade do you understand how tiny a fifth and sixth grader are I was like 12 and 13 years old so I felt like I was just constantly under this like athletic pressure and we had 10 girls in our class and all 10 went D1. Um, so it was like this, like, you know, very crazy pressure filled, um, high performing environment. And so when I got to college, I, you know, I actually quit early. I didn't play all four years because I just already felt so burnt out from it. And it's hard with athletics because I feel like, you know, I love the sport so much, but sometimes at a different level, it just takes the fun out of it and the passion out of it. Yeah. How did you, how did you get to that point of quitting? Cause I could, that was a really hard decision. I was going to say like, especially just hearing you talk and knowing the mentality of that type of athlete. And especially if you're doing it D one, like there's it's, it's, it's a whole identity crisis. Like I fully struggled my identity and I didn't even realize how much I would struggle with it until really afterwards. Because like I said, I played since I was seven. And so, you know, even when I got to college and to like, tell anybody that I'm a lacrosse player. I'm a lacrosse player. It was my entire identity. I mean, I played for four hours a day in college. We played for two and a half hours in high school. And it was, I was trained, always training for something, always thinking about it, a daily occurrence for me. Like even when you got injured, you would be, you know, for two extra hours in PT and then you're tutoring and like, it was everything. And so after I quit, it was like this major identity crisis of like, what am I doing with my life? And I don't think people really talk about that enough. Like what, how you go from being an athlete to not being an athlete anymore. And also not having a coach that trains you every single day, not having your teammates, my teammates were my roommates. And so it was really hard to see them going and having so much fun and practice and games and winning these insane games. And I was like, Oh my gosh, like when I, by the time I graduated, we were top 10 in the nation, but I wasn't on the team anymore. So it was like this sense of like, Ooh, if I should have just stuck it out. But to be fully honest with you, I knew my mental health was so not okay. I cried 70% of the time. I had cold sores all the time, like literally would wake up in like full night sweats. And by the way, this was on me. I put too much pressure on myself to like be a starter and be better. And like everything was just so consuming to me. And to be fully honest with you, like I, I would, I graduated college in 2016 and going back this far, you know, a decade ago, just to age myself, but we weren't really talking about like athlete mental health. You know, it's such a, it's such a bigger thing now. I mean, it even needs to be a bigger thing in male athletes and mental health. But like back then for me to be like, I'm anxious. There was no like, you know, help as no one's around. Like nowadays, like USC has therapists on site and, and there's people to talk to when you can actually go to your coach and talk about the stress and anxiety you're feeling. And to me, it just felt like my world was literally ending and I was so unhappy. And I like was so grateful that my parents allowed me to move on from the sport. Um, But it was hard, but I knew it was the right time because I was so unhappy. Yeah. Wow. Was this the first time that you had struggled with your mental health like that? I would say in high school was pretty hard. I was always questioning playing lacrosse in college because I was so unhappy. Like, for example, this is just who I am. I am a very, very high achieving human. That's how I perceive myself. But literally when I was a sophomore in high school, like I said, my team was number one in the nation and I made varsity. and all my friends were on JV. I asked the coach to be moved down to JV because I was so unhappy. It was too high intensity for me. I was like, I'll get there next year. Junior and senior year is when I should be on varsity. It's like when I should take that next level mentally. But I wanted to be with my friends. I wanted to have fun. I was like so alone, so lonely and crying every day. I was only on varsity for like 10 days. And I literally went, and my coach was like, we've never had someone make varsity and asked to be taken down to JV. I'm like, no, that's just who I am because I couldn't handle the pressure. And it's funny because I think I'm so, so good in pressure and I think I'm so high performing. When I really strip it back and think about it, I am so unhappy with it. And so pros and cons of definitely being an athlete. And I think it taught me so much and I'm so grateful for it because I feel like it taught me how to work with other people and time management and learn a lot of life skills and you know, hard work and determination. And like, if I want a goal, I could work for it. But at the same time, it was tough. I'm not really, I was talking to my sister about this. I feel like I was like meant to be a theater kid. I'm so serious. That's so interesting. You take this step for your mental health because you know that it's not good. But then when you do that, then you've kind of just like lost your identity. Totally. And it's so weird, especially with what I do now is fitness and fitness was so, this is a very dramatic word, but traumatic for me because being an athlete, I mean, my freshman year, I would do sprint tests until I threw up. Like I literally remember throwing up my shirt and then flipping it inside out, flipping up my shirt. And I got in trouble because the boys were around and I'm flipping up my shirt. So like fitness always to me was, I was maxing out lifting. I was trying to like be better constantly and was always with training to beat my opponent in mind. And so I had this like weird, you know, view about fitness that like I'm working out because I have to go hard. If I'm not doing it for four hours a day, then is it anything? And so I almost had to unlearn that training style and like fully reteach myself that like no fitness can be for your mental health. It actually can make you feel really good. It can actually relieve anxiety. It doesn't need to cause anxiety. And so it was really this weird moment for me after I stopped playing lacrosse. I didn't work out for like nine months. I literally did not move my body. And it was like this crazy thing because I've been working out technically training my entire life and not having a coach anymore telling you what to do. And so it is this like very huge identity crisis to relearn how movement is actually good for your mind. Yeah. 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And I like wasn't until recently that I'm like, no, 20 minutes of Pilates is wonderful for you. And so it's not only my athlete training mentality that I had to unlearn, but it was also like, I grew up in a very, my mom per se, it was a very like aesthetics reason to work out. You know, she has been in the fitness industry for 42 years and all her DVDs and her books, she's like the highest. She sold like, you know, 35 million DVDs and VHSs. And they're all like, how to lose that last 10 pounds, how to get rid of your cottage cheese booty. And it's like, oh my gosh, this is insane. This is wild. Like the 90s theme of working out of like to be skinny. And now it's like kind of coming back into skinny talk and I'm terrified of it. And so it was two things that I had to really unlearn. And I won't sit here and be like, oh yeah, it was an overnight thing. Like, I mean, we're talking a decade of work to like learn how to be working out for my mental health. And I just realized how much better I feel when I reframe it. And it's all about your mentality. If you're telling yourself like, I'm working out to lose weight, I'm working out to lose weight. It just feels, and of course that can be a thing. If weight loss is your goal in mind, that's beautiful. And whatever your reason to working out is, finding that purpose is really, really beneficial. And my purpose for working out is my mental health because I know how much better it makes me feel. I know much better of a person I am and how much I can better give to others when I take care of myself. And so it's really just goes back to that purpose. And it's okay if your purpose is training for a marathon is like athlete training. If that's your purpose, that's wonderful. And the only workout, I really like this quote, the only workout that you should be doing is the one that you will be doing. You'll actually stick to. And I will actually stick to something that I enjoy. I'm not going to be sticking to a workout anymore. Again, I'm 32. I'm not sticking to a workout that is going to make me so sore and unhappy and dread. If I'm about to dread my workout class, I'm not going to be sticking to it and doing it. If I know that I'm going to love it, that's how I'm sticking to it. Oh, that's such good advice. And it doesn't mean to be a crazy thing. Like 25 minutes, 30 minutes goes a long way. Yeah. And walking, walking is so good for your mental health. Yeah. It's one of my favorite things. Yeah. It's free. And you could do it. You can get out in the sunlight too. Vitamin D and nature, take note of little things around you. It's one of my favorite ways if you are having like a bad day or if you are like, just feel so consumed with so much around you is going outside for a walk and looking at little things that spark joy. I love it. I call these like sparks of joy. It's like, oh my God, wow, that lemon is really, really beautiful. Oh my goodness, that flower is really pretty. And it's just like immersing yourself in nature, which for some reason we have a struggle we're struggling with these days. Yeah. No, no, we definitely do. Yeah. How do you keep like, I mean, I think, I think I know the answer to this, but how do you, how do you keep your love for fitness alive? Because it is like so much of your everyday life and your job. Like, how do you, how do you make sure you're working out for yourself? That's a good question. I feel like everyone, I also go through phases. Like I'm in like a big Pilates phase or a big strength phase or like a big running phase, whatever it is. Like I do go through phases for sure. I think that's very normal for anybody. I definitely say I will do like at least once a week, a workout that's like fully for me. And it is hard by the way. I'm actually in a phase right now, especially just like with so many programs and workouts coming out from my app. I'm in a phase right now where I'm forgetting to work out for my mental health because I have to show up for work every day and film the workouts and like be so on. And so I'm like trying to commit to myself right now. I'm trying to do two times a week, but one time a week feels realistic. Something that's out of the box, like you said, like taking a hip hop class. Um, or for me, I love to play tennis. Um, so I actually like have tennis lessons and I love to do that once a week. Oh, that's great. And I actually just started doing like once a week doing, um, like a new Pilates studio and like trying out a new yoga studio or just like trying new studios and different ones every single week. And I feel like that's kind of kept me, I don't know, just a little bit more alive with fitness just because I film so many workouts and I do live workouts and I have like hundreds from my community that I'm constantly doing that I forget to do it for myself. Yeah. You know, I'm working on it. Yeah. No, that's, that's, that's good advice. I want to talk about this whole swim search process. Yes. I think I am the biggest petitioner for everyone to try and do it because for me, I first started to try to do it in 2017. I always knew it was like a huge dream of mine. And it became more apparent, like the purpose why. And I feel like you have a big purpose to do it. And I feel like that more than ever would be really important. Because like you said, yes, SI swimsuit is all about like being sexy and sexy, sexy. But at the same time, there's so much more to that now. Like I do feel like in the early, you know, the 90s, early 2000s, it was like mainly just, you know, the iconic SI swimsuit, what you would think of. But now it's like, no, every single girl tied to the brand has a purpose and a brand message, like why they want to help other women. So I auditioned for you to do it. I auditioned for anyone to do it. Okay. So fill me in. Tell me what this. And you just, just try for it, right? Like for me, my story is I auditioned since 2017. When I say auditioned, they actually opened it up in 2017 to the public. So you can put a video on Instagram or online, submit a tape. And that's never been the case. It's always been like through a modeling agency or like you had to be signed. and have them reach out to your agency and like a very exclusive thing. And so when they first opened it up in 2017, I was like, I'm auditioning. And usually my first one, hi, I'm Katie Austin. And here's why I should be an SI swimsuit. It's like literally full like audition. And I did this every year until I got it, which is if you think back, like, oh, Katie, you're really posting it to the public here. Does this live on the internet? Delusional confidence, by the way. Absolutely delusional because I was like really like year four, I'm going for it again. Like, I don't know if I would still be going for it at this, I don't know, this stage of my life. You know what I mean? So I'm really happy I did because I remember filming it. And in 2020, I filmed it and the tape, my audition tape for the fourth time. And basically I was surrounded by my friends and I was like, I'm just not really going to do this. I was on a trip to Vail and I was like, I'm not going to post this. It's just kind of embarrassing to do it for the fourth time. Like, I already have this. I don't know. It's just not really doesn't feel like the right time. And thank God I was surrounded by my best friends. and they were like, post it. And then like, put your phone down and like, let's go grab a drink. It was like, okay. So I posted it and I didn't hear back. I posted it in August and I didn't hear back until March that I was casted, which was crazy. When you say posted it, you mean like on Instagram? Oh yeah, on Instagram. Again, hi, I'm Katie Austin and this is why I should be in SI. And I had like this messaging around like after being an athlete and why I started my brand to empower women and yada yada why my brand aligns with SI. And I think that's why that I stood out because I had this like purpose behind it, of course, like a message on why our brands aligned, how their platform could amplify my audience and yada yada. So I first heard back in March that I got it with other castings out of 22,000 girls. It got narrowed down to 15. And then we shot from there and then they picked two girls, me and Kristen, who's now my best friend. Shut up. Yeah, so we won together. Yeah, Kristen Goff, who, yeah who's just the best in the entire world oh my gosh wait okay I just figured you guys met in that world wait that's so special yeah no it was honestly like if I had to say one thing that really has come out of it is she's my best friend of life and I'm so grateful for that and so I've chose that's also what's really cool about Sports Illustrated yeah it's like I think I get the question a lot or like are these girls actually friends I'm like no literally like Ellie Thuman love that girl love that girl to death like Jenna Sims like all these girls Nicole Williams like oh my gosh like these girls I'm not kidding you feel like very close to now and it's really cool for me because I feel like I work alone like 90% of the time yeah and to have this like cool co-worker sisterhood of like supporting each other and it it really real yeah it been fun I won lie that the swim search part of it it is like you know you question yourself a lot because it an audition process at the end of the day um but I think thank god I never got it before yeah because I like didn understand really who I was my purpose in 2017 2018 2019 and then when I got it I was like okay this is fully aligned with who I am now and I'm confident about it yeah oh I love that yeah it was so special and now I'm coming up on. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure there was probably thoughts of your body being looked at even more so like at that time than ever before. How was that for you? You know, it really wasn't about sports illustrated putting that pressure on because the thing about sports illustrated is yes, everyone's like, Oh, you're a model. Okay. I'm like, well, yes, I know I am. But at the same time, sports illustrated doesn't put that body image pressure on. They want you to literally show up as you are. Like I'm sure everyone's seen the last decade, the amazing change of representation that they've done. Um, at the same time, I kind of put that on myself. I also put this pressure on my body of myself because I'm in the fitness industry where in this weird subconscious way, my product is me. Exactly. Yeah. And it's like this weird mental F up. Totally. And so I have really learned that my worth goes so much beyond what I look like. And I just, it's kind of just value you uphold to yourself that, you know, your value, you're not valued by your looks, your worth is not based on that at all. And I'm in it for different reasons, you know? Yeah. I love that. Have you had to set boundaries at all with social media? Like what is your relationship with, like with social media one after doing SI, but also because I feel like so much of your work is over social media. What is, what is your relationship? I mean, it's hard. I battle with it. Like I go through phases. I go through like months where I'm like, I could care less about social media. And then I go through weeks where I'm like, I need to be better. I need to do this and post everything. And I'm kind of in a phase right now where I don't really, I'm not even like, I don't even have a story up for the last three days. I'm like, I don't even care. So I definitely go through phases for sure. And I've started to find that I'm like less private. It's kind of odd. Like I have been doing so many things offline, which if you're listening this and you're like, yeah, we're, everyone does things offline. But like, I've really found so much more peace and just keeping everything in and, um, keeping, you know, my family and opinions and all these things like that. I usually would just be so snap happy to share. I've felt like I'm happier when I don't really read DMS that are so terribly awful and like threads about myself that are like horrific. And so I found just happiness in being a little bit more private recently. Yeah. And that's new. That's very new for me. I've always been really, really, really good. I won't lie about being in the moment though. I am not the type of person. I'm very grateful that my job is fitness and recipes where basically I can film and then like offline with my friends. Yeah. Like I'm not going to be ruining a night at dinner because I'm trying to get a vlog in type vibes. That's never been me. And so yeah. And my friends always say I'm really good about it. Like if I even take photos, I won't edit anything till later. Like I'm not really usually posting in the moment. I think posting the moment is wonderful for your engagement, for your mental health. Just do it when you're in bed alone later. Yeah, I know. I feel like we've kind of had a little bit of a swing. Like I think some creators, they are like posting in real time. And I literally could never do that and have the utmost respect for them. But I feel like there's also a lot of people now that have tried it and it is like so much. And I think people are starting to realize that they are missing out on the moments because they're trying to do all these things. And it's kind of swung the other way where I have some girlfriends that will literally post about a trip they took like two months ago. And they're like, I've completely like forgot to post it because they were just like offline, enjoyed the trip. And then they came home and then kind of got back to work, but then just never like got around to doing it. Something for me too, like I don't really have a huge block with, you know, I will say, yes, I've been more private, but like, I do think more than ever realize. how phone addiction is just crazy. And you never want to admit you're addicted to anything, but like our phone addictions, I'm sure anyone even listening to this, like they don't realize how addicted they are to their phone. And so I've been really watching that recently because I do think I consume good food. I move my body, you know, but social media is also what you consume. And that to me, it's not even me with my audience that I have more of a mental, you know, health, you know, what I really think about. It's more so the fact of what I'm consuming is kind of. You're just scrolling and then it's like 20 minutes to go by and then it's like another 40 and you're like, wait, how did I? How? Yeah. And it's not good. Like I'm consuming things that in my back of my mind, I'm like subconsciously comparing my life to. Yeah. And it's like that to me is more detrimental than anything. So. Yeah. I, I'm really trying to cut back. It's hard though. It's so hard. Cause all you want to do is rot on your phone at night and your bed. And you're like, how do I not rot on Tik TOK at night? No, that's, that is such an honest thing. Cause I think that is myself included. I was just talking to my girlfriends about this is like, we are so addicted to our phones and we don't even like actually realize, but I think when we see like the screen time and it's like an hour on social media or like an hour and a half on Tik TOK, you're like, Oh, that's not that bad. But like actually like thinking about one, the things you could do in that time, but also like, what if you just took that time to like go do a workout or go do like go clean your closet or like actually spent that time doing something different and we were my one girlfriend she gets like she's in the 90s her sleep score of her aura ring what's great literally every single night and we were all i'm like low 70s every night but i don't get enough sleep um which we're working on in the new year um but she's like like mid 90s every night and we're like what is your like we all, I had some girlfriends over there the other night and we were all like, what, what are you doing? Like, tell us what you're doing. She's like, well, she goes to bed early, but she's like, I'm in bed between like nine, like between nine and 10 is like when she gets into bed, but she will put the little like block the, on her phone and everyone's like, I just click 15 more minutes. I haven't even set that up yet. And I just need to, I need to do it. But she's like, I set it to go off at seven because she knows that she gets in bed and she's scrolling then it's she's so tired but she's so awake scrolling and that's like like zombie state and i find myself in that a lot but she said she sets it at seven have dinner and do whatever then she wow she gets in bed and she'll just read her kindle and then she'll fall asleep like instantly and that she sleeps so much will power i know which is so sad that that's but it's so true i don't know if i could do that fast seven is like, oof, wow. I know. I'm like, I miss out on so many group chat messages. I'm like, I like have to check my group chat. She only does Instagram and TikTok though. She still will use the phone, but it's just social media wise. That's what she will block off. It's smart though, because even if you're, if you're on social media for an hour, you probably consume, you know, upwards of over 60 videos because our attention span is so bad these days. Oh yeah. No, I'm like 60 videos and probably like 15 minutes. Yes. Like first five seconds, like, yeah, scroll, scroll, scroll, brain rot, like literal, literal brain rot. And so I am working on that for sure, because I think what we consume is just as important as, you know, if I'm talking about like nutrition and like, that's a huge focus of my brand. Like, why am I not talking enough about also consuming horrible things on my phone? I don't, it's scary. I don't like it. That is scary. 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Go to drinkolipop.com slash squeeze. Olipop is sold online at drinkolipop.com and on Amazon and available in the aisle with the chilled beverages at thousands of retailers nationwide, including Walmart and Target. I love a good origin story and Brooklyn Bedding has one of my favorites. The founder, John, literally built this company from the ground up in Arizona. No college degree, just a lot of grit and tension and pride and craftsmanship. I've been sleeping on my signature hybrid from Brooklyn Bedding and it's one of those things where you don't realize how much your sleep was missing until you experience it. The mattress feels incredibly stable and supportive underneath, but still soft and comfortable on top. I found myself sinking in just the perfect amount, like my body's actually being held instead of fighting the mattress all night. And it genuinely feels like the high-end comfort without the high-end price tag. What I also love is that Brooklyn Bedding understands sleep isn't a one-size-fits-all. They handcraft every mattress in their Arizona factory, and they offer options for every body type and every sleep style. Go to brooklynbedding.com and use my promo code squeeze at checkout to get 30% off site-wide. This offer is not available anywhere else. That's brooklynbedding.com and use promo code squeeze for 30% off site-wide. Support our show and let them know we sent you after checkout. brooklynbedding.com promo code squeeze. Okay. I want to talk about this because we talk about therapy a loss on the podcast um I'd love to hear your journey with therapy because did it take you three like three different people yep to find a therapist and I think therapy to me was always something in my 20s where I was like I had to do it because I thought it was helping and so I would be going to therapy you know bi-weekly for an hour and it wasn't really ever helping but in my head. I was like, I just felt like this like thing that I had to do to be mentally healthier. If that makes sense. It was like, Oh, I'm going, I will, I go to therapy. So I'm fine. I go to therapy. So I'm fine. And there was never really a huge reason of my why it was just like a upkeep for my mental health. And I never really saw a big impact for it. And I finally found an amazing girl that literally I've recommended like so many of my friends too. I'm not going to say who, but like I have recommended her, my, this therapist. Um, she's really, she's really a, uh, what do you call it? Not a psychiatrist, but she's psychologist. Psychologist. She's a career psychologist. So she specializes in decision-making of a career and like what if you feel lost? And I feel like that has created so much purpose and she's helped someone very, very, very close to me with her entire career path and now is so happy. And I'm not kidding you. She's just like everything because she is not the type of therapist to say like, your feelings are validated. This is why you should be feeling this way. I just felt like my therapist was just listening to me and not giving me actions. And now my amazing girl actually has homework for me that I do and is so beneficial and I could not recommend her more. And I wish everyone in this entire world could have her because she's perfect. Oh, wow. And it took me a while to figure it out. Right. Like it took me, I would say upwards of five years to be like, Oh no, this is my purpose of why I am seeing somebody. And when you find a good therapist um to me you do this everyone different but I mean my personal opinion on what I personally need I don need her every week I don even need her biweekly I need her once a month because she that good Yeah Oh wow Yeah That great What made you like hopeful to keep looking Cause I think that's the biggest thing. I have friends that are like, and people that are lemon drops. Those are our listeners. We call them lemon drops. Um, people are like, I tried therapy. I've seen multiple therapists. Like it just hasn't clicked. Like what, what gave you the confidence to kind to keep looking and not give up hope? I would say the people in my life, my sister is a spiritual healer. So she's a really big believer in therapy and asking for help. And then my best friend is getting her doctorate right now. And so she's also really big on it. And I feel like the people around me who have found really good therapists have really advocated for it. And I just felt like I was going through a really hard time earlier this year. And so I needed to find someone new. And I asked my friend who was getting her doctorate right now, if she had any friends and I just felt like it was time. I don't know. The people around you need to be big advocates, I think as well is really helpful. And just keep trying. And I always say too, and this goes for anything in your life, not just therapists, but it's knowing when to be patient, if something is going to work versus when to pivot. And I wish I pivoted earlier with some of my therapists and some things in my life because I was just being patient to find it work. But I think with anyone who you're asking for help with, they have to be the right vibe. And an energy is really important to me and vibing correctly with the person. And if I didn't vibe with the person, then it's okay to stop asking for help from them. So I think that was important to me. Yeah. I love that. I love like the, having a therapist that will actually like give you things. Cause that's a big thing with my therapist. I love that he listens to me, but he's also like, he calls me out when I'm like being not dramatic, but if he's like, he probably shouldn't have done, like he will call me out on stuff, which I thrive off of. For me, I feel like my therapist has taught me something that like was really shipped in my mind around stress and anxiety. So I went to her because I get so stressed out about my career, like so anxious. I put so much pressure on myself for like literally no reason. And it's like this immense amount of pressure. I think it's also stemming from being an athlete and high achieving parents and like this like, I don't know, microcosm of just very high performance anxiety. And so that's why I first started going to mine. And basically what I really want to work on is like, I have these like moments where I like stress out so hard and it's like over something super minor. Like basically like, like this morning, my car didn't start like literally this morning and I had to take my husband's car here and like usually, and I kind of did, I was like, Oh my God, whatever. But like something like that, I would freak out and I'd stress out like in my head, like my heart would tense up. My whole chest would tense up for like three minutes and I'd be like totally fine. and if there's like something wrong in like work or business or whatever, I'd like get so stressed. And then in like three, five minutes later, like, okay, we'll figure it out. It's fine. It's fine. But she taught me that even if it's a minute worth of stress, even if it's three minutes, it lasts in your body for 40 minutes. And so if you're taking a meeting right after, if you are having an important call or for me, like if I'm stressed because I have an audition later and my car's not starting, then that stress will go into my audition. And so basically for me, knowing that it lasts for 40 minutes was like a, whoa, let's not get there yet because that's going to go into and bleed into a lot of my work. And when my stress and anxiety bleeds into my work, it's to me very obvious. And like even my followers sometimes on Snapchat will be like, you seem really stressed, Katie. I'm like, yeah, thank you so much. So that's, you know, she's helping with that and she's just doing amazing about it because I think, like you said, it's a muscle. And for me, like mindfulness has been something I need to practice and like being mindful and being intentional and not getting to that point of freaking out over a little thing is really important. Yeah. I know. I think that's just like a hormonal thing too. Yeah. It also depends on the time of month. I went off my birth control probably like six months ago ish. I'd been on it for like 10 years and I was just like, I need to just like, I need to figure out what's happening in my body. And I had tried, I tried switching to a different one and my body just, I did not like it. So then I went off of it and I really feel now when I get like an actual period and I'm like, yeah, I haven't had this for a very long time. Like this is crazy what this is like, but also just the mood of it all time of the month. Yeah. It really mattered. No, sometimes I'm like cool as a cucumber. And then the following week, I literally am insane. And then I get my period. I'm like, thank you. I understand. Yeah. It all makes sense. It was like the fact that you guys have this every month is crazy. I'm like, well, thank you for appreciating that. And my emotions truly are different every single week. Let's talk about your app. Yeah. Tell me about it. Where did this idea come from? So I started it 10 years ago, which is crazy when I was in college still. And it's been this platform where it's grown. I mean, obviously it's grown a lot and evolved a lot in the last 10 years. But I have hundreds of workout classes on there that you kind of just press play, follow along to. They're full follow along classes. So it's like a studio, but in your home. And, um, I mean, technically my mom has really done this her entire life. So it's not a new concept. Like she kind of created with Jane Fonda, the whole home workout kind of thing. And so, um, really just taking it digital. And nowadays it's like, so such a basic concept. I feel like 10 years ago when I was first starting out, like I was one of like the first to really feel like I had an app and a platform like this, like a subscription model. And so, um, it's been really fun to watch it evolve. And now I have nutrition on there and I do, you know, hundreds of recipes. I'm a recipe developer as well. And, um, I do nutrition guides. We have bringing different people on it as well. We just did, um, our amazing new program, which has been so exciting. The most work I've ever put into anything program in my life. And it's been fun because I feel like my app is, it's grown so much and it's grown so fast that it's also been this new role that I take is also like a CEO and founder role. Um, and now I like manage a lot of people and there's a lot of moving parts to it. Like we're like hiring for different like roles and it's like, whoa, this is, this is crazy. Um, so that's also been, you know, a little part of my mental health and stress and anxiety of why I'm seeing my girl. Yeah. So, um, it's good though. It's really fun because I feel like the community is growing a lot. And I feel like the cool thing about what I do is it's so rewarding because I can actually see that like girls and women that I'm helping. And we have this community group chat in the app, which has been really fun because every time, you know, I do a workout or someone connects with someone and, and they're keeping each other accountable and they're, you know, doing a selfie in the app, which is really cool. Like I just finished my workout or I just made these chicken meatballs or whatever it is. And so it's really cool to like have the sense of connection online with people who are doing the same workouts as you and doing the same recipes. And then I also do a lot of classes like around the U S from there. So I already did three workout tours, which is very tiring but amazing yeah so I did one for it was 12 cities one was 10 and one was six so I just did six um this past year and um it's just really really cool to meet your audience in real life yeah like girls who've been working out with me for years that come up to me and I can actually hug them it's been really cool yeah that's so special we just did our first like in-person summit yeah I saw that um and it was really fun right it's really special to get to like really me and I'm such like as you can tell I have a podcast but I love talking with people so getting to actually talk with people who have gained something from this passion project yeah I've been doing is like so rewarding and really reminds me of the why I started everything yeah it's such good it's such good motivation over dm I'm sure you've got like so many dams being like oh my god this episode changed me this way this way but like hearing it in person there's just and like hugging the girl, there's just a different energy, a part of it and connecting with them. And now literally some of the girls, like I go to Chicago and New York a lot and like some of the girls like keep coming back to my class. I like know them by name. Like, hey, what's up, Ashley? You're coming back. Yay, Rosa, Katie. Shout out to my girls. And so like the people that I'm really connecting with in my audience too has been really, really cool because I'm actually becoming like friends with them. I did like a retreat with my followers early this year and it's just fun. It's really fun when your followers become friends. Yeah. That's so special. Yeah. I love that. Is there a recipe that you're loving right now? Ooh, I love one pan anything. So like I'm a huge one pan girl and a huge bowl girl, but like I love throwing anything and whatever you have, like fridge clean out style in either like a cast iron or something, a dish that's like also oven safe. You throw like rice, chicken, a vegetable, you put a little chicken broth seasoning, you boil it, and then you put some cheese on top and you bake it and like that is my always go-to if i'm in like a very busy day and i just don't really have say you know a lot of ingredients that i'm working with like i don't want to do a full-blown recipe one pans yeah everything oh that's good i mean taylor is the chef of the house he loves wait that's so nice he's like that's his like mental health time is cooking because he's done it for years but he lived alone for a long time so that was kind of like what he'd do to keep himself decompress. Yeah. And he's really good at it too, which is really fun. Well, you're so lucky. My husband does not cook. I know. And I, it's, it's funny cause I come from a Greek family who like my mom is an incredible chef. My nan is an incredible chef. My aunt's an incredible chef. And so I feel like I'm like the like ugly duckling that like doesn't cook out of the family, but it's because you married someone who can, so you never have. So Taylor and I's joke is always like, I can cook if I want to. Like over Thanksgiving, I made like four sides, which I've never. It was our first time hosting and I had never done it. And I had so much appreciation for my mom because I grew up and we were always hosting Christmas and Thanksgiving and all the holidays. And I literally I made my Nana's mashed potatoes, which is my first time ever making her recipe. And they tasted just like and I was so proud of myself. So I always tell Taylor, I'm like, no, I can cook, but you enjoy it and you don't clean. So that is the role that you have taken on. And that's totally great. That's fine. Yeah. I love it. That's fun. What is your favorite self-care tools? Obviously fitness is one of them, but besides that, like, what do you do to kind of turn your brain off or if you're feeling burnt out from fitness? I love my walks. I know that's still fitness, but like walking. Yeah. Honestly, it's not really, actually, I disagree. I was about to say something. I was going to say going out and like going to dinner with my girlfriends is not like a mental health like hack, but at the same time it is. Because as we're just talking about connection is like everything. And I think like socializing is something that resets me. And like getting out of the house and talking to my friends in real life is something that we don't see as a mental health or self-care thing. But at the same time, it's so is because like you're getting off of your phone. You're not thinking about the thing that like has like maybe, you know, is taking a toll on your mental health or whatever it is. And I think, you know, connection is a huge hack. Yeah. And I think more people need to be connecting, getting off their phone. Yeah, that's so true. I know. I was just telling you, I just had some girls over and every time we meet for like a monthly Bible study here and every, every time like we leave, I will get a text from like five of them just saying how much they needed it. And I feel it the same way. but it's, it's so sweet to like take that time with each other and just like have intentional conversation with other women that you feel like loved and like, you never know how much you need it. Yeah. You know, like every time you get together with a group of girls, I feel like I know this can sound, I don't know, maybe not the right thing to say, but like sometimes I, I'm like not looking forward to it because I'm so tired and like I live pretty far from a lot of my friends. So I have to drive an hour and I'm just like, Oh, I'm so tired. I don't want to lay on the couch. And then every time I get home, like I'm so happy I did that. That was like a reset to me and fully lit me up. And so I think girl time is really important. And as much as we love our husbands, girl time, friendships and girl friendships are so important. That's good. That's good. Sweet. Well, I'll leave a link down below for people to check out the app. I love that. I love that you incorporated recipes in it because it's really just like, yeah, fully encompasses because what you said to you, like, we don't even realize the food aspect of it, of like what we're putting in totally. And also like, I make it really approachable for both like, you know, at home classes and also the recipes, like they're simple, they're low ingredient. They're not like asking you to get a whole ton of ingredients and something that we focus on to just another part of it is like grocery lists and to limit food waste. And so basically like what we've really, you know, recently in the last six months is to really incorporate recipes per week that have the same list of ingredients and how you can reuse them for different meals. And so, um, cause reducing food waste is a huge thing for me. And so also little things like that, that you don't realize like, Hey, if you bought zucchini, let's reuse it in this, this, this the ways you bought salsa, reuse it in this, this, this ways. And you don't have to like keep eating the same leftovers because I hate leftovers. So it's how to really cook with the same ingredients too. That's so good. Yeah. I mean, I love cooking like that. I like put me on a chop show. I'm like, how can you know what I mean? I have like eight ingredients and I'm like, let me give you this. That's so good. Have you done it? No, I'm dying to. Book me on a cooking show, please. Oh my gosh. We need to make that happen. Well, thanks for coming and chatting. Thanks for having me. This is so fun. Thanks for having me and love you guys. Thanks for listening. Go Lions. Yeah, go Lions. Woohoo. please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode