In this KARAMO interview, elite Peloton instructor, motivational speaker, and New York Times bestselling author Tunde Oyeneyin shares her personal journey from a childhood marked by weight insecurity and cultural pressures in Houston to becoming a globally recognized fitness leader. She recounts early experiences of hiding her size, the emotional impact of losing her brother, father, and mother, and how she processed each loss by allowing herself to feel the pain fully. Tunde explains how a series of setbacks—including failing her first Peloton audition—shaped her "stay ready" mindset and eventually led to her breakthrough eight months later. Central to the conversation is her SPEAK framework—Surrender, Power, Empathy, Authenticity, Knowledge—outlined in her book Speak, which she describes as the pillars that guide personal growth and purposeful living. The dialogue also touches on her evolving view of relationships, vulnerability, and the desire for a partner who is also on a self‑improvement path. Throughout, Tunde emphasizes the importance of changing one’s internal narrative, embracing authenticity, and using grief as a catalyst for transformation, while Karamo interjects with supportive commentary and prompts.
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My guest, Tunde Oyineme, is an elite Peloton instructor, trainer of millions of people across the world. She's a motivational speaker and a New York Times bestselling author. But Tunde, like so many, struggled with her weight and self-esteem. She also battled grief after the death of her mother, father, and brother. Tunde found her most authentic self by changing the narrative in her own life, and she continues to motivate and encourage others to do the same. Everyone, please help me welcome Thunde to the show. Hi. Karamo, I'm so happy to meet you.
I'm so happy to meet you. You're so beautiful, even in person.
Don't play with me. You are gorgeous. Oh my gosh, you are stunning. Thank you. Walking out here like a supermodel. OK, so we got to go back. So you joined Peloton in 2019, right?
Right.
But what I found was interesting is that you failed your first audition. They didn't take you.
They didn't take me the first time.
Why? What happened?
You know what? I think that first and foremost, my motto is I stay ready so that I don't have to get ready.
Amen.
And—
I hear it. I'm right there with you.
I think there's so much to— there's oftentimes where you're not ready for something. Sometimes the opportunity is just not ready for you.
Yeah.
And—
That is such a big thing because we walk through life thinking sometimes like, oh, what's wrong with me? Instead of realizing that maybe they're not there.
Yeah.
They're not there. Yeah. Keep going.
And so the space wasn't ready for me. There was so much shift and alignment that had happened within the 8 months that I feel like I was truly set up to shine more 8 months later.
So you grew up and you struggled with your weight? Tell me about that time in your life.
So I grew up Houston, Texas, child of two immigrant parents. Like all factors point to, we love food. You from H-Town?
I didn't know that.
H-Town. Yeah, that is. Well, I went to Katie Taylor.
What?
Oh, you went to Katie Taylor?
Okay, I was living in Houston, girl. Okay, side note. All right, okay.
Yeah, I was in the hood.
I was on Third Ward, so.
Okay. I went to the school, University of Houston. And so I remember I was supposed to be a bridesmaid in my aunt's wedding. Wedding, we go to the store, the dress doesn't come in my size. My aunt offers to buy me another dress, a more beautiful dress. I broke down in the bridal shop that day because I felt like if I was the one wearing a different dress, everyone would know this secret that I'd been trying to hide, which was my size. I remember I never laughed too hard 'cause I didn't want people to notice I was in the room. And so—
Oh, poor thing.
We left that day.
How many years did you live like that? Not laughing so people didn't notice you?
Oh my gosh, my entire childhood, I would say probably until I was like 15 or 16 years old. And then still some. I think, you know, for anybody who's battled with their self-image, if you specifically weight, you can lose weight, but if you're not training your mind at the same time, then you don't ever see it. I thought that if I looked a certain way, then I would be accepted by people. I thought that if I looked a certain way, the world would receive me differently. And so when I finally lost the weight and people were gravitating towards me, I said to myself, oh, okay, you're right. Like, now all these people wanna be your friends. Now everybody likes you because you look like this. It took many years for me to realize I don't know that people gravitated towards me because I looked different. I think I finally, started to show them who I really was.
'Cause you were hiding who you are.
And so that's why, yeah.
Good perspective. Okay, so we know you got a lot of Tunde-isms that you use to help encourage many people. And a lot of those came from your mom, correct? Mm-hmm. Your mother's death had a tremendous effect on you. 'Cause how old were you at the time?
I think I was 29 or 30. To rewind, I lost my little brother when he was 19. 3 years after that, I lost my dad. And then 3 years later, I lost my mom.
How did you go through that grief? Because when you've hit, Under, under, under, and you just feel like the world's on you. It's like, well, how do I get up from that? How did you go through that?
I don't know that I have advice for it, 'cause I think that we all process grief the way that we're going to process grief. Like the way that I processed with my brother was very different than my dad and my mom. It looked different each time. I know that for me, I allowed myself to be low. And so I think it was really a matter of, not moving past the pain and moving through every, every, every emotion and every inch of it. Every single day was a different color.
Yeah. I got a question for you. When was the last time you cried and what made you cry?
Oh, do you really wanna know?
I do. What made you cry?
The last time I cried was yesterday at the air— This is real talk.
Yeah.
Yesterday. Is the camera still on?
Yeah, yeah.
This was yesterday at the airport. At the airport, the gentleman in front of me, I noticed that he kept turning around and looking behind my shoulder. And so at first I thought something was wrong with us, me and him. And then so I looked past my shoulder and I noticed that there was a woman who was saying farewell to him. And so we are in the TSA line for probably 10 or 15 minutes and the entire time he kept turning around and looking at her and she just kept smiling and looking at him. And I said, is that your wife? And he said, yeah, we've been together for 6 years. I said, she loves you. And he said, yeah, it's gonna be 2 weeks until I see her again. And they just kept having this like interaction where they were smiling and I cried and I looked and I said, wow, I don't have a person that I look and have this like moment with. You are not dating? Honey, who do you know?
Okay. I know a lot of, listen, I will hook you up. Is a relationship something you want?
Yeah, you know what? In my 20s, I thought to myself, what is wrong with me? How come nobody likes me? It was all, why me? Why me? Why not me? Yeah. At 37, it's a completely different space in that I am excited that the man that I end with, he is working on himself right now as I am working on myself right now.
Yes. What kind of guys do you like?
What kind of guys? Uh-huh. Type-wise? Yeah. Honey, I'm open.
Okay.
She does not discriminate.
She does not discriminate. I hear it.
Yeah. A good heart, a good heart. Laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh. Nice teeth. I see you have nice teeth.
Thank you.
Thank you as well. Thank you. I like a good heart and somebody who makes me laugh and thinks I'm hilarious, honestly.
You also have the acronym SPEAK.
Yeah.
Tell me about that.
In my book Speak, I spoke to 5 words as elements. Surrender, power, empathy, authenticity, and knowledge. I looked at the word surrender and what it truly meant. I noticed that every single time in my life when I fully surrendered, it resulted in change. Maybe change I liked or I didn't like, but that change always led me to growth. Power I define as living in purpose, on purpose, being of great purpose. Empathy I speak to as being rooted in love, not just love for other people, but love for yourself first. If I don't love myself, I don't even know how to love you. I don't even have the tools to do it. Authenticity is the intersection of truth and trust. When you trust yourself enough to show up as you truly are in all spaces. And then lastly, knowledge. Every misstep, every opportunity that I've had has led me to this moment. And so I recognize that everything in life is happening For me, everything. And not to me.
Yeah, I hear that. Listen, thank you for coming here. Thank you. Y'all better give it up for Toonday. You can learn more about Toonday's life and how to find your voice in her book, Speak. It's out in paperback right now. And guess what? Everybody in the audience, y'all getting a book. You're amazing. Hold up, hold up. Where are you going? I know you wanna watch more Karamo, so click here to subscribe and click here to watch more so we can keep talking and growing, friends. I love you.
