664. How Felicia Alexander Left Corporate America to Build Her Dream Gym - with Felicia Alexander

My like mantra is I can only focus on those things that I can control and everything else, I've just got to, like, let go and put it up to a higher power and it will turn out however it turned out.

Welcome to the earn your happy podcast. I'm Lori Harder, founder of The Bliss Project, 3 Time Fitness World champion, fitness expert and cover model, turned self love junkie, lifestyle entrepreneur and author. Each week I'll bring you a guest.

Or a thought that will help you.

Bust through your fears, connect to your soul, and get focused and clear so you can elevate your life, business and relationships. We don't wait until we're ready for someone to tell us we're good enough. We take what we want and we anoint ourselves, get ready to earn, own and unapologetically rock your happiness every single day. Are you with me?

Here we go.

Today I have Felicia Alexander on the show. You guys, welcome back. So excited for this conversation. I feel like I resonated so much with her story. I had the honor of meeting Felicia quite a few times when I would go to Soul cycle in Santa Monica. Remember when we could go to fitness classes? I can't wait for that again. Felicia has such a love of community and fitness, and it started at a young age. It was while her grandfather was an amateur body. And it wasn't until after the sudden death of her father when she was 16 that Felicia discovered her love of boxing. She is a graduate of Stanford University and the UCLA Anderson School of Business. She went on to have a successful career as a sales and marketing executive for companies including Sun Microsystems, Sony, Mattel and Leaf Group, all while recruiting friends and members of her team to come together through fitness. So in 2016, she decided to leave corporate America to chase her childhood dream of what really empowered and changed her, and that was through community fitness. So she launched Box Union, which was.

All the rage, is still the rage.

And opened a second location in West Hollywood, California in January 2019. And in April of 2020, Box Union went digital. So you can all have a part. We talk about pivoting, we talk about opening a business, we talk about, you know, leaving what you thought was going.

To be your career.

You guys, this conversation is awesome.

Let's get started.

Thank you, Lori. I'm so excited to be on here. I love listening to your podcast. You're such an inspiration and it's awesome to be able to chat with you today.

Oh, my gosh. Well, the feeling is mutual and I'm trying to think the first time I met you was in SoulCycle a long time ago. God, was that like four years ago?

Probably. And were we doing a Gina class?

Most likely, yeah.

She's amazing.

You're doing that.

Love her.

Gina's been on this podcast before. You guys can go back and listen to that one. We have a mutual Soul cycle instructor. God, I miss classes. And I'm sure that you definitely are in that space because you guys, Felicia is the amazing co founder of somewhere in something called Box Union, which is in Santa Monica. And we're going to be talking all about building businesses, pivoting, perseverance, resilience, because you have definitely persevered and had to really switch things up in this time, especially with you. I remember Box Union was getting so popular, people were talking about it all the time. If you went to SoulCycle, you probably had gone to Box Union, or you also went to Box Union. So something that was growing so incredibly quickly. I really want to talk about what that looks like now. But before we do that, I would first love to kind of hear about where your love for boxing even came from.

Yeah.

You know, it's funny, I was researching your background, and we have similar childhoods in the sense of, like, growing up the chubby kid. It turns out that I had thyroid disease that went undiagnosed. My older sister was lucky. She had hyperthyroid, so she always had a hard time putting on weight, whereas I had hypo and, like, weight just found me. And it was really hard to lose weight. But I grew up in a really active household. My dad used to ride his bike, you know, 100 miles on the weekend. My mom was, like, a big fan of Jazzercise and Jane Fonda. We would do Jane Fonda on the Betamax in the living room.

Oh, my God. Yes.

Yes. It was, you know, amazing. And, you know, I kind of looked like this little, like, roly poly, but loved it, loved it. Got on the soccer field at age 4 and, like, fitness was always something. Like, I was always athletic, and I excelled at sports. I may have been a little bit chubbier, but I was a great soccer player, and it was a great opportunity to come together with friends and to build community. So my teammates were some of my closest friends, and some of my fondest memories are those of traveling to soccer tournaments. I wanted to belong to a gym. My older sister's four years older. When she got a gym membership, I was so incredibly jealous. And I remember, like, going in there and begging the manager to please let me have a gym membership, too. And somehow I cajoled my way into a gym membership. I said it was like more convenient for our parents if both of us were there at the same time. Fast forward to getting my license. And I made it a point. There was like, I grew up in San Diego and there was this really nice gym that had opened up. It was called Frogs and it was like super fancy. And I'm like, I'm going to get a job in there babysitting. I didn't know how to train. Like, I never wanted to be a trainer or teach, but I always wanted to be somewhere where I could just be like the ultimate consumer of fitness. And I think, like, I wasn't diagnosed with depression until after college, but I think like so much of my love of fitness was one to help, like, manage the stress and anxiety in my life. And when you ask me about boxing, I grew up with a maternal grandfather who had been an amateur boxer. We would watch fights and I had an appreciation for the sport. Like, it didn't, you know, frighten me. I know a lot of people are like, oh, I can't watch boxing. But I really enjoyed watching it with him. And When I was 16, my dad died suddenly of a heart attack. And that summer I opened the yellow pages because, yes, there was no Internet at that time. And, and I looked up boxing gyms and I found a place in downtown San Diego which was about a 45 minute drive from my house. And I was determined to go there and learn how to box. And it was everything that you would imagine a stereotypical boxing gym to be. It was stinky, it was dirty, and it was awesome. The man who owned it had been a bronze medal Olympian. He was kind and patient and putting on gloves unlocked this superhero power within me. There was this deep catharsis and it felt really good to hit something. And I clearly had a big hole in my heart at that time and a lot of anger and a lot of sadness. And I'll never forget that transformative experience of putting on gloves. Fast forward. I went to college. There wasn't boxing near school, but I did prioritize fitness. Spent a disproportionate amount of my student loans, like belonging to a fitness facility off campus, because I really needed that sanctuary. And I would tell my friends in college, at some point in time, I'm going to do something in fitness. I just didn't know when or how because I was also straddled with a lot of student loans. I had a sister who was four years younger than me who still needed to go to college and I was just determined to be self sufficient and to be able to support myself. My dad died and left my mom in a precarious financial situation and I never wanted to be dependent upon anyone. So I graduated Stanford in three years. I got a job working for a really big corporation. I started working, making a lot of money, but would always again prioritize the gym, do fun workouts, challenges with my friends, with the eye towards like someday, somehow I'm going to get into fitness. And the funny story is in early 2000s I was obsessed with Burn 60, this amazing treadmill studio in LA. It was the first boutique fitness studio I ever went to. And I was like, gosh, why am I not? Like, why didn't I think of this? Like this would be the perfect job. I could hang out here all day. I love talking to people, I love what they're doing. I love how, you know, this experience is changing people's lives. But I was really frustrated with booking my classes at Burn 60 because by the time I would get home to my computer, all the spots would be gone. So my husband, who had been a serial entrepreneur is like, that's a really interesting problem. And he and his business partner ended up building an app. App. But Burton was their first customer and really the app was to help me solve this pain. Point of being able to more easily book a spot in class.

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So you know the first foray into fitness as a business was actually my husband taking this pain point of mine and building this mobile app that is still in use today by anyone that uses mindbody as their backend. Their front end branded app is technology that he built ultimately sold to mindbody. So our relationship was always I had the steady corporate job that had the paycheck that came every other week in the health insurance benefits. And he went and did like cool entrepreneurial tech things. And when he sold his company to mindbody he said, you know, is there something you want to do? And there was because my business partner who I've known for over 13 years, who's a former investment Banker wanted to leave investment banking and do something in fitness. We had a shared love of Burn 60. We had a shared love of fitness. We started talking about different things and we came at it from the lens of where's there an opportunity to do something that hasn't been done before? I mean, SoulCycle set the bar so high when it came to, like, an experiential indoor cycling class. Byrne and Berries and orangetheory had done such a great job in the treadmill space. And we saw boxing was trending. And although there are a lot of places to box for fitness, we thought there was really an opportunity to introduce people to boxing that may have never, ever dreamed of putting on gloves before. And how can we take something that is perceived to be intimidating, that is a individual sport, and make it communal, make it fun, and create this, like, class structure where everybody's moving in unison to the rhythm of the music and we're boxing to the beat. We're creating this unbelievable flow state and we're leaving people feeling accomplished because in each class they're working up to, you know, anywhere between a six and a two to a ten punch combination. So really long answer to your question. But that's how I got there.

Well, I love that. And you gave us a bit of history on how Box Union was created. And I think it's just, you know, I see trends all the time, obviously, with doing podcasts, and it's staying in a question until you get an answer. And maybe you weren't, like, specifically hammering down, like, how do I get in fitness now? But if you keep the question in your head throughout a long period of time, then your answer is eventually going to show up. Because when you have that question, it opens up that space where now you're looking for opportunity and possibility. So the fact that you always had this question in your head of, how am I going to get into fitness? How can I get into fitness and make it something that I can be around all the time? I think just for everybody listening, do you have that other question in your head of what would ultimately light you up in kind of, what's the bigger picture? So I think that's so powerful talking about that. So I want to talk about, you know, the inception, the creation of, like, Box Union, what that looked like when you were getting started and like, oh, my God, like, how do you even get a business like that started?

There was a lot of conversations at my dinner table, at my business partner's dinner table, where we were brainstorming everything from what are we going to call this thing to. What do we want it to look and feel and smell like? How do we want people to be treated? What do we want people to feel like once they come into our doors, all the way through after they leave, and then return for the visit again? So, I mean, it was an unbelievable experience. We had so many people tell us we were absolutely crazy to do this. They're like, what do two people who can't even teach their own classes, who've never operated a fitness business, know about doing this? And I think a lot of people really thought we were crazy and thought we were going to fail. We were fortunate in that we put up the money ourselves to open up our first location. We didn't want to be beholden to anyone, and if it didn't work out, we didn't want to feel like, oh, gosh, you know, sorry about your investment. That's probably the wrong lens to have going into something. Because we knew deep down in our DNA and the reason why we took the leap was that there was an opportunity and that we had an idea that was different than what existed. And when we finally opened, I mean, in terms of. I tried to keep my day job. I had been running sales and marketing for a division of a company. It's now called Leaf Group. It was called Demand Media at the time. And I was helping brands develop their own custom content strategy, running a team of people. And it got to be really hard when there was meetings with architects or meetings to go talk about lighting, and I couldn't, like, fake all these sales calls. So I eventually had to, for my own conscience, just quit my job and focus entirely on Box Union. Which was scary because I had always been an earner. Since the time my father died, I had been determined to support myself, to never depend on anyone else for anything. And to go from, like, having a paycheck to, you know, not making any money and investing so much time and energy into something was really, really scary, but also, like, intoxicating and invigorating. So that early process was, you know, a lot of learning. I mean, I knew nothing about the construction process. I know more about H Vac systems than I, you know, care to know. Yes, totally. And, you know, it gave me such a profound respect and appreciation for. For small business owners. Like, I think about, you know, the nail salon that I go to, and I never really understood how complex that business can be and how many different facets there are in a business until I started Box Union. Like, what do the hang tags look like on the shirts that we're going to be selling in there, like, I didn't really think that we were also going to have to become a retailer as well and think about like, you know, merchandise. So it's a never ending process where I'm still continuing to learn and grow. And I think that's one of the things that makes it so fun and so rewarding. And what we thought the product was going to be initially has definitely transformed over time. And we've been so lucky in that we found people who were willing to give us a chance. Like, I would go to studios, I would take classes all over town. I still love taking as many different types of classes as possible. I love supporting other fitness businesses. But I would find coaches and talk to them and say, we've got this great idea and it's going to be amazing. And then if they were interested, we had rented space in a dance studio and we'd bring them to the dance studio and be like, so this is what we think it's going to be like. And then that evolved to hanging a couple of bags in my business partner's garage and, you know, to sell people on vapor. But like, really passionate idea with like nothing to show, no track record, you know, I'm so eternally grateful. We've got this master coach named Kyle Schneider. He's been with us since day one. He grew up a competitive basketball player, started boxing when he was 14. Amazing athlete, amazing human. When we told him we had this idea and that we were going to box to the beat of the music, he looked at us like we had four heads. And four years later, I mean, he's head of programming, he's taken what we've laid out and just transformed it to something that I never even thought it could be.

I love these stories because you created a great opportunity for someone and they also got to show up and you gave them space to show up fully themselves. Clearly he would not be able to have done that without you being someone who really wanted to facilitate his greatness. So those are huge things, especially as someone starting ideas of. You just said a huge part of how your business has transformed was because of someone else. And I think that so many people miss out on those ideas because they need to helicopter everything going on or it has to stick to this or you need the credit for it or whatever that looks like. And when we bring other people in, when our dream is so big that we have to bring other people in, it's meant to do that because of exactly what you said. I thought that was so incredibly powerful that the way that you structured, structured this was like to really, number one, paint that vision with people, but then be so open to what they're bringing. I love, love, love that.

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What's been really eye opening before we pivot into kind of like what's, you know, what's all transpired in the past, like six months. But I want to know, you know, what was something really eye opening for you about starting this business that you are just so grateful for the lessons that starting this business has given you?

I think what I've always loved the jobs that I've had and I've been really lucky to work with great, smart people and I've always found my work to be fulfilling. But this takes that fulfillment to the next level because the impact that Box Union and the coaches in particular are having on people's lives is so unbelievably profound. And when I think about the emails that we get or the direct messages of people talking about how they found us during a really difficult time, whether it had been the loss of a loved one or a breakup. And Box Union was this place where they really felt seen, heard and supported and it allowed them to find and become a better version of themselves. Like, there's nothing more gratifying and rewarding than knowing that like, you fundamentally are changing people's lives in that way. And yes, people have had physical transformations and I think that if you do any, you know, exercise program, you know, regularly and you, you know, watch what you put into your body, you can physically transform. But when you talk about like the mental growth that people have had or somebody writing about how they really didn't have a great sense of self and showing up scared as they were for their first class, but being met with such a warm reception that the Box Union community has enabled them to find a voice they didn't know that they had and given them confidence to go and apply for a new job or get out of a bad relationship. It's like, we get those emails and those messages all the time, and I never take a single one of them for granted, but it's like the most amazing, fulfilling thing. And it's like the type of message that really, like, makes me cry, like, with such happiness.

Yes. And probably pulls you through a lot of the challenges totally as well, because you're like. And you have to remember that. Right. Like, you actually, like, almost physically have to remind yourself to focus on, you know, what. What is pulling you through. Like, why are you doing it? Because I'm sure you had a lot of moments that you're like, what the hell am I doing? Like, this is not going well.

Oh, my God. There's so many times in the very beginning we'd hear, like, an editor from so and so's come into class, and it's like, that's great, because they might be the only person in class, you know, the very early days. And then it's like, you know, asking my husband, can you please come show up for class? Oh, my God, yes, Frankie. Like, can you guys come? And it would be like my business partner and I and our head of marketing, like, each of us taking two to three classes a day just so there'd be an extra body and, you know, in the class. Yeah.

So Ben there. Oh, my God, you're bringing me back. Like, okay, that. And those are the things that. That people just do not hear or. Or think. And it's like, you know, because you look at your.

Your.

You look at boxing as a brand, and it's very, like, chic. It's, like, really cool. It's very edgy. Like, you would never think, like, people are behind the scenes going, oh, my God, we have.

We know we have to look a certain way. It's just.

It's how it works. Like, you just make it work in the beginning. There's so many of those moments. So thank you for sharing that. So, ok, so you have your. You're up and running. It's going amazing. And then all of a sudden, Covid hits.

What.

What did that look like for you?

Yeah. So Santa Monica buzzing along, doing incredibly well. We had opened a second location In January of 2019 in West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, on Robertson, across from the Ivy. And then we were really close to opening our third location in Sherman Oaks. It is like 90% of the way through construction. And, you know, the shutdown happens and, you know, prior to the actual government mandate, we decided, like, we are going to close ahead of it. Our coaches were starting to get incredibly nervous about this virus and how it was spreading. And I honestly thought I was going home for two weeks. And even that two weeks was very stressful to think of what are we going to do during those two weeks and how are we going to survive? So we knew that our community is what makes Box Union. Box Union. And to be able to show up for them in a time when everybody was feeling a heightened sense of anxiety and stress was really important. So Kyle and our other master coach, Tara, started doing Instagram lives for our community right away. And those were met with unbelievable reception. And it was actually amazing because for the first time, it didn't matter where people were physically located. You had, you know, members who were regular commenting on the Instagram lives. This is so fun. I'm doing it with my whole family, you know, and we're in five different states. Or like, I'm, you know, have my college roommates on here with me today. Can you shout them out? So that was, you know, like, oh, this is kind of cool. Like, we'd never done anything virtually, and we started to see our organic following grow quite a lot in a very short period of time. And one of the things that we decided to do was really dive in on the digital front. Digital had been on our roadmap, but honestly, like, we were really focused on growing our physical footprint. We had traveled to cities across the US, Met with brokers, you know, had been in discussions on opening other locations and put digital on the side and, you know, where while people were asking if we had a GoFundMe or a Venmo that they could give us funds for the Instagram lives, we decided, you know what, this needs to be a value exchange. And we want to keep our community engaged and we want to do it in a way that we're creating content that can live on and people can access anytime from anywhere. So April, we launched Box Union Digital. We were able to find an existing technology platform that was easy for us to get up and running on. And our coaches have done a phenomenal job. We have about four live classes a day and hundreds of on demand workouts. All of our classes are beat based, but we use this as an opportunity to give our members other modalities, all using our movement to the beat technology. So we have sculpt classes that are to the beat of the music. We've got strength classes, we do shadow boxing and weights. We do shadow boxing and hiit. We do shadow boxing and yoga. We've got some Pilates on there. And it's been unbelievable in helping grow the Box Union brand a lot faster than we ever could have with, like, a physical expansion strategy.

Oh, that's so awesome. And you know, for anyone who hasn't done anything to the beat, like, I, it's. I. You could not get me to go to a cycle class beforehand. Like, I had gone to someone, I lived back in Minnesota, like, years and years ago, like 10 years ago. And my friend was like, you gotta come to SoulCycle. I was like, hell no. I hate indoor cycling. Like, I hate, like, it was a way to actually, like, you know, make me feel misery very quickly. And she was like, trust me, it's so much fun. Oh my God, you have to try it. So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna hate it. And I went and it was literally life changing because we are, we are like our bodies. Actually. I think, I don't know, maybe you can talk on it. Maybe, you know, I think because of our heartbeat, like, I think we love beats. Like, we literally love syncopating up to, like, people and music and movement. And that feeling when you get all on the beat with everyone else, whether it's digitally or whether it's in person, which I hope we can all be in person again, it's really powerful. It makes it way more fun. It makes it go by faster and it gives you a really empowering feeling compared to other classes. So I love that you have all of those options of to the beat, different variations of movement. I think it's really powerful and empowering. You have your online, online community. But what did that feel like? Like, I want to. I want to just go back to the moments of, like. And I'm sure you still have them. Just like, holy.

It felt horrible. I mean, honestly, it was, you know, nothing any of us could have ever predicted or imagined. We kept our entire staff on through the end of March, and then we had to make some really tough decision with no money coming in and still having existing obligations to leases, et cetera. So I would say, like, the first thing that was, you know, really hard and left me very sleepless and in a, you know, state of depression was having to tell people, like, you know, I'm sorry, but you don't have your job right now. And having to furlough a ton of employees and knowing that, you know, everybody was in this state of panic and fear and not being Able to be there and show up for your people who've given so much to Box union felt really, really awful. It was really scary thinking about, how are we going to survive and make it through? And also just the realization of I'm no longer in control of anything and what we've set out in the business plan and the goals that we had set out and wanted to hit are no longer feasible. And, like, what does that mean to box union and what does it mean, like, to somebody like me who's a planner who needs to know, like, what's happening when things are happening? And I like to be in control and when you have no control over anything, personally, it manifested itself in a few, like, negative ways. For me, although I was doing the workouts, like, I was drinking more than I ever would. Like, I would have a drink every night versus maybe like, on a Friday or Saturday night. Like, I'd have age drink. I was eating all sorts of, like, sugary food and, like, definitely going back to, like, patterns of, like, you know, binge eating late at night, not sleeping, and, you know, just feeling an overall, like, deep heaviness inside, but having to, like, hide that during the day because there still were employees that were working and needing to put on a face of, like, it's okay. Like, we've got this. We've got a plan. We're gonna get through this. I do think, though, like, it's in my nature to always wear my heart on my sleeve. And I'm always, like, very open and authentic about the fact, like, you know, I do struggle with depression and, like, this situation absolutely sucks. I have a really supportive community of other entrepreneurial friends, you know, so whether it's, you know, my friend Brittany who owns Squeeze, or Rachel who owns Plate Fit, or Susie who owns, you know, Unplug or Lisa from Studio mdr. So, like, having that community of other people who the world was going through this loss and this crisis together, but then really being able to reach out to my network of peers who are dealing with a lot of the same sort of issues was also really helpful because there is something comforting in knowing you're not the only one. And also getting advice of, like, okay, well, how are you guys communicating with your team when there's absolutely no updates? Like, even to this day, we have no idea as to when we are going to be able to open up our doors. And it's been seven months.

Yeah.

Wow. It's so important to hear and also just so intense and really looking at what your coping mechanisms are. Right when did that kind of come back around for you? Cause, girl, I was so there. It's like. And I think we were in more, you know, there's that morning phase, which is really normal, which it does trigger all of those old things, which I was right there with you. Like, how can I eat, you know, whole bag of everything? Like, I'm gonna eat everything in this house. So what point were you kind of like, for me, you know, or saying for yourself, like, where did you start to know you had to, like, do this for you? Like, start taking care of yourself again and like, okay, what does this look like? How long is this going to be? How do I start to take care of you? The person so that you could show up the way that you wanted to.

I think a really good turning point. It was before July, but July was really like the catalyst. I have a friend who is launching a amazing shelf stable superfood plans. And she had asked me if I wanted to beta test it. And I love programs, like, you know, you give me like a playbook and you tell me I'll follow it, I'll follow it. I'll be the best student. I'll like, do everything. And it's funny because both my sisters and I did it and they were like, so off the reservation and they were like, you know, cheating on the first day. And I like, was laser focus. And that was like such an unbelievable reset experience because I think it got like my metabolism, like my adrenals, everything kind of back to a steady state. And I kind of made a commitment after that of like, I don't want to feel bad again. And I have a really strong reaction to sugar. Like, sugar is not my friend. As much as I know. Chocolate chip cookies, I know are so good. Like, it's not worth how bad it makes me feel.

Yeah, totally afterwards.

And I wish I could. Like, it's just better if I, like, don't go down that, that path. So I would say that was really big. And then also just like incorporating other types of, of exercise into my routine. I'm kind of like a hardcore, like, pound the pavement, like super high intensity cardio seven days a week. And using this as an opportunity of like, I can go connect with a friend on a walk. That's a pretty safe way to have that human connection and like, spending more time in nature or actually like discovering I look down the street from the beach. It's a really beautiful place. I should hang out there more.

Yeah, totally. I feel you on that. Oh my God. As you're talking, I am just like, we are literally the same human when it comes to certain things. Like that sugar for me, bad. It just fuels the depression and anxiety. It is just like. And I'll watch myself choosing it. And I'm like, shit, I'm doing this to myself. I had to do that too. I had a turning point during this where I was like, you know what.

You got to support yourself.

You got to love yourself into this. And the way that you do that is going to be like, you got to clean cleanup always, right? Like, it goes back to probably when you were a kid. Like, the realization of how supportive and how happy and good you can feel when you support yourself with healthy food and movement. And same thing for me. I used to be huge into high intensity workouts. And then I discovered you don't have to do them all the time to get that same feeling and even just result in general in life. Ok, so pivoting, you add your moments of just like, okay, going into the digital community, and now you have no idea if this will come back. Like, we actually don't know. I mean, we're hopeful, right? But we actually don't know. So where is that leaving you right now? Like, what does that feel like? Because I know there's a lot of people in a lot of businesses who are still quote, unquote, waiting. Some people aren't pivoting yet. But where are you at in the mental, in the mental space of like, God, I don't know. Especially with you loving plans.

My, like, mantra is I can only focus on those things that I can control and everything else. I've just got to let go and put it up to a higher power. And it will turn out, however it turns out. And for me, what my team and I are most focused on is how do we continue to build Vox Union and build community, whatever that might look like. Whether it's this month, we're doing this really fun digital challenge called Better Together, which we did in the physical world and we've translated it online. And I think the team has done an amazing job of figuring out how to do it virtually to starting. I started doing these, like, small classes in my backyard, and I call them like backyard boxing and bringing a coach in and giving, like, somebody the opportunity to continue to make money and also give people a way to, like, get together in person. And then other people saw that on my Instagram, on Box Union's Instagram, and they're like, hey, can I have a coach come over to my backyard? Like, I've got a group of friends that would like to do this. Wow. To then getting Lowe's Santa Monica beach hotel to say, hey, would you guys like to start doing outdoor classes here? And it's like, oh my God, this setting is like none other. Like, you're literally looking at the ocean. Oh, it's so. It's so unbelievably gorgeous. So we're doing, you know, daily classes at Lowe's Santa Monica Beach. A coach on the other side of town, Caitlin, who's like, you know what? Digital is awesome and I'm so glad we're doing it. She's like, but I need the energy of in person for me to show up as the best version of my coaching self. So, like, coaching on digital isn't where I want to be, but I want to be in person. She's like, can I start doing classes in West Hollywood? So she like literally was flyering all over the place. She's got these great classes at Pan Pacific park that are taking place. I went yesterday at 7am to her class at Pan Pacific Park. It was great. And you know, we're just going to continue to deliver the experience however we can in whatever location it is that we have available to us. And I have no doubt that at some point in time the studios will open. I'm sure there'll be capacity constrained. I think in, you know, 12 to 18 months, things will return to a quasi normal state. But for now, the most important thing for us is to continue to deliver a fun workout and to continue to be accessible and to lean into our community and to show up and to support them wherever they may be.

So it's so creative and it just sort of like you had the one experience and you were like, wait, that worked? How can we do that everywhere? And it's trying. It's just trying everything. Like, try new creative ways and you piece it together and all of a sudden you have a new model. And it's literally just how it works. It's not some like, oh, we had this plan and this is how we pivoted. It's like, I don't know, let's try. Let's see what happens. And this is what people are asking for. So let's give it a whirl. So talk to me. I just want to hear a little bit about how you feel. Feel, like just about perseverance. Like, what does that mean to you? What life could you breathe into people about perseverance?

I can't talk about perseverance without talking about my Mom. And I think it's so ingrained in my nature because of this unbelievable human who birthed me and who I've had the experience of growing up with for the last 45 years. My mom is an unbelievable woman. She suffered the loss of her father at the age 8 by suicide. She's the child of, you know, alcoholic parents. When I was three, she had a son who died at three months old of crib death. Having a child of my own, like, I don't even understood how she, like, got over the loss of that child. My father died suddenly when I was 16. She was widowed at the age of 44. She went on to get her PhD in educational leadership. She turned 74 this past Sunday. And she's crushing life. She's a world renowned interventionist helping families in crisis. She's got her third book coming out. And I guess, like, you know, when all the cards are stacked against you, when you're knocked down, she always said we have no choice but to fall up. And I think, like, that's been my mantra and my attitude because it's what's been modeled for me. So it's like, you know, I could, like, sit around feeling sad and bad and, like, upset about the current situation, or I could try and, you know, excuse the, like, pun. You know, make lemonade out of lemons. And it's so much more productive and fulfilling to, like, be in a state of action than inaction.

Amen. I mean, it's. Inaction is, you know, quick road to anxiety and depression for sure. Yeah. But action for me always cures whatever kind of state I'm in. Like, and I'm not saying, like, burning yourself out action. I'm saying, like, creating just like, what should I do next? Instead of what can, you know, saying, what can I do next? Instead of just, like, kind of wallowing or saying, why did this happen? That's gotten me nowhere good except for, like, you know, two bottles deep with wine. So that's about it. And that's no fun. I'm no fun to be around after that. Okay, so you talked about two passions that you have. You said you have two big passions. We were talking about connecting before we got on the podcast because you have connected me to some awesome.

Who I'm.

Who I've been talking to, and I'm so excited to talk to. Just. And I think connecting when you are running a business and just in life in general is one of the most important things that you can do. And you had mentioned that your second passion was connecting.

People.

So I didn't get to hear what your first one was. And then I want to hear why you love connecting people.

I mean, my first one is definitely, like, bringing together people through fitness and movement and, like, creating community through that, connecting people. It is in my blood and something that I've always loved doing. If you ever meet my mom and my two sisters, you'll see that, like, we all share that same type of DNA. I jokingly call myself the unofficial publicist for the people and the things that I love, because when I find people that I connect with or products that I love, I want everybody to know about them. And it's so fun. Like, when somebody tells me about the business that they're starting, and I hear the passion and the excitement in what they're saying, and I think it's, like, a good idea. Or I really like the person. Like, I fixate on, like, who could I introduce them to? Like, what could I do? Like, I just want to help. And I think part of it is, like, you know, I'm a helper, but I love to bring great people together. I've tried, like, to match people with, like, on the love side. That doesn't work, but I can definitely connect people that I think, like, are going to have synergies when it comes to, you know, business and common interest.

You're like, okay, maybe it wasn't romance, but could you help each other's businesses? Yeah, forget about the romance. Okay. That is amazing.

I love that.

I mean, connection, I think, is. It's probably. I think it's number one when you're building a business and going for your dreams. Because we can't do this alone. So grateful for people like you who are so open and willing to do that, because it is what. It's what moves things forward, and I think it helps keep in mind that we always need to be looking for how we can connect people as well. If we all had that question in our head, it would be. We would net. We literally meet everybody that we ever needed to meet if we always just opened up our mental Rolodex whenever we meet someone that we feel a pull towards. So thanks for that reminder. I think that's, like, such an epic thing to live by, like, such a great value to have. Well, I'm so incredibly grateful for you that you came on today. I want to make sure that people can all go sign up for your digital course and find out or your classes and find out where they can maybe do a live class if they're in Los Angeles area. So where can we get all that info?

Yeah, if you go to boxunion.com you can look at our in person classes as well as our online classes. If you are outside of LA and you know, digitals for you, go to digital.boxunion.com we have a 14 day free trial and if you enter the code Felicia, F E L I C I A, you can get 33% off each month. So $20 a month with that code. Yay.

That's so cool. I know we're all at the point where we're looking for new workouts right about now, especially people in the colder areas. Now they're all having to be indoors. So hopefully we see like a big spike in everything that you're doing with that as well. Okay, I'll end on one last question.

Let's see.

What do I want to ask you? What is something that most people don't know about you?

Something that most people don't. That's a hard one, Lori. Okay. I have one child and it's kind of like when you get engaged and everyone's like, when are you getting married next? So you have one child and everyone's like, when are you having the second child? I had a really scary pregnancy and delivery and it turns out I have this really weird blood clotting disorder. And I am grateful that I have one child. There was never going to be a second child after finding this out. But for all those people out there, like, if you've got friends who are married, don't ask them when they're having kids. If you've got friends that are engaged, don't ask them when you're getting married. And if you have friends that have one kid, don't ask them when are you having your second one?

That's great advice. Yeah, no kids over here right now. And it's really funny how it's just. Yeah, all of the questions. So I feel you on that one. So grateful for you again, you guys. I will put put everything in the show notes. And as you know, one of the biggest gifts that we can give for our guests on the podcast is to let them know how they impacted you. So, Felicia, what handle on Instagram would you like them to tag?

You can tag my personal one, which is F E E S La La Land. L A L A L A N D. Awesome.

So give her a tag on Instagram. Give myself a tag on Instagram in your stories and let us know what your biggest take was from this podcast. You guys know that I love to see who we're talking to. She'll love to know the impact that she made. And I always love to share your stories. So you guys, until next time, earn your happy.

Bye everyone.

Thank you guys so much for spending this time with me on the Earn your happy podcast. I am so glad that you stopped by. If you could take one second to share this episode with someone you think would love it, that would be absolutely amazing and we would be forever grateful. Also, please leave us a review if you feel so moved by going to itunes and leaving us an honest thought, an honest comment, Tell us what you think, tell us what you want to hear more of. It would really help us out on our journey to helping thousands and thousands of people. Until then, don't forget to earn your happy. Thanks again guys. Bye Bye.