Photo: Emma Lovewell
One of the key points in Emma Lovewell’s new bookLive Learn Love Well: Lessons From a Life of Progress Not Perfectionis a simple concept — success is not linear.
“There [are] a lot of interesting ups and downs; I think some things that people might relate to,” Lovewell told PEOPLE about her book in October 2022 while exclusively revealing its cover. “Coming from a pretty affluent town, but not coming from a lot of money, working my way through college and trying to make it in the big city.”
Emma Lovewell in New York, backstage after a dancing gig in 2010.Emma Lovewell
It was while she was in her 20s, trying to find a career that would play to her strengths that she took a risk and answered the Craigslist ad – to pose for a personal trainer’s website. She didn’t take one giant leap from that to becoming aPeloton instructor, but the photographer from that shoot suggested that she become a fitness model. In 2011 she signed on to the Wilhelmina model agency, which led to her posing for brands like Under Armour and Athleta.
In 2012, she shot a Kickstarter commercial for Peloton, then a start-up company. Little did Lovewell know that, just five years later, she’d film her first ride as an instructor for the company. Though it would take a few years and twists and turns, that $50 little Craigslist gig set her on the path.
She says it was all about “meeting the right people, being in the right place at the right time.” “Meeting the photographer there, who set me up with the next thing, the next thing and the next thing,” Lovewell says.
“It all ties in. The fact that when I was a struggling dancer in New York City, I was working alongside some of my Peloton colleagues at the time. We didn’t know 10 years later we’d all be working at a multi-billion-dollar company.”
A week before its May 2 release, Lovewell shares an exclusive excerpt with PEOPLE fromLive, Learn, Love Well, her catchphrase, brand and now memoir title. She says, “I think hearing some of my stories about taking sideways steps, or back steps, or failing, and then finding success, will be really helpful, I hope, to readers who might feel stuck.”
Courtesy of Ballantine Books
As a fitness coach, I see how saying yes to small things leads to big results over time. Committing to the Crush Your Core program is like saying yes to being stronger. Eating vegetables with every meal is saying yes to a healthier body and digestive system! Of course, exercise and nutrition won’t bring instant results, but over time the small changes can add up to something significant. Saying yes often means a leap of faith, because we can’t always forecast what the results will be. I understand the desire to know how a choice might impact you down the road, but sometimes it’s in the unknown where we find some of life’s biggest wins. Magical things can happen when you say yes and open yourself up to new possibilities.
Before becoming a model and eventually a Peloton instructor, Lovewell took bartending gigs to help pay her bills.Emma Lovewell
One of the many risky Craigslist ads that I responded to was for a gig as a model for a personal trainer’s website. The ad was looking for a female athlete who was comfortable at the gym and willing to show their stomach and abs. It paid fifty dollars. But I responded anyway, thinking maybe it would pay for a nice dinner! I ended up booking the gig and showed up to the set in the photographer’s apartment in Long Island City. Luckily the job was legit, and the personal trainer and the photographer were kind and professional. This shoot ended up changing my life.
The photographer was Jay Sullivan, the same photographer who shot the cover of this very book (life really does come full circle sometimes). He was mostly a lifestyle and headshot photographer at the time, but as we started talking, he admitted that he was trying to get more into fitness photography. He noticed that the fitness industry was really taking off and that there were tons of brands looking for fitness photos, from publications likeWomen’s Health,Fitness Magazine, andMen’s Journalto fitness and fashion brands like Tory Burch, Under Armour, and Athleta. I told him I was trained as a dancer, and he said to me, “Have you ever thought about being a model?” I thought,Me? Really?While I have plenty of confidence in my appearance, in a million years I would never have imagined myself as a model.
But when I thought more about it, I realized that, as a dancer, I already felt comfortable onstage and in front of a camera and knew that I took direction well. I had those skills. I also knew I was always filled with judgement when I would see an ad for a major brand with a “dancer” leaping in the photo with the same arm and leg forward, and a sickled foot. I would always shake my head and think, “Wow, they should have hired arealdancer for that shoot.” I listened to Jay’s words and took them very seriously.Yes, I should give this a try.
Lovewell has been a Peloton cycling instructor since 2017.Emma Lovewell
In addition to teaching cycling classes at Peloton, Lovewell also teaches cardio dance.Josh Filauri
That yes to a fifty-dollar Craigslist ad led me to enormous opportunities. It’s eventually what landed me where I am today. While it would be years (and many more jobs) before I would join the Peloton team as a cycling instructor, I was finally seeing how all the different parts of me could potentially fit together into a career where I would thrive.
source: people.com
