How to Embrace Sucking and Show up Anyway with Roz The Diva | #49

Click here to access a written transcript of this episode.

Roz “The Diva” Mays has been lighting up my feed on Instagram for years now, and I'm so grateful she agreed to share some of her time with me. We had a rousing, unfiltered conversation about what it's like to be in the internet spotlight, expectations when you're learning something new, and her coaching philosophy. This episode will make you laugh out loud, and you'll learn some things too.

We discussed:

• Roz's career as a pole dancing instructor and personal trainer, and how she likes to work with “gym misfits” in particular.
• How Roz first got into pole dancing 12 and a half years ago.
• The rude feedback that Roz got from Howard Stern during her America's Got Talent audition (and why it didn't actually bother her).
• The supportive internet army that has helped Roz drown out negative comments.
• How there is not a direct correlation between number of Instagram followers and income.
• The inclination for consumers to project their own stories, ideas, and assumptions onto people that they follow.
• Why Roz kept going and didn't quit back when she didn't have the following she has now.
• How Roz's coaching philosophy is centered around giving everything you have to what you can do and being positive about those things.
• The fact that expectations for exercise and athletic form were designed with a very narrow type of athletic body in mind.
• How it is the responsibility of trainers to choose appropriate movements instead of allowing clients to assume something is wrong with them.
• The importance of finding movement you like to make exercise a habit.
• Why showing up matters more than being good at things, especially at the beginning.
• Embracing the suck in order to keep improving over time.
• Why coaches and trainers need to show and talk about their own failures.
• How Roz defines health and wellness for herself at this moment in her life, including the importance of thinking about longevity.
• How athletes should expect that after the pandemic their bodies and abilities will be different.

Mentioned in This Episode

• An interview Roz did after her America's Got Talent Audition and run-in with Howard Stern
• What You Can Do If You Think You Hate Exercising | #33

Featured in This Episode

Roz “The Diva” Mays (she/her) has been patiently waiting for Beyoncé to ask for her hand in marriage. Until then, she kills time at the gym as a personal trainer and pole dancing instructor. You can find Roz on her Instagram, website, and Patreon.