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Jeana Anderson Cohen (00:02.233) Welcome to We Got Goals, a podcast by AsweatLife .com. I'm Gina Anderson Cohen, founder of AsweatLife. And today we are featuring Camila Ramon, who you may know from the bike and the tread in the Peloton universe. Thank you for joining me, Camila. Camila (00:16.878) Thank you for having me, Gina. I'm so excited for our conversation. Jeana Anderson Cohen (00:21.209) I am too and I learned before we started recording that we are both Sagittarians and both dot moms. Camila (00:27.886) listen, the Sag life is a set is a life for me. And I'm just glad that we get to share this space together today. It's truly an honor. fellow Sagittarius sister can never go wrong. Jeana Anderson Cohen (00:36.249) brilliant. Yeah, right. We can throw, I think Jay -Z is one of us, you know, like we're in good company. Camila (00:46.478) Brad Pitt too, Billie Eilish. Share birthday with both of them honestly, so. Jeana Anderson Cohen (00:48.121) Oh, yeah, so really. Jeana Anderson Cohen (00:54.713) What is your exact birthday? Okay, I'm December 7th. That's a good date. The 18th, it feels like a good date. Okay, before we jump in, we've got a lot to talk about today. I know that Latin music is really important to me. Let's talk about perreo. Did I do okay? We practiced before. And why it's important for your teaching style and Peloton classes. Camila (00:56.526) December 18th. Camila (01:01.966) So is the seven. Camila (01:11.022) Yeah, you did great, Ashley. Camila (01:18.254) Yeah, Perreo, well first off, Perreo is not only a style of dance, but now it has come to be known as a type of music and a type of reggaeton music that makes you want to get up, that makes you want to dance. So, Perreo heals both the mind, the body, and the soul. Perreo is something that is near and dear to my heart as a girl, originally from Argentina, but I grew up in Miami. So I grew up with reggaeton, with perreo, with all those beats. And Perreo is a lifestyle for me. So being able to share the Perreo lifestyle and the energy of the Latin music that I listen to, the relletón music, and these Latin artists with the world is honestly absolutely incredible for me. Jeana Anderson Cohen (02:01.817) Yeah, and your playlists are obviously incredible because of everything you include. Do you take great pride in creating like a musical arc to your classes? Camila (02:05.326) Thank you. Camila (02:12.878) 100 % yes, the musical arc, even though let's be honest, some of my classes are just like hype, hype, hype, hype, hype the whole time. It does feel like a party. I'm not upset about that. But I think more so than like the arc that we create, which obviously every single instructor prides themselves on. I pride myself on like bringing Latin music to the forefront and helping. people discover new artists or new tracks that bring them a lot of joy and also giving people the opportunity to listen to their favorite song no matter where they might be from in a workout class. Jeana Anderson Cohen (02:54.137) And let's talk about working at Peloton in general. I love, I think everybody loves watching the camaraderie of the folks who work there. What is it like? What's it like working there? Camila (03:08.654) Honestly, what's it like working at Peloton? First off, I have the best job in the world. I work with absolute superheroes. I have so much respect for every single one of the instructors that I work with. People don't think that we have entire teams behind us, but we have people that are supporting us in every possible way. We have people in production and maintenance in the studio. um, back of house, front of house that are receiving members. So it's an entire experience that's curated by the Peloton brand and the company as a whole. And I'm very lucky to be in the space that I am just like creating, I guess the, the class atmosphere, the playlist and curating that like energy for people. It is the best place that I've ever worked. It is the. only place that I believe does exactly what we do to the capacity that we do it at. And every single person that I work with is equally as passionate about working at Peloton as I am. Jeana Anderson Cohen (04:15.865) And you do such a great job too, like I am obsessed with your social media, but you do such a great job showing the back of house too, showing the production team in your content. So it's like, you do give such props to that crew as well. Camila (04:32.494) Yes, but there's never enough that we can give because they really do so much. Like y 'all have no idea. Like sometimes I come in, I'm like, you need to hold me like a baby, please. And the girls are like, don't worry, we'll get you ready for class, girl. So we have, we truly have so much love for that team. But yeah, it's really cool. Like, that's why I do the BTS. Cause people are like, oh, I had no idea that the rooms where like the control rooms where we're recording actually look like, you know, television studio, like. control rooms where like people do the news and stuff. So people find it really cool. So I try to share as much of that as possible. Jeana Anderson Cohen (05:03.449) mask. Jeana Anderson Cohen (05:09.497) And the live class experience, I can only imagine what it was like going from like empty classrooms to having humans in the room again. What is the live class experience like? Because there's more than just the recording, there's the before and after too. Camila (05:25.934) Right, so first you get really excited because you got into a class at home, wherever you might be. I hear it's really hard, but you like wait patiently by your computer and then you sign up for a class and then you show up at the studio and the studio team is there ready to receive you. We have like a little cafe in the front of the studio and then you go in, you do your whole check -in, they explain to you where everything is, you go to the bathrooms, you drop off your stuff, you get ready, they let you into the studio. They give you like the whole rundown of how everything works. It really is. Depending on which studio you're at, it's more so like a, like the cycling studio is very much so like a, it's very like, it is like a workout studio, but also like a television studio at the same time. So it's very interesting too. The tread studio is a little bit darker. So it's a little bit more of like that like studio vibe and you have the yoga studio, which is a little bit more like quaint and then there's less members in there with you. So it's a pretty much like a. more of a one -on -one experience with the instructor and then the strength studio, which is something like more in between. So they'll give you like the rundown of how everything works and then like the instructor comes in, we kind of have our own little chat, we celebrate milestones, then the class starts and the class is obviously depending on what class you're taking, but my classes are disasters in the best way. It's just like beautiful chaos and party and amazing energy. And then the class ends. We leave, generally we blow dry our sports bras and our crotches so that when we take photos with you guys there's not like a crotch sweat. Sometimes we leave it there because it's just real and relatable and because we don't have time. And then we come back out and we take photos with the members and everybody that's here in the studio and we get to meet them, learn about their stories and then... have some snacks and go home, I guess. And yeah, some people take multiple classes in a day. And then they'll come for multiple days and take multiple classes in a weekend. Like they may go a whole weekend out of it. Jeana Anderson Cohen (07:30.553) It's like a mecca, Peloton Mecca. Well, let's, okay, so you have clearly the best job in the world. You get to do cool things every single day. Let's talk about Camila, the third grader. What did, and I picked third grade for a specific reason, but what did she wanna be when she grew up? Camila (07:32.718) Yeah. Camila (07:49.582) Why did you pick third grade? Jeana Anderson Cohen (07:51.577) Oh, I feel like I picked third grade because I feel like in third grade, you're kind of like, I don't want to be a, you don't want to be a fire truck. You know, like you want to be like a real thing at that point, but you haven't had like your creativity and dreams dashed yet by the world. So I think like third grade is a safe little bubble where you're picking a real job, but no one's telling you you can't do it yet. Camila (07:59.15) Bye. Camila (08:13.582) Right. That was very hard for me because I don't think that I had like a realistic job aspiration. Like when I was little, I wanted to be either a figure skater or I wanted to have like a dog sanctuary where the dogs could like have slides and like go into the pool, which honestly I still kind of want to have. And then growing up, I feel like just because I was like watching so many like Disney movies or like Lizzie McGuire related things, I just wanted to be like, I don't know, like a... fashion secretary or like have like a job that I could like really travel and stuff, which honestly, I feel like might have led me to graduating with a public relations, communications and international relations degree. Jeana Anderson Cohen (08:59.289) I also studied communication to Sagittarians. Wow. Wow. Well, I think honestly, you still can have a dog sanctuary and I would love to see that in your future or you can do it all and have it all. Why not? Camila (09:01.55) Oh my god, it's twins! Camila (09:12.974) Thank you so much. Jeana Anderson Cohen (09:15.001) And your background as a dancer and as an Argentinian, you bring them all to work. But let's talk about the other pieces of your history, your family and your culture that fans see on the bike. End the trend. Camila (09:29.006) Yeah, um... I'm pretty open in the way that I teach and I sometimes I feel like I share a lot of my personal life on the bike and on the tread, which I love because I want to make sure that when people hear me telling them a story or something that is like happening or like something that's motivational or funny or aspirational, like they know that it's coming from a place that's real, you know? I think my immigrant story is something that has really helped write, I guess, the resiliency into my core, really drill it into who I am. So my work ethic is directly related to who... my parents are and how they, you know, gave up everything to come to this country. So that's something that's very rooted in everything that I do. I want to solve things. I want to get them solved quickly. I want to train hard. I want to focus and I want to, you know, get things done. I think that really does translate into my classes and also just like understanding the power that we have when we believe in ourselves is something that my parents have always maybe indirectly like drilled in my brain because my parents like never gave up and they're still working very hard to this day. And they were able to leave their country, start from scratch and build a complete new life for us here. When I came when I was little, I was like seven. So that's definitely something that's huge. And then also just like the nature of Camila (11:16.75) I guess maybe like the levity of the family relationship that I have. I've always been silly. I've always had a silly relationship with my family members. It's never been serious. And I think that obviously we have our serious moments, but I think that bringing being able to bring that like part of my personality and the part that like my family has celebrated for so long in my life to class and that like kind of like, this is who I am kind of energy. is something that has been really well received and I feel has given people the space to be like, hey, like I can celebrate myself the way that I am too. Jeana Anderson Cohen (11:50.009) Yeah, I think that's that's really evident in one your classes into your social media, like you seem very, very comfortable and at home in who you are, and in your skin at this point of your life. But has that always been the case? I know the answer. But let's hear the story. Camila (12:06.478) I've always been silly. So I've always been okay with like my silly side. That's for sure But as it pertains to you know, accepting myself exactly as I am no I had a really tough relationship with my body growing up As a Latina and and you still see it to this day it's it's it's very challenging because it's something that's so ingrained into our culture and Sometimes I forget how ingrained it is into our culture until I go back to Argentina and I'm like, oh no, we still have a lot of work to do. Thank you so much. I'm going to continue and double down on everything that I've been saying for my entire life. So I grew up as a dancer and that automatically in Miami puts a lot of pressure on your body because Miami is a very aesthetic city, let's say, and everyone, you know, everyone's naked. Everyone's going to the beach all the time. So naturally like people are like, I want to look good. So. You have that pressure plus the pressure of being a Latina and growing up and like hearing your tías always talking about like how being skinnier is better and how you shouldn't lift weights because then you look like a man or like they'll make you bigger and being bigger is bad and a woman should be, you know, frail and small. So it took me a while to realize that I did have a problem with that and I suffered from, you know, body dysmorphia, disordered eating growing up. And it wasn't until I stopped training for about three years when I graduated from college with my communications degree, joined an international public relations firm. And I was working with people in Latin America and the Caribbean where I was like working super hard, going to a lot of events and things like that, which I was having fun, but I realized it was not the lifestyle that I wanted to lead. I wanted to continue to move for the rest of my life. So I started moving again and training again. And I realized that I was coming from a place of negative motivation, I was trying to fix what was wrong with me instead of celebrate the things that I could do. And it wasn't until I had like a breakdown mid a long run on top of a bridge in Key Biscayne that I was like, okay girl, like something's got to change. And since then I made a decision to celebrate what my body can do instead of punish myself for what it can't do or what would I feel like it should look like when I'm not there yet. Camila (14:31.31) And once I healed my relationship with my body and with myself, I also made it my mission to help other women, particularly Latinas in the space, because I don't feel like there's enough of us having these conversations. And frankly, especially after going back to Argentina right now, I'm like, who else wants to hop on the train? Because we need more of everybody on here. And I'm very happy to be doing this with Paulaton now, you know, screaming from a megaphone for everybody to hear about these topics that are so near and dear to my heart because of my personal struggles, for sure. Jeana Anderson Cohen (15:00.697) Yeah, and I think it's obviously every single woman goes through their own struggles with their body. But I think in, at least for me, coming into my 30s was like freeing. Do you think some of it came with age too? Obviously healing your relationship. Do you think some of it came with age as well? Camila (15:21.71) Yeah, I think so. I think like, you know, you're more in tune with yourself and like, you've already realized with age and with experience, I think the there are pillars in our lives that make us really realize like, and they're very challenging pillars or things that occur to us or that happen to us that make us react a certain way. And a lot of those times, those things allow you to realize like, what's actually important and what's not important. what's helping you and what's bringing you down. Where should I be focusing my energy in order to lead the best life that I can lead? And that comes with age. Those experiences and those moments and those aha situations come with age as well. I think the work definitely has a lot to do with it. You know, I get messages from women and they'll be like, I'm 60 years old and after taking your classes, I... finally love my body and I can finally look at myself in the mirror and I can say that I like what I see and that is something that is completely like life -changing to me personally just reading something like that I'm like I'm so happy that we're here having these conversations but I think if we never choose to have that internal dialogue with ourselves shift then the mindset doesn't shift either hence why so many things have been repeated from generations to generations and hence why when I go back to my home country and I'm having conversations with women in the space, the reaction is one that is unfortunate yet repetitive time after time, no matter what the age is. Jeana Anderson Cohen (16:56.409) We have to heal our relationships with our bodies. Yeah, I wish I always think about my mom. I know like everyone's relationships are different with their mom. I always think about my mom and I like she she did such a good job at least trying to learn as I learned and got older. And how's how's your relationship with your mom kind of grown as you healed your own body too? Yeah. Camila (17:04.302) Right. Camila (17:20.302) Yeah, I have a great relationship with my mom. I love my mom. My mom supports me. My mom is very respectful. Every now and then she said something and I'm like, mommy, no. Mommy, no. And we have a conversation and that's it. She understands and she knows. I think the difficulty comes when people don't understand and they don't want to hear. Or they'll say, this is a generational thing. And it's like, no, it's... Jeana Anderson Cohen (17:29.273) Yeah. Camila (17:48.814) It is, but also it is a decision that you're making to write. So thankfully my mom is not that person. I do have other people in my life that are like that way, but I choose to continue to show up in the space where we can interact and continue to have conversations and hopes that, you know, one day, you know, they'll choose to approach things in a different manner. But I think if you have the... Jeana Anderson Cohen (17:52.217) Yeah, you don't have to keep going. Camila (18:17.966) the capacity and the emotional capacity and the space to be able to still show up in those places where you might disagree with somebody regarding these things and continue to have conversations in a way where it could be a two -way street and you both are listening to each other to be able to understand what the other person is saying and why they're feeling the way that they're feeling, why they react a certain way. not only helps the other person potentially change your mindset, but it also helps you understand and cope a little bit more as to like why is this person the way that they are. Jeana Anderson Cohen (18:57.689) Well, let's shift gears to the space you've created for Latinas and Spanish speakers in general in the Peloton universe. You're the first bilingual Peloton teacher, right? You teach in English and in Spanish. Camila (19:11.854) So the first bilingual Peloton instructor was Mariana Fernandez, who launched yoga in Espanol at Peloton. And that was, I think, a couple months before I launched. I was the first one on the bike and the first one on the tread to teach in Spanish. Jeana Anderson Cohen (19:29.369) Thank you for correcting me. Why is this important to you? What kind of space does it create for those folks? Camila (19:30.574) noise. Camila (19:36.75) I think it's huge. I think, well, first off, because I get to have these amazing conversations every day with people. And like I mentioned earlier to you, like I realized as I travel more in the space in Latino America, like we need to be having more of these conversations. And it doesn't matter how often we talk about this, the more we talk about it, the better it's going to be for everybody. Number one, number two, I think connecting with my Latinidad or like, sharing my Latinidad with other people who may not have access to communities like the ones that I do throughout the world is something that makes me feel really fulfilled and receive I get messages from people all the time from the UK from Germany from the middle of the United States or from other countries where the Latina population isn't as big that they're like oh well this is the one time that I get to like escape and like take my reggaeton classes or take my pop and Espanol classes and that's huge to me, huge because I grew up in Miami and I had the luck to experience, you know, different Latin cultures after I left my own country, but I can only imagine what it feels like to immigrate into another country or like to another country and not have access to anything that is Latine and you just be like, oh wow, it's really just me out here. And... Also, the last thing I want to say, even though I feel like I can go on about this forever, the last thing that I want to say is that historically, spaces of fitness have not been the most welcoming for certain communities because of, you know, financial reasons, because of geographic reasons, because of X, Y, and Z. But today we have the option to take classes in Spanish. We have the option to Latinos from wherever they are in the world, they have the option to take a workout class and potentially hear their favorite song. And I think everybody, no matter where they come from, they have that right to be able to show up to a workout class and say like, I heard my favorite song today and it was Farolito by Juan Liguerra in a groove ride, which we just launched in Spanish, which are super fun. They have choreo. But yeah, it's very important to me. Jeana Anderson Cohen (21:55.545) And you talked a bit about how people are resonating with what you're talking about with body image. How are Latin Americans and Latinas and Latinos showing up for you in the messages too? What are you hearing from them just based on the space you're creating? Camila (22:11.214) It's honestly, and I say this every time, but I didn't know what I was expecting when I launched at Paluton. I was worried. I was like, oh my God, these people are so great. All the other instructors are so amazing. What are these people going to think of me? And I was worried. And once I launched, I was like, wow, I felt like this huge relief because I felt extremely supported. I felt like everybody had their hands on my back. particularly via the messages that I received, there was something so beautiful. And I still get those messages all the time. I still get extremely supportive messages. I still get a lot of music requests for sure, because there's a lot of different music throughout all of Latin America. But the messages are like one of my main drivers. They're like the fire. Like when I get those messages from people, Camila (23:05.55) telling me about like, oh wow, I never, we did the first cumbia ride, cumbia ride on Peloton. And it had the best numbers ever of any like live Spanish language class besides my Shakira Artist series, which is huge. And I was like, I was not expecting for a cumbia ride on a platform like Peloton to like pop off. And the messages that I got were crazy. I was like, this is why we are doing what we're doing. Jeana Anderson Cohen (23:33.433) Yeah, I mean, I know for myself, like when a ride resonates with me or when an instructor says something that makes me like tear up, I send them a DM immediately. You all are accessible. You are accessible. Is that is that for better or worse and for mostly better? Camila (23:52.206) I think for better. Yeah, I think for better. Yeah, because if I don't like Like not if I don't like a person if somebody says something that's disrespectful to me I don't I just block them, you know, I there's no need for them to be in my space You have to set boundaries for years all first year or two and there's also no way for us to get to like all of the DMS at all So like we try our best but literally last week There were two girls that came to take class in the studio. I And they came up to me and they were like, it was crazy because they were like both in the same class. One of the girls was like, Hey, you know, the other day I was having a really tough time. Um, and with, with my body and I'm also like, you know, going through a divorce and, uh, I didn't know I was in a really dark place and I sent you a DM and you responded right away. And it really shifted my mentality and, and I was able to, you know, get up and like do a workout. And then after that, and I was like, that's. When I see messages that are more on the sensitive side, I always try to respond immediately because I know how having somebody tell you like, I'm so proud of you, you're doing everything that you can do and that you should be doing, how far that can go for somebody. So if I'm at home and I see something like that, I try to respond immediately. And there were two girls in the same class that told me the same thing. And I was like, wow, that's really beautiful. But yeah, we are super accessible via the Peloton in studio. There's obviously like instructors that have, you know, a huge following. So like there's no way that they could get to all the messages, but we all try to connect and respond as much as we can. Jeana Anderson Cohen (25:35.961) Yeah, it's awesome to see too, because I mean, like at home, you're like, oh my God, Cody Rigsby said the funniest thing or like Camila danced and I want to dance like Camila. I was hoping to send her a message. Camila (25:49.07) There's also like the messages that I respond to as well because I do a lot of like artist discovery and I'm very into like new Latin music, new Latin artists and like what's up and coming, what's hot right now. We just had Fade in the studio. I'm going to Latin concerts all the time. It's one of my favorite hobbies in New York City. I feel like as a fellow Sagittarii, you probably like concerts and like fun events. Last minute ones for sure. Jeana Anderson Cohen (26:11.225) Yeah, yes, last minute. Camila (26:13.934) The DMs too that I love is like when they're like, oh my God, I just started listening to so and so artists or like Eladio Carrion or I just found out who Bizarre Rap was. So now I have them on rotation for all the classes. Like I'm so glad that you played this Tego Calderon song because I haven't heard it in so long, blah, blah, blah. So those two, like they really pull at my heartstrings because I love music. Jeana Anderson Cohen (26:35.897) that the music and the em think about Camila at 23. advice or even someone wh Camila (26:55.758) I would say that other people's opinions should not deter you from doing what makes you feel the most fulfilled, happy, and healthy in your health and wellness routine and to remember that health does not look a certain way so no matter what happens you are trying your best and if you are feeling good in your body if you're doing everything that you need to do you look at yourself in the mirror and you remember that you are what healthy looks like and do not compare your journey to anybody else's. Jeana Anderson Cohen (27:39.481) Well, that's a complete thought. No notes. Camila (27:41.582) I think too, a lot of times, especially like as I would go back to my country growing up too, like people would be like, like I'm more muscular than I would say probably your average Argentina woman for sure. And it's that people don't see that often there are as now maybe a little bit more but before less because the culture is very much so like, skinny forward, European model values like that. That's kind of the energy in Argentina. So when people would give their opinions on my personal routines in the past, that would make me feel even though I knew better, that would make me feel like there was something wrong with the way that I was moving with my goals, with the way that I was training and with the time that it was taking for me to feel a certain way. When the reality is that things take time and being strong is one of the best things that you can do for yourself long term in your life as we age we lose muscle mass being strong protects our joints it allows us to move better for longer and you see it with how people are aging nowadays like people are aging like it's like if you look at somebody who was 50 like 20 years ago 30 years ago versus somebody who's 50 now it's like such a huge difference like like I'm gonna I feel like I'm gonna feel young forever because of the way that I'm moving with my body but people older people maybe from different generations they don't have that mindset they don't they didn't never had that as an example so they will not be able to give an opinion based off of actual knowledge it's just based off of like repetition and like things that they've heard growing up Jeana Anderson Cohen (29:37.177) Yeah, we're going to be young when we're 16, when we're 70, when we're 80. Forever. Camila, give the people what they want. Tell them where to find you and what your next big exciting class is. Camila (29:40.462) Forever. Camila (29:51.886) Yeah, you can find me on the Peloton app, on the Peloton bike, on the Peloton tread, and I'm teaching dance cardio. You can find me on Instagram, Camila Ramon with three Ns because all of the other Camila Ramons were taken. Same thing on TikTok, I'm very active on TikTok, lots of makeup wrecks there. And the next big class is, I'm actually doing a lot of artist series right now. Honestly, I would recommend that you go check out my latest Reggaeton ride. Those are always so, so, so much fun. And maybe some Spanish classes. Jeana Anderson Cohen (30:27.833) Okay, this has been another episode of We Got Goals and a SweatLife .com production, which is another thing that's better with friends. Thank you to Camila Ramon for being here and thank you to all of you for liking, subscribing, doing all the things you do when you podcast. Thank you. Camila (30:43.182) Thank you for having me.