006 Cheryl Torrance (aka The Dancing Chef!) on Being Rich (not in the traditional sense), Living on the Streets & Why Happiness Trumps All

Apr 9

Written By

Photo from https://www.thestar.com/life/2020/02/07/she-was-a-drug-addicted-teen-living-on-the-streets-then-she-learned-to-cook-and-transformed-her-life.html — Founder of Uncle Chuck’s BBQ

Cheryl Torrance.

Thanks @chef_inked for being 1 of my first 10 guests on the Visionary Life Podcast.

I loved this real-talk interview that went down in Cheryl's spin studio, Torq ride in Toronto.

We talk about:

The moment we lost our jobs together,
Why happiness is more important than luxury cars & vacation homes, and
Feeling rooted in online and offline communities.

Cheryl’s motto:

KEEP SMILING
KEEP DANCING
BE AWESOME

(those are the words of Cheryl!)

To connect with Cheryl:

Cheryl’s Instagram

To connect with Kelsey:

Kelsey’s Instagram

Access the transcript for this episode:

Welcome back to the visionary life podcast. So excited and grateful for the support that I've heard and that I've felt for this show so far as well as the community that is being created. So thank you so much. I had to face all sorts of limiting beliefs and challenges for so long before actually launching this podcast.
Things like I'm too late to the podcast game, which is so not true. It's a growing industry or that people wouldn't relate to living a visionary lifestyle, or maybe that they wouldn't be interested in the content that I had to share. I'm sure some of you can relate, but I'm realizing that this message is so needed right now.
More than ever actually, as we come into awareness that we have complete control over our lives and the possibilities we encounter as visionaries are truly endless and limitless. And I'm so excited to share in this message and this journey with you. So, as you've learned, this podcast is much more than just a health and wellness show.
The me of five years ago, fresh out of holistic nutrition school, probably would've focused mostly on just that. But I find that as I've grown through career transitions and doing a lot of self development, launching my business and really finding alignment and purpose in my work, I have become much more curious.
To chat with others on similar topics. So I'll be covering all sorts of visionary topics in the upcoming episodes. You know, the highs and lows of being your own boss, how to navigate a brand new industry or staying positive when life gets hard and I'll chat about why self development is at the core of our being as visionaries and how to lead from our hearts and live a life that feels really, really.
If you're listening to this on the day that this launches, so that is Sunday, January 21st. I wanted to let you know that my signature lifestyle cleanse called just the essentials is starting up tomorrow and I'll actually be keeping it open for enrollment until Tuesday, January 20. Third. So this is a 21 day guided online lifestyle and whole body detox program that covers the 10 key pillars of health and wellness, including clean nutrition and stress management and fitness routine supplementation, hydration, creating a non-toxic home and skincare routine and so much more.
So again, this is guided entirely online by. And as I mentioned, I am a holistic nutritionist by trade, but also for this round, my sister, who is a naturopathic doctor will be supporting the content. So I'd love for you to join us. You'll find so much value. You can do this at your own pace, and I invite you to learn more.
If it does peak your interest at www dot Kelsey, ral.com/. Today on the show, we have Cheryl Torrance. So Cheryl and I met five years ago while working for Canada's largest grocery store chain. And this was a project that brought together nine incredible visionaries, but unfortunately the project was canceled six months in and we were all let go.
And Cheryl and I will touch on that in the, I. Luckily, many of us have actually remained good friends and through the power of social media, even though I don't get to see Cheryl as regularly, we stay connected online and we stay up to date on each other's lives. That way. Cheryl is literally the definition of visionary, someone who lives with limitless potential.
Sky's the limit kind of attitude, happiness at the forefront of everything. And it's something that I so deeply admire in Cheryl, because I know that life has not always been simple as a teen, Cheryl spent many years on the. Streets in Toronto, addicted to drugs with no schooling beyond grade nine and no set career path.
Cheryl found her way into cooking almost by accident, working in the chefing industry in many unique ways, even cooking pet food. At one point, Cheryl started inching towards. Her passion and strengths with each and every career change. Eventually leading to where we recorded the episode, which is torque ride in Toronto.
Sheryl is now the studio manager at a beautiful spin studio in Toronto's east end again, where we recorded this podcast, which was really cool. So. Aside from her studio manager, job, Cheryl is a self-proclaimed happiness hero. How cool is that? And a motivational speaker and truly you guys, Cheryl is the real deal.
Um, during our recording, we chatted about the importance of online and offline community. We chatted about why happiness will Trump owning multiple cars, cottages, and homes. Any day, we chat about finding a fitness routine you love at any age and what the wow factor is and why you need to use this concept if you're a business owner.
So you'll definitely wanna stay tuned to the end to find that out. And, you know, Cheryl talked many times about how community is really important to her and how she's really found. Home in Leslieville, which is a neighborhood here in Toronto. And. I kid you not, there were at least five people who walked by the window of where we were recording the podcast and they were all waving at Sheryl with big grins on their face and she would politely wave back.
And I just think like how cool to have such strong ties and to really feel so connected, um, within not only the work that you do, but in the community that you live in and contribute. So Cheryl truly is a visionary of what's possible in this lifetime. And I know that you're going, um, you're going to really enjoy this episode.
Let's dive right in. Thanks for doing the podcast. No, Cheryl, no problem. Um, so just to set the scene, we are here at torque ride in Leslieville and that's in Toronto and Cheryl, the studio manager here. How long have
you
been. Shirt? Uh, I took it full time. Uh, I think in April. Yeah. Okay, cool. April and you're
loving it, obviously.
I absolutely love it.
It's good
to work because we see on Instagram and we're like, we wanna come to tort cause Cheryl's dancing up a storm there. Awesome. Awesome. So yeah, we're here at the studio and a class just wrapped up. So the studio's quiet and it probably isn't like this very often, but it's a really cool setting to be recording today.
So thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me and, um, so Cheryl and I actually know each other from about four or five years ago. And to set the scene a little bit, we started working for one of Canada's largest grocery store chains. And, you know, it was kind of like this dream job that we just got thrown into and we all loved it.
And, uh, there was a pack of six of us who were launching this new concept for a grocery store. And we had these really fun jobs on a day to day basis. We got to. Create menus together and try new foods and go meet vendors and plan the actual retail space. And we got to connect with the community in Toronto here where we're recording and it was really, really cool.
And. About six months into our contract, we actually abruptly got walked into a lunch meeting and we were all let go. So it's, uh, one of those situations where you look back on it now and think like, of course, like it's, you know, maybe that was meant to happen. We're all in better spots because of it. But going back to that moment, I think for both of us, it was just a moment of confusion and we thought we had landed these careers.
Maybe we would've held onto until today. So that's a little bit about how Cheryl and I connected, but can you just take us back to that moment and how you felt losing a job that you adored
so
much? Well, the fact that we were all hand picked for our, um, titles and the fact that we were onto a brand new concept that wasn't happening in Toronto in terms of retail and grocery and C.
And the food that we were putting in our bodies in conjunction with fitness, that we had spent so much time creating this baby. Um, it was pretty devastating to walk into that lunch meeting. And I could, I guess probably we all imagined ourselves being there for five years and which I totally did. Yeah. I thought I had landed that dream job, but like you said, you know, things happen for a reason.
Um, it took a little while to kinda figure out where I was going from there. And I, you know, I did what I needed to do to pick up the pieces, but, um, eventually it landed me here, which is along the similar lines of kind of what we were doing back then, which was fitness and happiness and motivation and inspiration.
Definitely. And can you talk a bit more about what you were hired for at, um, this grocery chain?
Uh, I was hired, well, I think I was hire. One because I'm just a happy, bubbly person. and, um, I'm a good motivator of people. And I was also a chef, so I was hired to come in and do the food end of things, and how you can, um, make things healthy, but in a faster way, um, get people in for breakfast, get them back for lunch and then get them packing up their grocery bags with, with dinner items and kind of giving them, getting them in there seven days a week.
And looking after themselves. So I was working with, um, a big head chef at the grocery chain to come up with unique ideas. And we had really worked hard and we had a lot of great things. And so it was just kind of sad to see it die down. Mm-hmm
so, yeah, I think it would be worth diving in a little bit more.
So you were hired as a chef? Yes, basically. Yeah. For this project. Where did that start from? Did you go to school, chef school? Did you work in restaurants your whole life? Can you take us back to maybe what you were doing prior to me meeting
you? So 20 years ago I was working in, in social services. I was working in a women's shelter.
I was a residential counselor and that organically grew out of me. Uh, I was a ex street kid and an ex-drug addict, and I had gotten my life together and. some people who were in the field invited me to come and kind of start working with people in group homes and shelters. And I just did it on a relief basis.
And then I got a full time gig and it was way more money than I'd ever made. And I thought, you know what? I like this, but it's not really my passion. And I didn't know what my passion was. And the neat thing about the shelter was we were open 24 hours. So quite often I would cook in the middle of the night, on my over.
And I realized that I really had a love for cooking. So I took a year sabbatical and I put myself through chef school and I fast tracked my, um, certificate. And I started working right away as a chef.
And did you immediately know that, like that was your passion or where, how did you figure that out? That that was gonna be like, I knew
for a kid who didn't even finish grade nine, that.
I did really well at it. Mm-hmm I was able to manage a lot of different jobs at the same time. I had great time management, good people skills. Um, I was able to put flavors and recipes together. I was able to cook like massive amounts of food for tons of people and do it really well and executed extremely well.
Mm-hmm so in the prepared foods movement, so you talked about a restaurant. I never worked a restaurant in my life. I always worked. Find foods, butcher shops, those kind of Epicuren places. Um, but when we did it, we did it for tons and tons of people, right? Like, yeah. On large scale. So, and that's what I've been doing for 20 years.
Awesome.
And you even at one point got into pet food, didn't you? Absolutely.
Absolutely. Well, puppies need catered foods. Like we have a whole food movement for dogs, which has gone from prepackaged food. You know, in the day it served its purpose. Yeah. But it's not, you know, same for humans. It's not great for pets.
And then you also have some pets that have, you know, cancers and blood diseases and things like that. And there's things they can eat and things they can't, or maybe the pets at the end of their life. And they just need some good, delicious food. So their comfort. Right. And, and I was able to do that
for a little.
Yeah. So yeah, you, I think like myself, but obviously you have many more years of experience in that. Like we've both been on career journeys that have probably sent us to many places that we've never even imagined. Yeah. And I think through all that we just learned to. Teach ourselves transferable skills, right?
Like through every job, like there's always a learning and there's always something that you can take from it, no matter how junior senior it is. And for people who are feeling stuck in their career right now, I think a lot of people listening to this podcast are potentially unhappy in their job, or, you know, they're kind of looking for that next step and maybe.
Don't know how to get there. Or I think a lot of people are just afraid to make a career change because you've gone through so many different careers in your life and jobs. What would you say to someone who potentially is working a job, whether that is in a butcher shop right now, or maybe they're working at a corporate job, 40 hours a week, what would you say to someone who's potentially unhappy and looking to make a change?
Like you've obviously navigated these changes many times throughout your life. So how. You kind of let someone know that it is possible to shift gears at any time in your life?
I think for me, I think having 20 years in the chef industry has been rewarding in ways, but it has been really brutal, brutal on my body.
As I mentioned before, I'm recovering drug addict. I'm a second time recovering drug addict because I worked in kitchens because you've worked long hours. You don't get sick time. You don't get vacation time. You get shit pay. Right. Mm-hmm . But it was what I knew, so I kept going back to it, but I kept going, it was almost like an abusive relationship.
Yeah. And it took, it took for me to leave it for me to understand that, oh, actually I've been doing this work and it doesn't treat me very well. and the minute I I've always thought I'm just looking for happiness. I just wanna get up every day. I want a smile on my face. I don't want somebody to treat me like crap.
I don't want somebody to like, think I'm great. Use my skills and then treat me like dirt, you know? And I really believe that you can wake up and be happy. And so I was able to talk to Julie, the owner of, to, and I had worked part-time for. And she just said, come back. I just want you to be happy. And I, you know, part of me because of my work history and because of things you don't fully trust it, but I've been here.
So it's been open a year and a half. So I've, I've literally been here a year and a half. And since April, as the studio manager and I literally, that's what I get to do every day. I get to wake up and be happy. And I made the decision at the age of 48 with my wife. Deciding, like, I don't know anything about the fitness world, but I know about happiness.
I know about customer engagement and I know how I like to travel in the world every day and I can bring it here to this space and to the community and to, I, I pretty much know everybody's name and I know stuff about them. Yeah. It's that important
to
me. And that is I think a spectacular thing about the studio.
People probably don't get that elsewhere. It's such a differentiating factor. And so, yeah, it's really cool how you landed here. So how did you connect with the owner of torque in the first
place? Uh, well, quad east, it was in our community and it closed down and it's another spin city. It was quite devastating to the population of Leslieville.
You know, when you're used to showing up and, and doing your fitness and it's part of your regular routine when it's not there, you have feel it. And I tried to go to another gym and I tried to do stuff. And one of the instructors there passed my name on to Julie, and then I went for an interview. And at that time I was doing consultation work.
Um, so I just work part-time and it was great. I just took shifts as I needed them, but it's my spin studio. So it's really important for. when I come in here, that I do what I can to make sure that every single customer is welcome the place and the space is a high standard and that they just enjoy themselves and that they know they can keep coming back.
Yeah. Yeah. I actually had a similar experience. So you said you started kind of working for her in consulting and then that led into a full-time job. Right. And maybe you didn't know that at the time, but obviously that's kind of how it evolved. When I first started teaching at a spin studio in Toronto as well.
I remember taking a, actually I started with a front desk job there and I was just, you know, looking for about 20 hours while I was going to school, but they couldn't offer me that, but I just kind of had this feeling like I really liked this place and I wanted make a difference here and I wanna connect with the fitness community.
And so despite my parents maybe saying, well, you should probably look for something that's a little more. Um, high paying or that can provide you more consistent hours. I think when you kind of just get that gut feeling like I wanna be part of this movement, sometimes you just have to, you have to go for it and start somewhere.
I think a lot of people, they look for like that, you know, gold carrot at dangling in front of them, the whole package in a job, but often. You just have to get your foot in the door that's right. Right, right. And from there you never know what opportunities and absolutely another thing, I find that a lot of the people who listen to this podcast and the community, they forget to express what they want.
And I'm not sure how this looked for you, but it's like if you're looking for full-time work, start telling more people and, and start being the person who, who just shows up more consistently. Nurtures relationships with the people, you know, could potentially hire you at some point and yeah, just be that familiar face so that when a job does pop up, you are there and you're present.
So, um, yeah, I would just say for anyone who's thinking they want a career change, just start somewhere. Absolutely. It can be so small as to walk into a studio, introduce yourself. If that's kind of where you're feeling pulled. To work or maybe spend more of your time and then just let them know, like, Hey, if something ever comes up, you know, I'm here.
So that's really awesome. And, um, you know, what do you love most about your work right now? Like you mentioned the people. Yeah. It's kinda
what brings you? The people make it, they make it, they make my day and it's, you know, I just come around the other side of the counter and I make sure I'm fully engaged in them, you know, because without our customer base, we wouldn't be who.
Are. Yeah. Right. So like, my job for Julie is to protect the customer base and it's, there's no falseness to it. There's no, I don't make it up. It literally is who I am. Mm-hmm . And what I have learned is that it does not come naturally to people. And so I guess in some ways I'm really, really lucky that I am such a people person.
Yeah. Um, but I know the details about their life. I know, to when I don't see them, I email them. I'm like, Hey, just reaching out to you. Are you okay? They're my daily people, like when you're not, when you show up for a six, 10:00 AM class, and then I don't see you and you haven't told me you're on vacation, I just wanna touch base and make sure you're okay.
Yeah. Right.
That is such an awesome business tip. Um, I just, I feel like that is what is lacking right now in a lot of businesses, whether you have an online business or a physical location, like where we are now. it's the littlest of things that can make people feel so special. So no matter what industry you're in, if you're listening to this podcast, like something so simple, I think as a text message or an email, like the fact that you send personal emails, aside from the newsletters that torque probably sends out to their whole customer da database, that's like one of those things.
When that email from Cheryl lands in your inbox and it says, Hey, I didn't see you at this morning's 7:00 AM class. Like how's everything going? I think those are the unforgettable moments that make people come back. And absolutely that type of customer service is 100%
lacking. Like I had a guy who took a class yesterday and left about a third of the way through, and he's a serious rider.
Like his numbers are fantastic. And I was like, are you okay? And I checked in. And he'd just been, let go of his full-time job that he had had for a really long time. And so we talked a little bit and I, I just told him to shrug it off. You know, he's a competitive guy and he felt really bad. One that he left the class and two that he didn't have it in him.
And so we talked about self care for the weekend and I sent him an email this morning and I just said, just so you know, next time you come in, there's a little something for you behind the desk. And it's a little bit of gear and it's, um, a little. To tell him to keep his chin up and another free class on us because he had to leave the class.
But you know, he's dealing with something right now. And we just want to tell him that we've got our arms wrapped around you. So come back when you're ready and we're here. Mm-hmm right.
Absolutely. Okay. We are back. We had a member pop in to claim. Beautiful sweater. Yeah,
actually, it's really nice to dice up in here.
And that is the joys of in person recording, right? Yeah. This is real time . Um, okay, so wherever we left off, I think we're chatting about like surprising and delighting, right? You're mentioning the guy who got, let go from his job. And anyways, it's those moments where you go a little above and beyond. And again, I mentioned this, but I think that's really lacking in businesses right now.
Is that personal touch, especially with so. Shift to online and social media marketing that I think we forget that the smallest thing and that person personal connection that we have the ability to make, whether that's giving them a $1 item or just a hug, or like you said, some swag from the studio, it could probably shift his entire week absolutely.
To more of a positive. So, absolutely.
Yeah. I think there actually needs to be a whole new movement and I would teach. And I would be honored to teach it to anybody that reached out to me for their business, because it, it really, it does come naturally to me, but it can be taught. And I think because we have moved away from that personal touch, where it's you roll up in your car and you've already preordered your Starbucks.
And so what if the person on the microphone is like, here's your coffee? Like we don't, we don't expect or push for better interaction. You're coming into contact with these people every day, you're delivering a service to them. And especially here in Leslieville, if you take a look at the fitness map, it is rammed jammed.
Like if one more fitness place just happens to come in. So all of these customers could choose to go anywhere else. I have people that come from the west end at six, 10 in the morning. Why? Because it's about feeling good about where you work out, right? We're in the business of happiness here, we're in the business of the customer experience.
So, so everything from the spray on our towels, to us, welcoming you through and showing you the studio to getting you set up on the B to connecting you with the instructor and then following up as soon as you're done. And then following up with an. And then saying thank you with some swag. That's the way the world should work, right?
Yeah. That is like outstanding. Absolutely customer say to this. I don't know if you remember from when we work together, it's the wow factor, right? It's the wow factor. And that's, I always try and impress on my front of house staff. You never know who's coming in. So I always act as if each and every single one of them is that celebrity.
And so I try and send the wow factor. Absolutely. Every single time that door. Nice. That
is so good. So remember that the wow factor, if anyone is struggling with their business or their project right now, like that is probably the secret sauce that we're missing here. um, so yeah, you've mentioned the neighborhood Leslieville a couple times.
Did you grow up here in Leslieville?
No, I grew up in the beach, but being located here is very much like the beach basically when I grew. We knew everybody in our neighborhood and we called everybody uncle and aunt. Like, we were very close knit community. Now the beach has changed over time. Um, and you definitely have to be of a certain kind of BR financial bracket to live there, but a little bit here too, but they seem a little more grassroots here.
And it's like the old times of when you knew everybody. My wife always laughs. Cuz we constantly get stopped because I know everybody. Right. I can never go anywhere without being like, oh there's so and so, or they come over, I just had a drink at grata Solomons the other night. And this woman from the chef industry was like, Hey, I'm Paulina.
Oh my God. And she's just like, we can never go anywhere, but that's the importance of community, right? Because when you gotta lean on somebody, that's who you want. Right. You want people to know your children. You want people to. like, if you're working in the local butcher shop, what your order is and what you like, and what can I interest you?
Like that's what makes a community tick. Yeah. And
how did you start meeting
people in this neighborhood? I started working here and we, um, we moved three years ago here. Um, so it's just been a natural and it's kind of a, a really. Community, because back in the day, when I was a young kid, this was a rough neighborhood.
And as you can tell, it's kind of hipstery, yuppy. It's a lot of families. And then you also have lots of community buildings, right? So drop-ins and health places, and housing, and it's all really integrated, but Leslie villas really like that integration, right? Yeah. They don't resist at all. They don't resist it.
They don't say not in my backyard. I'm yes. Some of them do. My experience is the majority of them are like, absolutely you need help stay in this community and will get you the help. Yeah. You're very involved, very
involved. That's so cool. Yeah. I think that's so great to have a community physically that where you live that is so supportive and diverse.
And one other thing that I wanted to kind of segue into and this works out great is you seem to have a really powerful online community and. You use your social media in a really positive way. And that's something that I want to bring a lot more awareness to through what a visionary life is. And just through my message as well on social media, because I think there are still quite a few people who use their social media in a negative way, or who feel as though social media is only a waste of time and that there's not much good that can come from.
and I truly do believe that if we are to curate our feeds and we consciously use our platforms like Instagram and Facebook to spread good messages and to connect with people and to create an online community so that when you're not out and about, you still kind of feel part of something. So because you seem to have such a solid crew of people who engage with your content and who clearly really enjoy.
What you're putting out through your Instagram. I'd love to know. First of all, before we dive deeper, is this something that you consciously try to grow? And do you see your Instagram, for example, as a business where you're trying to get followers, or is this just kind of something that you you do in your spare time?
How do you feel about.
It actually started here at torque because I would work the early mornings and the instructors were in the class. And, you know, cause you're an instructor, how important the music is and I'm telling you, the music playlists were like, I couldn't stop dancing. And I just kind of made a video like of me rolling towels.
And then, and then all of a sudden I was like, I can't stop dancing. And then I put a dancing one on and I, all of a sudden it went from like 10 likes or views or. To 25 then to 50 and now, and then all of a sudden my handles started to grow. I'm I'm up over 2200 people. I know. I'm just, I don't even know, went on
and more than that, because as someone who kind of works in social media a lot, like I know that's not always about the number, but your engagement rates.
And I know that sounds so like technical. If you guys haven't checked out, Cheryl's Instagram, she's chef underscore inked, and people comment on those videos. Like no tomorrow, like here I am posting things like asking people to reply and I'm not getting much. And you post a video and like, I just, I truly think that for some people that is the, the highlight of their day,
that's scary.
If that's the highlight of their day, you mean, it
brings a smile to everyone's it's ridiculous
who watches it, but it literally, it's not curated. So I've had some discussions of late that, you know, everybody. Some people use it for business. And so everything's curated. And my wife laughs at me all the time, cuz there's spelling mistakes or I leave out words or she's like, why didn't you just edit that film?
And I don't care. I just don't care. Cuz this is me. I'm raw. I'm real. If you don't like me unfollow me. If you don't wanna see me, you don't wanna listen to me. You don't give a crap, then get rid of it. But the reality is is when I don't. I get in trouble. Where's my junior Friday video. My wife said to me yesterday, um, there's been no junior Friday video in a long time, but I work later in the day now.
Right. and so like people tell me, but what people also tell me is either openly on the feed, how they feel about it, or nine times outta 10, it's personal. So I find that I'm almost like a little dirty secret. Like they, they watch and I have no idea. Because I don't really go back and look at who's on it.
No, unless you leave a comment. And so all of a sudden out of the blue, they'll be like, oh my God, I love your videos. I watch 'em every day they make my day. And, and I'm like, but you've never openly said it and you don't, I never see you on it. So I have no idea and they're just randoms, but they live for
it.
Yeah. It's cool. I, I think you've created something really unique and it's so true just by being you and. Posting these like overly curated videos that have been edited with sound and text over them, like is just real time. Yeah. And we are so lacking in that right now. Absolutely. So I had to ask, what is junior Friday is that Thursday?
That is Thursday because we have a whole movement of, you know, where we used to live for Friday nights. And. You know, the restaurant and the bar industry is really up their game and it's actually their fault, probably because all the people that would wait for Friday can now squeak it in on Thursday.
And I'm sure product productivity on the, on Friday sucks at most businesses because people go out Wednesday night, Thursday night. So, uh, I don't even know how I came up with it, but it kind of stuck and people literally I'll see them or. I'll get an email or a text and they're like, it's junior, Friday.
It literally is a word now that people use. And I love it because when you work all week and you do the grind, it's important to get excited. So you know that you basically have eight hours the next day to get through. Yeah. Like you can kind of skate through Friday. So junior Friday is the more exciting day.
I love that. I definitely am going to implement this. I remember in university, um, my fiance Dave had thirsty Thursdays. Yes. And I feel like we kind of lost the excitement for Thursdays after we stopped celebrating that. So this morning I was telling Dave, I said, oh, I'm getting ready for like my interview with Cheryl.
And I. She always posts these videos and hashtags them junior Friday. Do you have any idea what that means? He's like, of course it's Thursday. that's right. I was like, have I been missing out on this secret? I should be doing it's
a great secret cause anybody can sail through eight hours of a job right on Friday and then you're, you're good to go.
So true.
So. In loving on your social media content. I came across this video and it really stuck with me. So something that you posted one day, and it was probably in the month of December, early January, and this kind of is shifting gears a bit, but you said that you feel like a millionaire, you are rich and not in the traditional sense.
You went on to say, I don't own a house. I don't own a car. I don't own a vacation. But I am rich in loving myself and in loving myself how I walk in this world. So. Okay. Can you break this down? Where did this thought or yeah, where did
this come from? Well, being 49 quite and I, and I think human beings do it.
I quite often compare myself to others and I can get really down on myself, because if you take a look at almost everybody who would stand in my age category, they have had a long standing career. They own a house or some kind of property, condo, et cetera. They go away on vacations, et cetera, et cetera.
It's not, I do go away on vacations, but you know, maybe their bank account. Different than mine. Probably most of 'em but screw it. it took me a while to rethink the whole thing because people gravitate to me because they think I've got it right. And in fact, I do have it and it took me a really long time to be like, wait a second.
I need to tap the hell into this resource because if you can wake up happy and you can go to bed happy. And you can have fun during the day and you can pay your rent and you can buy groceries. And you've got housing and you've got warm clothing and you've got good friends and family. What the hell else do you need?
You don't need anything else. Right. And I come from a place of living on the street. So when you literally don't have anything. You're thankful people always invite me for dinner and they're always like, I'm so nervous cooking for you. I'm like girl, you could cook me Mac and cheese from KD. And I would be happy ketchup or no ketchup.
Like, I am literally glad that I have food in my belly. Right. So I'm, I'm really silver lining kind of person. And so I have a ton of things and I have I'm real, I'm honest, I'm authentic. I believe in putting other people before myself, I believe in building other people up. I believe in a team effort, I believe in rallying around each other, you know, it's really important to me.
So I could tell you that a lot of people don't have that, that inside of them. Mm-hmm and I do. And that is literally who I am every day. Yeah,
absolutely. And that is actually part. Of why I started this visionary life podcast was to show people that a visionary life does not necessarily look like owning your house and getting the two cars and having a job that you mediocre like.
Um, there's a different way. And I always operate on the phrase to live a want to life and not a have to life. Cause I hear a lot of people. My network saying, I have to go to my job and I have to do this after work and I have to pay my mortgage. And, and yes, a lot of these things we do have to do, but when I hear people who are in this cycle of saying that so often it feels to me as if they're living, they're not living a want to life.
They're not doing anything for the sake of. Filling their own cup up and being happy. And I actually think that a lot of people are living quite the opposite of what you mentioned in that quote. So you said I don't have the house. I don't have a car, but I love myself. And you love how you're showing up in this world.
And what I see on the contrary is that a lot of people, they do have the cottage. They do have the car, they do have the house, but they don't have any self. and they're actually not conscious in this world. Yes, absolutely. And it's not that you have to fall into one or the other, but I, I know that there is a movement beginning that people are starting to feel as though their happiness needs to come from within and not externally.
So I think that's just such a powerful message that you shared. And that video really struck a chord with me because. Absolutely. My life goal is to find that happiness, not from the things that I own or anything like that, but to instead practice that self love to the point of it doesn't matter what happens to me or where I'm at with my possessions, because I'm so content.
And so thank you for putting that message out into, into the world and the Instagram universe. Kind of along those lines, you mentioned that your word for this year is self love and self care. Is that not something that you used to practice consistently before this, why this year for the year of self love?
Well,
I PR I do practice it, but you know, life goes on day in and day out and sometimes you gotta reset and refocus and remember, um, and somebody's self care has to happen on a daily, right? , you know, I'm busy. I work here. I work out, I have a partner, we get up to stuff. I have friends, I have family, right.
There's lots of other commitments. And sometimes you can go so fast through a week and then a month is gone. And so you gotta kind of go back to the basics. Okay. How can I look after myself? What do I need to do? What would make me feel better? Right. So, um, without making a resolution, cuz I don't do that.
It's just about resetting. And so, um, I spent new years talking about the things about the year that I loved and about my intentions for the upcoming year. And it is about selfcare and self-love because you have to do it on an ongoing basis. Right. Mm-hmm you have to fill the bucket up.
And what does self-care look like for
you?
Uh, self-care for me is taking time for me taking a moment to stop and really pay attention to what's happening around me. it's about figuring out what my next steps are gonna be in relation to my happiness. And, um, just in terms of making sure I'm on course and everything that I'm doing feels good. And then in turn how that relates to my relationship in turn, how that relates to my job, and then to all my other relationships.
Do you actively plan out where you wanna be in the next two years, five years. Or what does that look like for you?
Well, because this was a brand new kind of career path without me really, like, I just kind of took it with a leap of faith. Mm-hmm I don't know what it means for me in the next while. I'm definitely pursuing the motivational and inspirational speaking.
Um, it's been good so far. I think I can push the envelope on that. Um, it comes pretty easy to me. Um, and it. I, I can tell you from being on social media and that there is a happiness movement. What, what social media has taught me is that there is a happiness movement happening in Toronto and beyond, and that all of the connections that I have made in the transformation of my life.
So you also have to remember torque also transformed me physically. Um, so I've had a mind and body transf. And in that healthy aura, I have gotten all these other happiness movement people. And so there's this really sexy thing that's going on, where we're just riffing off of each other. So like, I don't know where it's going to be.
I can tell you that my mind and my body are definitely a part of my next move. I don't see myself leaving twerk anytime soon because I absolutely love this place. And I love what it's about. And I love the way that Julie has structured it. Um, I, I hope I don't go anywhere for a while. Mm-hmm but I think there's, there's other things extra on top of that, that I can involve myself in that are interesting to me.
Absolutely.
Absolutely. Yeah. It seems to be the new normal now that we, you know, often have multiple jobs and different roles and because we're feeling pulled to maybe yeah, just be part of a few different movements. And I think that's almost the new normal in career paths. Right?
I think we, we had this pre.
Thing that happened where as a society and as parents, we basically passed on that, you do the same job, one job, that's all you do. You give them 40 years of your life. You retire, right? People don't wanna work like that, that people are creative. Like people have a lot of things to say. They have a lot of energy.
They wanna be part of little things here and there. And I think that's really where the working world has. It completely, I, I would say at the end of that, you know, it can be a struggle because financially it's nice to know when that regular paycheck is coming in. So it can be a little bit of an adjustment, um, and is not always, especially for me, totally favorable, but if you can find something that's steady and then you can build on that, it's a cakewalk.
Definitely. Yeah, there's always, it's always possible, right? Yeah. You just have to take that first leap and, and, and work hard for it. Right. Get out and, and meet people and look for opportunities. So you mentioned a little bit about finding your fitness journey when you found torque. So what was your fitness journey like growing up and, you know, into how it is today?
Like where did this E. Start from, because you've obviously gone from, um, potentially not loving activity to how you seem to be working out consistently. And you've found what you like. So can you take us through that journey?
Yeah, sure. So as a kid, um, I grew up in the beach and there basically wasn't any sport or any kind of physical thing that I wasn't involved in.
I was, I played more sports than my brothers. And just because of where I grew up and what was available to me, you know, it was tennis school, it was sailing classes, it was soccer, it was softball, it was volleyball. It was swimming, right? Like there really wasn't anything that I didn't do. And it came very easily and very natural to me.
It was never an effort. It was never an effort I could get up at five o'clock in the morning and head to school and play volleyball, swim at noon, and then go and play something else after, um, and then I lost it. My world was severed. I left home at the age of 15 and I, I ended up on the street and it took me a long time to get off the street.
And then from there, um, I just lived my life, but not active at all. Mm-hmm and I tried to get it back, but it came at a very big cost. I was a smoker and I was a larger person. So it was a major effort for me to play hockey, which I tried. And then I just let it go. And I. Involve myself in it. And you'll remember when we worked together, you all would plank.
You'd be like, Hey, we got five minutes, everybody plank. And I'd be like, I wanna shoot myself. I just want to eat a burger and I didn't get it. I didn't get it. And then all of a sudden, um, fitness was introduced to me through. And I didn't fully get it until, um, I, I had started boxing and the boxing coach wasn't available and tomorrow my wife was at quad and she was like, um, come spinning.
And I was like, no way, Uhuh, those are not my people. They all wear Lululemon. I'm not going, but I was feeling like I needed something. So I started to go and. began to change my life and then it closed and torque opened and it was just a no brainer that I had to get my butt in here and on a bike because I absolutely missed it.
And then that transpired into me trying my confidence built. So, and not only did my confidence build, but I became a part of. Community and those lovely people extended themselves to me by inviting me and I, all of a sudden tried a class here and I tried a class there and then I landed at new frontier fitness.
Um, and I do, which is what it's, um, owned by. So Charlotte and her partner, Jason own it. It's at Jones and Gerard, and they have been instrumental in taking my fitness to the next level with their instructors. So I do cave. and fighter training and kickboxing there. Wow. And as of right now, um, we're training, we're hopeful.
I'm on two fight dockets to get me a boxing match, hopefully third week, April. And if not then in June. So I'm now training to do a boxing match at the age of 49. My wife told me I gonna have one boxing match. So I'm taking
congratulations. I'm taking it. That is it.
So whether I get clod or I, I, I come out the champ, I'll come out the champ.
I'm getting a fight. got it. So it went from absolutely docile to a size 44 pants to wearing a 36 pants and going from 2 68 to two 10. Wow. So like it took over three years and I did it really well. And I had a lot of people reach out and help me. And that's another reason why social media is. Amazing because it's, I am connected food wise.
I am connected with, um, the fitness community. And so it's encouragement and it's, you know, sometimes it's me reaching out to other people and sometimes it's them reaching out to me and just the buddy system and get the hell off the couch and let's do this and I'll do it with you. And Hey, what are you eating tonight?
Okay, well, you should be more protein heavy and add some veggies in right. it's been amazing and it has transformed my life and my mind. Absolutely my mind and how I, how I wake up every day. Yeah.
I think that's so inspiring. And I love that. You've kind of done this with a combo of, in person connections and online, because you know, if you are listening to this and you live in a smaller town, maybe you don't have all these fitness options that we here in Toronto have.
There's always someone online that you can start up a conversation with and you never know who wants to hear from you too. So just making those connections and if someone inspires you on Instagram or Facebook, like just send them a direct message. Absolutely. There's nothing. I love more than, you know, getting a message from someone random who enjoys my content, cuz oftentimes we'll end up chit chatting and potentially meet up sometime.
It's, it's truly incredible. The power that social media and how it can connect. Um, so that's awesome. What do your weekly workouts look like? Now? Take us through Cheryl's fitness.
So Monday night I always ride Justine's class. Um, Tuesday night, I do, uh, it's now caveman with Kean at, um, new frontier fitness, Wednesday night.
It's kickboxing at frontier fitness. Um, sometimes I'll ride on Thursday nights. sometimes I ride on the weekend, but it depends on how busy it is. And then I always do at least one day of caveman or kickboxing on the weekend. So I'm doing kickboxing on, on Saturday and I'm doing caveman on Sunday and then it all starts again.
Do you take a rest day? Absolutely. You do. Absolutely. That's awesome.
Do you think that you would've gone through this fitness and health journey? If. you didn't have the community. And if you were just going to a gym on your own, or do you think, I
can't imagine going to just the gym on my own. So
you think finding these incredible spots and the people to surround you with are kind of the key to making a shift.
And I will also say that the instructors and you'll know this, the instructors in the hours and the time that they put into their programming to their music to taking the time setting people. it is key. Yes. We're an amazing clean, fun studio. But if the instructors hadn't been able to give me and guide me through, right.
Like I think about going just to a gym and you know, maybe there's one person behind the desk and maybe there's somebody that walks around, nobody's checking your form. Nobody's checking in with you. Nobody's making sure that you're. A program and that you should be doing something else the next day.
Like if you did arms, you shouldn't do them again. You know what I mean? There's nobody there for that. I would rather pay a premium price to have somebody who has the accolades behind them to make sure I'm doing what I'm doing. Right. That my body's responding in the right way and that they know what they're doing.
And they're putting me through a program that I'm gonna get results. And that's, I know that that's what we have at torque. Right. And that's what I go to new frontier fitness for is I, I pay for that knowledge, right? Like these people have been in school or they've been in the fitness industry, or, you know, for a long time, they know what they're doing.
I, I went to another spin class and nobody checked on anybody. And I was watching, you know, we did dance on the bikes and I'm not knocking that. That's just not for me, but. When you're engaging your body in a certain way, you have to have people making sure your form is good. Right. You can really injure yourself.
That's if that's what you're doing. Mm-hmm right. Yeah. So I would rather pay in a place that has that standard of instructor, um, so that, you know, what's happening with your body and that you're being looked after and that you're doing a ride. I, I wanna be able to talk to the instructor who can explain to me why we did it to.
And why we did the Hills for half of the class. Right.
although you hate them, but right. It's like, if you can tell me
why then I would, why I take marijuana's, um, high interval training on the bike, and sometimes I wanna kill him because it's so intense, but the metrics at the end of it, which is his goal.
If you just stick with it and you follow. The metrics are crazy. Yeah. You know, you've worked out
good. Yeah. I always think that every penny I spend on a good fitness class is so worth it. People who are yeah. Resistant to spend, whatever it is, 20, $25. I just think what a amazing investment in your health and in your social life and just meeting community.
Right. It's. Powerful to get out of your home once in a while, and it doesn't have to be daily, right? Yeah. Like if you're someone who loves home workouts, that's great. But I think if you can get out once in a while and just experience what it is to sweat with a group of people who are getting sweaty with you and who love it, just as much, it's, there's no greater high at the
end.
People always apologize when they come out and it's a sweat Fest in there. I'm like, don't apologize. That's how you thank. Right. That's a good sign of a good class that I am mopping up a river in
there. Absolutely. All right, Cheryl. Well, we have to wrap up soon. We've gone almost to the time limit, but I do wanna end off on, uh, just one simple question.
What makes you happy? Happiness project is your thing, right? What makes you happy? Waking
up? I feel lucky to wake up every. That's what makes me happy, love that. So
simple. And everyone, everyone has the choice when they wake up right. Exactly. To change their mood and change their life. Really. Um, thank you for being on the show.
I find that your real talk is so needed in this world, and I'm very grateful to be a friend of yours and to have your daily dose. Positive inspiration on social media. So if you guys are in Toronto, definitely come check out torque. It's in, Leslieville in the east end of Toronto. They have, you know, first class intro specials and they'd love to have you out for a ride.
And hopefully you'll see Cheryl here when you walk in. So. If you have any questions or if you wanna find Cheryl online, she's at chef underscore, inked on Instagram, and I'll chat a bit more about couple really cool events that she has coming up. So if you wanna go meet her in person, there'll be a couple opportunities to do that.
So thanks for being on the show. Cheryl. Thanks for having me. Do you have any last words
or be happy? Be happy. Keep smiling, keep smiling, keep dancing, keep dancing. Be awesome.
and that's a wrap. Thanks guys. we did it. Thanks for listening to this episode of visionary life. It's the first interview that I'm airing with many more in the pipeline.
So thanks for working with me through the kinks that I'll experience on this journey of podcasting and any little glitches in sound, but I really pride myself on hopefully having good audio for you. I hope you'll take the time to connect with Cheryl and soak up some of her contagious positivity. I look forward to the daily daily videos I see on Instagram and the smiles that they bring to my face are truly priceless.
So besides finding Cheryl on Instagram, you can also visit torque ride where you'll be able to catch an indoor cycling class, a very sweaty one and meet the incredible community there. And Cheryl will also be at a couple of upcoming events in Toronto. So if you are local to the area, I wanna share quickly, um, about those.
So the first event is called celebrating the art and science of communication. And this is being held at Ferris 360 on young. It looks to be a combo of fitness and motivational speakers, but you can learn more about it at www dot two, the number point. O the number toronto.com. So 2.0 Toronto looks like it's a really great three hour event bringing together some of the top minds in wellness, art, science of communication.
Cheryl will also be doing an event with the broad view hotel for international women's day. So stay up to date with Cheryl to hear more about. I'd love for you to join my insiders community. Just search visionary life on Facebook inside there, we talk about our favorite books, podcasts, tools, and tips that make our lives easier.
We talk about the tough and challenges, tough times, and challenges faced as an entrepreneur. And again, all things visionary. I like to take these podcast discussions offline as well inside this Facebook group. So I will see you over there. You can also find me on Instagram at Kelsey ride. As always, please rate and review this podcast on iTunes.
If you have a moment, you can do it from your phone. I send a beautiful, essential oil blend and visionary love note from me to everyone who leaves a rating and review. Okay. So don't just tap the stars, make sure that you write a little comment as well. And once you do that, just screenshot it and send it to me on Instagram or Facebook or my email.
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me.