The book for this month is Speak by Tunde Oyeneyin. The reason I selected this book was because she is one of my Peloton Instructors. I have been a member for 4 years, and these instructors not only change your body, but your mindset, and your life.
Tunde uses SPEAK as the 5 key pillars to your life: Surrender, Power, Empathy, Authenticity, & Knowledge.
"In order to speak, you have to be willing to surrender. You have to know your power. You have to lead with empathy. You have to be authentic. You have to have the knowledge to back it."
Tunde is a first-generation American. Her parents emigrated from Nigeria to Houston, Texas. She was raised with 3 brothers. They were all athletes and ate whatever they wanted, which pleased her mom. "Eating was a sign of health and a gesture of respect for the person who had prepared the food." When Tunde was 14 she was asked to be a bridesmaid in her aunts wedding. She was a size 18 and the dress didn't come in that size. She describes a very emotional scene in the dressing room that many of us have been in. Her mother bought 2 dresses and sewed them together so she would match the rest of the wedding party. After the wedding she stopped eating junk food and started working out.
The psychiatrist David Viscott said "The purpose of life is to discover your gift; the work of life is to develop it; and the meaning of life is to give your gift away."
Tunde moved to LA to become a makeup artist for celebrities. After her first cycling class, she experienced a moment in her life that "I would be cycling for the rest of my life. And not only that, but I'd be teaching it to others. On the world's biggest platform. I knew it and I felt it." She had a successful career at this point, but something was missing. She could not forget that moment after her cycling class. Two years later, she started to teach classes at the Sweat Shoppe. She had been teaching for 7 months when she received an email from Cody Rigsby- the director of cycling at Peloton. He wanted her to audition. The audition went great, but she did not get hired. She went back to LA and had to accept what happened- to surrender. To be uncomfortable in the space of disappointment and anger. She decided that she would not give up! "When we surrender to what is, we lean into our power."
Almost a year later, Tunde received another call from Cody Rigsby. A second chance to come back and audition. She did her cycling routine the exact same way except for changing her playlist and her hair. Then after 2 days of interviews, she was offered a position at Peloton! She moved to New York to live her dream.
Tunde has overcome a lot of loss and heartache in her life too. Her youngest brother died, followed by her father and mother. We read through her pain as she describes having to go through the moments of loosing loved ones. She even does her deceased mother's makeup for the funeral service against her family and friends telling her not to.
When George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020 it shocked the world. We all experienced emotions and were hurt, angry, and saddened by these events. Tunde grew up in a mostly white neighborhood in Texas and remembers being stopped by the police at 16 years old. The police made her and her brother get out of their car because they smelled weed. They did not smoke weed. After four police cars later, she was sitting on the curb in embarrassment as her friends and neighbors drove by watching her. Before Peloton, Tunde took everything off her Instagram of Black Lives Matter so that her followers would not be uncomfortable with her opinions. After the George Floyd event, her boss Jen Cotter called and asked if she would do a ride of solidarity to unite the Peloton members. Tunde was in disbelief. "How lucky was I to work for a company where it was not only safe to speak my mind but encouraged?" Her ride was called Speak Up. To change we have to get uncomfortable, and she decided that this was the place to go there. "Because on the other side of pain is growth."
Peloton is known for having a very diverse and unapologetic group of instructors that will make you work until you cry, dropping motivational quotes and hitting right to what your heart is feeling. This is right where you are meant to be. Tunde's classes are very tough and energetic. She knows when to talk and when to be silent. She truly is a master at changing your mindset as well as your body. I would recommend this book, although it made more sense to me since I knew all the instructors she was talking about.
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