As we mentioned already, May is officially our month for celebrating the women of our community. Our leggings collection is now live and we want to take the chance to introduce the stars of our launch video - four women who have been huge inspirations to us as a brand.
Leggings, Balance and the "+"
These four women have achieved a lot in their various disciplines. Their athletic prowess is one thing that we admire about them but it’s not the full story. This launch is all about balance. Proudly displayed on each item in our new leggings collection is a “+”. That symbol represents a balanced life.
Each of the four women featured in the video have their own balancing acts to perform. We caught up with them to speak about balancing work with passion and tips they had for anyone doing the same.
Balancing Passion With Starting a Business
Chloey Turner and Julie Burke are two people juggling owning a business with doing what they love. Chloey was lead dancer with Riverdance. She has since started her own personal training business, Chloey Turner fitness. She is also co-founder of Kilogear Cut, weighted training gear that is helping young athletes and Irish dancers train their entire bodies while they concentrate on overall performance.
Julie Burke is founder of JulieBYoga, Hotpod Yoga Dublin and has amassed a following of over 41,000 on her Instagram page. She has achieved a lot since leaving behind her corporate life only a few short years ago. It might seem idyllic to quit your job and chase your dream. But, as Julie explained to us, there are difficulties that go with it.
“Finding balance is definitely an ongoing challenge. When what you love and what you are passionate about becomes your career, a lot of things change. Of course, there is going to be a lot of struggles. You have to work hard to not let the daily worries of running a business impact on your passion.”
“It can also be quite lonely at times. You go from being a part of a company to being out on your own in many respects. That is why it is so important to have the right people around you. I count myself lucky that I have that.”
Sinéad McSorley and Deirdre Begley are two high level competitors that work incredibly hard to balance their sporting pursuits with careers. Sinéad has only recently taken up Olympic Lifting in the last few years but has made immense progress since. She is currently ranked in the top three female lifters in Leinster at her weight class.
Sinead’s advice for juggling career with chasing her Olympic lifting pursuits comes in planning. “I'm a ninja when it comes to precision planning. What works best for me is scheduling out what competitions at which I want to compete and working backwards from there”.
This sounds like plain sailing but she admits there is a lot of struggle. “There are some weeks I'm just mentally and physically exhausted. Trying to cram in training, work and still have time for friends and family.”
Sinead even admits that sometimes she completely forgets to set out time for having fun. Fitting everything in is a huge struggle but as Sinead points out “If you are really passionate about something then you will always find a way.”
Chasing A Sporting Dream
Dee is an accomplished Kickboxer and MMA fighter, training under coach John Kavanagh at SBG Dublin. She has competed at the highest level at kickboxing but now her goal is to turn professional in MMA and become a champion. She definitely isn’t far from realising that dream. As someone who juggles work life with chasing her sporting dream, she gave advice for anyone on the same path.
“Pushing yourself to get up for training early in the morning is the hardest part. When your alarm goes off at that ridiculous early hour, my advice is to get up, go out and train. Just by doing that, you set yourself up for a successful day. Not answering that alarm clock is what will cause the doubts. At the opposite end, rest is very important. You have to be realistic and know that you can’t fit it all in everyday. Going all out, all day every day is unsustainable. Getting downtime is very important.”
The Real Side of Athletes
It was important for us to highlight the real life side of the athletes featured in our launch. The leggings collection is not just about sporting performance. It is about balancing life with physical pursuits. This is not about doing the double shift or expecting too much of yourself. It is not a quest for perfection or a desire to have it all. This is about realising the many different parts of you, relishing the good days and recognising the tough days. This is about striking your balance.
Read more about our leggings launch here.
Shop the entire collection online.
