Image source: Courtesy of Tunde Oyeneyin
Tunde Oyeneyin didn’t grow up dreaming of becoming a Peloton trainer, but she knew she wanted to write a book – and her near-life goal had just been achieved. Her first book, Speak: Find Your Voice, Trust Your Gut, and Go From Where You Are to Where You Want To Be ($18), came out May 3, and it’s glowing with the fact that totally, she’s got that energy you love her on the bike.
“I said in third grade that I wanted to write a book,” she told PopSugar. “I didn’t have the story or know what I wanted it to be about but I knew I wanted to write a book. [Now,] I just sit back and keep in touch with my God this thought I had when I was a third grader. It did a pretty good job where it came out, too: Just a week after its release, “Part Memoir, Part Manifest” already became a New York City bestseller of the times.
Although Oyeneyin didn’t predict her fitness coach stardom very early on, she had a defining moment of intervention that made her life purpose clear, leading her to exactly what she is today: on the Peloton podium.
“After my first cycling class, I had what I call a ‘blue light experience,’ where I saw my life path move and pass in front of me,” she says. “After my first ever cycling class, I never did a headgear, and I knew I was going to bike for the rest of my life. I knew I was going to teach. And I knew I was going to teach on the largest platform in the world, capable of inspiring tens of thousands of millions of people. And in that The time, I didn’t even know what a peloton was… I had this vision, this divine revelation, this moment where this intuition was the thing I felt, and then I trusted and followed that voice.”
“Once I got a piece of it, tasted it, I felt everyone should have it – I enjoyed gifting people with confidence.”
Finding and following that voice is exactly what she talks about in her book. In doing so, she hopes, it helps readers do the same — because “once you trust your intuition, it finds your voice, and it gets you from where you are to where you want to be,” she says. “My story is filled with so much doubt, so much uncertainty, sadness, loss and joy, and still so much hope….. I hope that when you pick up the book, you see a little of yourself in my story, and feel so inspired that after you close the book to take a pen and a blank page And you write the next chapter in your life.”
The title of the book “Speak” refers not only to this inner voice; It is also an acronym for Surrender, Authority, Empathy, Authenticity, and Knowledge. Using these powerful words, Oyeneyin offers “an accessible blueprint for anyone looking to make positive change in their life,” according to publisher Simon and Schuster.
Oyeneyin’s astonishing presence and divine mission may make it seem as if she always held him together, but – as she explores in her book – she also experienced plenty of struggle. In fact, Oyeneyin admits that she “didn’t trust her we will miss you. “So, once I got a piece of it, tasted it, I felt like everyone should have it — I enjoyed gifting people with confidence,” she says. And that’s really her life’s work: It’s more than just helping people push through a round of HIIT or encouraging them to show up for another workout the next day. Through the Peloton platform, through her book, the “Fitness Flipped” podcast, and even her previous work as a makeup artist, the real Oyeneyin is helping others find the confidence she didn’t have at some point in her life.
“When I was growing up, I was overweight. I lacked confidence. If anyone took my classes now, they know I dance a lot on the bike. I love to laugh. When I was younger, I couldn’t laugh out loud, because I felt like if I laughed “People will notice me. If they notice me, they will see my size. I didn’t dance, because I didn’t want people to see me. If they saw me, they would walk. Look at my size. So, once I found confidence, I set out to lose weight. In the end, I lost 70 pounds, but What acquired along my journey [meant] Much more. I gained a sense of my purpose and my strength. And I understood who I am.”
You know who she was, at that moment, who actually pushed her into the makeup world; Oyeneyin was a makeup artist for 15 years before Peloton. “Again, because I love giving people confidence,” she says. “Someone comes sitting in your chair, the shoulders are curved, the hair is in a bun, and they don’t really feel good. And after 45 minutes, you see those shoulders rolling, the hair coming down, and the person feels really cool. I enjoy being able to make people feel that.” Since her makeup artist days are over, “Now I can do it thanks to this bike,” she says, “and on top of that with this book. I think it’s all living synergistically, and it’s all connected.”
This overarching mission is also what inspires and inspires her collaborations, like her recent partnership with the Smile Direct Club (which she says is one of the reasons she felt so confident shooting for her book cover).
If you feel you’ve “gifted” some confidence from Oyeneyin (whether through her spirited Instagram chats, book, or coaching style), be sure to say “thank you” by sending those sentiments across your Peloton screen during your next trip. You’ll be in the studio waiting for it. “Energy is radiating; it is frequency, so it is transmitted,” she says. “This red light shines on, and I can feel the thousands of people right there, right next to me, riding, hurting me, sweating through the pain. Yes, I definitely feel it. That energy is real.”
