Episode 209: From Hating Running To Leading a Movement | Kelly Roberts, Founder of Badass Lady Gang
Kelly Roberts never imagined she’d be the face of a running movement. In fact, she used to hate running. But after losing her brother and turning to running as a way to cope, Kelly discovered not only a new outlet for grief, but a new path for herself. Today, she’s the founder of Badass Lady Gang, a community-focused running group rewriting the rules of who gets to be an athlete. In this episode, Kelly shares how she went from outsider to community builder, why traditional fitness culture fails most women, and how movement can become an act of empowerment, not punishment. We talk about grief, body image, leadership, entrepreneurship, redefining success, and how personal growth often starts with simply showing up. If you’ve ever felt like you didn’t belong in fitness spaces, or like your body was a problem to solve, this conversation offers a powerful reset.
“Women deserve a space to run as they are, alone and together, unjudged and safe, and ideally while having fun & making friends.”
-
-
Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters:
00:00 The unlikely origin story of a running leader
02:00 Losing her brother and finding movement through grief
05:00 When a treadmill became a turning point
07:30 Starting Badass Lady Gang from a viral blog
10:00 Why traditional running groups felt unsafe
13:00 Redefining what it means to be an athlete
15:30 Building community as an act of resistance
18:00 How grief continues to shape her leadership
20:30 Body image, strength, and running for joy
23:00 The limits of the wellness industry
26:00 Why she started coaching (reluctantly)
28:30 What’s broken in apparel and running culture
31:00 Movement without punishment
34:00 Reframing fitness as personal development
37:00 What she’s building next and how you can help
I spent almost my whole life like president of the I fucking hate running club. Like truly, seriously. Full stop. Never ever thought I would be someone who runs a 5K yet alone, runs a marathon, yet alone, has a job as a runner now.
That's Kelly Roberts of the Badass Lady Gang. I'm Kara Duffy, and this is The Powerful Ladies Podcast.
Hi. Hi. How are you? I'm good. It's Wednesday, we have made it into February. We have made it here.
I woke up yesterday at six 50 and I was like, oh my God, it's light out. We're almost there. And it gave me like, oh, thank God.
That's the hardest part of winter is like knowing that you need to wake up and it's still dark out and it's just, there's something wrong about it.
I really hope we fix that with the. Getting rid of daylight savings business.
We need to do it. It, the darkness is so brutal.
It is. I'm really excited to talk to you today. I have been following you for such a long time and a friend of mine, Carla, is actually in the San Diego chapter and I just have so many questions.
Yo, powerful ladies to badass ladies, like, where did this originate from? How did you be like, I have to create an entire community of Badass Ladies.
I love that Carla, because she's such a perfect example of why we exist. The Badass Lady Gang is a buy and for women's running community, and we're a very different kind of running community.
It's hard to explain to people what we are, because the second we say that we just see people immediately, go err. Running is the worst. I hate running. It's just not for me. Which I get because I was that, I spent almost my whole life like president of the, I fucking hate running club.
Like truly, seriously. Full stop. Never ever thought I would be someone who runs a 5K yet alone, runs a marathon, yet alone, has a job as a runner now, like I just. I never was athletic. I really wasn't. I didn't like it. I didn't like the world. I'm really competitive, so I like being competitive, but I don't like, I didn't like team sports.
I didn't like any of that. So for me, like when I was in high school, when I was in middle school, when I was in early college years. The only times I would work out was in a relentless pursuit of weight loss because I have a different body type than a skinny body type. And those of us who aren't Gen Z, didn't have the luxury of growing up in a world where we talked about body type.
I was just among the larger body types that were convinced that I just had a problem that needed to be solved. I was unhealthy. Like we were only framed as healthy or unhealthy. You either looked like you took care of yourself or you didn't take care of yourself with, which we now know is so could not be further from the truth.
Yeah. I found running because my life fell apart, which I now know that that's why most adults run because their lives fall apart, which I had no clue. Yeah. Like truly, genuinely thought, like I really did think there were three types of runners, like very serious marathoners and people who have been running forever.
People in weight loss journeys who only did it because they were losing weight or Turkey trotters like people who ran once a year because the very serious marathoner in their life like made them. Yeah. I just genuinely thought that was it. And once I was in a place where I was like just desperate enough to start running.
I loved how it made me feel because I was in this period of my life where I was using exercise as a way to avoid feelings. When I was in college, my younger brother passed away and I was very lucky to be in a theater community. I was getting an undergraduate degree in theater, so I was able to use both theater and working out as a way to not deal with my grief.
I could just overload myself, throw myself into characters, or throw myself into going to the gym twice a day. Then every time my head hit the pillow, like I didn't have time to think about how much pain I was in, or like how worried I felt about ever feeling happy again. Like how guilty I felt I could just go to sleep, which was such a relief.
But when I graduated college, I lost both those things. I lost my free gym and I lost. My school structure, I lost my theater community. I lost it all. And I was looking at this future of oh God, now what? So I like moved home and I really, I didn't even try, didn't even try to pursue a life in the arts.
I just panicked and I started having a hard time going to school, or not school, going to the gym. Twice a day. It got harder and harder to motivate myself to work out like a fiend. And so I started feeling again and I was in like a. Not I know how I was in like a manic episode.
I hadn't slept in a couple of days. I was really in a bad place and I, it was Thanksgiving, the gym was closed and I was kinda like, if I wanna move running, it's probably it. And I had tried to run multiple times in my life. I always thought that would be the thing that made me skinny. And walking was always the thing that stopped me.
I didn't know that runners walked. I had no clue. I had no clue that everybody walked. I thought running was, you just, you run, you force Gump it. You run and run and run and run until you get back home. And every time I needed to walk, like that was the thing that made me feel like a failure and embarrassed.
So I would just turn around and go home and, but this day, like I was genuinely scared what would happen if I got back in bed. So I was like, I just need to keep going. So I would walk and I would run and I would walk and I'd run. Two months later I ran a half marathon and then five months later I ran a marathon and my life changed.
Like it, it just, one, at that time in my life, like I very much filled one vice with another and was like, running is the thing that makes me not have to deal with my feelings. Like I love it. And then it became the thing that kind of helped me get the courage to get back into therapy and start doing work around like body image issues and my grief and.
Finance, trauma, like all these other things that weirdly like help gave me space to think and process with the help of professionals. Like running is not therapy, running is a tool in, a bigger thing. And I like. That marathon gave me courage to move to New York, and I started two months, not two months, like four months after I moved to New York.
I went viral in 2014 for taking selfies with quote unquote hot guys behind me while I ran a half marathon. And that's why I started a blog. And then from there it was just storytelling, through storytelling. I found that of course I'm not alone, in this struggle runner, unlikely runner working out to try to fit.
You know what we think health looks like. It's just like this natural progression. It's been a very long time and it was not an overnight thing. It's, I've been doing this nine years now, but people like Carla, these really beautiful, strong, incredible community leaders who wanted to create community were in the gang.
And so like we were able to create chapters of Badass Lady Gang and create group runs that are very different. You don't go to a group run of Badass Lady gang. You're like, we're not running a 5K, we're not running a 10 k. You're gonna stay together and like we, we always say there's Walking gang, talking gang, and then like Running Gang and like you get to do all three at every workout.
So we do things very differently, but it's hard to explain to people because we all have these like preconceived notions of what running is and it's not that,
it's so funny how something as innocent as running has is so decisive. Like it really does either make people super excited. Or be like, eh, it's like a spreadsheet.
People either love a spreadsheet or they will run away from the spreadsheet. I will run away from a spreadsheet. I am that person. I this great analogy. Yes. Yeah, and Carla's one of those people who I've never seen not smiling and not beaming, smiling. I actually ran a Ragnar, the SoCal Ragnar with her as part of a 12 set.
And I think I'm really happy that things like the Ragnar races are coming up and like showing that running is a group sport and that it can be silly and ridiculous and like I do not have a runner's body type at all, even at whatever way people think I'm supposed to be at, I never look like I should run a marathon.
And it's clear and evident in the lack of sports bras that work for me to run. So it's so interesting to see who is running and how many people are embracing it, ages different demographics. It just makes me happy that we can play again versus it make it professional or nothing.
Totally, because that's what it was.
It was like. If you're not really good at it, if you don't know what you're doing, like there's no space for you. That's what we all thought. If you're a before version of yourself or all these weird tropes that we've been sold by diet culture and the running industry too. Like I've been in the running industry now for nine years, not just like a runner, but like in the industry.
And like I remember what it was like nine years ago. It was not what it's like today and we still have a very long way to go. But the role that fat phobia and anti-fat ness has played in the industry. Like just this idea of a runner's body is something like we talk about in the sense that like we, we slap a bandaid on if you run, you're a runner, but people don't dig into why do we feel this way? Or like, why do we believe these things? Or why do we believe that everyone Forrest Gump it? Like, why do people not know that people walk? And why don't people know that? Like you don't need to run a marathon. There's a reason, a very small percentage of people run marathons.
And yet that's this weird central spoke. Which is what? Why are we creating our brand around the thing that no one
does? It's wild. I spent a long time in the footwear and apparel industry for sports. I was at Puma, Reebok, like Saucony, so like the running space Core running to me is so much like core skateboarding also where I've hung out in work and.
I don't understand why like this core, the core center of the target of this, of the demographic for that whole space, why it becomes so ex exclusive. Are you running sub three hours? Are you wearing all this stuff? Do you have the thing, do you have the like, and you're like, wait, what? Like this all started because it was accessible.
Like you need a pair of shoes or a pair of shoes and a skateboard and you can do this sport. So like. When did it become Shh. Don't tell 'em where we're going. I don't understand that piece of it.
Neither do I. And I've done like a fair amount of consulting work with brands too, and i've been having the same conversation with them and I see their decks.
Like I, I've seen so many of the big giant multi-billion dollar companies of them, like talking about like their, postmortem of the last couple years and like where they're going and projections and stuff like that. And I'm like, you get it. Like I'm looking at, you talk about the fact that the everyday person who's never gonna run a race is your core person. And the fact that like this. Portion of the running world spends all of the money. But yet you're, everything markets to the fast person or the person who's, it just doesn't make any sense. And I'm, I just sit there and I'm like, I don't get it. Like I don't. I think a piece of it is cool, right?
It's very cool to see the people who are like breaking records and it's very cool to see. What am I capable of? But then it it does, it walks that fine line and I'm not even gonna say it walks that fine line, they see the fine line and they like run over to the other side. Yeah.
And then every once in a while they'll throw photos of the communities up, but then they won't stick up for them. 'Cause if you were to go to your everyday community, if you were to go to your local crew, which everyone has one, most of them are really underground and they're very like different and cool.
And I don't mean underground in a way that's Ooh, cool kids, but like more just like the secret. They're just Yeah. Busy people who like aren't screaming from the rooftops. They like meeting once a week is enough. Yeah. They look like everyone. They look like you and me. They've got fat people, they've got skinny people.
They've got everyone in between. They've got old people. They've got young people. And every once in a while you'll see them and the brands won't stick up for the fat runners that they're. Trying to tokenize, all the fat phobia will come out in the comments and they won't say anything, and it's like, why?
Why are we like this?
I think it's an area where the yoga community has actually done a much better job. They're much faster at this like sponsoring what would be considered like a fat yoga person or what like. All different body types, all different genders. They're all being sponsored and represented and seen Pelotons now doing it too.
Like when they just released their new kind of coaching segment, you're like, oh, these don't look like a regular Peloton coach anymore. So I do think it's really interesting 'cause even looking at the Jordan brand does not make money off of basketball players. They make their money off of people who sit on a couch all day and wear Jordans.
So I understand like wanting to like. Tell the story like the just do. It has to be everywhere. Like I, when I was at Reebok, they were pitching a campaign called Run Easy. And it didn't work, and I think it didn't. I saw it and I'm like, Ooh, they're this close. And they're not getting the core points because they wanted to embrace, this is back in 2007.
They wanted to embrace like everyone runs like this is how long they've known this, if not before. And they launched this run Easy campaign, but it was in the face of like Under Armour, just spiking and all of this like really agro athletic approach in this space. And they even had some t-shirts that were like run at the speed of talk or chat, which I was like, that's a great message.
But they didn't connect it to that. They didn't make that bridge that I think Badass Lady Gang has of this is fun and this is okay. It was like, here's a running program for the losers. It's like how it looked versus here's the running program for reality.
Yeah, and it becomes this I totally know what you're saying because I we've watched, they've gotten so much better at it.
We won't see that anymore. They've finally figured it out, but I think that they figured it out because all of those campaigns are now rooted in real people, like they find they find the real people who are doing the work, the Badass Lady Gangs of the world. Yes. Or the Black Men run all of those different organizations and people out there and they say, look, this person doesn't look. Like dumb, this person looks badass. Look at 'em doing the thing. Yeah. And you're able to be like, oh, okay. I see that person, I see that person, I see that person, I see that person, and now I'm hearing their story about how they work two jobs and also find time to run half marathons and like connect with these. You're like, okay, I get it, but like I'm totally with you. I've seen so many where I'm like
like what is this garbage? And now we're in the space where we're like, great, we see the messaging. Love it. You do know that you support like no runners with your clothing, right? Great, it's, let's have that conversation.
I really I'm gonna put this out there right now for whoever wants my feedback.
Being someone who is from a product background, no one is getting sports bras, right? No one is getting women's shorts right. Please come call me. Those are the two areas in particular that make me insane. Like, why do I need to run in duct tapes and full leggings? Those are my only options.
I can't tell you how many times I've thought of you know how boob tape became a thing in the last couple of years?
Yes. Like women are now like, for going out, they're like taping their boobs and I'm like, genius. And I'm like, I'm already taping because like I'm taping seams. Yes. So that I don't chave I'm, I wouldn't say I'm taping up, but I'm like, I one can't afford to tape. As much as they are. Like that tape's expensive.
Yeah. But also, and I'm also like environment why can't we just figure out a good bra? But I'm also so curious do I just is that the answer is to like tape because you're so right. There's, and what I've come to learn, because sports bras have been what my bread and butter for a while now.
I started this social media movement called the Sports Bra Squad a couple years ago. And as we have every year launched Sports Bra Squad day, which happens in July. Like we've learned so much more about sports bras and like the industry and why we haven't seen or have seen, I don't wanna say any innovation because we have seen innovation, but like why it's so slow and why the sizing is so exclusive and awful.
It's like women don't know their body shapes. That's the biggest
piece of the puzzle and they change so much. Yeah, like the it's, there isn't, we can't have small, medium, large, extra large double X. That's not it. It's, there's so much variety like it's just, there's a great poster of just like all different shapes, boobs can be.
Then you take all those shapes and you put them on all different sizes and all different heights and like usually okay, the cup size fits, but now I need to take the straps to a tailor and shorten them two inches because apparently my shoulder to boob ratio is shorter than other people. I don't know.
Yes. Or
why am I being poked under the armpit now? Like why is there something way back here? Who? Did a blind person or someone with their eyes closed make this and never actually put it on a human, or never. They put out, they, we used to do it all the time for cost and time savings. You fit it on two people.
You don't fit all of them, and then this, the grading comes out and you're like that's not what that was supposed to look like.
There's this fabulous woman Laura Tempesta. She has this website, volution. She's one of the few people in the world who like genuinely knows Sports Brass in and out.
She she was at Nike when she went and got this like master's program in both I think it's like lingerie and I don't wanna say it was. Physics, but it might've been physics. Because that's, there's a lot of physics involved. Yeah. So she left Nike a couple years later, but like now she like works with everyone.
So she's now like the one person who knows about it and can work with everybody, but it's like. She's doing so much education work about helping people like shoulder. Shoulder, like the way your shoulders are Yeah. Is like the biggest thing everyone should know. Which like, I don't know about you, but no one ever told me that once in my whole entire life.
And even when I was looking at like the educational resources she has out, I was like, I don't what does this. And it wasn't until she walked me through it that I was like why is she the only one? Talking about this and helping people understand. What do you enjoy? Do you like compression or do you like more encapsulation and what does that mean and do you need an hvac or do you need a crossback and like all this stuff, but it's so frustrating. It's so frustrating. Like that no one teaches us about boobs. No one teaches us about our cycles or perimenopause or post menopause. Like all of these things that we have to deal with as women. It's just like already it's frustrating, but then you add all this other shit and you're just like.
I just wanna grab a flamethrower and burn it all down.
Yeah, I, it makes me think about, there was a book I read a long time ago about dogs and how it was the first anthropologist who had studied dogs. 'cause we were like, oh, we know dogs. We don't have to study 'em. And I think that's how people treated boobs.
We know them, we don't have to study 'em. We got it. And you're like, what do you got? Like, how many have you actually seen in your own life? Okay. You're not qualified no. It's so frustrating. And I think a part people miss also with the sports bra space is in the physics, how people's boobs move differently when they're running.
Like the fact that it's not like it can be up and down, it can be swirl side to side. There's different things based on where the weight distribution is in your own boobs. So it's not even keep them up, like that's not even what we know we need.
I did. A commercial last year, like last November.
And the stylists were wonderful. They were so sweet, but weren't runners and like they're fashion stylists. Yeah. And I'm in a space now where like I've been doing this long enough that like I'm pretty outspoken about things. And I now know not to sit in silence and before the shoot, like I've sent them an email and I'm like, Hey, these are the three sports brass I will wear.
This is it. This, these are the only three that will work for me. Like I promise you, I've tried every single one. I'd have them all at my house and I got on set and like they were, those three were not there. And so I had to wear two sports brass and like a lot of the comments on the videos besides being really fat phobic were like.
Get her a supportive sports bra and it's what?
Yeah. There, there are moments when I'm running and I'm feel like I need to apologize for the community I'm running past because it's obnoxious. This is, I understand it's borderline offensive. What's happening while I'm running at the same time.
So sorry, like I can't control it. This sports bra is not working. Or have you ever had a sports bra break on you mid run? That's my favorite.
I have never had that, but I wear like pretty industrial strength brass. Like it would be hard for one of them to break on me. I've had leggings rip on me.
It's just so many fun things to look forward to. Let alone the fact that you can't breathe and you're, you have a cramp and you still have 20 miles to go.
I remember years and years ago, I was signed with a brand and then they let me go and I was running in their bras, which were like six months old, right?
And it I didn't realize I was chafing. I think I was running like a 15 mile training run, getting ready for a marathon, and I'm running through New York City, 15 miles through New York City and New York City. The running scene is so close, so like I probably saw 30 people I knew, like just out running in the morning on a Saturday and everyone's Hey.
And I everyone's faces were of surprise, but I don't know. I'm an Instagram person. Sometimes people are genuinely surprised to see me and so I just like copied it up to that. Copied up to that. And when I. I, I had called my cousin who lived on the route to be like, can you bring me like a Gatorade outside?
I don't wanna run into a store. And I run out. And he was like, ha. And I was like, what? And he is what's wrong? Are you okay? And I looked down and my whole shirt was covered in blood. I was wearing a white shirt and it literally looked like I was shot. And I was like. And it wasn't until I like put my camera down to film.
'cause I was logging at the time and you could see it on my face, like the pure horror. And I was like, how many people saw me like this that I was out? Which of course that's where I'm, that's what I'm most worried about is like, how many people saw me like this. But more importantly then I started to feel it.
And I posted about it online and the owner of the company, a woman by the way, had the gall to rip me a new one in an email and be like, you need to replace your sports brass every year. And this isn't on us. And all this just like a nasty, mean email. And I remember being. Are you outta your fucking mind?
Who can afford to replace four $75 emails every, or emails, sports bras every year? If your bra isn't gonna hold up longer than two or three years, no. Like I understand the spandex is gonna wear out a little bit, right? But that's why you buy. A size so that you're clasping as it stretches out, can get tighter.
If you're buying a bra that you're immediately putting on the smallest class, like you're in the wrong size. You need to be, you need to be putting it on the longest so that it stands the test of time. Also, don't dry your sports bras. Make sure you're hang drying them. They'll last longer, but I just remember feeling so frustrated 'cause they were like feminism and like girl power, like this whole brand. And then she like ripped me a new one even though her fucking sports bra made me bleed. What? As badly
as I did, this is where my business coach brain turns on and I go, what a missed opportunity for customer service and.
Creating fans, right? To send you a note and do it publicly oh my gosh, we're so sorry. Here's a new set. We sent you some. This is, and like you could have used it as an education moment in your content. Ha,
it put such a bad taste in my mouth and it just made me, it bummed me out, bums me out that so many of us buy these like really subpar products.
Yeah. And just deal with it because there's not better.
And it's too overwhelming to figure out what better would be. Like and I, we've talked about this a couple of times at different guests on this podcast about depending on what category they're in, like organic food or clean living or something like.
We have to do so much research today to figure out anything that's within our zone of values. And so when we were like, oh my God, like a sports bra, like I think I've had buy new sports brass on my to-do list probably for six months. And I'm just like, I don't even know where to go. 'cause my go-to source doesn't work anymore.
And now I need to like, I'm like, who? How can I delegate this to someone? So now I know I can delegate to you. I'll help you. I can help you
right now. What's your favorite type of sports bra? I like encapsulation or compression. So compression for those who don't know compression, think tie it against your chest.
Encapsulation is like more of a cup and the cups normally either will have an underwire or not. So you like compression, so what's your bra size? Usually a, like a 34 double D. Okay, great. Have you ever tried the Lululemon energy? No. Energy. Lululemon. It might be the energy, the one that I'm linking of, I can't remember it off the top of my head right now, but it has two straps in the back and they are adjustable and then they crisscross.
That's a really good bra. And then I would really try, do you mind a Crossback? No. I would really try the Under Armour High Support sports bra. Okay. That one is actually, probably going to be so much better for you because the foam that they use is pretty, pretty good and it's not that expensive.
Yeah. And I used to do the encapsulated ones and those are the ones that actually have broken to me. 'cause they have like zippers and literally running. Yeah. And like the zippers just all split and I'm like guess I'll walk home. Did you try the Lululemon air support bra while it was out?
I've actually never tried any Lululemon sports bra. I, the only Lululemon product I own is a backpack and it was a gift to me. So I'm like 1% of the female population.
The thing about Lululemon is their sale is fantastic online. So if you can find their sports bra for really cheap, but I would try the Under Armour one or I would just ask your girlfriends, anyone who might be your size, see if they have that bra so you can try it on.
Perfect. I'll take, there's a Lululemon very close to my house, so I just need to take my ass down there and that will be what I do on
Saturday. Oh my God. You can't catch me in a store. If my life depended on it, like I will spend a thousand dollars online and then return 99% of it to try it on it.
I know.
It's so true. And at the same time I'm the problem. Okay. You're why we're not getting free shipping anymore. Yeah, I am like ruining the world
and we're not getting free shipping. I know. I'm the problem
when you look at what you've created. What has both surprised you and what has made you the most proud?
What's most surprised to me is how few of us there are in the running space. Like how few, because we're a community, of course, but then we also have training resources. We have teams, we have experiences and stuff like that, and we do it very differently. We come at it very much from a, you're probably not gonna do this.
All you're gonna probably do. 50, 60, 70% of what's prescribed. So we need to make sure that we're setting you up in a way that even though you'll go into a race under a little bit undertrained, which is totally fine, you feel confident about that and you're also not going to break yourself trying to catch up.
There's no catching up. There's just be where you are. We come at it from that perspective, but then also the mental game. How few i'm really lucky that, I had sports psychologists advise all the mental stuff that we did and learning from them. So so much of what we do is really rooted in that sort of stuff.
Really understanding thoughts and not just running around being like positive thoughts, just like positive. We're more like, I don't really care about positive or negative, I just wanna know if it's accurate, like what are you saying to yourself in moments? Like we need to get curious about that.
We can't reframe things unless we know what you're saying to yourself. The fact that no one's doing that work is weird to me when that seems to be the only way, so I just, there's so many running coaches, and I don't wanna say they're all terrible because I'm sure they're all lovely, but like when we think about what we want out of stuff, none of us are going to the Olympics.
None of us are gonna win the race. We're out there because we're chasing our own personal stuff. So the fact that so many people aren't. Really zeroing in on that stuff and supporting runners where they are is weird to me. It freaks me out a little. How many runners come to me and I see the work that they were doing, and I'm like, you should not be running that much. That's insane. No wonder you feel like you're doing everything wrong. It's you're not a nine minute miler. I don't know why you're being treated like. Like you can go run six, nine miles or six miles in 60 minutes. Like you're, it's gonna take you 90 minutes.
Like who has time to do two hours of a workout like four days a week? Yeah. I don't, yeah. And running's my job.
So's weird. No I really am glad that you said that. 'cause I feel like the biggest battle, even in my line of work of. The business coaching side of things is people are like, there's all these things we should do. Here's all these downloads, there's all these guides, and you're like, it doesn't matter if it's not the one for you.
Please stop adding all this stuff I should be doing to your plate. 'cause then you're like, why am I overwhelmed? I'm like, I don't know. 'cause you're doing 80% of things you shouldn't do.
It's just, it's wild. Like how? It's not wild because I, so there's this organization, which I don't wanna rag on them, but like everyone who becomes a running coach goes through the same avenue. And I learned nothing in that two day course. Like genuinely learned nothing. Yeah. But I remember seeing all of it and being like, I wouldn't do it that way.
I wouldn't do it that way. I definitely wouldn't do it that way. Like it very much felt like if you were training a very fast runner, like a lot of that would apply. But most people are not fast. They're definitely 10 plus minute milers. The vast majority of people, 12, 13, 14. 15, 16, 17 minute milers.
No one really teaches people how to help those people. Everyone. Yeah. Which is wild. It's it would be like taking a class on how to like ra, raise a cat and then getting a tiger and you're like, I just don't understand. I tried the cat nip
and it's they're not the same thing. Please include that into future merchandise graphics.
I really wanna see
It's, and the thing is like if people really want to be a faster runner, you have to start wherever you are, which might be 15 minute miles. Like you have to do it first before you can get better. Yeah. Why are we, why is our commu culture, so why are we like this rough on everybody? Oh my gosh.
I feel like also social media is the biggest blessing and also the biggest curse. Like it's such a blessing because when you think about something like running, you don't know anything about running, why would you if you didn't run in high school or college? Like your frame of reference is probably nothing, so where are you going to learn about this sport? Like not magazines, not yeah, you can go to books, but who's gonna be like, I'm gonna read full books to learn about the running. No, like we just don't know anything. Like we don't know the verbiage. We don't know the vocabulary. So like social media or blogs is where a lot of people like get their information, obviously.
Yes. Online publications as well, but like when you're starting to see these influencers in your feed and like I did this, I had a platform immediately and I knew nothing. I knew nothing about running, and I tried really hard to keep all my content less about like how to and more about we call it evergreen, which means it's just like lasting and lasting. I tried to just make funnier content, like relatable content because I didn't know what I was talking about, but I did give advice and I look back on it and I'm like, yikes, yikes. I didn't know what I was talking about. Like I was a women's running magazine contributor.
I knew nothing, absolutely nothing. And it's I'll see these videos now where people will be like, thanks to tell New Runners. And I'm like, oh no. Oh no. Oh, that's okay. But it's also there's no such thing as one new runner. Everybody has a different background with athleticism.
If you come from a pretty athletic background, you're gonna take to it probably a lot quicker than someone who doesn't have an athletic background. If you're a slower runner, your experience is going to be very different than someone who's running eight minute miles or seven minute miles or nine minute miles.
So it's I watch some of this stuff and I'm just like, oh, everyone's on their own journey. Bless you. Bless you. I'm just gonna stay over here
and just stay in my lane. And one of my pieces of advice for people making stuff also is that for my own experience, people are really great at sharing steps like five to 10, but no one shares steps negative five through four.
And like I always joke about my hair as an example. I'm like. No, start at the beginning because I'm, it's, something's not happening correctly. So what am I doing wrong? Am I putting on shampoo incorrectly? Like we might, that might be the first step. Do I not actually know how to wash my hair?
And people, my hairdressers or friend laughs at me and she's okay, hold on. Let me just tell you what I do from the beginning. I'm like, thank you. Why are we not doing this? You could be tying your shoe wrong. You could be wearing the wrong size shoes, you could have the wrong shoe for you, and that's just one piece of equipment.
There's so many things that need to be like nuanced, especially when you're entering a space that makes you really uncomfortable. And I'm glad that the running world has you. Thank you.
Aw, I'm glad to be. It's a weird world. Like I often, for the longest time, I would joke that I felt like I was in purgatory because I.
I don't wanna say I hate the running world 'cause I don't, but like I really don't enjoy it. Yeah, I don't enjoy the messaging. I don't enjoy, I don't enjoy like what everybody has decided we're doing. Like I really don't, I don't subscribe to it. I don't, I'm not a member, like I just. I threw a party next door because I'm like running world adjacent.
I wanna be on the block, but I don't like the party, so like I'm through my own, you can, so it's just tough. It's just a weird world. Still very inclusive. It's still very like. I don't know.
It's exhausting. I think what you're feeling is called what it means to be a true trailblazer.
Like it's lonely and you question yourself sometimes and you're like, wait, am I going the wrong way? And everyone else is going the right way, deep down that you're on the right path and that's why I think you need a community. You're like. Hey guys, I need support as much as you do.
Come hang out over here. Please come to my party. Yeah.
That's exactly, it's exactly it. Like it was lonely for the longest time. And I tried all the things, I did the running fast and I did the be a serious runner and I it really hurt me, like mentally, physically.
Working with brands was really hard. That really took a number on my, like sense of self and worth, and I still have to check in all the time and be like, chill. They don't care about you. They're never gonna care about you. Like it's, it has nothing to do with you. Just keep doing your thing.
Yeah. We see you. I see you all the time on Instagram. I'm like high fiving all the way through. Yikes. So keep going.
I like post and I get off. Like I can't spend time on Instagram. I can't. It's the worst thing for my mental health.
It's, I've started doing, I hosted a workshop in New York and I was so sad that like you like booked your podcast recording like the day I got back.
I'm like, we could have hung out. No, but I'll be back soon. Oh man.
I would like to hang.
Yeah, me too. So you'll know when I'm back in town. And but there's a PR person, this amazing woman on the, this panel I was hosting and she talked about having this like secret. Instagram account, which I know people did, but I didn't realize how strategically she was using it.
She's I have a secret account where I follow all the people I have to follow for business research and to know what's going on, and then I deleted everyone out of mine, so I never need to see any of the stuff that makes me sad on a regular basis. And I was like, why am I not doing that? I have the
reverse of that.
I have one for my, like family. And I post really dumb photos on it, like things like no one would care to see. And that brings me joy. But like I don't spend time on it. Like I post it and then I post whatever I wanna post and I get off TikTok. I love TikTok. I genuinely love because I don't follow anyone.
Like it just shows me things that it knows I like. Although it's starting to get a little bit runny again, and I'm like, no. Yeah, I'm not interacting with that content. Stop showing me that. I wanna see dog videos and Disneyland videos, and shark videos, and pool
cleaning videos. All the weird things. We, it was so funny when you sit next to other people and realize how your TikTok is so different than theirs.
So different. It's so wild. My brother's do you only get dog videos? I'm like, apparently. Are you on TikTok? What's your algorithm? What am I getting in my feed? I'm getting definitely animal videos, like babies doing funny things. People having like physical injury in the comedy space where like Trip falls stuff.
I'm not getting weird stuff. Like my sister gets really weird, like semi uncomfortable things in her feed. I'm like, what are you liking that they're like, she's down with this. But yeah, it's very, mine is very I probably have the same TikTok as I could. 10-year-old girl probably based on what's showing up.
Yeah. That's fantastic. Yeah, it's very PG 13, it's Disney approved. Yeah, I love talk.
I, they're like, I can see them changing and I'm like. No.
Yeah, don't do that.
So I am that,
I'm really curious if it, if all of it's true about what information they're getting about us, because I wanna see that data.
Like I wanna know what psych psychological things they're finding out about humanity through TikTok. I'm very curious.
We have a friend who does documentaries and this is this is three people removed. So this is very telephoned. So take this with a grain of salt. This is not like straight from the horse's mouth.
This was like, my family told me this, and I'm telling you. So they were doing a documentary on TikTok and they said your front facing camera watches your face and it registers movement. So whether you like, don't like something or like something. Or like it's watching, it's registering what's happening with your face.
So I know that we have, like I have on my laptop, the little slider so I can always cover my laptop camera. How do I get that from my phone? Because that is creepy. I know, right?
So it already hears
us talking. So don't a
allegedly. Allegedly. I'm not saying that's how it works. I have no clue. But that's what I've heard and it makes sense 'cause I don't like anything.
Yeah. So strange. If we go back to 8-year-old, you. Speaking of being a 10-year-old girl. Yeah. We go back to 8-year-old. You would she have expected that this is your life?
I think 8-year-old me would have, I think 8-year-old me was still young enough that the world was my oyster and I could do anything.
Like I think 8-year-old me would probably be bummed that I'm not like a killer, trainer at SeaWorld. I think that's what she really thought was gonna be her life. But I do think I think she would be like, yeah, that checks out.
When you, I get a lot of questions about calling this podcast and this community Powerful Ladies, and for me it was actually a really hard choice because most of my life I've had male mentors and been friends with more guys than girls.
Like it was a new space for me to step into. Having majority women in my life, which I fully embrace, but I always go back and forth about oh, I love the name. I love having this tribe, and this is also why I sneak in like random guys into the podcast guest list because I'm like, fuck it.
They don't care what that's called. I wanna talk to them. They're adding value to the community. Do you struggle with calling it the badass lady gang? Do you, when people ask you, how do you respond? Can we hang out? Like how do you approach that?
I struggle with it only in the sense that I do believe gender's a construct.
Yeah, I genu not to diminish the patriarchy, I do firmly believe in the patriarchy and see the systems in place. But like when I look at who, like one we would never turn anyone away. We've had guys come, we've had, they come and we've been nothing. But oh my gosh, we're so glad you're here.
I do think it, speaking of the patriarchy, I do think the space shifts, working out with only women is oddly different. It very, the dynamic changes a lot, which like surprises you and doesn't, right? Like of course it doesn't surprise you because the patriarchy, but it does surprise you because we're so often in spaces where we're like hypervigilant or not ourselves.
Fully, we're not truly belonging to the space. We're totally changing bits and pieces of who we are. That, like that is a little jarring for people at first to be like, whoa, I just feel so different. That's so weird. I guess I've never, I've just never been put in a position where I had to think about it or I've never noticed it.
Badass Lady Gang, like the name itself started because. The running industry would never call us badass. Ever. Lady, because come on. Yeah. We could be the, we're the furthest thing from lady, I took etiquette classes, like LOL, not us, and then gang, because it did feel a little bit like so often for us, running is scary, whether, I just had an athlete yesterday who someone like grabbed her ass when she was on a run, like Go Violence Against Women is a very real thing. It's so much worse for women of Color King because no one would be afraid of us. We are the people who live in fear, yeah. Like your whole life, you're taught don't get raped. That's your experience as a woman. And it I didn't think much of it because it just felt funny at first, but the more I think about the name, the more I feel like very, it roots me further, because it just, it makes me mad.
Like it's, yeah. It's just, it's, it makes me mad that not the lady part of that part I don't mind, but like the fact that people wouldn't call us badass. We have to like. Throw a bird up at them and then the fact that women spend so much of their lives fighting for anything, but then also like just fighting for space to move safely.
And again, so much worse for women of color and so much worse for the LGBTQ plus community. Yeah. It just sucks.
The safety part is a big deal because especially if you're, the longer the run is, the further from home you're gonna be. Yeah, and the more time you're gonna need, and especially in the winter time, you're like, cool, I can run at lunchtime and then I can't run because yeah, I'm not gonna run in the dark.
I'm not gonna run in the woods by myself. I'm not gonna we have all these, I have a whole list of where I wouldn't run on my own. And when, yeah. And then I have like guy friends we'd done like the 75 hard challenge together and they're like, oh yeah, I got my run in at 11 o'clock at night. And I'm like, what?
That's horse shit. The only workout I can do at 11 o'clock is in my living room. Yeah. And we just it's a part of the running experience that I do not, I think is maybe even talked about less than the demographic variety of who runs. Yeah, totally. I had a friend mugged running in New York City 20 or 15 years ago.
So that's gonna shit how you feel about running real fast.
It's hard. Like I, when I started the sports bra squad, there's this term, it's called self-objectification. It's where you think about what other people think about you, right? It takes you out of your experience and just other, you just look at yourself from the outside in and it is often, not often, it's always bad.
Like it always makes you feel like shit. But not only is it like that element of it, but it's the safety element of it where you're thinking like, are you gonna do something? Are you gonna do something? Are you gonna do something? And when I started the sports bra squad, I never could just enjoy a run.
I was always hypervigilant, just like constantly self objectifying myself or. Looking around thinking like, are you going to do something because I'm a fat athlete running in a sports bra, and like people have said stuff, no one's ever, no one's ever touched me. But like people have done weird things and made me feel not safe.
It's just weird. It's weird how little autonomy we have over our bodies. As women. As women of color, or as people of, the LGBTQ plus community. It's just weird. The power over structure is so gross
and scary.
And for people who don't know what the sports bra run is, it's literally all the women are running in sports bras, which is such an empowerment opportunity because most women would never dare.
Yeah. No matter
what size they are to go and run in only a sports bra on top, they are wearing shorts or pants. I could
not do that. The bleeding alone from the shaping would really hurt. Yeah. It's, I mean it started as that and then it like really became okay, how do we give women the tools they need to move towards body image resilience?
Where they're, or body image neutrality, like where they're resilience in that that you're gonna have good and bad body image days. That's everyone. You can't get away from that, but. How can we get to a place where you're neutral about it? It's not good or bad, it's just, it is what it is.
You're just in your body, you, the focus isn't about looking, it's about feeling in your body. It's about what can you do in your body and you can't just get there. You can't just run like you. That won't just happen. If you don't have the tools that you need to get to that place, it's a pipe dream.
So it, it's come a long way, which is very cool. And we still have a long way to go, but yeah. It just sucks the things that we have to deal with on any given day.
Yeah. A friend of mine does a body appreciation kind of yoga meditation class. Oh, lovely. And at the end, like you go through this meditation where you say thank you to every, it goes through a series of body parts.
Inevitably, people are crying through this exercise. Because there's a part of your body you don't thank on a regular basis and you don't want to thank it 'cause you're mad at it for some reason. And it's such a enlightening and like it does open a can of worms sometimes, but it's a really powerful exercise to be able to say Thank you for this and thank you for that.
And hay legs, thank you for 'cause we're so mean to ourselves and yet we have so many capabilities. So it's, yeah, I feel you. I feel this battle. When you hear the words powerful ladies separately and then next to each other, do they change when they're on their own powerful and ladies versus combined?
No, only because. I have always been surrounded by ladies. So like when I think of one, I think of all, like even though when you are on your own I always think of like the millions of people who have my back. Not millions to be so lucky, the the people who always are there to hold me up or prop me up or just put a hand on me.
I don't, I also like to acknowledge my privilege. I grew up in a very matriarchal driven family where I had a lot of really strong and powerful women, like owning businesses. Like my grandmother went back just to undergrad when my mom was an undergrad. Like she finished her undergrad and then she went to law school and then she like became a politician, like in her forties.
So I've watched women in all her life. She was. She talks about how she hated housework, how she hated being domestic, how she hated she didn't feel like it was enough. Which not to diminish if that's your life, that's just my grandmother's life. And for me, like I've always watched women have men say yes.
Go for it. We've, I've been really lucky. And then when I got out in the world, I was like, oh, this is not. That's not how everyone lives. That's interesting. So I think I am very much a product of my upbringing and the people I saw around me, all the badass moms who like kept everything going.
So like powerful ladies is all I
knew. Yeah. We ask everyone on the podcast where they put themselves in the powerful Lady scale. If zero is average everyday human and 10 is the most powerful lady you can imagine, where would you put yourself on that scale today and on an average day?
I would say I'm like always a firm eight or nine, even when I'm not doing well, like I'm doing well at something.
Yeah. Like, why not? Life's too short to be a five.
We've also been asking everyone who's on this podcast, what do you need? What are you wishing for? How can we help? This is a big community. We have lots of resources, and I'm a firm believer that we never know who has like the next key that you're looking for. So what can we put out there?
What do you need? What do you want? How can we help you?
We need more leaders. If anyone is interested in bringing badass, leading to your city and a really great grassroots leader, tell them about it, right? We need that, we need more women getting together, right? Like you don't need to be organized functions.
Like just find these online spaces and say, who's around? How can we make a Google sheet with all of our names and email addresses and phone numbers and let's walk and go to brunch, right? We need that for me. Like we need funding. We wanna make our own app. And that's our next, like next year.
That's our next step is figuring all of that out. So we're like early stages of that, but like it's exciting. What we need isn't out there. And I'm like, I'm not gonna wait around this doesn't make any sense. I keep pitching to brands and they're like, oh.
And I'm like, fine. Fuck you guys. I'm just gonna go do it.
That's where all of my businesses have started. Yeah, either this is frustrating or that sounds awesome, or usually a combination of both. Yeah. And what about for you? What are you excited about this year? What's on your wishlist that we can hold you up for?
I have so much happy stuff going on. I'm like finally in a place where I bored a couple times a week, which is really nice. Whoa, look at you. I know. I love it. Like I can watch TV twice a week and be like, look at me. Look at me Watching television like I. I don't wanna glamorize hustle culture, but like I didn't know what I was doing for a vast majority of this.
So like I was really like firing on all cylinders and it was really hard. And we have a good thing going and like we're just cruising right now, which is really nice. I think cruising for me is still I feel like I'm the person in the circus with the 30 plates and the uhhuh sticks. For me, like my comfortable You're relaxing.
Look. Exactly. I like, don't wanna make it seem like I'm working nine to five. I'm still very my therapist would be like, ah, what? But I feel like I'm in a very good place. I'm very happy in my personal life and I feel really grateful for the people who are in my life who are helping me and I just feel really grateful and lucky.
Amazing. Good. That gratitude really makes a difference. Yeah. For everyone who wants to support you, follow you, help you find funding, all the things start their own chapter, where can they find you, follow you, and support you? Badass lady game.com will lead you to all the things.
Perfect. It's been such a treat to connect with you and meet you over Zoom. I've been a long time follower and every time I see one of your stories or posts, it just, it makes life lighter. So thank you for bringing lightness. To my day, and I just really wanna acknowledge you for the space that you've created.
I really feel that loneliness what the hell am I doing? Why did I take this on? The number of days that I wish I didn't name a company. Powerful ladies, because then I have to be powerful. I'm like, dammit. I feel that. So knowing that you're there and that we can care, bear stare energy back and forth to each other, it, it means a lot.
So thank you for holding up that space. Thank you for having
me. This was so great.
All the links to connect with Kelly and the Badass Lady gang. Earn our show notes@thepowerfulladies.com. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening, and leave us a rating and review. Come join us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies, and if you're looking to connect directly with me, please visit kara duffy.com or Kara Duffy on Instagram.
I'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Until then, I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.
Related Episodes
Episode 170: The Rise of Indigenous Skateboarding & Community Impact with Rose Archie
Episode 114: How Tragedy and Injury Can Reveal Who You Were Meant To Be with Caitlin Conner
Episode 270: Skating Across America to Break the Silence | Melissa Skeet on MMIP, Healing and Speaking Out
Instagram: @KellyKKRoberts & @Badassladygang
Twitter: @KellyKKRoberts
YouTube: KellyKKRoberts
Facebook: KellyKKRoberts & BadassLadyGang
Website: BadassLadyGang.com
TikTok: KellyKKRoberts & BadassLadyGang
Email: info@badassladygang.com
Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
