Wine Down Wednesday: Joya Jones

Wine Down Wednesday: Joya Jones

Aired: May 18th, 2022

Audio and Photo Source: Joya Jones and Instagram

Episode Summary

Plucked from the audience, impromptu guest Joya Jones joined us for Wine Down Wednesday. If you're having deja vu you'd be correct as the Personal Trainer and Lifestyle coach is a WDW Vet!

This week we caught up with Joya to talk about all of the current developments in her life, including her recent moves, new relationship, and latest business endeavors. Amongst her life updates she shared with us why she would NEVER undertake another 24 hour trip, How she survived living abroad by storing snacks in her room, and we even got to practice our french. Tune in!

 

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Episode Transcript

Wine Down Wednesday: Joya Jones

Jenique Brown (00:20):

Hey, everybody. Welcome. Welcome to Wine Down Wednesday. I'm gonna see if we can't go ahead and get our guest in here. Welcome. Welcome everyone. Welcome to Wine Down. Happy Wednesday. I know I'm a new face, so I'm definitely gonna be introducing myself here shortly. Let me see. I'm gonna reach out to our guest again. Welcome. Welcome everybody. Happy Wednesday. Happy hump day. Oh, I see you @bodycampbyjoya. Hey. Oh, that's a past Wine Down Wednesday guest <laugh>. Hi body camp by Julia. Hello? Hello, Massani. Hello, Michelle kit. Sorry if I'm butchering screen names, guys, I'm new to this. So I'm new to this, but I'm true to this. You know what I'm saying? So go easy on me. Let me know how I do at the end. Hopefully you'll stick around. Hey everyone. Happy Wednesday. Happy Wednesday.

Jenique Brown (02:52):

Hello. Hello. Happy Wednesday. Hello everyone, everyone. Well, while we wait for our guest to get here, I would like to introduce myself. So my name is Janique brown. Um, and I am the marketing communications person over here at BlackTravelBox. And today I am following filling in for our CEO and founder of BlackTravelBox, Orion Brown. So if you're new to Wine Down Wednesday, this is where we kick it. Every Wednesday to sip spirits talk, travel, entrepreneurship, womanhood, the Black experience and all other things that fall under our umbrella. Welcome. Welcome everyone. Happy Wednesday today. Our guest is none other than oh, so she's unable to join. That's very weird. Um, but so we're gonna try again. So y'all sometimes I don't know. What's in retrograde. I don't know what's going on. Um, but technology has not been my friend this week. Hopefully we can get this together. Hmm. I wonder where our guest is. Well, let's talk, let's see. Who's out here in the comments. I wanna know. Or do we have any like Wine Down Wednesday fans? Who's here every Wednesday, five 30 mountain time. If that's you wave at me, tell me what's up.

Jenique Brown (04:59):

All right. Let's see these comments. You Joya!? You a real one. You're the realist. We love you. You have to come back and join us. If we can't get our, if we can't get our guests on, I might have to just pull you back in girl, because I don't know what's going on. We sent the request. Let's see what's going on.

Jenique Brown (05:46):

Sent the request a few times. Aww <Laugh> bodycampbyjoya. She says, uh, she looks forward to this every week and lowkey needs it every day. That's the stuff that we like to hear. Uh, Massani1225. So this is her first time here. Well, welcome. Welcome. I'm sorry. You don't have the Orion Brown this time around, but she will be back next Wednesday. Right now. I'm just filling in for her. Um, but dang, this is a hard first time. If my guest is not gonna show up bodycampbyjoya, I might welcome you in girl cause I'm floundering out here. I wonder where she is. She said no problem. You the real one. Same here. First time. LD teach travel group. First time here. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. Welcome. Welcome. Well, you know what? I'm I'm bringing you in. Please let it behave. You know what girl? I'm gonna ho I'm gonna go ahead and bring you in because we are at the eight minute mark. So let's go ahead and get things started. I'm gonna bring you in miss bodycampbyJoya. Come on through girl. Well, Massani, the topic for today - Ah! bodycampbyjoya thanks for joining us.

Joya Jones (07:37):

Girl I gotta get to my little conference room. I don't how - I'm at a WeWork right now. Hold up.

Jenique Brown (07:41):

Oh, no.

Joya Jones (07:45):

See, I don't wanna use a credit to book a room. So I'm gonna just slide on in. Hold on. Do you wanna bring me back in, in a second or y'all just wanna see me move around and talk

Jenique Brown (07:52):

It's OK. Girl, move around. You know why? Because it seems to be, everything is real off the cuff today.

Joya Jones (07:59):

It's all good. <laugh> it's all good. So what's going on? It's your first day?

Jenique Brown (08:05):

It's my first day and my guest isn't showing up.

Joya Jones (08:09):

This's so good. How are you feeling about it? How long have you known you were going to be doing this?

Jenique Brown (08:12):

Well I'm a little nervous. This is my first live. You know what I'm saying? So take it easy on me in the comments. Y'all be nice to me now. Okay. I promise <laugh> a lot more together when Orion is on, but you know, I'm filling in, but thank you so much for being able to join us Joya. I really appreciate it.

Joya Jones (08:29):

Of course, of course. And Hey, the topic is perfect. Talk about entrepreneurship. I am getting ready for a launch that should have been May 1st.

Jenique Brown (08:38):

Yeah, well, you know, delayed launches and entrepreneurship. I feel like they are hand in hand, honey. <laugh> that's

Joya Jones (08:45):

Right. That's right.

Jenique Brown (08:47):

Well, I can't wait to dig in and talk about your new project that you're trying to launch here. So let the people know, obviously we're gonna take you through like the initial questions. I know you've been through it already. Yes. But as you can see from our comments, there's quite a few people in here who've not been on before. So

Joya Jones (09:06):

I swear I'm almost done. It's just, I'm working -

Jenique Brown (09:07):

No worries. Take your time. Take your time. Massani1225 said, what's the topic for this evening. This is really more of like a, a free flowingconversation. Obviously. We're all things travel. We're all things Womanhood. We're all things Black experience. And because we are a startup company, we are all things entrepreneurship. So I'm sure we're going to dive into those topics today with our guest, Joya.

Joya Jones (09:35):

Yes. So can you hear my earpiece okay do I -

Jenique Brown (09:39):

Yes, I can hear your earpiece.

Joya Jones (09:42):

Okay, cool. Okay. So lay them questions on me. I'm gonna answer

Jenique Brown (09:44):

Alright. So for those of y'all who don't know me and you wouldn't cause it's my first time I am Jenique brown. I'm marketing communications person over here at BlackTravelBox. And tonight I'm filling in for our founder CEO, woman of the hour, Orion Brown. Um, same last name, no relation. <laugh> that we know of at least<laugh>. Um, and so we, today we have on Joya entrepreneur and travelista herself. So joy, go ahead and introduce yourself. Let the people know where you're from, where you live your day job, your side hustle. If it's not the same <laugh> and how many stamp you have in your passport?

Joya Jones (10:26):

Ooh, Laura, so many things, so many things. Okay. So I'm Julia Jones. I'm a certified personal trainer and fitness lifestyle coach for black women business owners. <laugh> specifically, we have certain needs. We have certain demands, every understand, and even just as black women, the fitness industry doesn't really care about us. Mm-hmm <affirmative> or serve us. Mm-hmm <affirmative> what we gonna do with those hair dryers in the gym though,

Jenique Brown (10:51):

Right? <laugh> period. That's why BlackTravelBox is the first ever personal care brand for women of color. Bring us to the gym with you. We're not just about traveling. Okay. Right.

Joya Jones (11:02):

Oh my gosh. So, um, this is my hard work. This is my calling. I love this more than anything in the world. Um, this is my third startup, the first two failed of course. Hashtag entrepreneurship. <laugh>. Ooh.

Jenique Brown (11:17):

Okay. Well, let's hear about this. Let's hear about the first two real quick. Just give us a brief.

Joya Jones (11:21):

Um, so I'm a singer. I grew up in the church sang my whole family sings. So the first one was a, a startup sort of like consulting firm for musicians. Um, I had, I, I dated a lot of people at Berkeley college of music <laugh> um, so I was very close to, I was very close to seeing the challenges they came up with learning and then still trying to figure out what you were gonna do in a very fast changing music industry. Right? The one that seemed very predatory, sorry. I was like running, gotta catch a breath. <laugh>

Jenique Brown (11:52):

But catch your breath girl catch <laugh>.

Joya Jones (11:54):

So I had a lot of different friends, um, and we were working together on that. That didn't get too far, cuz I didn't know about funding yet or really anything about how to do a startup mm-hmm <affirmative> so yeah, that was fun. Um, the second one was also music related, I guess, five years apart, cuz I did work in the startup scene for a little bit in Boston mm-hmm <affirmative>, which is where I'm originally from. Oh wow. That one was called gig city and I wanted to make it easier for us to find and navigate Boston's music scene, uh, figure out different genres, help people, coordinate friends through a really cool looking app that actually was reminiscent of SIM towns, SIM city like the throwback. So I had cartoon to five venues on there and that was cool. Uh, ran outta money. That was <laugh> 15 K ran out.

Joya Jones (12:41):

So you know, you can't continue without the fuel, but that was excellent experience for what I'm doing now and led me to the calling, which really pairs. I mean I love music, but I care most about black women, black women's health. Um, my vision is body sovereignty for black women period. <laugh> point blank period. And I love that my tool for that is through fitness. Um, there are plenty of ways that you can approach that. But um, yeah. I wanna make sure that not only are we able to get freedom and get body love, like radical body love, but we're able to get the kind of results that we want. Feel better, feel more energized, deal with pain, deal with trainer trauma and things that keep us from

Jenique Brown (13:23):

Yeah. Don't I know that one, you hit a nerve <laugh>

Joya Jones (13:27):

Oh my gosh. So, but it's just so much and that's part of, um, I think travel is gonna be huge in that I haven't traveled as much as I like, so I got three stamps <laugh> I got three stamps on my passport.

Jenique Brown (13:40):

We love travelers of every level here. It's not just international. It's domestic. It's going to the gym. It's we are all about out of home care. Yes. So a hundred percent down with you, uh, concerning your gym, uh, your gym entrepreneurship stuff. Yes, that's cool.

Joya Jones (13:59):

But um, another fun thing though, it sort of travel related. So I thought I'm from Boston right now. I'm in Austin, Texas. Ooh. Um, yeah and I sort of moved here kind of low key by mistake sort, sort of, I started on a road trip. It was maybe September and I was going from Boston to LA and thought I might swing around in like settle in Vegas mm-hmm <affirmative> but I only made it to Austin and then fell in love here. So here I am six <laugh> six months later in a city that, you know, I wasn't expecting that came outta nowhere.

Jenique Brown (14:30):

Well, I definitely heard that like Austin is a place to be right now. Like one of the most fastest growing cities right now. Yeah. The tech industry and that like the entrepreneurship environment is just really frosty with investment. So it seems like you're in the right place. So

Joya Jones (14:45):

Out I'm yes. Well

Jenique Brown (14:47):

You to talk to you about the food out there in Austin. Cuz I hear, you know, I hear the food scene. It's good. The drink scene is good. We don't have to talk about all that. It is. So you told us where you're from. You're from Boston. You're living in Austin right now. We got three stamps in our passport and your day job and your side hustle is full-time entrepreneurship. You are a personal trainer for women of color. Oh I love that.

Joya Jones (15:08):

That's

Jenique Brown (15:08):

It. So let's dig into those little three stamps. Where have you been, tell us what course have you been doing? Like

Joya Jones (15:16):

Let me get this thing outta my hand.

Jenique Brown (15:18):

<laugh>

Joya Jones (15:19):

To the, up on the table. Oh my gosh. Is this not like the startup way of life? An entrepreneur?

Jenique Brown (15:24):

Oh, a hundred percent. Just super scrappy. Very like go with the flow.

Joya Jones (15:28):

Yes. Oh my gosh. And WeWork is fantastic though. So I got the all access pass, which means I can access um, any of the locations throughout the world.

Jenique Brown (15:37):

Oh wow.

Joya Jones (15:38):

But of course they're all different. So <laugh> so you kinda have to see what rooms are available when you get there. Oh yes. Oh this is a good seat. Oh excellent. Austin has a ton of them. We're here. We're here.

Jenique Brown (15:50):

Okay. So where wait, pause. Obviously I asked you about your three stamps and we're gonna get back to that, but you brought up a good point about WeWork, where all have you been in these WeWork offices? Where has your entrepreneurship taken you?

Joya Jones (16:01):

Yeah, so I used to, um, so let's see, of course Boston. Um, I went to school in Philly, so some Philly locations. Um, I had my best friends out in LA, so I've been at, uh, we worked over there. I was in the bay for a couple years <laugh> oh, wowed, those and some of these. So at that time I didn't have all access, so depended whether or not I knew somebody there that I could just like jump in and out in or out of it. But um, I think that's it, the bay LA Boston Philly.

Jenique Brown (16:28):

So see you be traveling, you be traveling don't don't don't downplay it don't downplay

Joya Jones (16:32):

It in the states. Yes. Yes <laugh> um, but yeah, it's just, uh, it's so fantastic. It's really, and this option was not available even when I started like with my first startup. So I can't imagine doing this without it, without a place to go.

Jenique Brown (16:47):

Oh, I love that. And so would you say like your entrepreneurship, uh, your entrepreneurship journey kind of like allows you to travel more and like go different places?

Joya Jones (16:58):

Definitely. Definitely. And it's funny. I, I actually launched, um, my business mid COVID, so I'm a virtual native trainer, which really was really nobody <laugh>, uh, by necessity. And so that was it. I've always had to take my phone and um, at the time of course we quarantining, I still had to figure out how can I help run workouts from my bedroom or from right outside? Or, um, say I'm like at a stop or outside of the airport, like what can I use around me to help train? Cuz I have my clients, like I do a high end 1 0 1 mm-hmm <affirmative>. So my clients like can reach me anytime I have one phone for them and one phone for the rest of my life. And so yeah, yeah. For high 30 days we're together every day and it's a drop everything and take care of what the client needs. So if it's a workout, like drop of hat, it's gonna be that. But yeah, entrepreneurship for me, like that's me needing to work everywhere. Um, and fitness especially.

Jenique Brown (17:55):

Oh wow. Well a couple things one clearly we needed you in COVID times cuz everybody was trying to get their little COVID body during that time. So I'm just mad. I didn't know about you sooner. I need to get, I need to, After this meeting, you go talk because the COVID weight is still definitely here. Let me know in the comment I'm if I'm alone in that, if y'all got the COVID weight still too, and we need to go, uh,

Joya Jones (18:20):

We got so I'm, I'm a body positive trainer. Like that's a whole other thing for me there, you can completely transform the way you feel about yourself, the way you move about the world without having any cosmetic change in your body right inside, you can be the healthiest in the world, like without any change on the outside. And so I'm all about that. Like are you walking through the world feeling how you wanna feel doing what you wanna do? Let's do that

Jenique Brown (18:45):

Period.

Joya Jones (18:46):

You gonna be thinking about the weight

Jenique Brown (18:47):

<laugh> period. I love that. No, I like that perspective on it because typically that is not, I would say that is not the norm when you're talking about fitness. So that's beautiful and okay. I wanna put a pause on the entrepreneurship and dive into those passport. That passport question. Yeah, because I wanna, at the end, I wanna learn more about what you're doing with your launch and all that stuff, but redirecting to travel those three stamps girl, where have you been take this with you?

Joya Jones (19:17):

Yeah. So first it was from a ago. Are we talking like passports that have expired or not?

Jenique Brown (19:23):

<laugh> it's all one book in our eyes. It's all one book in our eyes.

Joya Jones (19:26):

No. Um, so I did in a abroad year, in France, back in the day. Um, so that was

Jenique Brown (19:36):

This one. It a France <laugh>

Joya Jones (19:42):

Wait, ma I volunteer my latest boyfriend. I'm always going back and forth between friends <laugh>

Jenique Brown (19:50):

I love

Joya Jones (19:50):

That. Yeah. So France, France was awesome and that was in my teams. So that was extraordinary. Um, where else did I go? I had a Bahamas trip <laugh> for 24 hours. So that's a story. And then

Jenique Brown (20:03):

I we're gonna dig into that one. <laugh>

Joya Jones (20:06):

Oh gosh, that was wild. Um, and then let's see, I've done yo Montreal and Quebec city a number of times. So those are, I think those are my three. I was supposed to go to Senegal to the new, uh, I think gas, stone be Jay, the univers take gas, stone be Jay in Decar but I

Jenique Brown (20:21):

Got this,

Joya Jones (20:22):

I got this weird mysterious stomach thing. And so yeah, <laugh> got ready. So I mean, I might still have admission open there, but yeah, I was supposed to do that so happen,

Jenique Brown (20:34):

You know, sometimes universe does things and be like, you know, babe, it's not for you. Maybe try again later <laugh>

Joya Jones (20:40):

Yeah. Oh, I would be trying. Okay. But

Jenique Brown (20:42):

We need to dive into this 24 hour Bahamas trip. Cause I know there's some people out there who like maximize their layover time and I wanna be one of those people and it sounds like you're one of those people. So let us know what is popping, what was next? 24 hours layover. That was different.

Joya Jones (20:57):

That was different. So this is like senior year in college. Mm-hmm <affirmative> jet blue had their 10 year anniversary. And I don't know if anybody was around paying attention that time, but they had a $10 flight sale. So anywhere they flew in the world <laugh> yes. Every flight was $10 actually. Wow. 11th and the 12th of May, 2010. I remember this so clearly. And so me and my home girls were trying to coordinate and by the time we found out, most of the flights were gone. So I was in Boston. My home girls were in Philly, but there were flights going from, uh, New York to The Bahamas and back that were still available. Right. So I'm like, okay, so we got that flight. Then I had to take a bus to Philly to get my stuff at college and then New York. And then my home girls went from Philly to New York and we flew out and the plan was to drink a lot of coffee and stay up all night and party and drink and hit the beach and go home. But we were tired and we're like, okay, let's just nap for a minute. Like, let's get a quick little room and nap.

Joya Jones (22:00):

Yes. Yes. So we napped for 12 hours. Um <laugh> and we only had 12 left to stay there. So yeah, it was, it was low key devastating, but it just accelerated the rest of the trip. So we, we got drinks, we found some cool people. Um, we ate, I think there were just vendors. We ate wherever there was a vendor. Um, and then we went to beach the beach with all of our stuff and ran to the airport from the beach. So yeah. I have a picture of us with sand all over us in our bathing suits and towels on the plane.

Jenique Brown (22:32):

<laugh> I love that. I love that. I love

Joya Jones (22:34):

That. Yes. That was crazy. Not gonna do that again, but it was a good, it was a good experience.

Jenique Brown (22:41):

I love people that can maximize. I mean, obviously it wasn't a layover situation, but like we do travel across Tuesdays and some of the people are like, yes, maximize every point of the trip. I knew I was gonna have 12 hours in Dubai. So I decided just like, like go to <laugh> I got you by and have dinner. Like it's

Joya Jones (23:01):

Crazy not doing that again. Not, no, you're

Jenique Brown (23:03):

Not doing it

Joya Jones (23:04):

Again.

Jenique Brown (23:04):

You guys heard it here first. Joya does not recommend <laugh>

Joya Jones (23:08):

No, no, I don't. If you have to, but yes, if I've matured in my travel's understanding that I wanna move more slowly, like savor everything that I'm not with the whole rush around for any reason anymore. I'll go back. I'll go back another times so I can experience it properly.

Jenique Brown (23:25):

Well, you gotta go see if there's a WeWork out in The Bahamas so you could go do some work from there, girl.

Joya Jones (23:30):

It probably is.

Jenique Brown (23:33):

You heard it here first. I gave it to you back to Jim <laugh>. So tell us about your studies in France. You said you were there for a year. Yeah.

Joya Jones (23:41):

Yeah. And I was actually in high school.

Jenique Brown (23:43):

Oh

Joya Jones (23:44):

Wow. So, um, yeah, when I was, I had just turned 16 before the whole trip. And so that was legal drinking age at that time in France was 16 <laugh>. So I legally learned how to drink when I was 16. Um, but I remember I was not at the level of language that you needed to be able to get into the program, but I went to my French teacher and I'm like, I heard about this thing. I want to go, how can we make this happen? <laugh> like, let's do this. So I don't think I realized that I, what I'd done until I got there and that all of my classes were gonna be taught in French and that I was gonna have a host family who only spoke French. Um, that, that was shocking. But you know, I did it and my family visited once. I was able to, to construct a trip for them. I lived in he, which is in Brittany. Um, but I like pieced this trip together that took us from there to Paris. And then through the, the valley of the water valley to see all the castles, uh, we didn't get to go to VE side, I think with my family, but it was wild. What I was able to do at 16. Like

Jenique Brown (24:49):

That's crazy.

Joya Jones (24:50):

Yeah.

Jenique Brown (24:51):

Well, 100%. So you are talking to a girl who was at the bottom of her class for French four years running. So I am both amazed and a hundred percent inspired by you just taking the plunge and going. How were you able to navigate that? Did you pick up the language as you went? Like, was it, was it some, was it a huge hurdle that you had to get over or did it eventually come to you kind of naturally? Like what was that experience like?

Joya Jones (25:17):

It <affirmative> and honestly, I think there's some part of shock that takes you past emotion. <laugh> that part of you just shuts down <laugh> mm-hmm <affirmative> I think for me, um, I didn't have time to think about what was happening my, in my body. I just knew that I had these classes and these assignments and I had to figure out how to eat and survive and communicate with my family. So <laugh> so I wish I'd say that I'm, I'm trying to remember back. Um, I can remember moments that were, I remember survival, like attempt moments. So my host parents and family didn't eat that much. And so I would have to go to the Che after school and get like chocolate and snacks and hide them in my drawers to make sure that I was eating. So, yeah, culturally. Yeah. I felt like I wasn't gonna survive.

Joya Jones (26:09):

I would've been fine. Um, but that was a, like, it was a bit of an early trauma there, but I don't know. I'm, I'm forgetting the question, but uh, I think France set me up to be able to, to handle the culture shocks that I would experience here. Mm-hmm <affirmative> so when it came to transitioning to college, that was nothing for me. When it came to every time I go to a new city mm-hmm <affirmative> I don't have any kind of hesitation or any kind of fear or I, I already feel like my body has learned how to be in new spaces very easily.

Jenique Brown (26:41):

Oh, wow. Yeah. That's beautiful. That's beautiful. And so you said you have a little booth thing that's helping you with your French? Yes. Yes. Girl. Where'd you be in that girl? No, <laugh>

Joya Jones (26:52):

Good. I was so I'm on the road trip, right? Alright. The goal, as I told you was to go from Boston to LA and just to meet friends and family along the way, stop there. So I stopped in New York. Um, my friend had just had a new baby, so hanging out, I'm helping with the baby for about a week. Then I went to Philly. Uh, I think I did DC, not all the normal black cities I did. Then I went down to Nashville for almost a month with my brother new Orleans. What else did we do? Houston. And then after Houston, that was the last bit of friends and family I had until the west coast. So in Austin, I was planning to car camp for the first time.

Jenique Brown (27:31):

Right.

Joya Jones (27:32):

And have you heard of car camping and man growing and all that stuff. Okay. <laugh> so I've been slowly preparing myself along the way, joining all these like women car, camping groups on Facebook. And, um, I was looking at hello

Jenique Brown (27:45):

Tell the people, what car camping is for the ones that dunno.

Joya Jones (27:48):

So, I mean, some people have to live in their cars. <laugh> I think that influenced like the car camping movement. Um, but yeah, it's like if you were gonna go camping and have everything in your car with you, and then at a campground, you take out your tent and do that only, there's no tent <laugh> you just build out the back of your vehicle to be able to sleep in and get dressed in and do whatever else you need to do. So it it's very interesting. It's very survivalist. Um, I feel like I'd be prepared for the zombie apocalypse now. Like I know everything that I need to be doing to take

Jenique Brown (28:25):

Between between the shock of France and there's nothing you can't do in this world. And that trio

Joya Jones (28:36):

I'm so ready. I'm so ready for this <laugh> um, but okay. So see, I always get off in tangent. The same thing happened with Orion.

Jenique Brown (28:43):

Sorry, back to it. You were talking to that little birthday. You were car camping in

Joya Jones (28:47):

Houston. Okay. Austin, Austin. So I got to Austin I'm car camping for the first time. Um, and I said, I'm only gonna be here for a little bit. So let me just figure out what's in town. That'll be easy to sort of do just before I move on. And for some reason I go on Facebook and I, uh, search west African dance, Austin. <laugh> like, I just decide that's what I wanna look for. And this one post popped up that said there was a class every Saturday outside of, um, the Palmer event center. That's a pretty big landmark of people in Austin, but I was like, all right. So I tar camp for a few days showed up on Saturday and he was the instructor of the west African dance class. And so, yeah, that was real quick. It was a good class after class. He asked me out that was November 13th. And what's today

Jenique Brown (29:36):

<laugh> today is may, may, May 18th,

Joya Jones (29:39):

May 18th. Well, May 18th. I'm still here. <laugh> okay.

Jenique Brown (29:44):

I working on her French and everything. Y'all

Joya Jones (29:47):

Yeah. He's from he's from the Ko ivory coast. Oh, so that'll be a future trip, but yeah. Yeah. So first language is French. We do French and English every day.

Jenique Brown (29:56):

Oh, that's so cool. Well, you know, I gotta talk to you about food, cuz we always talking about food on here and French is like the food capital. You said you had this thought that was the culture talk. So I just don't understand how can there be so much good food? And you're saying your host family, wasn't eating what?

Joya Jones (30:13):

Right. Okay. So, well, my family eats a lot. Like I have the traditional, uh, black family. I'm a preacher's kid. So Autum church dinners, like all the soul food all the time, large portions. That's just what it was. So when I get there, I mean it was really, I think a normal French family's like amount of eating <laugh> and I think the French eat a bit less overall as a population, but it was like a normal amount of food for them. And I remember sitting down at a table one day and there was like this little frozen pizza that they'd made almost the size of a trader Joe's frozen pizza. So they made this pizza and there are three of us sitting at the table, four of us sitting at the table, host mom, host dad, host sister, and they cut it in four and they take a little salad and they take a little slice.

Joya Jones (31:00):

And I'm like, is this the first of three pizzas? <laugh> what exactly are we gonna be doing with this? And that was it. That, and they're sitting there. And so after your salad and you're the main dish, you have your dessert and I'm just like, but what happened to the food? Like is there aren't there multiple like serving those things? Um, yeah, that was shock. So after a few days of that, yes. I started to use the little money that I had, the little allowance that I was getting from my family. I, I used that to get, um, chocolate and these little baguette sandwiches at lunchtime and yes, I, I had food available to me in my drawers, um, in my drawers. But yeah, and my whole mom was pretty sure she saw it because she washed my laundry for me one time and folded it and put it away. <laugh> but she never did say anything to me. So <laugh> oh, there's that?

Jenique Brown (31:58):

I dunno that I could handle the embarrassment. You already had so much going on with the fact that there was that language barrier. Like what, what you there to,

Joya Jones (32:06):

Oh, that was rough. Very important. So

Jenique Brown (32:10):

Please tell me when your actual, when your, you know, actual family came, you were able to indulge. You gotta tell me what the best meal was. Tell me, give it to it.

Joya Jones (32:22):

What was the best food they had? I had the best. Um, what was it called? I always say gyro wrong. How are you supposed to say gyro?

Jenique Brown (32:34):

Euro girl. <laugh>

Joya Jones (32:35):

Europe. I'm messing up. I'm sorry, Ryan. I'm messing up. Is she here?

Joya Jones (32:41):

I'm sorry. Yeah, they had the best Euro of my life there. So I took my family to a lot of those different restaurants. I don't know why they're so delicious, but that's why I first discovered them. It is not typical. French fair. Um, I yet we just went to a lot of cafes. We had a lot of CRO song. We had a lot of pound. Shalah the chocolate specifically croons. We just desserts a lot of desserts all the time. <laugh> so I think, I don't know. I've gotta go back. I do have to go back and pay attention to what I was eating, but honestly, because my family was there and I could eat a lot. Like that's all I cared about getting the calories, getting the calories, but I was missing

Jenique Brown (33:24):

<laugh> I love that. I love that. And so you said there was a third place you went to, so you went to The Bahamas for 24 hours. Obviously you were living in France for a year for school. What was that third place to give it to us? Talk, tell us

Joya Jones (33:36):

About that between Montreal and Quebec city. That I've been a few times.

Jenique Brown (33:39):

Okay. Okay.

Joya Jones (33:40):

Uh, yeah, Montreal more than Quebec city, but um, Quebec city is the, I'd say the most interesting one. Mm-hmm <affirmative> because it was the first time I was going by myself and it was my birthday five years back or a little more than that. And I'd just gone on couch surfing. I just discovered couch surfing for the first time. Is anybody on that app? Do

Jenique Brown (33:59):

You know? I have never. I have not see, first of all for you to be so traveling, I'm like, she's brave go go girl. But now you're also couch surfing. I have never, what was that like?

Joya Jones (34:12):

Yeah. So couch serving app. The first time I tried it wasn't in Quebec city. It was, um, it was like a concert. Big, gigantic is a band, had a concert at red rock amphitheater in Denver. Maybe I think I'm not lying, but anyway, that concert was happening and I just discovered the app. So, uh, <laugh> like, I learned how to do it in the us. And that was a very good experience. I ended up staying with this random dude who had a condo in an extra room, a little creepy now that I think about it, but there was an extra separate room with a lock on the door. Okay. And he had a lot of hotel products available for all of his, um, all of his guests.

Jenique Brown (34:55):

Well, in our research marketing, we know that people aren't using those hotel soaps. Nobody likes them. Everybody saves them for guests and not even the guests want to

Joya Jones (35:04):

Use them. I had no idea. That was the thing I had no idea it's

Jenique Brown (35:06):

A thing.

Joya Jones (35:08):

But, uh, but I definitely had forgotten actually, no, wait a minute. Hold on. I think it was the premium ones though. I remember them smelling like Sage and, and something else. It was one of those. I think it was from the w or something. They were good products. Okay. Okay. They were good product, but the first time it was a really good experience and there was a bed and a room and a lock and, and amenities and stuff. Uh, the next times it was not like <laugh>, it was not like that. But in Quebec city, I did one of those and I did an, and it was fine. I did not spend time where I was there. I spent time outside and looking at different fights. Right. Um, one thing I did do in Quebec city that I'm not gonna do in other random places is I was like, okay, I wanna exercise.

Joya Jones (35:50):

Let me just like, go jog. Let me just jog around them. <laugh> around the neighborhood. Rightly people don't do that. So I just have my, you know, my bright outfit on shoes and stuff. And I go outside and I'm jogging through like farmlands <laugh> and passing folks, passing beaches, saying, Bojo like, what's her name bell from <laugh> everybody's looking at me strange. Of course I'm the only black thing, like anywhere mm-hmm <affirmative> so that was, yeah. I don't, I don't know that. I'd do it again. No, pretty far. Maybe go with the local. I don't know if I'm kind awkward, but if, if I saw somebody say they'd been to Quebec city, imagine me jogging in like a random, you know, place nearby in the street and the only black <laugh> like it's as awkward as it sounds. That's I love

Jenique Brown (36:40):

It. Well, I want people to know about your launch. We've we've dibbled dabbled in everything. I want people to know about your launch. We've heard a little bit about what to do and why you do it. So what's your next big thing with as with your, uh, personal trainer business?

Joya Jones (36:54):

Yes. So I love more than anything. More than anything. I love my one-to-one clients. Um, I love diving deep. I love making sure that we're unearthing, like I mentioned trainer trauma, and I think I'm the first person that ever use that term or maybe the only one <laugh>. And when I say it, everybody knows what it is, but has a different story story behind it. But I love digging into past fitness stories and what happened that kept us, or kept her from loving movement. We all love movement and kids as kids, we, we all loved our bodies and we were jiggle in the jiggly places and stuff. And at some point we have a salient memory where that stopped or where we first questioned how we looked or how we felt or where somebody said something. And so what I love about the one-on-one is being able to go back to those moments and spend time with them and tend to them compassionately and carefully.

Joya Jones (37:47):

I almost feel like a therapist sometimes, although I'm not a therapist, I know <laugh> nobody's therapist and I'm qualified for that, but it's, um, I'd say it's as much, if not more mindset coaching than it is, is even physical training. Cause a lot of it is that not everybody wants to do a push up. Like who, what and why, why are most of us doing pushups? <laugh> like, there are so many ways to get this motion. Our joints can do so many things. Like that's very military anyway. Right? So I like customizing and having that one-on-one experience. But I know that I only trained five women at a time that is not scalable. Right. And what I have to share and to teach is so much bigger. I said, I want body sovereignty for black women straight up. So I'm working on, um, something I call the black girl fitness library.

Joya Jones (38:32):

Don't tell anybody <laugh> but a one stop resource. So part of it is a lounge to just go in and, and hang out. It's almost more of like an open gym than a lounge. Mm-hmm <affirmative> to the room. It's open people, hop in and out, bring your own workout. They do what they need to do. And then I'm there, there's a breakout room every 20, 25 minutes. Um, and breakout for people who have specific questions for me. Right. And I can give, um, individual feedback. Um, but that's open the first time I did it. I think it was open for like five hours, which is a bit too long <laugh> wow. But I mean, the dream would just to have it be open, like a gym and, and virtual gym and people hop in and out. Um, so that's the lounge part of it. The library part of it is really gonna be resources.

Joya Jones (39:12):

So if somebody says, okay, I wanna understand more about joint pain or I wanna do this fitness program. But it says that I can't cuz my BMI is whatever. I don't know. It'll be a place to look up. Like what really is BMI? Is this real? I mean, it is BS, but you'll be able to read about that. <laugh> be able to read about that in there. Um, read up what you need to know to restart your fitness journey or start one for the first time. And so that's kind of laid out based on what you're looking for. Mm-hmm <affirmative> so that's a library part of it. And then, um, I'm gonna expand, I wanna have more of a group coaching experience, but I'm not there yet, but eventually you can imagine like a black girl fitness academy where everything you need is there and you can trust it and you don't have to go through the translation process in your mind of, oh, this looks like it's for a white person. <laugh> and not me. You don't have to do a mental acrobatics to see like what the formation is proper for you. With this exercise, you'll be able to see someone like you doing it and talking through it, um, which are your kind of body. So anyway, I'm really pumped about that and overwhelmed and pumped <laugh> and I mainly wanna know once I launch everything, what is going to be most resonant with people now. Right. And with black women bosses.

Jenique Brown (40:30):

Yes. I love that. I love that. Well, we're not gonna wrap up just yet. We got, we got a couple more minutes, but tell the people where they're, where you're at, how they can find you so they can so they can get this training, honey. Yes. For me too, though, asking for a friend, I am a friend.

Joya Jones (40:47):

Yeah, look, I've been neglecting my social and I hate doing that. But whenever I get into my mad scientist building program mode, like I get like that, but I promise I'll be posting more, um, at body camp by joy on IgE, um, on Facebook, let's see, y'all gonna see more posts next week. So just go next week. But if you wanna hit me up or interested or wanna learn more, um, I'm not taking one on one clients right now, but if somebody twists my arm, I can see if there's time for me to do that. You can email me only people here. You can email me at joy body, camp.io. And yeah, my old website is still up@bodycam.io, but I'm going through rebranding with that too. So June 1st you'll see everything new, but right now feel free to hit me up and ask me questions and you know,

Jenique Brown (41:34):

We cannot, we cannot wait for June 1st. I'm super excited for you. Yes. So what has been like the biggest, cuz you said you started your business in COVID times and O like honestly while travel related business, probably not prime, but this fitness business is prime. Cause as you, as I was saying, like everybody's working on their COVID bodies, what was like your biggest, uh, challenge and your biggest win with starting your business within COVID

Joya Jones (42:04):

Biggest challenge? Biggest challenge was more something that didn't happen, but I thought it would be an issue. It was thinking about, um, I'm really big on safety, right. And making sure that I'm not just kind of there in spirit, but if there's something going on with your body, like I can help that part of certification is CPR a D training <laugh> so, so it's really uncomfortable. It wasn't comfortable for me to think about what, what am I gonna do if my client needs me, if there's some kind of emergency mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, and a part of that is making sure that we don't do crazy fitness stuff. <laugh> like things that bring the, um, the heart rate too high or any kind of, of exercise that would require spotting. Like, so it just takes training differently. And I learned that you can do work similar muscles and get similar intensity and results without doing the kind of dangerous things that you see done at the gym that need spotters.

Joya Jones (42:56):

So that was a challenge that ended up not being a challenge. It was more of a concern. Um, and then the biggest win was really understanding how much of this is mindset, like mindset and, and thoughtful program design. And, and knowing that not everyone needs like a, a trainer trainer, not everyone needs that part of things. Some people never need to touch free weights or machines or set foot in the gym, understanding that so much can change in the mind before anything reflects physically in the body. And with that, like the, I really believe in this vision of body sovereignty for black women, cuz you are not gonna need, everybody's not gonna need to pay a lot of money and spend a lot of time to make this happen. So that was, that was when I'm just woo. Oh, I'm so excited. One day people gonna be like, wait, black women felt some kind of way about their bodies. Like <laugh> what, like

Jenique Brown (43:54):

It is really a shame how much we get overlooked. Um, and so I am very, very happy that we are saying no more and that there really has been a push to support black owned and women owned businesses that are focused towards supporting us and doing things for the culture. And so this is really beautiful. We're gonna have to do a collab or something cuz we are trying to get in people's gym bags. So absolutely. But you said that you, because you do like kind of concierge coaching, like with your one on one clients, what is the craziest place you ever exercised? Like where is the one place you just like stopped everything? It was like, okay, I guess, I guess I'm doing this.

Joya Jones (44:37):

It wasn't really a crazy place. It the situation. So I was trying to get my running intervals in outside and my client was, um, she had like a really important exam coming up and was super stressed and her body was just outta whack. And so I'm like I'm running and I have, um, sometimes I'll people workout in notes on my phone just so they're immediately accessible. So I'm running in between intervals. I'm like telling her what exercise to do. <laugh> I'm trying not to run into stuff while running through and like correcting the exercise and then I would have to demonstrate on whatever ever object was nearby when I stopped. So mailbox, you know, tree, um, ended up with a lot of dirt under my fingernails that I don't like <laugh> but if you think about it, that's where we started. Right.

Jenique Brown (45:21):

That is true.

Joya Jones (45:22):

We were all in the jungles and such. So

Jenique Brown (45:25):

We weren't doing the gym thing no couple decades ago. <laugh>

Joya Jones (45:30):

No, there was no such thing. So, but yeah, that, that, that felt really good. And I'd probably say that's definitely my most favorite training experience. Yeah. Cool.

Jenique Brown (45:42):

Well Julia, I wanna say thank you so, so much for joining us on such short notice. Yeah. Um, we really, really appreciate you and thank you for smoothing over my very first time out here on why that Wednesday. Um, and yeah, we're gonna have to have you again because I wanna, we wanna know how your launch went. We wanna know the different places you've been going and we wanna know if you and your boyfriend has been working on your French, so we gotta practice. Yes

Joya Jones (46:08):

<laugh> <laugh> yes, absolutely. Thank you.

Jenique Brown (46:10):

Tell the people one more time. Sorry.

Joya Jones (46:13):

So thank you for asking me questions and just hosting me. Your energy is fantastic. Aw,

Jenique Brown (46:18):

Thank you so much

Joya Jones (46:20):

More this.

Jenique Brown (46:20):

Yeah. Oh yes. Well you guys are gonna see more of me so sorry for that. We were like, Aw man. We're so Ryan <laugh> I love you. See more of me. I'll be feeling it for her as, as our busy season ramps up. Uh, but yes. Thank you so much again for joining us and please let the people know again where they can find you.

Joya Jones (46:36):

Yes. At body camp by joy on IG or my website, body camp.io, or shoot me an email joy body camp.io.

Jenique Brown (46:47):

All right. Thank you guys. Have a wonderful rest of your evening. See you guys next Wednesday, 5:30 PM mountain time. Bye.

 

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