No one embodies the principal of “a sound mind in a sound body” more than this week’s diva, Alicia Villarosa. Sarah Deming chatted with the Pilates instructor, author, competitive speed skater, and bargain-finding genius over scrumptious mint juleps at the Vanderbilt.
To experience Alicia’s tougher side, show up for her Boot Camp Fitness Class in Prospect Park, Wednesdays and Fridays at 9:15 AM (class meets inside the park at the stairs across from the picnic house near the 3rd St entrance).
Sarah: Congratulations on your Image Award nomination for Down to Business! How was the ceremony?
Alicia: More fun than humanly possible. When we got there, there was this lovely women’s tea and a fashion show of the work of Stevie Wonder’s wife. The whole thing is a drunken blur of high-end food and cocktails. Unfortunately, our award was announced while we were still outside; this happened for a lot of the nominees in categories that weren’t televised. We knew we probably weren’t going to win anyway because the comedian Steve Harvey had written a dating book in our category. We had fun on the red carpet, though. Celebrities at the front were holding things up, like Eve from America’s Next Top Model. The rapper Xzibit was in line behind us and he flirted with me. He was in a good mood because he ended up winning for his show “Pimp My Ride.”
Sarah: What was it like co-writing the book with your mom?
Alicia: Tough. My mother isn’t really a writer. She’s fabulous at giving workshops and doing speaking engagements on her 10 steps of entrepreneurship for women, which is how we got the book deal. My sister’s agent helped us write the proposal and steered us away from memoir and toward the self-help genre. My mother sent me the first drafts and I revised them. She’s a bit of a drama queen and required hand-holding, but we have a very good relationship, so it could withstand it. I’m so happy for my mother now. She’s 80 and it’s important for her at this point in her career to have a book.
Sarah: What are you going to write next?
Alicia: I’m doing some freelance health pieces for the Root, which is an African American news website founded by Skip Gates and sponsored by Newsweek. I’m also co-writing a book proposal with a financial fund manager. It’s a self-help book on the correlation between debt and obesity. It can be a cycle for people, where depression about money problems leads to overeating. We want to help people break that cycle through healthy exercises like spending fasts.
Sarah: With so many talents, what do you say at a party when someone asks you what you do for a living?
Alicia: Usually I say that I’m a Pilates teacher first, but it depends on what I did that day. If I spent a lot of time writing I might say I’m a journalist.
Sarah: What do you bring personally to the teaching of Pilates?
Alicia: A very athletic bent, which is what Pilates started as. Some contemporary Pilates has become a little watered down, but if you watch old footage of Joseph Pilates, he was really hardcore. This was rehab for people with injuries, and if you’ve ever had rehab, you know that it hurts. You hate your PT! I bring some of that rigor and rehabilitative focus back to the teaching.
Sarah: Do you think that people with a background in competitive athletics have an advantage in business?
Alicia: That’s a great question! I think they do, definitely. Athletes are used to a cutthroat environment. They’ve had to be extremely internally motivated in order to survive, and they’re used to having to step up and produce on a regular basis. The confidence of that can take you very far. It’s like a card you always have in your pocket. Also, exercise is good for the brain. It gets the blood flowing and helps with creativity. When I’m riding my bike and I need an idea for an article, I’ll tell myself to think about the problem on the ride. You have to stay focused on your surroundings while you bike, but there’s a back part of your brain that is always free to think.
Sarah: What is your favorite sport right now?
Alicia: Speed skating, because you can go super fast. Downhill, in a tuck, you’re faster than a cyclist. It’s a fabulous feeling.
MINT JULEPS
The bar manager at the Vanderbilt, Floyd, juices up his juleps with apricot nectar and a rye-cognac base. I’m grateful to him for sharing the innovative recipe. Julep days are here again.
Prepare a simple syrup by mixing 1 C sugar, 2/3 C water, and 1/3 C apricot nectar together. Heat, stirring, until sugar melts. Add a bunch of chopped mint and let cool. Strain before using.
To serve, pour about 3/4 ounces of the minted syrup into a chilled julep cup or rocks glass. Top with crushed ice and a handful of fresh mint leaves, which you have “spanked” between your hands to release oils. Pour over ice 1 ounce rye whiskey and 1 ounce cognac. Sip through a straw.
i related to so many things alicia talked about. wonderful she was patient enuf to write a book w/her mom. loved the analogy between ‘cutthroat’ competitve sports and the business world. does it have to do with the sensation of speeding, which alicia described in her fast skating? not everyone loves speed, of course, but my favorite activity is getting on my bike and speeding downhill. that sensation is exhilarating as was this post.