These two are legitimately legendary people in the fitness industry from New York City, London, Mexico City. These two have made a huge mark on the fitness world. Surf Yoga Beer, it's a travel company, right? But it's disguised as a travel company. It's really like a social wellness club for people who just want to get out of their comfort. A lot of the people that travel with us, they are coming from a big city where maybe they pour all of their energy into work and a lot of people feel that way. Surf is adrenaline, adventure, getting outside of your comfort zone.
Yoga is all about connecting with yourself mindfully, but also the people around you. And then beer. Pretty self-explanatory. Party. Party. Balance. Let your hair down. Like dance to the music. You come away with a community like us. We offer things like yoga, mindfulness, deep chats under the stars. We had the trip book. Oddly enough, Alan and I actually broke up like three weeks before the trip. And we had such a great time on the trip. It almost actually made us not break up.
Christine: You are now tuned in to Only Agents by ASG Luxury Realty. Welcome to the fourth episode of Only Agents. This is our podcast by the Alvarez Schonbrun Group. We are a luxury team of real estate agents based here in South Tampa. Today we are joined by an absolutely incredible couple. We are joined by Mantis Zvinas and Steph Curry. So these two are legitimately legendary people in the fitness industry. From New York City to London to Mexico City. These two have made a huge mark on the fitness world. And most recently they have officially bought a house and have fully relocated to St. Petersburg, Florida, which is just a quick ride over the bridge from where we are located in South Tampa.
size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Today we are getting their story. So everything from how they met to the fitness and travel business that Mantis operates and founded to the very large and very captivating social brand that Steph has built to what it was like to be really at the top of the fitness scene in those big cities at the time. So we are covering a lot. I think this podcast is going to be really interesting for anybody who is interested in fitness or interested in the fitness world. Anybody who is an entrepreneur or an influencer who is wanting to learn from people who have already done it.
Anybody who is interested in relocating to South Tampa or St. Petersburg and then any family because Steph and Mantis have recently announced that they are expecting a baby boy to arrive in June. You're really covering a lot. So we're so happy you guys are here. Thank you guys for coming. And usually we announce at this time our sponsor. None of them have actually been real sponsors. We once had a country, the country of Germany sponsor us because they make good Rieslings. But actually today, Surf Yoga Beer is going to sponsor us 100%. Let's go. Yeah.
You have to do. Oh my God. You beat Mantis to it. You didn't even have time to strip down. Somebody had to take their clothes off on today's podcast. We wanted it to be us. I love that. You have to do some push-ups to go with it. We'll do it after.
So Surf Yoga Beer is actually our first legit sponsor. I love that. Do we owe you money? No, that was free. You just have to cook a lab on posts.
But that's a great segue into what we wanted to kick off this conversation with, which is Surf Yoga Beer. So Surf Yoga Beer is the company that Mantis operates, founded and operates. I know Steph, you've done a ton to build out that business as well. And it's actually where Alan and I met these two. So in 2019, we were living in New York City. And we heard about this travel fitness company called SYB. So we had the trip booked. Oddly enough, Alan and I actually broke up like three weeks before the trip. But neither one of us didn't want to go on the trip.
So we said, okay, well, I'm mad at you, but we're still going to go on it together. She was mad at me. I was mad at him. She's the one that broke up with me. I remember you guys in the kayak together, the tandem kayak still. But I feel like we had such a great time on the trip. It almost actually made us not break up. But we still broke up for a year. So we'd love to just kick this off with what is SYB? When did you found it? What are like kind of the mission, the principles of it?
What success have you seen? Where is it going in the future?
Just give us the whole rundown of Surf Yoga Beer. So Surf Yoga Beer, we don't do all of those things on every trip. We have destinations literally all over the world, but those things each stand for their own thing. Surf is adrenaline adventure, getting outside of your comfort zone. We do a lot of actual surfing. So if you want to learn how to surf, you can come with us. Where you guys went in Croatia, your sense of adventure may have been kayaking through the sea and then going for a huge hike or a huge run.
So yeah, surf is adrenaline and adventure. Yoga is all about connecting with yourself mindfully, but also the people around you. A lot of the people that travel with us, they are coming from a big city where maybe they pour all of their energy into work and a lot of people feel that way. So how do they make authentic friendships when you are an adult? It's one of the hardest things that you can do. You come away with a community like us. We offer things like yoga, mindfulness, deep chats under the stars. And that really brings you closer to yourself and the people on the trip and then beer, pretty self-explanatory party, party, balance, let your hair down, like dance to the music.
That's one of those things that like naturally comes out of you when you're on vacation and in a good place with good people. So we try to balance all of those things. Adventure, mindfulness, party. And somehow in that, I didn't say anything about working out, but that is like the core principle of our trips as well. They're super active. We do boot camps in the morning. We get you like sweating and dolphins running in that way, like you carry that energy into everything that you do. And the coolest thing is that these trips are usually about a week long.
But what we're focused on now, now that the company's been around for so long, 10, 12 years is we're building out these communities in major cities around the US and Canada and London and Mexico City a little bit. And so our focus is not just on creating these incredible experiences around the world that are quick, quick, high. Like I'm in this place with these cool people, but now I have to return to my life. It's like, how can we instill that in people when they get home? So we're trying to bring a lot of community into people's lives, not just when they travel, but when they get back home too.
And you guys have also done like meetups, right? I know in New York City, you guys had like a winter formal party. Yeah, gala. Because everyone loves to get dressed up and stuff. And as New York City, I know when we went in 2019, I felt like 30 to 50% of the people that went on the Croatia trip were New York based or maybe around the Northeast. Is it still kind of heavy in the Northeast? Or has it now that the longer it's grown or the more more S Y Bs become known kind of all over the world?
You get a lot of diversity. We're a New York City based company, meaning like I started Surf Yoga Beer in New York City. And I was working at SoulCycle. So this is group boutique fitness and you're coming in teaching 60 people four times a day. And I mentioned Surf Yoga Beer who wants to go on a trip. So this is how the company kind of took off. And so New York City, there's like a hub, there's like every year, I think maybe 30 40% of people who travel on S Y B for the last 12 years are coming from New York City.
And so we have this group chats or events and like it's just mainly New Yorkers. So when we do like the gala, we do it in New York. It's important to have like a little bit of a sense of a home base because we have people from all over. So it started in back when you guys were a part of the community. It was 100% New York. Like that is where the people were. That was the energy they did like weekend events every single weekend. And now that's definitely our biggest crew and where we host most of our activities.
But we have representation across like all major cities in the US now. So it's thriving, but it's not the only one. So awesome. And what we didn't know at the time, until I guess when I was talking to you yesterday, Mantis, as Christine and I were breaking up, you had just met Stephanie a few months before the August Croatia S Y B trip. You said you and her had met maybe in London, was it? SoulCycle class. Really? Yeah. So we didn't really know each other at that point. Well, Mantis, you were come to your class.
Sorry. That's jumping ahead a little bit. Okay. Sorry. I'm excited. Mantis was known as like, you know, the SoulCycle instructors, especially like what 2015 to 2018, it was like celebrities. I mean, this was like the height of spin, but also SoulCycle was the height of spin. Like Mantis, you were like Beyonce or Adele. Like you needed no last name. 100%. No one under no one pronounces his last name correctly. So maybe that's like, and you were teaching in London at the time. No. So I was just living in London. We met very serendipitously. We both were expats living in London.
I moved there about six months before. So when SoulCycle was expanding from the US to London, they tapped Mantis on the shoulder and said, well, you lead the expansion. So he was kind of the face of that. And I was, you know, I was familiar with the brand. I was a fitness goer just bopping around the classes and influencer stuff. You're an influencer. Were you already an influencer at the time? London is where I started to get into it for sure. Did you already follow Mantis even before you met him? No. And I saw him on the SoulCycle website and I was like, who's this character with the hair?
Like, like Johnny Bravo. Okay. Yes. The hair. Let me explain. The famous hair back in 2019. When you expand the business and you're going into London, there's anticipation, there's a long time coming. So they had a lot of money at the time. SoulCycle was blown up expanding. So they put a lot of money into PR and marketing. And so the part of the marketing was you're inviting a lot of writers, a lot of people, publicity, influencers. And so we had what's called a press ride. And she was invited on a press ride. And during the press ride, not only am I flirting with all the writers from Forbes or whatever, I'm looking in the front row.
Shameless. I'm looking at the front row and there's a babe right in front of me. So what I do, I neg her. Are you familiar with what negging is? Negging, yes. No. No. Neg. You were mean to her. Yes. She was like, you look like you could probably work harder than you're working right now. And I was like, yeah, they're taking photos right now. So I'm just, you know, trying to look cute. Yeah, I don't want to sweat. But we met like we met and he's like, come on this trip next week to Croatia. And I was like, who are you and what is this trip to Croatia?
Come on a trip with me and 20 other people. Was that the one that we went to? Oh my gosh. What was you guys? No. So it could have worked out, but we didn't actually like reconnected later that winter. And but I was following him at that point and I saw him like, he would literally get onto a plane with like a fanny pack after class. Go on this crazy trip, come back, teach a few classes for like four or five days, and then he'd be off to another trip. And I was like, who is this mystery man like traveling around Europe and then teaching classes.
Never met anyone like him before. Yes. It was probably, that was a cool time in Europe. I was like the highlight right there because we had like three trips in Ibiza, three trips in Croatia going on at the same exact time. I was teaching at SoulCycle. I'm living in London, pre-Brexit. So the flights are like 20 euros. Wow. All I had is a fedora and a fanny pack. And I saw people were like, you don't have a bag and you're not like checked in. And I'm like, yeah, and you'd go back to London, teach a few weekend classes, fly back to Ibiza or fly to Croatia.
And this is why we didn't get to like link up that summer, but later we linked up in November. Yeah. So what, how did that happen? Was that in London? Yeah, that was in London still through SoulCycle. Mantis then was able to pitch me to SoulCycle because I was planning on moving back to Toronto at the time and he was tight with the whole executive team that was like constantly coming back to check on the progress with London. So he put me forward to be an instructor, which was so nice of him. And that like catapulted my career into fitness as well.
Wow, amazing. Were you a big SoulCycle student at the time? I was just a student and like an influencer on the side. So for me, it was just like a hobby that I liked, but having someone like Mantis like really empowered me. I had like no confidence at the time. I remember they were like, you should audition. And I was like, me on a microphone, I could never possibly do that. And now look at you. Well, I have to thank Mantis for literally all of it because he got me into fitness. The first couple of months that I was teaching at SoulCycle, I was like so incredibly hard on myself.
And he was always so good at like building my confidence and helping me. And then from there, we just like created this partnership in our personal lives. Of course we dated, we got engaged, we got married. And then that also kind of segues into we've been working together for what? Like six years now? Yes. And it all started by just taking a SoulCycle class and building my confidence. Yeah. And so you guys reconnected or, you know, I don't know if you started dating in November, but you started.
We reconnected in the pandemic. Yeah. So like what, because then, you know, COVID hit. So fitness, like especially SoulCycle, they shut down for a long time because they're a big corporate brand. I remember in Tampa when I came back down to Tampa, a lot of the boutique spin studios would stay open because it's Florida and everything kind of stayed open, but SoulCycle didn't because, you know, they had. SoulCycle and Surf Yoga Beer. So because that's travel as well. So that was completely taken away. So our time where we came together in a relationship was not defined by like our work or our jobs whatsoever.
We just got together and like hung out and traveled a little bit. And then the interesting part was like, okay, now how do we get back into the real world and start working again? I was living in Toronto. He's living in London. Yeah. Where were you guys during the heart of COVID? I mean, because Canada was very locked up. I mean, you could travel. Yeah. And the UK. Canada and the UK were both probably like two of the most serious places to be in. So we were away for a while because we did have to go back to work in those weird gym times where it was like every other person where you're masking your workout.
They spaced out the bikes and yeah. And then eventually I was working for SoulCycle Canada and they just completely closed the business town because it didn't survive the pandemic. So I ended up losing my job. And from there, I basically, this was in like November. Now I just flew to London where you were based and still working. And from there, we've been kind of like on the move ever since. Here's what happened.
It's 2020 December. Mantis is about to mansplain. So we've never disclosed this before. But we had a secret Surf Yoga Beer trip. And this is 2020. So you're not allowed to do this. You're not allowed to do that. No, no meetups. Oh, London was terrible. Like more than three people. Fine. And there's like parties and all. But here's the thing that we did. We had a secret Surf Yoga Beer trip to Mexico. And I was like, Steph, let's go. We go to Mexico with a one-way ticket. We do our trip. It was great, great, successful.
Maybe a few people caught COVID, but who knows? When was this in 2020? Everyone's alive. It was December 2020 New Year's Eve into 2021. And so there's like a full travel ban. Okay. You put your phone like into a basket. No, no one knows we're on this trip. Oh my gosh. We lived in Mexico for four months, four or five months. Then we went to LA because I'm from LA. But in that four or five months that we're in Mexico, we did an online fitness. Everyone is doing online fitness. And there's us too. And that was our first kind of experience working together.
You know, of course I had a following. So you just start talking, I'm doing this fitness thing. And at certain times we had 200 plus people on a Zoom call on our, it was called the fuck yes. And it was our fitness program. And every week we'd do like three live classes, two recorded classes. And it was keeping us in shape. And we had these wristbands from an all inclusive that we never cut off. And we'd go across the street and just for four months have unlimited breakfast, lunches and dinners while we're working out more than ever in our lives in Tulum.
Wow. Nice. That was so COVID was pretty nice for you guys. COVID is the reason we're together. Period. Thank you, Wuhan. Wuhan, thank you.
Well, so like, because we obviously know that you guys landed in Mexico City. And you got really, what's the word I'm looking for? You were picked to build this brand in Mexico City. So like, how did that opportunity come along? How long after, like when did that start? What was the ask for you guys to do in Mexico City? How long were you there? Give us that whole story. Okay, I'll start. Sure. So after the whole Tulum experience, and I don't have a job right now, he's kind of, do I go back to London? We decided what was most important for us is that we want to be together as a couple.
So we moved to New York City. Okay. He was back in SoulCycle in New York City. And at this point, the brand SoulCycle is kind of starting to die. Have they sold it yet? Yes. Okay. It sold it. It's kind of starting to die. Like it didn't really recover after the pandemic. So he's not super happy with his job there. It just everything about like the company culture in the class has kind of changed. If you've been to SoulCycle class, you can probably envision what I'm talking about. And so he wasn't really happy there anymore.
And we were like, what do we do next? We have Surf Yoga Beer as a business, but that's always been something that like Mantis has been doing on the side. Are we ready to take that on full time? That leaves us from New York maybe. So he's just working. I at this point have a visa. I'm starting to work in New York City. And Mantis just goes to work one day, but he shows up to his class and there's like eight super buff Mexicans sitting in the front row. Do you want to take over? What is this?
Like an episode on Narcos? Oh, no, Mantis. What have you gotten yourself into? I start kind of flirting with these guys. He's negging them. I'm negging these guys. Not pegging. Negging. Geez. Come on, guys. Keep it clean. Kind of podcasts. They certainly will not edit that out. So don't edit that. I'm at this SoulCycle. My class and I see these guys and I'm teasing them because I had been poached before. It's not my first time to go to Siklo when they were starting in Mexico City. Alejandro's the founder and we were chitchatting and I was like, yeah, SoulCycle's too good.
I'm not going to leave this 2015. And so as you're teaching at SoulCycle, it is the epicenter of boutique fitness where it all kind of really took off and everyone looks at them as a standard. And so they copy and they go to classes in New York and they try to learn. Actually here in Tampa, there's a place called Camp. Oh, Camp, yeah, yeah. I know Jen and Tyler would go up to you. I would see them walk around New York City and I know this is how I met them in the class. But this is how you learn and things get better because you explore and see who does it like this, who does it like that and you try to improve it on your way.
So anyways, not my first rodeo with people coming and trying to poach or learn. So I'm teasing these guys and at the end, because like Stef was saying, we're ready to kind of move on or try to do something else. SoulCycle's on a heavy decline now. They're in New York City, it's kind of a strange place. Surf Yoga Beer is doing well. So I was just like, am I going to Mexico or what guys? Are you taking me? And the guys were like, uh... They're like, wait, no way. He caught us. Would you come? Wow.
So after class, I was just like, so yeah, can you buy my ticket or what? Or am I moving? And they're like, oh yeah, can we, can we? Wow. Yeah. So he calls me and he's like, I just met these guys that want us to move to Mexico and open spin studios there. And I was like, what? Bye. And like hung up the phone. I was like, no, I just moved to New York. I don't want to do that. And so we ended up going for dinner with the team, like the CEO, the whole executive team of what is called Commando.
And they were like, we have the best fitness center in all of Mexico City. Like you wouldn't believe how great it is. And we were like, you're talking to like master instructor in New York City. It does not get better than where we are right now. Had either of you been to Mexico City ever at that point? No. But we knew like, because we're in the travel scene, we knew that Mexico City is like a hot trending place. You know, it was like a foodie place. We were interested in it. Yes. Yeah. But they basically like convinced us over several margaritas that it would be a good idea for us to come down, try some classes, meet their community.
And then once we've seen it with our own eyes, kind of make the decision. So we were like, okay, fine. We'll come to Mexico City. And we went for a visit for one weekend. We worked out like two or three hours a day. We were absolutely floored by how intense and engaged their community was. Like it was like the community that New York City had pre-pandemic was just being built and starting to thrive in Mexico City. Wow. So we just immediately saw an opportunity. And they were interested in hiring both of us as a team, which was an interesting dynamic because I worked at SoulCycle for a bit.
Mantis had been there for 12 plus years as a master instructor. And now they wanted to hire us together, which was the most terrifying thing for me. But Mantis was like, if I'm going to walk away from a 12-year career at SoulCycle to go and build something in a new country, like that's a pretty cool stepping stone and opportunity. So it was almost a no-brainer. Long story short, we went to Mexico for about a year and a half, I think we were there for. When did you guys get there? Where are we at in the timeline?
What year was this? This is January 2023. Okay. Right? Yes. Yeah, we were there 2023 and 2024. Okay. Yeah. And so what was it like once you had moved there? How did it go with building it out? Like what was it like? Yeah, what were the negotiations like? I mean, how did they bring you in as? How was it structured? Or if you were? Well, we got wine and dined. So we got bamboozled. We went to. Okay. But what you built was amazing. From the outside looking in, the brand, the community looked incredible. Like behind the scenes, you don't have the disclose, but what you built looked incredible.
It looked so successful. It really was. And the way businesses run in Mexico are so different than the US. Like you have a lot of advantages with how much you pay people, what the real estate costs are. But there is this kind of class system in Mexico where things are still expensive. If you're wealthy and you want the best. So classes might be 20% cheaper, but real estate and hiring costs are like 80% cheaper. So there's a margin to be made there. And like in most places around the world, New York City is like epicenter, LA is epicenter.
So you have boutique fitness starting there or trends or music. And then things radiate outside. So and this is a common business practice for somebody to see, oh look, New York opened a sweet green. Let's open a type of sweet green in China or in Europe. And I lived in Beijing and I saw this in my own eyes for the first time when I finished college and went to Beijing to live and work. And I saw these companies popping up that are very similar to what I saw in LA. So this is a trend that outside the US companies are starting, even outside major cities.
So cycling was still booming. Was it up and coming still in Mexico? Whereas cycling in- Like 10 years behind. Exactly. So you have celebrities. So we teach classes and there's Mexican celebrities and there's actresses and actors and whatnot coming to our classes. And I'm like, this is like New York City, SoulCycle 2016. Wow. But what was really cool was that we brought the community aspect and I think that's what was missing from the fitness scene in Mexico a little bit. We were like, if you want to have a successful spin class, then you need to make every single person in the room feel like an engaged member of the party that is 45 minutes.
That's about to happen. So we brought like the training and expertise from the epicenter, New York City, and we built out huge teams. Like we thought we were going to open one studio. We opened like five in the first four months. Wow. Were the classes taught in English? For us, yes. At the start. But like your training instructors are most people bilingual. Most people are, especially in Mexico City, almost everyone. And that was also, I think a lot of people enjoyed spending time with us and coming to our classes to like practice English and learn a little bit more about us.
I would practice Spanish in my class. I know until you were told to stop doing that. They were like, Mantis, take a seat. No one can understand what you're saying in English. I practiced a lot. But he practiced a lot and his confidence was through. Mantis, you're offending both countries right now. Literally. It was just so cool. We had a great team behind us. We had a lot of really cool resources and we built out, it was like five studios over 40 instructors training, building a program that like we wanted because SoulCycle had so many rules.
It's like working for a big corporation. Now we're given the chance to build our own team, our own culture. And that was a little bit scary. I was like, Mantis, where are you going to go with this? But it was cool. I mean, the deal to go to Mexico is great, but the thing is there's a lot of work. Puppy break. There's a lot of work. So we built the studio, like kind of lights, kind of bikes, kind of the whole manual for teaching an instructor how to teach, what kind of structure, kind of back end systems, like everything.
So yes, we did a lot of cycling, but it was also business building. And in the end, I mean, look, you learned a lot and we ended it in good terms. It was like our contract ended. So we're like, good. And we left in really good terms. So we're friends with all those guys. I'm seeing their success. Their business is continuing to grow. They opened in Spain. They're potentially coming here. Yeah, they called us last week and said, how about we come to you? Whoa. You mean like St. Pete? Not St. Pete. It's a little too small.
A little too small, but we could maybe meet them in Miami. Oh, it's Miami. Well, Miami seems like a natural progression. It would work for sure. I mean, so what do you see happening in the spin industry? I've heard spin kind of is... Spins having a hard time. Pilates is kind of going up. Why do you think that is? It's my rocks. I think that it's just the quality in order to have a really good experience. Not necessarily a good workout, but a good experience. It's so dependent on the instructor that's holding space in the room for 45 minutes, similar to podcasting.
Yeah. And so a lot of the places in Mexico, like our competitors, the instructors would go through minimal training. As long as you could ride a bike, then they basically would be like, you're hired to do it. And for us, we were like, this is a craft. Like holding attention, being inspirational, being motivational is a craft. And so it's just completely make or break on that. But I have a theory here. Okay, let's hear it. I have a theory on why indoor cycling is kind of on a decline. Okay. I see it the same way, like if you, did you, were the same age, did you ever listen to like Blink 182?
Of course. Okay. Of course. You know, they still do concerts every now and then. And you go to these concerts and you're like, whoa, there's so many people here. Bunch of 40-year-olds. Bunch of 40-year-olds. The fan base didn't really leave. It's just that they're not like. No new fan base. No new fan base. My sister still goes to concerts for like the Backstreet Boys or Tyrese. Or any like 90s or early 2000s R&B star. My sister will be there. She also still spins. This is where indoor cycling is. So you, you just grew up like punk rock or, you know, it just had a phase.
It was trending. It was cool and new music has come out. It was exciting. It's still there. It's just not growing. And this, and there's new things popping up. You think it's not growing because there's been scientific data saying that maybe it doesn't give you physically the gains that you're looking for health-wise, or do you think it just kind of fell out of that? I don't think it, I don't think that's why. I think it's, it's like trends. It's so hard to predict trends exactly. Because if cool people are going to that place, I want to go to that place.
And then, oh, look, a bunch of these studios are opening in New York. Maybe we should start to open up those studios somewhere else. I mean, I don't know if you guys have followed camp. I mean, they shut down their spin studio. And I think they, they did that so they could have more room for Pilates, map Pilates maybe? Yeah. I mean, maybe there will be a resurgence in a few years, but it's been trending downwards for years now. And even ourselves, like Mantis likes to go to a spin class is almost like a rehabilitation, not a hardcore workout.
So we're no longer that interested in it in this given time. Yeah. But it's for yourselves personally as students. Yeah. Oh, interesting. I mean, I like it because I did hurt my knee and I'm getting old and this running is impactful. But when you go to cycling class, it's low impact. Yeah, low impact. You're building muscle around. You can do it when you're really old. It's a great workout. Just the way that classes are now, they're not like as exciting. You don't talk about it like you would in 2016 to your friends nonstop at a dinner.
Like, you've got to try this class. I did this, I did this. You don't, that's not exciting anymore. There's no way like something that was that popular was like lightning in a bottle. Yeah. So cycle in 2015 or 16 in New York City was just like crazy in popularity. There's no way that's like a sustainable energetic. It's going to come down. And so now it's kind of like with all the other types of workouts. But it's so fascinating because we were in Hong Kong last year teaching for two weeks at a cycling place there. And we can see it's happening there as well.
And so these trends, they're like worldwide. Maybe they're a little lagged behind in other places. But it's a crazy phenomenon to see how globalized we are and how trends really do like flow cross borders. It's the same thing with fashion, I'm assuming. I don't know anything about fashion. But if there's skinny jeans that are hot or they're not. Yes. I'm surprised you're wearing sleeves right now. Yeah. I am too. I was trying to be nice for the podcast. Shirts off, push-ups after.
Well, so going back to what you guys said about really the secret sauce of building a fitness brand is building the community. Like thinking about anyone who is listening to this, who might be trying to build a brand or build a page. What do you think is the secret sauce? Is it growing community? Is it the niche that you're in? Are you talking like personal brand or like a business? Anything. Yeah. If you're trying to grow a personal brand and stuff, I wanted to segue to your personal brand after this question. But yeah, because we have friends who are wanting to build Pilates Studio now.
We have another friend in Miami who just opened a jet set. So it's like for anybody like that who actually is building a fitness community now, it might not be spin. Like what is the secret sauce to getting success? Is it building the community or what do you think it is?
I think that it's first you solve your own problem. You figure out, for me, there's no such thing as Surf Yoga Beer, for instance. And I just created it because I was selfishly looking to do exactly what we do at Surf Yoga Beer and balance. I think when you're like for Steph, you're building a brand with her influencer stuff. She's doing exactly what she would normally do. She's being her own. She's solving her own issues and problems while talking. And then you realize there's other people who have the same wants or needs or issues or problems.
And it doesn't need to be like, I don't need to relate to everyone. I just need that little group of people. And because the internet, you just simply, you'll find them. That little group that he just said is something that was so important to us when we were building a business in Mexico City, where we knew literally no one. We were coming in with no one behind us. And Mantis has a word he uses for it. It's called evangelicals evangelicals. And it's basically like you need a small group of people that truly believe in like who you are, what you're giving to them, what you're spreading like into the world.
And Mantis did so well in New York City because he had a group of people that would follow him from class to studio to class. And then he builds a business and now they're right there to support his business. And then we moved to Mexico City and I had like a handful of say five people that did the same for me. And when I'm doing a class and say, I don't know the 40 people, but I know my five people in the front row that are going to really support everything that I'm doing. It makes the experience better for everyone.
And so anytime that you are starting a business or a new page or something to have that small group of supporters that are just going to back you up no matter what, like comment on my post first thing. Like it goes such a long way and it really helps other people believe in your community. So you've always said this from the start that like the number one most important thing is like you need your core group of people that believe in you and that are going to show up to support you. And from there like those are the people that teach other people how to support you.
It's not going to just be you. It's like a snowball effect from those people. So whether you're building a new studio or a brand new community off the ground, like you need to find your evangelicals.
We've definitely, I mean, we've done Tony Robbins conferences they talk about. He just says you just need to have like a hundred or 1,000 like rabid fans and that's all you need. And I think the way that you get that and I'm sure you guys agree is just be authentic. Because if you're trying to like be, if you see someone and you're like, oh, I want to try to be like that. And then you try to like, you know, if you're not authentic to yourself, people will sniff that out quickly online. And then they're like, no.
So like the way we built our Instagram page and ASG is just, let's just be who we are. You know, we love each other. We love to have fun. And this is like what we're doing. We're two families, a family brand. You know, we don't, we don't try to be like the sexy real estate agent, you know. Man, that's your hired. When is he sure? But yeah, I think for us too, I think we've been so successful because we don't, we're not trying to do what other people are doing. Like even you had asked like, oh, do you listen to a lot of real estate contents?
It's like, we don't consume a lot of real estate content to try to like mock or mimic other people. We just like kind of put our four heads together. Seth and Gina included. And we just create what feels natural to us. And I think that's why we've done so well in these first two to three years. Exactly. And you know, when we were in Mexico City teaching these other instructors how to be successful, what we always saw and what we always preach is when you try to copy somebody else's work to a tee, you're not going to do well because you're not being yourself, not being authentic.
You're just copy, like you do have to mimic a little bit because that's where you start and you figure out. You don't have to reinvent the wheel. Yes. Yeah, you have to put your own spin on it. Exactly. And that's the, that's exactly the right ingredients to start a brand.
Seth, when did you, like what was your brand like when you like in 2019 and where like has, you know, how have you built that brand? Did you kind of, one day you woke up and you're like, wow, I have a ton of followers and it must be working or was it really intentional from, from zero to 100 followers that or how did that go?
So it started with no intention because social media like back in the day, like even pre-pandemic was not really a business. It was more so just a fun platform similar to Facebook to share with your friends. My name is Steph Curry. So I originally got picked up because I share the basketball player's name. And so that kind of like just one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Yeah, whoever that guy is. So we are back in the day, I was getting a lot of like hits for that. People being like, Steph Curry, Steph Curry.
And I started getting followers. They got like 20,000 followers from that. And then from there, you start to get emails from brands and stuff that want to pay you to promote their stuff. So I was like, that's cool. Like this, this could be a little business. I started doing like fashion, a little bit of travel, just like my genuine lifestyle. And then once I pivoted and built a career in fitness, it's turned into more of like a wellness platform and just fun. I like to keep content like fun and authentic and just positive. Like there's so many people trying to like sell themselves and products on the internet.
I try to just keep it very lifestyle based. But it's, there's always something new coming up in our lives because we've moved around so much. We started a bunch of businesses. We're about to start a family.
So I just am keeping it open-ended to like our lifestyle and how we're changing and adapting to that. Yes. And it's been so fun. I mean, I think what's so impressive, so Steph has over 100,000 followers on Instagram and over 25,000 followers on TikTok. And you know, I think aside from the follower count, I think what is so impressive is all the engagement that you get because like your real views, like your likes, your comments, I mean, it's through the roof. So it's, you can really tell that you have a very engaged community, you know?
It doesn't seem like you bought any of your followers. No, you definitely did not. Because some people that- You think you would let me do that? Some people that have 100,000 or 200,000 followers get like no engagement. Yeah, that's totally true. How is this possible? So you know that it's not. But yeah, I think that you do such a great job of weaving in, you know, your Surf Yoga Beer trips with moving with your family and friends, with your life with Mantis. And it's like, it's a hard thing to do because like, why would 100,000 people care, you know?
I ask myself that question almost every day. But you do it in a way that's so inspiring and so authentic and so likable. So it's like, I feel like you really have like, you have the secret sauce that makes it just so engaging and so inspiring. So yeah, I feel like what you've done is really great.
So yeah, I guess with your brand, like what opportunities has it opened for you now that you're married and you're pregnant? Like what opportunities is it opening for you now? Do you even need to have a baby shower? Or do you already have a lot of stuff? Correct. I'm having a nine month baby shower right now as an influencer. I mean, it's so cool because it's one of the things like you just share about your life and like we just said, life is evolving so quickly. So right now I'm sharing a lot about pregnancy. This is my first time being pregnant and I just moved to St. Pete where we were so lucky to know you guys over here in Tampa and we have a few friends in St. Pete.
But like I am discovering so much about life right now. And that's kind of what I'm sharing and I think that makes it relatable. Like there's so many unknowns and I'm really enjoying sharing about pregnancy right now because it gives me like so much respect for all of the women in my life that have been through this because it's such a universal experience. But when you go through it for the first time, like, ooh, there's so much that you learn. And I just like sharing that from a very real perspective and how like having a healthy lifestyle can be built into your experience of being pregnant and stuff.
I know that you love health and wellness as well. And so I'm learning a lot right now that I feel very passionate to share about and I'm really leaning into this new chapter of life which is going to be like motherhood and living in a really warm and awesome place to experience it. Yes.
And they're about to reveal their baby name for the first time. On our show. No.
I mean, we can talk about your road trip, how you guys ended up in Florida. I remember when you guys were driving from, maybe it was in New York down here and you stopped at a few places along the way because at that time, I don't think you had picked out a city that you were going to end up in. You were teasing us.
One year ago is exactly Grand Prix when we got here and the Grand Prix happened this weekend. We took a road trip down from New York all the way, stopping at different places. There's a lot of SYB old friends and communities so we stopped Charleston or whatever city and explore it, meet the friends there. I got to say, and this is exactly why we're here, to a testament to why Tamp Bay is so cool. This is why we chose this place for family, for slow life, for walkability, for the life that we want to live.
Yeah. We wanted to find a place where we could essentially live the life that we get to live on vacation. Every morning you're making a coffee and going for a walk to explore when you're on vacation and you're sitting and getting outside in the sun when you have a second and you're going to work out and be active and we go to bed early here. So we felt like as soon as we got to this pocket of the world, we could build a life that we could just be so excited to wake up in every day and I'm sure that you guys feel that living here as well.
That's crazy. When we first came to St. Pete one year ago, we were walking around the pier and when I was young, like five, six, seven, we lived in Santa Monica and I was like, this is like Santa Monica before it got terrible. Not a place you want to be right now, maybe some places, but it looked like Santa Monica original in the 90s and it was so easy, safe, beautiful, clean and I was like, this is exactly where we want to be, like beach, sunshine. Yeah. Our criteria was basically we want to be somewhere that's warm year round and we want to be somewhere where we can live an active outdoor lifestyle every single day and this checked that box.
What other cities did you try on? Kind of Charleston, but we went in February and it was still really cold so we kept driving south. Tampa was up there for us like we knew, but we did the full Florida loop and we went over to the west side as well. Fort Lauderdale. I think we hit Fort Lauderdale on like a Sunday morning or a Saturday morning. It was a Saturday morning and like, okay, Saturday morning here you see Bayshore, everyone is in their running shoes, walking their dogs with their strollers with a coffee. Fort Lauderdale Saturday morning was like Limes and Red Solo cups in a ghost town.
We were like, I don't know, we can't do this. So we knew like right away where we felt that way. We've seen everything we needed to see. Exactly. Keep going.
When you guys ended up picking St. Pete to buy a house over all the other places, let's say within 30 minutes, Tampa, Clearwater. What drew you to St. Pete in particular and then your house in particular? I have a couple things and she has a couple things. Okay, you go first. I needed like an outdoor workout park because I got to do my pull-ups. This is, sure. And yet you can't buy your own pull-up bar. Somebody bring in a pull-up bar. We got to bring in the pull-ups on camera. Can we take your shirt off or what?
Like you promised me I would be shirtless at some point. Guys, what are we doing here? So, okay. So that's why I moved to St. Pete. Pull-up bar is number one. Yeah, no. Honestly, it was- This is how girls get pregnant. Man, just takes the shirt off, okay? It looks not nice. I'm not even kidding you. One of the reason, one of the main things was like, Steph and I were working out in New York or we have a cabin in Pennsylvania as well and it was so cold. And we're like, we want to work out with our shirts off.
Or I do. Okay, I want to work out with my shirt off. Okay. I said that. And he wants you to work out with your shirt off. It's so important that we are topless. We don't do that in St. Pete, okay? I run with my shirt off. People are going to start moving to St. Pete. Yeah. Waves. You're property value just went up 10%. The amount of people that are topless working out is exactly where I want it right now in my life. That's why I moved. Period. That's it. Why did you come here? Okay.
Okay, the reason that we chose St. Pete is because we wanted a place that felt young, like my parents are down in Naples and I absolutely love the pace of Naples but it's a retirement community. Yes. So we wanted it to be somewhere in Florida that felt young. Fitness community, we've spent this whole podcast talking about like our love for group fitness and getting people together to work out. And we came for like five days and we went to a bunch of different studios and like St. Pete and Tampa has that community vibe when it comes to working out.
Like we keep trying to go to sweat classes. Do you guys know the gym Sweat? Is that out in St. Pete? It's in St. Pete. And there's like 20 people on the wait list every hour of the day. So there's like, there's an appetite for the things that we have here. Is it HIIT or what is the workout? It's a HYROX style. Okay. So you might need to quickly explain HYROX. It's not exactly HYROX but it's just, it's like a garage and they hold the group classes and they just have like weight training, cardio, the heavy balls or this.
Is HYROX the new age CrossFit? Yes. Big time, man. Yeah. And what does it stand for? Hybrid rock star. Yeah. I think there's allegedly, that's what it stands for. We're not HYROX people so we can't get into it too much. How is it different than CrossFit? Is it safer? I think it's a, there's a standard formula and if you're a HYROX person maybe you can come into it but you do like one exercise and then you run a kilometer and then you do the second exercise you're in your second kilometer. What is that? Is it a mile?
I don't know. Or maybe it's just a, I don't know. She's Canadian, dude. I'm Canadian. I think I've heard it's a quarter mile. No, it's a kilometer. I don't know. No, the HYROX. You're asking what a kilometer is? Yeah. You just basically run, do workout, run, do workout. It's blowing up all over the world. We were in Bali last year for a good while and we hit the gyms there. They had their whole, all their gyms are geared towards HYROX training. I mean, if you're going to do fitness you're going to want to like capitalize on this HYROX phenomenon that's happened and they actually, in Commando, they've just started holding specific rooms and classes, specifically for HYROX training.
And that type of training involves like running or sled pushes or medicine ball throw. It's hardcore. Things that you compete with. Cool. Yeah. People are getting intense and involved and whatever gets you really wanting to push into your fitness, whether it is CrossFit or HYROX or a marathon, it's a beautiful thing because that really helps people just get healthier and stronger.
Is starting a fitness like a brick and mortar fitness studio in St. Pete, something that is on your vision board? Is there anything that you can tell us? There are, there are, Steph and I, we talk about this all the time. There are things that are missing here in St. Pete. I think maybe Tampa has a little bit more that we want to bring that doesn't exist here. A lot of a lot of inspiration does come from just us knowing this fitness space so well and traveling the world and seeing what's trending and we just see so much potential in St. Pete.
So there is something in the pipeline that involves fitness. 100%. Like we chose St. Pete because we feel like there's a lot of opportunity and there's a lot of people with similar interests to us. Cool. And it just feels like a city that is expanding fast and there's tons of people coming down to work here, work remotely. There's great restaurants. Like there's a really good vibe and culture happening. So we, we definitely have in our vision boards and in our pipeline to open something really cool here. And if you guys want to partner with us we're open for everything.
I guess just given everything that you guys have done you guys have moved cities you've started businesses you're a married couple that work together it's like what advice would you give people who are maybe wanting to make a leap to leave New York and move to Florida or to start a business or start a business but they're partner. Like what advice could you give for people because you guys have you've done the hard thing you've done a really courageous you've lived a very courageous life so like has it been worth it what advice could you give to other people who might be in the same boat.
You guys are just as successful and everything is you know successful couple like us so I'll back at you. Well you guys answer first this is our goddamn podcast. I think you know the coolest thing about like Mantis and our marriage and our partnership is that he is not afraid of like taking a risk and he's not afraid of adventure like so many adults and so many of our friends and people in our community like they stay stuck because they're scared of the next possible thing and there have been so many cool opportunities that have come up for us in the last couple years and me my personality would be like but we're good here like maybe we shouldn't and Mantis is like are you kidding me like think of how great it could be on the other side.
So cool it's easier said than done but like opening your mindset your mindset up to opportunity and like recognizing that change can be super positive not just scary has been huge for us and always like literally just always staying open to opportunity and even though we've moved here and we've bought a house and it's the most grounded that we felt in the last six years like starting a business we're still gonna continue to travel even when we have a baby like there's there's so much out there that you have to stay open to so I think that it's just the mindset change is good yes surf you go baby.
Yeah okay you guys go what your turn what was the question what advice did you get why are we so courageous I don't know I was just born this way well you have to pick your partner correctly first off yeah that helps and then after that it's all easy yeah I think recognizing that every single day you don't have to have a grand vision for your life you don't have to execute a year in a month but just every single day waking up and taking the next right step it's like what is the next right thing for me to do today it's to lead a great podcast with mantis and stuff what's the next right thing tomorrow and just to keep living your life like that and then.
You know by the time you're two years five years 10 years into your business you've really made a big impact yeah it's taking action not just talking about it and dreaming about it that's a huge thing for us as well yeah yeah love it big time so we have some rapid fire questions to wrap this up with so um I'll start go ahead where is the next Surf Yoga Beer trip that has not been planned as in what location are you wanting to do one okay Sri Lanka Sri Lanka why surf destination oh cool up and coming not as crazy tourists developed yet and it's far away that's one that requires a lot of planning and there's an element of safety if you're going by yourself.
So we plan these trips so that you don't have to you just have to show up and that's that's going to be a really popular one I know that was my first thought right when you said Sri Lanka I thought oh I would never go there by myself but I would totally go with a group yeah so really smart niche to go into we know um so now that you've been in St. Pete Tampa for a while what have become some of your favorite restaurants ooh this is how you get brand collapse oh oh if you're listening Vinoy Paul's Landing is my favorite burger by far.
Yeah sorry Steph I thought it was just like pretty classic but he really Paul's Landing at the Vinoy Paul's Landing at the Vinoy by the pool in St. Pete the burger is the juiciest thing I've ever had in my life it just drips of like meat sweat you're so hungry right now I know it's like oh I'm hungry um I love Juno and the Peacock I know you guys I know and I know that you guys love it too anything on Beach Drive really hits the spot it has that Florida charm yeah um we love going to Sourdough for lunch just for like a quick and healthy sandwich is that the name of the place sourdough oh cool I haven't been there it's really good um we're kind we love going out and trying different burgers around St. Pete.
So we we kind of do it that way we cook a lot at home as well and we do like ground beef is like some of our favorite we do steak and all all this stuff but there's a good ground beef that we get from Rolling Oats oh yeah oh yeah yeah and tamper I love Rolling Oats there's a Rolling Oats in Tampa too and it's from a local farm there must be yeah it's great we just started shopping yeah it's like a local beef from Tampa fantastic it tastes so good we were just everyone chachats there like who works there they're like we usually have tomahawks.
But we uh that's special order I was like why it's like you know they steal them they can't put their tomahawks out because people come in and steal them that's how good the steak is but it's so good that you need to know what is this that's one of our favorite restaurants we love going to shop at Rolling Oats put that on the mat what do you have any dream fitness collaborations like any businesses that you're seeing in Tampa big corporate brands Steph is doing a lot of Alo stuff in Mexico City I was doing a lot with Alo that was really cool I see that they're starting to do some pop-ups in St. Pete like they're they're doing something with rare roti pilates coming up nice um I think that.
You know our dream is just to open our own yeah yeah man it's his favorite fitness brand to wear right now like athleisure brand I guess because I know back in the day you were probably all about lululemon back in the day oh yeah and then maybe you went to Alo and maybe now it's fiori or I don't know like we're you know Alan I thought you knew me I'm a caveman true in true out that just means that I I'm not you're not a brand guy I'm not a big brand guy which in SoulCycle back in the day they give us a stipend and I was like great decked out don't worry about athleisure.
You know we worked with Alo very closely we were in Mexico decked out didn't worry about that this guy doesn't shop that's why he can't answer do you try to stay away from polyester oh yeah okay yes but but that's like I make him stay away fitness clothing is impossible to stay away from polyester now but as you can see one of the cool things about mantis is that he makes his own athletic wear socks are so good but we have like socks all of our fitness wear the hats everything we make within our brand.
So he spends a lot of time wearing Surf Yoga Beer swag love it yeah is it all polyester free it's I'm telling you it's so hard to get away from that yeah just take a shower but it's good it's good just wear cotton underwear and you're good yes yeah that's true yeah you better wear cotton on your way if you had a million bucks right now where would you be investing it you know somebody asked this question on a Surf Yoga Beer trip last month and they said if you had a it's like a million or a hundred thousand dollars.
But you had to spend it on yourself and you couldn't spend it on anyone else or invest it I was like oh that's a good question and I was like obviously I'd just do a bunch of treatment to myself like health wise you're like exosomes bunch of stem cells stem cells let's go I want I want that young blood in here my knees are hurting nowadays give me all the umbilical cords yeah and now you say you know a million bucks I would definitely I would definitely invest it back on myself and Steph and the baby and the baby.
So like health wellness stuff you would do it for like longevity what about you Steph um maybe buy a vacation property where that's a good question Nicaragua we we want to get somewhere on the beach that we can bring our family would you ever yeah would you ever purchase something in one of the syb locations and and use that as a retreat like destination yes that's that's another thing that we've wanted to do or build some sort of hotel that we can use as a business and then to go down personally so I think that.
Well you know if it were up to me it would be some sort of real estate development that we could use for our business and to travel to yeah we've we've attempted that that we could do a whole podcast on our hotel attempt in Mexico that we tried a lot of issues a lot of problems a lot of hurdles and um you know we could talk about that for days but that's a dream for sure hmm all right last question what is one habit that you do every day that has changed your life easy 10,000 steps I know yours I just walking like we come from such an intense fitness background and as soon as we stopped coaching about a year and a half ago the inflammation in my body went down.
So much when I just started walking wow and as I was doing so much fitness I didn't have the energy to just like go for an hour long walk nor the time because it was just like dedicated somewhere else but I've totally transitioned to more of a low impact lifestyle and when I tell you like my face my eyes the swelling in my body has completely changed wow but you have to be active with it like 10,000 steps is the minimum for me but just getting out and walking intentionally every day has completely changed like my mental and physical health wow amazing first thing in the morning within the first hour is that when you're trying to get out there.
Yeah I try to do at least like 30 minutes in the morning to get like my step count up there because then it becomes easy throughout the day like if I'm if I'm just sitting at my desk all day I have so much like pent up like anxiety and stress towards my work as well you know that feeling when you've just been sitting down for too long so first thing in the morning is essential and what better place than Florida to live for a morning walk Steph invented this thing called a coffee walk on our remember I told you about our fitness thing that we did in Mexico it was like you got to get some distance.
So she had this thing called a coffee walk you get your coffee and right away just leave the door and get like however many steps read a WhatsApp group chat with everyone in our program and I would be like you have to send a photo of you and your coffee on your walk oh wow and this is your accountability and we have like hundreds of people every morning being like I'm on my walk and sending us a photo it's just a healthy healthy start to the morning and great little tidbit though for how to build community oh and absolutely and it's.
So good for your eyes to get like some sunlight right away right the circadian rhythm the what's yours oh it's yours it's what you I get a mode on walks oh you get me on these walks yeah it's so cool we go after dinner as well because the weather's so nice so like we'll be like in a food coma from dinner our tv show just ended and we're like 10 minute walk Christine says I'm allowed to eat dessert as long as I walk right oh yeah gotta get that glucose down gotta do something with it I love that glad you got permission.
Christine: Well thank you guys so much just want to say thank you to everybody who has tuned in to this podcast everybody who has supported us over the last two three years I know I can speak for everyone on the ASG team being able to build this business the way that we've been able to is truly a dream so thank you for supporting us and um such a special thank you to Mantis and Steph thank you guys for coming on the show and thanks for Surf Yoga Beer paying for this podcast and sponsoring it showing us yeah and keeping Alan and I together for all the swag for all the swag polyester yeah swag thank you guys thank you guys thanks for having us.