Emily Merrell  00:00

Hey, my name is Emily Merrell. I’m a taco loving people connector, and I’m obsessed with playing the name game and all things networking. I’m the founder of second degree society, a female focused networking community, as well as a business coach for female business owners, passionate about bringing their business to the next level with the help of events, community and connections. I crave deep conversations and am continuously curious to see what makes people tick, and I’m invested in uncovering their stories with some life lessons along the way. This podcast is aimed to inspire and educate as you tackle your busy day. So join the conversation and tune in for the second degree podcast. I’m your host, Emily, and today I’m so excited, I’m already like My cheeks are already hurting from talking to her, which is a good sign. But we’ve got my dear friend Jennifer Hanway. She is a celebrity health coach and holistic nutritionist, and it is an absolute pleasure to welcome you to the show. Jennifer,

 

Jennifer Hanway  01:03

Emily, I always think you have the cutest cheeks. Anyway, such a lovely face. I’m like, Thanks. Very major cheeks hurt.

 

Emily Merrell  01:09

These are the like squirrel, squirrel, chipmunk cheeks. So that was

 

01:15

called in high school. You’re gonna look 20 years younger for the rest of your life. So embrace those cheeks. Thank you. No

 

Emily Merrell  01:20

Botox. Botox free cheeks. I just want to with them out. Thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Because, you know, I do like to keep snacks in there for the winter’s day, but they come in handy, but you look okay, guys, I just have to call out. Jennifer is like, looking so chic right now. She’s in a podcasting studio, I feel like you are actually in like, an air traffic control studio that you might are you at?

 

Jennifer Hanway  01:46

Are you controlling? Like, no sense of direction. So that would be a bad job for me. Like, if it all goes south, that’s not a good idea for me. And I feel like I’d be like, like, wanting to wave the flags in, like, a really cute cab way, but like, I’d be like, marching like a majorette down the thing. Yeah, not, not a good job choice. Got

 

Emily Merrell  02:04

a little to the left, a little to the right,

 

02:07

not a good, good job choice.

 

Emily Merrell  02:08

I actually am curious the interview process to be hired at the airport. Like, when you are flagging, they’re like, We want you to have no enthusiasm. Like, if you are into dancing, we don’t want

 

Jennifer Hanway  02:20

you, but how can you not want to? Like, 1,000% Yeah, I would. I know the viewers can’t see me doing my flag waving, but it’s good.

 

Emily Merrell  02:29

It’s really good. Her arms are on point. I feel like the other job that I have so much chat, I chat. I get challenged with this. And I’m curious your perspective, because you’re British, but TSA, I am not a nice person when I go to the TSA. And I don’t know if it’s an authority thing, if it’s a me thing, because these people are, like, 12 years old. They’re not even professional people. They’re they’re fresh out of wherever their life is, like, community service 1000 Yeah. And I am not. I have, like, very little patience. What do you mean? You want me to consolidate my fanny pack into my backpack like I am a nice person until you enter the TSA

 

Jennifer Hanway  03:11

the I am nice to everyone at the airport because, having gone through the process of immigration to from the UK to the US, and being petrified every time I come back into either country that they’re not going to let me back in or marry my husband. I am super nice to all of them, so I am Yes, ma’am, yes, sir, I will put that funny pack where the sun doesn’t shine, if that’s what you’re asking me to do, because I’ve been so scared of being kicked out of countries. That’s

 

Emily Merrell  03:41

how my husband is, and I have to share this story, and then we will dive into you. But we came back from Canada the other day, and I had gone through security, nothing was flagged in security, and then we get to go through immigration. And in Canada, you go through immigration before you even get to America. And they asked me, and there were signs everywhere. I was like, Do you have produce, or do you have seeds? I had oranges, and I had them on the top of my bag. And he said, Do you have any snacks for your son? And I said, Yes, I think I have some nuts in there. And I knew for a fact that I had mandarin oranges very, very much prominently on the top of my backpack. And I just straight up lied. And he’s like, Okay. And then we walked through, and my husband looks at me on the other side, and he’s like, you know you have oranges, right? And I was like, oh, yeah, I sure do. Just I wanted to, like, stick it to the man, for some reason,

 

Jennifer Hanway  04:43

you showed them, Emily, you and your oranges. If you’ve, like, gotten, I don’t know whether you get arrested or, like, not allowed in the country, all over mandarin oranges,

 

Emily Merrell  04:54

I would have probably been played really dumb and been like, Oh my God. I didn’t know how those got in there or. Probably think my husband probably packed them under the bus stay in Canada. Um, but yeah, so that was, that was my legal run in with the law. Wow, you’re crazy. I know there’s something, something in the air. Well, okay, speaking of something in the air, you are like the queen of talking about nutrition, but not just nutrition for the general public, but nutrition for women. 40 plus, that is such a specific niche of women. Why is women? Why do we care about women 40 plus?

 

05:39

Wait till you get to you of 40, I

 

Emily Merrell  05:42

was gonna say, because America doesn’t care about women anyways.

 

Jennifer Hanway  05:45

I mean, yeah, let’s, let’s come on, let but why? Why women over 40 is, well, we are gonna spend more of our life over 40 than we are under 40. Wow, especially these days, you know, we’re living a lot longer we I’m passionate about health span, not just lifespan, so I want to be vibrant, energized, sexy, all of those things into my 60s, 70s. Like we’re going to live a long time if we’re in our 30s or 40s now, we’re going to live a long time. More of our life is going to be lived over 40 than under 40, hopefully, if we’re lucky, and really my interest, you know, it’s purely selfish. My interest has changed as I’ve got older, as my health needs have changed, and my clients have come along with me and aged along with me. That’s why I’ve stuck my flag in the sand for this over 40s movement population, because a lot of it’s getting better these days, but a lot of information has not been targeted at over 40. And until I got into the space, I had no idea about perimenopause, menopause, post menopause, etc.

 

Emily Merrell  06:51

And I think, to your point, so many people, so many people don’t I feel like we focus a lot of our energy in our 20s, trying not to get pregnant.

 

Jennifer Hanway  07:02

A lot of that easy, right? That sex ed. It’s, I mean, barely in the UK, you get barely any sex ed, but it’s literally, like, if I sit next to a boy, I’m gonna get pregnant.

 

Emily Merrell  07:13

1,000% everyone. Hell too. Let’s just add that one in there. Take take you down south, and then in your 30s, you’re trying to get pregnant or trying to figure out how to preserve your fertility on one of those lanes, typically. And then 40s. So talk to me a little bit more. What is perimenopause? When does that usually enter the scene? And then when does menopause take over, perimenopause

 

Jennifer Hanway  07:41

has entered the chat. Yeah, that would be, that’d be a great name for the podcast, actually. So here’s the thing with our 40s, and especially these days as women in our 40s, we could be trying to get pregnant for the first time, or we could be entering perimenopause. So it is such a crazy decade for hormones, and we can still get pregnant in perimenopause. Really, when we cannot get pregnant is when we have been through menopause. Menopause is one day of our lives, and it’s a retrospective diagnosis. So once you have been 12 months without a menstrual period, you are then in it’s the one day after that, 12 months. Anything after that, you are post menopausal. So even if you are in perimenopause, which most women go into, in between their late 30s to mid 40s, but kind of early to mid 40s, it’s more common, you can still get pregnant. And so

 

Emily Merrell  08:38

what are what are some of the symptoms, or what are some of the flags to look out for, for perimenopause?

 

Jennifer Hanway  08:44

And I think we don’t want to call them flags, because perimenopause isn’t a disease, it’s just a natural transition. Just as we go through puberty, we go through perimenopause, but as we say, typically, late 30s through to about mid to late 40s is when women will enter what we call the menopause transition. And you may have here’s the thing. I’ve worked in this space for seven years, hundreds upon hundreds of women. And just as we know, there’s no such thing as a typical woman, there’s no such thing as a typical menopause. And I think something I want to bring to light is menopause is the New Black right now in the health industry and but we’re hearing a lot of doom and gloom. All we hear is the doom and gloom stories. And actually, I’ve spoken to a ton of women who are now post menopausal, and they’re like, Oh, I didn’t even know I was going through it, or it was a bit rough. I had some hot flashes. It wasn’t bad. I had some headaches. I had a little bit of weight gain. But it doesn’t have to be the doom and gloom that we see. So typically, for most women, the first sign that we see is some changes in our menstrual cycle. So your menstrual cycle might become shorter, or it might become longer. Most people, it comes a little bit shorter, and that’s really the first stages of early perimenopause. So in our early perimenopause, we’re starting to see very gradual lowering of estrogen and progesterone and about those two hormones. Now, as we progress through into more of our main perimenopause, that’s when you start to see more of the vasomotor symptoms. So that’s where you hear like the hot flashes and the night sweats and the weight gain and the irritability and the brain fog and the fatigue. But again, those are all the symptoms that we talk about. Not every woman has all of those symptoms, and most women are going to have some symptoms, but it doesn’t have to be terrible for me personally, my period started changing, maybe like a couple of years ago, but nothing major, stress and anxiety. But the thing about women’s health is it’s usually hormones, and whether in our 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, whatever, you know women in our 30s, in our 40s, we have so many stresses. We have so many things affecting our thyroid and our adrenal health. So could my anxiety be perimenopause? Absolutely. Could it just be that I live a really stressful life and I run my own business, absolutely, or could it be both? So it’s really hard to say, what is hormones and what isn’t you can get blood tests. So I had my blood work done a couple of weeks ago, and my numbers show that I’m in perimenopause. But the thing is, is that our hormone levels change so much during the perimenopause transition that lab work isn’t always particularly accurate, because it’s just what’s happening on that day and the next day, you could be totally different.

 

Emily Merrell  11:33

That’s so wild. It’s so wild. How, how different and yet similar it is to what you mentioned with puberty. Like puberty can come in waves. There’s, I feel like, when I got my period, I would have like a two day period, and then like a 30 day period. And you know, your body’s trying to adjust what, what works when. And

 

Jennifer Hanway  11:52

I think, I think the thing for women is to be as proactive about our health as we possibly can be. And our periods are a really good indicator of what’s going on in our body. So having regular periods is not just beneficial. If you want to have you want to be pregnant, having regular periods is a super, super protective for estrogen related diseases. Every time we have a period, we put estrogen in the blank in the bank to protect us from cardiovascular disease, bone loss, muscle loss, etc, etc. So I have friends who are just like, Oh, I haven’t had a you know, they’ve had a baby, and they’re like, Oh, I haven’t had a period for 18 months. It’s brilliant. Or I’m on the contraceptive pill and I’m not having periods, and it’s brilliant. And I I never give, I never want to be an asshole and give unsolicited advice in the back of my head. I’m like, No, you want to put that estrogen in the bank as much as you can. I am so

 

Emily Merrell  12:45

with you on that. I really struggle when people are like, Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you’re off the pill. I feel like I love being on the IUD. I love being on fill in the blank, whatever the situation is, because I don’t have to deal with it. Yeah, and what if we’re taught, what if we were taught to learn to deal with it and loving to deal with it versus this is kind of a gross inconvenience.

 

Jennifer Hanway  13:04

I was the same. I was on the pill. I was put on the pill at 14 or heavy periods. No, I was just 14, and my periods hadn’t regularized yet, and I was overweight and unhealthy and all of those things. And then in my early 20s, if I was going on vacation, I’m like, brilliant. I’m just going to keep taking the pill so I don’t have a period, and I can wear a bikini and not worry about it. That was nice. I want to be very accommodating when we have this conversation about the pill, because there are no great contraceptive alternatives for women. That’s just that out there. So I think it can be it’s such a challenging space for women to navigate, because if we understand the health risks of being on the pill, the health benefits of not being on hormonal contraception, but then there’s also unwanted pregnancies, because there aren’t great options for women, that’s a whole other conversation. So putting it out there, it’s what works best for you. That’s a

 

Emily Merrell  14:02

really great way of saying it. I mean, I feel like the soapbox that I can stand on for a long time is I just wish we could start with teaching women to understand and love our bodies and understand to your point. You’re 14 and you just hadn’t regularized. Your period hadn’t gotten regular. Or there’s two days out of the month that most likely are the days that you could get pregnant. Like, what if we learn to get excited about tracking our body versus, you know, trying to get pregnant and being like, Oh, wow, this is how it works. But

 

Jennifer Hanway  14:34

even before tracking, we need to understand what’s happening in our bodies. Like my husband and I had this conversation the other night. Of you know, I had to Google, are women born with all of the like? It blows my mind that as women, we’re born with all of the eggs we’ll ever have. And then I was like, Well, what size are they when we’re born? And like, there’s so like, there’s so much like, women’s bodies are so amazing. Amazing, but with that amazingness comes complexity and a need to understand. And we’re not taught that in schools. Where do we find this information from

 

Emily Merrell  15:09

1,000% and while the American Girl hand guide to puberty was helpful, it missed a few chapters. When I see you in a couple

 

Jennifer Hanway  15:18

of weeks time, we might have to bring that with you, because I felt like that could be an interesting read.

 

Emily Merrell  15:23

I know I wish I that’s probably in my childhood bedroom. I learned about body odor that way. You know, you learn about hair and where it grows on your body. It was a great book, very comprehensive, but so you had mentioned. You had said you were a 14 you were overweight. How did this? I know you’ve had your ups and downs with your own relationship to your body and also to food. What brought you into the wellness space?

 

Jennifer Hanway  15:50

Um, okay, so going back, you know, I’m 43 now, so going back quite a few years, I was very unhealthy. So I was born in the UK in 1980 so in the 1990s I was a very unhealthy kid and teenage vegetarian, and my vegetarianism came from I love animals. I don’t want to eat animals, fine. And my parents were very accommodative. You know, this was I was 12. My parents were very accommodating of this, but we were a working class family. Both parents worked. It was the 90s. It was the era of processed food. Now, I thank God that I was in the era of processed food in the UK versus the US, anyway, but I would eat a very unhealthy vegetarian diet. Lots of you know, my main staple was pasta with vegetarian cheese. Oh, so you were vegan? Basically no so veget. So I was a teenager. I didn’t know, but vegetarian, you can get vegetarian cheese. Some cheeses are made with, like, granite, which is part of, like an animal’s stomach, or something. I don’t even really remember, but that was, like, my that was my go to so I was, I was over, you know, I’ve never been hugely obese, but I’ve been overweight, and I think from that stemmed gut health issues, which definitely stemmed some anxiety and depression As a teenager and in my early 20s. And so really, I wasn’t I wasn’t metabolically healthy until maybe 1011, maybe 12 years ago. And so that vegetarianism lasted through until I was about 21 then I started eating meat again. But at that age I was then also in my early 20s. I was also in the fitness industry, so I was eating a ton of carbs and a lot of fat, doing a ton of cardio. So I was teaching, we call them legs, bums and Tums in the UK, that spinning Zumba classes like Queen of the hamstring curl and the grapevine and yes, I will teach you guys when we’re we’re together in a couple of weeks time. But I went from really unhealthy, vegetarian diet to a really unhealthy, high carb, low fat, ton of cardio, no strength training, etc, etc. Now, throughout all of this as well, and as a kid in my teens and my 20s, I had really bad gut health issues, and like I would be I remember, like, going for a McDonald’s with my dad, and then being taken to hospital that night, because they thought I had an appendicitis, and it was just my stomach was just like, Hell, no, this doesn’t work for me. Anyway, fast forward to my late 20s, living in London, doing all of the things, not looking after my health whatsoever, and my digestive system stopped and got so bad that I had to be hospitalized and put on a morphine drip. So we were talking about, I’m sure you won’t mind me saying we were talking about your son not pooping this morning. Yeah, when that happens to you as a 28 year old woman for weeks on end, because your digestive system is just so messed up from poor diet, stress, living in London, contraceptive pill, etc, etc. So, long story short, conventional medicine didn’t hold it. You know, apart from, like, oh, you need an antidepressant and a muscle relaxant and a painkiller, it’s IBS. No such thing as IBS. IBS is a collection of symptoms that have a root cause. Conventional medicine didn’t get me anywhere with that. So I was like, All right, let me start finding my own way around this. And because I don’t believe there’s any such thing as coincidence. At the time, I was part of the team that started the first bar studio and lots of like bar classes in London. My boss there and mentor was also a holistic nutritionist and biosignature modulation practitioner. She gave me a couple of tips. I was like, Oh my God. I didn’t realize how I could how I could feel this way, selfishly, I wanted more for myself, and I was like, Well, I’m sure there’s other young women who are going through this. So I did some certifications, decided that certifications are not really enough, if this is what I want to do for the rest of my life, went back to school in part of all. Of this, met my American husband, came over to the US, and this is what I’ve been doing since I moved here in 2013

 

Emily Merrell  20:11

I love the background of like you starting off as vegetarian too, because I, too was an overweight vegetarian raised with, I don’t know if you had mornings, mornings to our farm sausages.

 

Jennifer Hanway  20:23

No, we had Linda McCartney, who was Paul McCartney’s wife, and she had a range of vegetarian foods, and probably very much the same thing. And also corn, which Americans swerve. Corn is like a mushroom derivative that was like, you might as well need a couch. It’s got more nutrient value in it, but yeah, and again, this is not this is definitely no shade against vegetarian diets whatsoever. Vegetarian diets can be incredibly healthy. I work with a lot of vegetarian clients. My programs all accommodate vegetarian and vegan diets, but just like any diet that has a name, it can be unhealthy. And if you’re a teenage vegetarian with parents that don’t know anything about nutrition, and why should they, that’s where you’re going to end up 1,000% and

 

Emily Merrell  21:08

I think that’s that was like the root cause. I feel like vegetarianism, there’s a lot more there’s a lot more knowledge out there. There’s a lot more resources out there. There’s a lot more like alternatives that aren’t processed food that tastes really good, like a sausage that you can put on your bagel, exactly I would do. So then when you and then I love the fact that you said that I hate that you ended up in the hospital with a morphine drip. That must have been a very fun poo

 

Jennifer Hanway  21:36

for you. No with no food, no poo. Oh, no

 

Emily Merrell  21:40

poo, No Poo now. Oh, bummer. But the fact that I do think that it’s these moments, these like challenging moments, these bottom, like your rock bottom of sorts, to help you find a light, to help you figure out this is the direction I would want to go in your life, and that you took it upon yourself to then get those certifications and start exploring it, versus just accepting those five tips from your your mentor. You’re like, No, I want to keep diving deeper on this and deeper on this and deeper on this and helping other people understand what you never did.

 

Jennifer Hanway  22:17

And I think honestly, at the time, it’s so much of it was purely selfish, and I don’t think there’s any, again, no shade against that, because it got me to where I am now, where I help other people. But I honestly, and I think so many people experience this, I honestly thought how I felt and how I looked was the norm, and at this stage, I had lost some weight. You know, I wasn’t hugely healthy, but I was. I was standing in front of, you know, London’s elite in Lululemon when, like Lululemon was the thing, you know. So I had to look a certain way staying there. I didn’t stay there healthily, but I had to look a certain way. So I looked healthy, quote, unquote, on the outside, but inside I was an absolute mess. But I just thought that that was normal, because I didn’t know any different, didn’t know any different. And then when I was like, my god, this is how it feels like when you have a bowel movement once a day and you can actually eat like, not be stressed about every single thing that goes into my mouth, or not be scared about going on a day because I feel like I’m going to have gas. Yeah, you know, those certain things sound crazy, but I was a young woman living in London, like, oh, and regular periods. What the hell are these? You know, that was the selfish thing was, I want more of this, and I want to feel better. But, oh, if I’m going to do this and I can share this with everyone else as well. So

 

Emily Merrell  23:40

Well, how long did it take for you to start feeling better and start feeling like those things were more regular in your life?

 

Jennifer Hanway  23:47

A couple of weeks? And I think that’s that’s the thing that people don’t understand about making changes, is that it can be that quick. And I always say to my clients, I’m like, if you can, I’m like, I can’t perform miracles in two weeks. But if I, if you can give me two weeks, and you can trust me for two weeks, you’re going to start to feel better, you’re going to start to see it in the mirror, and other people are going to start to notice it. And two weeks is a short time. Think how long it takes us to get to ill health. Two weeks is a short time. So yeah, for me, it was two weeks, and it was that feeling better. That was like, All right, let me do more. What else can I do? And so what

 

Emily Merrell  24:23

were the shifts that you did, like, what were the things that you swapped out in your diet? What were some of the things that you added? What were the changes that you for those listening can think can happen in two weeks using X, Y and Z, yeah.

 

Jennifer Hanway  24:36

And I mean, mine was so mine was different because I was in a bad place with my health, um, but it was nothing hugely major. It was like I cut out gluten and dairy. Took a probiotic and some l glutamine, which is a gut healing amino acid. Like nothing, nothing huge, like no crazy juice, bad supplements, etc, etc, um. Now I say that as if that was easy at the time, that wasn’t easy at all. What I can’t have pizza like now. That’s just, I mean, I have dairy these days. I don’t have gluten. But honestly, if I was, if I was saying to your audience, the things that would make the hugest difference. People never want to hear it. But number one is to reduce or eliminate alcohol. No one wants to hear it. I know, I know, but I, I stopped drinking about 18 months ago. Um, so it’s taken me a long time. It took me to 40. I think that’s 42 um, but honestly, reducing or eliminating alcohol, reducing sugar, and eating more at home, like simple, but not easy.

 

Emily Merrell  25:54

And I feel like the eating at home, it’s there’s so many things that we don’t you sure you can order a salad at a restaurant, but where’s the salad from? What else is included in the salad? Oh, there’s croutons on the salad. You didn’t even equate for those and I are eating empty calories, essentially, or once

 

26:13

a week, gonna be the end of the world. But I certainly noticed it, especially when I moved I mean, UK and US. Honestly, the UK is getting as bad as the US. But I just noticed the amount of meals that people here ate out. It was like breakfast, lunch and dinner, and I’m like, number one, how do you afford this? People say to me, isn’t eating healthily? Like, I’m like, But you DoorDash. Apparently every day, like and your annual coffee in the morning, and then probably something so no, but yeah, I think eating more at home can be such a turn. You know, it’s such a change for people, because you have so much more control over what you’re eating. And also it stops us from being disconnected to our food, which I think so many people are disconnected from what we’re eating these days.

 

Emily Merrell  27:03

Such a good point. So those are really easy things, or, like, easy, small tweaks to make, even with alcohol, choosing, maybe to just consume alcohol on the weekends or starting, starting with some small little change of behavior is so huge and can have such a huge impact on your health overall,

 

Jennifer Hanway  27:21

the alcohol one is, it’s the one that no one wants to hear. No one wants to hear. I didn’t want to hear it. I was like, Oh. I was like, I only drink organic red wine or champagne. I’m fine, yeah. And then the thing with my job is that the more everyone says to me, like, how can you be so disciplined and consistent? And I’m like, because I know what the shit does to you, and the more I know, like, the more I know, the more I know. So the and these days, there are so many great non alcoholic options that, like, I trialed a bunch a couple of months ago, like me and my husband had a non alcoholic cocktail. Like, every night of the week was great, but these days, there are some much better options. And I’m not saying you have to give up completely, but reducing can just like it’s a small habit that has such a huge positive impact on your

 

Emily Merrell  28:08

health. And I think the thing about alternatives, I’m so I’m such a fan of the alternatives that exist out there, but just reading the labels too, just some of them are Sugar Bombs, yep, yep, and some of them, most of them aren’t, which is incredible. So you then look at, like, a bottle of Cabernet, and then the faux Cabernet, and it has, like zero, and it’s the even the additives that are in it are, like, so much less than what are in the actual bottle of wine that you’re drinking.

 

Jennifer Hanway  28:36

Yeah, it’s insane. It’s yeah, and you’re absolutely right about reading the labels. There are better companies these days. I read like Little Saints Gia. A lot of the cocktails or the mocktails that have adaptogens in them tend to be, they’re kind of health focused brands, so they tend to be lower sugar. So yeah. So there’s some much better options out there as well.

 

Emily Merrell  28:59

I think those are phenomenal, phenomenal relations for not recommendations. Relationships, recommendations, my work, my brain. Well, speaking of relationships, you had been the workout queen. You were the dancing queen, actually the dancing queen of of the UK. And then, you know, you made this pivot into health coaching. You also made a significant move across the pond to the States, but through the course of your career, you have been you’ve had the chance to work with celebrities. I say, I don’t want to say the opportunity, or like the good fortune, because I am curious to hear if that’s a good fortune or not. But celebrities, you’ve worked with, the British Royal Family, Hollywood, a list stars and Olympic athletes. And first and foremost, I just want to say, I want to reflect back for those listening that stars, they’re just like us. They too, need help with their health and don’t have it figured out. So tell me about that journey into, you know, taking. Few certifications to now being the go to health

 

Jennifer Hanway  30:03

coach. Yeah, I think I’ve never been one to not take an opportunity. So I think it really it started from like I was living so I was born about half an hour outside London. So I was living in London. I was teaching fitness classes, I was teaching dance classes, and there was, and this was, like in my mid, early to mid 20s, and there was this place called Alan salah, and it was bikini boot camp. And if you ever remember shots of Demi Moore running across a beach in a black bikini, that’s where she was at. So it was real celebrity culture time. But this was a health retreat in in Tulum, in Mexico. And by the way, this was, I can’t even read, like, almost 20 years ago now. So Tulum wasn’t Tulum like Tulum was taco shacks and beach wasn’t what it is now. And I was like, You know what? I think I want to go and work there now, the only place you know, I didn’t speak a word of Spanish. I’d never been to Mexico in my life. Mexico to Brits is not what Mexico is to Americans. And I was like, no what? I could quite easily stay in my nice apartment in London with my job for the rest of my life. I was like, Can I swear on this? Yeah, fucking Yeah. I was like. I was like, fuck that. What else is there out there for me? So I sent them any I sent them an email. I was like, Hi, I’m a fitness instructor from the UK and professional dancer. Can I come and work for you? And we got on a call. And of course, Americans love so it’s run by Americans. Americans love the British accent, and the next thing I knew, I’m headed out on a plane to Cancun. Then I ended up in Mexico for almost a year teaching fitness at Amazon’s bikini boot camp. And I was like, All right, this is, this is what I do now. Now, all good things come to an end, and working at Health retreats is very, very different from running health retreats, because you are on call 24/7, and as you can imagine, somewhere like that, it’s not the cheapest option for people to go on vacation. So the clients were they have very high standards. Let’s put it that way. But I decided, after living this life. I wanted to go back to London and I wanted to teach fitness full time, and I didn’t want to have to go back to do because at the time, I was doing like, a part time job, part time teaching fitness. I was like, This is what I want my life to be. So I go back to London and audition for a few places, because you have to audition to teach. And I don’t believe, I believe in fate. I don’t believe there’s anything such thing as coincidence, I auditioned for what became London’s first bar studio, and the woman running it is the woman who I owe my whole career to. Her name’s Nikki, and she used to work for Tracy Anderson. Nikki was in London love all this like you’re like, leaning in for this level. So Nikki was in London to train Gwyneth Paltrow. So Nikki used to work with Tracy Anderson. Nikki was actually the person that got Gwyneth Paltrow in shape, not Tracy Anderson, but Nikki was here working like working on behalf of Tracy Anderson, but fell in love with an Englishman, and could see there was no boutique fitness in the time in the UK. This was 2011 2012 so she opened a bar studio with a friend of hers. Was looking for instructors. I’m an ex professional dancer and fitness instructor. We started this first bar studio with five of us running like 30 classes a week. We were exhausted, burn out, stressed out, the whole thing, but we were building something, and it was really, really fun. And funnily enough, the other British instructor, there was two of us that started at the same time. She actually ended up, she’s in San Francisco, and we both ended up in the US. So I’d worked for a US company in Mexico. I was working for a US company in London, I was used to working with Americans, and because of working at those high end places, you are introduced to high end clients and Royals are very lovely, very friendly, very I will just never forget. So I can only say so much. But remember the royal family walked into you, and I was at the bar studio at the time. This is how this came about. She walked in, and I knew exactly who it was, Oz, and she came in with someone who literally looked like like he looked like he could have been like our dad, but member of what would be the Secret Service in that so like he could have killed you with a four point pen, but he just like, this person said, and anyway, our receptionist was Swedish, and she had no idea who this person was, and I remember her asking for the address.

 

Emily Merrell  34:52

Oh, my God, probably

 

34:53

you can imagine what the address was. And I was just like, I mean. But we could never, when you work with sometimes, when you work with celebrities, it’s always an elephant in the room. And you can never, you can never address the elephant in the room. So I also worked with someone who, I’ll do a sidebar, and we’ll come back. I also worked with someone who was on a, let’s say HBO, most famous show, okay? And I was a huge fan of the show, huge fan of the show. I love that show. And a friend of mine from what an old ex colleague of mine from London said, Sash and Sasha in Boston shooting, would you be able to work with him for a little bit to help support them through? Help support them through this role? And I was like, Yeah, sure. And I Googled who it was, and I because I didn’t recognize the name, and I Googled who it was, and I was like, Tim. I was like, Tim, like this, then you have to go into, you know, I’m a professional, and then you have to go into the space, and I was just like, Oh, I know, you know, such and such. She asked me to support you, blah, blah, blah, and she would always refer to it as the show it was never named. So really, if I kind of go back into it, how I’ve ended up working with celebrity clients is working with higher end boutique fitness and wellness brands anyway, and then also, I’m not going to lie, probably being the right place, the right voice and the right person at the time, like I was in the right place at the right time. But it’s preparation meets opportunity. And talking about those like relationships and opportunities. I know that’s something that you talk about a ton, is I still have opportunities from relationships that I built 1020 years ago, because I’ve just kept those relationships going, and if an opportunity has come up, I’ve been there and I’ve been prepared, and I’ve been say yes and figure it out later, and that has always stood me in good stead. It makes,

 

Emily Merrell  37:04

it makes so much sense, too. I love what you were saying, even about the British, British accent, how Americans? I always think about, What’s that movie Love, actually, when he goes to, like, Minnesota, or some random place, Wisconsin or Minnesota, and he’s, like a 12 there, basically, you know, and he’s with the hottest girl in the hottest town, in the tiniest little town, but in England, no one would even look at him for a second in the second way. So that really resonates. And I love the fact that there’s so much relationship building and also referrals too. It’s like one person who knows and likes and trusts you can really make or break a career. There’s

 

Jennifer Hanway  37:45

been a couple of a couple of people that may you know, and I think the other thing is just kind of saying yes and figuring it out, like moving to Tulum. When I’ve never even been to Mexico and speak a word of Spanish, I can still say that the light is out in the yoga studio in Spanish, that’s very helpful. But I so I think that’s one thing, and then the other thing is, is, is those relationships? And there was a mentor that I had at the bar studio, and I wonder, and she really helped me understand my worth, and she kind of put me on the she put me on this career path that I’m on, I’m on now. And I remember there was a client that wanted me to run, like a health retreat weekend for them. So, like, we would go to a health retreat, but I would be there. I would be training them. I would be choosing from their menu, the whole thing. And I was like, I got no idea how to price this, you know, like, I was a little, I was a baby. I didn’t know anything about business. I was like, I’ve got no idea how to price this. And I was like, I’m going to charge 300 pounds a day, which sounded like a lot of money at the time. And I went to Nikki, my mentor, and she was like, charge 1000 pounds a day. I was like, Excuse me, like she likes writing. She’s like, like, you know, these people were millionaires living in the best areas in London, and she’s like, charge 1000 like, she’s taking you, she’s taking her cousin, she’s taking her nanny. She’s like, charge 1000 and I and the client did not like, fine. And I just feel like relationships like that have been so important. And then I look back, and the other owner of that business then started a health retreat company in Switzerland, and she reached out to me, and she was like, Do you know any nutritionist that would like to come and work in the Swiss Alps over the summer? I was like, me. Me. Like. She was like, you’d want to do that? Course I would. So I went out there and I worked in the Swiss Alps for two summers. And again, health retreats are so hard, but I’m doing three hour hikes in the Swiss Alps. I’m getting all I get to my the most fun thing was I got to develop the menu with a Michelin star chef. So I’m like, I’m like, let’s have chicken and broccoli. For lunch, and he makes this, like, beautiful chicken and broccoli pistachio soup with like, fancy schmancy things. And that was really

 

Emily Merrell  40:07

fun. That’s not what I was thinking. But I was like, Yeah, take this

 

Jennifer Hanway  40:11

and run with it. Yeah. So that was amazing. Like, that opportunity in itself, was amazing. But as part of that opportunity, one of our guests was a dermatologist who has a practice in New York who was like, I’ve been trying to find a nutritionist to come into my business. Haven’t found anyone love what you do? Do you want to come and work with me in New York? Seven years later, we have a thriving business together. She’s been an incredible mentor for me. She’s been the one that’s put me on the path for beauty, nutrition, and it’s part of the new Beauty, brain trust. And so there’s been certain women in my life and relationships that I’ve kept and built that have got me to where I am today. And

 

Emily Merrell  40:57

what an incredible testament to you, but also just the power of maintaining friendships that turn into relationships that can open doors and change your life.

 

Jennifer Hanway  41:07

If you’re good at what you do, if you’re reliable, if you go above and beyond, you make the opportunities for yourself. And it’s not even just that people you are a problem solver to someone else. 1,000%

 

Emily Merrell  41:25

I love that. Okay? Jenny, yeah, so

 

Jennifer Hanway  41:27

many things,

 

Emily Merrell  41:28

so many things, like, so many roads to go down with you, as always in our conversations. How can people find out more about you, about working with you? Are there any cool programs that people can join. What is the

 

Jennifer Hanway  41:42

best place where I where I hang out, is on Instagram. So that’s at Jennifer Hanway. My signature program is called Lean and clean, and it’s a metabolic health program for women over 40. But I also do, if you’re not a woman over 40, doesn’t mean I don’t ever want to talk to you. I do solution sessions, so little half an hours or an hour if you want to pick my brains on something, or you want to have a food diary review, or you want to hear more about when I talk taught Zach Efron how to do the foxtrot. That’s something we get to I know we’re gonna have to do a part two, Emily, I

 

Emily Merrell  42:13

know. Let’s do an Instagram Live. We’ll do an Instagram Live. This is amazing. Yeah, I

 

Jennifer Hanway  42:18

would say hop over and come find me Jennifer Hanoi, or just shoot me an email, hello at Jennifer hanoi.com Like, if you put Jennifer hanoway into Google, you’ll find me.

 

Emily Merrell  42:28

Yeah, and you will not be disappointed, because she’s amazing, and all of her resources, her website, too, has so many fabulous recipes. I was looking at, like, what I’m going to make tomorrow, just looking at chopping your your recipe booklet on your website was great. But before we leave, because I know this went by way faster than I thought I would, which is amazing, always the case with us. But I want to, I want to dig into some fun, fast questions with you.

 

Jennifer Hanway  42:54

I love it. Let’s do it. Okay,

 

Emily Merrell  42:56

tell me an unknown fun fact. And you totally could have used that Zafar on one, I can use

 

Jennifer Hanway  43:00

the Zakat on one. Um, I’ve been to multiple movie premieres. Oh, and I got kissed on the cheek by Will Smith at the movie premiere of bad boys too. Oh,

 

Emily Merrell  43:13

he was such a naughty boy. Um, who would be a dream person to be connected with or to work with.

 

Jennifer Hanway  43:22

Oh, so really, great question. Honestly, any woman that needs me, okay,

 

Emily Merrell  43:32

you don’t ever look at a celebrity and you’re like, God, I wish I could help her. I wish she called me.

 

Jennifer Hanway  43:39

Probably yes, but I feel like celebrities have a lot of resources, whereas, like, the average woman is probably frazzled, doesn’t know who to trust, doesn’t know what to look at, is completely overwhelmed. So like, send me the woman who has tried, like, 1,000,001 different diets and is miserable on a juice cleanse, and I’m like, we’re going to eat some food, we’re going to lift some weights, we’re going to manage your stress, and you are gonna get your sex drive back, and you’re gonna look amazing in

 

Emily Merrell  44:05

a bikini. I love it. Where were you when I did all of those juice cleanses? Oh, my God, so many juice cleanses, organic Avenue in New York City. I’d spend like, hundreds of dollars doing, like a full week juice cleanse. Yeah, love juice, but not like that. Okay, what TV show are you currently watching?

 

Jennifer Hanway  44:22

So fun fact, we don’t have a TV. We don’t have a TV we watched way too much. So when my husband and I first started dating, neither of us had a TV, and then we had one when we moved here, and then we watched way too much TV during the pandemic. And then when we moved house, we were like, Let’s put the TV in storage and not watch it so we don’t have a TV. I do watch things on my laptop. Like I have to really want to watch something. I’m a huge sci fi geek, so I’m re watching the Umbrella Academy right now. Oh, I love it. The new ones out, the new ones out. I’ve watched the whole the new one. The. Last series wasn’t crazy, yeah, but yeah, so I love sci fi and the Umbrella Academy and the cast, and not too difficult on the eye either. Yeah,

 

Emily Merrell  45:10

not a hard one. Well, I will try to finish it before I see you so we can talk Umbrella Academy. What book are you currently reading? Or do you recommend everyone and their mom reads.

 

Jennifer Hanway  45:21

So I’m an only child, so I read a ton. I’ve usually got like at night again, I read sci fi or historical wartime romance or like women in World War Two. That’s what I read before I go to bed. And then in the mornings, I read self help, health, business, all of those kind of things. Honestly, 10x is better than 2x i think is the book that everybody should read

 

Emily Merrell  45:49

right there. I’m halfway through it. Love it.

 

Jennifer Hanway  45:52

I love it.

 

Emily Merrell  45:53

I was listening to it too, and I didn’t, I didn’t love him. I don’t know. I think I need to reread it again too. Sorry,

 

Jennifer Hanway  45:59

yeah, he’s not the one to listen to on like a podcast or an audiobook, but his books are really good.

 

Emily Merrell  46:05

Are really good, okay? Um, yeah, no, I completely agree with you. What is this is a really important question, so I hope you put some effort into this one. But what is your favorite emoji?

 

Jennifer Hanway  46:18

Oh, I know you’re making me choose one top two. I always felt like, like, I go in and out of therapy and seeing a therapist, and I always want to be like, when my therapist has been like, how is your week? I want to be like, this is the emoji that I used the most this week, right? Yep, um, one. I probably use zany face and like the blushing hug one. Those are my two together.

 

Emily Merrell  46:48

They were hugging and insane all at once. And then my final question for you today, Jennifer is, what permission Do you want to give our listeners today?

 

Jennifer Hanway  46:58

Oh, to go for it and figure it out later. Because I did that with my career. I did that with my marriage. I just I say yes and I figure it out. And if you can’t figure it out, it’s not meant for you. But just say, like, no one knows what they’re doing when they first like, there’s so many things with work that I’ve been like, I’ve got no clue what I’m doing, but I’ve either figured it out or decided it wasn’t for me.

 

Emily Merrell  47:26

I think that is phenomenal advice, and so timely, just no matter where you are in your life, in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, it’s a continual work in progress. And Jennifer, thank you so much for being today’s guest. Was so fun for having me. And again, we will have to do a part two, because there’s so much more goodness to uncover tips and tricks that I want to delve into celebrity gossip. Celebrity gossip. And listeners, if you like this episode, go connect with Jennifer, follow her on Instagram, check out our website, and we’ll see you the next time on the second degree. Have a great day, everyone. You