Tunde Oyeneyin,<\/a> 36, has gained national attention from her platform as a cycling instructor for Peloton, the internet-connected stationary bicycle program with 5.9 million account members. She did not just walk onto the Peloton stage and start peddling. Her hill climb to the top had plenty of mountains and valleys along the way.<\/p>\n Her newly published memoir, SPEAK, FIND YOUR VOICE, TRUST YOUR GUT, AND GET FROM WHERE YOU ARE TO WHERE YOU WANT TO BE<\/a>,<\/em> chronicles her journey of self-discovery, which, as it turns out, has as many ups and downs as a hilly bike ride. Tunde hopes the book will serve as a blueprint for others as they face life\u2019s obstacles.<\/p>\n She begins with body image and how she transformed her life by facing pre-teen weight issues affecting her every move. The daughter of Nigerian parents, Tunde grew up in Katy, Texas. It\u2019s hard to believe that this fit, 5\u2019 7\u201d ever smiling celebrity instructor and mentor to so many was a chubby little girl who learned early how to change her life. In third grade, when sharing weight, a classmate exclaimed, \u201cTunde\u2019s in the hundreds!\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, she was so much a plus-size that her mother sewed two bridesmaids\u2019 dresses together so she could be part of the wedding party.<\/p>\n \u201cNo matter who we are, no matter where we are, no matter what we are going through or whether we\u2019ve asked for it, we all have that one moment when we see clearly how life might change,\u201d Tunde said.<\/p>\n The summer before 10th grade, she heeded her mother\u2019s advice, \u201cif this is something that\u2019s important to you, you\u2019re going to have to make a change,\u201d Tunde joined the gym and stopped eating fast food. Two burgers were the norm. With no real plan in mind, she walked to the gym, used the cardio machines, and paid attention to her food intake. She lost 30 pounds and returned to school in her new self, fitting into clothes she always wished she could wear.<\/p>\n \u201cThat day, I was wearing a skintight patterned yellow-and-eggplant off-the-shoulder top with a high-waisted pencil skirt that had a slit up the side and tan wedges. I felt great. I walked across the gym to say hi to the coach\u2026then the unthinkable happened.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the popular girls wanted to know how she lost so much weight. \u201cHow did you do it,\u201d she asked. Tunde was not unpopular, she said and had lots of friends. She attended a big high school where football was the number one thing. She was one of the only Black kids in her class in a middle-class school where many of her classmates wore the latest fashions.<\/p>\n The attention she received was a turning point. Not because she was noticed for the weight loss, but because she \u201callowed my insecurity to imprison me and even the validation of others couldn\u2019t have changed it.<\/p>\n Years later, she came to the realization that body image is not just about the weight. \u201cYour mind is your strongest muscle. It holds the key to your belief about the way you feel and the way you see yourself,\u201d she said. \u201c\u2026If the space doesn\u2019t fit, find a new one.\u201d<\/p>\n In sixth grade, Tunde\u2019s mother allowed her to start wearing makeup. She became so good at applying makeup to herself and then her friends that by the time she reached college, she transformed her passion into a job as a makeup artist at a department store.<\/p>\n A year before graduating college, she was enticed to move to Los Angeles by her close friends from sixth grade, Kristy and her older sister Kim. Kim became a singer and dancer from a young age, an American Idol contestant and then a TV show host. With the promise of an internship as a make-up artist with the TV Guide Channel, Tunde packed her bags and headed west with $500 in her pocket. Before even arriving, the internship fell through. With her expertise, however, she was able to land a make-up artist job in a Beverly Hills department store.<\/p>\n She began to travel through her job. On one trip to New York City, she came to another life-changing turning point. Heading to a gym, she stumbled into her first spinning class. She was immersed in the dark, multi-colored lit room pulsating with music without understanding what she was about to experience, not even with her own cycling shoes or water bottle.<\/p>\n For perhaps the first time, she experienced the feeling that draws many athletes to their sport, whether it is hiking, golf, tennis, horseback riding, Tai Chi, or cycling. It\u2019s that euphoric feeling combined with complete focus on what you are doing at the moment \u2026 an escape from thinking of the day-to-day tasks or anything else.<\/p>\n Hard to believe, she decided after that class that she would be \u201ccycling for the rest of my life. And not only that, but I\u2019d be teaching it to others. On the world\u2019s biggest platform.\u201d<\/p>\n And so she did. After honing her skills at an L.A. cycling studio, she was invited to try out as a Peloton<\/a> instructor in New York. Although she was not chosen in the first round, she did make it later and has gone on to be one of the most popular instructors.<\/p>\n Tunde likens life to be like a cycling class. As her pupils of all ages sweat the big drops, they are also treated to \u201cTunde-isms,\u201d her mix of revelations that challenge riders to push themselves both on and off the bike.<\/p>\n Through her teachings and connecting with people from her seat, she has developed a philosophy she calls SPEAK. \u201c\u2026It is the movement I\u2019ve created for others, using five key pillars: Surrender, Power, Empathy, Authenticity, and Knowledge.\u201d These words shape her philosophy and inspire others. Throughout her memoir, she explains her philosophy and offers inspiration on how you can apply it to your own life.<\/p>\n The rise of Tunde to success did not come without hardships. She lost her brother at a young age, and her father in 2012, followed three years later by the death of her mother. With each roadblock came a renewed perseverance for Tunde.<\/p>\n Today she has a net worth of over $3 million, is the 7th most followed of all of the Peloton instructors, training millions worldwide from her bike on a podium and on Instagram<\/a> with 558,000 followers. In 2021, she was named a face of Revlon cosmetics and a Nike athlete<\/a>. And now, at the young age of 36, she has her first book \u2026 a memoir that will inspire every generation, bring you to tears, laugh, and smile.<\/p>\n Looking forward to the sequel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Celebrity cycling instructor chronicles her self-discovery in new memoir<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12985,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160,161],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2022","category-fall-2022-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12955"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13691,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12955\/revisions\/13691"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Speak-Cover.650-194x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Chronicling a Journey of Self-Discovery<\/h3>\nMakeup Artist to Inspirational Coach<\/h3>\n
Tunde’s Philosophy: SPEAK<\/h3>\n