V: Hi Females of Filadelphia followers! Another Sunday, another #NewStorySunday. Today I have Molly and Annamarie, former high school classmates of mine, to talk about how their healthier lifestyles led them to launching an ebook. But I want you to hear it straight from them, so Molly and Annamarie tell me a bit about yourselves, and what got you started on this journey to a healthier lifestyle.
MOLLY: I was always fairly active until 9th grade when I started focusing more on music. I always had an interest in fitness, and mostly running. In middle school, it definitely stemmed from the wrong areas like wanting to be thinner and skinnier. I would just run a lot and not eat a lot of things that I thought weren’t good. Then I started developing an interest in what my body could do- hitting certain running times or doing certain exercising classes. This really opened me up to what fitness can do. With time I also started to realize that it is not all about your body, but more about your health and inner qualities. I also really kept running because I love it, it just makes me feel better. Then I went to the University of Pittsburgh. Now I am majoring in information science and minoring in computer science, and I want to combine fitness and technology in the future.
ANNAMARIE: I’m Annamarie! I’m a marketing and finance double major, with a Data Analytics certificate and minor in French. So when I was in middle school, I had a pretty bad eating disorder. A lot of my post-recovery life, was monitored. I started gaining weight again, but it was so hard trying to find a balance again. I was finally able to work out and I was finally able to choose what foods I could eat, but I didn’t how to do either. I didn’t want to work out too much or work out too little. By senior year of high school, I started to finally get to a healthy balance. If I worked out that was great, and if I didn’t work out that was great too. But I was only going to work out if it made me feel good. If I ever don’t feel good doing it, I will stop. I want to share that passion for healthier living with other girls, and I know Molly does too.
V: How did you go from living healthier to creating AURA (Activate. Understand. Recreate. Achieve) to writing an ebook?
MOLLY: So initially on our own, Annamarie had a recovery instagram and I had my fitness instagram, and we both posted on that a lot. Both of those accounts were very much for ourselves and to help other girls. But then when we got to college and joined a sorority, people would always ask us how to workout or to come with them to the gym. Everyone was asking us the same questions. So we originally just wanted to copy and paste a few workouts and recipes onto a google doc. We had no intention of monetizing it. After I put in a lot of recipes and she put in a lot of work outs, we realized we had a TON of content. We opened up Canva, an online graphic editing site, and started designing things around the workouts. That’s when we realized it was going to be a lot bigger than we originally thought. Then we started really thinking about the advertising components of it- a slogan, a logo, the name. Then we created a deadline for the launch, which was September 1st.
ANNAMARIE: Not only that but we set a lot of other deadlines for ourselves. And we didn’t realize we had such a big product until it all came together. As soon as we pressed the submit button, we were so excited!
V: Where do you guys get your inspiration for exercises and recipes?
MOLLY: As for the recipes, I always had such an interest in cooking, and I was always able to make large, nutritious meals. People oftentimes have the misconception that if you are making a big meal, it is unhealthy. They think you have to eat a little salad with chicken, but I tried that in middle school, and it’s not sustainable. My aunt’s always been a really good cook, I think that’s where I really got inspired. And now I’ll look through Instagram for a lot of recipes and ideas. But it’s also a lot of experimenting. It’s all about making quick and easy meals, because I don’t have time to measure out this spice and that spice. All the recipes are things you can make in twenty to thirty minutes. I love making healthier versions of a normal meal or making desserts with more nutritious value. It’s all about keeping what you usually eat and modifying it.
ANNAMARIE: She’s such a good cook and she’s always making new recipes. Just the other day she made an amazing cake with mashed chickpeas, chocolate chips, canned pumpkin and protein powder, and it was so delicious and nutritious [now on the Instagram!]. She really just makes it up! All the recipes in the book are from her, but she also does some of the workouts.
MOLLY: I’ve also noticed that ever since we started writing this book, I’ve started writing my workouts more and she’s started experimenting with recipes more. We have really been feeding off of each other.
V: What tips would you give someone who wants to write their own ebook?
MOLLY: I would say find what makes you unique. For us that was just relating ourselves to our customers. We struggle just like the other college students buying/reading our book. It was all things we were really passionate about. But also, I would say people need to just start. Write something down. It will snowball into something else. Don’t be afraid that your idea won’t become something larger. We didn’t think we would be here now.
ANNAMARIE: Yeah we had no idea! Really you just can’t be afraid to start.
V: What keeps you guys motivated to continue working out? I know for me personally, I hate going to the gym. I hate even doing light exercises.
MOLLY: Well for me, I know exercising stemmed from wanting to look a certain way. But as time went on, I started realizing the importance of health. I want to live until I’m 105. Spending thirty minutes a day to release those endorphins is so good for your health. My skin and hair all look better when I workout. It’s really for my health, and I look forward to working out. And that’s what we emphasize with the book. We want people to feel healthier and look forward to their workout.
ANNAMARIE: That’s the whole premise behind the book. We don’t tell you what to do each week. Instead we give you 120 workouts and you get to choose. It gives you freedom and allows you to enjoy the process a lot more. If you love the workouts you are doing, it’ll be better than starting a program you don’t enjoy and never finishing it.
V: What comes next for AURA? Like a possible podcast? Or a YouTube channel?
MOLLY: After our book release, we slowed down a bit. This happened not only because we are college students, but because we wanted to focus a lot of our efforts on selling the book. But now that break is coming, we want to move things forward. We want lots of content to go out there. We’ve been planning each day out so that we always have content going up. I’ve also been writing down a lot of recipes so that if we reach, let’s say 50 recipes, we can put out another smaller ebook, for example.
ANNAMARIE: Content is super important and we want to keep pushing out more of it. We were also thinking about starting a mini coaching program with maybe five girls. We could spend time with them or recommend workouts to them. That’s an idea. But it’s all in the works.
MOLLY: We also had some order of tank tops in the past, so we could do another order of merch. We really just want to keep putting out content and maybe have another big release soon!
V: Ooo I love merch. Where can people buy your ebook and tanks (if those are still available)?
MOLLY: To get the ebook go on our website (www.create-your-aura.com) and buy it like on any other e-commerce site. We also have email subscriptions that you can sign up for on the website. We have an Instagram and Facebook if you want any new product updates as well.
V: Okay last but not least, fun question time: What are your favorite recipes from the book?
MOLLY: I would say my favorite is overnight oats or the banana cookies, in terms of sweets. I love sweets! But then I also love the homemade sweet potato fries.
ANNAMARIE: Oh those are really good; all of Molly’s recipes are really good. For me, I would say, if I could eat desserts for all my meals, then it would be the banana cookies or protein balls. They’re super easy to make and the recipes are in the book.
V: Wow, I really have to buy this book and start learning how to cook. All these desserts are making me extra hungry! Anyway, thank you so much for your time Molly and Annamarie! It was great seeing how people from my own high school are succeeding, and doing what they love. I hope everyone is inspired by your story to follow their passions and live a more healthy lifestyle! Make sure to check out their website www.create-your-aura.com and Instagram @create_your_aura for more information! Make sure to stay tuned for the next story on @FemalesOfFiladelphia 🙂
Xoxo, V