We’re continuing our celebration of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month (US) by traveling to Montreal. There we find two badass women, Janick (she/her) + Silvana (she/her), who are waking up early to bring their community together for fun, fitness, and connection.
Content warning: Please note that in the second to last question, that asks “how you celebrate IWD”, Silvana’s response includes mentions of violence against women, including statistics and specifics words synonymous with sexual violence. There is a *** page break and picture of Silvana in a pink shirt before this question if you’d like to skip over it.
- Who are some of the women in the world of running/sport that you look up to?
Silvana: I absolutely love Simone Biles – American gymnast, Soraya Jimenez – Mexican weightlifter (first ever mexican female athlete to win an Olympic gold medal) and Yusra Mardini – Syrian swimmer and member of Refugee Olympic Athletes Team (trying to flee the war in Syria, Yusra amongst others helped pull a boat with more refugees across the Aegean sea).
- When did you first #JustShowUp to NP? How did you come across NP? What is it that you were looking for in a fitness group? How did NP provide that? What was an “extra” that NP has that you found value in?
Janick: I first showed up at NP on a grey winter morning 5 years ago. It was PR day. I’d just made a new friend at a run group and wanted to show her some support at the workout group she lead. I come from a very competitive sports background (hello fellow figure skaters!) and NP has helped me peel these layers away, be happy and proud of my fellow members in and out of the workout no matter what because we’re all doing our best and that is amazing.
Silvana: The first time I showed up to NP was back in October 2017, just a month after moving to Montreal from having lived my entire life in Mexico City. I heard of NP for the first time because my first friend in the city attended NP Boston regularly when he was studying there. I thought I was looking for a fitness group and some motivation to keep myself active during the winter months but I found a community. I felt so alone in the city, I didn’t know anyone and suddenly that group of people became my first safe space. They taught me how to dress for winter (LAYERS!!!), how to walk in the snow and later how to run in the snow. I was really afraid of negative temperatures and next thing I knew, I was already doing burpees at -27 C.
- What apprehensions did you have as you considered coming for the first time? What was your first impression? Why did you keep showing up?
Janick: I didn’t really have any apprehensions coming in because I didn’t know what to expect. My first impression was “wow, these people are so happy to be up early, I may have found my people” I kept showing up because of the community, they made me feel welcome and taught me that it was ok to be silly.
Silvana: I’ve always been self-conscious about English not being my first language and when I showed up I realized the workout was bilingual (English-French)! I had to learn some of the key words in French and just imitate what everyone else was doing lol I am a loud and cheerful person so I definitely loved all the shouting and excitement at 6.29AM, like why not?! I kept showing up because I needed a routine, I wanted to meet people and I loved the challenge of getting out of my comfort zone, exercise-wise but also the challenge of braving the weather.
- What does it mean to you to be a woman Co-leader? What does it mean to your community? What does it mean to our global community?
Janick: Being a woman Co-leader means that we get to show up, do our best, and show our fellow women that we don’t have to be the fastest or strongest. We just need to show up and be kind to our fellow members.
Silvana: Being a woman Co-leader at NP Montreal feels natural because we’ve always had women Co-lead in our city. In the wider Montreal fitness community we have many examples of great women leaders of their own group organizing incredible events and developing projects that make the world a little bit better every time so being a woman Co-leader doesn’t sound so crazy in Montreal. We always need more representation locally and globally, especially women of colour, but I believe little by little we’re moving in the right direction.
- How does being a woman influence your leadership? What was it like to be a woman in your community before you stepped into leadership?
Janick: I’ve been lucky enough to have always had women Co-leaders who have been great models and are very supportive to this day. I think being a women Co-leader gives the opportunity to explore different facets of the workout or how we approach it. There are the general assumptions and expectations we all have from growing up in a world that was catered for and molded by men. We try and not recreate how we felt seeing these things and do our best to break down these ideas.
Silvana: At the beginning I felt like I had to act tougher to be “acknowledged” as a proper Co-leader because I am not Canadian, I’m short, too smiley, empathetic and quick to laugh but who ever said that leaders have to be native English/French speakers, all straight faces and tall? Later I felt more comfortable in my own skin redefining my own ideas of what a Co-leader is and actually realizing I like the way I am in front of a group and seeing my sensitivity as an asset instead of a flaw. Before stepping into leadership I had never been challenged with all these ideas of who I am, as a member everything was so uncomplicated.
- Did you have any apprehensions to lead this group? Did you experience imposter syndrome when you were asked to lead?
Janick:I definitely had imposter syndrome when I was asked to lead, I still do! Lol! I was afraid that I wouldn’t be taken seriously because my fitness level was less than beast mode. The two previous Co-leaders convinced me that this was actually a great thing and would give the image of the group being more open and accessible to others.
Silvana: Yes to both, 100%. My first thought was always about the language and my accent. It took so much of me to just accept that I would make mistakes in front of a lot of people, not just people from Montreal, and be okay with it. I kept thinking about the other NP cities whose first language is not English and I just wanted to be like their Co-leaders and feel relaxed when interacting with everyone else. Also, I don’t have the same popular culture as most people that grew up here so it takes me a bit longer to catch all the references or be spontaneous but I’m always learning something new. At the beginning I also felt I was not good enough because I’m not the strongest, the fittest, nor the fastest member so why would other people choose to listen to me? Then I realized it’s not about me, it’s about the community. We want to move together and at the same time build a safe space for everyone in our group, two things that have a huge impact on mental health and quality of life. This shit can literally save lives, especially post pandemic, it’s worth it.
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- How do you celebrate International Women’s Day? How can others celebrate you or celebrate with you this day? How can we celebrate you all year long?
Janick: Just tell a woman in your life that she makes a difference and that you are happy she is there.
Silvana: As I mentioned before, I was born and raised in Mexico and the situation towards women and girls over there is different compared to the US and Canada. In Mexico we don’t celebrate Women’s day, we commemorate it. Each year on March 8th women protest in various ways against the high levels of violence, femicides, rape, kidnapping and lack of basic rights. Every day in Mexico 10 women are murdered by their partners or a man close to them, every 18 seconds a woman is raped and 90% happen at home. 95% of perpetrators in Mexico won’t be convicted and 99.7% of cases will go unreported. That’s why on March 8th we name the victims, retell their stories and we commemorate their life as well as their absence, to remind us why we keep fighting.
- What else do you want people reading this to know? About being a woman in leadership or anything else you’d like to share.
Silvana: At the beginning I didn’t know if I would be good enough for a leadership role but those thoughts were because of internal biases I didn’t know I had. If you’re kind of doubting if you want to get out of your comfort zone, I say take that opportunity, say yes and instead of trying to fit into a specific role, make that role yours and redefine it into what you want it to be.
