 Today we're excited to welcome someone who is building a whole new table for women. Shannon Wagner joins us to talk about founding Women's Strength Coalition. This is School of Hustle, the show where we find advice and inspiration from people who are making their own way. I'm Shannon, the VP of Social Hierarch Go Daddy, and I live and breathe the hustle of business. Today we're filming from the hustle of it all at the WeWork Time Square in New York City. Everybody, let's give Shannon the biggest warmest welcome. Thank you so much for having me here today. You're welcome. It's so great to have you. As founder of Women's Strength Coalition, you don't believe that women need a seat at the table, but you believe that we need a whole new table and you're building that. How does WSC build that table? Absolutely. So we build that table by connecting and supporting people all over the country. So our nonprofit is a national network of like-minded fitness professionals, athletes, and coaches coming together to build stronger communities through increased access to strength training. And I saw on your website that you educate, you connect, and you support. Yes, absolutely. So we believe in education as being a fundamental aspect of advocacy. So a lot of our fundraising is not only raising money for causes that matter to us and for other nonprofits that align with our mission and vision. We also center our events around education on why that work is so important. And you've actually raised over $220,000 for those other nonprofits. So there are nonprofits all over the country that are doing phenomenal work inside of their own communities. And they don't always get the recognition that they deserve, and they don't always get the funding that they deserve. So we really want to make sure that the people that are most capable of creating change inside of their community are given the opportunity to and are being paid the salary that they deserve as well. And you've amassed over 500 volunteers. Yes, yes. My God, that's a lot to me. It is a lot. It is. It's a lot. And why do people volunteer with you? What kind of value do they get from that? And what sort of reasons do they have for doing so? You know, there's just so many people all over the country that have found that fitness and strength training and lifting weights in particular often have had such a positive influence over their own life and their own sense of self and their sense of self-efficacy in the world. And they really want to allow other people to have the opportunity to experience that if they want it. So it's just a great opportunity for our volunteers to see their work make an impact in real time. And how do people know how to volunteer? Yeah, so we have a Facebook group. People can also fill out a little form on our website or write in to hello at womenstrengthcoalition.com. There's any number of ways that they can volunteer that we can tell you. But the most exciting thing is when somebody hears about us and they want to get involved and they have their own idea for an initiative and we can come together and build their idea. Why was it personally valuable to you to found WSA? So I come from a history of abuse. I have struggled with an eating disorder for most of my life and for me, strength training, lifting weights allowed me to redefine not only the way that I see myself but really the way I see my role in society. It allowed me to build personal power and to feel strong and safe in my body for the first time. So I wanted to find a way to make that more accessible to people if they were interested in it. And how did you find the courage to come out with your personal story like that? There are so many amazing people all over the world that share their stories and you see them doing that and it inspires you to open up and you realize that everybody has a story and I'm not unique in that. Yeah, that when people realize that they're not alone and other people share that story that is what the essence of community is all about. Oh, absolutely, yes. How do you believe that you are changing or influencing people's lives? You know, the fitness industry for such a long time has taught people that in order to achieve happiness they have to change the way that they look or they have to conform to society's standards or beauty ideals. And we're really trying to say that physical fitness and exercise is a way for you to embody yourself fully. It's a way for you to inhabit yourself. It is not about changing the way you look. It is not about achieving a certain dress size and your worth in this world is not centered around what your body looks like. And I'm not the first person to say that, certainly. We have a lot of people within our community that believe that and that want to share that through fitness and by bringing those people together we're able to use our collective strength to impact the world in a meaningful way. Thank you so much for opening up and sharing your story and for helping so many people. It's an awesome, awesome nonprofit. Now we're gonna pick things up a bit and play a little game that we call Hustle Time. Are you ready? I'm ready, yes. This is gonna be fun. So the spirit of Hustle Time is that we set a timer for 60 seconds and see how many cards you can get through. Might I have 60 seconds on the clock, please? Okay, tell me when. Early bird or night owl? Early bird. Coffee or tea? Coffee. Favorite part of your day? Morning. Best part of your workout? Bench press. Personal trainers effective or too much cash? It depends. Great. Yay or nay? Great. As a flavor? Nay. London or New York? New York. Ideal, fake sick day? Beach. Would you rather visit Lickerish Castle or Peppermint Forest? Peppermint Forest. M&M's or Skittles? Would you go back in time? Who would you want to meet? Zelda Fitzgerald. Favorite kid from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Whoever turns into a blueberry? Most powerful emotion, anger or love? Love. Which would you rather add to your life, time or value? Time. Meatballs or fish? Meatballs. First record you bought with your own money? Oh, I believe it was Operation Ivy. Favorite Disney movie? It's a movie. Um, remember? Dream dinner guest? Time. I still want to know, though. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. Wow. Nicely done. 18. Favorite part of your day? Morning. Best piece of advice you've ever gotten? Ooh, um, to view your next step in life through the lens of what would you do if you knew you couldn't fail? Ooh. Worst piece of advice? Um, prioritize paying yourself first. How do you use your career to inspire others? You know, I never really think about inspiring others. I have had people tell me it's inspiring to see somebody throw themselves so fully at a project. Ever felt like walking away? I'm sure that's only natural. One thing you still need to learn? I need to learn how to divorce my personal life and my happiness from the highs and lows of the business. What do you want people to learn from you? Just to not compare yourself to others, not compare your path to somebody else's. You know, what might look like success. You just don't know what it took to get there, and people make a lot of assumptions, and it's best just to have tunnel vision. What's next for you? Sure, so right now I'm pretty much married to our first brick and mortar location in Brooklyn, New York. We just opened up our gym. It's called Strength for All. So just getting that off the ground. That's what's happening right now. Thank you very much. Who inspires you? People that have been through a lot of in life, a lot of hardship and struggle, and still manage to show up for themselves every day with love and compassion. Who challenges you? In a good way, I would say everybody that's a part of Women's Strength Coalition, they really challenge me to look outside of myself and to identify my blind spots and mitigate my own biases so that I can do better work. We let everyone in social know you were coming. And I pulled a question that I loved. How do you raise awareness for your cause? What keeps you motivated? Sure, so as I mentioned earlier, we do a lot of education and we do storytelling through social media. I think it's really important that we listen to people's lived experiences and then also pass them the mic on it so that they're able to tell and share their own story. As far as staying motivated, I've personally found that motivation can be fleeting, but I have made a commitment to this organization that is unwavering. So I'm going to do anything and everything I can to make it work. Well, we have one more question for you in terms of advice. And it comes from our pug Noodle, who we all love. But Noodle is on summer break. Seriously, this is Noodle's Instagram right now. Like seriously, isn't this hilarious? This one, Noodle's currently on vacation upstate visiting grandma and her sweet and woeful innocent dog Wendell. Noodle has been here for only a few hours and already he has stolen Wendell's bone, Wendell's bed and Wendell's favorite spot. Please note how greedily he gums his way through someone else's property. Is he not having the best time? But he was really excited that you were coming. And he did ask me to check in with you on some advice that he needs. He also invited a friend of his. We have the Noodle double today while Noodle's on holiday. Noodle was much more active in his younger days, okay? But Noodle wants to get back to the gym. He doesn't know how long he has necessarily to get back and do what he wants to do. So while he's still able, he wants to get back to the gym. Is it ever too late to start strength training? It is never too late to start strength training, period. The end, never. I have an 87-year-old client. I love that. Age, age is nothing but a number. That's right. Well, thank you. Thank you for that. If people that want to try strength training do not be intimidated. There's someone out there that can help you. We are here. Okay, you hear that Noodle? Noodle double? Okay. Well, as always, when we close, we like to leave everybody with a final thought. So I'm going to read three quotes and ask you to listen and think about the one that resonates the most and let me know which one it is and why. Okay? Number one, do one thing every day that scares you. Number two, we delight in the beauty of the butterfly but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty. Number three, it is only after you've stepped outside of your comfort zone that you begin to change, grow, and transform. I'm going to say number two. I think it's really important to show every single part of your journey to be honest about how you arrived at where you've arrived in both life and business. And maybe if we're all a little bit more open and sincere and honest with each other, it can sort of change the way we view success and the way we view other people and we can all live life with a little more compassion. Thank you for that. And thank you so much for opening up today. Thanks for having me. Really, really appreciate having you on the show. I hope everyone enjoyed watching and I would encourage everyone to follow Go Daddy across social because we are bringing fabulous entrepreneurs every week across social. Let everyone know how they can follow you. Oh, sure. So you can follow me at Shannon Kim Wagner on Instagram. But more importantly, please follow my nonprofit at Women's Strength Coalition on Instagram. Follow Women's Strength Coalition, follow Go Daddy and we will bring more School of Hustle to you soon. Thank you. Bye.