Episode 314: Keeping It Real with the Super Mamas: Look for the Helpers

TW: This episode discusses the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. 

Almost two weeks ago, 17 students and 2 teachers lost their lives in an elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. During this podcast episode, we have a conversation about our feelings that day and the days following. We are heart broken for the city of Uvalde, but also in awe of the people who came together to support & comfort the victims’ families in need and the surrounding community. We don’t have any answers as to why this happened or how it can be stopped going forward. All we want is to open the door to conversation about our thoughts & feelings about Uvalde, Buffalo and other communities who have experienced tragedy, what our children are feeling, and how we can continue to support one another when these events happen. What we do know is that we won’t forget what has happened in Uvalde or any other community who has experienced this type of loss, and when we need it most, the kindness of community is always there to help. 

We would love to speak to other community members who can give us more insight, resources and more on what we can do to help. If anyone is open, we would love to have them on the show. Please email us at hello@supermamas.com with suggestions. 

What You Can do to help

Donate to the families on the verified gofundme pages.

Write letters to the surviving children and families. You can mail them directly to the school:
Robb Elementary
715 Old Carrizo Rd.
Uvalde TX 78801

Donate to José Andrés’ @wckitchen. Your donation allows local restaurants to provide meals to the community, especially children. Helping the community with space to grieve without worrying about meals.

Donate to the Robb School Memorial Fund. The First State Bank of Uvalde has opened a memorial fund for the families of Robb Elementary. All proceeds will go the families:
Make all checks payable to “Robb School Memorial Fund”
Mail checks to: 200 E. Nopal St., Uvalde, Texas, 78801
Or to donate through Zelle, email: robbschoolmemorialfund@gmail.com

Donate blood.

Keep bringing awareness to all the issues surrounding what happened.

Show up and never forget.

Links

Support and donate to World Central Kitchen, who provide meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises. You can also learn more about the organization by watching chef José Andrés’ documentary We Feed People on Disney+.

More ways you can help

Read more about our experience in Texas on Instagram - @bricialopez @pattyrodriguez @julissaarce

Episode 257: Change Your Mind, Change Your Body, Change Your Life with personal trainer, Melissa Alcantara

You’re not along when it comes to your health and fitness journey - it’s something we all struggle with. During this week’s episode, we talk to Fitness Trainer and Author, Melissa Alcantara, reminds us it’s not only normal to struggle, but it’s something she deals with too! We talk to the incredible super mama about her personal fitness journey, how she stays motivated, and why she thinks it's a blessing to decide to work out every day. She also has a new workout series with Messenger, where we can all workout in real time and “Watch Together”. 😉 Besides that, Melissa is dropping all 👏🏽 the 👏🏽 gems 👏🏽 about life, staying motivated, decision making, and more. Get ready to be schooled !

More about Melissa: Raised in New York City and currently based in Los Angeles, Melissa Alcantara, aka ‘Fitgurlmel’, is a Dominican-American mom, author, fitness trainer, and athlete, who works as a personal trainer for Kim Kardashian West.

After losing 40 pounds in 60 days, and realizing she had total control of her mind and body, Melissa started training for bodybuilding competitions and shared her fitness journey on Instagram.

She has since grown her platform to more than 1 million followers, where she continues to document her inspiring health and fitness journey, share her no-nonsense diet and fitness tips, and inspire others to put in the work to change their body and life.

Most recently, in partnership with Messenger, Melissa created a series of workouts for Watch Together, a brand new feature that lets you watch videos with friends and family and see their reactions in real-time, to inspire digital fitness accountability, so friends can keep each other accountable while they train from home.

As a leading face in the fitness industry, Melissa has been featured in several publications such as Women’s Health, Cosmopolitan, Vogue, and many more, and was named to Create & Cultivate's Top 100 list in the Fitness & Wellness category in 2019.

More about Melissa x Messenger: Melissa, who has been documenting her inspiring health and fitness journey on social media, partnered with Messenger on a fitness accountability program to help people stay moving, highlighting the benefits of having a virtual workout buddy as many of us are working out from home. 

Melissa created a series of workouts for Watch Together, a brand new feature on Messenger, perfect for fitness gurus or amateurs, to help inspire people to work out with friends and hold each other accountable.

Watch Together enables you to: 

• See your friends laugh and cry in real-time while viewing the same video at the same time in Messenger and Messenger Rooms.

• Enjoy your favorite music videos, TV shows, movies, and FB Watch videos, including what’s happening now, Lives, music videos, sports and Facebook originals, with more selections coming soon.

• Watch with up to 8 friends on a video chat and 50 in Messenger Rooms.

• Watch Together is free and easy to use! Start a Messenger video call or create a Messenger Room then swipe up on the bottom of your screen and select ‘Watch Together.’ From there you can select a video suggested for you or choose from a category such as ‘TV & Movies,’ ‘Watched,’ ‘or ‘Uploaded.’

Check out Melissa's first workout video on Watch Together below!

Little Drops of Knowledge by Melissa Alcantara

“Super Mamas - that’s a compliment. Because most of the time I feel like I’m failing at everything. I’m winging it most of the time. But I think a lot of women out there need to realize thats pretty much how you do it. You have no choice.”

“I’m going to surrender. I’m going to stop trying to force something and I’m going to accept the fact that I know nothing, and you have to be okay with that.”

“Starting everyday is the hardest thing. I always sad it’s not the ten thousand squats that made your ass nice. It’s the ten thousand times that you said, ‘Yes, I’m going to work out.’ That’s what makes you feel good.”

“Making a decision is taking an action. Motivation comes from action. You must do first.”

“That’s how everything in life goes. You can’t just go from being a newbie to a pro. You have to learn how to love, how to appreciate. These things don’t just come to you, you have to teach it to yourself.”

“Everything that’s unknown is scary. It doesn’t matter if it’s good. That’s why people say they’re scared of success. Success is a scary freakin’ place to be.'“

“It’s really about balancing, about balancing your life. You’re going to make crappy decisions. You are going to not have the best day. But it’s how you carry on, how you keep going.”

“You have to make the decisions. If this is something you want, I’m going to guide you, I’m going to give you the tools you need, but I can’t do it for you. I can’t make the decisions for you.”

“Sometimes we feel like we have to make so many decisions in our life and we have so many responsibilities, but to see it as something good, to see it as, ‘I have control over my life and the things that I want and how I want to live it in the tiny amount of time that we have,’ is a blessing.”

“Making sure that we know that we have control, that we have the power, and that we can take responsibility for things that don’t happen perfectly or when we mess up because we human beings and we’re just trying out best.”

LINKS

Follow Melissa on Instagram @fitgurlmel and learn more about her on her site fitgurlmel.com

Subscribe to her YouTube channel for workout videos, recipes, and more! So much fun healthy living content.

Get your copy of her book, Fit Gurl, on Amazon and wherever books are sold!