Robin Arzón
As the crypto winter shows mild signs of thawing, those forging communities on blockchain are betting that despite the tumultuous market, the technology is here to stay. Hints of mass adoption are already peeking out, with California’s DMV using blockchain for vehicle registration to executives minting their resignation letters as NFTs.
The space is also seeing more influencers find new ways to engage their communities via blockchain. For example, wellness icon Robin Arzón is preparing to launch a community called Swagger Society, which seeks to be a lifestyle Web3 membership club. As with other Web3 projects such as Boys Clubs, Guava Girls, Eve Wealth, BFF, or Bad Bitch Empire, Arzón aims to bridge the inclusivity gap she noticed when her husband, another Web3 pioneer, sent a selfie from a crypto conference that displayed him smiling alongside several other white men. She recalls that her initial reaction to that photo was, “oh no, we are not doing this again,” which is why her new venture aims to elevate the voices of LGBTQ+ and BIPOC creators and digital art collectors.
Best known for her work in the fitness industry with bestselling books like Shut Up and Run and Strong Mama, respectively, Arzón rose to cultural prominence through her role as Peloton’s VP of fitness programming and head instructor. Arzón’s foray into crypto was through wanting to create a virtual accountability group, but she is quick to clarify that the goals her community members set in Web3 don’t always have to be fitness related. I spoke to Arzón to hear more about her new initiative just prior to Swagger Society’s launch.
Amy Shoenthal: Can you tell me why you decided to create Swagger Society in addition to everything else you have going on in your empire?
Robin Arzón: Swagger Society is really the natural progression of the value system and the community that I've been building for over 10 years on Web2 and through traditional social media platforms. It can be intimidating at first. I remember watching a YouTube video trying to set up my crypto wallet and thinking I would rather take the bar exam again. (Arzón was a corporate lawyer prior to her career as a fitness instructor.)
I found that experience to be so overwhelming, so then my biggest fear was that a sizable chunk of my community might feel like they shouldn’t even try, like they don't even have a seat at the table.
My husband (investor Drew Butler) has actually been working in this space for quite some time and he helped me see what the contours of the ever evolving landscape looked like. This is one of the first times that his business world and my business world have intersected. He's helping me run Swagger Society as the CEO. He understands me, he understands my brand, but he has experience in impact investing, Web3 business consulting, and brokering connections in the space.
As I set it up, I thought, what community would I want to be a part of and what are the utilities we can build now with decentralized organization, greater ownership and greater ability to support artists in the creator economy?
Swagger Society is a lifestyle membership club, and really, the focus is on the lifestyle. It's an accountability group. It’s very pointedly for people who want to get shit done in their lives.
Shoenthal: What exactly does it mean to be a Web3 lifestyle membership club? What tangible benefits will you offer?
Arzón: I've always been building communities centered around self actualization and helping people get to their next level. But all my followers were in separate places and it felt very fragmented. My highly engaged followers can get buried in the comments section and I was struggling to have two-way conversations. Now I’m using the utility of Web3 to give my followers more unprecedented access to me.
The central piece of it is the lifestyle piece. NFT holders are going to unlock the membership privileges, a leaderboard, events, rewards and more. I want Swagger Society to be somebody’s accountability partner. The reward system is built around adding jewels to your crown.
The value system is the same, but this goes beyond fitness. Peloton is the fitness piece of my brand. Here, we’re pulling on the same threads. We’re asking, how good could it end up? How strong could we possibly be? I like the idea of swagger being intoxicating.
Molly Dickson is the artist we recently announced Swagger Society will be working with, given her incredible talents as both an artist and advocate. She’s an amazing photographer, but has a very cool augmented reality, hybrid approach to art. I want our art to be a walking exclamation point. It’s a fun PFP (profile pic) but also something you’d print and put up in your house. I like that fluidity.
Swagger Society really hinges on micro communities. Find the one that works for you. You’re not too old, it’s not too late, it’s not too cold out. Stop making excuses. My mom always said, ‘stay weird, nobody remembers normalcy.’ So I’ve made it my life’s mission to find my weirdos.
Shoenthal: I’m with you mostly, but sometimes it really is too cold out. There's lots of talk around making Web3 more inclusive, and as you know, it's still mostly a boy's club. Lately, some of those boys have been behaving very badly. Any thoughts on how that might be able to change as the space is still so nascent?
Arzón: My husband went to a crypto conference in Miami last year. He sent me a selfie from one of the events, and it was just a sea of white men. I was like, oh no, we're not doing this again. We've done this for thousands of years, we are not doing it again.
I’m used to pushing my way into spaces not built for me. So I decided to educate myself publicly. I realized I had to be willing to join podcasts and ask all the questions on Twitter spaces and Discord even though I had no idea what the hell I was doing. I was determined to show my followers that it's okay to ask questions and it's okay to speak your truth even when your voice shakes.
Swagger implies that you’re going to the beat of your own drum. However that represents in your life visually and physically, you are welcome to the party. When you're building teams, and when you're building businesses, you have the responsibility to look around the room and say, what are we talking about, who isn't represented and why aren't they here?
I want people to identify their own finish line. It could be a literal marathon. It could be writing that book, asking for a raise, the college student getting their first job, CEOs answering tricky questions in their day to day. Find your people. I’m already seeing connections being made in our Discord. We are here to champion each other.
Shoenthal: You mentioned in a recent BFF space that, "It's important to not give up. Resiliency is such a beautiful characteristic of the human spirit." You were referencing the act of setting up your crypto wallet for the first time, but can you expand on that based on what's happening with current market conditions, but also how you draw on that resiliency through the other areas of your life.
Arzón: We just have to believe that we’ve been through 100% of the nonsense. You have to be a critical consumer, especially on anything you’re spending money on. But self-pity is poison, so be wary of that path. We can use the things that make us fearful and nervous for fuel. Use that fuel to ask questions, to be curious. All those little inflection points ladders up to resiliency.
Shoenthal: The last time we spoke, you had just returned from being the first Peloton instructor to take maternity leave. Now you’re not only pregnant with your second child, you’re coming out with a second children’s book. Tell us about Strong Baby.
Arzón: My second children’s book is available for pre-order now, and it's a celebration of the innate athletes starting to form in our young ones. Falling down is life but getting back up helps with that resiliency piece we just discussed. You can start infusing this ethos into everyday conversations with little ones.
Shoenthal: Can you talk about how people can embody the concept of the multi-hyphenate?
Arzón: I'm just showing up as myself, as Robin, as a Latina, as a mom, as a 40-something year old pregnant person. I bristle at boxes. What if you become too big for the box they put you in? What happens when you realize you’ve grown bigger than the box that makes other people comfortable? You need to get a hammer and smash it. I live for those moments.
Someone asked me about geriatric pregnancies the other day. I was like, no. I’m an athlete who happens to be pregnant. But the assumptions that folks make, even in the medical community, are astonishing. A lot of the studies about pregnancy are from the 1980’s and that’s what medical professionals are using to make recommendations.
People live in a fear-based paradigm because it’s safer, and maybe we’re biologically wired that way. But when you have an appetite for hustle, you generally have an appetite for more risk.
Recently, a PA on set asked a woman who had just come back from parental leave whether she picked up any hobbies. I was like okay, let’s stop there, she kept a small human alive and that deserves a medal. We always have opportunities to politely call someone in during little moments like that. It can be intimidating when the person across the table is the expert, is the boss, or when there’s a power dynamic. Voice your truth even when that voice shakes. Willpower is a muscle worth flexing.
I have a small group of trusted critics and I build my life on a value system that makes me proud. My dreams wake me up before an alarm clock every morning, and if that resonates with you, you’re welcome to come with me.
