Joe Miller : 0:10

Eugenia, welcome to the podcast. I'm so glad you're here today.

Eugenia Richardson : 0:14

Oh, thanks for having me, Joe. I'm so excited to be here and chat with you. And just like old times.

Joe Miller : 0:22

I'm glad you said that. So one of the things I thought we'd start off with is talk about how we know each other. And we actually haven't really seen each other in years and years. And then I decided because I moved away from my hometown in upstate New York. I decided to get back in touch with folks and go to a reunion high school reunion. You were in my high school class at RL Thomas in Webster, New York. And, you know, after the reunion and subsequently on our Facebook group, I heard a really interesting story about your journey and thinking back. Yes, I thought you would be great to have on the podcast. So I know that one thing I thought was interesting is that you really one of our first kind of meetings in high school as you helped me out in a play that we ran together.

Eugenia Richardson : 1:15

Yes, George M. It was a beautiful musical. And because my background growing up was in tap dance, and there was a lot of tapping and George M. I did all the choreography. So I taught you. And all the cast had a tap dance. It was amazing. And it was so fun.

Joe Miller : 1:37

No. Full disclosure is quite a bit of a klutz. And just in the course of that show me Yeah, anyway, but I think that was the first time that we really interacted a lot. Was it fairly large high school, I think our graduating class was around 500 or so. Anyway, um, yeah, you came to mind and and i think you reached out when you saw one of my podcasts and we chatted you agreed to be on the podcast. So thank you so much.

Eugenia Richardson : 2:02

Oh, you are so welcome.

Joe Miller : 2:04

But before we get into this really interesting part of your overall journey, we need to lead up to it a little bit. And let's talk about, you know, going out of college and into your, your corporate career. Can you take us through that story a little bit?

Eugenia Richardson : 2:18

Oh, sure. Well, I went to Nazareth college and locally, my degree was in philosophy and elementary education. I graduated and I immediately began teaching kindergarten in the Pittsburgh School District. I also had gotten married during that right after graduation, and had my daughter a year later. So it wasn't until she was a few months old that I began my teaching career. So I taught here and then we decided to move to California. That's a big. Yeah. So we picked up everything drove cross country. It was a great experience. I taught nursery school there I birth my son there. So I have two children, a boy and a girl. We missed our family so much that we move back to to Rochester, in 1980 drove all the way back and back. So at that time, there were no teaching positions available. There was just too many teachers not enough position. So I'm like, Oh, well, I really want to work I have to work. So I began a temporary position at Citibank filing bankruptcies as a temp. And I also got into teaching aerobics. So I had two jobs, Citibank teaching aerobics, so I've worked my way up and city Bay. I just love to learning, advancing myself, I find that I did get hired. So I was at Citibank for 15 years, I did a lot of service excellence training, they had really wonderful leadership training for the positions that I would have. So I went from 10, to assistant branch manager when we left.

Joe Miller : 4:24

And how long of a period was that?

Eugenia Richardson : 4:27

Ah, 15 years, I stayed within Citibank and I would have stayed there for longer but one of my bosses had just left and gone to Rochester Telephone or now it's Frontier. And she called me and said, Oh, Eugenia. There's a great position here. I think it'd be really great for it without your customer service skills. It was a sales coach because deregulation came about so Frontier / Rochester Tel was able to sell. So they are just one name now.

Joe Miller : 5:06

So quickly. I mean, you're making the shift now. Right? So it's because of someone you knew

Eugenia Richardson : 5:13

Someone I knew that believed in me. She's like...

Joe Miller : 5:16

Yeah, just trying to get to the sort of the the nub here. I mean, one of the things we want to do is try to kind of surface up. How did you know to make a change? How did you feel comfortable making the change? And how did this change or transition you were making, kind of line up with who you were, and where you you know, how you feel like you were? You're wired and why were you here on this planet, all those kinds of things. Sometimes, but go ahead

Eugenia Richardson : 5:44

It advanced my career tremendously going from banking into Telecom. I mean, there is a big pay difference advance, a big advancement. I never would have done it. I've never would have looked for a job. I'm very loyal. I stay with one company, but it was a great thing for me to do when I just went with it, I followed my gut. I do that a lot. And back then I was much younger compared to how I am now. So I'm happy that I was able to see that then. So I, again took a lot of training, they have great training, I took a Dale Carnegie course there. I stayed at frontier for 10 years, all while advancing

Joe Miller : 6:34

So, through most of the time, also, from Citi and then into frontier. You were were you teaching your were a instructor for aerobics?

Eugenia Richardson : 6:43

Yes, I was teaching aerobics for 15 years. While I was at Citibank. I had stopped because I got injured. Back in the Jane Fonda, I call them Jane Fonda aerobics. I was certified we were jumping around on cement in sneakers, Reebok sneakers, nothing like it is today. So I really hurt myself doing triple classes filling in for teachers. You know, I just, I love to work and I loved teaching aerobics there was so much energy in it. So I had to stop teaching. My chiropractor said, Why don't you try polities? Right? 15 years later after barely able to walk.

Joe Miller : 7:29

And did you know much about Pilates at the time?

Eugenia Richardson : 7:31

No, honestly, I knew nothing because I remember reading in some magazine while I was teaching aerobics. Pi-LATES, what's Pi-LATES? I had no idea. And it was Pilates because it's been around 100 years. Yeah. So I I started taking lessons and oh my gosh, my back because I had to strengthen my core. Pilates strengthens your core lengthens your spine, helps your posture does all these things that align your spine so you're healthy. So my back pain went away. And because of that, I really wanted to share my gift of this Pilates with other people to help them to lead a functional life, so they could return back. Joseph Pilates wrote a book, Return to Life. Do Pilates so you can return to your every day things you used to do that maybe you can't do anymore.

Joe Miller : 8:37

Just that was kind of just listening to you. The passion is starts to already emerge here. As you recall that you fell in love with holidays, right? It's if you'll do, but you also kind of develop this real love for it. And it kind of pulled you forward it sound like. Your interest was shifting more and more in that direction. There's another shift here.

Eugenia Richardson : 9:02

It was shifting from only thinking about Pilates 24x7, okay, I'm here at Frontier I need to be doing my work not thinking Pilates. So it was overcoming me it was taking over my life because it was unexplainable- body, mind, spirit it is too. So, because I had been teaching all along until I have to stop. I thought, Oh, I think I like to teach Pilates. So I started in different training programs. I took the very big comprehensive training program and got my certification, then.

Joe Miller : 9:48

Your certification to be an instructor?

Eugenia Richardson : 9:50

To teach Pilates on all the apparatus. It's not just mats, we have Reformers, Cadillacs, all different pieces of equipment you can work on.

Joe Miller : 10:00

Okay

Eugenia Richardson : 10:01

So here I am going through my certification working at Frontier, to children at home trying to take care of also. And I also would go on teaching vacations. So this is how it all started with what I'm going to talk about. I would go I went to Jamaica the Bahamas a few times. And if you agree to teach two or three classes a day, you just pay for your airfare, and they set you up in the hotel, just like vacation. The rest of the time is yours. So I did that. So I thought, wow, why am I sitting at my job when I could be at an island teaching Pilates?

Joe Miller : 10:50

Oh and for those people who don't know what it's like in upstate New York and the winter. And well in Rochester Webster is a suburb of Rochester. And it's a city that's right on sort of the, the, almost the middle point of Lake Ontario. So lots of , and other side Lake Ontario is Canada, lots of cold air, lots of moist air and lots of snow in the wintertime. Yeah.

Eugenia Richardson : 11:17

And I love warmth, the island life. So I really thought I'm going to pursue this. And I'd been reading a book. The wisdom of Florence Scovel Shinn, it's the game of life, just different, wonderful. It relies a lot on your intuition. You rely on your intuition, your faith, your self confidence in yourself. So you know, I reading this book all the time, and I'm thinking okay, I pulled up the website for Pilates studios in the Caribbean and La Samanna has Pilates studio in it on the exact same apparatus I learned how I trained on.

Joe Miller : 12:07

So is that the hotel down there?

Eugenia Richardson : 12:09

That's the hotel. It's on the French side. Very beautiful exclusive. All the movie stars go there. Lots of well known people have been there. It's gorgeous. So I pulled up the website and I saw this and I sent them an email just saying, who I am, I'd like to, you know, talk about coming down to teach. And every day this is where that book helped me. I pulled up the website and I closed my eyes and I imagined myself teaching in that Pilates studio.

Joe Miller : 12:46

Okay, this is big, I think if you don't mind me jumping in here a second. Yeah. So you actually put yourself into what could be your future.

Eugenia Richardson : 13:01

Yes.

Joe Miller : 13:02

So is that just something that happened? Or were you intentional about that? How did that come about?

Eugenia Richardson : 13:07

Well, it had mentioned it in the book. And even prior to that, when I was taking the Dale Carnegie course, at Frontier, something inside of me, they have this big award. So teacher said, the end of the of your classes, we're going to give an award to the best speech to someone, whoever we voted upon. And I said to myself, that's going to be me. I'm going to do that. I'm going to do it. And every preparation I made, I pictured myself walking up and getting that award and I won it so I thought, wow, there's something inside of me that whatever I dream about or want, it comes to me because I think I put out such positive intentions of whatever it is.

Joe Miller : 14:03

And I guess, do you use the word visualize it I guess.

Eugenia Richardson : 14:08

I visualize a lot

Joe Miller : 14:10

Sort of a high definition visualization and put yourself I say it that way because it's not just like a simple image. It's like, you know, the smells, the noises, the whole feel for that future. Life. You're aspiring towards. Yeah. So what happens next?

Eugenia Richardson : 14:29

So then what happens next? I didn't hear back I didn't hear back and I'm like, Oh, they probably never even looked, I just kind of forgot about it. And, um, I received a text eventually, but in the meantime, I thought, Okay, I need to put my house up for sale. I've got to do all these things.

Joe Miller : 14:56

Stop before you heard back from them.

Eugenia Richardson : 15:00

Yes, I planned this out, like I already have the job. I visualized me. I started selling things packing things. And I thought, Oh, well, well, if I don't get the job, I'll just buy another house or whatever.

Joe Miller : 15:16

Wow. Yeah.

Eugenia Richardson : 15:18

So I, I know people look, people probably thought it was a little off my rocker but for me it was what I wanted to do. That's another thing. I make up my own mind. I'll listen to your advice, but I make up my own decisions. So I, my house sold as I was in Pennsylvania, getting my comprehensive Pilates training. I had to test out for it. It took me quite a few years because I was working at Frontier and teaching Pilates as an apprentice. So I'm down in Pennsylvania my house sells and I come back all excited and send a message to Angie. She was the woman that owned the studio and they go Angie, you won't believe it. I passed. I'm certified. I'm ready to come if you're still interested in me, but I hadn't even heard from her yet. So she wrote back and said, Oh, my gosh, we were just discussing you this weekend. So when's a good time to call you? I'd like to talk about offering you the job. So, that's how it all worked out. And so from June until November, I didn't find out I found out end of September that I got the job. So and then she says, Can you come November 1st? And I said no my house closings November 15th. How about the 16th? So I cleared everything out of my house, packed up two suitcases. I sent a box of Pilates books, two boxes of all my Pilates books down ahead of time. That's all I took in two suitcases. I got rid of everything.

Joe Miller : 17:15

So this is just this is a huge shift. Let's get down in the islands.

Joe Miller : 17:30

So now you're down there and you had to tie things off with Frontier and go down.

Eugenia Richardson : 17:37

Everything was fine with Frontier. I had a going away party. They were so happy for me. And you know, I know people talked and like, oh, who is she running away from what she doing? No, I did it for me. It was a dream I had and it was coming true. I made it happen And my kids are fine with us or like mom, whatever makes you happy. We're great. And they were just happy to come visit me came down yeah so it was slow starting because I went in November. High season hadn't even started yet on the island. They had just opened so the bit really busy times are from Christmas to maybe March. So I'm like, Oh my gosh, I was working on the French side, I knew no French, my cell phone is in French that I had to figure out how to set up to get all my appointments from the concierge. So that was a little challenging. Um, the money wasn't coming in right away.

Joe Miller : 18:38

A slow pick up on the revenue side.

Eugenia Richardson : 18:41

Slow pick up on the revenue. Um, so again, I visual visualize people walking through the door of the Pilates studio every day, even while I was driving. I just pictured everything being the way it should be, because that's how I believe - things work out the way they are meant to be. And if they don't, then it's time to figure out something else. So, I was there six years and within six years, I was working seven days a week, basically many hours of the day, a lot of hours.

Joe Miller : 19:27

And you were living your dream as people say.

Eugenia Richardson : 19:29

I was living my dream teaching Villa clients, people don't come down to the Villa local people that live there wanted Pilates. I was the only Pilates teacher on the island at the time.

Joe Miller : 19:40

You said, I mean, this was a high end hotel so you, you were dealing with all kinds of people, local people, people flying in from lots of different areas who wanted to continue.

Eugenia Richardson : 19:53

All over the world. Yeah, friends all over the world that I keep in contact that I met through Pilates at La Samanna. And I worked at Marci's Mega Gym, a good friend of mine that I still keep in contact with, her gym. I taught mat classes in the gym when I first started there too and continued. So I did water aerobics in the pool, like, I did anything I could too.

Joe Miller : 20:20

Wow, that it was a rich time, but you know, you launched off with two suitcases, everything that was in your house went somewhere. And now you're down there and you're having, you're kind of in your zone, and you're enjoying the, you know, the life you dreamed of with Pilates. And you're meeting a lot of interesting people. So what happened next? I mean, I'm just curious. Well, first of all, was it a year round thing?

Eugenia Richardson : 20:55

No, the hotel was open from November 1st until August 31st It closed for the hurricane season, which was all of September and October. So I would come back to Rochester to visit my family and friends every year. And in meantime, my friends and family would come to visit me. But every year, it got harder and harder to come back to the island because I missed, I started missing my family. And my daughter, I knew she wanted to start a family. And I didn't want to miss being a grandmother. You know, I never thought about much what it's like to be a grandmother. So, the very last time I came back in March 2011 I came back so that October 2010, I'm sitting on the plane crying. I didn't want to get off because I'm like, I don't think I can't do this anymore. It's so hard.

Joe Miller : 22:03

So that was a moment.

Eugenia Richardson : 22:05

That was a moment I knew I had to. And I hated, I really I loved my job so much. I loved everyone at La Samanna and all my clients. It was really a hard, very hard decision. But for me, family, my family comes first and they all understood that they were really happy for me.

Joe Miller : 22:26

So you made the decision pretty much at that time.

Eugenia Richardson : 22:33

Right then and there, I did, and as soon as I told my daughter, I think she got pregnant right away because she knew I was coming home and and then yeah, and then the first grandchild came that September. I came home in March, March 31st.

Joe Miller : 22:49

So you were home.

Eugenia Richardson : 22:51

March 31st, I was home for my first grandchild.

Joe Miller : 22:55

Wow, that's great. So how long was this beautiful adventure?

Eugenia Richardson : 23:01

Six years.

Eugenia Richardson : 23:04

St. Martin/Sint Maarten

Eugenia Richardson : 23:05

Half French half Dutch. Beautiful people beautiful ocean. Oh, I can't say enough beautiful music, the culture, the food, the French cuisine, the casinos, the dancing. It was a life that you only dream of. So now when I look at pictures on Facebook, I'm like, Wow, did I really live my dream that you know, you question yourself. Of course I did. But yeah.

Joe Miller : 23:36

Yeah. So I just think it's such a great story. You know, you know, I'm interviewing all different kinds of people. And but the common thread here is the journey people go through and how do you come to the determination when it's time to make a shift? And you know, and obviously, this was one where your passion pulled you forward and you did certain things you mean you visualized. And you really took you took a step of faith selling your house, Eugenia, as you said, a lot of people won't do. So those are certainly some lessons there. But I want to kind of pivot now if we can and ask you. You know, this is kind of a question that's asked a lot. And sometimes people roll their eyes a little bit, but I think it's a really valuable question is when you're further down your journey than then many people are. The question to ask yourself is, if I had known, then what I know now, what would I say to myself? Or another way it's phrased is, you know, what advice would I give my 25 year old self? Now that I've gone through all these experiences, or someone I know who's just starting on their journey? What advice would you would you give?

Eugenia Richardson : 24:52

I would tell them if you're passionate about something and you want to do something You're the only one that can make it happen. You can't listen to people saying, oh, that can't be done. You know, it'll never work out. If you can believe that it will, it will. And if you're doing something you that you love. So probably when I was 25 years old, I would have said, you need to believe in yourself, you can do anything. I was pretty shy, back, you know, growing up and so I've done a lot of self growth. So I read affirmations every day, my faith without my faith in God, I would not have gotten married either. I prayed a lot. I neglected to say that, my faith is {very important to me}.

Joe Miller : 25:45

And in terms of, of knowing, I mean, certainly the passion going for it. But is there any other things you might come to mind, things you learn along the way? For people to get clarity. For you is very clear, but not often not clear for everyone, so I'm just kind of curious if there's anything else that comes to mind.

Eugenia Richardson : 26:08

If you see something that triggers your imagination and you say, Oh, no, it is really something you don't disregard yourself what you feel inside of you.

Joe Miller : 26:29

That's a good one. That's really a good one. I'm going to shift again now because the story is not over. When you came back to Webster - Rochester, New York, you didn't stop Pilates.

Eugenia Richardson : 26:40

Oh, I did not.

Joe Miller : 26:43

This is the reprise story. So and I know you just got back from from another little trip. You want to tell us about Boulder a little bit?

Eugenia Richardson : 26:53

Oh sure. So I've been back since 2011, right. My grandson is eight, so I'm terrible about a calculator. So, I came right back I had a job already lined up at a Pilates studio. I taught at several Pilates studios these past years and two years ago, again, I visualized a dream from my whole Pilates career, is to be in a very classical Pilates studio. So through Facebook, I met this beautiful young woman, Kate Wheeler that I had a Pilates studio already in her home.

Joe Miller : 27:42

What's the name?

Eugenia Richardson : 27:45

Crescent Trail Pilates. So she had a home studio, we became friends. She had just moved from Boston. We exchanged lessons with each other. We just hit off really well. Even though I'm old enough to be your mother age is no boundary. For me, you know, like, it's, she's like my sister, but I respect her. She's my mentor teacher. So we got to talking and she goes, I really would love to open up a larger studio and teach classes. You know, would you be interested? Oh, yes, it'd be my dream studio. My dream place to be. Pilates heaven I call it. So here we are two years now. We, before COVID, but we still have a beautiful community of Pilates. But anyway, we're doing everything online now. The Pilates studio, amazing, we just grew and grew and you know, Kate, is a dancer. She's a beautiful mover teacher. So I thought, oh, gosh, I want to give more to my clients than what I've got up in this brain that's 20 years old because you know I was alone on an island. I didn't have anybody really around me to help me grow as a teacher. So she is the host advisor for the Pilates Center in Boulder and she was my mentor through this whole Bridge Program. It's a more advanced classical Pilates program through the Pilates Center. And so I went to Boulder to do my final testing. It took me a whole year to get through the program online through Kate at the a studio. I passed everything. I am back here now. I've been back a week.

Joe Miller : 29:40

And I think you know, we talked earlier this week, you mentioned to me that this is a challenging certification.

Eugenia Richardson : 29:48

Yes, it is, it's very challenging. Yeah, like, especially at my age, doing some of the exercises I had to perform for one of my tests and just the whole way of teaching, being able to tell my clients, the why of something, do this so that, you know, like that was missing from my teaching. We didn't really get into that part of it, or maybe I did and I just don't number. So refresh my brain. Make me work. I love challenges. It was a huge challenge. And I did it. So , I'm proud of myself.

Joe Miller : 30:30

That's great. That's so wonderful. And you just got back from Boulder, Colorado here one week ago or one week. How long were you there in total?

Eugenia Richardson : 30:41

Ah, eight days, days. Yeah, eight days. Again, it was Pilates heaven. I was able to walk to the Pilates studio, the Pilates Center, take classes, private lessons, do my testing. You know, I went and did some fun things for myself.

Joe Miller : 31:03

Such a wonderful story. And I like how you know you connected with your passion pretty early on. And, but you know, once you really locked into that, it wasn't like you had to, yeah, you took some real initiative. There's no question about taking initiative, but things appeared. It's almost like breadcrumbs ahead of you in the trail, led you forward in alignment with your passion over the years and that led you down to the island that led you back that led you on, you know, all those things tend to happen when you're clear and intentional about what you want. And so I think that's a that's a great lesson. I'm really, really happy that you were able to come on the podcast today. Yeah, and it's good to reconnect too with a high school friend you probably can't tell there were actually high school friends You look so great. Pilates is working for you. That's for sure!

Eugenia Richardson : 32:00

Everybody's like, what are you doing? I'm like I do Pilates. I do nothing else for myself as far as cosmetic surgery or anything like that. I mean, Pilates restores you.

Joe Miller : 32:12

I can see so, one of the things we will do for all you folks that are listening in thanks for joining us, but one of the things we will do is at the end of the video, I'll include some references to the book you talked about, and also to your current school that you're teaching at.

Eugenia Richardson : 32:31

Crescent Trail Pilates!

Joe Miller : 32:34

And what town is it in?

Eugenia Richardson : 32:36

Fairport, New York.

Joe Miller : 32:38

Fairport, okay, suburb of Rochester. All right. Well, listen. Thanks again. Really appreciate you coming on to the Titans of Transition podcast.

Eugenia Richardson : 32:49

Thanks so much Joe!

Joe Miller : 32:49

Thanks everyone for joining us!