IAM1284 – CEO Runs a Fitness App for Teachers

Gabby is a wellness professional and Harvard Graduate School of Education alum. As a former early childhood educator, Gabby seeks to answer the question, “How can we help teachers stay in the classroom and healthy?” The systemic problem of teacher burnout motivated Gabby to create Spark by Gabby, a wellness space specifically for educators that combines mind-body, community, and social justice.

• CEO Story: Gabby was so excited about being a lifelong teacher but when she got into the real scenario, she was burned out. She left after 5 years and instead focused on how she could help the teachers stay healthy in the classroom and that’s where Spark was created.
• Business Service: Fitness and mindfulness program/app. You will be asked: Do I need to nourish myself, empower, or energize myself? There is a program that cultivates who you are as a human being.
• Secret Sauce: Made by an educator for an educator is the most impactful part, it speaks of the same language.
• CEO Hack: Listen to podcasts for inspiration when feeling bug down or uninspired, it rewires your brain.
• CEO Nugget: “How can I listen to and respect my team better” Biggest win moments are when you share an open and honest space with your team. Creating a healthy internal culture.
• CEO Defined: It means leading, inspiring, continuing to find a larger vision and not losing the values, and staying grounded to the purpose. It does not mean an expert, but a continuous learner.

Website: www.sparkbygabby.com

Instagram: sparkbygabby

LinkedIn: spark-by-gabby

Facebook: sparkbygabby

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Transcription

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00:20 – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

00:40 – Gresham Harkless

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Gabby Lubin of Spark by Gabby. Gabby, it's awesome to have you on the show.

00:50 – Gabby Lubin

Yes, thanks for having me. Excited to be here.

00:53 – Gresham Harkless

Yes, super excited to have you on as well. And before we jump into the interview, I want to read a little bit more about Gabby so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's working on. And Gabby is a wellness professional and Harvard Graduate School of Education alum. As a former early childhood educator, Gabby seeks to answer the question, how can we help teachers stay in the classroom and healthy? The systematic problem with teacher burnout motivated Gabby to create a spark by Gabby wellness space specifically for educators that combines mind, body, community, and social justice. Gabby, truly appreciate you for taking some time out. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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01:30 – Gabby Lubin

Absolutely. Excited to dive in?

01:33 – Gresham Harkless

Yes. I'm excited as well, too. I know you've been very busy over the past probably year or so with everything that you're doing, but to kind of kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock here a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

01:46 – Gabby Lubin

Yeah. So mine might be potentially a little bit different from others. Since I started in a very different profession, I was excited about becoming a lifelong educator. They left college. That's what I went into doing because I have always loved that light bulb moment. You know, when someone finally gets something where you see their eyes light up? That's always been exciting for me. And so, you know, think back, listeners, to your favorite teacher. Mine was Miss Needleman, my kindergarten teacher, and that was exactly who I wanted to be.

So my first years in the classroom, were not easy, but they were exciting and they were fulfilling for me. But when I got to year five, some of these everyday, simple tasks started to feel draining. This was textbook burnout. Textbook feeling unavailable, not able to dive into myself, and not giving back to the people that I wanted to my kids. And I think this is something that a lot of people can relate to. And the issue in education is that if a teacher is feeling this way, they're not serving their students to the best of their capacity, and it isn't their fault.

This is happening a lot more frequently than we think. At the time, though, in my fifth year, I had no idea that this was a systemic issue. So stress then led me to leave the classroom at the end of that year and left. I had this gift, a feeling of relief, a feeling that I finally was able to dive into myself. And that got me curious. So that is when I soon discovered that my story was not typical, was typical. It was one in many, many teachers. So I realized that nearly half of educators leave the profession in the first five years, which is a mind-blowing stat. Half. There's a lot of teachers.

And even when I reflect back on my education experience, I did not notice that. But I'm sure I was impacted, as were you, as are most kids, unfortunately. And the thing that really drove me to realize this stat was that it wasn't only impacting me, didn't only impact the students that I was seeing, it was impacting all children, all parts of the education system, which also means our future. So it was really an issue that everyone should be thinking about, everyone should be concerned with, but unfortunately doesn't get as much airtime as we would like.

The good part is that Covid has unveiled this as an issue, at least at the beginning of the pandemic. And that's where I was really thinking about this topic more deeply. So I decided when I left the classroom to dive into fitness and learn about how to teach fitness. And I understand what it means to move your body, learn about mindfulness because it's not just one type of self-care that you should be doing. And then I also learned about adult development and habit change, because there is a lot more to changing people and empowering people than just actually giving them the tools you have to help them change.

And that's what led me to get my master's, like you were sharing from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and thus build Spark, which has been. Spark is almost two years old, which is crazy. Two years old in March because we started on the very same day as the DC pandemic lockdown. Throwback to that moment, and it was an incredible moment. In the first class, there were 44 computers that signed on. It was in my living room. I was with my roommates.

It looked very different than what I'm sitting behind me in my studio now, and now with 16 staff members that I employ, which is crazy. So it's come a long way. And what we are here, really to do right now is to support fitness platforms like Peloton. There are mindfulness platforms like Headspace, but none of these are doing things specifically for educators. And within the education market, there are a ton of options when it comes to going really deep, doing deep dives for schools like mindful schools that help support the full structure of the school.

But it's really expensive, and it's not something that teachers can use in their own time. So we want to be something. We are something different that helps teachers tap in when they want and expand their teacher community beyond their school walls so they feel less isolated. We really think about our work as a ripple effect. If you teach a great class that empowers someone through a squat or through a mindfulness practice, then that teacher can bring that to themselves the next day.

When something makes them feel stressed, and instead of responding with anger or frustration or whatever, they might respond it. They can take a breath, take a moment, and think a little bit more clearly, have a more present mind when they're reacting to that.

06:38 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. And it's so necessary. So I love, you know, the work that you do. So I wanted to drill down a little bit more. I know we touched on a little bit upon, like, how you're making that impact and what it looks like. Could you take us through a little bit more on, you know, what that looks like and how you are making that impact?

06:52 – Gabby Lubin

Yeah. So we have a platform of fitness and mindfulness classes that we pair together. So you'll see three different kinds of classes. Essentially, you can enter the app and have this question in mind, or enter the app and think about it when you're looking at the on-demand classes that we have. So it's either live or on demand, and you're gonna ask yourself the question, what do I need today? Do I need to nourish myself? Do I need to empower myself, or do I need to energize?

And there are different classes that we have within those categories, there might look a little different than the typical hit class or the typical pilates platform. Um, and the reason why we do this is because we have classes that are going to cultivate who you are as a human being, not what your body needs specifically. So we're not. There's no, like, lower body kind of focused butts and guts kind of classes. We're not about that. Um, and the best part is that you can apply that to your own life. What that looks like in teachers' daily lives is saying, hey, first of all, I can sit down in a chair and really like, hold myself. And as I sit down, awesome, great for your squat.

But more importantly, with mindfulness practices, for example, we're talking about the forehead, and this is a strategy that teachers can apply to their daily life when they need a moment to step back and just focus on themselves and not think about the other things around them. So that model is what helps teachers literally relieve the stress in their body and then also apply it to their own lives. They can feel less stress in the moment. Our goal is to essentially build better humans. Have people become the best versions of themselves that they can be so that they can show what they feel passionate about, which in this case, happens to be students.

08:41 – Gresham Harkless

Yes, absolutely. So would you consider that to be what I like to call your secret sauce? It could be for the business, yourself personally, or a combination of both. But is it that awareness and that ability to be able to execute on building better humans and helping those people that build humans to build better humans, do you think that makes such a part? It makes you unique.

09:00 – Gabby Lubin

Yeah, I guess I would say that's our secret sauce. There is no other business that is doing this currently. So I feel like it's a very special thing that we have. Not saying that this couldn't necessarily be replicated. It could, but coming from educators to educators is the most impactful part of that. I think everyone in every different profession loves talking to people in their profession because they just, like, understand in their mind and their body how that person works and interacts and such.

I'm sure you feel the same way with other podcasters. Like, you could go at it over, you know, getting nerdy about podcast technology, I'm sure. Teachers are the same way, and in some ways, they feel even more so that way because it's so hard for other people who've not been in the classroom to put themselves in their shoes.

09:50 – Gresham Harkless

Yes, absolutely. And so I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have. What's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

10:03 – Gabby Lubin

I really like podcasts for inspiration. So awesome that we have this one. I think my two favorite ones for inspiration, which we know how I built this, a really awesome ones for me to tap back in when I'm feeling just kind of bogged down or uninspired or not sure what kind of next step I might need to take, find that to be really, really helpful, to passively listen to see if I can rewire my brain in some way. And then snacks daily. I don't know if you've heard of them yet.

10:38 – Gresham Harkless

I haven't.

10:39 – Gabby Lubin

They're. They're owned by Robin Hood right now, but loosely, I guess, affiliated with them. But they're two. Two financial bros have made a kind of silly daily podcast on financial news. And I find it really helpful to actually just think, put my different CEO hats on, and to think like different leaders, because they kind of break down the why behind a lot of what's happening in financial news. So I like that. To think of quick ways to bring inspiration or change the routines that I've probably been set in, because we all are set in subroutines.

11:17 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Also, so I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So this is a little bit more of a word of wisdom or piece of advice. I like to say something. If you were to hop into a time machine, you might tell your younger.

11:27 – Gabby Lubin

Business self, the number one most important thing for me is my team. And I tell myself over and over again, how can I listen to and respect my team better? One, because when your teammates are telling you, this was a huge success for me, thank you for doing this. Or, two, they're telling you something because you have shared that open and honest space with them that they've allowed that.

Those are the biggest moments for me, the biggest wins for me, because I know that if I can build that internal culture of listening and respecting them, that they can listen and respect each other, they can pass it on to clients, and then we have just a larger opportunity to actually make a real impact because I really believe it starts with the culture. Well, shout out to my team. I think they're absolutely incredible human beings, and I'm so thankful to be in their presence every day.

12:20 – Gresham Harkless

So, yeah, absolutely. And I think intentionality goes really, really far. So when you make sure that that is part of the culture and the DNA of everything that you're doing and building, it shows up in so many different ways. Maybe not always perfect, but it does show up a lot of times consistently. So I wanted to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEO's on this show. So, Gabby, what does being a CEO mean to you?

12:46 – Gabby Lubin

Being a CEO means to me, it means leading. It means inspiring. It means continuing to find the larger vision to not lose sight of the values and staying grounded in the purpose. And it does not mean being an expert. It means being a continuous learner.

13:07 – Gresham Harkless

I love that. And you used the word vulnerability earlier, and I think that brought to mind that word as well, too because it's being vulnerable and understanding. You don't necessarily have to have all the answers. You don't necessarily have to do everything perfectly. You don't have to do everything right. And a lot of times we forget that when we all, start to understand that, we start to lean on our team. It brings us closer together because we realize the human aspect that's in all of us and then the perfect aspect that's in all of us, and we start to become leaders as a result of being able to kind of lead the human, not necessarily lead, you know, the perfection or the expert that's within us.

13:43 – Gabby Lubin

I think when we have, quote-unquote, started to win recently, it was when I started to really, really lean on my team and allow them to shine. Because one person cannot do everything, no matter how small or large your company has a lot of wonderful things to contribute. So it's always worth listening and respecting them. Double tapping back up.

14:05 – Gresham Harkless

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. What's saying, is teamwork makes this dream work. So it's so important to kind of lean upon your team and how important there is and the gifts and the talents and abilities that they have as well. So truly appreciate that definition. And of course, I appreciate your time even more. So what I want to do now is just pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how best people can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things you and your team are working on.

14:33 – Gabby Lubin

Yes. So just to share with you again, my name is Gabby Lubin from Spark by Gabby. We have teacher wellness resources. So if you are a teacher or, you know, a teacher, please, please, please send them our information. We are online@sparkbygapi.com but also on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest because my teachers are on Pinterest. So if you like pins, go for it. But feel free to follow us.

We'd love to connect with you if there's a way that you'd like to partner or a way that we can support you specifically, but we encourage you to share with your teacher, friends, family, and whoever the deals that we have. The best part about what we do is we both support individual educators with a very low-cost experience. So $12.99 a month with right now 30 days free which is really great. So go ahead and try us out. And then also we're partnering school.

So if you know superintendents or principals, this is a time to talk to them. This is a time to actually take the energy, particularly if you are not an educator, to tell them how important and how awesome the opportunities out there are. They are tired and we want to help take a little bit of that thinking off their shoulders. So please share that with them. Other than that, it has been a pleasure and if any of this is resonating with you, I would love to connect. Great to chat further.

15:54 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, thank you so much again. And Gabby, we will have the links and information in the show notes as well too so that everybody can follow up with you. Thank you so much for sharing different ways that we can make that impact too. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

16:06 – Gabby Lubin

Yes, thank you so much. Thank you for listening everyone. And Gresh, so great to meet you.

16:10 – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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