Send me a text message! I’d love to hear from you!
Join us for a heartwarming journey as Karen DeLuca unfolds her life's adventures, threaded with tales of strength, reinvention, and unyielding determination. The essence of our conversation captures the art of navigating life's challenges, from the demanding world of fitness to the strategic plays within the corporate sphere, all harmonized with the symphony of twin parenthood. Karen's story resonates with the rhythm of connections made, sometimes serendipitously, and how these bonds blossom over time, teaching us the beauty of being present and receptive to the hidden melodies of life's encounters.
In the throes of physical setbacks and the mental gymnastics that accompany them, Karen's spirit shines as a testament to finding joy in movement, even as the years add texture to our stories. We wade through the waters of recovery, discussing how injuries can reshape our understanding of self-care and the importance of tuning into our body's whispers for moderation. There's a lesson in each pause and a dance in every step taken with care, a narrative Karen illustrates with the grace of a seasoned fitness guide, encouraging us to embrace the journey of health as it evolves.
As the episode unfurls, we're inspired by Karen's chameleon-like adaptability in her professional life. We witness her seamless transition from the fitness arena to a coveted role at MasterCard International, and eventually to the creative haven of her own landscape design business. This courageous new venture falls inside her husband, Jim’s, stunning design world of award winning architectural homes on the Gold Coast of Long Island. We wrap up our conversation by celebrating the successes of passion and pride that blooms within a family, sharing the achievements of children who have grown under the canopy of values sown by their parents. Karen's story, interwoven with reflections on the triumphs of both our families, invites listeners to ponder the rich stories of their lives and the courage it takes to pursue one's passions at any stage.
Become one of Karen’s very first supporters on Instagram in her new venture @sageandstonelandscapedesigner
Explore Jim’s artistic architectural designs @delucadesignsarchitects
Thank you for tuning in to Meghan's podcast!
Remember, we are all made for more!
Intro voiceovers by her family: son, Billy Alexander; daughter, Mackenzie Alexander; and husband, Bill Alexander.
Music by Bill Alexander
Produced by Bill Alexander
Send me a text message! I’d love to hear from you!
Join us for a heartwarming journey as Karen DeLuca unfolds her life's adventures, threaded with tales of strength, reinvention, and unyielding determination. The essence of our conversation captures the art of navigating life's challenges, from the demanding world of fitness to the strategic plays within the corporate sphere, all harmonized with the symphony of twin parenthood. Karen's story resonates with the rhythm of connections made, sometimes serendipitously, and how these bonds blossom over time, teaching us the beauty of being present and receptive to the hidden melodies of life's encounters.
In the throes of physical setbacks and the mental gymnastics that accompany them, Karen's spirit shines as a testament to finding joy in movement, even as the years add texture to our stories. We wade through the waters of recovery, discussing how injuries can reshape our understanding of self-care and the importance of tuning into our body's whispers for moderation. There's a lesson in each pause and a dance in every step taken with care, a narrative Karen illustrates with the grace of a seasoned fitness guide, encouraging us to embrace the journey of health as it evolves.
As the episode unfurls, we're inspired by Karen's chameleon-like adaptability in her professional life. We witness her seamless transition from the fitness arena to a coveted role at MasterCard International, and eventually to the creative haven of her own landscape design business. This courageous new venture falls inside her husband, Jim’s, stunning design world of award winning architectural homes on the Gold Coast of Long Island. We wrap up our conversation by celebrating the successes of passion and pride that blooms within a family, sharing the achievements of children who have grown under the canopy of values sown by their parents. Karen's story, interwoven with reflections on the triumphs of both our families, invites listeners to ponder the rich stories of their lives and the courage it takes to pursue one's passions at any stage.
Become one of Karen’s very first supporters on Instagram in her new venture @sageandstonelandscapedesigner
Explore Jim’s artistic architectural designs @delucadesignsarchitects
Thank you for tuning in to Meghan's podcast!
Remember, we are all made for more!
Intro voiceovers by her family: son, Billy Alexander; daughter, Mackenzie Alexander; and husband, Bill Alexander.
Music by Bill Alexander
Produced by Bill Alexander
Two one.
Speaker 2:Hello and welcome to. We Are Made For More. I am your host, megan Alexander, and this is my podcast. Hello everybody. So today on my show we have a special guest. I guess I say that every time because I happen to think every guest is special. So welcome to my friend, karen DeLuca.
Speaker 1:Hey Karen, hello, good to be here. How are you Very good? Thank you, I'm excited to have you. Thank you, I'm excited to be here Wonderful.
Speaker 2:So what I want to do first is tell everybody a little bit about you, and then we'll jump in and have a fun conversation. That's my goal, OK sounds good.
Speaker 2:So, everyone, karen's is a story of resilience, constantly evolving with the times and changes in life, from fitness, professional to corporate America, to starting a family, navigating the juggling of raising her twins while working. Today We'll talk about some of Karen's life philosophies and how she navigated the many changes that came her way. So I like to kick off, karen, because we're going to have a fun conversation and let's tell people a little bit about you so they know you're here, right, yeah, so let's kick off with how we know each other.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, I have my husband to thank for that because he, being an architect, has the pleasure of having your husband help him, his clients, with their audio visual needs, and that developed into a really nice friendship and we started seeing each other throughout the years at different parties and then we came together when you had some fitness needs and you had some interest in that and it just we had such great conversations every time we got together. It just became a great friendship.
Speaker 2:Totally, totally great, and it's so cool how life happens that way, right, I'm sure everybody can relate to that. You meet someone and you're drawn to that person for a number of reasons, and throughout the years we've been lucky enough to get to know each other a lot better, and you're one of my people, so and it's funny.
Speaker 1:It's interesting because there are a few people in my life where I have met them and instantly felt some kind of I don't know kindred spirit type of Do I know them from somewhere else, did I? Run into them at some point and I kind of felt that way with you.
Speaker 2:Wow, really.
Speaker 1:Yeah, from the very start.
Speaker 2:OK, I like hearing that. It's interesting you say that too. That's something that's been on my mind lately and we'll probably talk about this more than once today which is we've both recently been injured, and throughout this kind of injury journey, we kept running into each other at physical therapy. So here's the funny thing about it, though On my very first podcast episode, my guest talked about how there are no accidents. You did.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but there are so many hours in the day Right and seven days well, six days and on open on Sundays Right and two locations and two locations, and so it was funny like the first time, oh wow, it's so great to see you here.
Speaker 2:And then it happened again and, like you said, one day it'd be at 10 AM, one day it'd be 11 AM. We never planned it and it just kept happening.
Speaker 1:Yep, it's like we're being drawn together for some reason.
Speaker 2:For some reason, and I want to OK, let's talk about that for one minute. Has anyone out there ever noticed that all of a sudden, they're running into somebody in life, and maybe it happens more than once. I would implore you to pause and think about that. Like, why do I keep running into you? Instead of just saying oh how funny, what a coincidence, we keep running into each other. If you say in some moment, like I keep running into somebody, stop and pay attention to that, Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Because I think the universe is trying to tell you something. What do you think about that?
Speaker 1:Am I crazy? No, I totally agree with that. I think that you need to be. You just need to be aware of things that are going on in your life, Because in this crazy life, everyone's rushing, going, doing, never really taking that time to pause and think about things, and I think the importance of that is that you can. Unfortunately, you can miss out on a lot of opportunities if you don't take the time to pause and think about why am I running into Megan, all this?
Speaker 1:every time I go to PT at all these different hours and different days and different locations. How is that happening? We have very different schedules.
Speaker 2:We have very busy schedules.
Speaker 1:Yet we keep running into one another. So, yeah, and what I love about it is that I'm 61 years old and at 61 years old I met a really important someone who I think is a really important person in my life, and I think I said this to you recently that our spirits kind of maybe were meant to be together or to be in each other's lives. It just took a really long time for it to happen.
Speaker 2:Yes, you did say that Because I think I started to, like I said, pay attention to us running into each other, and I sent you a text like OK, again, we're friends, we see each other in other circumstances, but it just kind of kept happening where it was. So like, OK, this is intentional and that's why we decided to. We've got to get together and talk and have this conversation with everybody out there, because we wanted to pay attention to it. So you did, you said hey, I'm so glad that this came full circle and even though we've been in each other's lives, we're paying more attention to that now and able to spend more time together. So, yeah, yeah, love it.
Speaker 2:So the show is called we Are Made For More. That's why I just spent so much time, even on that segment of what we just discussed, because I think it's important that we all stop and reflect on things a little more often. But everything whizzes by us so quickly and, like you just said, the pause helps sometimes bring I don't know more clarity to things, and I'm talking about this right now too, because your journey is pretty cool. You just mentioned that we also have crossed paths with my fitness journey. I've had six guests so far. Three of them have been part of my fitness journey. What?
Speaker 1:does that tell you I'm?
Speaker 2:constantly trying. Listen everybody. Try and fail, try and succeed. Try, try, try. I keep trying, but you're one of those fitness people in my life, so tell us a little bit about your story. Let's start with the fitness world, because it started when you were really young, didn't it?
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah. In fact, I love to tell this story because it's kind of funny. I was three years old and my two older sisters, who were only like 20 months apart from one another, they had gone off to school and I was home. I was three years old and I was home with my baby sister, who was only six months old, and I started watching. I was watching TV one day and I think it was Romper Room was a show that was on, and right after Romper Room the Jack LaLaine show would come on.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:Jack LaLaine would talk to the television and say, hey, go get your mom, your grandma, your granddad and bring them over to the TV. And I felt like he was talking to me personally and of course I tried to get my mom to do it. She never would, but I started doing Jack LaLaine his fitness program at the age of three.
Speaker 2:My goodness, I talked about it very young age. She got started.
Speaker 1:And I loved it, and I just from there. I continued in the fitness world. I became a gymnast and a cheerleader. Then, when I went to college, I was teaching intramural exercise classes. At the time, jane Fonda was the thing, the craze. This is 1981. I remember that well. Yep, and I was doing intramurals at Stony Brook University and then shortly thereafter, a gym opened, which that wasn't really a thing back in those days.
Speaker 2:True, they had like hardcore gyms when like guys went and pumped iron.
Speaker 1:This was more of a fitness club and it was called Greg Buttle's Health and Fitness Center and it opened up the first one. He ended up owning three, two on Long Island, one in New Jersey, but the first one was in East Meadow and I went in and I was the first aerobics instructor that they hired Wow, yep, and started teaching classes, all kinds of low impact aerobics high impact aerobics, toning classes, stretching classes.
Speaker 2:And how old were you at that time around, or what did you talk about?
Speaker 1:I think I was 20.
Speaker 2:OK, so I'm thinking back to 21. I love when people tell their stories. I kind of try and put myself in that place. Where was I then? Right?
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I do remember well the Jane Fonda era, yep and the tights and the and the leg warmers and the headbands yes, did you do all that too? Oh, yes, of course, we all tried to do that. And then, though, you're right, I remember there was something called like Jazzercise.
Speaker 1:Yes, Right around that time. Yep, that was all around the same time. Yes, but like Jazzercise was just for women, that was like a women's club OK. It was just classes. This was a fitness club that had machines and free weights and a room just specifically for the exercise classes and there was a pool and a hot tub and steam rooms and so on.
Speaker 2:Oh, ok, so it was a full gym at the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and a restaurant and a beauty salon. I mean it had everything. It was really truly a club and it was great.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It was like belonging to a club.
Speaker 2:So that was your first foray into getting paid to do fitness.
Speaker 1:Yes, that was my first paying fitness job. And at the time there wasn't anything called personal training. People would come to the gym, so I was teaching aerobics classes, but I also was trained. They trained me. The fitness director trained me to show people how to use the equipment. We used to do fitness evaluations, so nobody would start their workouts until they were evaluated to make sure that they were healthy enough to actually do a fitness program.
Speaker 2:OK.
Speaker 1:So I was trained on all of that, and I was a college student at the time. So, I went to school and then I was at the gym most of the time. I was sometimes opening up or being at the gym at 6 in the morning doing a stretch class at 6 AM. I mean, most college students would not be getting up that early to go to a gym.
Speaker 2:So true, I mean, as I hear you talking about it now, and like I've already said to everybody that we've known each other a number of years now because you've always done it. It's part of the fabric of who you are and it's why you look the way you do. Quite frankly, you look fantastic, thank you, amazing and it's inspiring. It's inspiring to be around someone that has such like a constitution to make that such a value in your life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, it's always been really important to me. It makes me feel really good for my own health, but it makes me feel good when I help other people feel good about their health and it's not necessarily about the way they look. The way you look through fitness is really just a bonus. The fitness part of it is how you feel and I enjoy helping people feel good. Wow.
Speaker 2:I mean, let's just put some quotes around that and boom, we could. We could be done with this episode.
Speaker 1:That's how good that was.
Speaker 2:I feel that that's totally who you are. When I think of Karen DeLuca, it's that she cares, and I would say that's my husband. Like we started working out together I don't remember exactly when, it was a little over a year ago and I would come to your fitness studio at your house and I'd always you just said it I'd feel fantastic after I left, and it wasn't just because of the workout. Karen, you're blast. You're a blast. You made it fun. You know when you're on the bike for 20 minutes and you would just keep. Next thing, you know 20 minutes was over. You were talking up a storm and you know how to network people. Every minute you say things like do you know this person? Do you know that person? Do you know this?
Speaker 1:person. Does it sound like you?
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, so like the gift of gab on top of it, like just helps people move, helps get them going.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, it's, and it's a good distraction and it's a good way to you know, exercising can sometimes be a little bit of a chore.
Speaker 1:Let's face it. But when you're doing it with someone who you feel really comfortable with, who you know that their goal is to help you to feel better, you know it just makes it. You get sort of a connection with them that you can't really get like when you just go to the gym and you're working out on your own. But that's not to say you shouldn't do that. If that's important Any way that's going to get you to exercise, I'm all for it, as long as it's healthy and everything's in moderation. That's my mantra really moderation.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, that's a great mantra For me. Personally, I keep trying to do it. It's like a get back on the horse again and weave into our injuries a little bit here.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes.
Speaker 2:You know we just mentioned your age. I'm in my early 50s, so I can relate to the kind of you know, age part of life where my body doesn't work the same way it used to and you think it does, you think you're going to get out there and oh, I can do this, and you feel great, and then the body doesn't work the same way, whether it's tendons or bones or what have you. So tell us a little bit about what happened with your injury.
Speaker 1:Well, and just you know, just so everybody knows, the older you get, the harder it gets. So it's not that, oh, this person is so much better off than I am. Everybody has experiences injuries at some point in their life. As you get older, it does get a little harder to come back from the injuries. I was always very consistent in my exercise and so it was pretty shocking to me, not just physically but emotionally. It was shocking to me that I got injured the way I did, because it was not something fancy I wasn't out like doing like skiing some moguls or something.
Speaker 1:I was literally demonstrating an exercise to my six am clients. I had two clients that would come two, three times a week at six in the morning and I was demonstrating a lateral shuffle, you know, to. They were just getting into playing pickleball and I had googled what's a good exercise to strengthen the muscles for pickleball playing, and this exercise was one of them and I went to demonstrate it Because I do an interval training. As you know, my workouts are usually interval training, so we go from one station to another station and this was the last station of the workout for that particular morning and I shuffled across and I had built up some momentum and I my foot caught and my body kept going, so my leg bent the wrong way and I broke my tibial plateau, which is where all of your weight bearing goes.
Speaker 1:So, that's a that's a tough one and I was told by my doctor like, oh, you got the football injury. That's like a big yeah apparently it's only like 2% of fractures are of the tibial plateau and it's usually football players or athletes you know I decide and some of them well they, they plant, their planting and somebody hits them from the side.
Speaker 1:So the leg bends the wrong way. Yeah, it bends sideways. So it was. You know. I can't even say if it was painful, because all I knew is, as I was flying through the air, I knew something bad happened, because I heard the sound, and I knew something bad happened. But I landed and I was like, okay, get myself together.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I'm gonna, we're gonna, continue exercising it's.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness yeah.
Speaker 1:But then you know your body tells you, yeah, okay, something is really wrong. So about 20 minutes later I was like, okay, not feeling great Time to listen to my body and I stopped the workout. And as it turned out, it was, it was, it was a break and there was also ligaments that were, you know, pretty severely sprained, so from it was tough.
Speaker 2:How long of a recovery was that?
Speaker 1:it was. I was six weeks in a fully locked brace, no weight bearing at all. So if I had to, you know, go to the bathroom or take a shower showering was really hard I would have to do that on crutches, but I couldn't put any weight on it at all, Wasn't allowed.
Speaker 1:So, it's tough, it was really tough. And then six weeks where they unlocked the brace, I still couldn't put weight back and I couldn't you know no weight bearing. But I was able to get around a little better because I could bend the leg a little bit you know, because the brace was unlocked and then it was so that was 12 weeks and then it was probably about another four weeks without the brace, except if I was in public. They wanted the brace on and I, yeah crutches.
Speaker 2:So I get that too. Yeah, they want people to not bump into you. And it really does make a difference and I'm going through some of that right now with myself myself my shoulder surgery that I had. But that's not what this story is about. But I get that Because I'm out of my sling now. But they say, wear it out in public if you're going like somewhere because you're still healing Right.
Speaker 1:They are more considerate when they see a brace or something and they'll help you.
Speaker 2:People will help you like. Oh, can I open the door for you, or can I right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, it's amazing how people will really come, you know, to your aid when they see you in a brace or a sling like you are, and crutches. So yeah, I would say, all together it was. It was a pretty long process, probably around 15, 18.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a lot, karen, and I saw you a couple of times during that process so I definitely, you know, watched you kind of go through that. I don't want to say struggle through it, because you always had a brave face and a smile on your face, because that's who you are, but what were some of the struggles for you that during that time?
Speaker 1:Yeah, the biggest struggle for me was the, the emotional part and the reality that I'm not invincible you know, I, I always worked out, I always felt great and I thought, you know, I never even occurred to me that I could get an injury that was going to incapacitate me to that degree. It literally never even occurred to me. So that was a big blow to my ego a little bit. You know, a couple people said to me oh no, not you, not Karen DeLuca, you're, you're a superwoman or a wonder woman or whatever, and like it was kind of nice that that's how they looked at me. Yeah, but it at the same time it made me a little upset because I was like no, I'm a human being and human beings can. I mean I didn't say that to anyone who would say that to me because I didn't want to make them feel badly, but I, it was a little upsetting to me because I was like no, I, you know I'm human, I can't get injured. You know I'm not invincible and I'm having to come to those terms.
Speaker 1:So everybody around me better come to those terms too, and you know so, I think, and being sedentary for me right. I can imagine not someone like you. Yeah, not tough. What did you do, were?
Speaker 2:you able to do any anything at all during that time, physically, in terms of moving your body, because it's your life, your whole life, yeah well, what my husband did, was he I was.
Speaker 1:I was really just in the den in our family room because we have an electric you know, electronic recliner. So that's where I was sleeping. Yeah, and that's where I was, and we also have a powder room in there so I could get to the bathroom a little easier, but that's where I stayed most of the time.
Speaker 2:And then recovering, yeah, but then I would.
Speaker 1:I was able to hobble into the kitchen and then showers. You know my husband would have to help me with the shower. That was. That was the hardest part.
Speaker 2:Okay, listen, I hope everyone can appreciate that I keep weaving my own story into this only because the similarity is real, that I just went through a surgery myself and had the same experience in terms of we knew there would be healing involved, of course, but I couldn't move my left arm at all and my husband had helped me as well with the showering. So let's just get personal. How was that for you? Did it improve your marriage or did it hurt your marriage?
Speaker 1:You know he was the poor thing. He was so stressed through the whole time because, you know, it was just me and him at home, the kids live in Boston and we didn't have we really didn't have any help. So I felt bad, like so much was on his plate with his business and now he was like having to take care of me. And you know, when you're so accustomed to being an independent person and not relying on other people, that that's a hard pill to swallow.
Speaker 1:It is you know and I felt like I was. It was becoming more of an issue for him and I didn't you know, I felt bad. I wanted to try to ease his burden you know, that's my goal is always to try to ease his burden, because he's got a lot on his plate, but now I was adding to it, so but, I, was, I was helping him. I do his administrative work for him you know for his business.
Speaker 1:So we were able to. They said our IT guy set us up at home. He set me up with a laptop and connected me to my husband. So I would, I would sit in the dining room with my leg up and I would do, you know, the administrative stuff for my husband. So I was still able to do that, but that was not until about, I would say about three or four weeks into my injury.
Speaker 2:Yeah, of course you know I've got to heal and so forth, but it's a listen. One thing that I walked away with my own personal experience was that I felt so grateful that I had my husband home, and also I had I had my kids home. You just said your kids were away. Well, we'll get to that in a minute. But I had a family here that could, could all help and pitch in. But you're right, all of a sudden I couldn't do all of those things that I normally contribute to household. Right, and that was tough. It was hard. Now grateful for number one, but also tough because I didn't want to put a burden on everybody. But then I think about people that maybe don't have someone at home to help them through a difficult time or a surgery, and I was really reflective when did you feel that at all? Like moments of like wow, I think I have my husband, yes, and now I absolutely.
Speaker 1:I absolutely did. But I think, for you know, for women, we're just naturally caregivers Great point, which is funny because the term is caretaker.
Speaker 1:But really I guess we're taking care of someone but we're giving care to people and so not that men can't do that they can. But for women I think it's like a natural thing to want to take care of people and then, when somebody has to take care of you, you feel this like guilt. But I did get to a point where I was like I have to let that go Because I need to focus. Actually, a friend of mine she said that to me. She said you have to stop feeling guilty and stop feeling like you're a burden Because you need to heal. You need to use your energy to heal your body. And she said to me you know how you use your energy to work out. And she said you know how much that requires when you're exercising. She said your body right now, your knee is working out.
Speaker 2:Without moving, it's working out.
Speaker 1:It's healing. The healing process is work, and that made a lot of sense to me.
Speaker 2:I love that. I'm glad you just paused on that too, because I feel the same way in life, like especially these days, there's such a push to do so much and we're used to. Okay, what you just said is women, we I'll say the same thing as women, we do a lot. I'm not saying that men don't everybody. We're not saying that.
Speaker 1:We're just happy talking about ourselves.
Speaker 2:So. But you know mothers, you know wives, professionals, and then households, whatever those things are. So it's women to me do a lot. So it's hard to let somebody else step in and like, I guess, take care of us for a while. But the healing back to the healing. Sorry, got back to the healing for a minute. I also believe that you really can't fully heal properly when you have constant stress around you.
Speaker 1:Yes, Would you agree with that? Totally agree with that? Yes, you need. You need peace and calm in your life in order for you to heal. And you know I had a lot of stress this summer. I was still having some stress in my life and it definitely wreaks havoc on your body. And if you have something extra going on in your life, like a surgery in your shoulder, a broken knee, a torn labrum, that I now have from a car accident that happened at the end of my when I just started driving again.
Speaker 2:Unreal.
Speaker 1:But I do feel like and I'll get back to it but I feel like that was a blessing in disguise maybe, but you know, the stress factor definitely delays healing and it really, it really can hinder it. So you have to, you have to kind of go into a little bit of a meditation mode, you know, like inward, and just focus on you know, put all of your energy to your shoulder. Yeah, the shoulder needs to heal when you're in PT, like lay there. I know a lot of times it's social people that are there.
Speaker 1:There's lovely people at the PT place and they want to talk and whatever, and that's fine. But when you have the opportunity, focus and just think about your shoulder and kind of visualize what's happening inside there and it's healing and all the little fibers are coming back together and all the nerves are, you know, regaining their energy again and sending the right signals. You have to send the signal from your brain and from your emotions to that part of your body and I try to do that when, even with just regular exercise you know I'm also a Pilates instructor- yes, I know.
Speaker 1:So Pilates and now practice of Pilates it's we call it mindful exercise, and I always say to my clients I've probably said it to you as well you want you to connect your mind to your muscle. So if I'm saying we're working your bicep right now, I want your mind to go right to that muscle. When you do that, it is amazing how much more effective you can feel the difference. And so it's the same thing. You know whether it's fitness or it's healing, if you can use your mind. I always say fitness is like 80% mental, you know, 20% physical. If you can use your mind to help connect to your body and tell your body what you want it to do, it makes a huge difference. Unfortunately, over the summer, when I was like in like an emotional roller coaster ride or spiral, I should say I forgot that for a while. I guess I was having a little bit of a pity party.
Speaker 2:And you're allowed.
Speaker 1:I guess I forgot that I needed to spend that time focusing on healing and getting my mind to connect to that part of my body, so that that's so important.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I love that you just described that. And, taking me back to your Pilates classes that I took as well, and I'm also thinking about you know, you talked in the beginning of this, this conversation, about how you care about people, and a couple of things also just came to mind. One is that you also brought a bunch of your clients together, myself included, to go to a yoga class here on Long Island.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's right, I forgot you were with me that day.
Speaker 2:Yes, and so here you teach your own Pilates classes, but you think enough of, hey, let's all try this together. And then we went to this lovely place called the Dreaming Tree in Northport, New York, but it was a place of you just made me think of it because you're talking about healing and getting your mind to think and you walked in this Zen experience and I love that you bring your clients to to different moments like that.
Speaker 2:Another one was Karen brought me to acupuncture. Oh wait, I don't know if you thank me for that one?
Speaker 2:Yes, I did, but you know, these are some other things I think about when I think of you is how deeply you care about your clients, is you go above and beyond. It's not just okay, a fitness class and okay, see you later, which that there's nothing wrong with that. That's great too, but you bring people to things that they need in their life, and you thought acupuncture would be great for me, for something that I needed, and you actually went with me.
Speaker 2:You didn't just say hey, here's the guy's number, right, I'm gonna, I'm gonna take you you and sat in the room with me while I had the needles put it. So that's just, that's amazing.
Speaker 1:So I forgot and you know I forget these things that I do, sometimes Bad, just happens when you 61. Yeah, well, trust me, I'm already.
Speaker 2:I think I'm already starting to feel some of those things too. I'm like the words. Do you ever see this? Like you could see the word up there in the top of your head yes, and you're trying to pull it down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the simplest words, that's what's crazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like okay, I know it's there. Can you please help?
Speaker 1:me.
Speaker 2:What's that word? About the words, about that, one of my biggest fears, right now is, is that exact kind of thing, like from a professional perspective, even like when you have to speak in front of the room and the words sometimes are getting jumbled these days. I'm like, come on, you could do it. You could do it. Yeah, is that ever happened to you.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, all the time.
Speaker 2:So just to shift gears for a moment, we talked a lot about the fitness side of it. You also were in corporate America, and I don't want to get too much further without mentioning that you have an amazing family.
Speaker 1:Thank you.
Speaker 2:So let's pause for a sec. Your husband, jim DeLuca, here on Long Island, has his own business. As you mentioned earlier, our husbands work together and Jim owns DeLuca Design Architects here and would you say, it's in Cold Spring Harbor.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Cold Spring Harbor.
Speaker 2:Yep, and he builds. Just how would you describe it?
Speaker 1:I mean, he designed my home first of all yes, we're, we're which has now become my favorite home, oh wow.
Speaker 2:No it really has.
Speaker 1:I love your style. I love everything you've done in this house. It's beautiful.
Speaker 2:Thank you, you should do.
Speaker 1:You should do a podcast. Just going around your house, do video taping and talking about each room. Very interesting stuff.
Speaker 2:Thank you, it's different. It's different. I love it, but the outside is just you know, it's a DeLuca, we call it, it's a DeLuca Design house. Yeah, so it is, it's beautiful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean he does. He does mostly residential, custom residential, but he also he does do some commercial, but not a lot. And he definitely has a style. Like a lot of people will say, I want that DeLuca style. You know which is it's beautiful peaks and you know beautiful windows and I mean it's just kind of like a traditional transitional. Maybe you can call it that style, but he's, it's great. He's been in business now for about I want to say, about 35 years. Has it been Okay?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:He does most of his business I would say like 92% of his business is in the township of Huntington. I mean, huntington Township is pretty big and wide but he does a lot in Cold Spring, harbor Lloyd, harbor Lloyd, nack, santa Port, huntington, huntington Harbor, huntington Bay is a big one now.
Speaker 2:Beautiful homes yeah, they really are. Oh, thank you. They're stunning and I you know. You just mentioned that DeLuca has a look. I'll mention here my daughter she's 16 years old has said numerous times I hope that I'll be able to have a DeLuca design house when I own a house.
Speaker 1:Oh that, that's a huge compliment.
Speaker 2:That's what I said.
Speaker 1:I'm like you're 16.
Speaker 2:Like, maybe we'll hope for that for you too, but she just, you know, he's not retiring anytime soon.
Speaker 1:So so there you go yeah, he'll be around. Well, I'm just going to try to keep him healthy. I get him to go to the gym too. I'm sure you do.
Speaker 2:But yeah, jim looks like he works out, so you've done a good job. You look great, jim.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes, he's doing great, but yeah, so his business is you know what's doing.
Speaker 2:Well, and part of I don't know where you were going just now.
Speaker 1:You go, you go and go for it Part of of his business. He always referred his clients to landscape designers. Mm hmm, you know, when it got to that point and this summer, when I broke my knee and I was incapacitated, and literally like two minutes after I announced to my clients that I was incapacitated and was going to be for, I thought six weeks, because that's what the doctor originally told me six weeks, no weight bearing. So I thought, oh, in six weeks from now I'll be back. Mm hmm, that wasn't the case, but everybody went elsewhere, which I can't blame them, you know they want to continue with the fitness program.
Speaker 1:So, they had to go find another gym or whatever and I couldn't teach any Pilates classes, obviously. And I realized I need to be a productive person. Mm, hmm, I need to be able to make money. I'm getting older, yeah, and I need to find a way to make some money and feel productive and feel like I'm contributing something positive that doesn't necessarily require me to use my body. Okay, and that's when I had sort of an epiphany over the summer and started really seriously thinking about landscape designing because I had done it. I've always had a huge interest in it and we've done several projects at my own home and then I've helped other people, friends of mine and then one of my friends said to me it was like I was having this thought. And then she said to me you know, I was just thinking, I just saw this advertisement for a landscape designing class. I think you should look into it.
Speaker 2:Oh really, that's how it started and that's how it started.
Speaker 1:So I looked into it and literally the day that I called to find out about it was the last day for enrollment.
Speaker 2:So it was like it was meant to be.
Speaker 1:So I enrolled in the class and in the beginning, because it was in September, I wasn't driving yet. So my husband drove me to the first couple of classes, which was at night, seven to 10pm on. Thursday nights and he drove me and then a couple weeks, like maybe the third week, I started driving myself. Unfortunately, that was when I got into a car accident on the way home from my class. Yeah, sitting out of red light, I got rear ended. Which sort of respray didn't re break, thank God but, respray my ligaments and I tore my hip labor.
Speaker 1:So for me it was like it was almost like somebody was smacking me, you know and going hello in case you didn't get the message the first time, you need to recreate yourself and this is serious Like don't take this as like all right, I'm taking this class and if maybe I'll do something with it, maybe I won't, you need to do something with it.
Speaker 1:Right and that's kind of like I almost like heard the voice in my head saying that and so I took it seriously and I finished the class, even though I was, you know, now re injured. I went back, didn't miss one class at all and completed it and got my certification. It's wonderful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's really, and so now it's going to be called it's called Sage and Stone Landscape Designer. Wonderful and it will.
Speaker 1:It's a it's a division of Deluca Designs Architects. So now, instead of my husband referring his clients to other landscape designers, he can refer them to me.
Speaker 2:Good for you, Karen.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean that's really incredible. You know I started out this episode by saying, like yours is a story of resilience. Hopefully we've proven that, the amount of kind of changes that you've had to make and we've really only touched, of course, on a little bit of your life, although a big fabric of it has been fitness right, and so now it's going to be landscape design. So a little plug for you here on Long Island, for anyone that's looking for landscape design in this area We'll put it up on the thread. How to find you?
Speaker 1:It's an Instagram it's a brand new Instagram page. Yes, so I haven't really posted. I put one little post up there, but I'm I need to go back into my photo album and find all of my before photos and after photos on some of the projects that I've done over the years that I didn't get paid to do. But I was just doing, you know, for fun, for friends and family members and for myself, as I said before. So I will be posting more.
Speaker 2:I'm going to start, I'm going to have an official launch at some point, okay, and that's great, but I encourage anyone that wants to go follow Karen, because she needs some followers. Yes, because that's part of the community here too is we are made for more, and yours is a story of that. You know the constant need, like ebbs and flows of life, and you're jumping into something new for yourself. So I hope it's going to be great. But I also want to just say you have two, two children that are they're grown children now. They're young adults and they're out in the world Jake and Olivia, and they're twins, yes, twins. Are we allowed to say how old they are? What they might?
Speaker 1:be. Yeah, no, age is just a number, it's just a number. They're in their twenties, right? They're twenty six.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're twenty six. So you know, we jumped from kind of the beginning of your story to where we are today, right, we skipped the whole part, but this was a big part, so just to talk about, like the, the kind of changing tides of your life cause you were also in corporate America.
Speaker 2:And we can't talk about everything today, but tell us just a little bit about, if you could, how you transitioned from okay, went from fitness, kept fitness in your life, but then to having a family and a little bit about the corporate part in the middle.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, um so, out of college. So I, I was teaching classes at Greg bottles and training people in the fitness room, um, all through college. And then, when I finished college, they were opening up their second location and they had a trailer uh which, greg, but I'll approached me and he said I want you to sell memberships pre-opening memberships, okay, cause he knew I had just graduated and you know, I was kind of not figured, not knowing what I was going to do. And he said I want you to come and work for me full time. So I did, I sold memberships in the trailer. That wasn't even, it was under construction.
Speaker 1:And that's how I met my husband because, he came into the trailer one day and now, not knowing um that he was the architect, I tried to sell him a membership and I'm showing him the model of the gym which he designed and he built that model.
Speaker 1:That's great, and he just let me go through this whole, my whole spiel. And then at the end I said so, how would you like to pay for your membership? And he said, oh well, actually I'm the architect who designed it and I get a free membership. And I was like I was so annoyed, so right from the start he annoyed me, so of course I had to marry him he.
Speaker 2:I was going to say he wanted. He probably loved what he saw and wanted to hear you talk all about how wonderful his design was.
Speaker 1:Nice job, but all I did was get annoyed with him because I'm like you, just wasted my time, that's anyway, so that's how we met, but we really just were friends for a long time, um and then. So I sold memberships at the gym and I would see him.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I would see him there and you know, sometimes he would walk me to my car at the end of my shift or whatever. And I did that for about I want to say maybe a year and a half, and then I ended up working for a publishing company. I left there.
Speaker 1:I felt like I needed to move on. I was still teaching, I was still connected to the fitness world because I continued teaching exercise classes always. I, you know I really kind of never stopped, except for when I was pregnant with the twins, but I continued teaching all along.
Speaker 1:So I ended up at a publishing firm and I was there for eight years and I started out as an account manager no an account executive and then, uh, within about a year and a half, I became district manager and in about, at about year three, I became branch manager of all of Long Island and Queens and Brooklyn.
Speaker 2:Right, and it was a big job.
Speaker 1:It was a big job. It was a lot of stress, um, and during that time Jim and I ended up getting married and, um, and then buying a house in Santa port and we, you know we're just going along, but it was a very stressful job and at one point I the company had been, it went public and then they were bought out by an acquisition acquisitions company and it was just the writing was on the wall. They kind of were like pushing me, they wanted me out.
Speaker 2:I was making too much money.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so yeah, good for me, but they were causing me a lot of stress. So, um, yeah, so I negotiated a good deal with them and I ended up leaving and I said to my husband I said I am so done with corporate America. I can't take the stress anymore. And this before we had the kids, I said I I want to go back to fitness full time. So that's when I got certified, as you know, a real certification as a personal trainer, cause that's when, now, personal training was like the thing.
Speaker 1:Yes, it wasn't back in the early eighties when I was first in the fitness world. It was not really a thing.
Speaker 2:Now it was yeah, and look at it today. Today is really a thing.
Speaker 1:So I got my certification Um and I started working at a gym and like very quickly I had I had like 40 clients.
Speaker 2:Really it was, yeah, it was, it was really crazy.
Speaker 1:And I was back to back to back clients and it was a little it was rough, you know, I would have to like say to somebody oh, jump on the while you're warming up on the treadmill so I could run to the bathroom, you know, real quick, and then grab a bite of something. It was a lot, it was a lot, so, um, but I was enjoying it and I love, you know, I just love being in that world.
Speaker 1:And then my former regional manager from the publishing company I had worked for, he had left and he moved to mastercard international and he calls me and he says I have the perfect job for you. So I went and I interviewed with the marketing firm. Now, did you have kids yet?
Speaker 2:Nope, you didn't get this point.
Speaker 1:Didn't have kids yet no, um, I went, I interviewed, I was like. I said to him I'm like Steve, I have no interest in corporate America. He's not. No, no, no. This is going to be very different. Trust me, he's like and you're going to, it's going to be, it's a project that you're going to run the show and you're not going to have to deal with other people. It's going to be like your own little business within this marketing firm yeah.
Speaker 1:Very compelling. So I went and I interviewed and I was so Disinterested I can want to say in in going back into this corporate world, that I was so relaxed on this interview, so relaxed that, um, they loved me.
Speaker 2:And then I you were like thinking yeah, I was thinking I don't want this.
Speaker 1:I have this now. I don't want this, so I'll just go. I had to do it because, steve, you know, as a favor to him.
Speaker 2:I didn't want to make him look bad.
Speaker 1:And then I I. They wanted, you know, they wanted me for this job. They presented my offer. I gave them an offer of what I wanted to earn and they um went to MasterCard and they said, okay, they met everything I.
Speaker 2:I don't want to say demands, but my criteria, decision to make, because here you didn't want it, you're like I'm going to ask for something that they won't even give me. They give it to you. Yes, was that a hard decision to make to do it?
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, and it was kind of funny because when they told me that they uh, the owners of the marketing firm, when they called me and said, uh, mastercard agreed, and I was like it was on a Friday, I go, okay, well, can I think about it over the weekend? And they were like, think about it.
Speaker 2:We just met all of your.
Speaker 1:I didn't know what I was. I don't know why you said that, but I did. I need to think about it. So that weekend my husband and I sat down and we wrote all the pros and cons of each thing, staying with in the fitness world or taking this job and, um, the job kind of had a lot more benefits. So I took the job, so you went for it.
Speaker 2:I went for it. We have to pause for one second because I feel like you just nailed some perfections of interviewing. So for those that are thinking about interviews, you know, be, relaxed, be relaxed is number one like be yourself, like how much better can you be if you show up as your true self? Of course do your best. Everybody but relaxed is like you could get to see who you really are right.
Speaker 2:And then you talked about which part? Oh, asking for what you really want, yes, if you can, right, if it's in the right marketplace where you can ask what you really want, yeah, and then, even if you get what you want, number three is think about it, make sure it's the right decision for you. So anyway, I just right, you just kind of nailed those things, yeah, so thought I'd talk about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's funny because I obviously didn't do that intentionally, but it happened. But it happened and it worked out.
Speaker 1:It worked out great because then I ended up loving that job and he was right. It was like my own little world. I kind of lived in there. You know, I didn't I didn't engage with a lot of all the other account managers because I didn't have to. We all had our own accounts that we managed. So it was perfect. And I dealt with MasterCard International just like the VPs with that and at that company and Ticketmaster, because I was yeah, oh really yeah, master two.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Because the program that I spearheaded was called the gold ticket event program and at the time American Express was doing their gold card event program and we changed the name to gold ticket you know, get the golden ticket a golden ticket, maybe we called it.
Speaker 1:You get the best seats in the house, Right, if you use your gold MasterCard, and so my liaison was Ticketmaster, because if we were, if we had a sporting event that we wanted to get the best seats in the house for our MasterCard gold cardholders, I would have to negotiate with Ticketmaster and they would work with the whatever the sporting event person or the Broadway show producer, and they would help us get the best seats in the house. And you know, it would be like a block of seats and whoever first come, first serve, whoever ordered the tickets first with their gold MasterCard, would get those best seats in the house.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, so it was a great program.
Speaker 1:I did all the advertising for them. I actually did some of the designing of the ads, so I worked with our. We had a whole creative team at the marketing firm that I worked for and I would work very closely with them and I love doing the design. Okay, you know, I've always had like a little bit of a you know interest in designing.
Speaker 2:There you go, because now you're designing a landscape Right, but yes, yeah, and even with fitness designing bodies.
Speaker 1:That's true too, I'm designing bodies.
Speaker 2:Now I'm designing landscaping.
Speaker 1:I designed ads for newspapers and magazines and billboards back in the day. So I got to do.
Speaker 1:My creative juices were being, you know really met and how long were you there, for I was there about two and a half years, okay, but I became pregnant with the twins during that time and the job was I did a lot of late nights because a lot of times I had to be at my office with the creative team If we were placing an ad in a newspaper LA Times, you know, 530, hour time is 830, their time, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I would have to be there.
Speaker 1:I would have to be there, and you can't do that with two babies at home, I know. So you knew what was important. Yes, so I left that job, even though I really it really bothered me to leave it. But I left that job and had the twins in about three months into it, after they were born, I went right back into fitness Amazing.
Speaker 1:And yeah, and built up a personal training business. I trained people at a couple of local gyms, yeah. But then I started training people at their homes and you know I worked it around the kids schedule, my husband being in his own business. Yeah, you know, a lot of times I was training people at 530 in the morning. I know they're all sleeping.
Speaker 2:They're all sleeping, right, and then you still get up and do it, yeah, but like we said before, that that's fitness has been in your life since you were three years old. So, yes, I love that. I love that, I love your whole story and, like we said, it kind of, you've shown how you transition from all these different things as life goes on. So just a couple of last thoughts here as we wrap up today what inspires you in life? What are some things that inspire you?
Speaker 1:You know I was. I was actually just saying this recently to a friend of mine about how what I love about being 61 years old is that I'm still learning.
Speaker 1:And as long as you're still learning, you're still living, and I think that's so important. Like, I've learned a lot of life lessons over the last year, almost a year, maybe about a year. A lot of life lessons and you think that you know, you think at a certain age, you get to a certain age and there's not, there's nothing more to really learn. But I'm realizing that there's a lot to learn and I'm also realizing that it's never too late to make a change in your life. You know, if you, you know, if you feel the need to, that there's something else out there you want to do, go for it.
Speaker 2:You know you go for it.
Speaker 1:It doesn't mean you have to leave what you're presently doing. You can continue doing that, but if you feel this need to and it's good sometimes to hang on to what you are doing and then transition into what you're really meant to do- Ooh, I like that. I think that that's. That's something I really have learned through this experience with my knee and you know everything else. I've learned that, yeah, it's just never too late to make changes in your life.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I love it. I love it. Thank you for that one. And what about if I were to say you know, what are you most proud of? And I'm sure there's a lot of things, but Well, I'm going to say the usual. Okay, let's go. People will say my children Okay.
Speaker 1:And the family that my husband and I have, you know, created together. I think they're amazing. Kids yeah, they. Or people. They're not kids anymore.
Speaker 2:They're your kids, they're my kids.
Speaker 1:They're, they're just amazing. They have incredible integrity and to me, that is the one of the most important things I've always said to my kids you know when, if you're going to do something, do it from the heart and um, and you know, be proud of what you're doing you know, and. I think, yeah, I think I would say that that's probably the thing I'm most proud of.
Speaker 2:Well, that's a good one, Karen, I have to say it's a good one. You brought two people into the world that you're proud of and the life lessons that you've taught them as you kind of share your own story.
Speaker 1:And they both exercise is invaluable. There you go.
Speaker 2:And one works for a fitness company. I just have to say oh yes, that's true.
Speaker 1:Olivia works for no bull, right?
Speaker 2:No bull no bull, not noble right.
Speaker 1:No, bull, which is an athletic, you know clothing company, yes and uh she, she got into that through CrossFit. She was doing CrossFit and they were CrossFit sponsors. So that's really.
Speaker 2:I say it's an up and coming company, but it is fairly new to the marketplace it is got a lot of really cool things going on and Tom Brady just signed on with them. Yep, he's like joining forces with them, which we'll have to all watch, that everybody.
Speaker 1:And then Jake is your son and he's not in the fitness world, but no, but he has been exercising, which was a challenge to get him to exercise For a very long time, and now he's so into it and I'm so happy for him because he he really feels great and he looks amazing. That's the benefit. You know he exercised because he needed to feel good and and from it he looks amazing. So yeah, so he's.
Speaker 2:And they're both in Boston.
Speaker 1:Um, and which is a great town, so we get to go and visit and we love that, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2:Exactly, is there anything as we close today, anything else that you want to share with, with everybody?
Speaker 1:Um.
Speaker 2:I know it feels like a loaded question, but I don't leave anything out, just in case.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you don't leave any stone unturned. Sage and stone.
Speaker 2:There we go, sage and stone by the way, Sage is Olivia's middle name and stone because Jake is a landscape.
Speaker 1:Well, he's, he has his undergrad in architecture, he has his graduate in landscape architecture and urban design and we are going to use him as a consultant for our for my landscape designing business. So whenever there's, you know, patios or a pool or a cabana or anything like that, he will be consulting with us.
Speaker 2:That's fantastic. I love how you brought your children into the name of the company. Yeah, that makes it even more special.
Speaker 1:Yep, they're my inspiration.
Speaker 2:I can relate to that. I can relate to that. That's beautiful. Well, speaking of inspiration, thank you for the inspiration that you brought here today to all of us, to myself, for spending this time with me and doing this episode. I hope that. I hope that a number of people hear it. We always say if one person hears it and it makes a difference for them, great. But please like and share, follow the podcast. Everybody, we are made for more. Feel free to look me up on Megan Alexander being real and look up Karen at Karen at Sage and stone.
Speaker 1:Oh no, yes, yeah, sage and stone.
Speaker 2:See so new no it is so new, so bear with us Sage and stone. Landscape designer.
Speaker 1:That's what. That's what's on.
Speaker 2:Instagram, instagram.
Speaker 1:It's just Sage and stone landscape designer.
Speaker 2:Perfect, and we can even have them look up your husband which is Deluca, designs architects on Instagram Wonderful. And they could take a look at his amazing houses here on Long Island and hopefully people reach out to as well. But thank you again for coming.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:All right, everybody. You know what I love to say Peace out.