MO/AD: This is a big time for women. With #MeToo, five women presidential candidates in the US (already) and over four million women marching worldwide. What would you like to see more from women in 2019?

Lacey Stone: Wow. I have so many thoughts. It’s hard to even verbalize what I’m thinking.

I’m a fitness instructor, so I deal with women and their insecurities and their bodies, and I think it’s come down to women have had enough. And we’re coming together. We’re over the bullshit. We’re starting to take care of ourselves. It’s time for women to start being judged by something Martin Luther King, Jr, said, by the “content of your character.” So, not by how they look, how much they weigh, how “pretty” they are.

It’s celebrating differences instead of discriminating. I don’t know, this country… it’s a very scary time. And you can either hide from it, or you can use your voice, come together, to keep fighting for what’s good. Because for me, I’m a gay woman. I’ve always been discriminated against. So I think it’s interesting to see people be discriminated against for the first time and how they get down. But this is not the time to get down and depressed. It’s the time to say, “there’s a problem here.” So we have to rise above it. Know who we are. And fight for what’s right.

MO/AD: Last year you took your fitness plan on the road on our all-women trip to Greece. How did it compare with working at home in LA?

Lacey Stone: I don’t want to sound cliche, but this trip is the best trip I’ve ever been on. We got to experience the culture. We saw everything you’d want to see. From feeling like we were on the moon at one point, to being on a boat all day in the Aegean Sea. The culture there, they speak to you as if you’re a brother or sister. It’s just kind.

The reason I went on this trip is I could feel a lot of these women were stressed out. A lot of them are CEOs, and mothers, and people who lead very full lives. And being there, and seeing them all connect, and feel like they could let go of everything. And just be free. That happened when we were jumping off the yachts, or sitting at dinner in a little town on Folegandros. People were crying, people were laughing. People just let go. It was amazing.

So when I came back, I felt lighter. And I wanted to bring this spirit of Greece back to my life. One thing I thought when I was there, “if you lose the fun, the magic is done.” Because I had became so focused on my career. Stressed. And I found the fun again in what I do in Greece.

MO/AD: You’ve taken your work on the road, next is going virtual, with an online course. Why are you going virtual?

Lacey Stone: The virtual platform means everything to me. It’s part of the evolution of me as an instructor. The future of all things is online, whether you like it or not.

I put two things dance and sport and put them together. It’s not about being “masculine” or “feminine,” it’s about being strong. So you work on your weaknesses and you become better at it.

I speak once a week on why they’re doing this. Anyone can tell someone how to do squats or run on a treadmill. That doesn’t interest me at all. I want to get to why you don’t want to, why aren’t you motivated to do it on your own. So I tell you why you should do it and how to make it fun, so you’ll do it again and again.

There are challenges too. Focus on food you eat, focus on not drinking, focus on bringing positivity to all parts of your life. And I focus on kicking your ass. It’s really a transformative challenge.