Creatives Like Us Podcast - Ep:10 Nana Crawford
If you enjoyed this podcast, please rate, review and subscribe with the podcast provider of your choice or leave us an Apple Review here. Thanks!
Joyful Movement and Body Confidence: Nana Crawford on Reclaiming Fitness
In this uplifting episode of Creatives Like Us, Ange speaks with Nana Crawford, founder of This Black Woman Can and Jiggle Fit, about her transformative journey into dance fitness. Nana shares how, after struggling with post-pregnancy weight and disillusionment with traditional fitness methods, she discovered samba during lockdown and reframed her entire approach to movement. What began as a quest for weight loss evolved into a celebration of joy, self-expression, and confidence, all within the walls of her own home. Her experience revealed that fitness needn't be punishing or exclusive, it can be accessible, liberating and rooted in self-love.
As the conversation unfolds, Nana reflects on the deeper mindset work behind her transformation, the impact of visible representation in fitness, and the resilience required to navigate criticism online. She opens up about the supportive nudges from colleagues and her husband that encouraged her to pursue dance full-time, despite initial fears. With humour and heart, Nana discusses her hopes of one day opening her own studio and working with women who believe they “can’t dance” helping them rediscover their confidence through joyful movement. It's a candid, powerful episode that challenges assumptions and invites listeners to redefine what transformation really looks like.
Subscribe to the ‘Creatives Like Us’ Podcast newsletter
Stay informed and be the first to know when new episodes drop.
Links for Nana
Nana Crawford / This Black Woman Can:
@thisblackwomancan
Jiggle Fit (Nana’s Dance Fitness Brand):
@jigglefiit
(Note: "Fiit" has two I’s – intentional branding choice)
TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@thisblackwomancan?lang=en
Links for Angela
This podcast is hosted by Angela Lyons of Lyons Creative.
If you have any questions or suggestions or would like to be featured on this podcast, please email angela@lyonscreative.co.uk
You can follow and connect here:
Instagram
LinkedIn
Podcast website
Instagram - Creatives Like Us Podcast
Join the mailing list
Support the show - Buy me a coffee
You are also invited to join us for our mailing list for the 'Creatives Like Us' future events.
Links for Heather
Produced by award-winning media and marketing specialist Heather Pownall of Heather's Media Hub
Connect with Heather on LinkedIn
Thinking of starting a podcast?
I use the platform Riverside to record. It’s great for audio, and video plus the bonus is the way it repurposes the recording into social media graphics. I’ll take that to make the marketing of the podcast easier. Take a look and try it out here*.
Buzzsprout is my chosen platform to host Creatives Like Us. Once you upload your podcast, Buzzsprout creates an RSS feed and you have the option to load it to all the popular podcasting platforms such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts and many more. Take a look and try it here*.
The opinions of our host and guests are their own.
If you enjoyed this podcast, please rate, review and subscribe with the podcast provider of your choice or leave us a Apple Review here. Thanks!
Chapters/Timestamp
00:00
Introduction and Creative Identity
05:54
Journey into Dance and Movement
11:59
The Power of Online Presence
17:55
Creative Projects and Future Aspirations
18:39
The Power of Positive Reinforcement
20:22
Catalysts for Change: Support from Others
22:52
Dreams and Aspirations: Building a Future
25:55
Overcoming Barriers: Navigating Negativity
29:30
Inspiring Others: The Impact of Authenticity
31:30
Reflections and Quickfire Questions
Transcript
Nana (00:00.184)
thought it was going to be a weight loss transformation, but it was actually a, I'm just living my best life transformation. We really need to challenge our perceptions of what fitness is and what people think fitness instructions should look like.
you
Ange (00:21.198)
Hello and welcome to Creatives Like Us, where I speak with creatives of colour who share journeys and stories and ideas and how they can inspire and open up avenues in creative industries. I'm your host, graphic designer Angela Lyons.
And with the help of my guests, I will bring you insightful interviews and compelling stories that can inspire you to think about things differently or shape your next move. Being a creative of color can bring us challenges, highs and lows and in-betweens. But this podcast is about amplifying our voices and celebrating together. So are you ready? Let's get started with creatives like us.
Ange (01:01.144)
Hi, Lena. Thank you so much for joining me. It's a real, privilege to have you on today and it's a real honour for joining with creatives like us. So thank you for coming along. I'd love you to tell people who you are and what type of creative you are.
Thank you for having me.
Nana (01:14.592)
So my name is Nana Crawford and people know me on Instagram as thisblackwomancan and I also have a dance fitness business called Jiggle Fit and the type of creative, I'm a movement creative. So I love to get people in a space where they can be creatives with their bodies, with their minds, with their souls and have that kind of deeper connection with themselves.
Wow. So how did it all start? How did you start wanting to dance? And is that your full-time job? is it? So I some people that have been on before that it's like they have, I want to say side hustle, but say, you know, a different job, should we say, or is this what you do full-time? And how did you start?
So this is currently what I'm doing full time now as of 2025. How did I start? So I started dancing in 2020 and it was after years of trying to get more active, years of thinking that I needed to lose all the weight that I had gained after I had children and nothing had worked and I had done diets.
and put the weight back on. I had done fitness plans and put the weight back on. I had done personal trainers and gym stuff and put the weight back on. And then eventually I was like, there's something not quite right here. So I need to just take a break because mentally I was just completely drained. I felt really like unmotivated by all my efforts.
And I was like, I'm just going to focus on my kids because if I can focus on my children and bring them up, then at least I can do one thing right, because losing weight is just not happening for me. And then it came to like 2020 and I was like, okay, I really want to try and get back into being active and discover who I am again, because I had successfully to myself had immersed myself into this mom role and the wife role. You know, I was like, I'm a great mom. I'm a great wife.
Nana (03:09.41)
But if I take those two things away, what am I left with? Then I was just kind of like, I don't know. You know, I could say that I work in marketing, but is that really me? Is that who I am? And my husband was like, well, you love dancing. And I have always loved dancing. I've loved my bring up my parents played music all the time in our house and they would always be dancing. And it was a very joyful environment. Every time there was music, I thought, you know what, let me just try dancing. And someone that I knew suggested Samba.
as a dance. So like it looks incredibly difficult. I was like,
just say that's not the easiest one to start off with.
I know. And she was like, but I feel like you're one of those people that you, she you love a challenge. She's like, you're so competitive. So you, she's like, I think you'll nail it. And I was like, all right, challenge accepted. I went to Samba class and it was the most difficult thing I've ever stepped into. But I loved the music and I loved the idea of, if I can become really good at this, then maybe that's something that I can really focus on and it can be in a great achievement for me.
And that was the class that basically opened my eyes to movement. And then we went into lockdown because it was 2020 and COVID. Oh, so did you. Before? Yes, I did one class before, went into lockdown and I was like, what am I going to do now? And I ended up doing all of it online. So I did it all online. I was doing Samba three days a week at home, on the weekends. And I loved it because for the first time I had balance.
Ange (04:24.289)
So I didn't.
Nana (04:42.978)
I had balance between being able to do something that was physically active for myself and my family were around and my kids saw me learning Samba. They would join in with me and it was really, really nice. It was so joyous, so joyous. And basically that journey of me learning to love this type of movement really like switched something in my brain. And that's when I realized that all those times that I was looking for this fitness, looking for, you know, trying to lose weight, had
us too.
Nana (05:12.93)
the complete wrong idea of what fitness and joyful movement should be, you know, and I had this notion of before I had to move because I needed to lose weight. I've had my kids, I need to lose weight. That was the only goal. Whereas now I was moving because I loved it and because it brought something. I was enjoying it and I was, my body was changing. My body was becoming stronger. I was learning to love my body. was realizing that I
challenged myself a bit more and the more I did it, the more I fell in love with myself. I fell in love with movement and it came to 2022. So this is like two years in and then I was just like, my husband was like, you can do this for other people. And I was like, what do you mean? He was like, you could teach. And I was like, no, I don't have the patience for it. I can't teach. Like I had zero patience. And he was like, you'd be surprised. You he you have a lot of patients considering you have children.
So yeah, then I started very small kind of, you know, friends and family teaching here and there, and it's just kind of grown over that. And in 2023, I got my exercise to music qualification, did my first aid qualification. And really, I would say 2023 is when I started to like throw myself in 2024 when I was like, okay, maybe this can be something really big.
2025 is now where I'm starting to really believe in myself and I just want to keep going, keep pushing. And I really want to help as many women as possible feel the way that I felt about movement, that it doesn't have to be punishing, it doesn't have to be restrictive, and it can just be fun.
It's fun. I've been to one of your classes when I was at a party and you were there and I just thought, this is so much fun. And all of us at the beginning were like, what are we going to do? then as soon as the music started going, we were like, this is so much fun. And that's the thing is spreading joy. It's not just that person, that individual doing it. You're even a group of people too that are spreading joy and just like, just getting into it and getting into you because you are really infectious too. You make us smile. You make us like, encourage us to dance.
Ange (07:09.678)
It's just, yeah, that's another reason why I asked you to come on today because I just think that you were just so inspiring and hopefully inspire some other people here. Yeah, it's great. So when you were, just so go back into the timeline. So you were learning the classes online. So somebody was teaching you the classes and then you were doing them.
So I was learning Samba classes online and then I decided to take other forms of dance. So I did Bachata, did some salsa, I did a belly dance and then I did twerk and everything was just really, for me the focus was joy. It was always the focus, joy, joyful movement and that's now the focus for me when it comes to my classes. And now I teach Samba and I teach twerk to lots and lots of women and just try and get them to get out of their heads and into their bodies.
That's my main goal.
I have a, when I first met you I was thinking, I don't know, I recognize you from somewhere. It was the Instagram. I thought I'd seen your videos online. Could you tell us a bit about why you decided to go online and start showing people your dance? Because that's first off, I don't know if you said you were in marketing before. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Imagine marketing and you're marketing your own business. Imagine us like a single, you know, soulpreneurs marketing our business and we don't want to put our face in front of the camera. You actually stepped in front of the camera and just danced.
And it wasn't like those silly TikTok dances, you know, that all the teenagers do. It's like proper dance.
Nana (08:28.738)
funny because I always get asked this question a lot. Honestly, back then I had 300 followers and it was just mainly friends and family and I just wanted to show them that I was stepping out of my comfort zone and I just wanted to show them that I was doing something different and I also thought I said to myself, if I post this then I'm now holding myself accountable. I'm gonna post it and I'm gonna say I'm gonna get better. I'm gonna put it out there in the universe.
and tell myself I'm going to get better and hopefully I will get better. That was kind of my initial thought. And yeah, so it was honestly just to share and just to hold myself accountable. Because I think whenever we start something, it's very easy to quit. And it's very easy to just be like, oh, you know, I'm just not going to keep doing this. I'm just going to, you know, no one will ever know. No one will ever know. I can just, you know, put it back there. So for me, I was like, if I, once I put this out there.
That's it, Nana. You're committing yourself. You're putting it out to your friends and family. You're telling them, I'm going to learn Samba and I'm going to become really good. It's like...
It's like you have to put it put it out there. Yeah, You're like actually doing it.
Yeah. And the more I did it and the more I would get, just even just like my friends messaging me being like, wow, like this looks intense. This looks amazing, but good for you. Like good for you doing that. And the more I did it, then I started to show my progress, started to show my kind of before and after. And that resonated with so many women. And I think the thing that I recently posted that I thought was really, that really stood out for me was that someone messaged me and said, you know, when they
Nana (10:04.44)
came to my videos, they thought that my transformation was gonna be a weight loss transformation because that's what social media is just filled with. It's filled with this is me before, this is me after, you know, like 10 sizes down and that kind of stuff. They were like, I thought it was gonna be a weight loss transformation, but it was actually a, I'm just living my best life transformation. And they were like, it just made me smile so much because I could literally see you getting more and more confident in your videos.
getting more and more energetic. I could actually see you getting physically stronger, getting better at Stamber, but also just loving life. And she was like, we just need more transformations like that. And that's what I think has been the crux of my journey, like that enjoyment. The more I've done it, the more I've enjoyed it, and the more I want to show people that a transformation doesn't have to be, this was me before, this is me after. was, this was me before, I don't know where it was going, this is me after, look at my confidence, look at my joy.
Look at how it's changed not only my life, but my children's life. My son is now a break dancer. And he loves music. My daughter's now starting to learn samba and I'm teaching her. So it's just, it's completely changed my life, honestly.
And what I also love about that is that you didn't have to go to like a massive studio or a gym. You were doing it in your home and like people were saying, this is like a regular person that looks like me and like has got a home like me and like I can dance anywhere or I want to dance and just get on with it basically. And that's what I loved seeing about your videos and how you, you the transformation is just like you being at home, but it's, actually I don't need to go and spend loads of money in a gym. I can do it at home. And I know that was part of like lockdown, people were at home. But even now when I look at your videos, you're at home.
Yeah, I'm still at home. I love, do you know what? I love the space that I create myself. And I love the fact that I don't have to go, like now I sometimes, I go to studios and I teach in studios and stuff. But I also teach online because I want people to be able to access what I had access to and to be able to find joyful movement at home in their own homes and make a space, you know, their own. What I love is that sometimes I can look back on videos that I've posted and done and think to myself,
Ange (11:44.823)
at home.
Nana (12:13.228)
Right after I finished that video, I had to do three loads of laundry and then I had to make sure that the kids were ready for school. I had to do my daughter's hair, do my son's hair, and I can just kind of get back into that sort of reality. So I think that, I think anything in terms of like movement, the thing that I really want to make clear is that it can be really accessible and accessibility isn't just about who can access your class, but where they can access your class. And I think it's really important that as we continue to move on,
and we continue to, let's say we step into the world of, where we're still returning back into spaces, but let's not forget that some people's spaces are their homes and they love being in that space. So I want to always be able to offer people that option to be able to find their joy, find their confidence within their own spaces.
that just finding their joy in their own spaces. That's so cool. That's really nice. Really, really nice. So what are you working on at the moment creatively if you're in your business?
So the thing that I'm working on creatively now is I'm trying to almost link everything together because at the moment I've got some classes here, I might want to do a couple of classes there, I've got my online classes here, but I need to find what is it that joins everything together and almost be able to offer a complete creative movement transformation for people. So that's the next thing that I'm working on because when people ask me, you know, like, how have you got
to this stage, how have you found your confidence? Yes, a lot of it has been dance, but a lot of it has also been my mindset and working on my mindset and working on how I think about myself, how I feel about myself, how I talk to myself. So it's not just dancing is gonna get me through it. There's a lot of work that's gone in between. so it's like, how can I bring more of that to the forefront to help people so that...
Nana (14:04.14)
People don't think if they just come to my studio and dance with me, that's it. They're sold. You're done. You you can, you found your joy, tick, done. How can you carry that on and how can you implement it into your life? Because there are going to be moments that you're going to face that aren't so joyful and are going to really test you and are almost going to try and set you back into that mindset of I can't or I'm not good enough. I'm not worthy enough. So it's what do you do when you're not dancing in those moments? How can you get yourself through those moments?
And that is the next step for me is to be able to offer people the tools and techniques to be able to do that.
Sounds like a bit like coaching really, suppose. Mindfulness coaching with a movement. does.
It does, but I don't want to be a co-
You don't want to be a coach. You don't want to be a coach. But it is a form of coaching through your body and movement, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. You have to frame it into a way to say, not use the word coach, but yeah. Well, I know sometimes I just feel like I go to the gym and, I know that when I come from the gym, I know I feel, you know, it releases all the lovely endorphins is it? And, but then afterwards you're like, oh, then you've got to think about it, getting there again tomorrow. It's just, so you need to be equipped with that to like, to make you keep going.
Nana (15:16.588)
Yeah, exactly. And it's always about remembering, like you're saying, remembering that feeling that you had after you've done that activity and trying to almost associate it with something. So for me, now when I go and teach, I try and use my commute to think about how much joy I'm going to be bringing to people in the class. And I get excited listening to the music and think about the ways I'm going to encourage people to move. And, you know, that's...
So rather than taking a train journey into, I've got to get to that place. I use it as a creative moment to just be like, how can I make people sweat lots today? know, how can I torture my students in the nicest way so they don't realize how much they're going to sweat? And then the same thing on the way back, I can use that train journey to reflect.
on the sessions that I've had and really celebrate all those like moments and message people and say, well done, you did really great today. Because I'm able to tell in class when people are not so, they're second guessing themselves. So I'll always make a note and message them immediately after class and be like, you did really great today. You totally nailed this routine or you you showed up for yourself and that's what matters. So.
It's, again, that's what I mean by like taking those moments rather than thinking about the fact that, I've got to get over there and I've got to do this thing. Think about the joy that you're going to get once you get to that destination and the joy that you're going to have when you're in there and you're doing the thing for yourself. And then how you can just afterwards reflect on it and just be really proud of yourself and give yourself a pat on the back for being like, I did this.
That's really nice. And it's really nice that you actually contact people after, especially if you notice something in them that they might have felt a certain way or they looked a certain way. That's really positive because that could really make somebody's day, make such a big difference.
Nana (17:07.694)
Yeah, I think it's really important because I just remember a teacher that I was learning with did that with me and I think they must have noticed online that I was just really in my head and they messaged me afterwards and they were like, you did so good, like why were you, like what's going on? And I just said, I don't think I've made any progress. And they're like, you have made progress. I can see the progress that you're making. You might not be able to see it. And I thought that completely changed my attitude as not as a student, but also as a teacher.
because you have a responsibility when you're a teacher to not only create that safe, inclusive environment, but to create a space where people can feel free to make mistakes and can second guess themselves, but not at the detriment of their growth. yeah, so I always find that, and there'll always be one person that I'm like, they didn't think they did well, but they did really good. So let me just drop them little message, or I'll try and find them at the end of class and be like, well done, like you did great.
Brilliant, that's so nice, that's so good, that's lovely. So on your journey, because obviously, well, some people start off with their careers and their journeys of saying, oh, I'm going to do this, I'm going to be this. Was there anyone that in your journey said that you should really try this? I know you used to mention to your husband, was there anyone else that really pushed you? Like I call this like the catalyst connection. Was there anyone else that said, what about this? you thought about this?
What's really interesting is as I got more more confident and started to do my dance stuff as a side hustle back then, where I was working, my colleagues would always be like, why aren't you doing this full time? They're like, obviously we don't want you to quit, but also you should quit because they're like, you really enjoy it and it's made such a difference to your life and maybe you should think about it. And I remember when I left my job at the Red Cross.
and I said, you I'm going to give this kind of a go. It was so nice to have everyone be happy for me to do that. And they're like, we're really excited to see this happen for you. I then went into another job because I scared myself into doing this full time. And I was like, panic, no, go get another job. Yeah, exactly. So I went into another job and even in that job at Marie Curie, they were like, why don't you do this full time? Like you should do this. And it was just like, if everyone keeps telling me this, maybe I need to just listen because...
Ange (19:09.549)
Bill.
Nana (19:23.626)
Even the place that I'm working is telling me that I need to do this full time. So I would say that something that I have learnt to do is listen to those around me and listen to the feedback that I'm getting because if they're seeing something that I'm refusing to see, then maybe I just need to take off my blinkers and just be like, okay, maybe they see something. And again, wasn't like, it was never malicious. It was always like,
We love having you here in the workplace and we love working with you. We love what you bring to work, but we can see something for you over there and we know that there's something for you over there. So why don't you just go over there?
Two jobs actually, he said that to you. Two places of work said that to you.
Yeah, they were like, you should be doing this. why aren't you doing this? Amazingly, I did it. Wow. Scary.
the loop and
Ange (20:18.174)
It is scary going into setting up a business by yourself, but you know what, if you didn't do it, you know, what would happen? You'd be in another job and they'll be telling you the same thing.
Why you there?
Why are you here? And you'll like, why am I here? I'm off again. Actually, you know what? Another question I'd love is what, would be your dream project or who would you love to work with?
Cool. So I think in terms of where I'm going, would love to get at the moment, my classes are here and there. I'd love to have a more fixed schedule where I can say, this is where you can find me. This is how you can access me. And it's all very clear and very nice. I would love to own my own studio. That's the big goal. So I would love to own my own studio where people can come and...
It's mine and it's a space that I own, that I've created, that people can know that the classes that I'm creating are all here, because I think that would be really, really lovely. A project that I would love is, I would love to work with a group of women who think they can't dance. I would love to. I'd love to find a group of women who have told themselves or convinced themselves that they're not going to be able to dance at all. And I would love to just work with them to get them to a stage where they feel
Nana (21:36.428)
confident and they know that what they were doing was just limiting themselves and get them out of their head. I would love a little project like that where it's like, let me take these women and let me work with them, let me dance with them, let me teach them everything that they need to know and get them into this really like comfortable, confident state. That would be amazing.
that sounds really cool. That actually sounds like a reality TV program too. Maybe we should... You should maybe like contact maybe channel four or some production companies or something like that.
Oh shit, it could be like, I was thinking of titles the other day, because I was like, because my whole thing is about like jiggles. So I was thinking, could it be something like from, because again, it's always about the home and the kitchen and being at home and being like a homebody. So I was thinking, could it be like something like from the home to the jiggle kingdom or something like that, where it's like taking people who have just have lost faith in their ability to move.
and giving them back their faith and their ability to move would be amazing.
That'd be wicked. Oh, watch that. That's on TV. Gosh, I was saying that I loved when I was out on Friday and as soon as I mentioned, I said I'd done a twerking cause and they said, Oh, was it Nana straight away? And I was like, Oh, do you know her? She's famous. I was like, Oh, okay. And then we started talking about twerking and that's when...
Nana (22:58.498)
Yeah. So I just, think like I say that like my, one of my goals with my twerk classes is to reframe how twerk is seen because twerk has become such a taboo word. And as soon as you say twerk to people, I can see people's eyes and I can see them thinking and I know where they're going. And I want to pull them back because I want them to rather than think twerk Miley Cyrus, you know,
When you said twerk, I had this fish of Miley Cyrus. I'm like, I know that is not Miley Cyrus. I knew about twerking before Miley Cyrus.
Right? Whereas I want people to think twerk, when they think twerk, I want them to think joy. I want them to think freedom. I want them to think Africa. You know, I want them to think incredible black women moving their bodies powerfully. I want them to think culture. I want to have a different word association for twerk rather than what it is and how people see it now. And I think that that's so important because I grew up
twerking, but it wasn't called twerking in my house. We were just called, we called it dancing. Imagine we just called it dancing. And, but now if I tell people, yeah, when I was younger, me and my dad were twerking in, on Sundays after church. How weird does that sound? It sounds really, it sounds so weird. Like you and your dad were twerking after church. Okay. Whereas we were just dancing. We were dancing. We were having a laugh. You know, we were just moving about and that's
what it is. know, if you go to Africa, they're not like, today we're going to twerk. They're just going to dance. We're just going to dance. And unfortunately, that's how we have to kind of label it and sell it. But when people come to the class, I always love to give them a moment of education and appreciation and celebration for black culture, for black women, to get them to understand that we shouldn't be here policing black women's bodies, we're moving in this way. We should be celebrating alongside them.
Nana (24:56.94)
And that's what I want to try and do.
That's so cool. That's really good. Education too. Brilliant. Fantastic. Thank you. I was going to ask, have there been any barriers in your business and jiggle fit so far or is there anything? Because I'm sad to say I did see something really horrible online about some negative comments that stupid people make online. Is there anything like awful but you've twisted it around and something positive came out?
Education, yes, right?
Nana (25:25.964)
Yeah, I would say that like, because I am a curvy size 12, size 14 black woman and I don't have the, let's say the like Instagram aesthetics in terms of what people think a fitness instructor should look like. I don't have flat abs, I don't have six pack abs, you know. So going through that whole journey has been probably one of the hardest in terms of, especially once you start to go viral.
people have access to you and they think that they can just tell you whatever it is that they're thinking or feeling at that time. And things that often came up was, well, if you started Samba and now you're super active, why haven't you lost weight? I was always like, why? Why haven't you lost weight? Why haven't you done? And it was like, but why do I have to lose weight? Why can't you just see how much better I am? Why can't you just see the skill that I've gotten? You know, and now it's like this fitness journey, being a fitness instructor.
I actually had someone message me and they were like, no, it started off with no offense. So you know, it's going to be offensive as soon as someone says.
Yeah.
They're like, no offense, but I love what you teach. And I was like, okay, I love what you teach, but I could never learn from you because your body is just really off putting. And I was like, thanks. No offense, no offense taken. yeah, and I would just get comments like that.
Ange (26:43.874)
Roots?
Ange (26:52.322)
Do you even reply to that? I mean, I would just blank that, but do even reply to that?
So some, it depends. Some of them I feel like, again, if it's like a misconception of what a fitness instruction should look like, then I will reply to it because I feel like a response like that deserves to be public so that people can understand that A, it's not acceptable to talk to people like this. And B, we really need to challenge our perceptions of what people think. Yeah, fitness is and what people think fitness instruction should look like.
If it's just someone being really mean and really rude, I just block them and just ignore them. But it can be, I guess when you get lots of comments in that same vein, it can be really heavy mentally. And there would be lots of times where I would just be like, maybe I should just stop posting. Maybe I should just kind of hide away. It would never stop me from doing it, but it would always make me second guess whether I should be doing it so publicly and being so public about it.
But then on the plus side of it, I would then get a message from a woman who's just like, I've just seen your video and I love the fact that you talk about having a belly and that you talk about the fact that your belly was your home for your children when you were pregnant. And now you're shaking your belly, you're shaking your home. And they're like, it just made me feel a lot more confident about my own body. So those are the messages that I have to try and like hang on to because if I get too deep into those negative messages,
then they win, right? And we can't let them win.
Ange (28:24.29)
you've got to carry on doing what you're doing because you are inspiring so many women out there so you've got to keep on going you really have to.
Yeah, so that was, I'd probably say that that is the negative side of it.
I that's the whole online, showing yourself online, isn't it? But you've got to keep... Actually, could you tell people your Instagram handle and your...
Yeah, so my Instagram handle is thisblackwomancan altogether and then the other one is jigglefit with two i's so f-i-i-t and yeah so if you want to look at lots of jigglybums then jigglefit if you want look at my jiggly bum then this black woman can.
my gosh, should I put that as the caption when I put this episode out? Look at some bums, some jiggly bums. Let's see how many hits we get. That's so funny. I'd love to know what would you, just to wrap things up, there's two questions more, two more questions, to wrap things up. What would you tell your teenage self?
Nana (29:14.922)
that's a great question. I guess what I would tell my teenage self, because when I was young, I did actually do dance. I did salsa at secondary school. But then when I was ready to go to uni, I just stopped because I just thought it wasn't really a career for me and I couldn't possibly do it. So I would go back and tell my teenage, don't you stop those classes because you are going to be really, really good.
Okay, don't worry about the perception of, you know, that it's not a real career, all that kind of stuff, because you enjoy it and you love it. So just keep it in your life. Okay, even if it doesn't become your career, keep it in your life. So I would tell my younger self to not stop those dance classes that she was doing.
That's lovely. That's lovely. And look at you now, samba queen. Nice. It was hard.
I know. Samba is next level hard man. Like even when I'm teaching it's so funny because if I'm teaching it to people, I try and ease people in. But in my head I'm thinking, dear Lord, how am I going to get these people to this level because I was my teacher when I was learning. So they must be cutting me.
But what happens is that with it. look at you now you've built a business around it and you're enjoying it. Look at you, you're happy. That's brilliant. Okay, so wrapping up is the quick fire, finding five questions. Very quickly. So it's one or the other. So Christmas chocolates, chocolate, beach or forest forest, book or Kindle book, reggae or soul.
Nana (30:24.896)
Exactly.
Nana (30:30.54)
Hahaha.
Ange (30:47.652)
Err, patty or a sandwich? Patty! I love that, don't tell me!
Brilliant. Thank you so much, Nana, for talking with me and I will put all your links in the show notes. And my gosh, I think I need to go and listen to Samba music and watch you again online and try to move myself again. If anyone wants to join Nana's classes, you can find her on Instagram and join her classes. She's so, honestly, I've done her class and she is so brilliant. She's just makes you laugh and makes you just want to move you.
Thank
Nana (31:16.408)
Moving on, cheese, yeah. Thank you for having me, I've loved it.
So thank you so much. It's pleasure. Thank you. Take care. Bye.
Bye!
Ange (31:31.01)
Let me start by giving thanks. Thank you for tuning in to Creatives Like Us. I hope you enjoyed this episode and found it thought-provoking, inspiring and entertaining. If you did, it would absolutely make my day if you could share, subscribe, rate, review, wherever you get your podcasts from. Also, if you have a question or a comment, I'd love to hear from you. All the ways to connect are in the notes. Until next time, keep being creative like us.
If you enjoyed this podcast, please rate, review and subscribe with the podcast provider of your choice or leave us an Apple Review here. Thanks!
* This will contain an affiliate link. I will get some monies from it. I only promote the things I use and work well for me.