As part of my new web series, The Role Model In You, here is my most recent interview. The Role Model In You series discusses how individuals were influenced as a child to lead a healthy lifestyle. It covers who influenced these individuals, the changes they made in their life to be healthy, and the message they would like to convey to the youth of today. Our guests include doctors, soccer stars, Super Bowl champions, NBA players, Olympic gold medalist, entrepreneurs, celebrities, and just regular people looking to share their story. I hope you enjoy it!
1. Your name, title, and age? What do you do (or did you do) for a living?
Cari Shane, Principal, Public Relations Executive, Former print, radio and TV reporter (and anchor)
2. Who was the person that inspired you as a child to eat healthy and stay fit? What was their relationship to you?
My mother, a PR executive.
3. What did they do to inspire you?
My mother was instrumental in getting Susie Pruden (a 1970s exercise guru) on the map. At the age of 4, I, along with my mother, my brother (age 5), were featured in the New York Times taking part in one of Pruden’s exercise classes for mothers and kids.
Moving and doing was ALWAYS a part of my childhood. If it wasn’t walking (grew up in NYC), it was swimming, tennis, skiing, etc. My friends say my mother “athleticized” me. As a toddler, she created obstacle courses in our tiny apartment to entertain us and make us move.
4. How did their lesson change your life?
By the time I was a senior in high school I was exercising on my own, walking to the gym to take an exercise class at a local health club. At that point in time I had been skiing every weekend since the age of 12 and was playing tennis on the high school tennis team.
5. Do you convey their message to kids in your life presently?
When my children were little, I walked with them one-mile to school. We were the ONLY family doing this. There are few sidewalks in our neighborhood. When we didn’t walk, I jogged along side the kids with the dog as they rode their bikes. It’s a part of their world.
6. What would be your main message to children today to lead healthy lifestyles?
Get up and MOVE. Walk if you can walk. No need to get in a car if you don’t have to. Get a dog, because dogs need to be walked and then you’ll have no excuses.
7. Do you have a web site you would like to promote….web address only?