Courtesy of Nike and Leah Romero
In ELLE.com’s monthly series Office Hours, we ask people in powerful positions to take us through their first jobs, worst jobs, and everything in between. This month, we spoke with Peloton instructor Tunde Oyeneyin, who journeyed from trying (and failing) to join every sports team in school to becoming a full-fledged Nike athlete. “Growing up, I was overweight, and I had this idea that an athlete was supposed to look a certain way,” she says. “I let that headspace spoil my confidence. Not only being an athlete, but also being a coach, is pretty surreal. It’s more than full circle.” During her brief moments of downtime from her jam-packed schedule of live and on-demand workout classes, Oyeneyin also wrote a book, Speak, about her path to self-love. Below, the fitness expert discusses how she got into cycling, her partnership with Nike, and using her platform for a good cause.
My first job
When I was 15 years old, I was the assistant manager of a restaurant called Fuzzy’s Pizza in Katy, Texas. I worked as if I was a single mom supporting four children. I’ve always been an incredibly strong worker. I remember my friends would party, and I’d be at work. I was the one who would show up later with five boxes of pizza.
Courtesy of Nike and Leah Romero
How my Nigerian heritage shaped who I am
My work ethic, for sure. My parents are both immigrants who came to this country to work. And my gratitude—I’m never gonna stop thinking that all of this, everything that’s happening, is so cool. It’s so cool.
What I’d tell my younger self
Robin Arzon, our VP of Fitness at Peloton, jokes that she was “allergic to fitness,” and I think I had that same bug. I tried out for just about every sport, and I never made the team. I was the last one picked. Growing up, I was overweight, and I had this idea that an athlete was supposed to look a certain way. I let that headspace spoil my confidence. Not only being an athlete, but also being a coach, is pretty surreal. It’s more than full circle. I think the darkest hours are the biggest moments of growth. I always say that the beauty of uncertainty is infinite possibility. Before I started at Peloton, I was a makeup artist for 16 years, and I hated it. Surrendering to that is what led me here. When you don’t know what’s next, it’s beautiful, because then anything can be next.
When I realized cycling would be my career
Everybody was talking about cycling—“it’s a dark room and there’s music and you clip in and attach to the bike”—and I just thought it was the weirdest thing. I remember the intimidation of not knowing how to clip in. But I took my first class six years ago on a whim, and after that, I was certain that I would be cycling for the rest of my life. Not only did I know that I’d be cycling—I knew that I’d be teaching it, and I knew that I’d be teaching it on the world’s biggest platform, without even knowing what Peloton was. I had this vision, this flash into what was coming, and I trusted that it was real. Because I was in this place of so much doubt, I opened myself up to that premonition. I’ll admit, I did judge myself a bit as the class was starting—by the time I sat in the seat I was $40 deep and was like, “This better be good.”
The biggest misconception about my job
What you see is not often what you get. I may log on for a live 30-minute or 20- minute class, but that 20-minute class is not the only thing I’m teaching for the day. So while my live class, member-facing, is 20 minutes, I may have taught five or six classes that day that will just circulate on demand later. It’s a range, but I definitely ride a lot.
Courtesy of Nike and Leah Romero
Using my platform to make the world a better place
To put it simply, I show up as myself. I’m pretty sure I said “fuck” during my Peloton audition. I remember thinking, If these people hire me, they are literally hiring me, and all of me. That has proven itself true in moments when I’ve led a Speak Up Ride or taken a stand for Black Lives Matter. The company hired me because they want me to be me, and they continue to show that, and so I continue to utilize my platform as a space to stand up for good, and as an opportunity for people that look like me to see themselves in me. I get messages every single day from Black women and mothers of Black girls who say, “It means something to see you in this space.” For me, that’s a lot of power and a lot of responsibility. I feel a divine purpose to show up and step into that with everything that I am at my best.
Why I teamed up with Nike
It’s the best brand in the world, and the first brand that I ever related to. As a kid, I didn’t feel like an athlete, and I would see Nike ads with people from my community that looked like me, and I was drawn to them. I remember feeling like the brand was so aspirational, so cool, so strong, and yet so attainable. Nike taught me that if you have a body, you’re an athlete, and that transitioned the way that I thought about myself and my mindset. I realized that I am an athlete if I believe I am an athlete.
How I approach making change in my industry
My goal is to be able to speak to our shared passion of fitness. I want to talk to the girl who thinks that she is not an athlete. I want to talk to the girl who thinks that she is not worthy, that she’s not good enough to make the team. I want to tell her that she can. I want to meet whoever, wherever they are on their journey, and through my story and through my experience, be able to share with them that their mind is their strongest muscle and that they can do anything that they believe themselves able and capable of doing or being.
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Celebrities who love Peloton
It’s crazy incredible to see who’s taking classes. Al Roker is a big fan of Peloton, Tiffany Haddish is my class a lot, Common pops in, and I know Venus Williams is a big Pelotoner.
The best advice for beginners
Just do it! I’m not even trying to be cliché and pull in the Nike slogan, but literally, really and truly, just do it. That’s the only way that you do any one thing—any big decision you’ve ever made in life, any change that you’ve ever made in life, you just did it. So just do it.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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