Finding custom haircare products that compliment her active lifestyle
The point is, Roup lives and breathes dance. Growing up, Roup always had her hair in a bun for ballet, and it’s been worn up for most of her life because of how often she works out. “I’m being a little bit more mindful about the products I’m using with my hair,” she says. “I’m so mindful about moving my body and keeping my body healthy and eating healthy food. Making sure I’m using the right products for my hair as well is just as important and that’s why I’ve loved working with Prose so much because it’s the first haircare brand I’ve used that is formulated for me and for my hair type. I’ve never done that before and I’ve noticed such a difference.”
Exercising is just a part of Roup’s self-care routine. “Especially as a new mom, it’s simplified,” she says. “Practicing self-care doesn’t mean a self-care day. In my day to day, it’s small moments of self-care, whether that’s a five-minute breathing meditation or taking a shower and having a moment to myself. I don’t think self-care needs to be expensive and lengthy. It just needs to be things that bring you joy specifically, and for me that could be a walk outside.”
Another simple self-care mini routine for Roup is taking five extra minutes to put on a Prose hair mask. “It’s having that moment in the shower with nice shampoo and conditioner from Prose,” she says. Prose has organically found its way into Roup’s hair routine. “As someone who works out all the time, people are always curious about how do I have sweaty hair and then go into a Zoom or my meetings,” she says. “Prose Custom Dry Shampoo has been a lifesaver for me, but also finding haircare that—because my hair is up in a ponytail so much of the time—can help strengthen my hair and keep it healthy.” The Prose Root Source Custom Supplements have been her go-to for treating postpartum hair loss. To work her natural waves and coax her texture to come out, the Prose Custom Curl Cream is another favorite.
Carving out space for dance in the fitness industry
While she was dancing professionally in New York, she was also teaching dance fitness classes as her side hustle—and the options just weren’t cutting it. “I started diving deeper into fitness in New York and felt like there was this really big gap in boutique fitness, specifically in dance-based fitness,” she says. “I wanted to create space for women to come in who were non-dancers and dancers alike, and find a workout that was under an hour that was fun and effective. I wanted everyone to come in and feel successful, and make dance cardio and sculpting less intimidating and about feeling good and having fun.”
That’s why Roup founded The Sculpt Society, a full-body dance cardio and sculpting workout. “I think other dance cardio methods are really complicated,” Roup says. “Unless you have a dance background, it’s hard to jump into. I’ve simplified dance cardio so that whether you do not have a dance background or you do, you’re going to enjoy the class. To be honest, I think the biggest misconception of The Sculpt Society is that it’s just dance cardio, when in fact it’s 90% full body sculpting with a little bit of dance cardio sprinkled in, so my main focus is actually sculpting.”
Using exercise as a tool to better mental health
Ultimately, The Sculpt Society has a larger mission than helping you work up a sweat: It’s to empower women to feel strong and confident in their own bodies. That’s something that Roup is familiar with, having struggled with body confidence herself. “I think most women on some level have gone through some type of relationship with their body and honing in on what makes them feel at home in their own body,” she says. “For me, it was finding a way of moving my body that felt empowering and didn’t feel like I was torturing myself in the gym. And a way of eating, which for me is intuitive eating. That really changed my relationship with my body. I was yo-yo dieting in my early 20s and subscribing to this diet culture mindset that we’re constantly being talked to, especially as women. I think the missing link for me within all of this was moving in a way that felt good and not to look a certain way.”
The Sculpt Society’s digital platform has been ideal in these stay-at-home times during the pandemic. As many people struggle to find the motivation to maintain regular exercise routines, Roup says consistency is key. “It’s committing to less so that you can show up more,” she says. “We think that we need to be doing hours of exercise a day—if it’s not 45 to 60 minutes a day, then it doesn’t count as exercise and it’s not going to do anything. In reality, the stickiness around fitness is actually the consistency. So how can we be more consistent? How can we change the habits that we have around fitness? I am encouraging my community to shorten the amount that they’re committing to.” For example, for the current challenge on The Sculpt Society app, she’s asking the community to do one quickie workout a day, which could be 10 or 15 minutes.
“Sometimes it’s hard when you’re working out from home, so my biggest suggestion is to commit to less—just 10 minutes—and get into that consistency,” Roup says. “Get into that habit of moving your body every day. That consistency gives much better results than one hard workout a week.” Digital fatigue is real, so Roup suggests finding a workout that brings you joy, which will help with the consistency factor. Having a community around your workout also helps. “I’m so lucky that within The Sculpt Society there’s an amazing group of like-minded women who meet up in our private Facebook group,” Roup says. “They’ll meet up on Zooms and do workouts together. Having that community around a workout is super important.”
Gaining confidence through fitness
Helping others have that positive fitness experience has been one of the most rewarding aspects of founding The Sculpt Society for Roup. “It comes down to feeling like I’m having an impact on the women that are doing The Sculpt Society in a positive way,” she says. “When I have someone tell me that the workout has made them feel stronger and more confident in their own skin, that’s the greatest gift anyone can say to me. As someone who struggled with that in my early 20s to see that freedom that other women are experiencing with finding a way of movement that feels so fun and good to them, that’s been the best part.”
Roup’s future goals for The Sculpt Society is to be the best in class. “We’re such a niche workout,” she says. “When you think of dance cardio and when you think of sculpt, you think of The Sculpt Society first. We want to continue to have the best offering on The Sculpt Society app and grow the community.”
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