You know, the twists and turns of life, you go upside down, you go really fast, you go really slow. It's life is a rollercoaster. Hold on tight.

Hey everybody, Emily Abadi here. You are listening to episode 228 of Hurdle. A wellness focus podcast

where I connect with everyone from your favorite athletes to top experts and industry CEOs about their highest highs, toughest moments and everything in between. We all go through hurdles in life and my goal through these discussions is to empower you to better navigate yours and move with intention so that you can stride toward your own big potential. And of course, have some fun along the way for episode 228. I am chatting with Amanda Clutes to say that I have been

going after this combo for a while would be an understatement. I'm so, so happy to finally have Amanda on the show. And we are chatting about it all. We're chatting about how she got into the fitness industry while simultaneously going after her big dreams performing on Broadway. She also chats about the decision for her and her late husband Nick Cordero to move out to Los Angeles.

Despite loving it here in New York to chase some big dreams. Now, if you know Amanda's story, you know that shortly after moving to Los Angeles with their new baby Elvis, her husband Nick went into the hospital at the beginning of COVID. And unfortunately, never made it out. And so what we talk about that today, we talk about what it's been like for Amanda to take on life as a single mother navigating grief.

And also the escalation of her career as more and more eyes came on her and her story with everything that was going on with Nick. We also talk about how she keeps on keeping on how she navigates the hardest days with a little, well, let's say, a lot of help from her friends and family.

Her new movie coming out and how she loves to use her platform these days for good. I was offered up this interview as a part of her partnership with a brand called Swanson.

The brand that makes mental wellness and self-care natural suitables and to no surprise Amanda says that she leads in to these products to navigate the ins and outs of her crazy, crazy days.

A huge thank you to Amanda for giving me her time. Also, I would be remiss if I didn't say a huge congratulations to everyone who ran New York City yesterday. I had such a blast cheering you on.

Put your feet up, get some rest and take a break for a little while before setting your next big, crazy, hairy, audacious goal.

Make sure you're following along with hurdle over at hurdle podcast. I am over at Emily a body. And with that, let's get to it. Let's get to hurtling.

Today, I am sitting down with Amanda Clutes. How are you doing today? I'm doing great. How are you doing? I'm good. I'm excited to finally have the opportunity to sit down one on one. I feel like it's been a long time coming at least for me.

And I know that you are a busy woman to get a hold of.

Yeah, it's a busy time right now to say again that you have a lot going on with me and understatement. Someone has a movie coming out.

Yeah, December 4th on CBS. It's going to be so fun. My Christmas movie that I filmed this summer. And I'm so excited about it.

Was it weird thinking Christmas in the summer?

You know, actually, it really got me in the mood for Christmas. It was really fun. It was, um, you know, you would think that it would be weird, but I think it was, it was actually really.

I'm going to say weirdly inspiring to get excited for the holiday only because I'm sorry to like go dark for like two seconds, but the last two Christmas is we're really hard for me. And I, you know, as the holidays even approach like you just, it's hard because they're not what you used to love.

And so doing the Christmas movie. I remember being on a set being like, this is really getting me excited for the holidays and it felt really good to be excited for the holiday instead of anticipating it with anxiety.

Yeah, yeah.

What I'm hearing you say is that this is a shift for sure from what you've been dealing with over the past couple of years since the loss of your husband. What else would you say right now you're looking forward to as the year kind of is coming to an end.

You know, I think right now it's just been a super exciting time of like creating and seeing like dreams come to life a bit. So I would just say that more of that. I'm really like that is what fuels me.

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