The Sonya Looney Show

Negotiation is a skill and something we can all practice.  I was never particularly interested in negotiation until my entire income became based on how well I could negotiate. The first year was intimidating and to be honest, I still get nervous. I wanted to know the rules and how the experts did it. I've read a few books on negotiation, but my favorite one is called Never Split the Difference.  The book is written by a brilliant man named Chris Voss. Chris Voss is the FBI’s former lead international kidnapping negotiator.  When he negotiated, peoples' lives were on the line.  In addition to being an author and former FBI negotiator, Chris regularly lectures on negotiation and is the CEO of Black Swan Group.  He has spoken at business schools across the country and has also been seen on ABC, CBS, CNN, Forbes and more.In his book, he wrote about anecdotes from his career, the tools he used in order to be successful and how it can be applied to any situation. There are some very direct and easy to implement st

Have you ever wondered if you could build muscle on a plant-based diet?  This week, I sat down with Derek Simnett to talk about his shift from being more of a skateboarder, runner type to calisthenics and going to the gym.  Not only does Derek have a perfectly chiseled, muscular physique and inspires others to be healthier, but he is also a certified nutritional practitioner. Derek's YouTube channel with almost a 250,000 subscribers is a great corner of the internet where you can learn workout tips, how to cook delicious plant-based meals, and see what he eats on a daily basis.  Derek also offers his own e-recipe book on his website.  Derek makes it easy to eat healthier and move your body. Topics Discussed in the Podcast  How Derek found a plant-based path what made Derek decide to focus on muscle and physique How Derek built his YouTube Channel Tips and Tricks with supplements, iron, protein, meal planning How many grams of protein Derek eats in a day  Listen Now     What Derek Eats to Stay Strong &

I recently asked people on Twitter what new habits they are trying to adopt. 95% of the responses had meditation as one of the habits.  I've read a lot of articles on how meditation physically changes the brain, how it's a gamechanger not only for performance, but simply for enjoying life and how consistency is important.  But I've struggled.  I'd do it for a week and then give up (and then beat myself up for it).  I'd find my way back to it, but I couldn't make the habit stick.  I tried to figure out why I was having trouble making meditation a regular part of my routine.  When I believe in the benefits of something, I just do it - like my plant-based diet, like my 14 year commitment to my career as a cyclist... so why couldn't I just DO meditation?  It's because I couldn't tell if it was working. I recently read the book, "Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics" by Jeff Warren and Dan Harris. By read, I mean listened.  Dan and Jeff both are narrating the book and Jeff even leads meditations in the audiobook.   Jef

When Kikkan Randall was 5 years old, she decided she was going to the Olympics for skiing.  Most 5 year olds have lofty and cute dreams that rarely come to fruition.  That wasn't the case for Kikkan.  Not only did she make it to her first Olympics for cross-country skiing at just 19 years old, but she has 5 Olympic Games under her belt.  Kikkan's house might tip over with all the medals as a 17x US National Champion, 16 podiums at World Cups, and to top it off - a shiny Olympic Gold medal that she won in Pyeongchang in 2018.  2 years before Pyeonchang, Kikkan gave birth to her son.  Truly, she is wonderwoman. Kikkan decided to retire after the 2018 Olympics and winter season.  She was on as major high until one night, she found a couple small lumps in her breast.  The doctors assured it was probably nothing, but Kikkan couldn't help be feel worried.  The doctor came out to talk to her after her mammogram and uttered that she had Stage 2 breast cancer. This podcast from start to finish is very powerful.  It's

Vanessa Van Edwards is one of my heroines.  She studies what makes people tick.  More specifically- the science of people.  Vanessa is a best selling author and behavioral investigator.  She creates compelling, super helpful, and instantly applicable advice on how to be successful in any social situation.  Vanessa has been featured on NPR, the Wall Street Journal, the Today Show and USA Today. She has written for CNN, Fast Company and Forbes and is a regular contributor to Entrepreneur magazine.  She also speaks across the globe to Fortune 500 companies. I discovered Vanessa from her book, Captivate.  As a professional people watcher, Vanessa created a guidebook on how to make great first impressions, how to have dazzling conversation, how to be likeable, creating social game plans, being able to read people and uncover hidden emotions, how to get the best from people and from yourself, how to speak so people will listen and so much more.  We barely scratched the surface of the massive value and gold mine of

You know that section of trail that you've never seen anyone ride?  That one spot where you wonder if it's even possible?  Jeff Lenosky, aka the Trail Boss is the guy to do it.  Jeff tackles the hardest seemingly "unrideable" trails, rides them, and documents it for his youtube channel.  And in case you aren't familiar with Jeff, he is a world-class freeride and trials mountain bike rider with three trials national titles under his belt and the world record for the bunny hop on a full-size mountain bike (45.5 inches).  He has been in the sport since the late 80s.  Not only is he one of the world's most skilled mountain bikers, he is also a dad to his 3 children.  He also performs shows for hundreds of kids all year long. In this episode, we talk about Jeff's evolution as a pro rider since the early nineties, how he has transitioned from trials to trail riding, why he decided to start a YouTube Channel, and some real life advice to help you improve your confidence and your riding. Topics Discussed in the Podc

Imagine dedicating everything to your dreams and you actually achieve them.  Professional BMX Athlete Josh Perry had this life experience.  From seeing the X Games on TV to one day competing in them, Josh's path to success was one full of hard work, dedication, and tenacity.  But at age 21, Josh went to the hospital after crashing on his head.  His MRI uncovered the unthinkable.  Brain tumors.  With his whole future and dream life in front of him, Josh was forced to wrestle with the emotions, depression, and challenges of his diagnaosis and he did so by sticking to riding his bike. Josh is the definition of resilience and positivity.  After surgically removing his tumors, more came back to take their place.  But after doing research, he discovered Gamma Knife Radiation and a radical lifestyle change to take back control of his life.  In this incredibly inspiring episode, you'll hear how BMX taught Josh to get back up and keep going, even with brain tumors, how he lives with uncertainty and squashes anxiety, h

Have you ever driven your car 184 mph? I haven't either.  Imagine... going 184 mph on a bicycle.  Would you be scared?  "That's impossible" you might think.  I had never heard or imagined anyone going that fast on a bicycle. It seemed like you just wouldn't be able to do that.  Imagine my surprise in September when I met a woman who had done it.  Enter Denise Mueller Korenek.  On September 16, she clocked the fastest time EVER to be ridden on a bicycle: 183.932 mph to be exact.  She did this at Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats with a very large front chain ring drafting behind a dragster. Imagine being inches off the back of a dragster at that kind of speed? (Matt Ben Stone) It wasn't her first world record either.  The 45 year old mother of three set the fastest female speed record in 2016 at 147.75  mph.  That wasn't enough, she went back for more and her current record is the fastest anyone has EVER ridden a bike.  Denise is no stranger to grand achievements.  As a racer in her junior days, she started collec

How well do you know your body?  Dr. Jen Esquer (DocJenFit) believes in empowering people to heal themselves through movement and body awareness.  As a Physical Therapist with a sports focus, she has the equation to our aches and pains: mobility.  Mobility or being able to use our body through its full ranges of motion is often the most overlooked element.  Mobility is what makes up the foundation behind stretching, strength work, and yoga and every way we bend and use our body.  I recently started putting more emphasis on mobility when I realized that all of my recurring aches and pains were related to an inability to move properly.  I also couldn't understand why I could never do a proper handstand despite doing yoga for over a decade.  I learned that I actually can't put my arms over my head properly.  Wake up call: all the yoga in the world won't fix your mobility issues.  I learned mobility the key to shoulder and knee pain.  When I found DocJenFit on Instagram, I was amazed and inspired by her videos. 

What really motivates us and where does motivation come from?  Motivation can wear many faces.  Sometimes we are motivated by external factors - a race result, a promotion, a leaderboard, money, or a number on a scale.  Other times, we are motivated because we simply love doing something.  Going deep into why we choose to do certain things and how to stick with our habits is a fascinating topic.  I personally think it's important to have awareness around our self-talk and understanding how to motivate others in a positive, proactive way.  I was really excited to have the chance to speak with Dr. Heather Patrick.   She earned her Ph.D. in Social Psychology.  She has contributed to health psychology in many ways including her role as the health scientist and program director at the National Cancer Institute for 5 years and the associate director of the SmokeFree.gov Initiative.  Currently, she works at Carrot to help create programs and technology around stopping smoking.  She is passionate about health coachin

What if I told you that there is an entire segment of training that maybe you've never considered?  When I first moved to Kelowna, I was introduced to Dr. Andrew Sellars.  Dr. Sellars is an anesthesiologist as well as a sports physiology expert.  He also is co-founder of Balance Point Racing.  When I did my first physiology assessment with Balance Point, I realized that everything I thought I knew about training and had learned from some of the top sports institutions in the US was very limited.  The crazy thing that a lot of the assessments are still done using a very old method of measuring all of your physical systems.  Balance Point taught me that there are many more factors at play.  For example, instead of wondering my wattage was low when I tired, I learned exactly what it was about my body that made me unable to generate higher power - things like how much oxygen was in my muscle, if my heart itself was tired, or if my respiratory system was tired.   There's a lot of incredibly important and useful kn

A lot of people are surprised when they find out I have Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering.  Sometimes I even forget because I finished my Master's 11 years ago.  Time flies!  I'm excited to share this story and speech with you.  It's so hard to know what we want to do in university or even when we get out of university.  I was fortunate enough to find mountain biking halfway through my undergrad.  I was in the engineering program at UNM and even rode for UNM Collegiate Cycling Team!  This was a speech I gave a couple weeks ago at the Western Michigan University to their engineering school.  It's about my path through my Master's Degree and how mountain biking began to shift my perception of what I was capable of. It's about feeling dissatisfied with a traditional path I was following because I really wasn't passionate about it.   This talk is about how I created my own path.  The thing that was interesting about this talk is that I go into detail about the life lessons that being an engineer taught me

Steph Gaudreau's mission in life is to help build unbreakable humans.  Her calling is to help women build stronger bodies and minds is what drives all of her work.  From her incredibly powerful instagram posts of over 200k followers to her best selling books, she creates meaningful content to help people change for the better. Steph is well-versed in creating changes in life.  She walked away from a secure 12 year teaching career to pursue food blogging in the Paleo world.  The diet helped her get off sugar and processed foods and she started eating healthier. She also transitioned from an 8 year span as an endurance athlete to squatting and lifting heavy weight in the gym.  After building an impressive empire, thousands of recipes, and an identity in the Paleo world, she shifted once again. What is Steph up to now?  She recently decided that diet doesn't need to be limited to a label, and is finding a new definition of nutrition as a holistic nutrition coach.  She has a book coming out next year that covers

Is your mind on overdrive? Are you exhausted?  Is it hard to leave your email alone on nights and weekend?  Don't worry, you're not alone.  Office workers report a burnout rate of 40 percent  in the United States and Canada.  Physicians are closer to 50%.  Burnout is not only attributed to the workplace; "keeping up with the joneses" and trying to be a "balanced" human who works more than full time, exercises regularly, eats healthy, sleeps 8 hours a night, has a family, and makes time for friends can seem overwhelming.  In a society that champions the hustle and reveres people who seem to be doing it all, it's hard to feel a sense of ease when we aren't doing something productive.  I was excited to dig into this conversation with burnout expert, previous podcast guest, and author Brad Stulberg because burnout is a regular part of the conversation amongst my peers and family.  We wanted to get to the bottom of why we feel pressure to push ourselves so hard, how to actually define rest, why obsessive passion c

Meagan Duhamel is the perfect blend of power, poise, flexibility, and grace on the ice.  As a figure skater since the age of 3, her entire life has been dedicated to being a hard working and multi-faceted athlete.  With parter Eric Radford, she is a 2x Olympian.  She won a gold medal this year in the team event and a bronze in the pairs event.  In 2014, they won a silver medal in the team event.  She and Eric are also 2x World Champions amd Meagan has been the Canadian National Champion 7x.  And that's just the tip of the iceberg of her impressive accolades.  I first met Meagan just 2 weeks ago on an athlete panel at the Toronto VegFest.  I loved her inspiring attitude and stories about how changing her diet 10 years ago changed the trajectory of her career.  This is a fascinating podcast episode going into the mental and emotional aspect of figure skating, discussion about how Meagan's best performances coincided in the highest pressure environments, and also about her plant-based diet and the food they feed

I was stoked when the Toronto VegFest invited me to speak at their even this year.  It's the biggest VegFest with over 40,000 people over 3 days, tons of inspiring people, and great vendors. I made some new friends!  In addition to my keynote, I sat on an athlete panel with some very cool people like John Lewis, Meagan Duhamel (on the show next week), and Ann-Marie Campbell.   My talk is about my story making changes in my career, moving to Canada, making changes to my diet and how you can make positive changes in your life too. I also have a section on plant-based performance as an athlete, followed by how to be inclusive. I hope you enjoy it!    Want to join our free facebook group - Plant Powered Tribe? Also, I have a Plant Powered Tribe Instagram where I post funny memes and daily photos. 

Imagine having a career with massive success.  In just 4 years of racing, you become a 4x USA National champion sporting the stars and bars cycling kit everywhere you go. You are a force on a bike and even perform at the highest level across multiple disciplines of cycling.  Meet Rose Grant.  In 2012, she start racing in the Pro field.  After a pregnancy test, she had to put racing on a short pause to have her daughter, Layla.  But pregnancy or having an infant didn't stop Rose from chasing her goals.  Balancing a family and pushing her limits on the bike, Rose Grant's remarkable ascent in the sport had just begun.  Winning her first Marathon Nationals in 2014 was the beginning of a rein of power in the endurance scene.  She won Nationals each year consecutively, and signed on with a team that offered her great support. But as it happens, the trip on Cloud Nine came crashing down as she had a crash that snapped her ACL and tore her MCL.  Rose was relegated to her couch and slowly trained back to form on an in

Dr. Joel Kahn is a mover and shaker. He is known as “America’s Healthy Heart Doc”, a title given to him by Reader’s Digest Magazine  He is a holistic cardiologist with his own clinic based in Detroit (Kahn Center for Cardiac Longevity) which he founded because hospitals do not have a high enough standard for taking care of patients.   A lot of hospitals have notably unhealthy food, and food is one of the most powerful medicines we put in our bodies. He has treated thousands of heart attack patients with diet and lifestyle.  He has also written 5 books and over 100 research papers. He also opened 2 restaurants "Green Space Cafe"  and 1 food truck that all serve healthy, whole foods plant-based meals. I actually ate at the food truck he owns in Austin on my last trip there and only after eating there did I discover he was the founder!  He regularly speaks on shows like The Doctors and Dr. Oz and is often pitted against Keto and Paleo experts. Dr. Kahn is inspiring with his how he applies his energy to help peop

What does your closet look like?  Is it meticulously organized or is there stuff everywhere?  Greg McKeown loves using this analogy to describe how we organize our priorities and tasks in our mind.  Most of us go through life stretched too thin. With all of the inputs between work, email, social media, and our social lives, there never seems to be enough time in the day.  We are bombarded with notifications, images of things we feel like we should be doing, and we take on way too much. Sound familiar?  It strikes a chord with me!  Greg is the author of the NYT BestSeller, Essentialism.  He writes, teaches, and lectures around the world to help people choose what they should be prioritizing in life and how to develop the mindset of an Essentialist. He has appeared on the Steve Harvey Show and has spoken at Apple, Google, Salesforce, Facebook and more. What is an Essentialist? Essentialists have the mindset of "less but better" over trying to be everything of everyone.  Essentialists focus on only doing tasks t

John Salley is a true champion: with a 15-year career in the NBA and 4 Championship titles on 3 different teams, he has accomplished a great deal in his athletic career. What makes John Salley tick? What does he stand for now?  He started down a path of wellness at the age of 27.  Over time, he transitioned to a plant-based diet and found a huge advantage with his fitness, health and performance. Not only that, he attributes his diet to better mental clarity both in the game and in his businesses.  John retired from basketball at the age 36, but that was only the beginning of a new chapter.  He is a father to vegan children, and is an actor, entrepreneur, talk show host, philanthropist, wellness advocate.  He thinks that striving to always be better, to grow, and to have high standards for yourself and your family is what makes you a champion in life.  In this episode, we talk about what he learned about teamwork and how that can be applied in business, his journey to wellness and being a vegan, his views on