Alyssa 🧘🏼‍♀️🌷🫂

A hot blonde with Yoda like wisdom

Alyssa Bergerson was the first girl boss I ever met. Also, my first boss. While she’s one of the hardest working people I know, Alyssa is pure joy—the embodiment of a fun and genuine Silly Goose™️. As a gemini, she contains multitudes. Alyssa has been a guiding light in my darkest moments, a skinny dipping buddy at the company retreat, my news source for everything (better than NYT AND Deux Moi), drake dance partner, and one of my very best friends.

Alyssa’s own career journey, and it’s many paths, has been a huge inspiration to me. Never your average PR girl, she started her career in fashion, moved to entertainment, only to ultimately decide, ‘fuck this!’. She then promptly got her degree in integrative nutrition AND pilates teacher certified. Alyssa launched her own business, Alyssa Bergerson Wellness, where she coaches folks in everything health (pilates?! check. Gut health?! check. Best erewhon hacks?! check!!!). And recently signed on for a very exciting new project combining all of her passions—wellness, celeb, and brand marketing.

Alyssa may be a hot blonde but she puts any dumb blonde stereotype to shame. Most of our hikes together consist of me anxiety-spiral-word-vomitting to Alyssa only for her to respond with the wisest, most thoughtful, and metaphysical one liners that leaves me gooped, gagged, and feeling fully enlightened amidst the Elysian trail. Move over Marianne Williamson, Alyssa is MY number 1 spiritual healer (she has my vote for president too).

“I don’t know how to define myself outside of work. It’s hard, but I don't think it matters if you can't fully define yourself. And I think that's sort of the point.”

Isadora: Who are you?

Alyssa: My name is Alyssa Bergson and I am a health coach, a Pilates instructor, and I also head up Talent at People Brand Company. We're a brand studio that develops and operates brands in the health and nutrition space.

I: Ok, can you introduce yourself again but without using your career?

Alyssa: Oh my gosh. Fuck. Oh my God. This is exactly why you started Limbo. My name is Alyssa Bergson and I am 33 years old. Wow. It's so hard. I don't know. I never even thought about how much we do this when someone asks you who are you?

I: We just immediately introduce ourselves that way. People have been saying this for a while, ‘who are you outside of how do of your job’, but I don't think I've ever really put it into practice. So let’s try. How would you describe the type of person that you are?

A: I’ve always been a very curious person. I think that has led me to pursue the things I actually enjoyed doing. First with my career, I had always had an interest in fashion, which is why I went to Everlane. And then that kind of transitioned into entertainment at masterclass. I know I'm still describing myself by work. And then I had always had an interest in health and wellness, which is why I pursued health coaching and Pilates. Taking the titles away, the through-line is I am always curious. I always like to learn. I think that has been something that also has led me through my career of even joining Masterclass that was very much all about learning and that kind of pushed me to go to school and continue learning.  The second part of this is that I’ve always loved giving a good recommendation and advice—whether it's through pilates and coaching or sharing things I love. There's always this curiosity. I don’t know how to define myself outside of work. Yeah, it is hard, but I don't think it matters if you can't fully define yourself. And I think that's sort of the point.

I: Can you expand on that?

A: We are always changing and growing and the way we define ourselves will change. Maybe our core values stay the same but I don’t think we need to put ourselves in such rigid boxes because that creates limitations. Boxes are for things not thoughts and I think that applies to how we define ourselves! I actually wrote about this in one of my newsletters.

I: Can you explain all of the different projects you’re working on right now?

A: I do three different things but they all tie into this health, nutrition, wellness world. The first being health coaching and that is working one-on-one with folks.  I help clients get to the root of their healing through nutrition and sustainable lifestyle changes. The second thing is Pilates. I have a private studio at my home where I see private clients. My style is athletic based. And last but certainly not least, which has been taking up most of my time these days is launching our first brand at People Brand Co – Magna. It’s a hydration solution powered by magnesium (truly the most important mineral). It's set to launch in early Summer, and a big part of the brand is rooted in sports and movement. All of my worlds are aligning together to help launch this product which has been really exciting for me.

I:  What do you hope all of the things that you're working on will evolve?

A: I always think about this. They're all in the same world, but they're very different things. It shows me that I don't have to be tied to one thing. As my life evolves, I can use these skills for different things. Maybe one day I'm like, Hey, I want to open my own Pilates studio. I can do that. They can help me transition through different phases and seasons of my life.

I: There have been times in your life where you felt like you needed to make a pivot, you needed to make a change, you felt a lack of drive. What would you tell someone in that place?

A: Take a look at what you actually love to do and start exploring that even in small ways. You don't have to put all this pressure on yourself like, ‘This is going to be my future’. Oftentimes, that can set you up for disappointment. It's doing things you actually enjoy and then seeing where that goes. If it's something you're really passionate about that can actually turn into a job that you love and ultimately be more successful in.

I: I’ve seen a massive shift in you in how you handle stressful situations. How has your relationship to anxiety and stress shifted over the years and what does that look like?

A: Work was everything to us. It was our life. It was how we identified ourselves, especially we were working at Everlane and it was so cool and our whole life was work. We would go to work, we were friends with everyone we worked with. Because of that, everything just felt like such a big deal. If one little thing happened, it was so stressful and there was so much pressure on us. As you get older, you're like, that shit doesn't matter. But one thing is I read the book Return to Love by Marianne Williamson about four years ago. It's based on this larger book, the Course in Miracles. She talks about fear being just an illusion. It's not real. The only thing that is real is love. The book has religious undertones, but it truly is for everyone, whether that's God or a higher power, but you just have to put faith in this higher power and trust that it is going to lead you where you need to be and kind of let go of control in a lot of situations. There's was a me before return to love and a me after return to love.

I: What does validation look like for you? And has that changed?

A: When I was younger, a lot of the validation was from where do you work, what do you do? Are you doing “cool” things? As my world has changed, it’s not work that’s giving me validation. I now understand that work is not our whole life, and so I seek less validation from that and truly from doing things that I love to do. I truly find the most joy from my friends, and this is just a small story, but Isabella sent me a voice note today and she just complimented me out of the blue and was just so sweet. And that is the validation I want is from people I'm closest with and I was like, you just made my whole day. I don't care if the smartest person on the planet gives me validation for what I'm doing. It's my family, it's my friends. That's where I get validation from.

I: Shout out to Isabella, our queen. Social media has sort of warped the ways in which we view validation even outside of work. Having some sort of cultural clout, having followers, etc. contributes to some of the ways in which we view validation. But it is so true that when you get a random compliment from that someone you love notices about you, that maybe you haven't seen in yourself, it is the most validating feeling. Ok, speaking of social media, do you get inspiration from people on social? Or where do you get inspiration from?

A: That was my first inclination of who do I follow that I get inspiration from. And no one really. Everything feels the same now. I get the most inspiration just being out and about in the world. Discovering new things (vintage), being outside my LA bubble (in places like the North Shore) and meeting new people. Reading has always been a source of inspiration – reading can put you into a new world or take you out of a world. It’s always been a big part of my life. I love a good memoir and any book that takes place in or around LA.

I: Can you describe what being in a creative state or an inspired state feels like for you?

A:  I don't even feel like I’m working. Everything feels like it's clicking, and it's not just in one area of your life. It transfers into your personal life and it's almost a euphoric feeling. And you might not even know you're in it at the time, but then you look back and you're like, oh, wow, how can I get back to that?

I: When’s the last time you felt that way?

A: Having these conversations actually gives me a lot of inspiration. It’s important to take time and reflect on your own life and career and actually verbalize it out loud. You realize, “wow, I can do things and I have done a lot” and that kind of pushes me to do more. You've been sharing a lot with what you want to do with limbo, and I think that even inspires me to like, oh, what else can I do? How can I help you? How can I translate some of this into my own life?

I: Something interesting that’s happened for me is what used to feel like competition or envy has now turned into inspiration. I’m excited when my friends are doing cool things, I'm rooting for them. And it also unlocks something in my brain like what are ways in which this can inspire stuff I want to do.

A: I find that happens after really great conversations with friends, whether it's us on a walk or voice notes, and I just get a lot of inspiration from talking to friends who are going through similar things and even just spitballing ideas off of each other. When one of us is winning, we are all winning!

I: You’re obsessed with voice notes and it’s a hot button issue. A lot of people hate them.

A: I am obsessed with voice notes but they should be reserved for people you are kind of close with. These men on these dating apps be sending voice notes left and right, and I'm just not willing to share my voice with you at this point.

I: Which is funny because I also feel like boys I know, or sorry, MEN, all the men that I know fucking hate voice notes.

A: Yeah. Oh, I got one. Got one last night. I'll play it.

I: If anyone's reading this and they know someone who could be good for Alyssa, let's hook it up!!!