We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Marnie Kunz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Marnie, appreciate you joining us today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

The coronavirus pandemic was the biggest and most unexpected challenge I’ve confronted with my business, Runstreet. I went from doing a full-time event business based in NYC with events in LA and Chicago – to having lost all my sponors and events in 2020. My events never fully came back to pre-pandemic levels and hotels and sponsors continue to be short-funded for events. During the pandemic, I pivoted and began blogging more and offering virtual fitness challenges. Today I am happy to say I’ve become a media company, with the blog, online memberships and training plans replacing the lost event income.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have a background in journalism and was writing for different newspapers and websites and decided to start my own blog, about running, in 2010. I named it Runstreet and also got certified as a running coach to add more credibiility to my training articles. When I moved to NYC in 2012, I started training some clients in person but got busy with journalism jobs and other gigs to pay the bills. I created a Brooklyn running group in 2014 and led weekly fun runs around Brooklyn. I continued to grow the Runstreet Instagram and found a lot of great murals on my runs. I created the first Art Run to show people the street art they had been asking about on my Instagram. I led runners on a guided 5K run to learn about the amazing murals in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. After that, the Art Runs kept growing in popularity and attracted healthy food and running gear sponsors. My best friend and photographer, Marques Jackson, took photos at our events and this helped us reach a wider audience online and attract sponsors. We started doing Art Runs around the country, and had just kicked off our first LA Art Run before covid hit and shut down all events. During the pandemic, I got certified as a fitness trainer and coached people one-on-one and launched virtural challenges. I love to help people build their confidence and meet their fitness goals with a smart training plan.
Also during the pandemic, I started blogging again and learned how to use SEO to grow the blog. Eventually I landed blog ad deals and affiliate programs that have helped provide a revenue to replace events.
Now we have a Runstreet online membership with a monthly fitness challenge and accountability as well as provide engaging training articles and resources. I am grateful to have found a way to still do something I love – encourage people to get active and be healthy and explore. It took years of trial and error and hard work, but now Runstreet is a growing media company with contributing writers, and I still get to write about something I love – running.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I moved to NYC with nothing but two bags and a dream to write and live in the big city. It has taken years and many different jobs – from dog walking to bartending, but I am happy to say NYC has given me the opportunities to start (and pivot) and grow a small business that I can now do full-time. I had years where I worked holidays and weekend and times I felt discouraged, but my best friend and fellow runners who I met helped me to stay encouraged and keep trying.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

My business was completely reliant on event ticket sales and sponsorships and I had to pivot since 2020, when all events were canceled and I lost all sponsorships. It has taken longer than I had expected but I was able to pivot to doing an online training and media company, with revenue from the blog, online training plans, and our fitness challenge membership.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.runstreet.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/runstreet
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/runstreet1
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marniekunz/
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/marniekunz
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrBfblKDMPIEen1iNRNP7Yw

Image Credits
Photos by Marques Jackson Photography.