We were lucky to catch up with Robyn Warren recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Robyn, thanks for joining us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

I went to 3 different colleges and universities and had 6 different majors by the time I graduated with my bachelor’s degree in 5 years. There was psychology, pre-law, photography, liberal arts, communications, and then finally physical education.
One day, while at my final school, Brooklyn College, I sat in the library studying and feeling dissatisfied with my studies again. While flipping through the program book, I found dance classes and realized that they were categorized under the Physical Education department. I called my mom right at that moment and asked her what she thought about me becoming a dance teacher. She told me that I had already been doing that for most of my life. Getting kids together to perform dance routines, assigning different kids with a Spice Girl to emulate, and even having been brought on as an assistant coach for my school’s Junior Varsity cheerleading team while I was still in high school.

My mom put me in my first dance class at 3 years old and signed me up for soccer at 5. I loved both, and they were closely followed by softball, track and field, theater, and cheerleading. The only class I consistently got the highest grades in was PE, closely followed by one semester of health education and history every once in awhile. I didn’t like school, but somehow, rather than opening a dance school after college, I went back to teach in the same system that I feel helped raise me; I became a New York City public school teacher. For 5 years, I taught Physical Education, Adaptive Physical Education, Health Education, Special Education Health Education, Theater Movement, and Dance. All while earning my Master of Science in Education degree, NY State teacher certifications, becoming an accredited pole instructor, and becoming an American Council on Exercise certified Health Coach.

During this time, I also began attending Geek Girl Brunch events in NYC. From my very first brunch, I would get questions about my work as a PE teacher, often followed by comments that most of my fellow “Brunchettes” hated their PE classes. While describing how I tried to make PE more fun, relatable, and inclusive for my students (putting a HUNGER GAMES spin on PE classics like “Steal the Bacon”), I was often told, “You know, if I had a PE teacher like you, I might not have hated it so much. Do you train adults?!” And my response was, “I don’t…. but I can!” While still working full-time as a teacher, I began to build Geek Girl Strong.

After five years as a school teacher, I became a clinical Family Planning Health Educator (continuing my goal to make health more attainable and fun for adults) while still building GGS. Eventually, there came a day where I had to decide which adventure to continue. I chose the Geek Girl Strong community because I believed that was where I could do the most good.

I don’t know what will be next for me, but I have a very good feeling that I will find even bigger, farther-reaching ways of helping people evolve their relationships with their bodies. I currently have my eye on finding a way to help workplaces improve with corporate wellness programming in a way that really speaks to the needs of laborers.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a Black cis woman, geek, intersectional feminist, and Health Educator born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. I grew up in a multicultural household, a first generation American of my mother’s Jamaican immigrant family. The power of both education and movement were celebrated in our family. I was able to blend these loves and now hold both a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Education degrees. I am a NY State-certified teacher, Accredited Xpert Pole Instructor, American Council on Exercise certified Health Coach and Behavior Change Specialist, and certified Precision Nutrition Coach living in Philly. All of this is to say I’m a big nerd and love talking to people about their health.

With Geek Girl Strong (GGS), my work focuses on helping geeks evolve their relationship to their bodies and aid them in their quest to lasting wellness.

Throughout the years, GGS has grown from offering only one-on-one coaching to an international community. It is because of those community members that GGS’ priority has become community wellness.

For Geek Girl Strong, this looks like…
• A supportive and uplifting Discord server
• Holding one another accountable
• Community members of color are supported by their white peers
• Giving time, money, and/or resources to causes and organizations working toward health equity and justice
and more as time goes on.

My work as a health coach includes private, semi-private, and group settings I use evidence-based behavior change techniques, and strategies to aid people in reaching their wellness goals. Basically, a health coach is like a life coach who is health and wellness-focused/specialized. I’m well known for my teaching method, which includes teaching through movement. I find that when people realize I enjoy providing modifications to movements that allow people of different body types and abilities to discover movement in a way that works best for them, their guard comes down. This in and of itself is meeting people where they are, then going to where they are virtually and/or physically.

I’m glad to say that because of the above, my career as a health educator has again evolved to include even people who may not consider themselves to be “geeks” or “nerds.” That being said, I do believe that everyone is a geek about something. Typically, that word is assigned to those who are passionate about comic books, video games, and other pop culture fandoms. But sports fans get pretty geeky about it; they’re some of the best cosplayers! Everyone has something they nerd out on!

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

I believe that I would still want to be involved with health education in some capacity because I truly believe that it is one of the most impactful ways to empower people, but I think I would have likely come at it from a different direction. Not because I didn’t love being a school teacher or a clinical health educator, but because of how little those careers, positions, and fields are valued. I created my own path to what I have done with Geek Girl Strong, and though I am proud of that, as many people know, it is the harder path at times.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Collaboration with other small businesses. Even if it was not directly related to the services I offer, if we had the same target audience, it would always make a huge difference in my reach.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://geekgirlstrong.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geekgirlstrong/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robyn-warren-m-s-ed-83a471111/