Megan Roup
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This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Megan Roup, the 40-year-old founder and CEO of The Sculpt Society, a fitness app founded in 2017, and a celebrity trainer.
Roup lives in Los Angeles with her husband and her 2-year-old and 4-year-old daughters. This story has been edited for length and clarity.
I started The Sculpt Society in 2017 after years of teaching classes at boutique fitness studios in New York, dancing for the Brooklyn Nets, and working as a fit model for brands like DKNY and Guess to make ends meet. I fell in love with fitness, but I kept feeling like the class and community I really wanted didn't yet exist, so I started The Sculpt Society.
I've now been the CEO for nine years. I started as the only employee. Now I'm supported by a team and more focused on leading, creating the vision, and trusting the right people to help build it alongside me.
I live in Los Angeles with my family. Here's a day in my life.
I start my day with coffee and Transcendental Meditation at 5:30 a.m
My husband, Morgan, and I wake up at 5:30 every day, but there has never been a morning in my entire life when I haven't thought about snoozing my alarm.
The first thing I do is make a French press coffee and drink it with some whole milk. I'm a caffeine addict, but I usually cut myself off after two cups.
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Then I usually have some lemon water, and Morgan and I do about 20 minutes of Transcendental Meditation, a meditation technique that involves mentally repeating a word or phrase. I was introduced to this type of meditation about 18 months ago, and I've slowly built up to 20 minutes.
Roup starts her days with a French press coffee.Megan Roup
After that, I press play on the The Sculpt Society app and do a 15- to 20-minute workout if I'm not teaching that day. It's the only workout I do. I have a little home gym set up, but it's nothing crazy. I don't love a huge, intimidating gym space.
I give myself one to two rest days, as everyone should. My motto is to commit to less so that you can show up more.
That routine sets my day up for success and helps me feel grounded before I go into full mom mode and then full CEO mode.
The girls wake up at 7 a.m.
By 7 a.m, my girls are up, so I get them dressed for the day, and we'll go downstairs to have breakfast together.
Morgan always makes a smoothie. My girls love Greek yogurt with granola, peanut butter, some fruit, and honey. I usually have some of the smoothie, the granola bowl I make for my girls, or some Good Culture cottage cheese with blueberries.
We usually get to the office around 9:15 a.m.
Typically, Morgan, our COO and president, and I will drop the girls off at preschool, then drive to the office, where we can see the Hollywood Hills sign. I worked from home for eight years, filming workouts and running a business, so having an office space now has been amazing for us.
Morgan and I have a strong working dynamic. There's a deep level of trust, and we're both very aligned in how we approach decisions. As the business has grown, we've had to be more disciplined about communication and boundaries, especially with the overlap of work and home. We prioritize clear communication, staying in our lanes, and trusting each other to lead in our respective areas.
If I'm recording a live workout for the app, I go straight into the studio and set up my camera, microphone, and music. I test everything to make sure all the levels look good, then record. After that, it's nonstop.
Roup films live workouts from her office in Hollywood.Megan Roup
I'm in all areas of the business, which means I'm usually in back-to-back Zoom calls all day. I think we're at 17 employees total.
I'm helping run the company while also creating content, being the face of the brand, and recording workouts. I really have to manage my time and switch my brain into whatever mode I need. Morgan is a huge source of support for me if I'm feeling overwhelmed at work.
A working lunch at 12:30
I have a working lunch around 12:30 or 1, and I typically order something in. I should probably bring in my lunch from home more often, but I'm a real working mom who doesn't have a lot of time.
Roup typically eats lunch at 12:30.Megan Roup
We have a lot of really great lunch spots in Los Angeles. Leora Cafe is great. There's Goop kitchen. I recently ordered a turkey wrap from a little café called Carrera. There's also Third Street.
Home by 5:30 p.m.
I really try to be home by 5:30 p.m. so that I can have time with my girls. We usually have a really simple dinner during the week, like roast chicken with vegetables and rice, or tacos, and the girls help us make it. We order in from a restaurant sometimes, or Morgan will barbecue burgers on the grill.
After we eat, we have about 30 minutes of playtime. We'll do a little dance party in our kitchen. My girls love pop music and Elsa's songs from Frozen. Then we go upstairs and get ready for bed.
I get them into their pajamas, brush their teeth, we do story time, and cuddles. I usually close the door and kiss my girls goodnight around 7:15 p.m.
I'm back on my computer for a good hour to do some extra work. If it's been a meeting-heavy day, I catch up on emails and Slack. I also record and edit content for my social media at home.
Roup often does an extra hour or two of work in the evening.Megan Roup
If I'm not working into the evening, I'll watch a bit of TV with Morgan — we're watching Love Story— but if I am working, I'll usually skip that and go straight upstairs.
I shower and do my skincare routine at 8:30 p.m.
I love products, so I'm always cycling through new ones, but I typically use a serum, moisturizer, and oil.
I love having a warm magnesium drink and reading a book under my amber light. That and getting into a set of big PJs after a hot shower takes me out of the stress of the day.
I'm reading "Once and Again" by Rebecca Serle; before that, "Broken Country" by Clare Leslie Hall; and before that, "The Wedding People." I like a nice, easy read because I can barely get through 10 pages before I fall asleep.
I love sleep, and I track mine through my Oura ring. I love seeing that my readiness score is in the 90s or mid-80s, or above. I have an Eight Sleep mattress that adjusts its temperature based on your body's temperature. It's an investment, but it's really amazing.
I work on weekends
We're only six years into The Sculpt Society app, so I'm still very much in it, which means I work on the weekends. On Saturdays, I work less. I've started going to an adult ballet class, which is at the same time as my eldest daughter's ballet class. It's a full family affair.
Roup carves out time for family on Saturday morning.Amelia Pastsalos
My youngest and Morgan will take the bikes out while my oldest and I are in class. That's been a way for me to take a moment for myself, to fill up my cup in the week, because generally, there's no balance.
After ballet, we typically have brunch at home, then my youngest takes a nap. Later, we'll go to the park, and then maybe meet up with friends. Or sometimes just have an early night in. On Sundays, I typically work a little more in the afternoon because on Mondays, we always release new on-demand videos.
I'm most proud of the impact The Sculpt Society has had on other women's confidence in their own skin. It's really the workout and the community I wish I had had when I was in my early 20s.
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