E216 Kimmy Pareja

Hello, my name is Aziz and I'm the son of a divorced mother. She is really my superhero. That's why it's important for me to support women to share their uniqueness, their personalities, perspectives and emotions about this world. In these difficult times in human history, we need to bring the people of the world together and when we hear the voices of women, when we listen to real lives of women from other countries, we connect our cultures without differences or stereotypes and we get inspired by their stories to live a better life. That's what this podcast is all about. My guest today is Kimi Parreha. Kimi lives in Dubai and she is a freelance personal trainer, a fitness model, influencer, brand ambassador, entrepreneur and co-founder of the company Alpha Life, an e-commerce platform that offers the alpha way of living, including nutritional supplements, wellness products, active wear, bikini wear and distributor of the Italian products for Horeka. Originally from Kavita in the Philippines, Kimi studied business management and human resources development management in the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Manila and she previously worked in sales and the customer service industry for nine years since she graduated, including cashier, fast food manager, co-center agent and commercial sales executive. Kimi loves reading motivational books, meditating and visualizing positivity for her future, filming videos and editing as a content creator, hanging out and networking with like-minded friends to share experiences and learn from them as well, working out which includes strength training, joining fitness classes like yoga, Pilates, Muay Thai and others. Her mission is to empower women through fitness and positive mindset. Her Alpha Life's bikini brand's mission is to spread body positivity and inclusiveity to be comfortable in their own skins to be confident and to love themselves first. Kimi, how are you today? Hi, this is I'm feeling great today, how are you? I'm feeling lucky and grateful to be alive, excited about the adventures of life that unfold every day and very curious about you as a person, so Kimi, I will begin with this nice first question, which is, if the people that know you best could describe your personality, what would they say and how different would it be to maybe people's first impression on you as an influencer from social media rather than knowing you as a person. My friends would describe me as someone who is funny, very positive and someone that they could speak with whenever they're having a hard time, they always ask me for advice. For being as an influencer, I think that some people might have an impression that if you are an influencer that you think highly of yourselves, that you are actually hard to speak with because I went to an event last time and I was so close with this women and I'm really supporting their businesses and they are actually telling me that they didn't know that I was this approachable and they were just so happy that I am very friendly in person, they didn't think that I was, so I want to actually share that part of me that I am very approachable and they could speak with me in every aspect of life. It doesn't matter if it's about fitness or not, but I could be everyone's friend and that's I think something that I would love people to know about me. Thank you. I love that. I have so many questions to discover even more about you and I sense and understand that positivity is an important value for you and supporting people includes that, but to know more, how did you come to the conclusion or how did you decide or change to be this positive person because one of the tricks of the human brain is that it really focuses on negativity and people will ruminate and have anxiety because in evolutionary times we survived more if you were worried about dangers than if we were positive and then when we see a predator we're like it's so cute let's play with it or whatever it is instead of running. So did you have times when you were not so positive and then you decided no or if you use this life I want to be happy or anything like that maybe you read so many books that you are convinced of the motivational speaker values and ideas and mindsets or how did that story unfold? Well as these I haven't been always positive in my life. There were faces in my life that I was very negative, I was on a dark place, I felt like I was stagnant, there was no growth and I think that actually heating rock bottom is sometimes a good thing for you to realize and evaluate your life like should I be living this kind of way and do I deserve this kind of life because whenever you're always comfortable the thing with people is that they just stay the same because it's their comfort zone right? So when I hit that ground and you know I have a lot of bills to pay I have family in the Philippines to support and I'm almost hitting 30 you know this mid-life crisis that they're talking about I told myself that if I won't step up my game right now there's no other time to do it and no one will ever do it for me but just myself so I told myself okay maybe I should read some books I started researching on YouTube and then I knew a lot of people I discovered a lot of people from the history that actually will help me to become a better version of myself people like Bob Broctor or Joe Dispenza and the the greatest secret by Rhonda Burn so all these things and then it just I don't know it's like a magnet it just work like magic and then one day I wake up that I'm different I'm not myself anymore I mean I'm not my own self anymore I'm a new version of me and I like it better so I just I just lived it and that's how am I going to describe myself now not the past Kimmy before I I unlearn that and this is the Kimmy that I want to to show to people and to show up for myself I love your answer and I notice there is so much wisdom within it I want to understand because usually people are of course there are some MB words but some people are extroverts others introverts and usually extroverts are so busy with action and meeting people and all that that they don't spend much time in introspection and thinking well introverts they're constantly thinking so they develop even wiser thoughts although less social skills than the extroverts your wise thoughts I'm wondering are you more of an introvert and that's why you love books and wisdom who needs to be extroverted in order to make it in this world or are you an extrovert who finds ways and times to dive into the mysteries of life and how happy life should be or how are you deep down as a person I think that I'm a good combination of both so I would say I'm an MB verb I am an extrovert in the sense of I love to discover new things I love to learn things about other people and how they how they do things their way and maybe I could learn from it and also share what I have learned in my life and also contribute to theirs but also at some at some time some ways I feel like I'm an introvert also especially when I read books and I want to be alone because I really really appreciate and it's important for me to practice stillness and mindfulness and just sometimes whenever there are lots of people around you it's just hard to think of I mean focus to focus on things that actually matters so I try to make it a point that I have to balance my life and not to be over influenced by other people but also no deep inside me what what I really care about I think that it's important for me to practice my stillness and mindfulness because it's away from me to quiet my mind and so I can hear myself more and to clarify what I really want to go it makes me to come up with wiser decisions and to teach myself how to be patient so I think I'm both thank you I imagine for you after a long experience in the Philippines and being used to the people the culture and then moving to Dubai it was such a great experience for you how was adapting to Dubai I know it gave you many opportunities but did you have some culture shock when it comes to the city or there are some things you notice that are obviously very different to what was normal for you in the Philippines and how was your acclimation and getting used to a new life and a new country well when I first moved here in Dubai I was happy because there are lots of things that I don't usually experience in the Philippines for instance going to concerts for free I've never been to concerts in the Philippines because it's very limited the opportunity is unlimited and when it comes to food it also opened me a lot of opportunities to try different cuisines which I've never tried before and also since there are lots of expats not only locals are living here in Filipinos as well I never felt like I'm homesick my colleagues before served as my immediate family here in Dubai and that's the reason I was able to stay I thought when I first came here I will just finish the one contract and then I'm going to move on or go back to my country or go to another country but then it turned out that it served as my home and I felt safe here more than I felt safe in my own country and I met a lot of wonderful people and I could never I don't think I would be where I am today if I didn't come in this country so yeah that's how I see Dubai it's it's a door of opportunities and it's an amazing place thank you too and I'm curious about your mind and mindset you are someone who promotes living the alpha lifestyle what does that mean to you why did you choose that as a name as an idea what was interesting and attractive in it for you and how did you change as a person after adopting that compared to maybe previously you ate in a different way moved in a different way exercise less or anything similar that's a very exciting question actually when we were thinking about the name with my partner we we wanted the name to be with alpha and we're sure about that because we know that the alpha is at the beginning so we told ourselves that we want people to actually step up their game in their lives and we will offer these products and services that will let them step up their life which for instance to stop being scared to avoid pointless negativity to take care of themselves more to move their body and think of moving their body as a celebration and a reward of what their body can do more than just a task or something to get over with and also to find happiness and find their own purpose in their lives so we want to support that it's a movement that will also empower and let people be confident with themselves that's why I wanted to launch this bikini line that includes everyone it's inclusivity actually positivity is a very big word when it comes to fashion and it's been always an issue with women and as a fitness coach I feel like being positive is not just telling people to lose weight or to be sexy it's more than that for me positivity is longevity and celebrating your body and taking care of yourself and treating your body as a temple and making sure that you are doing everything that you can do to make sure that you will be able to live a healthy life so that you can also have those moments with your family with your loved ones and the people you cherish I like that very very much and I'm curious to about making new friends in Dubai since you're someone who's in love with the city how was your journey of meeting people finding those people who will be part of your alpha tribe in a way that they become more than just clients or acquaintances but real friends and if so what do you look for in such people what characteristics makes you choose someone and feel I like this person compared to someone else is it energetic is it some traits of their personality is it some behaviors or how does it go? Finding friends here in Dubai is I think I don't want to say it's easy but it's a bit challenging because it's easy to find someone like an acquaintance or a client but to be friends is something else because that means you connect with that person on a deeper level some of my clients became my friends and some just remain as my clients and there are reasons behind that I feel like if you want to have a friend you need to make sure that this person is living with integrity and that you can trust them so you need to be mindful of what they say if it aligns with their actions and if you can depend on them as well if they have empathy for other people if they are good listeners as well and that's a very important thing someone needs to be a great communicator so they could actually express themselves and you could do the same too and if they're confident with their selves they don't foster negativity and they don't gossip about other people so those are the things that I really look for in my friends someone who makes me feel good and makes me feel like I'm at my best thank you and I'm also curious about how you see yourself in this world are you a girl who is highly spiritual and you believe in destiny and that you're meant for great things and on your life purpose do you see yourself as an angel saving humanity and other people and helping them do you see yourself for example although you're into fitness as somehow of a doctor or a nurse recovering the health of people or you see yourself as an animal like a tiger or anything like that how do you perceive yourself and what is your metaphysical perspective on how the world goes that helps keep you positive I think I am a person that believes big in energy and what I think is that where our energy flows where attention goes so I always focus on the positive things in life and that's the same thing that I share with my clients I have a very big passion with fitness with living with a healthy lifestyle and that's something that I would like to share with people so they could get to enjoy life better rather than being sick which we don't want to for anyone to happen and I have a very very big faith with trusting the process and the universe that everything is unfolding in my life because I believe on it I see I'm seeing the invisible and I'm believing in the incredible so I can receive what is impossible there's nothing impossible but for me there's a limitation that people put into it that because they have limited beliefs you know which things that are thought to us as we were children and for me it was hard to to unlearn these things so I believe that life is a learning process but also it's an unlearning process you need to forget some old stories for you to be able to reach places that you have never been before in order to to be someone you need to change yourself from within thank you and to push that further because you're saying something very interesting and you're an influencer nowadays maybe after the pandemic as well as social media with a lot of Photoshop there are many girls who are teenagers who believe oh my god I can never be as beautiful as those girls I see an Instagram and they feel a bit a loss of self-esteem and confidence what's your perspective on this do you believe there is a healthy way to use social media or do you believe all women those teenagers as well they can find their superior beauty if they work out but maybe because they don't work out or haven't tried they did not discover their potential of their genetics or what is your perspective because you're both working to inspire people through social media to be a positive person and force within their life but to some people social media they can use it or see it in a toxic way well social media has both pros and cons and it's important for you to be aware of the advantages it could give you and the disadvantages also so for me if you are a teenager and you feel like other people are living their best life and I want to be like that also and you want to copy them for instance that's okay and that's natural but instead of being jealous with those life like too good to be true life at you see on social media I think that it's better to treat it as an inspiration so that you could reach those places but on your own path and not try to copy them but instead use them on inspiration for you to grow and be the best version of you and also apart from that you need to be mindful of scrolling mindlessly on social media like for me whenever I see post and it's the algorithm and that's how it works it feeds you a lot of content that they think you are interested on so when this thing happened you need to be mindful that oh this is too much already I have better things to do you need to give time set up time for you to use social media for your business for your personal use for consumption and for communicating with other people there are different ways how to use it and you need to be smart enough to know those thank you so much and to finish this if there are any women listening maybe in Dubai or all over the world and they want to learn more about you to know what you're up to your next projects your current work what is the best place to find you and what projects are you starting involved with initiating or dreams and goals you are working on these days thank you as this for giving me the opportunity right now I'm working on the release of my brand which is body bay body bay is a swimwear brand that empowers and brings comfort and confidence to women through bikini wear for now it's bikini wear but I'm having the line of active wear also we're having a pop up launch this Saturday March 4 at a debut premium hotel at the West Palm Beach so if anyone is free you can just come we'll we have some freebies freetays for the food supplements as well it will be amazing you could take some pictures and for those people also who strive to start their businesses here in Dubai I feel like this is the the best time to do it after the pandemic where everyone is um into leveling up their life and making the most out of it so I would say don't be afraid and just believe in your own self and always try to step out of your comfort zone it's all in the mindset so for personal training I'm on instagram my name is chemifitness I offer individual personal training services and also online personal training if you're interested just let me know send me a DM and I also have a free consultation from the link in my bio feel free you can ask me anything and I would love to help you with your fitness journey one hundred percent thank you Kimmy for participating in this podcast thank you for sharing your voice peace of your soul and your perspective I wish you success with all your endeavors I wish you a larger and bigger and bigger impact every day more on women on life on their positivity I wish you every day good lives and thank you again for participating thank you so much Aziz thank you for giving us opportunity to be heard this is such a great thing thank you