"I want to start off by saying, I failed at pursuing my dream," Ally Love says on the latest episode of Marie Claire's "Nice Talk" podcast.
Peloton users probably know Love as one of the platform's fan-favorite fitness instructors—she's also the VP of Instructor Strategy and Development for the company. New Yorkers might recognize her from her former role as the in-arena host for the Brooklyn Nets. On top of that, she used to be a dancer for the New York Knicks.
None of that sounds much like failure. But it also wasn’t the dream Love originally imagined for herself.
"When you read off these resumes, sometimes it can make you—no matter where you are in your career—it can make you feel small, if you're listening," Love says, explaining why saying "I failed" is so important to her. "You're like, 'Well, I didn't do that. I wasn't the youngest to...' It starts to wear on you."
Love's dream from a young age was to become a professional dancer, but, as she puts it, she "ran into some roadblocks" along the way. For instance, during her freshman year in college, she was chosen for a scholarship to attend a program with Les Grandes Ballets. But a month before she was supposed to leave, she says someone from her school told her that they'd decided to send a student who was more "streamlined."
She explains: "And they sent someone who did not look like me. And then I later realized what 'streamlined' meant. It meant that I was not skinny enough to represent [the school]."
Looking back at how things shook out, Love sees the power in being able to seize new opportunities, even when they don’t line up exactly with the dream you started with.
"Sometimes those opportunities or those dreams that we have at any age—because we can dream at any age—they don't always manifest exactly the way we want them to," Love continues. "And so, when you're at the crossroad ... That's when you have to learn to pivot, and when you start to rely on other opportunity sets that you have."
Love leaned into the opportunities that came her way, even if she was often hesitant at first. She tried out for the Knicks after a friend suggested it, discovered her hosting skills when the Nets job came up, and followed that path to Peloton when the company expressed interest in having her teach classes.
She may not have had experience as a fitness instructor, but her musicality as a dancer and her ease as an arena host proved to be a natural combination.
"I can keep you engaged and activated. I got the gift of gab, and I know how to win a crowd. I know how to follow the camera," Love says. "So all of those things kind of met right at the intersection of Peloton and what Peloton was, and I end up getting the job. I've been there for 10 years, which is wild, and it has ultimately changed my entire life."
For more from Love—including her guide for building the perfect workout playlist—check out this week's installment of "Nice Talk." The episode is available everywhere you listen to podcasts.