Melanie Pearce is an incandescent regular attendee of the early morning classes at Manor Road and the F’n Go Run Group. We grabbed a table on the patio of Honeymoon Spirit Lounge on a perfect Thursday evening in October and indulged in some artfully mixed cocktails. Read on to be charmed by Mel’s palpable love of adventure and the Shop Community or to learn an embarrassing story from both the interviewee and the interviewer!
Coach Chad: I asked the coaching staff if they had any questions for you and John actually came out hot on this one-
Mel Pearce: Oh… I’m sure.
How do you feel about (LSU Football Head Coach) Ed Orgeron getting fired?
That is coming in hot. I love Coach O- it is pretty sad. I’m bummed about it, but we will see.
I love how composed you are being- not giving John the satisfaction. He also wanted to know your favorite Cajun food dish.
Mmm… This is a really interesting question because I’m a weirdo Cajun-
But you are Cajun?
Yes and no- I wasn’t born there but I grew up there.
So culturally Cajun?
Right! I don’t eat a lot of meat, so i would say like a seafood gumbo or a Boudin bowl
What is the official dance of Lafayette?
Oh! Cajun dancing- it is like a two step, but a little more freestyle. It is pretty distinct when you see it. I could show it to you some time.
You and I have been meaning to hang out more, so maybe next time I will tap you for some Cajun dancing lessons. Well John clearly had an idea of where you come from heading into this, but could you give a brief rundown of where you are from and how you got to Austin for our readers?
I was born in Delaware-
Very Cajun!
Oh yes, deep in Cajun country.
That’s why people in Delaware really say it (goes into a spot on Cajun accent) “Delaway-uh” cause dey so deep into dat Cajun Countray!
Oh yes and Coach O is also from Delaware.
Right… wait, really?
Oh no! He’s from deep deep in the boot of Louisiana.
So Cajun that he is actually a crawdad.
Exactly! So born in Delaware then moved to Maryland, Florida, Missouri, and then Louisiana.
Wow- Military kid?
No, my mom was a badass sales woman and she just got moved to a bunch of different places-
She’s a mercenary isn’t she?
Well yeah, she’s in the CIA.
Alright. Well I don’t think you’re supposed to say that on a recording, but fair enough.
*laughing* Yeah, you’ll have to cut that out.
Right right- or you’ll cut me out.
Yeah yeah. I moved to Louisiana in 5th grade and was there through college. I moved to Austin in 2010 for grad school-
What was your focus in grad school?
Counseling. And then when I finished, I wanted to stay in Austin so I got a job at UT and then I moved to Sacramento for two and a half years and then moved back.
When did you move back?
Right before the pandemic…
Welcome home honey! Wasn’t it so much better to be in a place you love during the pandemic? I had just moved back to Austin as well and I count my lucky stars that we made that move when we did.
Yeah, I had my little friend pod and we would play board games or swim in their pool- we were together all the time.
I have a little bit of experience with you and you actually helped my wife out with some career stuff because you describe yourself as a matchmaker for careers. Can you talk about that a bit?
Yeah! I went for more of a career counseling route than more traditional therapy. When I moved back to Austin, I started working with grad students and I basically do employer relations. I try to find companies looking for specialized, advanced skills and connect the companies with students.
Now that skill as a matchmaker- does that translate to any other areas of life? Are you a matchmaker in your social circles?
That’s a good question! You know, I have played that role a time or two. It isn’t my forte, but I’ve definitely arranged it for person a and person b to be in the same place at the same time.
Another question in that realm that occurred to me was, out of all the coaches at The Shop, if you could give them a different job, what would it be? Not that they aren’t good at their current job, but if one of them came to you and said “you need to get me the hell out of this place- Dane has gotten too handsome, I can’t work for him any more”, who would you save?
Okay! We can start with Dane and I would say standup comedy. Maybe some acting.
When I first started working at The Shop, he and another coach and I took some improv classes together. He does have some funnies. That’s a good one!
I have more! Beth Reyburn should go into pottery-
She’s really damn good! Have you seen her work?
No I actually haven’t.
That is an incredible call because she has gotten amazing with pottery. The past couple Christmases she has given the members of the management team custom made pieces. Absolutely gorgeous.
Wow! Keith should be a physical therapist.
He does have that interest in the really granular aspects of training.
He is really good at diagnosing where your weak points are. This would be a good second drink question!
If another occurs to you, just call it out. I always do a little bit of instagram stalking before these interviews and your last posting was a series of photos from ACL, what was the high point of your experience? I mean, the fact that it happened at all is a high point obviously.
I am detoxing this week-
Detoxing with a margarita?
*huge laughter*. Okay. Alright! I was detoxing until Thursday night! My uncle and his partner came into town and their two friends joined us, so I had an entourage of four gay guys all weekend.
Some of my favorite memories have been with an entourage of four gay guys.
*more big laughter* Yes! By Thursday we were already hitting a drag show. Friday was ACL- George Strait. This was my 11th ACL- my first year was 2006 and it was where my love of Austin started.
Do you have a favorite memory from that year?
Tom Petty… playing in the rain.
Ugh… That is so cool! With such a profound love of the city, can you describe a “perfect Austin weekend”?
First thing is first, (coming out of the weekend)I am going to Dane’s Body Shop to workout. Preferably a 6:30am class on a Monday with Coach Chad. Okay, so let’s say it is 8:30am on a Saturday- I’m at Stormie’s class. It is a beautiful day- then maybe I grab a coffee and a breakfast taco.
Favorite place for the coffee and taco situation?
Oh my gosh- this is a really tough question. Right now I’m liking Palomino- it is really close to where I live. Dear Diary is another one I really like-
This is where I reveal that you weren’t actually elected Athlete of the Season- it is just an elaborate ruse I’ve concocted to figure out the best places for coffee and tacos.
Ha! I really love Vera Cruz- their tacos are amazing.
*server comes by to ask if we are doing okay*
Are you down for another round?
I mean, I’m detoxing, so yes!
Okay, so it is late Saturday morning- that is as far into this fantasy weekend as we’ve gotten.
So then I’m going for a hike on the greenbelt maybe. After the hike I probably take a trip to Whole Foods-
Gotta support the evil empire! Hear that Jeffrey Bezos? She is diligent in her tithing to you.
*laughing more- it really is a good laugh guys*. Then I am probably rolling into happy hour with some friends- maybe the ABGB. Then maybe heading to dinner somewhere; right now my favorite dinner spot is Suerte. You’ve gotta go- it is so good. Then maybe going out somewhere. Lately it has been White Horse. Oh wait! Before White Horse, maybe I hit a show somewhere like the Scoot Inn.
So we’re shutting things down rowdy at White Horse. We roll out of bed on Sunday morning-
Sundays are my yoga days. I bounce around to different places. Then probably back to Whole Foods or something. I really like to grocery shop.
I think we need to stage a Whole Foods intervention for you! Nah, that’s cool. So you’re probably spending at least a little time at your house on this perfect weekend- cause you just bought a house right?
Yes! That was quite the journey with the pandemic and everything, but I moved in in July.
If I were to come over to Casa Mel, describe for me what I might see? What is your style?
I’m a minimalist. I don’t like a lot of stuff.
I’m going to editorialize here and say that my wife is an incredible nester, but I am also a hard core minimalist and she is very good at decorating, but it is a lot of stuff. She’s great at decorating- I think she calls it neo-bohemian or something.
Okay- I would say I’m like a boho minimalist? *laughs* Yeah, I moved in July and I still don’t have anything on the walls because I’m kind of digging the vibe. It is also a super small house, so I just don’t have a lot of stuff.
So when you finally do hang something on the wall, what is it?
Oh god- I have a billion ACL posters that are all framed and I don’t know where to put them! This is my big conundrum right now.
Do you know Patty and AJ?
No I don’t think so-
They are evening people, so you may not have encountered them. Patty was the first ever Manor Athlete of the season and the two of them are tremendous people. They live very close to the Shop and their house is like literally an art gallery. It is the most impressively decorated place I have ever seen. If you haven’t met them already you have to-
I feel like I love them already.
And AJ works for Whole Foods, so he is your man on the inside. So there are some checkmarks for Athlete of the Season candidates: regular attendance, positive attitude, but I think maybe the biggest one is just connecting to other members. You seem to be one of the biggest participants in what I call “Shop sub-communities”. We are one community, but one of the cool things are these sub groups of people who hang out together outside of class. You are in the run group, so can you talk about that and any other groups you hang out with?
This is great- I was hoping to plug the F’n Go Run Group-
Well then before we move on- plug it! What is the pitch?
Run Group is so much fun! I think people are intimidated, but the truth is we talk a lot. We do anywhere from 3-6 miles, but it is always with breaks. There are the faster people, and more intermediate runners, and people who just want to take it easy so there is a place for anyone. We also do a lot of happy hours which is my forte.
It certainly sounds like you are experienced in happy hours. That is actually what you got your grad degree in isn’t it? Happy Hour is counseling in my experience.
Oh yeah, yeah, it is all the same! Sometimes the group is big and sometimes it is small. If anyone is thinking of joining us you totally should! If you just want to come to happy hour you should. There is a spreadsheet (that says when and where the meetings take place)-
And that spreadsheet is accessible to all members- if you’re newer, you received a link to it when you got your welcoming email after signing up! I will link to it in this interview! Now you come to the 5:30am and 6:30am classes usually right? I feel like that is a specific community of its own.
It is! (morning class attendees) Emily and Melissa Taylor take an evening class on Thursdays and I freaking love them, so I want to start taking that class with them so I can meet more members even though it isn’t my favorite to workout in the evening.
I’m the same way- the workout is what sets the pace for my day.
Exactly and then I don’t have to worry about it. But I want to start going to other times so I can infiltrate other groups.
“Infiltrate”, I like that! If you have any flexibility for midday class, the 11:45am class at Hyde Park would be a fascinating community for you to infiltrate. I love my 11:45am class at Manor, but at Hyde Park there are a lot of people who have been members for a very long time and they present a very unique vibe.
Chad, that would be so outside of my box! Maybe I will do that.
So that is a goal, but do you have any goals in life that you’re working on? I love the fitness goals, but just in general- what are you targeting in life?
I’m starting to plan a lot of travel- I used to vagabond around quite a bit. I lived in New Zealand and Australia- I lived in a van. I would live a couple months in one place-
Your CIA mother employed you as a sniper!
*big laugh* Yes! Like I said, she’s a badass.
I want to meet your mom, bring her to The Shop next time she is in town.
I should! She’s a lot.
What’s her name? I want to see how much I can creepily talk about your mom during this interview.
Her name is Gloria… She goes by “Glo”.
GLO! I love it!
She would kill me if she knew I was talking about this. Her middle name is so fitting for her, but it was actually a mistake on her birth certificate. Her name is Gloria Martini.
GLORIA MARTINI???
She’s the youngest of six, so by the time she came along it was like “sorry we didn’t double check it”.
That is fantastic. What were we talking about. I know we were talking about your mom-
Goals?
Oh that is right- you were talking about travel.
I’m going to do a bit more traveling- I’ve got a couple things in December. I’m actually going to go to Puerto Rico with a couple other members over Christmas. I’m going to go to New York in the beginning of December.
And there are a lot of Puerto Ricans in New York, so you can ease into it! Do you speak Spanish?
Oh Chad, I should. I’ve taken so many classes and taken lessons.
Well this is a chance for us to plug another member! Do you know Janani and Virginia?
Yes! Virginia teaches Spanish right?
I started taking classes with her right before the pandemic in person and then she switched to virtual y mi español es mucho más mejor ahora!
I’ve heard you speak Spanish!
I have so much work to do, but any gains I’ve made are all her. They are small group classes and she is just fantastic.
Let’s plug her- can you link to that as well?
Yes! The Language House- I’ll link to it!
Janani and Virginia- I also f*cking love them. Man it is like any member you bring up I get so excited. And then I’m also going back to Lafayette of course- I go back a lot.
To see Gloria Martini? Is she still there?
No, she’s on the east coast now. It is my friend-family. I’ve got really really close girl friends who are like sisters to me and they all still live there. When I moved back from Sacramento, they were all like “what are you doing, move back to Lafayette instead!” and I really considered it.
Cool cool. I always like to conclude with some just completely random questions that have no bearing on anything. I think John kind of covered some random ground up top. I asked a member in the class I just coached and he told me to just ask you what the most embarrassing moment of your life was.
In my life? Oh there are so many!
Pick one! A moment that you’re comfortable sharing with your entire DBS community.
Let me think of something that is appropriate for this interview.
Meh, “appropriate” is kind of relative. Back in the day I had a long and entertaining interview with a Spotlight Athlete and our detailed conversation about merkins made it into the transcript. There is a wide lane for appropriate- it is more about what you are comfortable with.
I feel like anything I say is too much! This is so tough.
I’ll throw one out as an ice breaker. I had been a trainer for like two years when we moved to Austin from Chicago and I started at Dane’s Body Shop. I was already super intimidated by some of the trainers they had at the time who were very knowledgeable and very experienced. I had just been given my first couple classes and was already having some imposter syndrome when I went to demo a burpee and I just ripped a fart. It was a moment where I had three paths: the most obvious was to just leave class in that moment and never be seen again, I could pretend it didn’t happen, and the third option was the one I chose which was to stop class, turn off the music and acknowledge what just happened. I think that was the moment where I earned my first cred at The Shop. Not even remotely the most embarrassing thing that has happened to me- just an example
Okay, so I have a lot of embarrassing things I could say and maybe after we finish recording I’ll tell you more. But when I was traveling in Australia, I was really gung ho about learning to surf; it is a big part of the culture there. What most silly young Americans don’t realize is that there are a lot of riptides in Australia. My friend and I were hung over and hanging out on the beach and she was napping so I just decided to go for it. So I paddled out a little further and before I knew it, I’m caught in a super vicious riptide- I was so far away from the shore. I started to realize that I’m swimming and not going anywhere and that I’m going to be eaten by a shark and then I started hyperventilating- just freaking out. I’m just thinking this is the end and I’m really hyperventilating and then I see this guy and, in my mind it is in slo-mo and he was like David Hasselhoff, and I see him jump in the water. I realize that this guy looks pretty cute from afar and he is swimming aggressively toward me and I might be getting rescued-
And you’re getting a little turned on?
*big laughter* Right? And I’m hyperventilating at the same time.
That actually sounds incredible, I want this experience.
So I’m crying and this hot Australian man is coming my way. He gets closer to me and very seriously starts yelling “are you okay?” and I was like “yeah, I’m fine!”.
You think you’re dying but you’re “fine”?
He was just like “You look like you’re in distress” and so I said “no, I’m good”. Then he was like “you’re in distress” and I responded “okay, maybe a little”. So he said, “alright, I’m going to rescue you then”. So I get on his back and he swam me to the shore. He was like “you were in some serious trouble there” and I was just trying to play it cool- I didn’t want to be a silly American.
That is a fantastic story. Our experiences with Australian men are very different- most of mine involve breaking up fist fights.
I can see that too!
Speaking of fights, would you rather fight one hundred duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck?
*giggling*. Duck sized horses- because they’d be so cute!
That is the right answer. Ducks already have a part of their anatomy that is very pronounced and if you scaled that to a horse size it is positively the stuff of nightmares. I’m not going to go into details, but readers can look it up. Okay, so you’re having a dinner party at your house, your new house-
And we will have one of those one day!
Absolutely- but before I get invited, you get to invite three celebrities or any other famous figures, who do you go with?
Okay, so this is pretty easy. The first one is Eddie Vedder.
You’re a big Pearl Jam person?
Huge!
Okay, we will talk more about that after we turn this recorder off.
Okay! Obama.
We’re keeping serious Chicago vibes here-
And Beyonce!
It’s good. I feel like with Obama and Eddie, we’re having a really good conversation and everyone is taking turns and then you drop Beyonce in and the whole thing gets unbalanced. But maybe you need someone like that- something asymmetrical in terms of personalities. That is good- I love how quick you were to answer that. Okay, so you are dictator for the day and you get to make 2-3 edicts that everyone has to follow- completely tyrannical stuff- what sort of decrees would you issue.
I have a thing with waste- like with food or plastic- people who aren’t eco-conscience. I don’t know how I’d enforce it though.
That is good and it also doesn’t have to be a punitive decree. Like everyone who rescues a puppy gets a parade.
Well I love animals, so that is a good one. Okay, so I think honesty is super important so I think people should live with authenticity.
So like if someone lies, they burst into flames? That’s good, I like that.
Sure, there we go Chad- if you lie, you burst into flames.
*deep accusatory voice* How many lies have you told during this interview Melanie… *normal voice* Cause you on fire girl! Yeow! Broadly speaking, if you were an animal, what animal would you say you identify with?
Giraffe.
Giraffe??? Talk to me about that. Why that?
Ever since I was little I’ve had this affinity with giraffes. I just love giraffes. I have been to South Africa and I saw one in person and I almost lost my mind. They are just so gentle and when they run it is so beautiful.
That is really good! Doing these interviews is my favorite thing that I get to do at The Shop because I think it is so important to put a spotlight on some of the incredible people we have in our community. So I like to finish these interviews kind of open ended and just ask you if you have anything else you’d like to say.
You’re right- the people in this community are incredible. I’ve been to a lot of gyms in my time and I feel by far the most invested in the community (at The Shop). I just feel so welcomed and that is my goal to make people feel welcomed into the community. I just f*cking love the people here. So thank you for doing (these interviews) and the fact that the coaches vote on (Shop Athlete Spotlight) is just so sweet.
Any advice? You’re now in what I call the pantheon of Spotlight Athletes- you are a goddess as it were and the people seek your wisdom. What can you give them?
I can give you F’n Go Run Group!
Click on the link!
I just want to close on… GEAUX TIGERS!
