(NEW YORK) Are you living the process? Two years ago, former People’s Revolution partner Robyn Berkley left the fashion PR orbit to travel to Bali and learn to be a yoga instructor. Now she’s combining her business talents with her health and wellness way of life by launching her new website Live the Process. The site’s gist: a how-to of balanced living, by way of staying healthy, positive, and stress-free. Sounds good, huh? Berkley’s main gig these days is her very own PR company, RBBR, with a chic client set that includes Chadwick Bell, Greg Lauren, Sophia Webster, and Elder Statesman. So find a tranquil place, fellow workaholics, and read on for Berkley’s brand of enlightenment…
BY RACHEL BERNSTEIN
How did Live the Process come about?
About two years ago, I decided to leave my job. A friend of mine, Amy, was going to Bali to get certified to become a yoga instructor; I thought it sounded like a great idea! I was interested in making a change. I had no idea what I wanted to do, but I was so busy, crazy, and working so much that I lost touch with what I wanted. When you’re doing PR, your whole life revolves around what everyone else is doing or what everyone else needs. It just gave me time to focus on myself. For the last six years or so, I’ve been really focused on my nutrition, wellness, and how I want to live.
What was your experience in Bali like?
It was actually really intense. I didn’t know how intense it was going to be until I got there! We were up at 5:30 a.m., had meditation, then three hours of yoga class, then a quick breakfast. After, we’d learn about philosophy, poses, Sanskrit, pre-natal yoga, linking of poses, teaching, and anatomy. We went through over 600 pages of information in six weeks! Towards the end of the day, we’d have a bit of free time…and there was homework every night. It was like an intensive college class! My friend Amy and I made flash cards because we had to learn Sanskrit for all of the poses and all of this other information.
Woah! What was the biggest contrast between People’s Revolution and your time in Bali?
It was really funny, because I thought it was going to be so relaxing. Then I went from dealing with crazy all the time, to dealing with my own crazy!
How did that experience lead you to your current project?
After my yoga training was over, I decided to create a wellness platform that’s geared towards balancing life through the eyes of experts. I would be curating this group as well as this website. I wanted to take my PR and marketing talents, and launch new brands. That’s how the website was born!
Did you freak out when you left your job?
It was actually really hard! It was a life change for me personally and professionally. It had positive and negative aspects. That was my life for seven years; all of the sudden, I just ended it and started a new one.
Do you miss People’s Revolution?
I had a really positive experience and learned a lot there. Obviously I’d been there for a long time…I cherish all of the moments, information, and everything that I learned. I don’t think I’d be the same person if I hadn’t been at People’s Revolution!
Why was creating this site so important to you?
I wanted to create something positive; I spent so many years learning about different wellness angles and concepts. There are so many people who don’t necessarily know how to find information. So I wanted to give them all of that information in a really easy, approachable way.
Who are your contributors?
I have a nutrition-based person, a raw food chef, somebody who’s focused on travel, yoga instructors, lifestyle experts. Everyone that I’ve met or come across or have learned something from. The way I do PR is how I meet people and organize them in my mind. I think about how this person makes sense for this or that, and how to insert connections into something meaningful. I didn’t know how it was going to actually work together until it was finished! It’s all the different areas where I think people are looking to get information from.
What’s the response been like so far?
Really positive, and very exciting. Everyone has said there’s such a place for this right now, the site looks really beautiful and it’s an exciting way to communicate wellness information. The average stay on the site so far has been over five minutes, which is a really long time, given what people’s attention spans are like. So I’m excited about that.
What do you foresee for the site in the future?
I’m going to be launching a collection that’s going to be sold on the site. It’s top secret! But it’s going to be coming out in the summer at some point.
How does your PR company, RBBR, approach the industry differently?
I like being involved in the entire process of a brand. A lot of brands I work with are launching or re-launching, and need an infusion of something new and fresh. It’s about going through the steps in order to get those results. Every brand that I currently work with needs something different! No strategy or game plan is ever the same.
What types of clients has RBBR attracted?
They’re brands that are authentic and true to themselves. I’m then able to speak about them intelligently to press and to garner placement wherever is proper for each brand. I’m being very specific about who I want to work with, and what I want to. I really give a lot of my time and energy to the brands that I work with. I know how these brands can be successful!
Any examples?
I’ve been working with The Elder Statesmen for years and [the line’s designer] Greg Chait recently won the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, so that’s been really exciting to watch that happen. Greg’s been a really close friend of mine for a long time.
Back to the “Process”! How do you live nowadays, post-Bali?
The morning is my most sacred time. I usually work out in the morning. Or, if I have a crazy day, I’ll at least just do yoga and meditation. I’m really into eating a good breakfast and having time to read. Then, it’s crazy busy the rest of the day. I find moments by going outside for walks, or being very specific about how I eat. I’m gluten free, and I have my green juices. I’m not so structured that I don’t allow myself to enjoy things! But at the same time, I’m pretty conscious as far as how I live my life. I think that being conscious is the best: at least you know what they’re doing, instead of having everything happen. As soon as I feel things getting out of control or get stressed I take a step back and reevaluate. I’m taking time to really enjoy my days instead of trying to get through them just because it’s work.
Deep stuff! So do you teach yoga now?
I actually don’t! That was never really my intention. I wanted to make peace with my life in that moment, learn something else, grow as a person, and then come back and figure out what I want to do in my life and where I want to go.
