Every Friday I usually feature a woman that I adore. They exude all the qualities of an Alpha Female and I want to dig into their lives to get some nuggets of knowledge to help us all live happier, healthier lives balancing life & work. Since my book launched yesterday my podcast editor Allegra suggested we interview me this week on the podcast to dive into my life a bit more.
Definition of an Alpha Female
An Alpha Female is a powerful and assertive woman. Her confidence is due to being an intelligent and intellectual problem-solver. Being an Alpha Female is a State of Mind based on choosing ambition and being proud of it. She strives for a happy and healthy work/life harmony.
Type A Alpha Females often come across as strong willed and selfish. When we stay true to our authentic selves and stay true to our mission we shine. A true Alpha Female puts the needs of herself first without sacrificing her principles or dignity. She fills up her cup or gas tank first so that she has enough energy for her friends, family, and coworkers. A an Alpha Female strives for synergy with the world around her. She wants a perfect work/life balance but knows that it requires being true to your priorities and what makes you happy. She is never complacent about striving for better and nurtures relationships with the people in her life.
Meet Me! Robyn Baldwin!
If you haven’t met me yet and found this page randomly here is My Story and a quick little bio below:
I call myself an Alpha Female and a Work / Life Harmony Strategist. I am a full-time Marketing Manager, a fitness/lifestyle blogger, a former CFL cheerleader and fitness competitor, a published fitness model, a freelance writer, a best selling author, a brand ambassador, a networker marketer and a podcaster. I have a passion for fitness. I love running, weight lifting, I’ve taught spin and coached beginner runners. I am also a yogi and has been practicing for over 15 years. I spend the majority of my spare time training for obstacle course racing. I also call myself an MS Warrior after being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in December of 2014.
I sat down with my podcast editor Allegra Swanson who interviewed me for the show this week! Ps. You can follow her on Twitter & Instagram at @ayoungvoice!
How are you an Alpha Female?
A former co-worker of mine called me an Alpha Female way back in 2009 when I was starting this blog and starting to get into fitness competitions. The name stuck and I’ve adopted it as my personal brand over the years.
How has the definition evolved?
In 2009, I found the Urban Dictionary definition of Alpha Female: “A dominant or assertive woman, a woman boss, the leader among a group of females.” I then wrote on my blog: “I believe that anyone can be an Alpha Female. It has nothing to do with being the leader of the pack or competitive with other women. It’s about being competitive with yourself and striving for better and finding balance in your life everyday.”
Then in November of 2012, I decided to write a short eBook called How To Live Like An Alpha Female where I elaborated and started my own definition:
An Alpha Female is a powerful and assertive woman. Her confidence is due to being an intelligent and intellectual problem-solver. Being an Alpha Female is a State of Mind based on choosing ambition and being proud of it. She strives for a happy and healthy work/life balance.
Type A Alpha Females often come across as strong willed and selfish. A true Alpha Female puts the needs of her friends, family, and coworkers first, without sacrificing her principles or dignity. An Alpha Female strives for synergy with the world around her. She wants a perfect work/life balance and is never complacent in nurturing the people in her life.
In 2015 I received several comments on my blog, that people just didn’t understand why I called myself an Alpha Female. To inspire the words as something that was bigger than just me I started to feature amazing women on my blog, interviewing them on how they find work/life balance, and take care of themselves while going after their ambitions.
So in 2016, the definition has morphed yet again into:
An Alpha Female is a powerful and assertive woman. Her confidence is due to being an intelligent and intellectual problem-solver. Being an Alpha Female is a State of Mind based on choosing ambition and being proud of it. She strives for a happy and healthy work/life harmony [formerly balance].
Type A Alpha Females often come across as strong willed and selfish. When we stay true to our authentic selves and stay true to our mission we shine. A true Alpha Female puts the needs of herself first [I previously thought I always needed to put others first] without sacrificing her principles or dignity. She fills up her cup or puts the airplane mask on first so that she has enough energy for her friends, family, and coworkers. She strives for synergy with the world around her. She wants a perfect work/life harmony but knows that it requires being true to your priorities and what makes you happy. She is never complacent about striving for better and nurtures relationships with the people in her life.
Why did you switch from work/life balance to work/life harmony
If you think of a scale it has to be balanced on either side so I always viewed work and life needing to be completely balanced. 8 hours of work and 8 hours of life a day. When I flipped the switch to harmony I realized I could fill my “life” hours with more “work” because those things filled my cup. So if I chose to work on my side hustles or train or read or be with friends or family it was my choice but they had to feel good and fill my cup.
What are you daily health habits that keep your immune system boosted?
My morning habits include warm water and lemon to clean out my system, followed by a fibre supplement to help stick my food together since I’m on a high protein and vegetable meal plan so the fibre supplement provides me with soluble. After 2 cups of water I have my cup of coffee which is my treat for the day. I pack my morning supplements in my food bag so that I can take them with my 11am meal.
I’ve learned to get 8 hours of sleep. This is usually non negotiable but then we got a puppy! So as we house train her I’ve lost it but slowly getting it back.
I believe in working with my family doctor & functional medicine doctors to track where my vitamin/mineral levels are like in my blood so that I can properly supplement working with my naturopath.
Share with the listeners why you don’t like hearing “I’m Sorry” when people find out you have MS?
I associate “I’m sorry” with pity and that’s my personal problem with the word. Some people want sorry’s but I’m not that type of person. When you tell people what you want then they can reflect that back. I now preface telling people I have MS by saying “I’m going to tell you something but I don’t want you to say sorry”.
How are you an introvert?
Well I’m an outgoing introvert. I get my energy by being on my own or out in nature. I can be quite closed off because I don’t get my energy from other people. I’m always terrified in new situations meeting people. For the life of me I can’t stand small talk.
How do you challenge yourself fitness wise?
I started my fitness journey doing fitness competitions. I learned how to train by doing different body part workouts. I also learned how to eat healthy. I was eating for fitness aesthetic reasons. Then I started my health journey after that. That’s when I learned how to fuel myself vs. eating for macros and for visual reasons. My mother challenged me one day “When are you going to stop prancing around on stage and show people how strong you’ve become”. That’s when I tried Warrior Dash and that was my entry level drug into obstacle course racing. After calling off my wedding in 2012 and leaving the toxic relationship I started dating again. I met a guy that introduced me to the world of Tough Mudder. I did 3 races in 2013 and then I did 6 races in 2014, I had already made my race schedule for 2015 and had 15 races scheduled. After getting diagnosed with MS I felt like I had something to prove. That I was stronger than this disease so I completed all 15 races and even added 5 more to the roster. It was a great challenge but just to much for my body. I ended the year with adrenal fatigue so in the theme of the podcast where it seems women are learning to be nicer and calmer to their bodies I’m learning to slow down.
What is the most exciting thing about this week?
I’ve been working on Love Lost, Life Found as pure a journaling technique to process thoughts of grief and shame and embarrassment of calling off the wedding from 2012. As I shared bits and pieces of my journey on this blog I would start receiving private messages saying thank you for sharing. I slowly started opening up about a bit more and every time someone would message me privately thanking me for my vulnerability. That’s when I realized that my story and the steps I was taking to heal would potentially help other people. So that’s when I created the book with the thought that it could be for someone who has called off their wedding, going through or have gone through a divorce or someone who has left a bad relationship. I’m passionate about being honest about what happened to me so that others can start to recognizing what might be happening in there.
What are your daily habits for winding down at night and reducing stress?
I rush to get to bed since my 8 hours of sleep are non negotiable. I start by having an epsom salt bath with frankincense and lavender. I either scroll social media or read in the bath and then I jump into bed to pass out.
What pain points are you constantly problem solving for?
I’m constantly working on softening my tone as I’m task oriented and just want to get the job done. I always need to work on more words into my directions or feedback. I’m constantly learning to communicate with different personalities but also being upfront about having my personality understood.
What is your definition of happiness?
My definition of happiness is going after all of my goals and dreams, living the life I’ve always imagined in a happy and healthy manner.