Guest Instructor Feature: Ashley Kyle Miller
Musical Theater Starlet, Fitness Instructor, Madam Trader Podcaster, Financial Literacy Educator
and how you could become the next guest on the show
Lauren Demarest of Sweat Vcacay sat down with one of our fave guest instructors from the Sweat Vacay Summer 2022 season for a profile to learn about her incredible experiences and what she’s up to next.
From little ballerina to vocal performance major and business and Italian language minor. From boutique fitness studio maven to helping people grow their wealth. We are so pleased to highlight the incomparable Ashley Kyle Miller.
Ashley Kyle Miller has enjoyed being a professional dancer in NYC for years.
JUST DANCE
LSD: Ashley - How did you get your start?
AKM: I started taking ballet when I was 5 years old, I don’t remember asking my mom if I could dance, it just felt so natural. Everytime an opportunity to study or perform came up I thought, of course I’ll do that! I performed in the Nutcracker every year from age 7-19 and have danced almost every part in it. I’ve always loved to move and to connect with people through stories, dance does both. I come from a very musical family, my parents and siblings all sing and we grew up watching classic movie musicals, Oklahoma, My Fair Lady, Meet and St Louis, my siblings and I knew every line, lyric, and note, and I’d always dance out the choreography. In college I majored in vocal performance, and minored in business and Italian language.
Ashley teaching yoga in NYC
Fitness was a natural progression from dance. I started taking pilates at 12 and knew it was for me. The core strength and alignment worked wonderfully with ballet. My first paycheck came from teaching gymnastics as a teenager, and from there I started teaching pilates, then barre, yoga and HIIT, mostly with boutique studios in New York City where I moved after college to pursue musical theater.
As a fitness instructor it’s rewarding to help clients gain strength and range of motion. I give a lot of how and why queues, I want my class to understand how they are moving, and what exactly is gained by moving that way. Our bodies are the home we live in our whole life, it’s incredible to watch people thrive when they are connected to it.
Ashley at The Garden of Mykonos - a Sweat Vacay outdoor studio and sunset cocktail bar.
SWEAT VACAY MYKONOS
LSD: Tell us about joining the Sweat Vacay team in Greece.
AKM: My experience with Sweat Vacay was amazing! The founder, Lauren, and I met in 2020 through a mutual fitness friend and immediately hit it off. I had studied abroad in Italy and was familiar with Mediterranean culture. I could see a need for a company like SweatVacay to make working out on vacation easier to book and build into travel plans. Lauren is the right entrepreneur with the energy and ideas to make it happen. As a guest instructor I was able to experience first hand how seamlessly Sweat Vacay has made working out while in Greece. I taught an open sunset yoga class at the garden, and weekly members yoga class at Soho Haus Mykonos. Both venues were beautiful. I also saw the now open Sweat Vacay exclusive Kounoupas gym in its late stage development. The retreats planned for it this season look stunning. I worked with several other seasonal and guest instructors and it was a solid team of talent that became fast friends. The island was also a blast. From the Chora old town to scootering around remote local beaches, everyone was so welcoming, the food was delicious, and the water was perfect. Greece is a magical place, and Sweat Vacay makes it even more special with their wellness programing.
Follow Madam Trader Podcast on instagram @madamtradernyc
BIG MONEY MOVES
LSD: So, I loved being a guest on your Madame Trader podcast. Can’t wait for that episode to come out. Tell our readers all about your podcast!
AKM: Besides teaching, I also host the Madam Trader Podcast available on apple podcasts and spotify. It's a passion project I started in 2021 and grew out of my work at T3 Live, the financial publishing arm of T3 Trading Group. I was continually asking, where are all the women traders? And I kept hearing, we know, we need more women, until finally I said, let’s make this a place that feels welcoming and accessible to women.
Ashley as the beautiful, talented host!
By sharing the stories of successful women traders on the podcast my goal is to demystify the markets and make it feel less scary and more attainable. There is so much emotional baggage around money, what we earn, how we spend, how we save and invest, or don’t. Not to mention the social messaging around money and the historic boys club nature of finance. How our childhood primary caregivers acted with money can have far reaching consequences, and often internalized messages around shame and fear. Most of us are taught very little financial literacy, and not knowing how to handle money causes so much stress. We know the gender pay gap still persists with women earning an average of about 78 cents to the dollar (down to 52 cents for women of color) but the wealth gap is much larger. Women have an average of 32 cents in wealth to the dollar that men have in America, all the way down to 1 penny for black women. This is a way bigger problem, earnings even at par, have a cap and that means they can only go so far. Women tend to live longer than men, and often have career breaks around family caregiving, so they have less to live off of for longer. Rather than this being super depressing, I want to help women gain financial freedom to be able to handle whatever comes their way in life. Instead of waiting for a raise that barely keeps up with inflation, it’s imperative to be actively investing and growing cash flowing assets. If that idea is overwhelming, listen to some of the mini-informative episodes on The Madam Trader Podcast, we break down inflation and compound interest in under 10 minutes. Having a handle on your finances doesn’t have to feel super restrictive and boring, it’s the way to make goals like an incredible vacation in Greece with Sweat Vacy happen!
Ashley working on Wall Street
LSD: You have so many impressive skills. Any advice on how someone can maximize their skills?
AKM: At this point it may be unclear how a dancer/fitness instructor works on wall street and started a wealth building podcast, let me backup a step. I don’t have any special skills that other dancer/fitness instructors don’t have, I was just exposed to the markets from a young age and wanted to live in New York without feeling trapped by my rent. So I applied my skills to a high paying industry, and kept teaching for increased cash flow. And honestly, because I love fitness.
My dad is a commodities broker, he mostly hedges cattle for ranchers in Montana. So I had conversations around the market at a younger age than most. I love bringing together storytelling and financial literacy to expose a broader audience to the impact markets have.
When researching potential podcast guests I look for someone with an inspiring story. So often I hear from women friends that they aren’t in the market because the jargon feels intimidating and getting started seems out of reach, like something they’ll do someday. By having guests of different backgrounds, ages, motivations and experience levels my goal is to show how you can learn to trade, invest, and grow a business, and how actively participating in the market has helped guests grow their wealth and ultimately have control over their life.
YOUR TURN
Interested in being on The Madam Trader Podcast, or have a topic you’d like us to cover? Email ashley@madamtrader.com Listen and subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and follow us on instagram @madamtradernyc