The Business of Wellness w/ Natalia Petrzela

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The Business of Wellness: Evolution of a Multi-Billion Dollar Industry w/ Natalia Petrzela

The fitness industry is in constant motion, with new concepts entering the market every quarter. How did play go from pasttime to profit?

Historian and fitness leader Natalia Petrzela joins us from New York City to share research from her forthcoming book and discuss the trend cycle in the personal fitness industry. She'll trace the rise of ''wellness culture'' since the 1950s, asking how and why Americans have increasingly linked food and fitness regimes to the pursuit of self-fulfillment.

Natalia Mehlman Petrzela is an Assistant Professor of History at The New School, where she studies the politics and culture of the modern United States, including issues of gender, race, class, and identity. She is a host of Past Present Podcast and author of Classroom Wars: Language, Sex, and the Making of Modern Political Culture (Oxford, 2015). She is also a wellness activist and co-founder of HealthClass2.0, an experiential health education program, and a Premiere Leader of intenSati, an innovative mind-body practice. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Slate, Well+Good, and The Huffington Post, and she has been featured as an expert historian on Brian Lehrer TV, The History Channel, and in The Atlantic. Her work in wellness has been covered by many publications including The Guardian, Well+Good, Univision, and Fox 5 NY. More at