Matt’s Cuppa

Ever since I posted about beYOU.tv, a health and wellness community, on Emily Chang’s eHub, I’ve gone back to explore the site many times. They feature videos from respected trainers and teachers in the fitness and wellness world. I’ve watched streaming videos about everything from Chinese cooking to cardio training. beYOU.tv’s approach is unique in that they offer a subscription service that gives you access to the entire video catalog, but they also let you purchase any video and download it, DRM -free, so you can take it with you where ever you go. This is great if you want to stick to a pilates routine while you’re traveling, or you don’t want to practice your yoga poses in front of your computer.

Since I wanted to learn a bit more about beYOU.tv, I was pretty excited when I got an email from beYOU.tv’s VP of Marketing and Content Acquisition, Bob Kasunic. He wanted to find out how I learned about beYOU.tv, but he kindly agreed to answer a few questions for Matt’s Cuppa. As mentioned, Mr. Kasunic is the VP of Marketing and Content Acquisition, which means that he’s in charge of developing the beYOU.tv brand, as well as beYOU.tv’s blog and radio show. (A quick note: Even if DRM-free Tai Chi doesn’t grab you, go check out the blog. You’ll find well-written and well-researched articles about all facets of healthy living.) He also has a hand in bringing on new instructors and producers, and generally making the world a healthier place to live in. You can see Mr. Kasunic’s genuine passion both for beYOU.tv, and health and wellness in general, in the answers he shares below.

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>>Briefly, what is beYOU.tv?
beYOU.tv is a health, fitness and wellness video community. People can log on and search 100s of workouts to find the best ones for them. They can preview most full-length videos for free, then purchase and download the ones they want to their iPod, Zune or computer. All videos are DRM free. Monthly membership gets streaming access to the complete library. Workout videos include core, weight and cardio training, dance, yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, martial arts, meditation and more.

>>What is your typical user like? Who is most likely to use beYOU.tv?
beYOU.tv is for anyone looking to improve their overall health and well-being. We’ve gathered videos from some of the best instructors and teachers in the areas of physical fitness, personal growth and spiritual growth. We are currently developing our lecture series for personal and spiritual growth and are constantly adding new teachers and speakers. And we love feedback from our users regarding other instructors or lectures they would like to see on the site.

>>Where did the idea for beYou.tv come from? What is the story behind beYOU.tv?
beYOU.tv was developed out of a personal need. Most of us were in consulting or finance, which included a lot of travel and very little balance. Our founder & President, Kareem Kouddous jokes, “I gained 25 pounds when I started consulting and lost 25 when I started beYOU.tv. All I was doing was working. The rest of my life was suffering, and of all the the places I searched on the net, I couldn’t find a single site that had everything I needed for the whole me in a format that was useful given my schedule.”
We love knowing that we’re helping a lot of other people out there attain their wellness goals. And we know we are, because they’ve told us.

>>If you could tell someone about only one beYOU.tv feature, what would it be?
That’s an interesting question, because when we started the company, we kept wondering ourselves what people would like best about the service. What we are finding, what we are hearing back is that people love that they can download these videos to their iPod and take them with them to the gym, the office on the road — where ever. They love that there are so many great videos that they can take with them. It’s like fitness at your fingertips.

>>How do you imagine beYOU.tv being used to impact some of the major issues we face today like climate change, poverty, or violence?
You know, I get so angry sometime when I think about my health care plan and what it will and won’t cover. Mostly it won’t cover — anything preventative. I have to come down some type of life threatening disease that can be treated with expensive pills before they will pony up.

While our overall objective is to empower people to attain whatever their personal and individual goals may be, we are also trying to give people the tools, knowledge and motivation they need to take charge of their own health. We don’t want people to have to be diagnosed with Type II Diabetes before they start looking at what they eat or if they workout enough. Or if people are recovering from Chemotherapy, we want them to know they have options like Qigong to help their bodies heal without more drugs. If you are internalizing stress, that takes a toll on your body. Expressing your voice or learning to meditate are great ways to reduce that stress.

So long answer short, I think we could have an impact by being an advocate for preventative health care. We’d love to work with health care companies and providers to develop simple, affordable and accessible ways for people to become accountable for there health and well being to prevent costly and life threatening illnesses.

>>If beYOU.tv were able to contribute or work with a charity, is there a charity that you would choose?
Wow, what a timely question. We were just discussing this earlier today. One of our founding tenants as a company was to give back. In fact, 5% of company proceeds go back to charity. But in all of our efforts to get the company up and running (and generating revenue to share), we have not yet identified an organization. There are so many great and worthy causes, and many that our partners are already working with. Generally, we believe that so many of our healthy (and not so healthy) habits and sense of self are developed at a very young age. So we know that we want to work with a children’s organization that helps them develop a healthy sense of self that will allow them excel in life regardless of the situation they may have been born into. So if any of you reading this have a suggestion, I’m all ears!

>>What will we see from beYOU.tv in the future?
In the very near future, users will be able to participate in our expanded community section. While we are thrilled to be working with such great teachers across the globe, we know that there are also great teachers right across the street from many of our members. And we want to connect them. Our community section will let you search for instructors, trainers, coaches, teachers or gyms, studios or spas in your neighborhood. You can Follow a topic (i.e. Yoga), a person or a place. Local instructors and gyms will have their own pages to keep in touch with the community and allow members to give ShoutOuts (testimonials). The community will help build itself by being able to add their favorite people and locations. It will be a great way for people take their goals to the next level.

>>What is the best part about working with beYOU.tv?
Personally, I get to meet some of the most talented and innovative gurus in the fitness and wellness industry. I’m constantly inspired and motivated by the people we work with. We also have our own radio show on www.healthylife.net, so I get to spend time with them when they co-host our shows. It’s the most most fun I’ve ever had on a job. Writing and developing topics for our blog (www.blog.beyou.tv) is another meaningful way for us to connect with the community at large. Our growing editorial team includes many of our partners as well as our producer Greg Schnese and our Eco-Living expert Michelle Barge. They do outstanding research and work!

But overall, for all of us, the best part is knowing that we’re really helping motivate and inspire people to attain their goals and dreams.

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