Meet The Team

Who are we?

Hi there, nice to meet you, well properly that is! We are the brains, voices and creatives behind BodyICE and ZONE.

 

We’d love to introduce you to our team and also share our stories about the strategies we use to effectively work from home. BodyICE was created in 2006 by our founder Olympic Champion Lydia Lassila. Lydia is the face and voice of the brands, she is the heart that beats at the core of all we do. When the Covid 19 pandemic began to hit Australia, and people were forced to work from home and find their feet amongst new challenges, we had a lot of questions about how to make a satellite team work.

 

 Lydia’s vision from the beginning for her brand was that staff could work remotely, with flexible hours to suit their lifestyle as we follow our passions, raise our children and create a balanced life. She created a culture where the team wants to work, who are driven for success because we all believe so passionately about what we do.

 

 Although things are winding down now and many people are beginning to go back to work, the workplace as we know it will never look the same again.

 

 We decided the time is right to introduce you to our wonderful team and to talk about who we are and how we manage working from home as a long term solution, not only in response to ISO regulations but also as a way to create balance in our work and home lives.

 

Lydia 

 

A woman who needs no introduction, our founder and director, Lydia Lassila is an Olympic Champion and mum of two, from Lorne, Victoria

 

 

What’s the daily ritual you can't live without?

Yoga and my morning coffee!

Favourite food?

I would say anything Asian but Thai is probably my favourite. I love spicy food!

Favourite book and movie?

Book: Dark Emu, Movie: Shawshank Redemption

How do you like to move/workout?  

Yoga is how I like to move  - I love how it makes me feel mentally and physically. I also love working out outside - whether it’s a run in the bush or out in the water for a surf. I find myself avoiding the gym these days and opt for a home workout using my bodyweight, a fit ball, yoga mat and some resistance bands. 

What is your favourite thing about being part of a satellite team?

I love being able to work from home and not have to commute anywhere. It gives me the option of living anywhere in the world and I love that because I can then make lifestyle a priority. 

What is the biggest challenge of working remotely and how you overcome it?

Sometimes it’s nice to be able to bounce ideas off your work mates and solve problems together. The entrepreneurial life is often a lonely one, so it’s important I ring, message or organise frequent meetings so that ideas can be explored and everyone has input.

What is something that  you won’t ever take for granted? 

Mine and my family’s health. You can have all the success and money in the world, but it means nothing if you’re not physically and mentally fit.

What makes you laugh and how did you continuing to have fun during lockdown?

 My kids make me laugh all the time, especially my youngest Alek. We watch a lot of movies together, we play outside so there’s always time for fun!

 What do you do to practice self-care? 

I often take a walk by myself, or surf or practice yoga. I love to read especially in the bath tub! It’s so important to have uninterrupted YOU time.

 Miranda

Miranda is our Head of Sales and Marketing, and comes from a background in luxury product sales, marketing strategy, brand development and team management. Originally from Melbourne, Miranda now resides in beautiful Buninyong in country Victoria. As well as all of her amazing work for BodyICE and ZONE, she is a mum of three and also helps run several family businesses.

  

What is the daily ritual you can't live without?

Coffee. When we lived in Melbourne we owned a couple of cafes, so I have developed a strong love for a good latte. Lucky for me my husband is an excellent barista!

What’s your favourite food?

Anything with chilli - the spicier, the better.

How do you like to move and workout?

 Pre-Covid I loved going to the gym and also doing reformer Pilates. Family workouts tend to be walking or bike riding. We’re very fortunate to have lots of beautiful bush tracks near our home.

What is your favourite thing about being part of a satellite team?

 I have a few favourites - I love the flexibility of working my own hours,  I am very organised and self-driven so I really enjoy not being micro-managed. I worked for 5 star hotels for years and obviously the suit, hair and makeup needed to be perfect at all times. I LOVE that I don’t have to worry about those things now!

What is your biggest challenge to working remotely and how do you overcome it?

 I’m a very social person and miss the rapport you get from working closely with a great team. I also love being able to informally bounce ideas off other people. We have a lot of systems in place that enable great communication, but I also make notes for myself now so that when I’m chatting with my work colleagues I can still bounce ideas around. If I don’t write it down I forget!

Tell us something that your co-workers don’t know about you?

I owned horses for years, and I’m a pretty decent horse rider!

What’s one thing you won’t ever take for granted?

Obviously my family. But also my freedom. And wine :)

What makes you laugh and how did you continue to have fun during lockdown?

I have three kids so we are always laughing or doing silly things.

 What do you do to practice self-care?

Prior to stage 3 lockdown I would definitely have said going to the gym or doing Pilates. Now it’s more home workouts and lots of walking (as it’s a way to get out of the house). We have a beach house in the surf coast and I really love just being on the sand or in the ocean, and feel like that is a really important aspect of my self-care.

 Tiffany

 

Originally from America and living in Melbourne, Tiffany is our Logistics Manager, Social Media Engager, Customer Service/Admin and all-round superstar.

 

What’s a daily ritual that you can't live without?

Checking Instagram

What’s your favourite food?

Sushi

Your favourite movie?

Notting Hill

How do you like to work out?

Reformer  Pilates

What is your favourite thing about being part of a satellite team?

The flexibility of setting my own hours

What is the biggest challenge working remotely and how do you overcome it: 

The biggest challenge for me initially was missing out on the social aspect of work that you would normally have in a  corporate job. I overcame this by making sure that I still stay connected with my team.   

What’s something that your co-workers don’t know about you?

I once delayed an airplane from taking off on time because my friend that I was travelling with was running late. 30 minutes later we were off and the other passengers were not pleased with me :)

One thing you won’t ever take for granted? 

I will never take mine or my families health for granted.

What makes you laugh?

My two year old and five year old make me laugh constantly.

What do you do to practice self-care?

 Normally I would take a reformer Pilates class but since that is not an option at the moment, I take a hot bath and unplug from social media for a couple of hours.

 

Lainie  

Our Designer is from Melbourne, Victoria and she also used to be an athlete, just like Lydia she was an aerial skier and it’s through their friendship and love for sport that she came to work at BodyICE and ZONE.  

The daily ritual you can't live without?

Coffee

Food you can’t live without?

 Chocolate

Favourite movie? 

Too many to mention but with movies I'm a sucker for the old classics and Rom-coms

What’s your favourite workout style?  

Me personally, I love HIIT training but after many years of being an athlete my body doesn't, so if my body got to choose it would be yoga every time 

What is the best thing about being part of a satellite team? 

Not having to waste time commuting to work, it's the best!!

What did you find the biggest challenge working remotely and how did you overcome it? 

Not having the face-to-face interactions to be able to ask a quick question but we have many systems in place to make communication as seamless and quick as possible.

What’s something that your co-workers don’t know about you?

 I'm also a makeup artist and hair stylist

One thing you won’t ever take for granted? 

This Earth/planet/Life it's the only one we got so take care of it.

How did you have fun during lockdown? 

Chatting with friends and of course Netflix and chocolate!

 What do you do to practice self-care?

 I make sure I get enough me time, I'm a neat/organisation freak so I make sure I have time to get everything in order, exercise and just chill a bit then I'm at peace and happy.

 Anything else you'd like to add?

 Everything in life is a choice - ISO can suck or ISO can be an opportunity...you choose.

Lindy

Our self-proclaimed Digital Marketing and Content Nerd, Lindy is from Gold Coast, Queensland and has a background in journalism, publishing and has always been a part of the health and fitness world.

What’s the daily ritual that you can't live without?

 My morning freshly brewed caramel long black.

What’s your favourite food?

 Mexican (plus I love caramel slice)

What is your favourite movie?

 Forrest Gump

What’s your favourite thing about being part of a satellite team?

I get to work with amazing people who are experts from all over the globe. Having the flexibility really allows me to be a great mum as I can fit my work around my life. I’m super grateful for that.

What is the biggest challenge working remotely and how do you overcome it?

Communication is always a lot harder when you’re not face to face and there are conflicting work hours and times, but with the right systems in place and everyone taking ownership of their departments its totally doable.

Tell us one thing that your co-workers don’t know about you?

 Despite a public persona for many years, I am quite a private person and I am much happier helping others succeed as part of an amazing team, than being front and centre.

What is one thing that you won’t ever take for granted?

My family and the people around me who genuinely care about what’s going on in my world.

What makes you laugh?

My 6 year old makes me laugh daily. Takes after her daddy and gets cheekier by the day.

 What do you do to practice self-care? 

I often listen to podcasts and practice our Mental Training visualisations as often as I can (I need to do better on this one actually). 

Hunter

Our content producer lives in Bondi Beach, New South Wales and she is also a Yoga Teacher, writer and naturopath in training. 

 

The daily ritual you can't live without?

Yoga and coffee (I take a decaf long black with coconut oil – very Bondi haha) Also as I read everyone’s answers putting this together, I realise that the whole team is basically fuelled by coffee!

Favourite food?

Vegan chocolate, or a really fresh salad sandwich, so plain, but so delicious. 

How do you like to move?

I’m a yoga teacher so I’m always practicing yoga, but to me that is more like meditation, so I also workout with a combination of HIIT, Pilates and Barre about 4 times a week and I surf as well. 

The best thing about being part of a satellite team?

Most people say it’s the flexibility (which is awesome) but I actually just love the team and the support they provide. If I need anything, everyone is always happy to help and we understand that we all have our own stuff going on and are really respectful and supportive of that. Lydia has created an amazing culture here at BodyICE, we all love our work and actually look forward to meetings! 

What’s your biggest challenge working remotely and how you overcome it?

At first it was definitely setting the hours to create a ‘work day.’ I come from a news background, so you were always in the thick of it in the newsroom, you couldn’t pop out for coffee with friends or sneak in a surf if the waves looked good… so I think finding that balance was the hardest part – it’s so easy to be distracted at home. I overcome it by making sure that I do have regular hours, my most productive time is the morning so after exercise, surfing or Yoga, I have my routine of making my coffee and sitting down to work on creating content for you all to enjoy!

One thing that your co-workers don’t know about you?

I can’t really think of anything, I wish that I had a hidden talent or something exciting! Maybe that I used to do some acting work, back in my Melbourne days. I met one of my best friends working on the set of a TV show called House Husbands.  

One thing you won’t ever take for granted?

Nature, the Earth, my family.  

What makes you laugh/how do you continuing to have fun during lockdown?

It sounds cheesy but my fiancé makes me laugh more than anything. He just cracks me up, with his ridiculous sense of humour. During ISO we had a lot of fun, even playing tennis in our courtyard using an old surfboard as a net.

 What do you do to practice self-care? 

Yoga, meditation and journaling. If I have a low day or two I know to always reconnect with some quiet rest time and maybe take a nap as well!

Anything else you'd like to add?

We were so lucky that we already had a satellite team and could work from home, but now that the world is changing I hope that it continues to help people find their balance again. Life shouldn’t be an endless cycle of hour long commutes, pointless meetings and missing time with loved ones, just to chase the dollar. The world has undeniably shifted and I hope that means creating more space and flexibility and cultivating wellness as part of the new ‘normal’.