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A
Welcome back to the Woody Made Up Show. We're here for another episode and I have Pernilla Soey with us today. She's going to share what she's made of. Pernilla, what's happening?
B
Hi. Thank you so much for having me, Mike. I'm so excited to be on your show.
A
Yeah, no, it's a pleasure and honor to have you. And the amazing things that you're working on and how much exposure you're getting on your mission and helping people in fitness and in life and just being healthy all around, it's just amazing. And, you know, I admire what you've accomplished because a lot of people want to do things, but they don't commit to it enough and put the consistency and the repetition in to build something. And you've done it and. And you're continuing to do it and you're probably just getting started for what you're capable of. So I admire that. I just want to let you know.
B
Thank you so much. And absolutely. I am just getting started.
A
Yeah. So, you know, just so I let everybody know, you have the dream Life Society. It's community of people, helping them transform through mindset habits and holistic self development. You're on social media, creating tons of content. Do you podcast as well?
B
I do. It's called challenge your norm.
A
Okay. Challenge your norm. How long have you been doing the podcast?
B
About three years now.
A
Okay.
B
And I love diving deep into ways that we can challenge our norm in order to become greater, better human and create the visions that we have for life. It's. Yeah, I love the journey.
A
Awesome. And your podcast, do you do it from your home studio or do you have a studio in LA that you go to?
B
Yes, I do it. I've created a little home studio and have guests come over. I do some online and I do a lot of solo episodes as well, sharing my journey and the things I learned throughout. Throughout life.
A
Awesome. Well, let's ask you the question we start the show with. What are you made of, Fernella?
B
I am made of. Well, I came from feeling very insecure and having a lot of limiting beliefs and then realizing that when I create a clear vision and every day I show up, take the actions, no matter how uncomfortable and how challenging and how hard they may feel, in that moment, they lead to a greater life and creating that vision, that dream that in the back of my mind I have. And it really, when we show up and we every single day do those challenging actions that are required, suddenly little by little, they become easy. And that life that we used to dream about becomes our new reality, our new norm. So I really believe that with clarity and then consistently showing up for what we want for life, we. We can build what used to seem impossible, make it possible.
A
Yeah. Yeah, I love that. And on, on the journey, when you start getting that clear vision, there's a lot of uncertainty. Right. How do you handle the uncertain moments?
B
I hike. There's a lot. Well, move and spend time in nature and meditating and journaling. I believe a lot of answers come to us when we don't force it, when we allow it in and we allow space from social media and all the busyness of our day to day life. And I believe that when we allow that space, the clear answers come to us, whether it's through journaling with ourselves or walking in nature. And I also believe that when I feel very unsure, insecure about my abilities, I try to challenge myself in some way. And I've done that a lot physically. I feel if I go on an insane, intense sprint where I feel like I just want to lay dead on the ground because it's so challenging when I'm on the other side of that, I watched myself push myself to my limits and realize that, wow, I'm actually more capable than I thought I was. And so when I feel insecure, I try to challenge myself, do the thing that I don't want to do. Because on the other side of that, I realize that, wow, I do have power and strength more than I thought I had within. And so let me give this a go. Let me just try to go all in and do this thing.
A
Yeah. And then as you built what you've built, where you have a community of people that they look up to you. Right. You're leading a community and so you have to be a living demonstration has that put extra pressure on your shoulders to live up to what these people think of you?
B
100%. I want to live what I preach. I don't want to be someone who says one thing and then does the other. So if I'm gonna tell them that this is what works, I gotta every single day show up and be the representation of how it works. And I believe that you can feel if someone is authentic and if they actually are living what they're preaching, and if I want to continue to be a good coach and inspire others to create their dream lives, I really do have to stay consistent with doing that myself and continuously pushing my limits. Because as we achieve the goals, we gotta then set an even higher standard for ourselves and Continue to level up, because otherwise what used to feel hard becomes our new norm. And so we gotta keep reaching higher.
A
Yeah.
B
And I love it. I love. I love breaking limits and. And going after things, even if I don't really, deep down believe it's possible. Just proving to myself that even if I don't fully hit that crazy, wild goal, I'll still go further if I at least try to go for it and give it my all.
A
Yeah, well, yeah, I agree. I mean, life is all about, like, reset and recalibrating as we go through, and sometimes you have a setback and then you got to re.
B
Re.
A
Readjust. And they're always learning lessons. Right. So what were you doing before you started the community in the podcast and all that?
B
So I am originally from Denmark and the happiest country on earth, Aarhus, the happiest city on earth. And where I'm from, there's a norm, and everyone kind of sticks to that norm. And I always was a dreamer and wanted bigger things in my life than what the regular individual in Denmark did, which was get an education, get a 9 to 5 job, and be happy with their family and their home they bought. I always wanted bigger, better things. And I grew up dancing. And so I thought, let me try to pursue dancing and let me go to la. I traveled to LA for six months and wanted to pursue dancing. Every lawyer I asked told me, it's impossible. You don't have a good enough resume. You don't have the recommendation letters, you don't have an agency, you don't got any of the things that are required. And I chose to not take no as an answer. So I built the resume. I went to China to live for a while, to dance for big artists there, and got the recommendation letters, made connections that eventually allowed me, after a couple of years, to get the work visa. And I lived in LA and pursue dancing and modeling for a while and.
A
Wait a minute. So the reason I was going to ask you, like, why were you talking to a lawyer, but it was so that you could stay in the United States to work, right?
B
Yes, it was to get a.01 artist visa so that I could move to Los Angeles and pursue dancing.
A
Okay, gotcha.
B
And I got that eventually.
A
What kind of dancing?
B
So hip hop.
A
Okay.
B
Background dancing? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I. I got my artist visa after a couple of years of, you know, just asking everyone and anyone that I could connect to find ways that I could make this happen. Because I don't believe there's ever. If you hear no, it's just because if you hear a hundred no's, it's just because you haven't connected with the right person who has the solution. I think there's always a solution. And I went for it regardless of how many rejections I got throughout the journey. But after a couple of years, I finally got my artist visa. When I got my artist visa, I had had this wanting to get in the best badass shape of my life and tried fallen off, tried falling off. And then one day I committed and I got in exceptional shape. I completely changed my diet, completely changed my training routine and my daily habits. I was drinking before I stopped drinking. I am just used to have so many habits that didn't serve me, that made me feel not great. And through committing to this one goal, I got in exceptional shape. But what I realized was that yes, I got an exceptional shape, but what that does was it completely changed my mindset and my relationship with myself and my self belief in what I was capable of doing. And as I had that transformation, something in me was screaming that this needs to be my life mission, my purpose in life, helping others do the same. Because if they have been dealing with lack of self belief, not believing they can do crazy wild things and hold themselves back in these different ways that I had done, then I want to be the person that helps them. And so over the next many, many, many years, I started just sharing everything that I learned throughout my journey and everything I learned, sharing that, making a lot of mistakes and throughout the journey and built the social media platforms that I have today and the community Dream Life Society. My podcast, eventually I started as well. And I am so passionate about this because I believe that any day we can wake up and choose to show up differently. Show up as the highest, best version of ourself. Yeah.
A
You know, as long as we're still alive on this planet, you can make an adjustment, you can make a change, you can take a pivot, you can do, you could do, create a new identity, all kinds of different things. But we, you know, it's funny, like let's say, okay, when you went to la, I had some questions about that, the beginning part, but before I do that, like you could have went there, heard those noise, that noise and think this is permanent. Like, okay, this is the way it is. I, how am I, how the heck am I supposed to get a resume when nobody gives me a shot, you know, and it feels permanent in the moment. But if you just take a step back for a minute, get out of your own head right and say, I'm not quitting. So there's gotta be a way. There's got to be a way. Then that permanence goes away, because don't you. You've been there before where you first. At first it feels like, oh, this is permanent, whatever it is.
B
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah.
A
So living in LA when you first came, like, a lot of people go there to act, right? Model different things, and they have to work in different jobs and do whatever they got to do. What did you do? How did you survive in LA when you first were there?
B
I moved into a hostel type of home with 15 other dancers or 16 other dancers. We had bunk beds in this house. It was amazing because I met these, I connected with these other dancers, and I lived off of ramen. I wanted to save as much money as possible because I wasn't able to work in the States yet. I had just a little bit of savings. I didn't even want to take the bus to go to the dance classes that I went to. So I would walk for an hour and save the $1 and 75 cents that it would have cost me to take the bus. And I was so happy. I was so happy. Eventually I moved away from that hostel and into a bedroom with some other dancers. I lived on an air mattress, continued eating ramen. Maybe sometimes every now and then I would buy like, frozen veggies from the dollar store to be a little bit healthy. Saved all the money I could so that I could just stay for as long as humanly possible until I was able to, well, make the US work visa.
A
Well, how did you get to China, though? Like, with, like, did you. You didn't have a job or anything?
B
No. So I, like I mentioned, I tried to reach out to as many people as I knew. And one of the crackers that I met here in LA had spent some time in China working for an agency and danced, performed for different of the biggest artists in China. And so he connected me with that agency. And then eventually I got a contract in China to dance for some of the big shows that were there and the big artists.
A
And you were able to be paid then, right?
B
Yes.
A
Yeah. Okay.
B
In China, yes. It was not a lot of money, but I was just so grateful to get to have that experience.
A
And then where did you stay? Where did you stay in China? Like a hostile situation. Too hostile.
B
I had an apartment with a couple of other girls that were also with the agency. And then we would travel around. Sometimes we would be on a tour or, you know, travel and Perform at different shows around China.
A
And were there any dangerous situations in LA or China that you felt, like, uncomfortable or unsafe in?
B
It's interesting because I'm from Denmark and I have all the trust in the world that even if I walk in the middle of the night, nothing's going to happen to me because Denmark is such a safe country. And so when I came to the States, I would do the same without knowing that LA is not the same as Denmark. So I would finish dance class at 11pm and walk home. And I did that just thinking nothing was going to happen to me. Nothing did happen. Sometimes men would stop their cars and be like, get in. Get in. And I would be like, no, no. My mom had taught me to be tough when something like that happened. And I felt like my toughness would be enough to get them away. And nothing ever happened. But one day I then learned that another girl from Europe who was dancing in LA had walked home from dance class as I had, and some very terrible things had happened to her. And so I learned that, okay, maybe I need to be a little bit more careful to not walk alone at 11.
A
Yeah. P.m. yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, and then, like, even the hostile, like, not knowing the people, but you're living in a house with them, right? Like, but.
B
But there everyone was from all around the world, all dancers. There was never any. We were just all friends having a good time.
A
That's good.
B
That's lucky. Yeah.
A
Well, then let's go into when you decided to start, you know, pushing stuff on social media and coming up with the idea for community and coaching. What have you, like, how did that all transpire?
B
I had followed different people on YouTube and podcasts and Instagram that I was so inspired by, and they really helped me so much on my journey. And also read books, and they really, I felt, had changed my life. Because without these books, without these people to look up to, I would have never been able to change. And so I, inside of me, wanted to do the same and share my journey and my lessons, but I had such a fear of what people would think of me and who was I to share anything online? So the fear of judgment, oh, my goodness, it was just so loud. But at one point, I asked myself, do I want to stay stuck here and never share anything? Or am I willing to look stupid and be judged, but actually live out this dream that I have to help other people in the way that others had helped me? And so I started an Instagram profile and to not stop. I decided to every single day for a full year post. And at one point, I also added Instagram stories because I was very afraid of speaking to the camera, being judged in that way. So I decided, okay, every single day I'm going to do one Instagram story where I share something that I have found useful. And it really helped me eliminate that fear of judgment. Not that it's ever fully eliminated, but overcome it and get stronger and stronger in just doing it. Anyway, and eventually I started a YouTube channel, a TikTok, and then lastly a podcast.
A
What's your favorite platform now, out of all those?
B
I really do love YouTube and podcasts because I feel like you get to go so much deeper.
A
Yeah. Yeah, me too.
B
I love the short form too, but it's more fun and fast. Right. You don't get to go as much into that, but it also pushes you to get your message across in the most fun, fast way possible. And that challenge I really enjoy.
A
Yeah. Well, I can imagine on Instagram, like, it's not. It's different for a guy, but, like a. Especially somebody that's in shape and all that, you probably get some crazy dms.
B
Yes.
A
Yeah. Like, my wife sometimes shows me some of the stuff that she gets, and I'm like, oh, my gosh, you got to put up with that. Like, Yeah. I mean, it's. I mean, it's a. It's a wild, wild west I.
B
That I have gotten really good at because, as I mentioned, like, fear of judgment has been so big for me. I've gotten so good at focusing on the person I'm serving.
A
Yeah.
B
If men write me weird things, they can write whatever they want. It's. You're not the person I'm trying to serve. Yes. If you are a man that wants to get in badass shape, absolutely. I'm here for it. I am gonna support you in any way that I. But if they're just there to either criticize me or be inappropriate, then, you know, that's not. That's. That's. Well, honestly, I, I, I send them. If I get hate comments, I really try to send them love. Because people who sit at home and write negative comments on someone else who's trying to make a positive impact, I don't think they feel very good within. So they probably need a lot of love and a lot of support.
A
Yeah.
B
So.
A
And then. So when you decided to start a business from this, what was the first thing you did? Was it coaching? Was it build a community? Like, what did you try first?
B
The first thing I did was the comment I always Got or the reason my channels, I believe got a lot of attraction at first was because I had abs and I had found a way to get abs. So I created a PDF file where I shared what exactly I did and how someone can make that happen as well for them. So it was a. Like a meal plan? No, an abs plan guide with ab workouts and nutrition guidance and things like that. So I sold that first and then for the next coming years I sold, I created and sold a lot of training programs and recipe books. And then at one point I had a company, Solon, reach out to me. We developed my own app. And then eventually we shifted some things around and every month we would create a transformation challenge. And because people would re sign up for those transformation challenges every single month, I ended up making it a membership and calling us the Dream Life Society. Because yes, people often sign up because they want my recipes, they want my training programs, they want to get in the best year of their life. But what they realize when they enter is that I focus so much on everything when it comes to creating their dream life. Because I believe it all starts in the mind. So there's journaling, challenges and then just we have weekly conversations. Every single day we chat inside of the community and having the support and the journaling and just everything involved I believe is there to help us set ourselves up for maximum success. Because if we just focus on only the training program or only the meal plan, once that training program stops or the meal plan stops, then we're back to, to, to our old norm. But if we actually change our mindset in the midst of that, create our new self identity, the identity that we deep down dream to create and, and live as, then it's no longer going to be something that we just do for a season. It's going to become who we are and how we live every single day.
A
Yeah. Yeah, that's good. And you have tons of things to keep them in there, right? Make it sticky so they want to stay around. So what about peptides, biohacking? Do you get into any of that?
B
I actually am all about simplifying every single thing. And I got in shape, having no protein powder, no extra nothing, just regular nutrition and training. And I believe that any person can get in the best shape of their life. Not needing anything. I think we, we can. A lot of things can help. Yeah, but what you really need is the things you already know. We all know what it will require of us to get in shape. We just want to find an easier way to do it. And I believe that actually doing it the right, potentially the little bit harder way is what will help you build that resilience that will make you want to stick to it long term. Because you realize it doesn't just change your body, it changes your ent life. It compound effects. When we get in incredible shape through every single day, showing up and taking action towards that, we are going to show up so different in our relationships, in our business and we're going to develop such self belief that we're going to start allowing ourselves to dream bigger. Because if we can create like get in, in badass shape is something that for most people feels so hard, maybe even impossible. But if we realize that we can do that and actually change our bodies physically, we'll realize that, oh wait, maybe I can also actually go after creating that business that I've dreamt of creating my whole life, or going after making my relationship as beautiful as I deep down want for it to be, or any other thing in life that we've been wanting but maybe haven't thought we were able to do.
A
Well, you know what I noticed is that when I'm accomplishing these different things, and you said this in the beginning, like you just try to challenge yourself, but there's confidence that comes from it. And then confidence is like a superpower, you know, and you can take, confidence can go over a whole different, like cover a whole bunch of different areas like you're saying. And confidence comes from action, taking action and seeing results from those actions. So yeah, so you, you're basically foundational things that most move the needle. Like the, like the biohacking stuff and the peptides. These different things can help move it a few degrees. But if you don't have the foundational things, and by the way, it's not sexy to talk about the foundational things, right? Like you gotta work out, you gotta eat right, you gotta get your sleep right, you gotta have your mind clear, you know, like that's all basic stuff, but it's not sexy to market, right? So what's an average day of yours like as a content creator and a host of a community? Like what's it, what's a daily in the life of Pernella look like?
B
I have been getting up at 4am for seven years this year and the last year I've tried to sleep in a little bit longer so that I can have some sort of a social life a little later in the day. Because I would be in bed at 8pm for so many years and just like be so Strict about it. So I'm trying to be more chill when it comes to my sleep schedule, but I still do get up very early and I journal and meditate every single morning. It is a must have. And I set myself up for success for the day in reminding myself of my goals, getting clear on my why, and asking myself what are the needle moving things that I need to make happen today to move me forward, to make me feel good. So that's like my morning thing I do every day. And then I go on a morning walk. Sometimes it's still dark out, sometimes the sun is slowly coming up. And I respond to both. I have a, I have some one on one clients that I always respond to and then I have my dream life society who I could connect with and respond to every single question that is in there. That's really important for me to be as I want to be an exceptional coach. And so that is what I do for the first part of my day. I just want to say during the planning phase when I'm journaling, I do if I have to create content that way that day or have to make things happen, I will prepare for that. So maybe I'll complete some scripts or complete like where I need to be at what time. So multiple things go into my morning routine that also are work related.
A
Yeah.
B
Once I come back from my walk, I make my breakfast and that's when I. Well, either I sometimes will film first or if not I will make my breakfast and I'll do some computer work, which means some editing, responding to people who I work with and just more of the editing type of work and completing daily tasks. I will then either go shoot, record a podcast, whatever needs to be done that day, I'll go to the gym and at the gym for my warmup, I once again will check in with my dream life society. I'll do my workout and after the workout I also will typically do some cardio and respond to some messages. And then when I come back again, some administrative admin work and maybe some planning for the next day, uploading the footage that I have gotten throughout the day. And just sometimes I'll have podcast episode later in the day as well. So that looks a little bit different. And I stopped working maybe around six or seven. Seven. I would say seven.
A
Yeah. So. So. Oh go, Go ahead, Go ahead. Yeah, I was going to say something.
B
No, go for it.
A
Yeah. So when you're shooting content, do you shoot different content for TikTok and instant Instagram or is it the same thing?
B
No, I literally upload the exact same reel. Short.
A
Yeah.
B
TikTok. Every single day. Yeah, yeah. And I upload pretty much daily. So I've just found that, you know, sometimes a reel does really well and it doesn't do that well on shorts, but then other times a reel doesn't do very well, but then on shorts it blows up. So, yeah, I just post everything. What do you do?
A
Well, first of all. And then one. One post per day or how many times you post Multiple times per day.
B
Typically. Typically. That's what it is.
A
Yeah. Well, for me, I. Most of my content that I post put post up on Instagram and the wall is. Is podcast clips. Right. And occasionally I'll do a, you know, we throw events, so occasionally I'll do a highlight reel from an event. I used to do a lot of me talking, but I talk so much. I mean, I do several podcasts a day. I have these little 15 minute speed networking calls I do all day. So like, by the time I'm done all that, I don't really feel like shooting a video. And content. Maybe I should do more. But. But it's hard too because if I'm posting all these clips and I. Let's say I want to post once a day, well, then I already have tons of content, so I don't need to do a video. But maybe the stories, I'll do some of those, you know. But yeah, same, same thing. I don't, I don't really switch up content for the different platforms because I'm like, same kind of thing, you know, whatever. Yeah.
B
And. And even though someone maybe follows you on YouTube and on Instagram, both posts may not reach them.
A
Yes, exactly.
B
Because there's so much content out there.
A
Exactly.
B
That's also why I feel like a lot of content strategists share that every three months you can upload the same piece of content because the chances of everyone in your audience haven't seen that is so small and it could blow up the second time. So you never know. Yeah.
A
And what about the gym? You like the afternoon?
B
For the gym I go around 10, 11. No, 11.
A
11. Ish. Okay. Yeah, yeah.
B
But for me that is, that is almost my afternoon because I've been up for so many hours already.
A
Right. So, yeah, you know, I used to go to the gym early in the morning and I wouldn't be all the way awake and it would, I'd get it done and then I'd forget even that I did it. Which is one benefit of it. However, I don't Feel like I could go as hard in the morning because I wasn't awake yet. I wasn't. My things, everything wasn't working, you know, and so my favorite time is I'll go around anywhere between 9:30, 10:30, and then sometimes I'll mix it up and I'll go in the afternoon or the evening. And sometimes I get some of my best workouts in the afternoon or evening.
B
You know, I fully agree. Yeah, I used to work out in the morning too, and it's the same. Your muscles haven't fully woken up, so they're not as strong.
A
Yeah.
B
And I also like having it. We're lucky that we get to be able to do it in the middle of the day. Right. I really like to split up my day that way because I feel like when I come back from the gym, I am like re energized, ready to go to work again, ready to get some more stuff done. Where if I get it done in the morning, then if I sit down after that for eight hours, it's. I lose some of that momentum.
A
Yeah.
B
And good energy.
A
Yeah, I love that.
B
All right. And I also just want to mention, for anyone listening, I have a walking treadmill at home and I also do a lot of work on the cardio machines at the gym. If you have the privilege to either get a walking treadmill or do some work at the gym, take calls while walking, whatever. If you can just keep moving throughout the day, you're going to feel so much more energized. And so many of my Dream Life Society members have gotten the standing treadmill and they get 15k steps a day and feel just so differently. When I used to sit down and edit YouTube videos, sometimes for 10 hours in a day, when I didn't have my beautiful editors that I have now, I would feel so drained. But getting to move throughout the day is so game changing.
A
Yeah, when I do calls, I'm walking around my house or outside if the weather's okay. But podcasting, I have to kind of stand here. I could get a walking machine and stand here, but I don't think that would go good for the podcast itself. But yeah, definitely when you're moving around more. Not sedentary. Sedentary is so bad for you. And you know, getting up, getting up and moving, even if you're not getting to the gym that day, as long as you're getting those 10 to 15,000 steps makes a difference. You know, I can tell in my body and like my midsection, I can tell when I'm not walking as much as I I should be. You know, I can just tell and you know so well. Where can people go deeper with you, Pernilla?
B
They can find my challenge, your norm podcast, or my YouTube channel, Instagram TikTok. I am Pernella P R N I L L A on every platform, and then I have my dream life society. If they want to dive deeper and try some of my routines and chat with me every week, yeah.
A
Awesome. Go check her out. Folks, that's Pernilla. And you know, I. I just love the energy that you carry. You know, there's something about people that. That I call creating an attraction model. Right. Like when you take care of yourself and. And you push out a good energy, there's like, actually an aura and you have a great energy. So I appreciate that.
B
Admiring you do, too.
A
Well, thank you.
B
Thank you so much for having me on your show. This was such a great conversation.
A
My pleasure. And you brought it today, so thank you. You brought it today.
B
Thank you.
A
All right, folks, that's Pernella. Go check her out. This is the Woody have made of show with your boy, C Rock. That's today's episode. Make sure you like and subscribe or follow at the top of your favorite podcast platform and keep coming back. Until next time. Be that one.
Podcast: What Are You Made Of?
Host: Mike "C-Roc" Ciorrocco
Episode: Living What You Preach: Pernilla Soee on Consistency, Courage, and Creating Your Dream Life
Guest: Pernilla Soee, Founder of Dream Life Society, Podcast Host of Challenge Your Norm
Date: January 22, 2026
This episode centers on consistency, resilience, and personal development, featuring Pernilla Soee’s journey from childhood insecurity in Denmark to becoming an empowering coach, entrepreneur, and influencer. Host Mike Ciorrocco guides the discussion through Pernilla’s struggles, growth, and how she authentically lives her message—helping others transform their lives through action, mindset, and continual self-challenge.
Early Struggles and Vision
Overcoming Uncertainty
Pressure to Practice What She Preaches
Continuous Growth
Early Life in Denmark, Drive for More
Struggles as a Young Dancer
Emotional Growth Through Physical Transformation
Building an Online Presence
Launching Digital Products and Dream Life Society
Minimalist Fitness Philosophy
The Foundational Basics
Daily Routine and Content Creation ([23:18]–[24:49])
Handling Criticism and DMs ([16:48]–[18:02])
Content Strategy ([26:02]–[27:53])
Movement and Energy ([29:09]–[29:54])
This episode is a candid look at the determination required to live your values, build community, and close the gap between dreaming and doing. Pernilla Soee offers a living example of growth through action—for anyone looking to craft their own dream life.