ADAM BLASBERG 70 BCBUSINESS APRIL 2017
WEEKEND WARRIOR
I've always been passionate about athlet-
ics and living a healthy life with a high
work ethic because of the level of ym-
nastics I was training and competing
at since I was in Grade 3. I was on the
national ymnastics team growing up.
I got a full-ride scholarship to do
NCAA
ymnastics in Maryland.
I got a business degree and started
my career but was always very active
on the side coaching ymnastics, doing
choreography and training. Recently, I
had friends who went into stunt work
after ymnastics because there are a lot
of similarities between having extreme
body awareness and being able to •ip
and do crazy things with your body.
A few people pushed me to try and
get started in the [€lm] industry, so I
started training in martial arts for that,
getting back to ymnastics again, and
it's been incredible. I've been working
in this community for almost a year,
and it's been busy, busy, busy.
I started doing kung-fu less than a
year ago. There was testing going on for
gold sash–level kung-fu, and the instruc-
tor I've been training with pushed me
to do it. There are only three sashes
in kung-fu. Generally, it's a couple of
years to get your gold sash, three to €ve
more years to get the next level, which
is red, and 10 to 15 to get the next level.
We had to do sword work; we had to
do kung-fu form; we had to run about
2,000 stairs; we had to do weaponry. I
was so proud of it, and I am training to
get my red.
I don't sacri€ce my ability to train
and do what I'm passionate about phys-
ically because it has such an impact on
who I am. It's an outlet I've had since I
was a child. That translates into how I
plan my day and how I think strategi-
cally about what I'm doing. I'm very
driven and competitive with myself
more than anything.
—as told to Jenny Peng
Kung-Fu Hustle
The martial art helps keep
Dish & Duer
COO Jennifer
Clarke focused and driven
in life and work
JUST FOR KICKS
Jennifer Clarke, COO of
Dish & Duer, was an elite
gymnast as a teenager
Before joining performance-denim startup Dish &
Duer in April 2016, Jennifer Clarke was director of retail at custom menswear retailer
Indochino and district manager at Aritzia. Dish & Duer, which opened its first flagship
store in Gastown last year, is also sold at Mountain Equipment Co-op.
WARRIOR SPOTLIGHT
