The Honest Company struck gold when it named Kerri Walsh Jennings it’s very first brand ambassador. The three-time Olympic gold medalist, who’s looking to make that number four during the summer in Rio de Janeiro, invited InStyle to her beach home. During a break from the photo shoot that will officially take the union from paper agreement to public, the volleyball victor shared her love of all things Honest including her new boss Jessica Alba as well as her favorite physical and mental workouts to stay game ready.
“I’ve been a fan and a user of the brand since they came out,” the Olympian beamed while sitting on a yellow yoga ball in her backyard. “I’m such a fan of Jessica. I met her a little while ago. It was rad. She’s juggling her career as an actress; she’s juggling her wife situation and her mommy situation. I’m so impressed by her. She does it all with a smile, she does it all with a lot of heart, and she’s very smart.”
Sans the all-star athlete title, Alba and Jennings are totally twinning. Both are California natives, moms, and share a fiery passion for SPF—the latter of which is the cause for their collab. While Jennings won’t have a hard time convincing us to slather on the protective stuff (we all know the benefits!), she admits it hasn’t always been easy getting her three kids to commit to healthy skin everyday. “Before we leave the house we wear our sunscreen,” she says. “Sometimes it’s a tug of war with the kids, but they understand the value. We’re a really big believer in putting it on before you leave the house, that way you do it right.”
When it comes to training for the upcoming Olympics, there is no struggle. Jennings stays focused by energizing with honey sticks, Pilates, cardio on the shoreline, and mental exercises. “Everyone thinks it’s physical. Everyone is strong, fast, jumps high, [and] hits hard," she says. "The differentiator is the mental game. So we put a really big premium on working with a sports psychologist, working on my mindfulness training, my meditation, having a couple of times of day where I take 10 slow deep breaths. Every deep breath is a reset, you know, physiologically it gets you relaxed; it gets you re-centered and refocused.”
And of course there’s nothing better than following your bliss with a few loved ones. “The coolest thing is my kids join me," the Olympics medal-winner says. "They’ll sit there for like 30 seconds and then say, ‘Are we done?’ It’s really sweet.”