What my sister said is,“ This is not our mission— it is our ministry.” That why you have to pray before you do anything— when I go up to the gym, before I work out. Prayer is so important to me.
had to be just right— my hair, my nails, my clothes. When my sister, Velvet, talked about exercising and sweating, I told her she was out of her mind. She looked out for me all of my life. I was a scary girl, I would bite my nails down to the nub. She would tell me you need to do something. Whatever she said do, I would do.
HimPower: Tell me about your faithwalk with God and how it has helped you in handling your celebrity?
E. Shepherd: You know when my sister and I wanted to inspire others, I was going to call this our mission. What my sister said is,“ This is not our mission— it is our ministry.” That why you have to pray before you do anything— when I go up to the gym, before I work out. Prayer is so important to me.
HimPower: It’ s exciting that you’ ve chronicled your journey. Tell us about your book, Determined, Dedicated, Disciplined to Be Fit- The Ageless Journey of Ernestine Shepherd, and why you decided to write it? E. Shepherd: Growing up, I looked toward my sister for everything that I did. I was a nervous child, a bad girl. At age of 6, my sister and I were walking through this beautiful square with grass and flowers. I called to Dibbi( Velvet) and said,“ I am going to walk on that( profanity) grass.” She was only seven. She looked at me and
30 HimPower May 2018
What my sister said is,“ This is not our mission— it is our ministry.” That why you have to pray before you do anything— when I go up to the gym, before I work out. Prayer is so important to me.
asked where did you learn a word like that? I told her,“ You have to promise you won’ t tell Mom.” She said,“ I won’ t tell.” That’ s when we began pinky finger, if she told the seal was broken. I still enjoyed saying bad words. She said to me,“ Someday, something is going to change you, I don’ t know what it is.” I said bad words for many days, it made me feel 10 feet tall. We had just started working out and she was working hard and her body changed. I wasn’ t doing that much, I said,“ I don’ t want to look like any man.” She said,“ We weren’ t going to look like men we were just going to look good.” She got in the newspaper. I got angry. My sister came to my house and said,“ If you want this joy I’ m having, you will have to do what I’ m doing.” After I started working out, I felt better. I thought if it’ s going to feel like this, I will continue. I have been doing it for the past 25 years. So I wrote the book because I wanted to tell people just what my sister and I had done. Some of the exercises that I have in there, it’ s not about big muscles— women want to remain feminine.
HimPower: Tell us about your diet, what you eat and why.
E. Shepherd: I eat as natural as possible. I drink liquid egg whites because it gives protein, and I eat 4-5 small meals a day. It