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Former Ohio State cheerleader uplifts others by spreading Pep! during pandemic

While feeling lost throughout the pandemic, Tina Provost came up with an idea to help spread 'pep' to people who are feeling down.

DUBLIN, Ohio — Many people are feeling a sense of loss this year in one way or another.  

But from that loss came creativity for one central Ohio woman.  

Former Ohio State University cheerleader, Tina Provost, told 10TV that working from home with a 4-year-old for three months straight brought her down some.  

“In the beginning of the pandemic, I was not doing so well – probably similar to a lot of people working from home,” she said.  

But her perspective changed. 

“And then through that I had to tell myself, ‘Okay, you don’t have it as bad as other people.’ I still have my job, I still have my health and a lot of great friends and family, and so I had to tell myself, ‘Okay, write down something good every day,’” she said.  

That idea to recognize gratitude was the inspiration for Pep!, a membership club with the intention of encouraging recognition and gratitude, and sharing it with others. 

Provost, who founded Pep!, said that members get a package each month with custom journal pages for that month for them to use to recognize something good about each day and to write down what they are grateful for.  

Each delivery also comes with a card so that members can share the recognition with someone else, whether that is what they appreciate about that person or why they are grateful for them.

The cards are pre-stamped and can spread love anywhere in the U.S.  

“I was finding that whenever I would buy cards I would forget a stamp or you know, we’re trying to make it as easy as possible for people to get in that type of habit,” she said. 

Each card also has a code on the back that people can enter on the Pep! website that will be used for quarterly giveaways.  

It’s the element of creating a habit that Provost believes sets Pep! apart, Provost said.  

“I’ve had some people say, ‘Well, I guess I’ll just send my own thank-you cards or buy a notebook and journal,’ and I say, ‘That’s totally great,’ [but] something that makes (Pep!) unique is that sometimes building that habit is difficult so we try to make it easy by, every month, you get the pages so it’s a reminder to say, ‘Okay, I can start over fresh this month. I can get back into it,’” she said.

Provost said another aspect of Pep! that sets the membership apart is that 6% of profit from memberships will go to non-profits.

Each quarter, an active member will be chosen to decide where 3% of the profit goes, with another 3% benefiting the Cheer and Brutus Scholarship Fund. 

For the month of December, Provost explained, Pep! is offering specials for service workers such as teachers, healthcare workers, delivery drivers and others on the frontlines.  

To learn more, click here.

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