Sports
Josi Bellincanta: Career Shifts, Ice Baths, and Running
From architecture to content creation, the host of Josi Zero Grau shares how running transformed her life.
Trained as an architect and former ballerina, Josi Bellincanta reflects on her career pivots and the rise of the Josi Zero Grau project. She shares behind-the-scenes insights from extreme races, ice bath challenges, and preparing for the Chicago Marathon.
Changing course requires courage, active listening, and the ability to navigate processes that rarely come with a ready-made manual. In a conversation with Marcela Fanti and Mariana Real on the Girls Who Run podcast by Stemma Sports, content creator Josi Bellincanta shared the pivotal moments that led her from traditional architecture and retail into running and her signature ice-bath interview show, the Josi Zero Grau project.
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From ballet to her first running steps
Born in Rondônia and based in São Paulo, Josi dedicated nearly twenty years of her youth to classical ballet, even considering turning professional before graduating with a degree in Architecture in Mato Grosso do Sul. Road running started casually around 2013 as a cardiovascular supplement to maintain the fitness and aesthetic required for dance. Her first experience with the sport came alongside her older sister, completing 5 km by taking turns running short intervals between lampposts and street corners.
The shift toward structured training happened years later in São Paulo following the pandemic. Watching a friend progress rapidly while training with a running coach, Josi and her mother decided to join the same program. That was when the amateur runner came to understand interval workouts, fartleks, and hill repeats, making her debut at the traditional Saint Silvester Road Race and later finishing her first Half Marathon in Rio de Janeiro.
Professional reinvention and content creation
After working at architecture firms, managing renovation projects, and launching a clothing boutique with her mother in São Paulo, Josi realized she needed greater autonomy. She leveraged her background and specialization in commercial retail architecture to create visual retail analyses on social media. She planned the career transition around a financial cushion that funded a year dedicated entirely to experimenting with tone, format, and video production.
Her definitive connection to sports occurred while covering store openings and brand events, such as the Running Land arena opposite Ibirapuera Park. The audience's enthusiastic response and her personal excitement shaped the channel's focus: running and wellness quickly eclipsed retail reviews, becoming her central creative pursuit.
The origins of Josi Zero Grau and thermal shock
Her interest in cryotherapy began while training for her first half marathon as she dealt with a hip injury. After reaching out to commercial brands for cold plunge partnerships and finding little initial interest, she built her own setup: she bought an industrial scrap barrel for 230 reais, rigged hoses using vacuum cleaner tubing on her balcony, and dumped in ten bags of ice to reach 0 °C.
The video documenting this DIY experiment quickly went viral, establishing the Josi Zero Grau brand. The concept soon evolved into an interview format where guests face the thermal shock of ice water mid-conversation. To endure the initial thirty seconds of panic triggered by the cold plunge, Josi emphasizes controlled breathing and engaging large muscle groups immediately afterward, techniques inspired by the Wim Hof method.
Behind the scenes at Caminhos de Rosa and the ultramarathon
Her pursuit of authentic stories brought Josi to the backcountry of Minas Gerais to follow the Caminhos de Rosa ultramarathon, a grueling ~250 km course. Invited by ultramarathoner Kléber Binho to join his support crew, she documented event logistics in real time from the organization's media vehicle while helping manage aid stations.
Although Binho was forced to drop out early at kilometer 50 with a sprained ankle, her coverage captured the grit of athletes enduring three days of heat, dust, and sleep deprivation. The experience offered a firsthand look at the sport's tight-knit community and the remarkable human capacity to push through severe physical limits.
Next steps and the Chicago Marathon
Currently training independently, Josi structures her athletic and professional life around two main goals: expanding her own run club—combining group runs with open ice bath and sauna sessions—and preparing for the Chicago Marathon, which she gained entry to via the lottery. Her goal for this 42 km cycle is to maintain consistent, joyful training, keeping running as a space for freedom and self-discovery.
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