Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 320. Mastering Your Craft: Melissa Ortiz On Running Toward Big Goals & Translating Her Passion For Sport Into A Broadcasting Career

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320. Mastering Your Craft: Melissa Ortiz On Running Toward Big Goals & Translating Her Passion For Sport Into A Broadcasting Career · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:00
Speaker 1: Be you, embrace it, enjoy it. It's awesome to be different.
0:19
Speaker 1: What's going on, everyone, Emily A Badi Here.
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Speaker 2: You're listening to episode three hundred and twenty of Hurdle,
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Speaker 2: a wileless focused podcast where I talk to inspirational people
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Speaker 2: about everything from their highest ties and toughest moments to
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Speaker 2: essential tips on how to live a healthier, happier, more
0:35
Speaker 2: motivated life. We all go through our fair share of hurdles,
0:39
Speaker 2: and my goal through these discussions is to empower you
0:42
Speaker 2: to better navigate yours and move with intention so that
0:45
Speaker 2: you can stride towards your own big potential and of
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Speaker 2: course have some fun along the way. For episode three
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Speaker 2: hundred and twenty, I am chatting with Melissa Ortiz. She's
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Speaker 2: a former pro soccerl and Olympian and currently a broadcaster
1:03
Speaker 2: and host.
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Speaker 3: We have the opportunity to catch up.
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Speaker 2: Shortly before she ran the Marathon for two in Paris
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Speaker 2: earlier this year, and I am happy to report that
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Speaker 2: not only did she finish the race, but she had
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Speaker 2: an absolutely remarkable time. I'm going to link to her
1:21
Speaker 2: Instagram recap in the show notes. It was such an
1:25
Speaker 2: honor to hear not only about Melissa's journey to that
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Speaker 2: starting line, but also the journey of her career. She
1:32
Speaker 2: talks about the highs and lows of playing soccer professionally,
1:36
Speaker 2: what it was like for her to get to the
1:39
Speaker 2: Olympic level, and how it felt for her to walk
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Speaker 2: away from the pitch and then segue this passion for
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Speaker 2: soccer into a broadcasting career. Now. She shares with me
1:50
Speaker 2: all of the hard work that gets her to a
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Speaker 2: place where she is confident in her ability to show
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Speaker 2: up on screen day in and day out, and offers
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Speaker 2: advice for anyone who who is in a place where
2:01
Speaker 2: they are working diligently to master their craft. I admire
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Speaker 2: Melissa's tenacity. I can relate to her takeaways about trying
2:09
Speaker 2: to fit in the training wherever you can to the
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Speaker 2: best of your ability, and her overall positivity, great vibe.
2:18
Speaker 2: It's something that I really appreciated, and I know you
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Speaker 2: too are going.
2:22
Speaker 3: To dig it.
2:23
Speaker 2: Make sure if you're not yet following along with Hurdle,
2:26
Speaker 2: you go do so over on social It's at Hurdle Podcast.
2:28
Speaker 2: I am over at Emily a Body and if you
2:31
Speaker 2: wouldn't mind head on into wherever you are listening to
2:34
Speaker 2: this podcast. Give it a five star review. Write something nice,
2:38
Speaker 2: Tell the world why you're a hurdler. It means the
2:41
Speaker 2: world to me. It makes a difference in all of
2:44
Speaker 2: the charts and the readings. And yeah, it would just
2:47
Speaker 2: be really great. And I promise only takes a couple
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Speaker 2: of seconds. With that, Let's get to it. Let's get
2:54
Speaker 2: to hurdling today. I am sitting down with Melissa Ortiz. Melissa,
3:03
Speaker 2: how are we doing?
3:04
Speaker 1: Doing good? Super excited, excited to be here in Paris?
3:08
Speaker 1: Talk to you and they've taken everything about the games
3:11
Speaker 1: and everything that the summer has offered.
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Speaker 3: Really Yeah, you're doing something kind of crazy tomorrow. I
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Speaker 3: am they call me a soccer player of but now
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Speaker 3: I'm a marathon or I am a.
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Speaker 2: Marathon or upending a loading marathon or how does it
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Speaker 2: feel gearing up for this big moment, especially considering where
3:28
Speaker 2: we are right now?
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Speaker 3: It feels really great.
3:30
Speaker 1: You know. I think when any former athlete, athlete, anyone
3:35
Speaker 1: really training for such a great event marathon, you have
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Speaker 1: a goal, there's some nerves that set in. You want
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Speaker 1: to know if you've prepared enough and all of those
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Speaker 1: factors around it. But I keep on reminding myself, whether
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Speaker 1: it was a month ago, whether it's now having arrived
3:49
Speaker 1: to Paris, enjoy the journey, enjoy the experience, you know,
3:53
Speaker 1: and take it as we go and as I go,
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Speaker 1: And ultimately, yeah, like I have a goal, but I
3:59
Speaker 1: just want to really enjoy the experience and be here
4:03
Speaker 1: with obviously amazing people at Nike. But then also my
4:07
Speaker 1: family's here, my husband's here, my best friends here. So
4:10
Speaker 1: I have a great crew, a great cheerleading squad.
4:12
Speaker 3: How special is that?
4:13
Speaker 2: I love to hear that you shared a video the
4:15
Speaker 2: other day speaking of setting goals, and you said that
4:18
Speaker 2: you set goals and things happen and you.
4:20
Speaker 3: Try to achieve it.
4:21
Speaker 2: Anyway, Is that a mindset one that you are willing
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Speaker 2: to overcome the hurdles as they show up that you
4:28
Speaker 2: have had for some time or is it something that's
4:30
Speaker 2: been acquired for you?
4:32
Speaker 3: Definitely acquired. Yeah.
4:34
Speaker 1: I played professional soccer and I represented Columbia for many
4:38
Speaker 1: years and on the world's greatest stage, and right before
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Speaker 1: one of the biggest tournaments, I tore my Achilles five
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Speaker 1: days before. And that was before not only World Cup
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Speaker 1: and Pan American Games, two very important tournaments in a
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Speaker 1: soccer player's career, and so that really taught me that
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Speaker 1: there will be setbacks no matter what, and especially as
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Speaker 1: as athlete. It's part of it's part of the job.
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Speaker 1: It's part of it, and it's just how can you
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Speaker 1: maneuver and get back and mamouver around it and set
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Speaker 1: new goals and just keep going, you know, not to
5:12
Speaker 1: give up and not to be so cliche. But at
5:14
Speaker 1: the same time, when I got back from that injury
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Speaker 1: and I set the goals of you know, I want
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Speaker 1: to play here, I want to go to the next
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Speaker 1: you know, big tournament and represent my country. It's what
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Speaker 1: I did, and I knew that there was big hurdles
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Speaker 1: around it to do and it included a lot of
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Speaker 1: hard work, but a really.
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Speaker 3: Big mind game, mindset, game, mentality was everything.
5:35
Speaker 2: Bring us to that point after hurting your achilles and
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Speaker 2: coming to terms with what was despite it not being
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Speaker 2: as you'd hoped.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, Emily, it was. I was the most Depressi've ever
5:50
Speaker 1: been in my life. You know, when you have a
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Speaker 1: goal and it's ripped away from you out of something
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Speaker 1: that's uncontrollable, it's really heartbreaking and you have to remind
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Speaker 1: yourself you can only control the controllables and for me
6:02
Speaker 1: to have had set that goal to represent my country
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Speaker 1: and that would have been my debut, and I was
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Speaker 1: at the peak of my soccer career, and to have
6:10
Speaker 1: suffered that achilles injury, missed out on two big tournaments
6:15
Speaker 1: that I was already named to the roster for, I
6:18
Speaker 1: just just hit a wall, just you know, massively depressed
6:22
Speaker 1: when I was coming back from from the injury.
6:24
Speaker 3: Would of course, you know, in a boot.
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Speaker 1: My teammates were playing in the game at the tournament,
6:31
Speaker 1: and I sat back, watched TV and watched my teammates
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Speaker 1: on television with my foot up in the air and
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Speaker 1: in a boot.
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Speaker 3: One of the most special moments back then.
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Speaker 1: I think one of the things that like, I guess
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Speaker 1: got me out of that first like put like it
6:46
Speaker 1: pushed me out of that first big like depression moment
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Speaker 1: was my teammates scored. It was the first time Columbia
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Speaker 1: had scored a goal in the tournament history, and right
6:56
Speaker 1: away they went to the corner flag and put up
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Speaker 1: my jersey into the Yeah. The next game after that
7:02
Speaker 1: they huddled around. It was actually against the US, so
7:04
Speaker 1: it was Columbia against the USA, A game that's very
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Speaker 1: special to me being Columbian American, and in the team
7:11
Speaker 1: huddle right before kickoff, they all gathered around like this.
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Speaker 3: I have no idea this is all happening.
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Speaker 1: I'm sat on my couch at home, my boot is
7:17
Speaker 1: up and I'm just watching on TV and the camera
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Speaker 1: just pans over the top of the huddle and in
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Speaker 1: the middle of the huddle on the floor is my
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Speaker 1: jersey with the number five.
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Speaker 3: Yeah. I broke out in tears and I'm about to
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Speaker 3: cry sitting there right now. Yeah. What a special moment.
7:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, so special. And that was just like a push
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Speaker 1: like okay, like let's go, Mellie.
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Speaker 3: You can come back. You can get back to where
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Speaker 3: you were.
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Speaker 1: You also have the support not all of your family
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Speaker 1: that's that was with me, but also of your teammates,
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Speaker 1: of your squad, and so, you know, those are types
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Speaker 1: of moments that I've learned from. You know, there's setbacks,
7:54
Speaker 1: but there's there's certain things in life that push you
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Speaker 1: forward that are like signs, and so that was one
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Speaker 1: of them. And then that whole next year. Look, it
8:02
Speaker 1: was tough, like any injury. Athletes do go through them
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Speaker 1: all the time. And I just think that the mindset,
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Speaker 1: like I mentioned is just so key, It's so important,
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Speaker 1: and so when I run this marathon tomorrow, you know,
8:16
Speaker 1: the mindset of mentality is definitely going to be big,
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Speaker 1: very big.
8:20
Speaker 2: Talk to me about the way that you talk to yourself,
8:22
Speaker 2: because we know that mindset is important. But do you
8:25
Speaker 2: typically use mantras or what is the way that you
8:28
Speaker 2: promote positive self talk during these difficult moments?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I do before and during.
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Speaker 1: So I try to relate what I did in my
8:36
Speaker 1: soccer career to everything actually in life. So my full
8:39
Speaker 1: time job is a broadcaster now and now even in
8:43
Speaker 1: marathon training, So I do a lot of visualizations. When
8:46
Speaker 1: I was playing soccer and we'd be in the team
8:48
Speaker 1: bus going to the stadium, I'd close my eyes, I'd
8:50
Speaker 1: have my headphones on nice like chill music, like more
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Speaker 1: into the zone meda sate, and I would visualize myself
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Speaker 1: with the ball, you know, dribbling, doing my moves, doing
9:01
Speaker 1: what I'm great at and scoring or whatever it was
9:04
Speaker 1: that I was really trying to do in that game.
9:06
Speaker 1: When I was a striker, for instance, when I was
9:07
Speaker 1: a defender, it would be you know, those movements getting
9:10
Speaker 1: into big tackles and stuff like that. So like when
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Speaker 1: I relate it to now my current life broadcasting. For instance,
9:17
Speaker 1: right before, say I'm in the hotel in the morning,
9:20
Speaker 1: going to go on camera, there's always a little bit
9:22
Speaker 1: of nerves and butterflies.
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Speaker 3: It's super normal.
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Speaker 1: I if I'm in that, I close my eyes and
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Speaker 1: I visualize myself just like in the stadium, you know,
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Speaker 1: doing my hits, doing whatever, and just like really just
9:32
Speaker 1: being a badass and like having the confidence to do whatever.
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Speaker 1: You could do so much prep work, like in sports,
9:38
Speaker 1: like in broadcasting, like in marathon training, there's so many
9:40
Speaker 1: behind the scenes that you have to do so much studying,
9:43
Speaker 1: as you know, but you know you could study so much,
9:47
Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, it's when you're
9:48
Speaker 1: in the moments when it counts, and it's what your
9:52
Speaker 1: mental game is, and it's your confidence, it's your aura
9:54
Speaker 1: and everything in the moment. And so that's what I
9:57
Speaker 1: try to mentally put myself in. So comes to marathon,
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Speaker 1: I've been like having moments throughout, especially the past few weeks,
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Speaker 1: just like closing my eyes and like picturing myself finishing,
10:09
Speaker 1: like crossing the finish line. I understand that, you know,
10:12
Speaker 1: there's some incredible branding of the big games here and everything,
10:16
Speaker 1: and there's gonna be a lot of people and my
10:18
Speaker 1: family and my husband and my best friend like I mentioned,
10:21
Speaker 1: are going to be here, and people who have supported
10:23
Speaker 1: me along the way, even people here from Nike, and
10:25
Speaker 1: then people I.
10:26
Speaker 3: Work with in the States are here as well.
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Speaker 1: So just visualizing, you know, celebrating and being proud of
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Speaker 1: the moment has been key in.
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Speaker 3: Game or in marathon.
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Speaker 1: As I say, that's that's one that I'm I think
10:40
Speaker 1: is going to be a new challenge for me.
10:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, because it's quite different.
10:43
Speaker 1: Whereas like in a soccer game, you're like you're chasing
10:46
Speaker 1: after ball, There's like so much going on.
10:48
Speaker 3: And you have so much experience with that now.
10:50
Speaker 2: So this is just a very different type of challenge,
10:52
Speaker 2: but one that you have, as you pointed out, so eloquently,
10:56
Speaker 2: done so much preparation for, albeit not within running specifically, right,
11:01
Speaker 2: Like you have all of these tools at your disposal
11:02
Speaker 2: now that you are entirely capable to then bring those
11:07
Speaker 2: into this special moment.
11:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, which is so exciting.
11:11
Speaker 1: Yeah. I have to share with you one thing which
11:14
Speaker 1: was so freaking cool. Yesterday I went to the Athlete House,
11:17
Speaker 1: Nike's athlete house that they have here for all the Olympians,
11:21
Speaker 1: and upstairs it's exclusive only to the Nike athletes. And
11:25
Speaker 1: so I got to go up there and they have
11:27
Speaker 1: this one room it's like a recovery room. But then
11:29
Speaker 1: also I guess you could call it like a mental
11:31
Speaker 1: prep room too, because they have this one area the
11:33
Speaker 1: shift wave.
11:34
Speaker 3: What is a shift wave?
11:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great question. I think we need a
11:37
Speaker 1: support scientists to really explain it all. But it was
11:41
Speaker 1: an incredible experience because you lay down, like in this lounger,
11:44
Speaker 1: you have a blanket, they cover your eyes with like
11:46
Speaker 1: this mask, and you put on noise canceling headphones on,
11:49
Speaker 1: and this lounger, like this chair has all of these
11:53
Speaker 1: like things that send vibrations to your body. And it's
11:58
Speaker 1: nuts because what they would the person in your ear
12:01
Speaker 1: and the noise canceling headphones. It's like a meditating coach,
12:04
Speaker 1: and the coach is telling you like do you have pain?
12:08
Speaker 1: Do you feel pressure? Do you are you dealing with pressure?
12:10
Speaker 1: And you know you're going through this spiset. You're you're
12:13
Speaker 1: answering the questions to yourself and your brain, and then
12:15
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, the vibrations in the chair are
12:17
Speaker 1: just like yeah, going crazy and you're just like this,
12:21
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, it's like and now you
12:23
Speaker 1: will float and it stops and it literally feels like
12:25
Speaker 1: your body is just floating in the air and you're
12:28
Speaker 1: releasing all of that like pressure, nervousness, whatever it is.
12:32
Speaker 1: And then the guy's like telling you in your ear,
12:34
Speaker 1: like you know you're dealing with in these pressure moments,
12:38
Speaker 1: but like it's it's you're in the zone now and
12:40
Speaker 1: like it's crazy.
12:41
Speaker 3: It was amazing.
12:42
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, So I gotta act like I gotta
12:45
Speaker 1: think I'm on the shift wave while I'm on mile twenty.
12:48
Speaker 3: I need to do the shift wave.
12:50
Speaker 2: Like after every flight I ever gone, I had a
12:53
Speaker 2: similar experience. I'll be it very different, and that there's
12:55
Speaker 2: a new adults one lounge at JFK. I don't know
12:58
Speaker 2: if you've been in yet, but they have these like
13:00
Speaker 2: full body massage chairs that literally tilt back and you're
13:03
Speaker 2: like in the chair and all of these like rainforest
13:06
Speaker 2: sounds are playing and you're in a dark room and
13:08
Speaker 2: I'm like, i am not a JFK right now.
13:11
Speaker 3: Very different.
13:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, No one was coaching me to be my best self.
13:14
Speaker 2: But similar experience for sure. That's sick though similar experience
13:18
Speaker 2: for sure. So obviously you don't get to be in
13:22
Speaker 2: a place where you are running a marathon, working with Nike,
13:27
Speaker 2: broadcasting all the amazing things that you do owning a
13:30
Speaker 2: coffee company overnight. Let's dial it back just a little bit,
13:34
Speaker 2: and I actually want to start not necessarily at the
13:37
Speaker 2: beginning of your soccer career, but more so when you
13:41
Speaker 2: started to realize that you were ready to graduate within sport.
13:45
Speaker 2: Talk to me a little bit about that transition for
13:48
Speaker 2: you and if it was one that was welcomed or
13:52
Speaker 2: one that had some resistance with it.
13:54
Speaker 1: It's a great question. I'm the youngest girl, I have
13:57
Speaker 1: two older brothers and my family. My parents are Colombian
14:01
Speaker 1: and let's just say sport soccer specifically is like a
14:05
Speaker 1: religion in Colombia. But my parents never played sports. Yeah,
14:09
Speaker 1: they were active, you know, they're both immigrants, some first
14:12
Speaker 1: generation American, and they worked so much, worked so much,
14:16
Speaker 1: and they also wanted to provide a better life, better
14:18
Speaker 1: future for my brothers and I, and so I think
14:21
Speaker 1: that they used sport and activities even like other extracurricular
14:26
Speaker 1: activities like music and instruments whatever. It was as a
14:31
Speaker 1: way for us to experience the American dream or experience
14:37
Speaker 1: just a better life than what they had. You know,
14:39
Speaker 1: they wanted to give us everything, and they sure worked
14:43
Speaker 1: for it. But in return, I think we, my brothers
14:47
Speaker 1: and myself, you know, have worked so hard to just
14:49
Speaker 1: be grateful for it. And sport for me, and specifically soccer,
14:55
Speaker 1: has been that vehicle of.
14:58
Speaker 3: Opportunity for me specifically.
15:01
Speaker 1: Yes, I did play other sports growing up, lacrosse, basketball maybe,
15:05
Speaker 1: you know, flirted with volleyball here and there, certain certain.
15:08
Speaker 3: Things I flirted it flirted.
15:11
Speaker 1: I flirted with a few sports when I was you know,
15:13
Speaker 1: in high school just being athletic, right, But soccer for
15:16
Speaker 1: me was it. I loved it and I was really
15:19
Speaker 1: good at it, and I think that's just what kept
15:20
Speaker 1: me going and wanted to be a better athlete in general.
15:23
Speaker 1: And it also taught me so many life lessons, not
15:25
Speaker 1: only confidence that I had mentioned before, but also teamwork, dedication, commitment,
15:33
Speaker 1: just setting goals and making sure I kept working at it.
15:38
Speaker 1: And as we even talked about before, setbacks, there was
15:40
Speaker 1: always setbacks, not just injuries, but not making a squad
15:43
Speaker 1: my second year playing pro soccer, I didn't make a team,
15:47
Speaker 1: So like there's always been setbacks, but growing up, you know,
15:52
Speaker 1: support for me has been that outlet too. I'm Latina,
15:56
Speaker 1: I'm Colombian and Columbia American. I grew up in a
15:58
Speaker 1: predominantly you know area in West Palm Beach, Florida. My
16:02
Speaker 1: parents hustle their asses off to pay private schools for us,
16:06
Speaker 1: and I was, you know, one of the only Latinas always, always, always,
16:12
Speaker 1: so it was always like there's there's a term in
16:14
Speaker 1: Spanish called nidiaquinia. Yeah, so you're not from here, you're
16:17
Speaker 1: not from there, and you're trying to find which area
16:21
Speaker 1: or country like that you feel from. But many Latinos
16:26
Speaker 1: or Latinos like myself, we feel from both. And so
16:31
Speaker 1: if I was like to Latina to be part of
16:33
Speaker 1: like that private school or that soccer team, and then
16:37
Speaker 1: I'm too wide or too American in that sense to
16:40
Speaker 1: be like Colombian when I go to Colombia on the
16:43
Speaker 1: Columbia national team. So it was always like that, always
16:45
Speaker 1: kind of like the outsider and the outlier. But soccer
16:48
Speaker 1: and sports has always been my inn to either side that,
16:53
Speaker 1: the confidence, the personality like we say in Spanish buenos vivras,
16:58
Speaker 1: like the good vibes and music like certain many, so
17:01
Speaker 1: many things have been my my in to both, to
17:04
Speaker 1: both angles into both, I guess like communities and sport
17:10
Speaker 1: has absolutely made me feel so included in these communities,
17:15
Speaker 1: especially growing up and kind of being the outsider.
17:18
Speaker 2: I can't even imagine then the feelings that go hand
17:21
Speaker 2: in hand with saying I'm ready to progress from sport,
17:26
Speaker 2: knowing that it was such a great unifier for you.
17:30
Speaker 2: Talk to me about that transition.
17:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was tough. It's really tough.
17:37
Speaker 1: I think what we're seeing right now, even this summer
17:39
Speaker 1: in the games, you know, you see a lot of
17:42
Speaker 1: athletes at there high right and then right after you
17:45
Speaker 1: it's such a common conversation. All of a sudden, there's
17:48
Speaker 1: a big drop off and it's a low, especially if
17:50
Speaker 1: it's your last games, or especially if it's your last
17:53
Speaker 1: year as a pro. So for me personally, I kind
17:58
Speaker 1: of like didn't plan to have quote unquote retire at
18:01
Speaker 1: the given point. I dealt with a lot of inequalities
18:04
Speaker 1: on the national team. Our coach was like just it
18:07
Speaker 1: was a very sketchy environment, but also the way that
18:12
Speaker 1: they treated female footballers was just absolutely ridiculous. And I
18:16
Speaker 1: got to a point in my career where I was like,
18:18
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm not only a professional soccer player,
18:21
Speaker 1: but I have an MBA, I have like all these things,
18:23
Speaker 1: and like these people are not valuing me nor my
18:26
Speaker 1: teammates as women. And after my Achilles injury, it actually
18:31
Speaker 1: during that year of reflection, it gave me a lot
18:33
Speaker 1: of time to think of, like what do I really want.
18:35
Speaker 1: Do I want to keep playing soccer, yes, Do I
18:37
Speaker 1: want to play on the national team, yes, But I
18:39
Speaker 1: want to be valued And I just felt that our
18:42
Speaker 1: federation was it was just terrible the way that they
18:44
Speaker 1: were treating us. So I came back from my Achilles
18:47
Speaker 1: injury with vengeance, with vengeance not only to get back
18:50
Speaker 1: on the pitch, but to fight for women's equality and
18:53
Speaker 1: especially in South America. And then also vengeance of like, Okay,
18:58
Speaker 1: I did this in soccer, I did this in my career.
19:00
Speaker 1: It's next for me after I compete in like the
19:02
Speaker 1: next games, after I do all this stuff and kind
19:04
Speaker 1: of close out my career. I think injuries and then
19:08
Speaker 1: dealing with the inequalities led me to just kind of say,
19:11
Speaker 1: you know, what I'm going to take some time off
19:12
Speaker 1: of competing and out of soccer and see what.
19:16
Speaker 3: I want to do.
19:17
Speaker 1: And I had a maybe plan to like get back
19:20
Speaker 1: and play, but life, life and life worked out in
19:25
Speaker 1: a way where other windows started opening for me in
19:30
Speaker 1: the content space, in you know, creating content. It wasn't easy, though.
19:36
Speaker 1: I just remember trying to figure out what was next
19:39
Speaker 1: for me.
19:40
Speaker 3: Who am I? It's a huge identity loss.
19:42
Speaker 1: A lot of athletes go through this, and you're trying
19:45
Speaker 1: to figure out, well, my sport always like represented me.
19:49
Speaker 1: It's like when you you know, Hi, I'm Emily, Hi,
19:51
Speaker 1: I'm Melissa, and then they're like, oh yeah, Melissa's like
19:53
Speaker 1: this as a soccer player. And then all of a
19:54
Speaker 1: sudden it's like, no, I'm not, you know, like I was,
19:57
Speaker 1: And it's like what am I?
19:58
Speaker 3: I don't know? And so.
20:01
Speaker 1: I try to like knock on doors at big outlets,
20:04
Speaker 1: at big networks, like, hey, you know, I'm an olympian,
20:08
Speaker 1: I'm a former professional soccer player. I would love to
20:10
Speaker 1: like get on camera, be a broadcaster, YadA ya YadA,
20:13
Speaker 1: and like nobody gave me the time of the day, nobody.
20:16
Speaker 1: But that's also just shows it depicts where women's sports was.
20:19
Speaker 1: You know, just six years ago, seven years ago, there
20:22
Speaker 1: was no respect for women's sports or you know, women's careers.
20:29
Speaker 1: And I also came from a Columbia national team, not
20:31
Speaker 1: the US USA, not the US one's national team, so
20:35
Speaker 1: it's very different. I thought, Hey, with my resume, someone
20:38
Speaker 1: was going to hire me like this. Oh it was
20:40
Speaker 1: not like that. So I actually listened to an audiobook.
20:44
Speaker 1: It was Gary Ve's Crushing It, and it just literally said,
20:48
Speaker 1: you know, f what anybody thinks about you, and if
20:50
Speaker 1: what anybody you know says about you, do your thing,
20:54
Speaker 1: Create your own content, build your own brand, do what
20:57
Speaker 1: you're passionate about. So I literally body camera that week
21:02
Speaker 1: with the little money that I had at the time,
21:05
Speaker 1: and started creating content around soccer. And here we are
21:09
Speaker 1: seven years later and I'm a full time broadcaster, and
21:15
Speaker 1: it all was with that goal in mind. I'm going
21:18
Speaker 1: to start creating content around soccer some producer. One day,
21:21
Speaker 1: we'll see it on social media and someone will put
21:23
Speaker 1: me on camera because I want to be on TV.
21:26
Speaker 1: I want to tell stories about these soccer players. I
21:29
Speaker 1: want to show like expertise analysis of the games, because
21:34
Speaker 1: before you just didn't. You didn't really see many women
21:36
Speaker 1: doing what I do, And now, thankfully it's becoming more common.
21:41
Speaker 1: And I am really proud and grateful that even as
21:45
Speaker 1: a Latina there's not many Latinas that do what I do,
21:49
Speaker 1: and so to be the voice in soccer specifically even
21:53
Speaker 1: before Latinas is really special for me.
21:55
Speaker 3: But it's it's been a it's been a road, it's
21:58
Speaker 3: been a journey. It's been a journey.
22:00
Speaker 2: You know, I appreciate what you said before about feeling
22:04
Speaker 2: a little bit othered, feeling a little bit like you
22:06
Speaker 2: weren't Latina enough and you weren't American enough, and that
22:11
Speaker 2: confusion between the two sides. I'm sure there are many
22:14
Speaker 2: women that are listening to this now that can really
22:17
Speaker 2: relate to that. How did you navigate the feelings that
22:21
Speaker 2: went hand in hand with being othered at times and
22:25
Speaker 2: really embrace all the good parts of who it is
22:28
Speaker 2: that you are and what you have to offer.
22:30
Speaker 3: It comes with time and maturity.
22:34
Speaker 1: When I was in high school, it's like everybody goes
22:36
Speaker 1: through all these life lessons in high school, right, like, gosh,
22:40
Speaker 1: glad that page has turned Amen. Yeah, that's what it's
22:44
Speaker 1: actually like. I think the most challenging when you're younger
22:46
Speaker 1: and you're trying to figure out who you are. And
22:51
Speaker 1: my parents raised us in a household that was very Colombian,
22:55
Speaker 1: although they did make us like learn English first, they
22:59
Speaker 1: always said, we struggled so much at first, that we
23:02
Speaker 1: want you to speak perfect English and then we'll speak
23:05
Speaker 1: Spanish of course too. So music, food, like Audipus in
23:10
Speaker 1: the morning, you know, Salasa blasting at seven am, you know,
23:16
Speaker 1: on the television, Spanish speaking like it. At home, I
23:19
Speaker 1: was so Latina and so Colombia, and then when I
23:22
Speaker 1: went into school or even like in college, it was
23:25
Speaker 1: just like Okay, let me like not do that here,
23:28
Speaker 1: you know. And I think though over years, I started
23:34
Speaker 1: like embracing it more, and even like even the latter
23:37
Speaker 1: years of high school, because that's when we started, like
23:39
Speaker 1: I started traveling more to Columbia and you know, meeting family,
23:45
Speaker 1: and that opened my eyes to be like, Mellie, you
23:48
Speaker 1: should be proud of who you are. And in high school,
23:51
Speaker 1: like I started, I just remember like I will listen
23:54
Speaker 1: to this music, you know, I will. I don't know,
23:57
Speaker 1: like talk to my friends about certain certain artists or
24:01
Speaker 1: where these types of earrings or whatever it was, and
24:05
Speaker 1: I think just over the course of years, I really
24:07
Speaker 1: started embracing like who I was. It was tough at first, because,
24:13
Speaker 1: like I said, it's like a learning curve, but I
24:17
Speaker 1: think it's I love the way that latiniad is what
24:21
Speaker 1: you say, and it's like the Latin culture has been
24:24
Speaker 1: growing so much in the US, whether it's music, whether
24:28
Speaker 1: it's sports, whether it's athletes that are competing in the games.
24:31
Speaker 1: Like it's just it's incredible to see where we are now.
24:35
Speaker 1: And it's because of people like us that we've been
24:40
Speaker 1: so authentic and open and public about embracing who we
24:43
Speaker 1: are and just showing others that are maybe that we're
24:47
Speaker 1: in the same boat that we were. Just be you,
24:50
Speaker 1: you know, embrace it, enjoy it. It's awesome to be different.
24:55
Speaker 2: When you said that you read Gary V's book and
25:01
Speaker 2: you decided to buy the camera, and you wanted to
25:04
Speaker 2: start creating content surrounding female soccer players, and you went
25:10
Speaker 2: on this journey and eventually you knew in your gut
25:13
Speaker 2: that someone was going to say yes to you, that
25:15
Speaker 2: someone was going to see your content and say that's
25:18
Speaker 2: exactly who we need to be working with.
25:20
Speaker 3: Where did it begin so I feel like there's two
25:23
Speaker 3: points in this. Yes.
25:25
Speaker 1: One of them is I went to a World Cup,
25:29
Speaker 1: a soccer tournament in Russia actually in two thousand and eighteen,
25:35
Speaker 1: and it was the men's soccer tournament on my own
25:38
Speaker 1: dime with my then boyfriend now husband, and I said,
25:42
Speaker 1: you know what, there's not many one former players that
25:44
Speaker 1: are covering that are doing content too, showing what it's
25:47
Speaker 1: like to like actually have a whole on experience and
25:51
Speaker 1: also like who knows soccer, we'll talk about the game
25:54
Speaker 1: and like previews whatever. So I got back from you know,
25:58
Speaker 1: the two weeks trip that we did traveling throughout Russia,
26:02
Speaker 1: like just covering the soccer tournament, and I'm literally in
26:07
Speaker 1: like trains and partying with like people from Ghana, people
26:11
Speaker 1: from I don't know, like.
26:12
Speaker 3: All over the world.
26:14
Speaker 1: But like it was awesome because it was a true
26:16
Speaker 1: POV of what it's like to either a be a
26:18
Speaker 1: fan or to like be like an analyst. I get
26:22
Speaker 1: back from a trip and all of a sudden, I
26:24
Speaker 1: open my email inbox and it's like, we would love
26:27
Speaker 1: to send you to like this other tournament to capture content,
26:31
Speaker 1: and I'm like cool, and it shows like the budget
26:33
Speaker 1: of like what they were offering, and I'm like, shut up.
26:37
Speaker 1: I'm like, you're telling me that, like I could do
26:39
Speaker 1: this as a living and like actually make a decent
26:43
Speaker 1: amount of money more than I'd make, you know, in
26:45
Speaker 1: a few weeks in my previous office job, in my
26:48
Speaker 1: transition point, and uh, I was like, oh my god,
26:51
Speaker 1: I think I'm onto some things. That was like my
26:53
Speaker 1: first thing, and it was like it was a brand
26:55
Speaker 1: It was a brand specific, you know, content piece that
26:58
Speaker 1: they wanted me to go to a tournament in the
27:00
Speaker 1: US soccer tournament to cover. So that was my one yes.
27:02
Speaker 1: My second yes was actually my current producer. His name
27:08
Speaker 1: is Shaw Brown. He's definitely one of the best producers
27:11
Speaker 1: in the US for soccer. He's been in the business
27:15
Speaker 1: for like twenty five plus years. He was looking for
27:17
Speaker 1: a female talent to cover South American soccer. I was
27:22
Speaker 1: like world up Paulifiers and someone had recommended me, and
27:26
Speaker 1: he gave me my first shot. He saw my stuff online,
27:28
Speaker 1: like social media stuff, that's all, and like I said,
27:31
Speaker 1: I wanted to put it out there so that one
27:32
Speaker 1: day a producer would see it.
27:34
Speaker 3: And he saw it.
27:35
Speaker 1: He gave me the shot, and that was at this
27:38
Speaker 1: point maybe four years ago, and that was my first
27:42
Speaker 1: into TV and live stuff and now here we are.
27:47
Speaker 1: Now I'm a full time broadcaster, you know, with a
27:49
Speaker 1: big network under with Warner Brothers and TNT and he's
27:53
Speaker 1: the main producer and now I get to cover US
27:55
Speaker 1: Men's and US Women's national team throughout the entire year,
27:59
Speaker 1: which is a reading come true. And you know, one
28:01
Speaker 1: of the biggest networks in the United States. So that
28:04
Speaker 1: was that was my big, big, big yess on on
28:07
Speaker 1: too main TV. Two things to double click on.
28:09
Speaker 2: The first thing to double click on is this concept
28:12
Speaker 2: of someone recommended me for the job, someone saying your
28:16
Speaker 2: name in a way that is positive in a room
28:18
Speaker 2: that you are not in. And we know as women
28:21
Speaker 2: within business that there is so much that comes hand
28:24
Speaker 2: in hand with your relationships and the network that you're building.
28:28
Speaker 3: How did it feel for you to know.
28:31
Speaker 2: That, despite maybe not having an established track record working
28:35
Speaker 2: for a brand, you had a good reputation as someone
28:39
Speaker 2: that could get shit done.
28:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it's man.
28:46
Speaker 1: I feel like the quote is your your network is
28:49
Speaker 1: your net worth? Right, and man like that is so
28:53
Speaker 1: so true. And for the moment, let's just say, for
28:56
Speaker 1: the moment that I moved to New York City, which
28:59
Speaker 1: was six years ago. It's never like I set up
29:02
Speaker 1: planning like let me like grow my network. No, it
29:05
Speaker 1: just happens like authentically over time, and one door will
29:08
Speaker 1: lead to the next door, the next door, and that
29:10
Speaker 1: one person will lead you to this person, and that
29:12
Speaker 1: person will lead you to the next person. And I think,
29:16
Speaker 1: you know, reputation is just so incredibly important, and that's
29:19
Speaker 1: one that I take really good care of. I am
29:24
Speaker 1: very passionate not only with you know, what I do
29:28
Speaker 1: in my work, but also with the people I'm surrounded
29:30
Speaker 1: by how I can help them, even around my team,
29:33
Speaker 1: like in the broadcasting world, it's where we work as
29:35
Speaker 1: a team and it's like, hey, you need help, Yeah,
29:37
Speaker 1: oh you need the stat ya, I'll give it to
29:39
Speaker 1: you like whatever it is. And I think that, just
29:42
Speaker 1: like the good karma is so important and and like
29:45
Speaker 1: you said, like that, reputation and there's nothing more like
29:50
Speaker 1: one of the most things that makes you so proud
29:52
Speaker 1: is when other people are advocating for you in a
29:54
Speaker 1: room that you're not in. And that's happened to me
29:57
Speaker 1: time and time and time again. I tell you you,
30:00
Speaker 1: over these past few years, and it just shows that
30:03
Speaker 1: the work that you put in is coming out in
30:06
Speaker 1: other in other rooms.
30:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, And what I mean, what I'm hearing you say
30:09
Speaker 2: also is that you have this extremely beautiful level of
30:13
Speaker 2: passion and dedication, and that's something that can be contagious
30:17
Speaker 2: to others.
30:17
Speaker 3: Right.
30:18
Speaker 2: So it's no surprise to me that people have great
30:21
Speaker 2: things to say about you when you're not standing with
30:23
Speaker 2: them in the room, because you empower them and enable
30:27
Speaker 2: them to do what they need to do, and you
30:29
Speaker 2: uplift them to then be the best version of themselves.
30:34
Speaker 2: You also just spoke about the opportunities that you have
30:36
Speaker 2: now to commentate for the US women's and men's national team.
30:40
Speaker 2: I want to dial back then to our conversation about
30:43
Speaker 2: being not enough American.
30:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, not enough Latina.
30:46
Speaker 2: Talk to me about how it feels for you to
30:49
Speaker 2: be in this position with a unique perspective as now
30:54
Speaker 2: a first generation here.
30:56
Speaker 1: It's when they when they offer me the job, like
31:00
Speaker 1: did I think I deserved it?
31:01
Speaker 3: One hundred percent?
31:02
Speaker 1: But you know when you have those moments when it's
31:05
Speaker 1: actually something's offered to you and you're like, wait, is
31:07
Speaker 1: this really happening right now? Yeah?
31:09
Speaker 3: That one hundred percent happened.
31:11
Speaker 1: Because what's crazy to me is like I used to
31:14
Speaker 1: play against the US women's national team and they saw
31:20
Speaker 1: a big, like something unique, which is I'm American, I'm Colombian.
31:26
Speaker 1: I also cater to not only the Latin audience, but
31:29
Speaker 1: I also speak Spanish, So it's having that bilingual talent
31:32
Speaker 1: on air. There's so many advantages of being you know, diverse,
31:37
Speaker 1: or so many advantages of knowing different languages and being
31:41
Speaker 1: able to be versatile in different positions and roles. And
31:44
Speaker 1: that's essentially what I am. Like I am a sideline
31:47
Speaker 1: reporter when I talk to the US women's US men
31:50
Speaker 1: national team and I you know, interview them pre during
31:52
Speaker 1: post games. But then I also go to the desk
31:55
Speaker 1: and they bring me to the desk and I'm able
31:57
Speaker 1: to analyze games and things like that. And so for me,
32:00
Speaker 1: as a Latina covering USA, I was like, okay, you
32:05
Speaker 1: guys know that, Like I used to play against them
32:07
Speaker 1: and like, but they loved it. And also because I
32:10
Speaker 1: would provide a different point of view. And I also
32:14
Speaker 1: am just so grateful that the way that like, let's
32:16
Speaker 1: just say, US Soccer has opened their arms to me.
32:19
Speaker 1: It's too and it's a joke actually, like say Carly
32:22
Speaker 1: Lloyd Heather, O'Reilly there are two former legends.
32:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, amazing best vibes.
32:28
Speaker 1: Ever, it's a joke because I've worked with them on
32:32
Speaker 1: air at different tournaments and they know how kind of
32:35
Speaker 1: like ingrained I've become like in the US soccer like world,
32:40
Speaker 1: and they're like, Melly, like we feel like you're like
32:43
Speaker 1: an adopted like sister or something like that.
32:45
Speaker 3: You know, it's true.
32:47
Speaker 1: It's like as if like I'm adopted to the team
32:50
Speaker 1: or not the team, but like to like I don't know,
32:52
Speaker 1: like the country and like you just the world just
32:54
Speaker 1: literally just literally yeah exactly. Yeah, So yeah, it's just
33:01
Speaker 1: it's it's a big pride that I have to have
33:04
Speaker 1: reached this point in my career and like I said,
33:06
Speaker 1: like be the voice, the Latin of voice covering US
33:11
Speaker 1: men's and women's national teams, and I am appreciative to
33:14
Speaker 1: to not only network but like the players. Yeah, the players,
33:18
Speaker 1: the players, as you know, like you interview people and
33:21
Speaker 1: the players have to trust you, but you also have
33:23
Speaker 1: to gain that trust. And you see Lindsay Harran on
33:26
Speaker 1: the pitch, like she'll come up to me before and
33:28
Speaker 1: after an interview and she'll give me a hug, like
33:30
Speaker 1: certain players will, like they know who you are after
33:33
Speaker 1: a certain point, and like you just gain that, but
33:36
Speaker 1: you also gain it with like good vibes, and you
33:38
Speaker 1: gain it with like the confidence that you give them,
33:40
Speaker 1: but also just like that just that type of connection
33:44
Speaker 1: that you both share when you're in those moments of
33:47
Speaker 1: interviews or outside of interviewing.
33:49
Speaker 2: I mean, what happens is that you show up and
33:52
Speaker 2: then you immediately become an energy dealer, right, part of
33:56
Speaker 2: your part of your job is to show up with
33:59
Speaker 2: a certain energy that not only enables you to do
34:01
Speaker 2: your job, but also gives the goodness to the other people.
34:06
Speaker 2: Because once you give it to them, then we know
34:09
Speaker 2: that energy attracts like energy and you can then be
34:11
Speaker 2: in a position to receive it, which is absolutely critical
34:15
Speaker 2: and something that I'm sure that over time, as you
34:18
Speaker 2: became more and more familiar with what it required to
34:22
Speaker 2: be a broadcaster, that you started to really understand and
34:25
Speaker 2: evolve with.
34:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, totally totally.
34:28
Speaker 1: Look, you can know your ex's and o's, you could
34:30
Speaker 1: know all these you know, information on teams, and you know,
34:34
Speaker 1: be the soccer geek that's going to talk all this
34:37
Speaker 1: atalyst stuff. But at the end of the day, you
34:39
Speaker 1: need to have that energy, like you said, and you
34:41
Speaker 1: need to have the confidence and the ability to even
34:44
Speaker 1: do impromptu and be impromptu.
34:46
Speaker 3: But that comes with just being yourself and being authentic.
34:49
Speaker 1: And being able to balance off of other people's energy
34:52
Speaker 1: but then give it, like you sick. It's just how
34:56
Speaker 1: you are able to influence others around you. And that's
34:59
Speaker 1: essentially the content that you're going to get back or
35:01
Speaker 1: the responses that you're going to get back, and that's
35:03
Speaker 1: what makes That's what makes TV, that's what makes media,
35:06
Speaker 1: that's what makes storytelling. You know, you want to get
35:09
Speaker 1: those key moments out of the athletes that you're interviewing
35:12
Speaker 1: and talking to, and they're really only going to share
35:13
Speaker 1: that with you or open up to if you entice
35:16
Speaker 1: them with that energy, if they're open, if you give
35:18
Speaker 1: them the confidence and trust in you to do it.
35:20
Speaker 2: So, whether or not we're talking about broadcasting, you show up,
35:25
Speaker 2: you are having perhaps an off day and there's still
35:30
Speaker 2: a job to do. What do you do when you're
35:33
Speaker 2: not feeling so bright and shiny and excited. How do
35:37
Speaker 2: you show up and how do you get the job
35:39
Speaker 2: done anyway.
35:40
Speaker 1: That's a great question, and girl, it's happened before. I
35:44
Speaker 1: think as women too, we deal in different moments of
35:47
Speaker 1: our cycles too, where we're you know, one day we're
35:50
Speaker 1: feeling like absolute shit, yeah, totally, you know, and then
35:53
Speaker 1: like the next day we're like, oh, hey, I'm here,
35:55
Speaker 1: I'm like perky.
35:56
Speaker 3: Yeah.
35:57
Speaker 1: But there has been some off days in broadcast staying
36:00
Speaker 1: where I've stepped away and walked away and I'm like, oh,
36:03
Speaker 1: that one was rough, that wasn't that wasn't me, that
36:06
Speaker 1: wasn't Mellie. You know, that happens. It happens in sports.
36:09
Speaker 1: It happens on the pitch, happens on the court, happens
36:12
Speaker 1: on the racetrack, whatever. And I and I actually like relate,
36:15
Speaker 1: like I said in the beginning of this, like I
36:17
Speaker 1: relate a lot of what I do in my day
36:18
Speaker 1: to day to sports. You have your off days, but
36:21
Speaker 1: tomorrow is a new day and we're gonna do it again.
36:24
Speaker 1: And there's days where you don't have that other opportunity
36:27
Speaker 1: like in sports, and I am very knowledgeable about that
36:29
Speaker 1: you might not have another shot. But this is where
36:32
Speaker 1: I'm at with that, where I might not have another shot.
36:36
Speaker 1: But as long as I have given my absolute best
36:39
Speaker 1: and you know, all of the other races, games, competitions.
36:43
Speaker 3: On airs are happening here.
36:46
Speaker 2: Yeah okay, this is a podcast, but air quotes are
36:50
Speaker 2: being used.
36:50
Speaker 3: I am using air quotes, double air quotes.
36:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, I related a lot to sports and just say, Okay,
36:59
Speaker 1: that wasn't my game, you know, or that wasn't my tournament.
37:02
Speaker 1: But like I did everything I can, you know, even
37:05
Speaker 1: before it or hopefully I will get in another shot.
37:08
Speaker 1: Thankfully to my advantage in this world of broadcasting, when
37:12
Speaker 1: I didn't have my my good days in while I'm
37:15
Speaker 1: in it and I'm noticing like, okay, like I messed
37:18
Speaker 1: up this hit, because it happens, like I'll mess up
37:21
Speaker 1: like a whole what I wanted to say didn't come
37:23
Speaker 1: out the way, you know, and it happens. But I'll
37:26
Speaker 1: just say, take a deep breath, Okay, We'll get the
37:30
Speaker 1: next one. And luckily in soccer, a game is you know,
37:33
Speaker 1: ninety plus minutes, so I'll have more opportunities and then
37:37
Speaker 1: I'll know in the next game, you know what I
37:39
Speaker 1: need to review. And believe me, it's like sports too.
37:42
Speaker 1: I do reviewing of my on air work I work
37:45
Speaker 1: with a broadcasting coach as well. I'll review on camera
37:49
Speaker 1: stuff and it's like, you know, you have to practice
37:53
Speaker 1: and get better and make things more condensed and shorter,
37:55
Speaker 1: more eloquent and all that stuff. So yeah, it's been
37:58
Speaker 1: it's been a grind, but I just like you said,
38:01
Speaker 1: there's always those stepbacks, but you know, you just keep
38:04
Speaker 1: pushing and you try, just try to get better every time.
38:07
Speaker 2: Even what you just mentioned is such an important point
38:10
Speaker 2: for those that may not understand what goes into the
38:15
Speaker 2: broadcast that they see on TV. You mentioned a coach,
38:17
Speaker 2: you mentioned reviewing footage, right, there are so many different
38:20
Speaker 2: aspects that make you good and then day by day
38:24
Speaker 2: even better at the thing that you're so passionate about,
38:27
Speaker 2: which is so so critical. And I also really just
38:31
Speaker 2: respect the fact that you're willing to go that extra
38:34
Speaker 2: mile for someone who may think that they want to
38:39
Speaker 2: get into broadcasting a similar field as you, When you
38:45
Speaker 2: offer them a piece of advice, what comes to mind
38:48
Speaker 2: to offer.
38:49
Speaker 1: The first thing I want to say is just be yourself.
38:52
Speaker 1: Be authentic, you know, don't try to be anyone that
38:54
Speaker 1: you're not. And I think that's what has really catapulted
38:57
Speaker 1: me to where I've made it so far are just
39:01
Speaker 1: being the spark of energy, being proud of who I am,
39:05
Speaker 1: which is like we said, you know, Latina, and honing
39:09
Speaker 1: in on my strengths, which is getting the best out
39:13
Speaker 1: of others, being you know, personable, giving that energy on air,
39:20
Speaker 1: and being bilingual. But just I think at the end
39:24
Speaker 1: of the day, just being myself. So like be yourself
39:26
Speaker 1: is one hundred percent it. You can study all you want,
39:31
Speaker 1: but if you don't have that who you are, your
39:34
Speaker 1: concept of you on air, you're not going to give
39:37
Speaker 1: that vibe out. And then also there's always that quote
39:42
Speaker 1: that I always look back on someone taught me when
39:45
Speaker 1: I was in college.
39:46
Speaker 3: If you fail to prepare, be prepared to fail.
39:48
Speaker 1: And there's a lot of studying that goes on behind
39:52
Speaker 1: the scenes, and you have to be prepared for those
39:54
Speaker 1: moments that could be that it moment for you. It's
39:58
Speaker 1: like when I used to play practice, how you play practice,
40:02
Speaker 1: like another coach or a scout or a pro scout
40:06
Speaker 1: is watching you on the practice field. Always got to
40:08
Speaker 1: practice how you play or play how you practice pat
40:11
Speaker 1: how you play, And so that's exactly what comes into
40:14
Speaker 1: like real life jobs and broadcasting because you're on air
40:17
Speaker 1: and you can't f up on air, right, you can,
40:19
Speaker 1: but like you try not to, right, I'm like, please though,
40:22
Speaker 1: And so my advice is be yourself, you know, work hard, prepare,
40:27
Speaker 1: like I said, and then hopefully in that moment when
40:29
Speaker 1: it's your chance, you know you crush it and have
40:32
Speaker 1: confidence in yourself that you will crush it in that
40:34
Speaker 1: in that moment.
40:35
Speaker 2: I think also when we talk about preparation, you may
40:39
Speaker 2: not know who's going to be in the room that
40:41
Speaker 2: you walk into. There are going to be things that
40:43
Speaker 2: are uncontrollable, right, but you do have the opportunity to
40:47
Speaker 2: prepare as much as possible. You may not be quote
40:50
Speaker 2: unquote the smartest person in the room, but you can
40:52
Speaker 2: guarantee that you will be the most prepared.
40:55
Speaker 3: And I think that's an opportunity, right.
40:56
Speaker 2: It's an opportunity that takes time, It's an opportunity that
41:00
Speaker 2: requires learning, but it's one that when you watch it
41:05
Speaker 2: pay off, when you experience what happens when you show
41:07
Speaker 2: up with that level of preparedness, then you'll never revert
41:11
Speaker 2: to your old ways. If that was something that you
41:13
Speaker 2: weren't familiar with before. Yeah, now, for you in this
41:18
Speaker 2: let's call it era that you're in. What would you
41:21
Speaker 2: say you are most looking forward to moving forward as
41:25
Speaker 2: you evolve as a broadcaster.
41:28
Speaker 1: As a broadcaster, I think I'm mostly looking forward to
41:34
Speaker 1: just improving becoming a better person, woman, broadcaster, runner, everything
41:43
Speaker 1: every day, just like I did when I was competing
41:46
Speaker 1: as an athlete, whether it's gaining more experience on air,
41:50
Speaker 1: and look, this type of career takes years.
41:53
Speaker 3: It's not like this.
41:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I look at people that I work with,
41:58
Speaker 1: let's just say Julie Faudy, for instance, Oh legend, yeah, legend, which,
42:03
Speaker 1: by the way, I'm like, when I first started working
42:06
Speaker 1: with Julie, it's funny. We cover games on the road
42:10
Speaker 1: and she's she's such a sweetheart, but she's part of
42:13
Speaker 1: the ninety nine ers, and I was incredibly inspired by
42:18
Speaker 1: the ninety nine ers and I always looked up to her,
42:21
Speaker 1: and so it was like one of their first like
42:25
Speaker 1: trips on air, covering you from the national team. And
42:27
Speaker 1: in the morning, I like to work out on game days,
42:31
Speaker 1: and so we're at dinner and I think I think
42:33
Speaker 1: she asked, like anybody working.
42:34
Speaker 3: Out, anybody want to run whatever?
42:35
Speaker 2: I'm like, I love the way that you like get
42:37
Speaker 2: a little bit of like a extra American when you
42:39
Speaker 2: get like your Julie Foudy accent, you're like anybody wanted
42:43
Speaker 2: a little New.
42:43
Speaker 3: York Literally, she's not. She's like from California. Now I'm
42:47
Speaker 3: all working wet with that. I'm like, yes, done.
42:50
Speaker 1: Uh And so she she asked, and I was like yeah,
42:54
Speaker 1: like because I would anyways, like yeah, let's do it.
42:56
Speaker 1: So there we are, like working out together what you
42:59
Speaker 1: do on the So I believe that day we went
43:01
Speaker 1: to Orange Theory. Yeah, we went to Orange Theory and
43:06
Speaker 1: I had a pinch me moment where she's on the
43:07
Speaker 1: treadmill next to me. Man, we're just running, and then
43:11
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, I'm like competitive vibes are kicking
43:13
Speaker 1: in too, and I'm like, all right, Julie, she ain't
43:15
Speaker 1: gonna beat me either, Like you know, she's just no,
43:17
Speaker 1: there's no chance. She's like fifty, but she's so in shape.
43:21
Speaker 3: She's amazing.
43:22
Speaker 1: So then we're like running, we're doing the rower, we're
43:24
Speaker 1: doing the lifting, we're all this stuff. And we get
43:26
Speaker 1: done with the class and then like literally in the
43:28
Speaker 1: uber on the way back to the hotel with her,
43:30
Speaker 1: then we grab coffee. We're just chatting, and I had
43:33
Speaker 1: a pinch me moment where I'm like, I literally just
43:35
Speaker 1: worked out with Julie body and I'm about to get
43:38
Speaker 1: on it with her, Like this is crazy, and I'm
43:39
Speaker 1: like texting my friends. I'm like, guys, you're not gonna
43:41
Speaker 1: believe I just said so. Anyway, So that's just one
43:43
Speaker 1: moment as we're training, as I'm training for this marathon.
43:46
Speaker 1: So this is a year later of like working with Julie,
43:48
Speaker 1: and again, I will never stop repeating this how awesome
43:51
Speaker 1: she is as a person, as a woman, not only
43:54
Speaker 1: did she fight for women's rights and like equality and
43:57
Speaker 1: sport like the ninety nine ers did, but just as
44:00
Speaker 1: a as a person and as a human being, she
44:03
Speaker 1: is an inspiration. And I always tell people when I'm
44:07
Speaker 1: fifty or when i'm her age, like I want to
44:09
Speaker 1: be Julie Fouty when I grew up, not only because
44:11
Speaker 1: she's badass, but because of the person that she is
44:14
Speaker 1: as a human being, her humility, her humbleness, And that's
44:17
Speaker 1: something that I've learned throughout like the past year and
44:20
Speaker 1: a half of working with her. So I tell I
44:23
Speaker 1: tell her and I tell the team I'm like, hey, guys, like,
44:25
Speaker 1: I'm training for a marathon that's coming up.
44:27
Speaker 3: I'm gonna run with Nike. Like this is incredible. She's like, wow,
44:29
Speaker 3: it's sick.
44:30
Speaker 1: So again, we train or do workouts in the morning
44:34
Speaker 1: when we're on our road trips. So who wants to
44:36
Speaker 1: work out? And I go, well, Julie, I got to run.
44:38
Speaker 1: I got to run eight miles tomorrow. She's like, okay, yeah,
44:41
Speaker 1: I'm not doing that. Like okay, She's like, my limit's three,
44:45
Speaker 1: so I'll run three with you.
44:46
Speaker 3: Okay. I'm like cool.
44:47
Speaker 1: So we're I think we're like in Cincinnati and there's hills.
44:51
Speaker 1: So we're running together and it was great. You know,
44:55
Speaker 1: she's like fast but you know what I mean, like
44:57
Speaker 1: but like but also she keeps telling me like we're
45:00
Speaker 1: not going that fast, you know. So we do the
45:02
Speaker 1: three miles and she sees a scooter and she's like,
45:07
Speaker 1: all right, I'm not gonna do more.
45:09
Speaker 3: I'm gonna jump on the scooter. I'm okay.
45:10
Speaker 1: So I'm thinking to myself, she's gonna go back to
45:12
Speaker 1: the hotel. This woman.
45:16
Speaker 3: You did not want to use the word woman.
45:20
Speaker 1: She hots on the scooter and she's like, well, how
45:24
Speaker 1: many miles you have, you know, and I'm like like five,
45:26
Speaker 1: She's like, I'll pay you.
45:28
Speaker 3: I'll go with you deceased, I know.
45:31
Speaker 1: And so she's on the scooter the rest of the time,
45:33
Speaker 1: just pays me. We're talking the whole time, and like,
45:36
Speaker 1: you know, like running, especially if you're not used to it,
45:39
Speaker 1: like either when you're getting into it. Some people like headphone,
45:42
Speaker 1: some people just like to zone out, doos and anything.
45:44
Speaker 1: Some people get bored, some people have fun, like it depends.
45:46
Speaker 1: Everybody has her thing. She helped me get through that
45:49
Speaker 1: one of my first longer distance runs, just by being
45:52
Speaker 1: on a scooter right next to me, like on those
45:54
Speaker 1: line scooters. Yeah, And I'm like, she didn't have to
45:56
Speaker 1: do that. She could have scooter her way back to
45:58
Speaker 1: the hotel. Scoot scoot yeah.
45:59
Speaker 3: Yeah.
46:00
Speaker 1: But there she was through the whole thing. And at
46:02
Speaker 1: the end, I had this massive uphill. Oh yeah, not
46:05
Speaker 1: as big as an uphill, but I'll be experiencing here
46:07
Speaker 1: in Paris, but it was a big uphill, and there
46:11
Speaker 1: she was.
46:11
Speaker 3: She's like, let's go, Mallie, come on, mel like.
46:13
Speaker 1: Pumping me up, and I'm just like, holy crap, that
46:16
Speaker 1: is absolutely incredible. So yeah, I don't know where I
46:20
Speaker 1: went with this rant, but I had to share it
46:22
Speaker 1: because Julie Foudy is is a.
46:23
Speaker 3: G MVP, a G.
46:26
Speaker 2: You're going to be thinking about Julie Foudy biking next
46:29
Speaker 2: to you now, Yes, for the entire duration of the
46:32
Speaker 2: twenty six point two mile route.
46:34
Speaker 1: I'm sure, yes, absolutely, she's actually here. So if she's away,
46:38
Speaker 1: to know that, you're requested. Okay, if she's If she's away,
46:40
Speaker 1: if she's because it's at night, it's a night run,
46:43
Speaker 1: she might come and help and cheer.
46:44
Speaker 3: I know she's on.
46:45
Speaker 1: She's working though the US woman's National team final. I'm
46:49
Speaker 1: going on Saturday. You are, oh my gosh, so excited.
46:53
Speaker 1: She's working it and my racetimes at night. So if
46:55
Speaker 1: she's up and about, all right, Julie, we're calling you in, Julie.
46:58
Speaker 3: Shoudy or I'll get on. I need that, I need
47:01
Speaker 3: your good vibes. Yeah.
47:02
Speaker 2: I mean, you just articulated a really special moment. I know,
47:05
Speaker 2: another really special moment, as you call it, an it
47:08
Speaker 2: moment for you was the opportunity to announce MESSI talk
47:11
Speaker 2: to me about what that was like for you and
47:14
Speaker 2: what you learned from that that you're going to bring
47:16
Speaker 2: forward with you as you move on.
47:18
Speaker 1: So being chosen to announce Lionel Messi's arrival was just
47:23
Speaker 1: like whoa, yeah, but it's crazy, you know when you
47:28
Speaker 1: get these moments and you don't know what to expect yet,
47:30
Speaker 1: so you're just like, yeah, I got it.
47:32
Speaker 3: Like cool, you know, that's how it was.
47:36
Speaker 1: I knew how big of a moment it was going
47:38
Speaker 1: to be, but not in no way possible to the
47:42
Speaker 1: way that it actually went. And I think that it
47:46
Speaker 1: was a moment that was meant for me because I'm
47:49
Speaker 1: from South Florida.
47:50
Speaker 3: I was born and raised in South Florida.
47:53
Speaker 1: I'm former footballers, we know, and you know, soccer's my thing,
47:55
Speaker 1: and like Lionel Messi's arrival to the US with such
47:59
Speaker 1: a pinnacle moment in soccer history in this country that
48:03
Speaker 1: I was just like, this is a moment that I
48:05
Speaker 1: deserve and I've worked so hard for and for the club,
48:09
Speaker 1: like Inter Miami reached out to me directly first and
48:12
Speaker 1: said you're the first personnel list we want to offer
48:14
Speaker 1: this too, and I'm like, holy crap, this is incredible.
48:18
Speaker 1: And so what is nuts is that that night of
48:22
Speaker 1: the announcement, La Presentaciona was called. It was like a
48:27
Speaker 1: hurricane went through South Florida that night, and everything was
48:31
Speaker 1: so great leading to the moment.
48:33
Speaker 3: Rehearsals were great, audio.
48:34
Speaker 1: Was amazing, like everything was going so well, and all
48:38
Speaker 1: of a sudden, when we're supposed to like actually start
48:41
Speaker 1: a literal hurricane, like aka massive lightning storm but like
48:46
Speaker 1: with torrential downpour, but crazy winds just rolled in like
48:51
Speaker 1: good old South Florida right but to a point where
48:55
Speaker 1: I was really nervous because I'm like, I hope they
48:57
Speaker 1: don't postpone this. The next morning I had to fly
48:59
Speaker 1: out to Australia for the Woman's World Cup. Oh my gosh,
49:01
Speaker 1: so I was like, I hope they don't cancel or
49:03
Speaker 1: postpone because like I won't be part of it. So
49:06
Speaker 1: we just waited like I think an hour or two
49:08
Speaker 1: until everything kind of calmed down and then we did it.
49:12
Speaker 1: But crazy thing is the audio. Because of the lightning,
49:16
Speaker 1: they had to disconnect a bunch of things and they
49:19
Speaker 1: had this big like runway into the stage on the
49:21
Speaker 1: pitch and we couldn't even walk to that main stage
49:26
Speaker 1: because it was so slippery.
49:27
Speaker 3: It was led.
49:27
Speaker 1: It was so slippery from all the rain, so they
49:30
Speaker 1: were like, you need to just walk up to this
49:32
Speaker 1: point and that's where you're gonna host.
49:34
Speaker 3: Okay, we're actually played out.
49:37
Speaker 1: Into my advantage because if we would have been on
49:40
Speaker 1: that big stage in the middle of the pitch, we
49:41
Speaker 1: would have been all spread out, me and my co
49:43
Speaker 1: host David Beckham, the owners and you know, MESSI, Whereas like,
49:47
Speaker 1: since we only got to walk to this part, we
49:49
Speaker 1: were all so crunched together.
49:51
Speaker 3: Yeah.
49:51
Speaker 1: That which is why I got to like photo bomb,
49:53
Speaker 1: like so many I Messi's photore.
49:58
Speaker 2: Like sorry, I'm also over here, hey, hanging out with Beckham. Yeah,
50:00
Speaker 2: if you just get me a second, I'll be back.
50:02
Speaker 3: Just yeah.
50:03
Speaker 2: Yeah.
50:04
Speaker 1: But like I say, I think, like, I'm so sure
50:07
Speaker 1: the moment was made for me right before you know,
50:10
Speaker 1: there's this nerve setting in. But I felt like I
50:12
Speaker 1: was about to play in a game because there was
50:14
Speaker 1: regghedeton blasting, and it's like, that's so me.
50:18
Speaker 3: All my family was up.
50:19
Speaker 1: In the stands and I'm just like, this is me,
50:23
Speaker 1: this is South Florida, this is Soccer's his music is
50:25
Speaker 1: my reggaeton. This is my family here. I'm just like
50:27
Speaker 1: this shit is mine. Yeah, And that was my like,
50:30
Speaker 1: that was my my aura, like that was my vibe.
50:32
Speaker 1: That was everything, just going into it because there was
50:34
Speaker 1: some nervousness and the stadium was packed and it was
50:38
Speaker 1: graining still audio issues. So we start and all of
50:42
Speaker 1: a sudden, the audio is choppy in my ear, so
50:44
Speaker 1: I don't hear my producer, my co host, he's that
50:48
Speaker 1: like like the the ears in his the audio and
50:50
Speaker 1: his ears are dead. His mic is half working, not
50:53
Speaker 1: even fully working. So in my ears and the choppiness
50:56
Speaker 1: that I'm getting in and out, it's like past your
50:58
Speaker 1: mic to to David Beckham, like not his making sure
51:01
Speaker 1: that I'm doing kind of everything. Uh. And then David
51:06
Speaker 1: Beckham almost slipped because it was so slippery, and like
51:09
Speaker 1: I was like making a joke.
51:10
Speaker 3: I was like, well, thank god.
51:11
Speaker 1: You didn't wear the heels, David or something, and uh
51:14
Speaker 1: he was like I was about to something like that. Uh.
51:17
Speaker 1: And then I almost slipped too, which would have been
51:20
Speaker 1: really bad.
51:22
Speaker 3: Oh my god. But no.
51:23
Speaker 1: All in all, it was by far one of the
51:25
Speaker 1: most memorable experiences career pinnacle moments in my life. It
51:33
Speaker 1: meant so much to me, so special. Yeah, it was
51:35
Speaker 1: so special.
51:36
Speaker 2: Someone comes to your Instagram page, and they see a
51:39
Speaker 2: woman now that is living out so many of her
51:41
Speaker 2: dreams as a broadcaster also a former professional athlete. But
51:45
Speaker 2: when you are at home and you look in the mirror,
51:48
Speaker 2: what is it that you see looking back at you?
51:52
Speaker 1: Uh, I just see I just see Mellie, I just
51:57
Speaker 1: see me. I just see someone that is living out
52:01
Speaker 1: her dreams.
52:02
Speaker 3: For sure.
52:04
Speaker 1: I got to live out my dreams up to a
52:05
Speaker 1: certain point on the pitch until you know, my injuries
52:08
Speaker 1: started kicking in and some other factors, like I mentioned,
52:12
Speaker 1: the inequalities that we dealt with, and I think that
52:16
Speaker 1: life and soccer is paying me back. I think for
52:21
Speaker 1: so many things that I have gone through but also
52:24
Speaker 1: given to the game, whether it's fighting for you know,
52:29
Speaker 1: women's rights in soccer. I think now in this later
52:32
Speaker 1: era of like my other career in the broadcasting world
52:35
Speaker 1: or everything that I do, even working with brands and
52:37
Speaker 1: content and everything, I think life in soccer is giving
52:41
Speaker 1: me back so many things that I had to go through,
52:43
Speaker 1: and I'm so grateful for it. So when I look
52:45
Speaker 1: at myself in the mirror and I'm you know, in
52:49
Speaker 1: New York City and in an apartment that I love
52:52
Speaker 1: and you know with my husband, and I just think like, wow,
52:57
Speaker 1: you know you're living out your dream, Melle, but you've
52:59
Speaker 1: worked so freaking hard for this, so like enjoy it.
53:02
Speaker 1: And I like my husband sometimes like puts into perspective
53:07
Speaker 1: like he's like, you know, like you you're a badass.
53:12
Speaker 1: He's the one who's like he's he's my grounding for sure.
53:15
Speaker 1: But like I never like when people ask me for
53:18
Speaker 1: photos or my games and then this and that, like
53:22
Speaker 1: I'm I don't know. I don't know if it's because
53:23
Speaker 1: I'm humble or I don't realize these things. Like he's
53:26
Speaker 1: the one. He's like, Melly, you know that, like a
53:28
Speaker 1: lot of people like look up to you, right, like
53:30
Speaker 1: you know that. And I'm like, yeah, you're right, I
53:33
Speaker 1: should probably, you know, And I always say yes, like
53:36
Speaker 1: I'm very humble, I'm very nice to everybody. Not to
53:38
Speaker 1: say that I'm I don't say yes, pictures something. It's
53:41
Speaker 1: more just like he puts it, you know, into realization
53:44
Speaker 1: because he's seen the up and he's seen so many downs.
53:47
Speaker 1: I met him when I tore my achilles. Yeah, so
53:49
Speaker 1: he's seen the down of the downs and he's also
53:51
Speaker 1: has has been there for the entire moment, like the
53:55
Speaker 1: Teri journey of the up.
53:56
Speaker 3: Happened for you. All of it happened for you.
53:59
Speaker 2: Win down the podcast every time by giving you the
54:01
Speaker 2: opportunity to give yourself a piece of advice, going back
54:04
Speaker 2: to that devastating hurdle moment of tearing your achilles, talking
54:08
Speaker 2: to me about the depression that you went through and
54:10
Speaker 2: really had to persevere to get out on the other
54:13
Speaker 2: side and find that sense of self worth. When you
54:16
Speaker 2: look back at that hurdle moment, knowing what you know now,
54:19
Speaker 2: what would you tell your younger self.
54:23
Speaker 1: I think I would tell my younger self believe in
54:26
Speaker 1: the run, do everything to your utmost capability to fight
54:32
Speaker 1: and work for your dreams, you know, whether it was
54:34
Speaker 1: on the pitch or whether it's in the latter career.
54:37
Speaker 1: I think my main worry at that point in time
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Speaker 1: when when I got injured was what's my soccer career
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Speaker 1: going to be?
54:43
Speaker 3: But also like who am I? And what's next?
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Speaker 1: And that happens to a lot of athletes and people,
54:51
Speaker 1: and so it's more.
54:52
Speaker 3: Just believe in your journey.
54:55
Speaker 1: You know, things happen as they should, but they will
54:58
Speaker 1: happen as they should if you put in the work
55:01
Speaker 1: for it. You know, you set your goals and little
55:04
Speaker 1: by little you go for them. And that's literally what
55:09
Speaker 1: I've what I've done in and out the grind every
55:13
Speaker 1: day every year, you know. And this is before moving
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Speaker 1: to New York City. It's been, it's been. It's been,
55:20
Speaker 1: you know, a journey, like I say, in years of
55:23
Speaker 1: hard work. So yeah, just keep believing in yourself and
55:27
Speaker 1: in the run.
55:28
Speaker 2: Believe in the run. I love it, Melissa. For those
55:31
Speaker 2: that don't follow along with you, just yet give us
55:33
Speaker 2: the info. Where do they find you? How do they
55:35
Speaker 2: do that?
55:36
Speaker 1: On ig at Melissa Ortiz five, Likewise on TikTok, I
55:41
Speaker 1: think it's the same.
55:42
Speaker 3: On the X, I'm not sure.
55:45
Speaker 1: The eggs on the Ox Twitter on the Ox yeah,
55:48
Speaker 1: let's or teas five beautiful.
55:50
Speaker 2: I'm over at Emily Body and at Hurdle Podcast Another
55:53
Speaker 2: Hurdle conquered. Catch you guys next time.