Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 312. Confidence As A Superpower: Ari Chambers On Uplifting Women In Sport & Owning Her Seat At The Table

Transcript

312. Confidence As A Superpower: Ari Chambers On Uplifting Women In Sport & Owning Her Seat At The Table · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I'm audacious, i am irreplaceable, i am powerful, and I'm whole.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Like I'm not lacking anything, now do I keep adding? Yes?
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: But I never have been in a place where I
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: thought I was lacking.
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: Hey, everyone, Emily Abbadi here you are listening to episode
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: three hundred and twelve of Hurdle, a wellness focused podcast
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: where I talk to inspirational people about everything from their
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: highest ties and toughest moments to essential tips on how
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: to live a healthier, happier, more motivated life. We all
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: go through our fair share of hurdles. My goal through
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: these discussions is to empower you to better navigate yours
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: and move with intention so that you can stride towards
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: your own big potential and of course, have some fun
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: along the way. For today's episode, I am bringing you
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: a conversation that has me hype. It is with my
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  Speaker 3: girl Ari Chambers. She Oh my goodness, what doesn't Ari
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  Speaker 3: have her hands in? She's a journalist, she is the
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  Speaker 3: founder of Highlight Her.
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  Speaker 4: She's also talking.
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  Speaker 3: About women's sports over on ESPN in addition to a
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  Speaker 3: number of other places. She's the ultimate WNBA hype girl,
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: and during this summer's games, Ari was working with Team
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: USA as a creator, bringing you so much unbelievable content
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  Speaker 3: from both the Team USA house and all around Paris.
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  Speaker 3: In today's episode, we talk about how We talk about
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: how Ari got to this point, what motivated her to
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  Speaker 3: start focusing on the act of telling stories of women
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  Speaker 3: in sport, a passion that both her and I truly share,
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  Speaker 3: and Ari gets candid about the highs and lows that come.
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  Speaker 2: With being so ambitious.
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  Speaker 3: We talk about the proudest moments in Ari's career year,
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  Speaker 3: plus what it's really like to have so much great
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: access talking to so many individuals that so many of
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  Speaker 3: us truly admire. This episode another one of the gems
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: that was recorded inside Athleta's Power of She studio space
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: in Paris, So of course got to give a huge,
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: huge thank you to the team at Athleta as always
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: for supporting me and empowering me to bring some really stellar.
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: Stories to the feed.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: Make sure, if you're not doing so yet, you subscribe
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: to the Weekly Hurdle newsletter over there. You can get
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: so much of the same inspiration a motivation you love
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: from the show directly in your inbox, absolutely free every
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: single Friday. Plus follow along with Hurdle over on social
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: it's at Hurdle Podcast and I am over at Emily
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: a body with that.
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: Let's get to it. Let's get to hurdling today. I
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: am sitting down with Ari Chambers. How we doing.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: We're great. We have our sisters in Paris. It's so fun.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Not so much movement though, because it's really hot.
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  Speaker 4: It is really hot.
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  Speaker 3: I know it's a little seem me here in the
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  Speaker 3: Hurdle studio, but we're doing it.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: We're doing it, you're doing it. Thank you.
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: Can we talk about I want to hear, I want
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: to hear about everything, but for the sake of time,
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: give us a little insight into what you are doing
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  Speaker 3: here in Paris.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: So for the past few years I've been doing long form,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: sit down content with the women athletes of Team USA
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: and TIM USA just felt compelled to send me to Paris,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm a part of their inaugural content creator program
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  Speaker 1: through NBC and the USLPC and TIM USA, and so
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  Speaker 1: my job is to bring the vibes, give you a
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  Speaker 1: little bts that you can't necessarily see from broadcast, and
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  Speaker 1: continue to tell stories of women athletes and you know,
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  Speaker 1: doing all the things bringing.
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  Speaker 4: The vibes vies. How does it make you feel.
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  Speaker 1: I love any chance that I can amplify women's sports
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  Speaker 1: stories and then involve the general public into places because
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  Speaker 1: we I think a lot of times, especially like people
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  Speaker 1: in media or people who have this access, always we
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  Speaker 1: take for granted how much our access really gets us.
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  Speaker 1: And so being able to open it up to the
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  Speaker 1: general public around the world, especially during the Olympics time
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  Speaker 1: where they can't normally get it, it makes me feel great
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  Speaker 1: and fulfilled.
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  Speaker 4: Is this the first Olympics that you've worked with?
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  Speaker 2: This is my first Olympic Games.
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  Speaker 1: I feel like a little baby running around here, a
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  Speaker 1: little baby.
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  Speaker 4: So excited for you.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, it's my first time at an Olympics working too.
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  Speaker 3: It's absolutely wild. It's certainly something that was on my
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  Speaker 3: vision board for a long time.
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  Speaker 1: So you do okay, So I do vision boards too,
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  Speaker 1: and I write it down to I am a firm
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  Speaker 1: believer everything should be the beginning of the year or
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  Speaker 1: the end of the previous year.
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  Speaker 2: You need to write it down. Like for vision boarding.
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  Speaker 1: I do the whole like magazine cut out with the
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  Speaker 1: markers and stuff, but I also write myself a note
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  Speaker 1: on the back of it as if it already came true.
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  Speaker 1: And so this was on my vision board just like
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: it was on yours. I'm happy that it came into fruition.
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  Speaker 3: Happy that it came into fruition. We love a vision board, YEP.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: Aside from this moment, what else has been on your
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: vision board as of late?
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  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
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  Speaker 1: So bringing back to last January, I didn't know where
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: I was going to be career wise, and so I
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: was just hoping for a contract that made sense for
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: me and my broadcast career to continue to elevate. And
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: I got that. That's my new ESPN job, and you know,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: I wanted to move. I did that, and so we're
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: just tipping away about things with personal life and career
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: life and keeping my dog life. He's fourteen. He's hanging
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: in there. The vet says, I have like five more years,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: and I'm so happy. But he's kind of turning evil.
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  Speaker 2: A little bit.
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  Speaker 4: But you know, where does Tiger go? When you tell
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  Speaker 4: all the time?
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  Speaker 1: Typically he travels with me, but last road trip you
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: try to peel my face. And so I've been boarding
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  Speaker 1: him because you're not going to get me, got buddy.
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  Speaker 1: But also, fourteen year little stress, so maybe I shouldn't
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  Speaker 1: bord him.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, buddy, Tiger, Well, I love that all these things
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  Speaker 3: in your vision board are coming to fruition, And what
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: a testament to your work ethic to land this opportunity
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: with ESB. Where were you when you got the call
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: that you landed What I'm assuming to be is probably
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: on the top of the dream job list.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: So I was actually never the type to be like,
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: I really want to work for ESPN, right. My passion,
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  Speaker 1: my mission was always I really want to continue to
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  Speaker 1: elevate the women's game, And it had been a discussion
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: over the past year of if it's aligned with what
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: I see, if it's aligned with what they see. And
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: the beautiful thing about working in women's sports is such
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: a sisterhood. So word of mouth and how people speak
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: about you in rooms when you're not there is really necessary,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: especially going.
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  Speaker 2: Into a bigger corporation like that.
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  Speaker 1: And so I'm just thankful that the right people said
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: the right things in the right rooms, and the right
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: opportunity presented itself for me to join the ESPN family.
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  Speaker 2: And I've been happy since.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, been happy since. Oh my god, it's so special.
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  Speaker 3: But obviously that didn't just happen overnight. You've had quite
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: the journey to get to this point. Bring us back
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  Speaker 3: to when you knew that you wanted to get into
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  Speaker 3: the journalism as a whole.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: So cheerleading has been a part of my life, my
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  Speaker 1: whole life. But also my dad is a mass com professor.
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  Speaker 1: You know, you try to do everything your parents don't do.
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  Speaker 1: But I was I was literally grading He's a university professor,
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  Speaker 1: so I was grading his students things and twelve and
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  Speaker 1: thirteen years old, so I knew I was going to.
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  Speaker 2: Stumble upon communication.
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  Speaker 1: But between cheerleading my whole life and going into my
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  Speaker 1: adult life and cheering professionally and seeing the media discrepancy
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  Speaker 1: between the Nicks, Rangers and the Liberty, and I was like,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: that doesn't say well me that nobody wants to talk
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: to my friends. And so that's when it really hit me,
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  Speaker 1: like I can just do it myself. And this was
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: a little bit before the social media thing. So I
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  Speaker 1: was PR's worst nightmare for a long time, but I
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: didn't care because I wanted to tell my friend's stories.
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  Speaker 1: So just like this only a lot less equiped y'all
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: can't see there's equipment, But like I had my cell
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  Speaker 1: phone in their hotel rooms and I would just record
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: conversations and put them online. And thankfully Bleacher Report found
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: me and I was able to found their women's platform.
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  Speaker 1: But that's how it all came into fruition. I never
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: really bit myself into conventional forms of journalism. I just
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: wanted my friend's stories to be told. And sometimes we
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: overcomplicate the process of innovation and starting something.
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  Speaker 2: I'm like, just do it. If you see something missing,
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  Speaker 2: just do it. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: And you know what I think is so special about
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  Speaker 3: that is so many individuals will say something like I
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  Speaker 3: didn't have the right equipment or x sort of excuse.
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  Speaker 3: You provide some sort of an excuse, and you were like, no,
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  Speaker 3: that's not going to be my barrier to entry.
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  Speaker 4: And that shows a lot of initiative.
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  Speaker 3: Do you think that you've always had that type of
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  Speaker 3: initiative go get or vibe within you?
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  Speaker 1: Well, Emily, I'm the only child and only grandchilds I
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  Speaker 1: grew up doing what I want, but I also grew
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  Speaker 1: up around a lot of empowered women. And being able
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: to know that I can do whatever I want without excuse,
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  Speaker 1: without limitations was something that was presented to me when
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: I was, I mean, frush out the wombs. So I
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: never saw examples of like I can't. And whenever I
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: was faced with the I can't when I was growing up,
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  Speaker 1: I would always have the curiosity to be like, why
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  Speaker 1: would you say that I can't? It wasn't why can't I,
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: It was like, why would you come up with this
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: notion that I can't do something I wanted to do,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: even though some things I should have done, but it
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: just didn't make sense to me. So that curiosity and
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: wondering or dismantling people's thought processes of the limitations on
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: women and just it didn't resonate with me. I'm so
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: glad that I had that rebellious spirit and the only
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: child central child syndrum.
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: And also I'm sure some of this resiliency was instilled
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: in you within sport you cheered in college. Talk to
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: us a little bit about what that experience brought to
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: the table in terms of instilling in you some of
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: the qualities that you find helpful these days within your work.
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  Speaker 1: It was the explanation point on everything that I had
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: built my whole life.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: Because my all start your jim, let me just get
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: a little granular. So all start. Cheerleading has always been
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: the sport of cheerleading.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: I didn't cheer for anybody until later in life, and
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: so we would practice on the weekdays compete on the weekends.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: That was just the routine that I had. So that's
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: a routine right then.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: In cheerleading there's stunting and everybody has to do their
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: part in order to keep the stunt up. So if
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: you have your bases who are gripping away from the
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: stunt and not getting under it, the stunt has a
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: potential fall. If you have a flyer not locking out,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: you can fall. If the backspot's not holding their weight,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: you can fall. And so everybody had to work toward
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: a common goal to keep the stunt up, and then
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: you have if you go out of bounds.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: It's a deduction.
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  Speaker 1: Everything with cheerleading was disciplined teamwork, playing your role and
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: knowing what your role is.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: I was a flyer in a backspot.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: Now a lot of people have more pride in being
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: a flyer than a backspot, but I know I'm six
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: feet tall, like that is just not practical for me
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: to fly my whole life. So playing my role as
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: a backspot took it very seriously, and a lot of
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: people have said I'm like one of the most aggressive
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: backspots that they've ever met, because I really take it seriously.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: It's not just holding your ankle, it's pulling up on
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: the stunt too. And so everything about cheerleading helped me
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: translate that into my career because of like the discipline,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: the teamwork, the goal orientation, the staying in bounds, the
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: knowing your role, knowing how to be coached, knowing when
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: to lead, when to be quiet when stunts are building
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: you shouldn't talk. I'm like a very militant type of
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: cheerloadinger because I grew up. You know, I'll start cheerleading,
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: but just knowing what to do and what situation too.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, and knowing how to be coached.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: What an interesting takeaway, right, because so many people don't
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: understand that there's so much benefit to thinking or saying
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: or putting yourself in a position where you're not the
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: smartest person in the room.
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you want to be surrounded by people that not.
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: Only know more than you, but can also teach you
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: something That certainly has been an opportunity presented to yourself
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: as you've evolved in amplifying women in sports. Talk to
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: me a little bit about the people that have coached
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: you along the way.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: So I love my mentor La China Robinson.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: She is one of those ones that can give me
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: the truth whenever I need it, whether that's advice, whether
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: that's what she would do in a situation, that's her
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: basketball knowledge. But also what I've loved recently is my
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: peer Andrea Carter. She is the most brilliant basketball mind
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: I've ever come across, and seeing how she looks at
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: film and how she breaks it down is inspiring.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: I get inspired by people that have.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: The lungs and the willpower that you have from you,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: like how mental running can be and crossing that finish
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: line and every trait that I can grab from somebody
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: that I don't encompass. That's how you know you're keeping
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: a good group around you because you can pull from
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: each other, you can share in each other's energy, you
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: can be motivated and inspired by each other's journey. And
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: if I didn't have that, I wouldn't be halfway of
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: where I am now today. But also it's okay to
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: like just not my job is talking, right, My job
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: is talking. But they don't realize that it's also listening
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: and help helping amplify and just opening up space for
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: other people. And a lot of times I catch myself
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: just listening to the athlete and letting them take me
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: where they want to take me. Because I have the
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: privilege of doing special features. So I learned something new
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: from people every single day that in turn motivates me
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: to want to be better. And everybody's like, al ry ho,
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: do you have the energy for all this? I'm like,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: I'm I get energized by the people around me.
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: Yeah, oh, I can totally relate with that.
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: It's such an opportunity that we have not only to
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: help tell these stories, but also to listen so that
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: we can help the framework of elevating these unbelievable individuals. Now,
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: also you join a unique group of women. Now the
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: China has been on the show too, So now you're
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: in the systems.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: You have the whole family. We are the families.
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: The family is on the hurdle.
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: Going back though, to departing from cheerleading, because that was
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: such a big part of your life for such a
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: long time, talk to me about the mental hurdles that
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: you had to overcome when you walked away from that sport.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: Being very candid with you, I didn't choose to walk
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: away when you cheer professionally, there's certain things in your
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: contract which are up for interpretation. And they found out
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: that I was a journalist, even thought hidden. And it
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: took a lot, I mean many years to get over
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: being pushed out of something that you think you're still with.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: And I'm very candid about this because I had a
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: lot of bitterness, a lot of anger because I keep
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: it completely honest, like Madison's Square Garden was my home
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: for five years, and to not go home every day
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: was really painful. But it's funny because the way not
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: being on a team translated in real life was bizarre.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: The way not having performance translated bizarrely too. I was
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: over performing at work to the point where people are like,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: are you okay? Do you need to like go home,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: Like you need to go home, like you've been working
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: too much? And so I would work exhaustingly performing for
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: a job that didn't need that level of performance. I
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: missed my teammates a lot, I missed the venue a lot.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: I was very mad, but La China said, Okay, you
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: can grieve about twenty four hours, then figure out what
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: you're going to do for yourself.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: And it took me a long time to get through that.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: But as far as shape shifting my mentality and saying, Okay,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: I can't stay somewhere where it's not written for me
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: to stay longer, then wait, I'm religious, so what God
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: intends me to stay in? And so I had to
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: just concede to that notion and say, hey, I'm going
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: wherever you take me.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: And that's when Highlighter came about.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: And so I couldn't have started highlight her if I
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: were still cheering. It just wouldn't have worked with my schedule,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have worked with the rights and things like that.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: So it was great that I was pushed out.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: I wasn't ready to go or what I thought was ready,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: But it shows itself in weird ways. And I suggest
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: every former athlete, anybody who's been on a team, or
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: anybody who has been active individually too, to get a
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: therapist or get somebody you can talk to about that transition,
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: because it's a jarring change.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: It's a real abrupt change.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: Not having to report places with your team, not having
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: to perform every day, it's it's really hard.
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you lose foundationally a lot of the
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: aspects of your schedule, and that foundation, although sometimes it
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: can feel like a hassle, is something that also helps
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: bring some normalcy in your life. And so when you
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: lose that way that you identify, yeah, it's like, well
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: who I am, especially in New York.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: When you just moved. I literally just moved to Manhattan
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: on a whim. Sold my instruments like to make rent
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: like kind of thing, and so.
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: I'm sorry instruments.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I didn't play them very well. So my
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: acoustic guitar, my clarinet, I think.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: My little keyboard.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: Anyway to pay the first month's rent so I could
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: get there. But cheerleading was what gave me routine, Like
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: the entertainment team is what gave me a routine. I
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: knew where to report, and now that that routine was
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: snatched away from me against my will, it was really
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: difficult for me to transition.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: Now. Do I have a routine now? Probably not, not
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: as much as.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: I need to have, but at least I have stability
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: career wise, personal wise, financial wise.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: But it was really hard in twenty eighteen.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and thank you for sharing that. I mean definitely
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: something that so many people can relate to. When you
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: feel like one thing is when you feel like the
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: way is the way, and then the way it changes
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: all of a sudden and you take a hard pivot
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: to the right in executing at this moment. For those
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: that don't know, first and foremost, give them some background
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: in the capacity that you were working as a journalist
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: at this time.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: I was nobody, Like I was just ari.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: I was posting on social media, but like I have
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: with like Titan k like it wasn't I wasn't a
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: major influencer. When I loved cheerleading, I was just friends
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: with WNBA players, and that's what it was that I
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: had no journalism title behind me because of cheerleading. We
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: worked different WNBA events like Junior NBA camp and draft.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: And I walked up to the China and I said,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: you're my goals personified. I want to be you. She said,
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: I already know who you are. Take down my number
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: because obviously like mutual friends. And I was able to
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: shadow her in Atlanta that whole summer. This was a
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: decade ago, and she gave me the lay of the land.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: And then somebody also told me that nobody would take
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: me seriously because I was a cheerleader. So I wrote
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: in Howard megdal it was the then Summit hoops, now
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: it's the next. He gave me a writing opportunity to
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: prove that I knew basketball and it was just basketball
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: back then.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: But that's it.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: I didn't. I wasn't like there was no Ari Chambers
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: of the journalist. It was like, oh, she has our
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: first byline.
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: What I'm hearing you say, though, is that you brought
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: enough to what you were doing that it was something
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: to be concerned over, quote unquote, like you showed up
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: as a force from the get go.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: And you know it's funny in retrospect, yes, But like then,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: I didn't understand because I didn't understand why MSG was
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: so threatened. I didn't understand why it was such a
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: problem that I was cheering and still talking to my
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: friends because it was like it was like, well, not
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: like this, this is a lie, but like if we
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: were just kicking it on the couch and I would
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: just post it online. So I didn't know that it
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: was that big of a threat. But everybody had to
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: see some type of greatness in it. For it to
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: escalate to the higher ups to push me out.
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: Very true.
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, So, going to as you mentioned the beginning of
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: Highlight Her, talk us through what was going on in
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: your world as this was concepted.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: I was a professional model and Doug Bernstein at Bleacher Report,
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: he's actually he was a GM of House of Highlights
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: at the time. He said, hey, do you want to
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: come on board? We want you to start our women's platform.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: And I was like, you know, like jobs didn't really
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: resonate with me when you're living wild in your twenties
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: and York, right, And so we ended up finding Alignment,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: because again I don't like being shackled by the name
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: of places. We found Alignment and I founded their women's platform,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Highlight Her and I started from the ground up zero
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: to over two hundred thousand, and I was by myself
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: for two and a half years just doing the groundwork
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: creating community. The entire point of Highlighter was to create
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: a community for girls and women, no matter the age level,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: ability and sport and what it did.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: It pushed me outside of just basketball.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: I would talk to softball players about how women's basketball
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: needs to get paid more, and they'd be like one
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: hundred thousand, and we only get five thousand a season, right,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: And so I just saw other aspects of the women's
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: game in general, and I said, I I have to help.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: So I did what I could for two and a
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: half years and then realized it was a little unhealthy,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: and so they were They allowed me to hire two people.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: And what's not lost on me is that I hired
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: my best friend from ninety six, Krishan Williams. She is
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: now spearheading highlight her and she's still there in Jasmine Brown.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: She had been on the ground working with me for
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: a couple of years, just freelancing things. And so I
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: hired a nice little team. And I always think it's
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: funny because men they hire their friends, so why can't we?
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: And so I think that by having because Kashian wanted
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: to go to med school, poor baby, Sorry Christian, But
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: the fact that I was able to hire her and
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: start her in sports and now she found her love
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: in sports coverage. She used to run track professionally, and
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: so helping her ease that transition outside of track. She
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: moved from Florida back to North Carolina, so she was
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: able to start a life that was still sports adjacent
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: that filled that hole for her.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: I'm assuming.
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: I mean you can relate to it as well, going
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: through a time period where oh yeah, I.
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: Loved cheerlead Emily.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: Is this a therapy?
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: Oh my god, you were just surprising.
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: You were just showing up for her in a way
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: that maybe at the time you almost wish someone could
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: have shown up for you so completely. A really beautiful,
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: full circle moment there for you, and also another testament
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: to your firm belief and standing in uplifting other women.
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: You said so eloquently when we started our conversation how
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: important it is to befriend people in a way that
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: when you're not sitting in the room with them, they
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: have good things to say about you. You want to
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: be in the same circle with women who are going
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: to uplift you in a room that you're not in,
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: and I think that that's so valuable and something that
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: you also live by, and that's great.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: I don't understand why people don't keep around good company.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: It confuses me because, like I said, I have the
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: same friends best friends since ninety six, and then my
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: other friend like Kivo boy, can she's my other best friend?
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: Have to CHRISTANV.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: And Kiev, and Kiev's been my best friend since O five,
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: so like in Jasmine Leonard since what O one, So
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: like I have my core.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: Group of friends is keeping I have tabs.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: I'm like a your person, you know how like I
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: can tell you exactly the song yere it is so weird.
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: It's weird my brain.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: But I keep around people that have the best intentions
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: for me, that I know that I can trust, that
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: will keep me honest, keep me fair, keep me exposed
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: to things that I might not have the perspective on.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: And I never understood why people were addicted to like
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: toxicity in anything but positivity, because like, you don't have
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: to live like that.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: If people's energy and it's okay, Like some people's.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: Energy don't don't they don't match and it's and it's
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: fine to just not be surrounded by those people and
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: that doesn't make them bad people. But like, just find
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: people that match your energy that I hope you want
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: to be better. Like my whole crew, especially China, Andrea, Monica, Angel, Christine,
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: all of them.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: We just it's great, it's crazy, it's the sister. It
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: doesn't have to be overly complicated.
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I want to bring us back to what you
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: mentioned could have been an unhealthy time for when you
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: were working yourself into the ground.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: What were the signs, Well, I'm still doing that, I'm
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: still working through that. I'm not gonna lity you know
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: the fan bama out there to say like I have
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: a healthy balance, because I don't. But the signs were
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: just like I was just miserable, like I couldn't get
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: out of bed, but I was still performing.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: So it was like, thank god my job was virtual then.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: And then like for TV, they have hair, they have
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: a whole team to hair and makeup wardrobe. Me and
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: I would be able to mask it like we wear the
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: mask whenever you're depressed. You just you just go through
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: the motion. And I didn't want to go through the
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: motion of things. That is how it was a good indicator.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: And then those who haven't experienced it, contract renegotiation is
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: very difficult, and I went through like three iterations before
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: I left and am at the company that I'm at now,
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: and every single contract renegotiation was really hard for me
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: to get into bed because it really quantifies what you're worth.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: Is that's the dark side of like TV and media.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: You see the number that's placed on your head. And
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: if you feel like you're undervalued, then what do you do?
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: What do you do?
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: And I'm not saying that my previous company undervalue me.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: I'm just saying, like seeing numbers attached to your likeness
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: is a really really humbling thing. And to be able
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: to make it through that knowing that you're overperforming and
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: still seeing like there's a discrepancy between what you think
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: you're worth versus what you're getting paid is like a
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: little troublesome.
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean completely understandable. And again, thank you for
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: sharing that. You use the D word depression. Would you
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: say that you at that point considered yourself depressed?
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: I was clinically depressed.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I didn't know, Like, I didn't know how
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: bad it was until I talked to somebody. And then
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: I am severely introverted. And I know it doesn't read
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: that way, but I am a severe introvert. So I
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: would be exhausted on top of depression, and then my
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: anxiety too, and so it was a lot piled on.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: And I don't like taking medicine and stylling my thing. Oh,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: I also don't like seeing doctors. And it's the whole thing,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: but like it was hard for me to figure out
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: a way to work through it, and I was able
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: to do it with things like the run clubs that
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: we were a part of, the things like I would
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: go to dance workouts and still get that performance factor
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: and like be able to have like an audition eight
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: to present to the class at the end. Like I
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: can't do a zoom a moment because there's no in
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: goal to that. So like like I need I need
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: to learn a couple of accounts and be able to
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: perform at the end. And then I also like circ fitness,
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: which is the anti gravity yoga and the lera and
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: things like that helps that itch of like gymnastics and
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: cheerleading for me.
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: So the movement was really medicine for you.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I know. I mean those pills are still
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: in the cabinet. I get it, and they are untouched.
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: I get it.
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: You know, there was a time in my life where
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: I was dealing arguably with depression, but it manifested as
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: insomnia and I was just not sleeping at all. I
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: was going through arguably like a very emotionally abusive relationship candidly,
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: and so it's.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: That's what you experience. That's the truth.
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: So I was going I was going through an emotionally
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: abusive relationship at the time, and I went to a
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: doctor and was prescribed medication and actually had a conversation
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: after I left that day with someone who asked me
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: to articulate how I was feeling. And it felt like,
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: for the first time in a long time, someone had
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: wanted to talk about my emotions. And I realized after
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: having that really beautiful, vulnerable conversation about how I felt
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: in that moment, for me was enough, and that if
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: I kept talking about how I felt, then maybe it
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: would get better and maybe I would sleep. And the
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: first time that I slept through the night was that
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: evening after that conversation. So everyone has a different lived experience,
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: and there are so many different ways to treat what
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: might feel like or what is alone, but that doesn't
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: mean that one way is better than.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: The I want to pause on that because I saw
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: this TikTok the other day shout at the content where
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: it's saying, like, identify exactly how you feel. So like
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: when we're like I'm mad, they're like, no, let's unpack that.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: How are you really feeling? And like when you're arguing
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: with a partner of things, and the woman was talking
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: through her emotions and then she landed on I was embarrassed.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: And so being able to just identify exactly how you're feeling.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Taking a beat to unpack and delayer everything is really
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: important going forward with emotions and going through every day
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: light life. And then when you do take that beat,
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: it allows you to slow down too and really get
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: into the root of everything.
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: Get into the root of everything is everything and understanding
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: that what might work one day might not work the
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: next day at all, like yesterday, just like yesterday's prices
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: in today's price period, like they're gonna have highs and lows.
• 27:26
  Speaker 4: But that is the human experience, yep.
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: And so like we have the opportunity to figure out
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: the right way to respond for ourselves.
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: Absolutely in that moment, absolutely now.
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: Knowing that you were really burning the candle levelth ends
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: and then you brought on the help of your two
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: of good friends.
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: We're able to hire other talented women. What changed for you.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: Shared experience. I don't have to explain the struggle. I
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: can distribute, like La China always says, outsource, which you
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: don't want to do so I was able to outsource
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: a little bit of below. We were able to mutually
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: inspire each other to create great work. There's a beautiful
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: thing that happens when you add other perspectives. And so
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: where I would be really strong with gymnastics, cheerleading and basketball,
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: Chashan would be really strong at track, Jazon would be
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: really strong at rugby. It would be it's different perspectives
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: that come together that make a better product. And like
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: the hard headedness that I would normally have delegating you know,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: tasks and assignments and things like that, they were able
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: to unpack that and just be like, no, let's do
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: it this way.
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: And I was able to be receptive.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: And so just the allocation of assignments and just the
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: balance that is there, and the mutual inspiration.
• 28:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah, the mutual inspiration is huge.
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: And being able to kind of be in the trenches
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: with other people, as you know, is so so helpful. Absolutely,
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: Oh my gosh. So as then this also increases the audience, Yeah,
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: it does of highlight her.
• 28:53
  Speaker 4: So now you're really cooking with gas.
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and as you continue to cook with gas, what happens.
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: For the brand?
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: It monetization Now I'm just kidding, but I know I'm
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: not kidding, but it scales up and so it just
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: shows the importance of women and girls in sport. And
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: I would argue that it was a big foundational block
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: of why women's sports is growing so rapidly.
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: I will take ownership of that.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: I think that that is truly something that we can
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: pat ourselves on the back for because between us and
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: Together and the other platforms that really perpetuated women's sports forward,
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: you put a pressure on a lot of bigger brands
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: who would have otherwise overlooked women's sports. And the fact
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: that Highlighter had the opportunity to do it on all ages,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: levels of abilities, and sports, it showcased that it didn't
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: have to be reliant on just basketball. Basketball is not
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: the only monetizable sport out there.
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: And then I.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Got opportunities, like I was talking to Women's Sports Foundation
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: conference one day and I was telling them my mission,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: I cover all ages, levels, abilities and sports, and in
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: the front Maggie Stevens was like, actually, you've never covered
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: us women's water polo. And I love that, And I
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: love the accountability that comes with being the face of
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: a brand, building a brand like that, because it is
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: glaring when we leave people out, and I'm so happy
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: that she did that. And in turn, if y'all check
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: out Athlete Voices with Team USA, we were able to
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: sit down and just share the rich storytelling behind that,
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: and then Flavor Flav caught on and now he's sponsoring them,
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: and it's just all it needs is a little bit
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: of visibility, and I'm glad that we were one of
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: the vehicles for that, and I think that it really
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: was a significant building block into like the trajectory of
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: women's sports right now.
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: How does that make you feel?
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: I'm proud.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: I'm still recognized that we have a long way to
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: go with women's sports, but I am proud because it's
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: never about me.
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: Like I am no longer with Highlighter.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: I stepped away from it, but I can recognize that
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: I can step away from it because it was never me.
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: It was always the community and the community we've.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Built I was proud to say was our community, Like
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: it was never something centering me, And so that's what
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: I'm most proud of. I'm most proud of women being
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: able to find space for themselves within that.
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you said you're good with it. How does it
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: feel when you see it without you?
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: Oh, it's fine, it's fine. I just know that every
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: iteration of my life I have to accept right. So,
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: like just like with cheerleading and it pushed me out,
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: that's one thing with Highlighter and me wanting to grow
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: in a different direction, but still like scale up my
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: vision for things like I have to go where my
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: story is being written and I can't force stay somewhere
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: where it's in good hands.
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: It's in great hands.
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: It still has the space for everybody that I intended
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: it to have. And there are people there who really
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: care about women's sports, and that is That's how I
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: know I made my mark. That's the legacy that I
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: left behind on Warner Brother's Discovery. I know that there
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: are people now that care about women's sports that did
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: not otherwise care. And so I did my part there
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: and it was time for the next iteration, and so
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: I look at it with pride. I look at it
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: with like it's they're solace there knowing that it's going
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: to be fine.
• 32:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, what does a balance look like for you?
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: I don't have a girl.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: Balance looks like four lattes a day and holding my
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: dog and just hoping that.
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: I stay afloat. But I'm learning. I just I don't know.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: I have no idea.
• 32:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah, do you want to know?
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: I do want to know.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: I just want to the problem with me, and I
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: think this is like an internal battle. Is with performance
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: based things, you're constantly trying to prove yourself. I think
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: that that comes from the gymnast in me, the cheerleader
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: in me, where it's constantly having to hit that well
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: for Chuity's one hundred point performance, which never happens.
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: You just don't get even if you hit zero, you
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: just don't get it right.
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: With gymnastics like they're now with elite scoring, you just
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: never know what the highest thing is. So it's just
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: constantly trying to perform and be the best every single day.
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: So I don't I don't know.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: I don't know when it's going to be like I
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: can just relax because I have the energy to continue
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: to go, but I don't want to expel too much
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: energy that I'm burnt out by thirty seven.
• 33:07
  Speaker 4: So I'll refram. How do you want to feel?
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: I want to feel relaxed knowing that my career is
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: gonna be okay, and the women's sports is going to
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: continue to grow and not be a trend.
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: What leads you to believe that if you found more
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: time to relax that that couldn't happen.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: You know, this is turning into therapy here I am.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, Emily, I'm here. You let's win a marathon.
• 33:31
  Speaker 4: You don't need to run a marathon, relax.
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: I'm just asking you questions to me, encourage you to
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: ask yourself almost what can I do so that I
• 33:42
  Speaker 3: can keep showing.
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: That yeah, I do.
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: I do need to figure that out. And it's funny
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: because when I went to ESPN and An scaped, I
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: was like, where's the work? And I was panicked and
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: they're like, honey, you have three assignments with You're fine
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: his talent, Like, we accept assignments to real and I
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: realized that's the healthy amount of work, not fifteen hours
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: a day. And so it was just a very hard
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: switch that I'm adjusting to and I'm learning. Monica McNutt
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: is my best friend that lets me know, hey, girl,
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: have you taken the vacation this quarter?
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: Because I'm going I'm going to Turks. Are you coming?
• 34:17
  Speaker 4: Like?
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: That's Monica Monica's like, oh girl, I'm gonna plan. I'm like,
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: are you going this event?
• 34:20
  Speaker 4: Girl?
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna plane with my man. I'm like, okay, girl,
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: do you get thing?
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: But she has perfected balance or she is way farther
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: along than a lot of us, and so that's kind
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: of my north star with lifestyle balance. So I hope
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: to get there someday. But again, you look at her career,
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: and I know comparison is crippling, but that is somebody
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: who's irreplaceable. I know, I recognize that I am as well,
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: but I feel like because of the women's sports fight
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: is so much. It's so much in general, I still
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: have to fight for women's sports until it's like at
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: a healthy spot where people won't just give up on it.
• 34:55
  Speaker 4: I love that sentence. I know that I am as well.
• 34:58
  Speaker 3: I am statements as I call them something that I've
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: really been incorporating into my regular routine lately. For me,
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: especially if I have anxiety before sitting down to do
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: a big interview or if I'm even going out for
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: a run that feels like I'm about to climb Mount Everest,
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: I'll sit down and I'll literally physically right down, like
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: eight things I know to be true, like I am
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: capable of running existence, or I am really good at
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: my job. I am someone who gets paid to do
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: these things right. And so I see all these facts
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: and it helps me negate the gremlin that we call
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: it that's in your head.
• 35:29
  Speaker 4: So for you, if you had to say, like four.
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: I AM statements about what makes you great as ari
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: for your job, what are your I AM statements?
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: I'm audacious af' I don't think I can guess here.
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: It looks so so like audacity is like my power
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: work because that is one thing that I've always had,
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: is audacity. I am irreplaceable, I am powerful, and I'm whole.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: Like I'm not lacking anything, now do I keep adding?
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: Yes? But I don't.
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: I never have been in a place where I thought
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: I was lacking. And that's something that is funny because
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: my mensis come up to me and like, how are
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: you so confident? I was like, I don't understand how
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: people aren't like that is something like I have never
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: lacked confidence. I have never lacked drive. I've never lacked anything.
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: The resources I didn't have I acquired. So it's like
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: and I understand that's privileged to even have that perspective,
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: because it's a.
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: Whole thing with the psychology and having your basic means.
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: Meat anyways, But I recognize that that audacity and that
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: lacking nothing comes from a place of privilege. But I
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: want everybody to know that they can achieve whatever they
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: want to achieve with their I am statements. But the
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: journalism me wants to know what is the most anxious
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: that you've been?
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: Like, what interview really threw you for?
• 36:40
  Speaker 4: She's about to try to flip this.
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I can't doubt that. I can't try to be
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: patient about it.
• 36:46
  Speaker 3: I must like let her podcast for just a minute. No,
• 36:49
  Speaker 3: I mean the most nervous I've ever been. There have
• 36:51
  Speaker 3: been a few that come to mind.
• 36:53
  Speaker 4: One of them.
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: I got the opportunity to have like one of the
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: only interviews with Selene Flanning in after she ran the
• 37:00
  Speaker 3: six back to backworld marathons, when they were all in
• 37:03
  Speaker 3: a very short amount of time over after the pandemic,
• 37:07
  Speaker 3: and to have that time with her, I was like,
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: so many people would have killed for this time, and
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: not only did I have the time, but it was live,
• 37:13
  Speaker 3: so it was like, Okay, we are going into this
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: like as prepared as possible, and that was definitely an
• 37:20
  Speaker 3: I AM day.
• 37:22
  Speaker 4: But you know, I mean.
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: They come and go right, and sometimes it's I mean,
• 37:25
  Speaker 3: I get excited about everyone that I have the opportunity
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: to speak with, but candidly, sometimes it's just like other
• 37:30
  Speaker 3: things that are going on in your life that that
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: foster that anxious feeling that you can then unintentionally bring
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: to the table as you have an opportunity to sit
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: down with someone. And I never want what's going on
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: in the outside to be the thing that informs how
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: I elevate someone. Let's call it on the inside when
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: we sit down in person. So I would say Shalaine
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: in this instance.
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: But you know, people do not realize a compartmentalization. It's
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: necessary to be a journalist. It's very difficult and it's
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: funny because we help amplify, we help open up space
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: for people so much, but a lot of times we
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: don't have that space for ourselves because I'm an impath too,
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: so like between introversion and impath and like not having
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: balanced Jesus, I don't know how I'm still like not
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: like not imploded, but it's it's a really complicated relationship
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: relationship with our inner feelings.
• 38:19
  Speaker 3: I love what you said about like so many of
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: your I am statements were so powerful, and specifically the
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: one where you were like, I know I am confident,
• 38:27
  Speaker 3: and you also use the word audacious and that you
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: have audacity on the days that you're not feeling so
• 38:33
  Speaker 3: shiny and so confident.
• 38:35
  Speaker 4: What is it that you do for.
• 38:36
  Speaker 3: Yourself to help you show up as your best self
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: knowing what is to be true?
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: So my confidence isn't based in like the shininess of
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: the day, but I do like to reflect on like
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: my blessings and so sometimes if that's just like scrolling
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: through your own personal social media and be like wow,
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: this is this is great. I remember calling my agent.
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: I was like, am I irrelevant? Aaron like literally, this
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: is this is this stuff you has to deal with.
• 39:00
  Speaker 4: Like, am I irrelevant?
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: I haven't worked in a week And she's like are
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: you Like there's just no there's no assignment, like be
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: for real. But then I look back on my social media,
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, this has been fun, Like this year
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: has been great, It's actually been a very successful year,
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: or like having my goals checklist and being able to say,
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: oh no, I checked that off, and so I know
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: your confidence should be based off of a task list,
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: but it's something that's like it's not reaffirming that I
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: need for being a former athlete, like I need to
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: know my score.
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: I need to know all that.
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: And when you do become talent for a bigger company,
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: your producer is not going to give you feedback every time.
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: It's like, great, okay, see you later.
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: And so I know me and Andrea have the same
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: situation where like how do we great ourselves for the day.
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: And so just knowing that I show up gives me confidence.
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: Knowing that, like I've done the things that I said
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: I wanted to do, gives me confidence knowing that even
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: now I moved into this great apartment and.
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: I look around, I'm like, dang, girl, you did that.
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: And so that gives me confidence knowing that I'm living
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: in a way like I went from eating three four
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: dollars bananas and not being able to pay rent and
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: like moving into it.
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: I moved into a legal building.
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: Back in the day where I knew that if I
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: didn't if I missed a couple rent payments, that land
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: LAWRD was I legally to me. So it was fine,
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: but like moving from that to where I live now
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: is completely different. So just being able to acknowledge how
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: far I've come is a good confidence boost too.
• 40:19
  Speaker 3: Again, it's more of writing down or looking at what
• 40:22
  Speaker 3: you know to be true that helps you stand in
• 40:24
  Speaker 3: your power when things feel a little bit shaky, which
• 40:28
  Speaker 3: is amazing. And I can certainly relate to you on
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: that that moving the upgrading feeling.
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: You got to come over.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: I'm like so proud, like please come, I got to
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: New Jersey. Oh are you a Brooklyn girl? Oh god,
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: I don't know that's a Brooklyn and you you're like
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: New Jersey? All right, all right, well whatever, we'll work
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: on that.
• 40:48
  Speaker 4: We'll work on that. It's okay.
• 40:49
  Speaker 3: I can get over my like Jersey feelings to come
• 40:51
  Speaker 3: at your crib please. I can like really like get
• 40:54
  Speaker 3: with you on that feeling of like accomplishment and so
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: special because I remember, like I mean, I've done so
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: many within my career and I'm sure that you can
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: relate to this. We're so meaningful and special and like
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: it's truly a bucket list moment. But when I think
• 41:06
  Speaker 3: about like one of the things that I am the
• 41:08
  Speaker 3: most proud of, it's like I am proud of like
• 41:10
  Speaker 3: what I've been able to provide for myself. Yeah, you know,
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: like we went from like how am I ever going
• 41:15
  Speaker 3: to live on my own? Not only am I living
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: on my own, but like I have this whole place. Yeah,
• 41:20
  Speaker 3: like we're doing it.
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: My dog has a swivel chair.
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: Oh Tiger.
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: Tiger is three.
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: Pounds and has this giant swool chair that can sit
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: three people.
• 41:29
  Speaker 4: Three people. We love it. We love it needs a
• 41:32
  Speaker 4: swivel chair. Tiger has also upgraded apparently.
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: Oh my god, he's been through like he's fourteen, so
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: he was the end of college for me through now.
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: So he's been my whole twenties, early thirties together and
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: he's there.
• 41:46
  Speaker 4: Oh my god, my heart strings.
• 41:48
  Speaker 3: Okay, so these days, what makes you the most excited
• 41:54
  Speaker 3: about your life in general doesn't have to be your career,
• 41:57
  Speaker 3: but I feel like you're gonna go that way, So
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: I'm going to listen to wherever you.
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: Live, so career wise, career wise, I am most excited
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: to see where women's sports goes because we're kind of
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: in juxtaposition, and so as it grows, I grow. So
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: just the scale the potential of that, I'm excited to
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: see what relaxation and balance looks like, like the potential
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: for it, because I think that I'm almost at that
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: point where i can just exhale. Almost but almost, And
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: I'm going to just throw out my friend aj McCord.
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: She is a surfing commentator and she's in Tahiti right now,
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: but I'm excited for whenever she comes back, us going
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: surfing in Hawaii or something, because I like love going
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: to North Shore with her and just like doing the
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: best I can, do the best you can.
• 42:40
  Speaker 4: Hey, you don't have to be the best to have
• 42:41
  Speaker 4: the best time.
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a fact.
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. I'm really bad, but I can't try. What
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: I love most about surfing this is going left. But
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: what I love most about surfing is the one time
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: I don't have control, and that's like the ocean. You
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: cannot fight the ocean. I'm a piscis. My name is
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: literally Ario, so I'm meant for the ocean. But that
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: is the one thing that I cannot overpower. And when
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: that wave wipes you out, you just have the starfish
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: and hope the best. And that's what I think is
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: so powerful about the sport of surfing. Yes, I started
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: very late, like a couple of years ago. But the
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: patients in the community that is around surfing, and then
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: the patience you have to have with the ocean, because
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: it's not patient with you. It's like get out, like
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: you know, sometimes like get out. Sometimes it welcomes you.
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: You can't control it. And so that's what I love
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: about that sport.
• 43:22
  Speaker 3: Talk about another sport with a really powerful female presence,
• 43:27
  Speaker 3: all right, Yeah, I love the stories that we're hearing
• 43:29
  Speaker 3: around the woman within surf.
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Chris Moore, Caroline Marx and honestly, like AJ's story
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: is really cool too, Like she she is going to
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: the Olympics, or she's at the Olympics on her own
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: dime and has just been really providing great insight into
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: what's happening because to eat team is far and like
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: everybody's focused on Paris twenty twenty four, but what about
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: Tahiti and the surfer is there, So she has a
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: great insight look at everything that's going on, and she
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: surfs herself and so it's just like a real authentic feel.
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: What I didn't know until I started to do the
• 43:59
  Speaker 3: recon this year's Games was that it was just so
• 44:03
  Speaker 3: spread out. It's like saying that we are going to
• 44:05
  Speaker 3: have the Olympics in New York City, but the soccer
• 44:08
  Speaker 3: is going to be in Chicago quickly, and maybe they'll
• 44:11
  Speaker 3: be surfing like in Washington, DC. And you're like, oh,
• 44:13
  Speaker 3: so I have to travel twelve hours.
• 44:15
  Speaker 4: To get to this.
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: It's crazy.
• 44:16
  Speaker 4: It's wild, absolutely wild.
• 44:19
  Speaker 3: With that said, it's so funny to me because you
• 44:21
  Speaker 3: were like, I'm starting to find balance and things are
• 44:23
  Speaker 3: maybe slowing just a little bit, and then you come
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: take a job like this which is literally like sixteen
• 44:29
  Speaker 3: hour days running around. Talk to me a little bit
• 44:32
  Speaker 3: about the different aspects this will go live after the
• 44:34
  Speaker 3: Olympics are done, but the different aspects that are encompassing
• 44:38
  Speaker 3: in your role here in Paris.
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: So it's funny because I'm so used to being broadcast
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: or like journalist journalists. I'm here as a creator, so
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: I'm able to go to the different venues and capture
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: the environment. So everything from the families cheering, the different
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: countries trading pins has been super popular on my TikTok.
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: Just the connectivity that the Olympics every four years and
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: the pride and patriotism of United States citizens and so
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: being able to play witness to that and then supporting
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: truly just supporting the athletes that I've been able to
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: tell their stories over the past few years, being able
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: to support them on the stage that they've been working
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: so hard to be on. That's my role, literally showcasing
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: all of that how that looks through a screen to
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: the general public around the world. And you know, gymnastics
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: and water polo and track and field and basketball both
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: five on five and three x three are probably my focuses.
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: But I want to you know, beach volleyball, volleyball.
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: I did a TikTok with Carrie and Carrie Walsh, Like
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: that's really freaking cool. I grew up on Kerry Wash
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: and Misty and so being able to meet my idols
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: and icons, and like, I walked the show with Don
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: Staley and me and Don are really close, so like
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: I see, are literally probably more than my own family.
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: But to take her into my role for the parody
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: walk that was cool.
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: Like having a fashion show in Paris, like it's reminiscent
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: of my days. It's a model only this fashion show
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: had all shapes and sizes. There was a mom, a
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: pregnant mom on the runway. They're like just women celebrating
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: the parody that comes from the twenty twenty four Olympics
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: because for the first time it's fifty to fifty representation
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: and so and then women get fifty percent of the
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: primetime spots. That's the first time that we've ever done that,
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: right in all these years. You know, that's a story
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: for a different day. But like being able to have
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: these lived experiences in Paris is cool.
• 46:24
  Speaker 4: Talk about more vision boarding, huh.
• 46:26
  Speaker 3: I know when you if right now you and I
• 46:29
  Speaker 3: were gonna sit down and like do some vision boarding,
• 46:32
  Speaker 3: what's on the board to come now?
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: You know, it's so funny, And this is why I
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: do them at the end of the year, because I'm
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: so in the movement of everything that I don't want
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: anything else like I have. Really, I am so full,
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: like you know what I mean, Like there's nothing that
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: I'm like, I wish I had that right now. Yeah,
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: but you come to you somethingere, I'm gonna have another,
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: go another.
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: Thing to check.
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: I think that for career wise, More NBA countdown being
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: able to be beside the China, Andrea and Carolyn peck
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: Moore and Monica and Christine More just more involvement in
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: linear platforms with the ESPN, but also maybe my own
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: show that's always been my thing. It's been on my
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: vision board for the past five years, my own long
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: form sit down show with women athletes, not just WNBA
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: icons but all women athletes. And being able to have
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: that stream on linear for those out there a linear's TV.
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: I don't know if they know that, Like I don't
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: know if they know plinear So on network television. So
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: that's that's my career. Hid this guy right now for
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: hopefully the end of this year through early next year,
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: and then I think maybe for next year. Buying some
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: property in California.
• 47:43
  Speaker 4: Oh, some property.
• 47:45
  Speaker 3: I think I saw something on Twitter once or twice
• 47:47
  Speaker 3: about you talking about wanting to be.
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: I almost impulsively bought a house in San Diego, I remember,
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: But that's out out of.
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: Touch, so I don't like to say it too much.
• 47:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah, almost just like decided to go.
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: Maybe I should just like not tell people I almost
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: pulsively buy houses. But I don't like to spend money,
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: and so like my money is just sitting well it's investing,
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: but like, yeah, it's there.
• 48:09
  Speaker 4: That's a whole other podcast. We're gonna do it.
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Investing one Investing shout out to Bill Jennings, We love.
• 48:17
  Speaker 4: An investment guy.
• 48:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you talked so beautifully before about the beauty that
• 48:20
  Speaker 3: comes when people show up. Akaa you showing up for
• 48:24
  Speaker 3: different women in sports to elevate their platforms. What would
• 48:27
  Speaker 3: you say or who would you say shows up for
• 48:30
  Speaker 3: you that helps you be your best self.
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna got all my friends. Ashley Simmons in general.
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: She's always there to give me a hand whenever I
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: need it. La China, Andrea, Monica, Christine Angel, Angel Gray.
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: You still let me stay at her hotel rooms when
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: I couldn't afford to stay anywhere when it's like acc
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: media Day. My other friends like Erica Ayala right now,
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: she's in Paris. She showed up for my fashion show.
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: Jaren and Paula from Together showed up. You showed up
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: by having me be on this platform. It's just like
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: the company I keep around me. Kashawani, Kiev and Jasmine
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: my lifelong friends, my besties, they show up. Jessica Winslow
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: whenever I post something, she always reposted.
• 49:11
  Speaker 2: I think that's really dope.
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: I have so many people that show up for me
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: that I don't want to restrict it to a list
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: because it's just like everybody will keep around me, shows
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: up for me, and that's really cool. And if if
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: they stop, that's on them. But like, I just recognize
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: all the work that everybody does. My parents show up
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: for me. They don't know what I do necessarily, They
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: just like my mom has no idea poor baby. But
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: they show up whenever I'm like, I'm on TV, the dvr,
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: it a DVR itvy.
• 49:39
  Speaker 2: My dad gets selfieing with the bar. He's like that
• 49:41
  Speaker 2: fine honor. I love the selfies of my dad.
• 49:43
  Speaker 4: Oh my god, there's nothing better than parents. They're just
• 49:46
  Speaker 4: from the.
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: Bar and the TV and the bar, and they're just
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: like selfie. It's very precious.
• 49:51
  Speaker 3: Someone comes to your Instagram page, they see a woman
• 49:54
  Speaker 3: that is now behind the desk at ESPN let me
• 49:57
  Speaker 3: out some of her wildest dreams. When you yourself are
• 50:00
  Speaker 3: a look in the mirror, what is it that you
• 50:03
  Speaker 3: see looking back at you?
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: I see somebody who I always knew I was. I
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: see the same person. If you ask anybody, this is
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: what's dope about my life experience.
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: If you ask.
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: Anybody from kindergarten, through now. It's the exact same. They
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: would have all said that I would be here, and
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: that's and it sounds.
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: I don't know how it sounds. I don't care how
• 50:23
  Speaker 2: it sounds.
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: But from my teachers, to my classmates, to my best friends,
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: to anybody, they would know that I'd be in this position.
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: I think that I have the luxury of being born
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: this way, Like I have the luxury of being born
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: without a restrictive personality. I have the luxury of being
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: born knowing that that girl like it's okay, Like I'm
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: that girl, and I love being that girl because anybody
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: could be that girl. Right, you can look in the
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: mirror and say you're that girl, and you would be
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: that girl. It's just the just the knowledge of that.
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: And so when I look in the mirror, I see
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: myself as and she's always gonna be Ari's always gonna
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: be five to fifties. She's gonna be Ari and beyond
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: and beyond.
• 51:07
  Speaker 3: You're teaching us anything exactly, never leaving, and I love
• 51:12
  Speaker 3: so much. Don't die, Tiger, don't die never never. All Right,
• 51:16
  Speaker 3: final question, Oh, I know anything else do you want
• 51:20
  Speaker 3: to add?
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I might, I might turn it on you.
• 51:22
  Speaker 3: But anyway, going right now, Ari, you have the opportunity
• 51:26
  Speaker 3: to offer yourself a piece of advice. When we look
• 51:29
  Speaker 3: back into that hard grind stage and the initial phases
• 51:32
  Speaker 3: of highlight her, you are recognizing that you're doing too
• 51:36
  Speaker 3: much and it's it's a lot. You have an opportunity, now,
• 51:39
  Speaker 3: knowing what you know now, to offer that Ari a
• 51:42
  Speaker 3: piece of advice. What would you tell her?
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: I would I would tell her that no matter how
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: much you're giving, one hundred percent, like your one hundred
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: percent is somebody else's three hundred percent. So you can
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: just calm down, you can rest, it's okay to it's
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: okay to log out, it's okay to step away. And
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: also the time that you spend on work you can't
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: get back in other places. I will never forget. This
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: was back when I was still at MSG. I'm probably
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: done too much.
• 52:09
  Speaker 2: I do not care.
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: My grandma had passed and I was at work the
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: next day. My grandmama and this is on my dad's side.
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: I passed when I was at work the next day,
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: and then to know that turn around. A couple months later,
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: I was let go because of a conflict of contract
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: that wasn't really conflict. People can replace you, and they'll
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: replace you for any motive that they want to replace you.
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: But what you can't replace is the time with your family.
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: You can't replace that at all. All those times I
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: spent in Christmas and Nixmas like we were in a
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: mesag on Christmas and I didn't get to go home
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: to my family. That sucks, right, So I would tell
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: myself to log out, go home, pay mine to your family,
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: pay mine to your friends. The virtual will always be
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: there behind the scrram will always be there, but your
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: friends and your family probably won't.
• 52:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so I'm back to that, come back to I'm
• 53:00
  Speaker 3: so happy that we were able to do this.
• 53:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like I feel like should pay you
• 53:04
  Speaker 2: after that.
• 53:04
  Speaker 3: Oh my god, we could probably do this for at
• 53:07
  Speaker 3: least another hour, but I'm so grateful for your time.
• 53:10
  Speaker 3: I know it's it's a little hectic right now for
• 53:14
  Speaker 3: those that don't follow along with you, just yet give
• 53:16
  Speaker 3: them the load down on how they find you on
• 53:18
  Speaker 3: the socials.
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: I love to continuity, so Ari ivory on every single
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: social media platform. My favorite right now is TikTok. So
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: if you want behind the scenes of my life, in general, TikTok.
• 53:29
  Speaker 3: TikTok, I'm over at Emily a Body, and at Hurdle Podcast.
• 53:32
  Speaker 3: Another hurdle conquered. Catch you guys next time.