Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Sanya Richards-Ross Full Interview

Transcript

Sanya Richards-Ross Full Interview · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:00
Speaker 1: But next guess is the fastest American woman in the
0:02
Speaker 1: history at four hundred meters Right there. You know that's
0:05
Speaker 1: something I can't do. Male or female. I can never
0:07
Speaker 1: be the fastest. I cannot be the fastest talker the
0:10
Speaker 1: fastest either. I definitely could not be the fastest person
0:13
Speaker 1: on the track. She is a Jamaican American former track
0:16
Speaker 1: and field athlete who completed Internet who competed internationally for
0:20
Speaker 1: the United States. In addition to a track browers, she's
0:24
Speaker 1: also an entrepreneur, TV personality, public speaker, and humanitarian. She's
0:28
Speaker 1: the founder of the Sunya Richards Ross Fast Track Program
0:32
Speaker 1: and Kingston, Jamaica, which has provided over seven hundred children
0:35
Speaker 1: with literacy training, physical education, physical education and healthy meals.
0:41
Speaker 1: The key is the healthy meal. A sports clinics, we
0:44
Speaker 1: educate and power and provide youth with tools and strategies
0:47
Speaker 1: to excel both on and off the track. Please welcome
0:50
Speaker 1: to money making Conversations, my good friend. I'm calling my
0:53
Speaker 1: friend because she's doing things in life that I respect.
0:57
Speaker 1: Sonya Richards Ross, Oh, thank you so much for Sean.
1:01
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to have this
1:04
Speaker 1: conversation with you. I heard a bunch of the conversations
1:07
Speaker 1: you've had and also followed you. So thanks for having me. Well,
1:09
Speaker 1: first of all, where are you at right now? We're
1:12
Speaker 1: part of the country of the world, the state were here,
1:14
Speaker 1: so we can just landmark that first. So I'm in Austin, Texas.
1:18
Speaker 1: This is where I live. I've been here since I
1:21
Speaker 1: came to the University of Texas for college. So I
1:24
Speaker 1: am home in Austin, Texas. Now, you but you do
1:27
Speaker 1: your your but your foundation, your clinic is in Kingston, Jamaica. Correct,
1:31
Speaker 1: that's right, Okay, do you do you do? You do
1:34
Speaker 1: the same thing in Austin, Texas where your home or
1:36
Speaker 1: you feel there's a need for it in in Jamaica.
1:40
Speaker 1: Well no, So my husband and I do clinics. F
1:43
Speaker 1: done clinics all over the country, but the main clinic
1:45
Speaker 1: that I started in I guess that was two thousand
1:47
Speaker 1: and nine in Kingston, Jamaica. I'm from Jamaica, like you
1:51
Speaker 1: mentioned the top of the show, and one of the
1:53
Speaker 1: things that really pulled that my heart string was when
1:56
Speaker 1: I was traveling aloud and I would compete in Jamaica
1:58
Speaker 1: every year. I started to here that in literacy was
2:01
Speaker 1: rising in my country, and one of the things I
2:03
Speaker 1: always is so proud of was the education I received
2:06
Speaker 1: in Jamaica and so um, as you can imagine, money
2:09
Speaker 1: goes a lot further in a third world country like Jamaica,
2:12
Speaker 1: and so I just put some money and I got
2:13
Speaker 1: a bunch of other friends to help me and some
2:16
Speaker 1: other great organizations to support us, and we were able
2:18
Speaker 1: to start a really significant program there. So um the
2:21
Speaker 1: one in Jamaica was the biggest one. And then we've
2:23
Speaker 1: done my husband as football camps in Tyler, Texas, San Antonio.
2:26
Speaker 1: I've done a camp in Florida. But the one that
2:29
Speaker 1: I had the most staying power and the most longevity
2:32
Speaker 1: was our camp in Kings of Jamaica. Great. I was
2:35
Speaker 1: just in Jamaica vacation. That was at the half more result.
2:39
Speaker 1: You know some one of my favorites. You know, you
2:41
Speaker 1: got me some good foods, you know them to say
2:43
Speaker 1: it's some good yes, yes girl. And so I had
2:52
Speaker 1: a good time. So I just got back. So it's
2:53
Speaker 1: really great talking about it. Here's my number one question.
2:56
Speaker 1: Do you when does an athlete stop being an athlete? Oh? Oh,
3:01
Speaker 1: that is a really good question. You know, you get
3:03
Speaker 1: interviewed all the time, and you're always like, oh, that's
3:05
Speaker 1: gonna be the same questions. No one has ever asked
3:07
Speaker 1: me that, And um, you know, I think the answer
3:11
Speaker 1: to that rhot is you never do. You never do.
3:13
Speaker 1: I think that being an athlete is so much more
3:16
Speaker 1: than it's running on a track or drinking of basketball.
3:19
Speaker 1: I think it's a lifestyle and um, and so I
3:21
Speaker 1: feel like I'm still an athlete today, you know, whether
3:24
Speaker 1: it's being a mom or an entrepreneur some of the
3:26
Speaker 1: other things that I do. I have carried so many
3:29
Speaker 1: of the lessons and experiences that I've learned from sports,
3:31
Speaker 1: and so I still feel like an athlete right now. Well,
3:35
Speaker 1: you know the things I always admired buy track athletes.
3:38
Speaker 1: That's the fast track athletes, which those ads. You know,
3:41
Speaker 1: oh my god, the six pack, the fourteen packs, the
3:46
Speaker 1: thirty packs, because is it because of the lifting those knees,
3:50
Speaker 1: those legs and at the rapid rade you kind of
3:52
Speaker 1: like doing those those stomach crunches and everything when you're
3:55
Speaker 1: flying around that track, because you know that y'all just
3:58
Speaker 1: be show both with the with the a well, you know,
4:01
Speaker 1: it's it's it's a little bit of both. Were Sean like,
4:03
Speaker 1: of course running every day and the movements that we do.
4:07
Speaker 1: But I actually did a thousand sit ups every day,
4:10
Speaker 1: five days a week for the majority of my career. Um,
4:13
Speaker 1: so those apps were not only, I guess beautiful, but
4:16
Speaker 1: they were very functional because the four hundred uh like
4:19
Speaker 1: you mentioned that was my expertise in the American record
4:22
Speaker 1: holder painful exactly, and in order to run the final hundred, well,
4:27
Speaker 1: you really need to have a strong course. So I
4:30
Speaker 1: did a lot of training to to get those six
4:32
Speaker 1: pack apps that I missed them. Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait,
4:36
Speaker 1: you just said that athlete has never stopped. Okay, you're
4:38
Speaker 1: talking about you. You're slipping there. Let people talk. What
4:42
Speaker 1: do you hit right there? But banana banana splits and everything?
4:46
Speaker 1: A thousand? You did? A thousand was the leg raises
4:51
Speaker 1: or you know to some people cheat when they say
4:54
Speaker 1: a thousand sit ups? Would you the locked fingers behind
4:58
Speaker 1: the head sit up with have a say what you do?
5:01
Speaker 1: I was doing all kinds of we called. We would say,
5:04
Speaker 1: I would the same core exercises, I would do the
5:06
Speaker 1: traditional core, we would do weighted core. Who would be
5:09
Speaker 1: planking time time to core? Said ball core physio ball
5:13
Speaker 1: core and all kinds of different core exercises, focusing on
5:16
Speaker 1: the front core. I don't feel the back. A lot
5:18
Speaker 1: of people forget that your back is a part of
5:19
Speaker 1: your core, that quite of your stability. I do a
5:22
Speaker 1: lot of core training on my back as well. You know,
5:24
Speaker 1: it's really interesting when I when I look at athletes
5:26
Speaker 1: and who are as accomplished as you. You know, because
5:29
Speaker 1: of the fact that you know there are, you can
5:31
Speaker 1: look at different things that become seasonal. It is there's
5:34
Speaker 1: such a thing that's a seasonal period for a track athlete. No,
5:38
Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like we don't train year round.
5:41
Speaker 1: When I was training competitively, I would take four to
5:44
Speaker 1: six weeks off every year. But even that time, even
5:47
Speaker 1: though yes I wasn't running or in the gym, I
5:50
Speaker 1: was still operating like a high level athlete. So I'm
5:52
Speaker 1: still trying to eat well and resting well and still
5:55
Speaker 1: taking care of my body. So I don't think there's
5:57
Speaker 1: anything as a seasonally professional athlete. I think that, Um,
6:01
Speaker 1: if you really profession a professional athlete, it's uh, you know,
6:04
Speaker 1: it's a year round tip it man, uh, and you're
6:06
Speaker 1: always thinking about trying to get the best out of
6:08
Speaker 1: your body, even in the all seasons. Well, you know
6:11
Speaker 1: because of the fact that, you know, when I think
6:13
Speaker 1: about just trying to be in shape, I'm gonna tell
6:15
Speaker 1: you something, I'm the worst person you hang out with me. Um,
6:18
Speaker 1: you really be going rishan ridiculous the way you are,
6:22
Speaker 1: you know, because I fool people. You know, I look
6:24
Speaker 1: like I'm in shape and then you go, yes, you
6:27
Speaker 1: really desserts before you eat your meals. Yeah, so stop
6:32
Speaker 1: looking at me like I'm crazy, because that's gonna happen
6:34
Speaker 1: all the time. And so do you do you train people?
6:37
Speaker 1: Or do you do you do people? Could people come
6:39
Speaker 1: to you? I'm sure you know, because I've looked at
6:41
Speaker 1: the resume, But what what do you do when people
6:43
Speaker 1: ask for training, advice or or just look at you?
6:46
Speaker 1: They said, well, oh, you know, Jamerica, you know just
6:49
Speaker 1: God given you know, I just I do my thousands
6:52
Speaker 1: set ups, I've got fast feats, this is my life. Yeah,
6:57
Speaker 1: because people just assumed that you just were giving it,
7:00
Speaker 1: you know, and that's that's an insult to what you
7:02
Speaker 1: have achieved as an athlete. Correct. Oh yeah, I mean
7:06
Speaker 1: the god given challenge is just the basis um and
7:09
Speaker 1: the foundation that you have to build on if you
7:12
Speaker 1: want to be a great athlete. And so I was
7:14
Speaker 1: definitely boring and gifted with uh with speed, but I
7:18
Speaker 1: mean too many hours and work and commitment to be
7:21
Speaker 1: able to be the best in the world. And you
7:24
Speaker 1: also asked if I coach other athletes and stuff, and
7:26
Speaker 1: you know, I'm so grateful for be a maybe coaches
7:29
Speaker 1: I've had my entire career, but I am not cut
7:31
Speaker 1: out to be a couch. Yeah. But but what of
7:35
Speaker 1: the things I do love and I'm really passionate about
7:37
Speaker 1: is mentoring young athletes. And so never athletes reach out
7:40
Speaker 1: to me or any athlete that's kind of been in
7:42
Speaker 1: my sphere, whether here in Austin, the you t asking,
7:46
Speaker 1: so some of the young professionals, I'm always excited about
7:49
Speaker 1: helping to mentor them to guide them through that transition
7:52
Speaker 1: from the collegiate ranks into the professional ranks. So I
7:55
Speaker 1: don't coach athletes. And if athletes young athletes reach out
7:58
Speaker 1: to the social media or d M men all try
8:00
Speaker 1: to send them encouragement or something I feel I could
8:03
Speaker 1: share that might help to get over the hunt. But
8:05
Speaker 1: as far as coaching, I don't think that's something I
8:07
Speaker 1: never say never, but in future absolutely. But you know
8:12
Speaker 1: the thing about it, and we're we're in the era
8:14
Speaker 1: of you know, social media posts and a lot of
8:17
Speaker 1: time body shaming takes over with rich when your your
8:21
Speaker 1: your your world class athlete, you know, and you had
8:24
Speaker 1: a child, you have a child. Excuse me a policy
8:27
Speaker 1: saying that because you have to make a decision you
8:30
Speaker 1: know about that, you know, because could I come back?
8:33
Speaker 1: You know, am I risking my future? Well? What what?
8:36
Speaker 1: What went into your mindset as a world class athlete
8:40
Speaker 1: and the expectations, all the planning process of becoming them all.
8:46
Speaker 1: It's a great question. So, um, you know, ultimately I
8:49
Speaker 1: decided that I wanted my career to be over before
8:52
Speaker 1: I had a child because I think, guys, and I've
8:55
Speaker 1: said this before, being an asked is one of the
8:57
Speaker 1: most selfish things that you can do. You're constantly thinking
9:01
Speaker 1: about yourself. You have to always put your knees first,
9:04
Speaker 1: and becoming a mom and being a mother is a
9:06
Speaker 1: complete opposite of that. You have to be so unselfish
9:09
Speaker 1: and it's all about putting someone else first. And so
9:11
Speaker 1: I actually retired from the sport before I have my son.
9:15
Speaker 1: I retired in two thousands sixteen and then my husband
9:17
Speaker 1: I you know, actively try to have a child, and
9:20
Speaker 1: I had my son in twenty seventeen. So for me,
9:23
Speaker 1: it was always you know, my desire was to finish
9:25
Speaker 1: my career, um, get all of my goals and complished
9:28
Speaker 1: first and then transitioned to being a mom, which has
9:31
Speaker 1: been just the best, best, best role. And you know,
9:34
Speaker 1: my greatest accomplishment by far, you know, it's my little boy.
9:38
Speaker 1: That's amazing. We're speaking to the amazing uh Sonya Richards
9:42
Speaker 1: ross Um. She's the fastest American woman in the four hundreds.
9:47
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna just tell you that that that's one
9:49
Speaker 1: time around the track. Correct, Yes, that's one lap around. Okay,
9:52
Speaker 1: just right there, you know, because you know, just just
9:54
Speaker 1: trying to get around that track because you have the
9:56
Speaker 1: the one hundred. You know, that's a sprint. The two
9:59
Speaker 1: you may and up for that when you go that
10:01
Speaker 1: pro budget that's two hundred twice just gives people bad
10:05
Speaker 1: with math, you know what it means. It means that
10:07
Speaker 1: two hundred twice. But maintaining speed through two hundred twice,
10:12
Speaker 1: that's a that's a gut rich and we are we
10:13
Speaker 1: have more. We're gonna talk to her more about momination
10:16
Speaker 1: three books. Uh, it's amazing when I talk to individuals
10:19
Speaker 1: like her that are so natural about how they life
10:22
Speaker 1: brings them success, and then they're willing to share it
10:24
Speaker 1: and admit that. You know, that's something I wouldn't do.
10:27
Speaker 1: That's just not me. I'm not a coach. Well, guess what.
10:29
Speaker 1: I'm not a coach either. I'm not a track star.
10:31
Speaker 1: But what I can do is talk. And I have
10:32
Speaker 1: a great guest on the show. We'll be right back
10:34
Speaker 1: with more money making Conversations. I just ra Sean McDonald
10:38
Speaker 1: and you're listening to money making conversations. Money Making Conversations
10:41
Speaker 1: is your show? That's right. I'm pointing, but I know
10:44
Speaker 1: no one can see me pointing. But I got a
10:45
Speaker 1: point to emphasize my point that the show can make
10:49
Speaker 1: a difference in your life if you just listen and
10:51
Speaker 1: you have an open mind about how you're trying, uh,
10:55
Speaker 1: dealing with the different journeys that come before you. When
10:59
Speaker 1: you're trying a different path, I should say, that's what
11:01
Speaker 1: I'm trying to get, the different paths that you need
11:04
Speaker 1: to overcome or to accomplish to be successful. She has
11:07
Speaker 1: a Jamaican American former track and field athlete. He's a mom.
11:11
Speaker 1: She waited till after she accomplished everything she felt in
11:14
Speaker 1: the track field and say hey, it's time we can
11:17
Speaker 1: do some Another great accomplished in my life. She lives
11:20
Speaker 1: in Austin and um doing her thing, and she does.
11:23
Speaker 1: She's written three books. But I want to talk before
11:25
Speaker 1: we get to the three books. UM tell me about
11:29
Speaker 1: Mommy Nation of course. So Mommy Nation is a blog
11:33
Speaker 1: platform and community focused on supporting African American moms navigate
11:39
Speaker 1: through motherhood with more confidence. So we write incredibly honest,
11:43
Speaker 1: raw and real blogs about our experiences as one. There's wife, entrepreneurs,
11:49
Speaker 1: just experiences that we're having and it has been incredible.
11:53
Speaker 1: One of the things I think you asked me on
11:54
Speaker 1: the top of the show when you asked if I
11:56
Speaker 1: ever stopped being an athlete, and this is one way
11:58
Speaker 1: I feel like I haven't. I think what one of
12:00
Speaker 1: the things that made me a great athlete was the
12:03
Speaker 1: incredible support system I had. I had a phenomenal coach
12:06
Speaker 1: and great sports psychologists and agents and managers. And so
12:10
Speaker 1: when I became a mom, although of course you're bring
12:13
Speaker 1: out the human into the world, and you have this companion.
12:16
Speaker 1: It does sometimes feel like you're alone with your experiences,
12:19
Speaker 1: and so I wanted to create a space where we
12:21
Speaker 1: could be in community, feel supported. And every day when
12:24
Speaker 1: I read the blog here, someone reaches on to me
12:26
Speaker 1: and says, man, you don't know how my sisters helped me.
12:28
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm kind of still serving that purpose
12:31
Speaker 1: of being community and supporting other people. So it's just
12:33
Speaker 1: been amazing. Well, you're just really important. I have six sisters,
12:36
Speaker 1: so a lot of nieces and nephews, and a lot
12:40
Speaker 1: of people don't understand that the importance of a relationship
12:45
Speaker 1: in uh motherhood uh a little bit because you you
12:50
Speaker 1: just automatically. Because first of all, having a child changes
12:53
Speaker 1: your life. There's a responsibility that only you can understand
12:56
Speaker 1: as a as a man, I can respect it, but
12:59
Speaker 1: it's you care that child maximum of nine months some
13:03
Speaker 1: child to do all delivered earlier, and so that means
13:07
Speaker 1: that that's a that's a worry. You know, I know
13:09
Speaker 1: my wife, you know, you know when she carried out y'all,
13:12
Speaker 1: you know, it's certain things. After what she says, she
13:14
Speaker 1: prayed every day, you know, she was worried. Worried. That's
13:17
Speaker 1: that's a that's that's that's a lot to carry, and
13:20
Speaker 1: so I can understand why you're doing Mommy Nation. Can
13:22
Speaker 1: you expand on that a little bit? Absolutely, Like you said,
13:26
Speaker 1: becoming a mom change in your life. Um, you feel
13:29
Speaker 1: like things that were important before are no longer important.
13:32
Speaker 1: You talk about your wife, praying for your kids all
13:35
Speaker 1: the time. There's just so much that happens in your
13:37
Speaker 1: life when you become a mom. And the truth is,
13:40
Speaker 1: obviously God willing, you have your own mom who might
13:43
Speaker 1: still be able to guide you. In my case, my
13:45
Speaker 1: sister had also become a mom. But the truth is
13:48
Speaker 1: is that many of us are having so many different
13:50
Speaker 1: experiences that my sister and I could be new moms
13:53
Speaker 1: together and our experiences are still so different. And so
13:56
Speaker 1: with Mommy Nation. And what I love the most is
13:58
Speaker 1: that we have moms all over We have moms who
14:02
Speaker 1: are single moms, working mom moms of six. I have
14:05
Speaker 1: um you know, divorced moms, newly married moms. We have
14:08
Speaker 1: fitness moms, fashion moms, just moms who have all different
14:11
Speaker 1: kinds of interest, who live all over the country, and
14:14
Speaker 1: when we can, we're connected based on the fact that
14:16
Speaker 1: we're mothers who love kids, and want to see our
14:18
Speaker 1: kids thrive. So it's just incredible to see everything that
14:22
Speaker 1: has come out of our community so far, and all
14:25
Speaker 1: the things that we're excited about possibly doing in the future,
14:27
Speaker 1: and and just being connected. We had our first events
14:30
Speaker 1: in Atlanta last week and it was about ten of
14:32
Speaker 1: us that were able to come to this event, and
14:34
Speaker 1: I tell you, we just had the best time, laughing
14:37
Speaker 1: and talking about our experiences and sharing with each other,
14:40
Speaker 1: and it just makes you feel like, you know, Okay,
14:41
Speaker 1: this is normal, I can get through this. Wow, that's beautiful.
14:46
Speaker 1: I'm gonna first of all, I'm very impressed with you.
14:49
Speaker 1: Just you your range of thought. Are their plans for
14:56
Speaker 1: TV expanding your participation in in front of the camera
15:00
Speaker 1: just it just seems like the natural lane for you.
15:02
Speaker 1: Are not gonna ask that because you know, I've seen
15:04
Speaker 1: enough talent in front of a camera to know that
15:07
Speaker 1: that's a skill that you can be, that you can
15:09
Speaker 1: do very well. Can you expound on that opportunity, those
15:11
Speaker 1: opportunities for us, Yes, yes, we're Sean. Thanks for asking.
15:15
Speaker 1: So I currently do sports broadcasting for NBC, so I
15:18
Speaker 1: call all the major track and feel me for NBC.
15:22
Speaker 1: But I'm so excited that I'm working on a new
15:24
Speaker 1: project with deep Mark Mercury and Will Packer. It's gonna
15:27
Speaker 1: be an entertainment news show that we will be filming
15:30
Speaker 1: in Atlanta and will air November four. We have a
15:33
Speaker 1: five week test. Uh, it's gonna be on Fox. So
15:36
Speaker 1: God willing that goes well. I'm co hosting it with
15:39
Speaker 1: Julisa Bermudez and if it goes well, we'll have our
15:42
Speaker 1: own show in on TV every day. Really be calling it.
15:47
Speaker 1: I'll be calling it, man. I take. What it really
15:50
Speaker 1: excites me about that conversation is that is beyond track
15:54
Speaker 1: and field, because track and field, you know, you know,
15:56
Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's don't take anything I'm saying negative.
16:00
Speaker 1: It can limit your exposure because people say field, well,
16:05
Speaker 1: you know and and and so it's not the big
16:07
Speaker 1: ratings grabber for television. You know, I like basketball and
16:11
Speaker 1: I like football and soccer. So you can like be
16:14
Speaker 1: so talented as I see and hear that you are,
16:17
Speaker 1: to see you getting this opportunity. Now, when are you
16:19
Speaker 1: coming into Atlanta? So you know this is what I'm based.
16:22
Speaker 1: I love the you know, hang out what you're going
16:25
Speaker 1: talk and just talk about your career. You know, I'm
16:27
Speaker 1: always looking for new talent and everything you'm saying, I'll
16:32
Speaker 1: be there in October, So we start selling November for us,
16:36
Speaker 1: our producers want us to be there at least two
16:38
Speaker 1: weeks before we started, like late October. I would love
16:41
Speaker 1: to connect with you that absolutely, absolutely, because I'm just
16:45
Speaker 1: hearing it. I'm hearing uh start potential in your voice
16:48
Speaker 1: and the fact that you I'm telling you this, This
16:50
Speaker 1: would always tell people that a lot of people want
16:52
Speaker 1: to do television. A lot of people want, but it's
16:55
Speaker 1: what life that you have lived or currently living, because
16:58
Speaker 1: you know, you know, your your mom, you know, and
17:02
Speaker 1: we all know. As an athlete or I have to
17:04
Speaker 1: say it, whether it's professional or a highway trained Olympic athlete,
17:08
Speaker 1: there's a certain amount of discipline that you gotta have
17:09
Speaker 1: for that. Yeah, I'm sorry. On the down days, you
17:12
Speaker 1: still gotta be up. On the updates, you gotta be up, earl.
17:15
Speaker 1: And then the fact that you're giving back, you're giving
17:17
Speaker 1: back even forgot where you came from and you still
17:19
Speaker 1: want to contribute. And then the fact of vomby nation,
17:22
Speaker 1: so that gives you like a three sixty conversation base
17:25
Speaker 1: you're not tied to just being a track star, and
17:28
Speaker 1: that's really important. But I forgot also your wife, and
17:31
Speaker 1: so that experience of going back and forth and sharing
17:33
Speaker 1: conversation and sharing responsibility always pops up to make you
17:38
Speaker 1: a well rided person and diverse in your conversation. So
17:41
Speaker 1: all know that this whenever you talk about who you are,
17:45
Speaker 1: You know that when you come across very natural as
17:47
Speaker 1: I'm hearing it is because you can speak on so
17:50
Speaker 1: many different levels. And plus you educated. You're educated, and
17:53
Speaker 1: that's all important in all this. So I wish you
17:56
Speaker 1: tremendous success and if and I will be shocked if
17:58
Speaker 1: you're not successful in that production. We definitely agree with
18:01
Speaker 1: my staff so we can connect. I know I've talked
18:03
Speaker 1: too much. That just got off from this trans that
18:05
Speaker 1: I just heard. Just wanted to stall communicating all these
18:12
Speaker 1: greatness on the phone. You know we were from track
18:14
Speaker 1: and Garl who man, did you you? So let's talk
18:19
Speaker 1: about like a look limited time. But I want to
18:22
Speaker 1: talk about three books that I want to bring you
18:23
Speaker 1: back on the show to discuss in detail because I
18:26
Speaker 1: want to read the because you've written three books. And
18:28
Speaker 1: the first why did you write the books? Well, I
18:32
Speaker 1: always wanted to write a book, um, And initially I
18:34
Speaker 1: thought I was gonna just write one book, and the
18:37
Speaker 1: book that was on my heart was to write a
18:38
Speaker 1: book for young girls. I wanted to write something that
18:41
Speaker 1: would inspire and encourage young girls to reach for their
18:43
Speaker 1: dreams based on my own stories and my ups and
18:46
Speaker 1: downs throughout my career. And as I was presented with
18:49
Speaker 1: the book opportunity, they said, hey, you know, I would
18:52
Speaker 1: love for you to write a memoir. I said, hey,
18:53
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm too young to write a memoir. Um.
18:56
Speaker 1: But then as as as we kind of talked to
18:59
Speaker 1: what that would look like, I felt, wow, like I'm
19:00
Speaker 1: just closing this very important chapter in my life. I
19:03
Speaker 1: had just retired from the from track and field, and
19:06
Speaker 1: I don't have the best memory in the world that
19:07
Speaker 1: God I journaled, but I thought I would say, you know,
19:10
Speaker 1: it would be a really good time to talk about
19:11
Speaker 1: what this time in my life has been like and
19:14
Speaker 1: everything that I've learned, and how I feel like other
19:16
Speaker 1: people can stand on top of their own podiums in
19:19
Speaker 1: their own life. And so I ended up writing an
19:21
Speaker 1: adult book, Chasing Graces. My adult book, it's very transparent,
19:25
Speaker 1: very honest, I shared some really low times in my
19:28
Speaker 1: life and some really awesome, incredible highs in my life. Um,
19:31
Speaker 1: and ultimately about my faith, how my faith kind of
19:34
Speaker 1: carried me through it all. And and then my other
19:36
Speaker 1: two books are let's talk about the things, so let's
19:38
Speaker 1: talk about the portants of your faith. You know, it's
19:41
Speaker 1: really interesting though. This is a show about money making conversations,
19:45
Speaker 1: entrepreneurship of entertainment, and faith pops up a lot and
19:49
Speaker 1: uh and it it becomes a motivator for a lot
19:53
Speaker 1: of people called on this show. I was in a
19:55
Speaker 1: majority of the people come on this show. And then
19:57
Speaker 1: you just you mentioned faith. Explain to importance of faith
20:00
Speaker 1: in not only what you did is attract though, but
20:03
Speaker 1: what you're trying to accomplish in the future. I mean,
20:07
Speaker 1: my faith has meant everything to me, and I think
20:09
Speaker 1: that my faith has been the reason that I've been
20:12
Speaker 1: able to be resilient through sports and through everything else
20:14
Speaker 1: in my life, because I ultimately believe that everything is
20:18
Speaker 1: working together for my greater good. Um, and that I
20:21
Speaker 1: serve an awesome God who as long as I honor
20:24
Speaker 1: him and lean into him, will always take care of
20:26
Speaker 1: me and take care of my family and will lead
20:28
Speaker 1: me in the right direction. And so in my book
20:30
Speaker 1: Chasing Grace, without giving away too much, I ultimately talk
20:34
Speaker 1: about all my life, I feel like I'm chasing I'm
20:36
Speaker 1: chasing records, I'm chasing medals and chasing all these things.
20:39
Speaker 1: But the greatest gift that I've I was able to
20:42
Speaker 1: run into as I was running all around the world,
20:44
Speaker 1: was God's grace UM, and so and everything that I do,
20:48
Speaker 1: I just always know that if doors closed, they weren't
20:50
Speaker 1: meant for me, and doors that are opening God's God
20:53
Speaker 1: is working behind the scenes to open them for me.
20:56
Speaker 1: And I just try to show up in the world
20:58
Speaker 1: UM with a lot of positivity, tea and love, UM
21:01
Speaker 1: and just try to be the best person that I
21:03
Speaker 1: can be because I know that that's what honest Scott, Okay,
21:05
Speaker 1: no Mommy Nation, but we'll get off their Mommy Nation.
21:07
Speaker 1: How can individuals connect with that? So the first thing is,
21:12
Speaker 1: and I would love for them to check out the
21:13
Speaker 1: actual blogs. So it's mommy with an eye, not a
21:16
Speaker 1: why mommy nation dot com where we have over three
21:20
Speaker 1: hundred blogs on pregnancy, on life after man, after divorce,
21:25
Speaker 1: this everything we're trying to cover. The full breath of
21:27
Speaker 1: what motherhood UM and being a mom and being a
21:29
Speaker 1: woman and a wife looks like. So you can connect
21:31
Speaker 1: with the fair. We're also on Instagram and Facebook. UM
21:34
Speaker 1: but I also would love to invite any mom who
21:37
Speaker 1: either blogs doesn't blog if they ever want to contribute
21:40
Speaker 1: to our platform. We're always looking for new moms to
21:43
Speaker 1: write blogs and to share their stories and encourage other moms.
21:47
Speaker 1: So but of course the main place to check us
21:49
Speaker 1: out as mommy Nation dot com. Well talked to good Luck.
21:53
Speaker 1: I would, I would they keep running, but you know
21:54
Speaker 1: you're not running anymore, so keeping them all right? Thank you?
22:01
Speaker 1: Someone what a tree to to connect with you and
22:04
Speaker 1: I definitely definitely would love to connect with you in Atlanta.
22:06
Speaker 1: This will make sure that happened. Will make sure they happened.
22:09
Speaker 1: Good Luck, We talk so