Aimee Fuller | Extraordinary Life Stories

0:13Amy, thank you for joining me. Thank you for having me in this hot seat. Oh yeah, you are in the hot seat. It's really nice to be on the other side because normally I'm doing what you're doing so I can just relax. I wondered that. Yeah, because you're spinning in your head about all the things you want to ask where I'm at and that's a pleasure. There's so many things I can't wait to ask you. But firstly, who is Amy Fuller? I am a former two-time Team GB Winter Olympian. I was the first woman in the world to go upside down twice at the X Games. I am an author, now broadcaster, and lover of life, people, and movement.

0:58So agree with that. We're so aligned. To the point where that whole sports person, if you like, do you still keep that going? Because you were professionally working in sport. That would have given you a real fix. because I would have given you a challenge, the next competition and so on. How have you kept that consistency and motivation going? I think it's really interesting because I definitely look at my snowboarding career as my degree of life. It's something that taught me so much from the physical element, the mental element, travelling, as well as almost using your sport as a tool to market yourself, which has been very, very useful when it comes to life after sport.

1:45I'd say my physical motivation definitely has changed because I never want to be defined by one thing. I never want to be solely depicted as a snowboarder. And I think that's what's really nice about this, is you ask me who I am, and I am more than a snowboarder. Snowboarding definitely taught me how to look after myself on the road. And that's something that I'd say, being totally honest, after snowboarding, I fell out of love with the process of learning and pushing myself physically. So it's definitely been a journey in refinding that because a lot of people would look at me now and just say, oh, well, you've always been fit and you've always been active.

2:32But definitely there was a lull where I wasn't open to learning because snowboarding burned me out. I was done. You gave it everything though, right? I gave it all I had. And yeah, I had no more to give. And I'd say the last two years, I've sort of regained that passion and love for learning. So, you know, whether it's with my running and gaining in distance or doing different races or now with paddle tennis and my love for boxing and kickboxing, I'd say I'm in a place where my mind is open and receptive to learning. I assume because you mentioned the mindset there. So kickboxing or boxing, running, these are all things that stimulate your mind.

3:21Oh, majorly so. For me, it's like that's what makes me tick. and that now is my constant. As a young version, were you the kid climbing trees, jumping on the bike, the skateboard, because snowboarding became something you could actually fix on from an exercise point of view and the mindset and all the challenge that comes with that. I was just interested in that younger version and it's a loaded question because social media, kids now trying to get them off tablets, off phones and not being active. You said that right at the beginning, movement is so important to you. It's so important as a role model to be able to sort of show how important that is.

3:58Yeah I'd definitely say I grew up outside. I grew up in Keston in Kent. We had a fairly big garden which backed onto a farm and at the age of four my dad bought me a quad bike which was too slow to keep up with the boys at Dartford Motocross Track. So at the age of five I got my first KTM 50cc I used to rollerblade with my mum at the local leisure centre from the age of four I did gymnastics but I think we were brought up in a way to just like be happy with what we had and that allowed for creativity and that creativity happened outside of the house in the garden whether it was you know digging in the sand pit and making mud pies or hanging off the rope swing that my dad had built and then taught us to build like so much of what we did and who we were as kids was was outside and and using the terrain which we had in front of us so whether it was climbing trees or using the little bump in the garden as a jump for the motocross bike, I'd say it definitely installed an incredible foundation for my future career, becoming a snowboarder.

5:17It's awesome. I love the fact that you brought that up because that sounds like an amazing childhood. And I remember quite recently knowing we were going to be filming together, I heard that you said your dad had said at some point before you got into snowboarding, you're doing lots of things. You're doing them all well, but specialize in one thing and be really good at it that's golden advice right yeah it's crazy because i'd say i've been so lucky in that my parents are just very avid and always were avid supporters of me and my brother and our interests we were never pushed into anything i was never forced to be at the start line with 30 boys in motocross it was a choice given the opportunity yeah when the opportunity presented itself I did dabble in all of these sports and especially when we moved to the states I did basketball I did lacrosse I still had motocross going on I skied a bit I snowboarded and my dad literally said hey you know you're pretty good at all of them well average why don't you pick one you could be really good and and that really really resonated with me and I think it's so crazy how you can look at your career as a sports person and I can note key points of things that my parents said and they were such big influences in in huge huge decisions that that enabled my career and I don't think many people can say that no I love that so coming out from snowboarding to that that moment it sounds like there was a lull for you because I know you as just a force of nature super positive bouncing off the walls but you did specialize in something that you excelled in became known for as a public figure if you like and I know then that strictly and then so many things followed where you're clearly not afraid to try something new but I want to kind of go into that mindset of where did you have a lull did you have almost an identity crisis and think what do I do next I definitely wouldn't say I've ever had an identity crisis.

7:18I've always at my core known who I am and my main thing was I don't want to be defined as one thing and be stuck in the box. So to break out of that stereotype requires you to have further passion and further interests and I knew the first time I was interviewed on BBC Ski Sunday well it must be like 10-12 years ago now I loved it and I thought you know what I'd quite like to do this so going into my second olympics i had a very very clear vision that i wanted to use my second olympic games as an opportunity to grow that platform further dabble in the media because you have the opportunity as an athlete to speak out to talk to be interviewed so it's all about creating that narrative yeah i like this i'd like to do a little bit more of this and i'd say one of my greatest gifts is having another interest because if I didn't have that then that's where the identity crisis starts and I knew finishing that last jump in Pyeongchang I was like boom this is it freedom freedom to the next chapter that's brilliant because so many people at that moment hanging your boots up whatever it might be particularly sports people haven't thought through the next bit and they are attached to the whole thing you were literally right chapter closed excited about the name yeah and couldn't wait and and that's definitely where i am now if if anything it's more pent-up frustration because you want to do more of it right yeah i can feel that from you have so much energy right and that's actually i want i want to almost open that up like there are so many things you've tried and you've clearly got a very healthy relationship with failure yeah yeah because you're not you're not you know not afraid of taking on new things in fact we've got to bring up how we met at the women in sport ball which how cool was that by the way hundreds of people in them celebrating women in sport which you've seen change so much and we're on the back of the lionesses just literally winning the world cup and you're on a strictly table and again the energy on that whole table was amazing but you're like absolutely sizzling we have a conversation about filming and you literally grab the phone out of my hands and say right here's my details and we lock the date in there and then that's like that doesn't happen you're like right i'm on it when you commit you're all in the the thing is i think so often in life we have these conversations and so much of of it is a sort of white noise oh yeah yeah mate cool yeah yeah catch up next week or yeah let's grab a coffee at some point don't say it unless you mean it how many of those never happen, right?

10:00I just, I don't have the energy to, to do the, the fluffy talk, right? So if you mean something, action it and just commit to it right there and then. Like, why would I waste time in that process? You don't have time to waste. You've got a family, you've got a life to live. Okay, cool. Boom. Job done. Let's lock it in. I love that. Like, No messing. No messing. And right at the beginning you said you love people. Yeah. Which aligns us both. And that whole connectivity and then growing a community, if you like, an ecosystem where good people know each other. That's an absolute passion of mine. So what are you doing now?

10:44That's the greatest question of all. Because at the minute, every single week is different. It's so hard. Do you thrive on that? I'd say I go through phases. Sometimes it's so exciting and then other times you actually have to take a step back and think about the future because a lot of it's manifestation, right? So to get yourself to the place you want to be, it's not going to just magically happen. People often ask me, how did you start your career in broadcast? A huge part of it is putting it out there. So for example, my podcast, Monday Mile, I've been doing for four years. we've done over 150 episodes two seasons of which were commissioned by BBC Sounds and it was a vision that I had a while ago it's a lockdown project so it was it stemmed from the idea of not being stuck sat down and keeping the conversation moving taking the conversation outside and at that point we could walking and talking in a park so I was sick of being chained to zoom calls you know which were all a part of that manifestation of developing my career and broadcast further but that was my way of actioning it it's like let's just go out and do it combined movement and people your two favorite things which of course leads to chat which you love exactly and going back to not being defined by one thing it's very easy for a a body such as BBC or Sky to just put you in a box and go winter sports if she's got the chat she could she could maybe work on the Winter Olympics right like there is a segue there but there's only a segue there there's not a segue anywhere else so a huge part of what I do is invest my time into navigating the direction in which I want to go and that in turn opens up opportunities.

12:46Do you write things down how visual are you because that visualization is is so important to probably anyone watching listening to how I've got to where I get to like it starts in here and then I all my actions all the things I start doing take me in a direction where it's sort of manifesting into action yeah do you write it down to journal how do you how do you make these things happen I'd say it's quite fluid actually with me so uh we spoke about commitment so with me with my podcast I was like I'm going to do it I'm going to keep doing it until we get somewhere with it because if nothing else the takeaway is huge learning like so from a production angle from editing you know at the start I'm in it I was doing it and then suddenly BBC are interested and we're not doing winter sports we're walking and talking with Tom Daley because they need something for the summer Olympics and then I've got Adam Peaty and you know some of the people I've met and the conversations that I had and that then stems everything else because also when we speak to people as we are now we're learning something it's a pleasure right yeah it's so cool one of the things i want to ask you actually because you talk to 150 people on camera you meet so many other people and speak to so many kind of outside of that as well is there one overwhelming kind of overarching lesson that you kind of got from those conversations because your pillars are sport consistency mindset kind of keeping fit and although you understood and knew a lot of this was there kind of a whole element of like gosh there's a consistency here that everyone is saying so i think the trend is very similar with athletes it's a kind of solid linear one set mindset which i of course understand and can relate to to some degree but some of my personally most inspirational guests have not been athletes it's people who have been very successful in the chapter of which i'm currently chasing and developing so for example ben shepherd sue barker gabby logan so he's a journalist broadcaster which you're aspiring to want to go more into right uh ben's become a really good friend of mine and someone that i look up to and i remember the first time he came on the mile he's been on the podcast twice i remember him opening his diary and looking at when we could fit something in and I'd never seen anything like it in my life and I'm like wow this is a different level of operation.

15:17Athletes lives are kind of simple. My life when I was a snowboarder was very simple. I woke up, I did yoga, I had a nutritious breakfast, I trained on the mountain for three or four hours, I came down, I had lunch, I then trained a little bit more and then I sat in bed and I was content because we needed to rest. I don't have that same contentment now because I'm in the process of learning and seeing the top dogs in their game and how they operate, I've learned so much from that and that's only just inspiration for me. I love that. And so many people won't see that. So Ben Shepard, they'll see him on the TV in the morning and the other things he does.

16:00But the amount of prep, the amount of fitness he does to keep himself sharp and fitting that all in must be really interesting to see the reverse side of that, if you like, see behind the scenes. Yeah. And people at the top of their game, they act like athletes in their day to day because they have to. Yeah. To show up, to look good, to feel good, everything has to be aligned. Balance is so, so important. in everything we do you can't just hammer it you know no but but you can give it if you're if you're giving it full beans mindset um mentally and and physically yeah and sort of running the diary if you like then then you're going to ultimately give the best you can and have a positive outcome but any one time with snowboarding and other things you tried you're going to get injured things are going to go wrong yeah it's going to get going to go against you and back to that super positive Amy what does a bad day look like for you how do you get past things because you've got resilience from so many things you've tried and failed at and come through I'm almost trying to imagine you on a bad day what does that look like it's funny because you've definitely got me I would say at a point where I'm I would say in a in a bit of a lull right you know you You wouldn't know it.

17:22Sometimes everything can go right for you. And then other times things don't quite tick the way you want. For example, I hate being late. I lost my keys this morning. Like that creases me inside because I'm like. I felt that in your messages actually. I'm organized. And I've had a strand of let's say things like that. So instantly my reaction, so this is my advice to myself and it's what I've done is I actually pull back, take a little bit of time for myself, slow down, de-ram the diary and just nurture. So it's good food, sauna, walks. Put time into yourself. Yeah, take a minute to step back because I definitely have learned that I thrive when I'm busy.

18:18So slowing down is hard, but I think occasionally we do need to do it. But everybody's version of slowing down is different. And one thing that I find really interesting is, so let's say we're A-type people. We're go-getters, right? And you thrive off being busy, feeling fit, kind of knocking everything off, right? a lot of people often say to me can't you just sit still can't you just relax I could I can't but is it going to serve me so that's where I think it's so important to dig dig deep within yourself and actually start to recognize the patterns that serve you so okay maybe that for me looks like six really busy days but then an opportunity to have a night out have a lie-in and not be attached to tomorrow I think that's really important but just being present right fully present yeah but just sitting sitting in it and wallowing in it I can tell you right now does not serve me it's really powerful for anyone watching listen and I think that I kind of called you a role model earlier right and I think with the whole thing that social media portrays now going back to we've all got to be fit we've all got to have a morning routine you want to be successful you've got to get up at five in the morning run a marathon read a book all that kind of stuff I feel like it's really refreshing where you you know what's important to you but you're not putting pressure on you to do it in any particular order and to take time out and pull back when you need to from a role model point of view and this is kind of going back to snowboarding and kind of right now to aspirations to go into broadcasting tv and what have you how did you have anyone as a role model from a winter olympian point of view and have you sort of now seen how important it is to have female role models and look how well female sports doing on the back of that yeah definitely um i looked up to my peers within snowboarding so i was on the roxy team from the age of 16 that's quicksilver for those that don't know and that team was built up of some of the most incredible athletes still to this day so five years older than me was Tora Bright Olympic gold medalist five years older than her was Shirstie Boas from Norway and she got third in the second ever Olympics for snowboarding so I remember at the age of 16 looking at Tora looking at Shirstie and seeing like bizarrely them in the sauna and thinking wow they're like athletes they have like six bags and stuff and I remember thinking wow that's what it takes you've got to be strong you've got to be mentally resilient and you've got to you've got to get after it so I definitely saw the importance of training like an athlete but also the beauty in them as people they were both so humble and so open to sharing knowledge on the mountain and I think that's definitely something that I learned from them and have taken forward into when it comes to sharing advice for the next generation or even my career now that's great though rather than being like this closed off and keep it all to yourself sharing we've got to keep it fluid right it's like money like if you're stingy and you hold it tight to your chest then it's never going to work for you got to be fluid and unattached to a certain degree in both sharing and giving of energy and information and i sort of think without being any sort of form of expert it kind of works financially as well yeah and on that whole women in sport you've lived through a journey where dare I say at any one time you know no one was watching it it wasn't covered on tv it wasn't talked about like it is now do you think there's an element of the fact that the girls are doing so well in so many respects across sport now you know winning major competitions do you think that role model side of things has set things up for a future that's very different to where we've gone before or is it in any way just sort of a blip because it feels like it's changing that event we went to there was a whole lot of love and there were legends there in sport, you included.

22:43And the appreciation and the whole appreciation, what they've done, but where it's going, feels real. I think it's a really, really magic time for women in sport. But it's based on the people that were before us. So, I mean, I've fallen into that bracket now because seeing Dame Kelly Holmes there and the way she spoke and Denise Lewis and Rebecca Adlington, they're the legends and we need those people to inspire the next generation goes back to it comes back to media media coverage names faces we all know those names and faces but without them there wouldn't be this generation now because each generation inspires the next so i think we've come to a time and place i don't think it could be better timing with social and digital media in terms of exposing the game of women's football, exposing the Winter Olympics that's coming up, seeing the role models.

23:46Yeah, and storytelling is a key part of it. And they're getting more and more stories. The Lionesses, the stories are phenomenal, right? It's just amazing. And then the media can get behind that. There's characters. We're learning these girls have got incredible stories to then go on and achieve what they were doing. That's where I see this as becoming a far bigger thing. Yeah, and I think the timing of it is just... kind of perfect yeah because it's there for everyone to see now so timing you're still really young right so you're talking about the sort of the snowboarding in the past but that you're in a lull right now so what are you plotting and planning because you're not going to sit still you'll take time out and even on a run like this morning your brain's spinning that's probably quite therapeutic yeah what are you what are you plotting what are you planning it's an interesting one when someone asks you like what are you doing now because there's so much going on in the background um I've started writing uh so I've got a new column coming out with women's fitness where I share my passion love for movement I'm doing a nutrition coaching course with NASM which is a company in the states because I've got a huge passion for wellness and it's something that I wanted to do to complement my my running actually because that's a huge part of it is work but a huge part of it is a really like beautiful relation relationship with an unattachment to just being and exploring and being out on two feet and being so grateful running's become really important isn't it it's hugely important um i'm also training for the great north run in september where i'll be presenting that for the third year in a row for bbc sport so i actually run and present i was just about to say how do you do that you're going to do both of course you are yeah that's really cool and i'll have a few other events like that in the diary as well as um the upcoming winter olympics where yeah we're just about confirmed uh and we were talking off off camera before you before you sat down about um bloomberg the whole america kind of dream if you like so this is talking to someone who really manifests and makes things happen and not not afraid to try is that a north star dream for you to sort of really sort of grow this whole thing into somehow you are front and center of something big globally.

26:05Without a doubt. So you've got proper ambition. I would love to anchor a morning breakfast show. Heard it here. Something like that. So that's a proper ambition. I love morning TV. You'd be great at that. So I do quite a bit already with BBC's Morning Live, but I'm so open to stirring the pot and sitting like this and having these valuable conversations with inspirational guests. So that's definitely a dream of mine. Would I like to go to the States? Absolutely. Why not? But I think the curiosity currently is in the extreme sports out in the US because we are now seeing surfing, skateboarding.

26:50They're all Olympic sports. and that for me there's a lovely linear segue there to that because I can speak that language so for me that seems like a quite an easy sidestep well you're knowledgeable you've got lived experience so you can talk from a place of proper knowledge but also you're a personality and I think the one thing which is is probably uh what so aligned us in terms of wanting to have this conversation is natural curiosity yeah and i and i get that you're used to being in my position and so i'm super grateful to you make make time to film me today because it's uh i just i just knew there was so many different parts to you that may not be obvious to others because you've tried and done so many things and you're you're not done there's so many things you're going to go on and do you're clearly someone that loves a challenge there's so many things you've done tried at sort of mentioned you in a lull at the moment how do you manage that because when you've got a competition on Saturday it's a focus you know you can sort of plan for it there's lots of things you're working on there's lots of things that could be coming up but that bit in between that must be really frustrating to you it's something that I've learned to deal with so when I was an athlete and you get hurt you get struck down and you're down and you're out at that moment it feels like the world is against you.

28:13And now the lows and the lulls, they're a little bit different but they're equally as hard because with where I'm at at the minute, the highs are so high. You know, you win a gig and you're chilling and you're vibing but then we do get a series of no's and that can be in your personal life and in your public work life. I think the work's easier to deal with because there's a huge lack of attachment and I think that's incredibly important and that's lack of attachment to the outcome because if you were attached to every single job or opportunity with the amount of no's we get you'd be in a bad place all the time but those no's are opportunities to grow so when I first wanted to step into broadcast and I was told well snowboarding only or you know that was that that was my only outlet instantly my mind switches and it's like well how can I change the narrative how can I put myself in a position where I'm more approachable to talk about tennis at Wimbledon for BBC Breakfast.

29:30So it's all about implementing those steps. So those no's actually make you a better person. But let's just say right now with the null and the mundane, where you've got a slightly longer term goal. So the Great North Run is in exactly a month's time. That for me is such a pivotal point in my diary and calendar and something I love that one thing's kind of something to attach myself to and that gives me purpose and excitement but right now I feel like things are a little quiet but it feels extra quiet because July was incredible I filmed a commercial I did some acting I have an incredible gig each weekend hosting.

30:19So really stimulated. So, so stimulated. So it's getting comfortable with the lack of stimulation. And that's definitely something I'm working through. But that's where I think movement serves me so much. Consistency, which you say, yeah, because otherwise, you know, there's been so many things you've been able to do that are high adrenaline. high you know dopamine hit so actually you know making sure you're not not relying on it but just embracing those times like okay this is the quiet time embrace that put it is because september could be flying september in your life september is going to be nuts and and at the end of august there's a lot of exciting things coming out which i can't wait for so yeah i think it's uh we have to say pump with the calm this is the calm you can't always be pumping and i want to say a huge thank you to you and a testament to your ability to interview someone because you haven't just gone for the linear so how'd you get into snowboarding then and it's it's really nice to sit here and have a have a conversation with with death i really appreciate you saying i think without knowing it i could feel that there was far more of an identity that goes way beyond that because you're multifaceted and I am genuinely excited in seeing where you go.

31:42So, look, thank you so much for talking with me, Amy. Ah, thank you so much.