Allyson Felix on Breaking Olympic Records, Shattering Stereotypes & Unleashing Greatness EP 1456

26:17So I definitely felt the pressure of that. So you felt like you were at a four in terms of self-confidence and belief leading up to the last Olympics. Did it, were you a four at the Olympics or did it start to shift and go a little stronger? Yeah. Once I finally, once I made it to the Olympics, sounds cliche, but like that was the victory. Like that was the thing. Just qualifying. Qualifying because nobody thought I could do that. You know, like at this point I'm 35, like I have this new baby. Like there's all these things. How many events you qualified for? I qualified in the 400 and then I was on the relay.

26:55Individual 400 and the relay. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. So that was just like such a relief even to be there. And then it really shifted for me. I think that was the first Olympics I ever wasn't solely focused on like the time or the medal. Like that was the first one where it was like, wow, like I'm representing women. Like I'm representing mothers and like anybody who has been told they couldn't do something. Like I am showing them that that's possible. And that just gave me a different outlook and a different purpose than ever before. Because always when I came before, it's like I am I'm hyper focused on like the only thing that matters is a gold medal.

27:34Right. Anything else than that is like failure. So this gave me a shift in that. Interesting. And also right before then, I don't know the full story, but essentially Nike wasn't in support in some ways because you become a new mom or they weren't. Yeah. What was the whole situation that happened there that led you to saying, I need to do something for women with my own vision of this brand that you have now? Yeah. So in track and field for as long as I can remember, there has been this like culture of silence around pregnancy and starting families. It's been really difficult. In track and field.

28:10In track and field specifically. In America or over the world? I think all over, you know, in the sport for sure in America, that's who I was in contact with. So basically I was seeing my friends struggle through motherhood. I saw them either hide pregnancies if they needed new contracts. I saw their contracts get paused. There wasn't like this shiny example of like a mother who's like dominating and like killing mother, like doing all the things. It was more so like the struggle and not because they weren't capable, but because the support wasn't there. It wasn't in place. And so for me, when I felt like I wanted to start a family, I was really scared because I was like, I don't I think that this could happen to me, too.

28:54Even as one of the top stars, I was scared. Yeah. But I did feel like I had waited. You know, I had already gone to four Olympics. I felt like I had accomplished enough where I'm like, OK, maybe I'm safe. That was like my mindset. And so I'm like, I'm going to go forward with this. But my negotiations with Nike, who at that time I had been with almost a decade, even before I said that I was pregnant, the negotiations already were 70 % less than what I had been making previously. Interesting. So it wasn't a good deal already. Already. You know, whether it was I was too old or whatever the thing was, we were already at that place.

29:31Okay. So they were kind of like, hey, you know, we'll keep you around essentially with this. On to the next. But we're investing in a generation that's coming up now, essentially. So that just amplified my fear. I'm like, I've already seen what happens. And so I made the decision to do what a lot of women in my sport had done before. I hid my pregnancy. Wow, really? Yeah. And it was crazy. For how long? And now how old are you at this time? So I'm 33 and I am still competing. Like I, at the beginning, I still try. We're coming up the heels of like Serena. And I'm like, I can do this. Like, wow.

30:07So I'm still, you know, racing a bit. I'm training. Eventually I get to the point where I can't continue to do that. And I still, I train in the dark because at this point I don't, I don't have an offer on paper. So I have a verbal 70 % less, but there's nothing on paper. And so my fear is that they find out that I'm pregnant and then that just disappears. Yeah. So you're like two months pregnant, three months pregnant. I started, so I stopped competing about two months. And then I'm still training. And, you know, this is this is ongoing. So this is going over a long period of time. So I'm four months.

30:42I'm five months. I'm still in the dark. I'm rarely leaving my house. I'm wearing baggy clothes, like all of this for someone who's always wanted to be a mother. It was so hard because all these moments I had dreamed of, it's like I'm not experiencing any of that. The baby shower is like any of any of that. So you're almost living in shame. to have the thing that you're most excited about, which is starting a family. You're living in shame. You're hiding it. You're going out. You're sneaking around in the night. Yeah. It's crazy. You're like a kid trying to break the rules from your parents, almost sneaking around.

31:17Because I'm growing a life inside of me. Wow. How did that make you feel, hiding it? It felt horrible. It felt like it should have been this moment that was celebrated. And I felt like so much was taken from me. You know, so many, you never get to have your first child again. So it was really challenging. And in that time, I decided to really shift my ask away from the financial aspect of it. And what I asked for was maternal protections. And basically what that means in track and field is our contracts are performance based. And so the Olympics, the world championships, you go, you medal, it's a bonus.

31:56But you don't, it's a reduction. Now, if you have a baby during that time, or if you just had a baby, there's nothing in place to protect you. So essentially what was happening in the sport is that women were just, their salary was being cut and cut and they were pushed out of the sport. And so I asked for time to be able to recover. You asked Nike or you asked USA Track and Field? I asked Nike because the sponsor is your, that's your main income. We don't get paid, you know, from our federation. So you asked them in the contract, there wasn't a new contract yet. So you're still finishing. Yeah.

32:31I'm asking for returns in that contract that it be laid out maternal protection. Even the 70 % less, you were like, give me this protection. I could take the disrespect of that, but I felt like this is something that could change things. This could change the culture. Right. So I focused on that. I asked for that. And they told me, yeah. I'm like, this is great. This is what I'm asking for. Cool. That's nice. But when the contract came back, there was no legal terms that tied the time that they were willing to give me for other female athletes. They weren't ready to set that precedent. So they're willing to do it for you, but not for all female athletes.

33:10So they wanted to take it on a case-by-case basis. Interesting. Okay. For me, that just, I couldn't accept that. Like, I felt like, you know, we need to change this for all women, for all female athletes. And I think also because this went over such a long period of time, I ended up having my daughter and I had I had a very traumatic birth experience. I gave birth to her two months early. And I think all of that, just like having a daughter and thinking about like her life and what she's going to go through. And that just made me feel like I can't, I can't like accept this. And so I made the decision to, to write a New York Times op-ed and to speak out about what I was, what was happening for me and also other teammates of mine had done the same.

33:58And yeah, we pushed for change. And after that op-ed came out, it was about two weeks, a little over two weeks later that they ended up changing their policy. So. Nike did. Nike did. Yeah. So I had parted ways. Pretty soon. You had already parted ways. For me, it was, you know, but for the women that, you know, were there and came after, it's amazing. And today they offer 18 months of protection. So, yeah, it was great. You know, they were trying to they were trying to it sounds like they were trying to do it for you, but they weren't ready to do it for everyone yet. Yeah. Until you kind of pushed through in this message and the platform and speaking out.

34:35and then more women started to get on board with that as well, which is amazing. Yeah. So it was terrifying. Congratulations though. It was scary. I can imagine. Because it's your livelihood. It's your income. And it's Nike. You don't want to upset them. Yeah. And so for me, I didn't know what was on the other side of that. I was terrified. I knew I still wanted to compete. I wasn't sure what was next. So it was a really difficult time. I was, you know, obviously grateful. I wish it wasn't such a fight to get to that point, but grateful for that outcome. But that's what happened before my final Olympics.

35:16Wow. And so how were you able to bring in an income after that? If they weren't sponsoring you anymore, what did you do? So after that, I had this meeting with Athleta there owned by Gap and just I kind of didn't think anything of it. I was like, you know, at this point, I'm just, you know, I believe in what I'm doing, but I'm not sure if I'm going to have another sponsor. And so our mission is just really aligned. They're a female company, female led. And I was like, oh, this is feeling really great. And so we partnered together and they're my apparel sponsor. And that was amazing. It felt really empowering because I saw just a different way to do business.

35:56But I didn't have a footwear sponsor. So at this point, you know, I'm training for the Olympics and I don't have shoes to wear in the Olympics. And for me, I think I was just just upset and just tired. You know, I'm having this conversation with my brother who's my manager. And but I'm speaking to him as just like my big brother. And I'm like, I am so just tired of begging companies to see my worth and value. Like, I can't believe I'm at this place in my career. And I don't feel like I'm seen. Like, I don't feel like anybody believes in me in that aspect. And so he was like, I think that we should just do this ourselves.

36:38And I'm like, like, do what? Like, like, like create shoes. Like, how does that work? Like it's. And the more that I sat with what he was saying, I'm like, no, you're right. Like we could do this ourselves. Like here is our opportunity. Instead of begging somebody else to create the change, like we could be the ones to create it. And so that's what we did. What year was this? So this is at this point, this is 2021, 2020, when we're having like these ideas. Like a year before the Olympics. Yeah, we're right in the middle of pandemic, too. Exactly. Which is crazy to think of forming a company, a shoe company during a pandemic with, you know, the supply chain issues and all just all of the things.

37:23But I think the thing about it was that, yeah, shoes, but also purpose. Like this is about women deserving better. And if we have to be the ones to go there, then we have to do that. And what we thought we were doing was just making shoes that I could wear in the Olympics. Like that's what our understanding of it was. And maybe other women would want to wear those shoes too. But what we learned as we went down this research and, you know, this new industry is that shoes haven't been made for women, tennis shoes. So a tennis shoe is made off of a lass, which is just a mold of a foot. And it's been the mold of a man's foot to make women's sneakers.

38:04And when I learned that, I was like, no, we cannot be an afterthought. And I think it took me time to even really like understand that concept because, you know, you go into a shoe store and, you know, we've all been in a footlocker and you see there's like a women's wall, right? There's like men's and women's or we've been to the women's department. Like we've seen shoes for women, right? Right. And like it took breaking down, understanding that that's just marketing, like it's the exact same shoe. Like they might throw some pink on it. Right. It's just smaller. Yeah. It's not even, it's not even proportionally small.

38:38Like it's, and there are differences, significant differences between a man's and a woman's foot. And so just understanding that and, you know, being able to run with that, it was like, okay, we're, we're doing this. So you built the shoe for the Olympics was kind of like the first stage, right? Yeah. It's like, how do I build it so I can have my own shoe and be able to tell the story? But then launching a company and building something beyond that, that's a lot of work, though. It's a lot of work. How have you navigated this? Yeah. And how can people get involved? Yeah. I think the first thing is not...

39:16We didn't know how much work it was going to be. I think there's a beauty to that. You know, how do we know? Who knows? No, it's the largest shoe company. Yeah, you know. Nike did it. Let's just say. We can do this. But it's been challenging, you know, for sure. But I think knowing why we're doing it, you know, that we see women and we want to be different. Like we have a maternity returns policy, which when a woman becomes pregnant, her shoe size often changes. And that change in size oftentimes is permanent. And so in our company, if you have that happen to you, we'll give you a new pair of your shoes, of our shoes and your size.

39:52And so just saying like, we want to push the industry. We want to do things differently. Obviously, we're making shoes specifically for women to fit the form of a female foot. But our purpose, we believe, is much deeper than that. It's to say that we see women and that we want to do more. We're all about community. That's a huge. It's just as important as the shoes that we create, you know, bringing women together and learning for them. And so I think the way that we can, people can get involved is to support, buy our shoes. To me, it's a signifier that like I stand with women and I want, I'm a change maker and I'm about this and be a part of our community.

40:27And we just, we want to push things. We want to push the industry and really say that women deserve better in all aspects. I love that. I'm going to, what's the, how can we go buy a pair? Yeah. So it's saysh.com, S-A-Y-S-H.com. I'm getting four today for my mom, my two sisters, and my girlfriends. So I'm going to make sure. I appreciate that. Yeah, I appreciate the support. I'm going to make sure to get those today for you. Something you mentioned there a minute ago about owning your worth. Now, as a five-time Olympian, is that right? Five times? How many gold medals have you won? Seven. So a five-time Olympian, seven-time gold medalist, but more medals beyond that.

41:11world championships, how do you, how did you lose sight in owning your own worth after accomplishing so much? Not even the accomplishments, but just the daily efforts you put in, which I think a lot of people forget, like you have put in so much daily effort to get those results. Whether you got the results or not, you still put in the effort, which is meaningful. And I'm curious, how did you learn to remember your own self-worth when you started to lose it? And for women watching who are thinking, if Alison Felix lost her self-worth, with all these accomplishments, I have no chance of gaining my self-worth with all the struggles that I might be facing.

42:01What advice would you have to women who maybe don't believe in themselves, that don't feel like they have worth or people aren't giving them what they feel like they're worth? How can we learn to own our worth no matter what anyone else does or says? Yeah. For me, I think I was losing it because I was listening to what the world was telling me. Like when Nike offered me the 70 % less, I think I got to this place where I was like, well, maybe that is what I'm worth. You know, maybe it is beyond me. Maybe I'm not capable. I start feeding into like these criticisms and I'm not listening and remembering, you know, what I've done, what like you said, what I've put in.

42:44I'm starting to get distracted by other people talking who don't know me, who don't know my work ethic and all of those things. And I start listening to it. But I think more than anything, it's believing that my identity is a track runner. It's believing that all I have to offer is running fast. And I think when I start pulling myself away from that and I start saying my value is in being a mother, my value is being a daughter or friend or a partner. That's where I feel most fulfilled. And so I'm absolutely worth. I have so much worth apart from what I do. And I think we have to break down those barriers of our thought process.

43:27And what, you know, I think constantly, you know, you talk to people and the first question is like, what do you do? But it's like, that's not who I am. And for me, it was coming back to who am I, you know, because I'm not just what I do. Wow. The thing that I'm hearing you say is you're talking about thought process and who to listen to. And it sounds like you were listening to the wrong people, which went back to the beginning of your career where you started to build a circle of people that believed in you and that spoke into your vision in a positive way. But somehow along the way, you started hearing the outside world and the noises and the criticisms of others.

44:06Yeah. So which goes back to thought process and your circle. Yeah. The people you keep closest. That would be my encouragement for other women is like, it's your circle. It's your tribe. It's your people who speak into you, who pour into you, who build you up. Like, you know, you want to have those people on your team. And you want to be able to do that for them as well. You want to be able to celebrate, you know, each other and uplift each other. And so to me, that's like, that's the game changer when you can have people you rely on. I think you're a great example to show people and for people to hear and listen to this that even if you reach the top of the world in something, of an identity, of whatever event that you're in in life, you can still fall susceptible to criticism and voices.

44:58And how hard is it to keep a positive thought process for yourself even when you're at the top? How hard was it for you? You can crush your fingers and all your toes during a data center migration. You can knock on wood, pluck a dozen four-leaf clovers, or look to your lucky stars for a successful office expansion. You could hold your breath, shut your eyes, and say all the world wishes to help avoid cyber attacks. But none of that truly helps you. Because next-level moments need the next-level network. With the security, reliability, and expertise to take your business further. AT &T Business.

45:32The network you can rely on. I can't keep this in anymore. I can't even believe I'm saying this, to be honest. You know you can tell me anything. I'm capital VFD42 capital Z lowercase m underscore lowercase p capital L reverse slash apostrophe lowercase rs. I know how you feel. Just between us. I'm underscore comma dash underscore dollar sign capital G lowercase w comma forward slash dash dash reverse slash. No way. I am so glad we had this conversation. I know. Me too. Turn on total privacy with end to end encryption. I think it's difficult. I think also in the moments that you think are going to be everything and at the ultimate top and the goal that you always had doesn't necessarily feel like what you thought, at least in my experience.

46:21My third Olympics, I finally win the 200 meters. This is London in 2012. So those first two Olympics, you know, silver medals, I get to that third Olympics and I'm like, OK, I've done it. done it. Like I finally put it together. I get that gold medal. And I remember feeling, I think the emotion I felt more than anything was relief. It was like, okay, that weight is off of my shoulders. Like I finally did the thing that I, you know, that I hadn't done yet. And obviously like I'm happy, I'm joyful and all of that, but I had built it up to be so much that I just didn't live up. I thought my life was going to just be like completely different.

47:03I remember coming home from London and, you know, amazing, cool things are happening, but pretty much like everything is the same. Like after two months of press and the tour, people celebrating you, people move on, you move on to the next thing and you're with yourself. And I think that I, you know, it took time to unpack, but that was the moment where I really understood, like, it's about so much more than the track stuff. Like there's got to be more to it than that. And so I think in the moments where you have everything, you know, it's that there's more purpose there, you know, that there's a bigger reason for it.

47:41That's so interesting you say this. I'm going to, you know, relate in a much lower level than you because I didn't win a Olympic gold medal. But when I, when I heard my, when I was at the national championships in the decathlon, I was telling you this earlier, and I, the last race, the second day of the decathlon was at 1500. I was exhausted. Exhausted. I did not want to run. and I was not a distance guy. I was like, put me in a hundred and that's about as much as I want to go. And I knew, my coach said, you've got to, you can't let these guys beat you, these certain guys. And you can't let these guys beat you by this month, this many seconds.

48:17So you kind of got to like know where you're going to be. And I got to see, can I ever break my PR? Like I need to get this time. And I remember crossing and it was pretty tight. And she goes, I don't know. Like it's tight because I was in ninth place. Okay. Going into the final event. And the top eight is the All-Americans. And so I'm just sitting there for about 15 minutes as they're calculating all the numbers before they get the podium up and they start calling everything. And I knew that if my name was not called first, because it went from eights to first, I wasn't going to make it. Yeah.

48:47And thankfully, my name was called right away. So I was like, oh, this weight, this relief. Yeah. Because it was like training for so long to try to create this goal to happen. But here was the funny thing. I was happy, but late that night at dinner, I started to get like this, I don't know if it was an expectation hangover. I don't know if I was supposed to feel something different, but I almost kind of got a little mad and angry and had a little bit of an attitude energetically because I think I was supposed to feel something else and I didn't feel it. This was a dream I had my entire life at that point as a 22 year old to be, you know, go to the national championships and be an all-american for some reason I thought like all my relationships would be better with my parents when they were there and they were struggling and I thought things were just going to be fine and it wasn't.

49:35Yeah I've been there. Right? Yeah and to me the crazy thing is like when it was the disappointment I felt that you know that I felt like that was a devastating feeling but when it was the success it didn't feel as I thought it should feel and I I think, you know, every person is different, but I think oftentimes people who have success feel that way, you know, and you have to unpack what that is for you. And for me, it's like, it's the journey also, you know, it's this process, like that's where the magic happens, like along the way. And I was able to kind of look back and say like, oh, wow, like I've had this amazing road to get to this process.

50:17And that's where I became like the person that I wanted to be. Like that was the beautiful part of it. like this is just the end result but i think there's something about embracing those ups and downs and for me the silver medals along the way that you know that's a huge part of it oh man silver is it's hard to yeah silver is hard to talk about because there's so many people in the world that would dream to have a silver medal yeah to go to just go to the olympics and win a silver medal is like unheard of for the world most of the world absolutely but when you're the best a silver is probably one of the most devastating things.

50:53I'd rather get a bronze than a silver. That's what everyone feels, yeah. I'd rather get third place than, oh, I had a lot more training to do. Yeah. Or they were just way better than me. They always say, if you look at the medal stand, the silver position is always the most unhappy, you know? Because the bronze is really happy. Hi, baby. Obviously, the gold. But yeah, that silver, it's kind of tough. And you've got it twice, back-to-back. Back-to-back. Oh, man. That's like a knife that just, ooh, the emotional wound. Yeah. We're talking about hundreds of us, you know, like, how do you improve that?

51:25Oh gosh, we just want to throw up. And it's like eight years of your life for two silver medals, essentially. How did you, after the second one, compose yourself and go back into the process and not think about the result? It was really hard not to think about that result. That like definitely, even to this day, like when I see pictures from Beijing, like it takes me back to a very not great place. But I think just pulling myself out of that, you know, was hard. I had to allow myself to feel it all. To grieve, to be angry, sad. Like this wasn't what I wanted to be. Like I did. It was a disappointment.

52:04Like feel like all those emotions are valid. But then once like I make the decision to take on the new goal, then it's like committing to that and saying like, I'm going to show up and give this all. And I think I also had to come to a place where maybe it wasn't going to come together. You know, maybe that wasn't for me. I'm glad it was. But yeah, it's good to get that monkey off your back. Yeah. But I think you have to have the acceptance that like success doesn't always mean the gold medal. You know, like you can do a lot of work along the way and you can be successful without having the thing that is typically defined as the ultimate.

52:41I'm so glad you're saying this. And again, there's people going to be saying, well, yeah, but you got the gold medal. So it's easy for you to say this. However, I was telling you off camera that for nine years I was playing with the USA national team for team handball. And the dream was to go to the Olympics and I haven't qualified for it yet. I'm not saying I'm not going to, but it hasn't happened. And even though in nine years we didn't qualify for the Olympics, I have got to live experiences and meet people and travel the world and play against Olympic teams at the highest level and train and get hurt and get better.

53:20And all these different things that happened to me, even though the dream didn't come true, it was still a dream come true. Yeah. I love that. And I get chills just thinking about like, I pursued it. I was on the pursuit for almost a decade of something that I dreamt about. Yeah. That I felt like was calling me forth to go after this thing. And it has been a beautiful journey. Now there is still sadness that I haven't qualified for the Olympics. There's still some let down emotions. There's still some bruises and pain that I've had to experience. However, I wouldn't trade it for anything. It's been incredible, the journey and who I became in the journey.

53:59There's only one champion in the Olympics or in the sports. There's only so many people who are number one at that thing for that season. It doesn't mean you can't become number one in your life in the pursuit of that thing. Absolutely. And I think sometimes the dream isn't what you imagine. That doesn't mean that it's not fulfilling. It doesn't mean that you're not on the path that you should be. And I think that's true in so many different aspects of life. Like we might set out to do this thing, but maybe that's not the thing that's for us. Maybe it's this thing over here. And you don't find that out without, you know, starting off on one path and you end up where you're supposed to be.

54:39And, you know, even in my life and my career, like, yes, it was amazing to win a gold medal. Like, do I think that's my absolute purpose? No. Like, I think I'm living it now. Like, I think it's advocating for women. I think it's having impact. Like, those are the things that, to me, will leave a greater legacy and impact than, you know, just the gold medal. You talked about your circle of coaches and mentors and team that you had for the last, really, 25 years. who is the most influential person during that time throughout the whole journey that really taught you valuable lessons that you still live with today after your track and field career such i mean there's i feel like there's so many people who poured into me and you know everyone from my coach bobby to his wife jackie jordan kersey she's been to st louis yeah yeah i lived inst louis for a while so an incredible mentor who just like made it real for me.

55:38Like, obviously she's this like iconic athlete, but like the best person who just, when I got that second silver medal in Beijing, just like constantly checking on me. Like, are you good? Are you okay? Like, like that has been incredible. I think my, obviously my family has just been huge in this, but my brother is someone who like specifically sticks out. You know, we work together. Um, he's my big brother. Like he's a hero to me, but I think about like all the hard parts of my career. He's been that constant and he's challenged me and he's encouraged me. He's when I was going through the whole Nike thing, like he empowered me even in starting, we started Sage together and just him feeling like, you know, why wouldn't I be able to do this?

56:23You know, I, and I, I feel like we all need that person in our life. Who's going to like speak into us and challenge us to do the thing that we might be scared to do, but that we're supposed to do. So, yeah. What's the thing you love about your brother the most? Gosh, I think the way he sees the world. Like, it's a very beautiful way. Like, he sees the positives. He's, like, very much a visionary in the way that, for me, I think I'm, like, the opposite. I'm, like, I see all the negativity and, like, oh, well, all the obstacles that could get in our way. And, like, he sees this beautiful, like, end result.

56:57And I think that's what, like, we work really well together because we compliment each other well with those things. But I love just the way that he sees the world and that he sees people. That's beautiful. I'm curious about, I'm a huge fan of mindset. I've been studying it for a long time from my athletic days, but also just in the business world and everyone that I've interviewed here for the last 10 years, the last 1400 episodes, I've been fascinated by people at the top of their game, like yourself, who have been consistent with it for years. I'm curious, in your experience, what was the greater fear for you to overcome?

57:37Was it the fear of failure, the fear of success, or the fear of other people's opinions about you? That's a heavy one. I think it would be the fear of failure. I think the fear of like dedicating my life to something and not reaching that point. And I think along with that also comes the fear of like what other people think, the embarrassment. Like I think it goes hand in hand. Um, but for sure, those were probably the things that stick out. Were you never afraid of success? No, success was never, I don't know. I don't know if it's because I never really let my mind like go there or that's not really the metals never like the physical metal like that wasn't really what it was about it was like can I do this thing like can I accomplish it and I I guess I never really thought too much of what would happen when if it happened it was more so like if it doesn't happen the weight of all of that yeah who was the the athlete that you either trained with or against or with, you know, men's and women's team in the world in track and field that you felt like had the most incredible mindset, like just the eye of the tiger, killer mindset every time you'd see them on the track.

59:01Maybe you, you trained with them, competed against them or watched them. Men or women, who was it in the last 20 years that was the ultimate competitor mentally? I mean, for me, it's, it's Kobe Bryant, like outside of my sport. Like, you know, I've just ever since I had the pleasure of meeting him, just the ultimate mindset, you know, and just even trying to like break that down a bit. And just the way that he approached and loved the game of basketball, to me, that just fascinated me. Like there was something just so pure about the pursuit of that and the pursuit of only kind of accepting this greatness and that excellence and just bringing that to every single time he touched the basketball.

59:45Yeah, he was incredible. What about track and field? Who was the athlete that you... The athlete that in track and field. That you got to watch or witness or maybe it was just one performance where you were just like, you witnessed an energy before race, during and after that was like unbelievable. I competed a lot against Veronica Campbell Brown in my race. When I got those two silver medals, she got gold. But I always just had a really great respect for her. I felt like the way she approached it, like always bringing her A game and in return, I felt like it pulled more out of me. And so to me, there was always just a mutual respect there and of the craft and of how you approach like the sport.

1:00:32Like that's something that I could really appreciate and that I, that you didn't always see. Sure. And what about on the men's side? The men, I mean, obviously I, I think the way that Usain ran, like there was always something that was like, that I just couldn't grasp because like there's obviously like just the, the talent level alone was blows you away. Because would, would, would they race first and then you guys run afterwards or flip flop sometimes, but I've been in the 200 it's right after each other, right? Yeah, yeah, usually. I mean, but I've been in the stadium, you know, some other times when he was competing and I wasn't.

1:01:09And, you know, just to be able to, like, witness the things that he did, I think the thing that always stuck out to me is, like, it seems so effortless. Like, it was such a different experience than myself because I was like, I got to be, like, dialed in in the zone. Like, one thing can't go wrong. And, like, you know, he's having fun. He's fist bumping people before the blocks. He's hanging out. He's falling over himself. His hands are up before, you know, way before the finish line. So I just, to me, I was always fascinated by like how he was so great and did it so effortlessly and had so much fun.

1:01:45Like I just, yeah, it just really was interesting to me. Did you ever ask him or get to connect with him on his philosophy or just his mindset? I think he was having fun. You know, I mean, I don't want to speak for him, but yeah, we, you know, came into the sport at the same time and competed against each other. I mean, not against each other, but at the same time for a very long time. And I think that's what stuck out to me is like, that's who he is. Like, he's genuinely just like being himself and showing up in that way. And it was a really cool thing to be able to see. That's amazing. What's the vision for you now?

1:02:17Again, after this 20-year inspiring career of accomplishing so many different things, now you've got this women's shoe brand, which is more than that. It's a bigger purpose and a community behind that. You're a mom. What is the mission and the purpose you have for your identity and your life moving forward? Yeah, to me now it's about impact. Like that's, to me, impact is success now. It's really shifted away from these performance things. Of course, like I want my company to be successful, obviously, but I think deeper than that, I want it to have impact. Like I want it to change things for people.

1:02:58And to me, if I can, if that can be successful, if people can feel something different, if they can feel seen, that's what I want it to be about. And so moving forward, I think that's really where my focus is. Why do you think people struggle with being seen? I think that's just hard in this world. You know, as a woman, there are so many hardships, you know, whether it's you're doing the same job as a man and you don't feel seen, you're not making the same amount of money, you don't feel seen. And you're having a baby and you have to hide it because you don't feel like your worth is going to be seen.

1:03:33So I think that there's all these different ways that comes out. And for me, like I've been able to talk to so many women. When I wrote that op-ed, there was just a pouring out from people who had their own stories. And to me, that was encouraging in one aspect, but heartbreaking that so many people aren't being seen, you know, aren't being able to show up as their full selves. And I think that was just the eye opening experience that like there's there's more work to be done here. Yeah, it's beautiful. I've got a few final questions for you before I ask them. Is there anything we can do to be of service to you today besides making sure we support the brand, buying some shoes, getting the message out?

1:04:09How else can we support and serve you? I think celebrating women, you know, celebrating other women. For me, like that's something that I really enjoy now coming from a sports background of like a feeling that there could only be one and there's so much competition. now I like to uplift other people, you know, and I think that's something that in our circles, we can all do, you know, we can support, um, the women in our lives who aren't feeling seen. That can be a small act of just, you know, an encouragement, or it can be something bigger, you know, and amplifying someone's story. Um, so I think that's some, something we all can do every day.

1:04:45Yeah, that's beautiful. Uh, S A Y S H.com is where we can go. We'll have that all linked up for you guys to get some shoes and support there. This is a question I ask everyone at the end called the three truths question. It's a hypothetical scenario. Um, but I would like for you to imagine for a moment that you get to live as long as you want in this life, but then it's your last day. You get to accomplish, be, do, create whatever you want to create from here moving forward. But for whatever reason in this hypothetical scenario, you've got to take everything with you that you've shared with the world.

1:05:20So this conversation is no longer here. Every interview done is gone. Anything you write is no longer around. Hypothetical. But you get to leave behind three truths, three lessons that you've learned from all of your experiences up until now, but then for the many years that you're going to live. And that's all we have to remember you by are these three lessons. What would be those three truths for you? I think I would say you are enough. I would leave that.

1:05:53Embracing failure is a part of your success. You know, I think that's been a theme throughout my life. and you have purpose. We have a bigger purpose and why we're in the spaces that we are. I love those. Those are beautiful. I would acknowledge you, Allison, for being purpose, not letting your past identity be your purpose today, but being a generous human being, being kind, being giving, being thoughtful, being a great mother, a great friend, being creative, using your gifts in other ways than your physical talents. So I really acknowledge you for being purpose, which doesn't have to be tied to an athletic talent.

1:06:55And before I ask the final question, when I had Kobe on, he gave an answer to this question, which I thought was really powerful. And he talked about greatness being the impact you make on other people. You mentioned impact as equaling success. He said, greatness is about impacting the person next to you by essentially being a good person and then them impacting someone next to them and just being in that ripple effect. And I see you doing that in so many ways over the last 20 years, but also doing it another way now through your brand, through your message, through the community that you're building in a different way.

1:07:36So I really acknowledge you for the gifts you're bringing, these unique gifts you bring beyond your athletic talents as a human. Yeah. Encouraging. Of course. And I'm curious for you, what is your definition of greatness? I think my definition of greatness is pursuing the process. You know, I think it looks so many different ways because we all have different journeys. And I think that when you honor how you get there, when you honor the things that you go through, I think that's a part of the greatness, you know. And I think doing more of embracing that and more of accepting the different definitions of what greatness is for you.

1:08:22It doesn't have to just look like one simple way. I think there's so much greatness all around us. And for me, it always comes back to that journey and to the path that you're on. I hope today's episode inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a rundown of today's show with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me as well as ad-free listening experience, make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel on Apple Podcast. If you enjoyed this, please share it with a friend over on social media or text a friend.

1:08:59Leave us a review over on Apple Podcast and let me know what you learned over on our social media channels at Lewis Howes. I really love hearing the feedback from you and it helps us continue to make the show better. And if you want more inspiration from our world-class guests and content to learn how to improve the quality of your life, then make sure to sign up for the Greatness newsletter and get it delivered right to your inbox over at greatness.com slash newsletter. And if no one has told you today, I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.

1:09:39I can't keep this in anymore. I can't even believe I'm saying this, to be honest. You know you can tell me anything. I'm capital VFD42 capital Z lowercase M underscore lowercase P capital L reverse slash apostrophe lowercase RS. I know how you feel. Just between us, I'm underscore comma dash underscore dollar sign capital G lowercase W comma forward slash dash dash reverse slash. No way. I am so glad we had this conversation. I know. Me too. Turn on total privacy with end-to-end encryption. WhatsApp. Message privately.

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