April 1, 2025 • 43 mins
Camila Ramon and Melissa Ortiz kick off the first episode of Hasta Abajo by giving you an inside look into how they arrived at this moment of launching a podcast together. They discuss how having mental fortitude has powered them through challenging moments in their lives and why former athletes make the perfect C-Suite executive.
Plus, Cami is sharing what Latin artists you should be listening to right now and Meli teases her next event in Los Angeles, covering the first-ever women’s professional sporting event at SoFi Stadium, when the United States Women's National Team takes on Brazil on April 5th!
*Hasta Abajo theme song created by: Aloxcs
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hi everyone, I'm coming La Ramond and I'm Liss Ortiz
And this is our very first episode ever.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
This is a baby, this is our podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
We're so pumped to be here at iHeart Women's Sports Network.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Oh my gosh, dude.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
A whole year in the making and it has come
finally come to life into fruition.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Not only into Fruition, but also in the first women's
sports network of its kind. This is the first of
its kind. We're so pumped.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Amazing.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Yeah, yo, like I'm about to do sprints outside of
this building.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
No. Honestly, Medie and I we met a couple of
years ago. It hasn't been a very long time, but
instantly we knew that we needed to get together. As
a matter of fact, several people within the past couple
of weeks have come up to us and been like,
you guys need to start a project together. You need
a podcast together, And I was like, little do you
know that we're already working on that. So we're really
pumped to say that this is going to be the
(00:55):
intersection between music, because you know, music is make or
break when it comes to fitness, when it comes to sport,
and also in everything that I do entrepreneurship in the
Latino community and also obviously sports, fitness, health, wellness, all
of those beautiful things. We're just two cutie but tuty
girly pops a megas in the game, trying to have
(01:16):
real life conversations about things we're going through and motivate
you to get up. Now.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
You hit it on the spotgramy like those Latinas, you know,
really crushing it in specific lanes, whether it's me in
the broadcast in sports or soccer lane, and you of
course in this in the fitness and lifestyle entrepreneur and music.
Like I think we came with two different perspectives, but
then also so many commonalities that a lot of people
(01:48):
like you listeners that have, whether it's music, sports and football.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Right you wait minute, but like, real quick, people, what
if I people don't know you, like, can you give
them real quick? Like?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Who are you?
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Who am I?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Quick?
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Okay, I'm an Olympian.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
I already said I always she said it first, because
I always got on her. She didn't say it.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
First, Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
A former professional soccer player. I played for the Columbia
women's national team for around seven years. Played in the
Olympics of course in a U twenty Women's World Cup heartbreak,
got injured before the full Women's World cub. We'll talk
about that another episode, but now fast forward. After my
retirement from soccer, became not only a social media personality
(02:29):
like an influencer, which led me to also being a broadcaster.
So I cover soccer both men's and women's on TNT Sports,
which I cover the US women's and men's national teams
year round, and then I also do Fox Sports for
like Coba, Medica, World Cups, etcetera. So my life is
full of football, which I'm incredibly honored about, but then
(02:50):
also it's full of music and wuen a vivras and
passion and yeah, that's why I just feel like this
podcast was an incredible outlet to join forces because it
gives us a voice outside of the voice and platforms
that we have, which sometimes we can't talk about certain
things that we want.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
To talk about, Yeah, because there's just no time.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, okay, I.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Got a thirty second push. I'm not going to tell
you my life story or am I.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Or are you go on commy? Let me hear that
introduction to our listeners.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
That's hard. You were very efficient, so I was born
in at Pantina. I grew up in Miami. I grew
up dancing, running, and then I decided, I said, hey,
there's no real space where Latinas can feel like they
can just move to take care of themselves. It's always
with pressure, like aesthetic pressure, to look a certain way
to change yourself. So I started creating my own fitness platform.
(03:39):
Eventually I reached out to Peloton. Peloton said, we want
you on at what time in the morning you reach
out to I'm five in the morning. I'm time to
get a response at nine am. So I'm a bilingual
fitness professional. I was the first to teach in English
and Spanish on the bike the trend dance cardio.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
On the platform at Peloton.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Obviously an instructor and now one of my main passions
is not only to empower Latina's Latinos and literally everybody
to train to take care of themselves, to achieve their dreams,
to discover all the potential that you can discover in
your training so that you can carry it to the
rest of your life and everywhere else in the world
and show everybody how beautiful, amazing and valuable you are.
(04:17):
But also to bring Latin music to the forefront.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Also, I love there's.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
A huge connection between a creative's mindset and an athlete's mindset.
I think because you have to continuously push, push, push, push, push,
you get so many no's along the way that I
think overlap so much. And also I just I love
everything like Latino. I love empowering Latino businesses, owners, entrepreneurs,
(04:45):
things like that. So whenever I can have a chance
to speak to somebody, or to bring a new song
or to discover a new artist in a workout, and
also create an amazing vibe for anybody else on the
other side that's looking to train, to work out, to compete,
That's what I'm gonna do. So that's what I'm here
to talk about as well. And we have some amazing
guests lined up.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
We have the Sukar.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Family, Peruvians who just won two Grammys and they are
the first Provians to ever win Grammys. That's coming up next.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
We have also Ali Cska my Porto Rico.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Such an inspiring conversation. Honestly, that girl is a fighter. Yes,
oh wow, what an incredible story, an amazing musician.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Absolutely. We also have athletes coming on the show. Entrepreneurs
and other artists. I don't know if like ha what ha?
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:33):
So stay tuned you guys. We got some really amazing
things cooking up. And are you ready to start the show?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
I'm ready?
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Are you ready?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I'm ready? This is Ada may drop the beat.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
I'm Kamila Ramon and amilis Arties and every week we'll
cover everything, embracing every part of our identity as professional
athletes female that's you.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Know, entrepreneurs and pereo enthusiast, baby to amias and achieves
mad trying our best and keeping it light, all while
empowering you to know your worth and fight for what's yours.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
That's right, Kami, And remember, okay, no past naa, It's
not that deep. So grab your cafeo and join us.
This is at.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
All right?
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Well, comee, I hope you got your confecito in hands.
You have it in hand?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I do.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
I have it right here, And recently I've been putting
lavender creamer in it, like oat milk lavender creamer. I
know it's very anti and.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Cringing, and sime I actually really love it. Well, guys,
here's the difference to me. I will because you know,
I'm Colombian and I love coffee and I just I
have it straight black and I love love love, just
like fresh beans. I like to grandma own beans and
then you know, just do a pour over and just
(06:57):
taste all of the I don't know elements inside of
my coffee with no additives. Shout out that lavender shit
you're drinking.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
I mean, I do like a little bit of lichen
my cofesito, and I get like for it to be licha.
And every time I ask a Cuban lady in the
vendanita Miami, I'm like dinn, She's like no, and I'm like, okay,
my bad, no.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
But they have like twenty pounds of sugar one hundred percent, and.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
I love that. Shout out kickoff coffee pot. We'll get
into that a little bit. We will get so on
every episode, we're gonna start with some girl talk and
some coffecito. Mellie and I are currently so fucking sore.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Literally, we have ran.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Two half marathons in two weeks. Yes, my body hurts,
but my soul is so happy. Same like my hips flexer.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
When I woke up to my name, my.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Hips Flexer is busted right now, but I'm going to
do some recovery. No.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Same, My knees are just sore. And can we just
talk about the fact that the New York City half marathon, Like,
where the hell did all these incline to come from
our lires?
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Lie?
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Okay, hear me out.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Anybody who says that's a relatively flat course, You're a liar. No,
and I'm going to Yeah. So my ass is also
very sore today, which is I'm not mad about it.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
I mean, I'm when my ass is sore, I'm like,
hope it's from a good perreal Like, you know, I
went out last night to the club. I got a
little love Like That's when I'm like, actually, like hell, yeah,
that was worth it. But I don't know those bridges
Like that's when I'm.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Like, shit, I like my asses store period.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Baby, you got a pr you gotta I did, Okay.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
So, actually the Miami Marathon was Maddie's first half marathon ever.
We ran it together with the speaker, obviously blasting bad Bunny.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
I had a sinus infection.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
She had a sinus infection. I had been working outdoors
for five days. Were tired, and I cannot disclose why
we was doing that, but stay tuned, and I was like,
Maddie hydrated. We went to get IV's the day before.
They were very successful. Honestly, I think that they were.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
She added some performance, added whatever it was. I felt amazing.
The next day, I was like, I'm ready for this ship.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
She was like, do you want to add this?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Added him.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
I'm like, how much is it? She's like it's like
a hundred dollars. Actually, I'm like whatever, you got to do,
whatever you gotta do.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, I got it to It's nice.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Yeah, but thank god I ran with Comuna honestly because
she is a pacer.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Like, you are legit running.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
I know you.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
You've been running like your whole life. You ran in
high school, yeah everything.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
I ran cross country and track, yeah, and.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
In soccer, Like I was always just used to sprints,
you know, you you definitely get it in mileage and
games and practices, but you're you're on and off you're sprinting.
So when it comes to marathons and stuff, this is
like a whole new chapter for me in my life.
And thankfully that was my first half marathon and I
ran it with Commune. It was it was such a
great it was such a great vibes. Like we had
the speaker on gemming out. People were literally left and
(09:51):
right going up to comm like, oh my god, is
that And I was like, yeah, it is. And then
like they would go up to you and like take
pictures with you mid running while we're like shout out.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
To the mafia out there trains with me on the tread.
I love to see you guys out there in the wild.
And I apologize for anybody who I did not see
at the New York City Have marathon because I was
in the zone, like my I had the what do
you call it, the not do not disturb, the sile
audio silent, oh, noise canceling. I had noise canceling on
because I wanted to hear my music in my brain.
(10:22):
So if anybody said hi to me, I apologize. I
love you guys, Mellie. You travel so much for work.
I think lately we've both been traveling a lot, and
like running marathons in I'm in New York data and
now we're doing the pod, We're going to be traveling more,
interviewing different artists and athletes and things like that.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
So how do those gun miles, baby, yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Hell, how do you stay like like in motion while
you're traveling. It's so hard.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
It's so hard. You know, a lot of it seems
like so glamorous, right, Like I have some friends in
me up they're like, oh my gosh, like, so your
life so awesome, which I'm so grateful that what I
what I do, right, Yeah, But it's hard because when
you're not in the same place or have the same routine,
it's challenging because you need to kind of try to
stay in the same routine, but you're in different places
(11:09):
out of your routine. So for me, I mean, man,
like last year, I went on around a hundred flights okay.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
A hundred in the math.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yeah, so far, so good. I haven't gotten those numbers
yet this year, but some you know, it changes as
the years go on, as a year goes on.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
But crazy, Yeah, dude, it was nuts.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
So I like to prioritize certain things, meaning like my
priority for me is like what's gonna make me feel good,
But one is prioritizing like my sleep and how I feel.
So I definitely want to get in like good sleep.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Ye, And it's hard. I don't sleep. Yeah, yeah, you.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Don't want to talk to me.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
I don't sleep the same yeah, literally same. Oh it
has me like oh hit a central, Like I'm like,
I'm really sorry, now whatever what's going on? Uh soh.
I prioritize sleep, and then I also like to prioritize
fitness as well. I either run depending on where I am.
(12:09):
If I know the city, well, I'll run outside. If
I don't know the city well, I mean unfortunately being
a woman in a city that you're not familiar with,
like safety first, so that I just find a shred
and I'll either run, I'll do weightlifting. I love to weightlift,
strength train, or I'll you know, find a class, a
local class, whether it's like pilates or an F forty
five like something like that.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
That's what I usually do.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Yeah, yeah, that's usually that's my like try to stay
in my routine mode. Then recently I've just been traveling
with like my like I'm not gonna lie like a
zip bloc bag of like my go to kits, say,
with like my vitamins, like my protein.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Yeah, being psychic chi probiotics everywhere I go exactly, and
a protein powder also goes a long way when you're traveling,
for sure, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
I've also something that I've been doing as I travel
more and more is prioritizing the things that I know
that I'm not going to be able to get to
you while I'm traveling. So for example, like let's say
most places have a tread like they have a treadmill.
It's not going to be the best tread in the world.
They can get a peloton tread all little, but it's
going to be something that you can run on. And
like I said, oh, how I love being a woman.
(13:14):
You have to worry about running outside wherever you go.
You can't just like run anywhere, especially if you're not
familiar with the neighborhood, the streets, all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
So I know that I'm going to be able to
get my cardio in.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
So I try to prioritize like strength training or weight
training wherever whenever I'm home, so that when I leave,
I'm like, Okay, if it doesn't work out, then I
know that I got like my two to three weight
training sessions and for the week and I'm feeling good
and then I get my runs in. Or if I
know that I'm going to a specific location that has
like a good weight training setup, but I like to
set myself off for success and have like lower expectations
(13:45):
when I travel and be flexible with the training that
I get in, but also like land and if I
have the opportunity or a break after landing, which you
typically do, like get a workout in right away. So
hopefully those hacks help, even though I think we can
dive a little bit deeper into that. But today we're
going to talk about mental fortitude, but that's after the break.
(14:13):
Something I'm super interested in is mental fortitude, not only
from an athlete's.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Perspective, but also from creatives.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
So I personally feel like there's a huge connection between
somebody who is continuously creative, trying to break barriers and
continuously pushing after a dream, after an idea, after you know,
creating like an album, a song, a track, or introducing
something new to a community, and being continuously said no
(14:43):
or told no, like this is not going to work,
this is not gonna be enough, you're not enough whatever.
Athletes and creatives do fight a similar battle in the
sense of like you're continuously like walking into a wall
and being told no before somebody actually understands what your
impact can be. And women too, like as a woman
in the fitness space, that's something that I have seen
(15:05):
a lot. So today we're gonna be talking about mental fortitude.
Melli is somebody who has has a very strong mind.
Like we talk about it all the time, Like we
are so different. I have so much anxiety. I have
suffered from depression before. Melli is somebody who's a genuinely
like positive person. Not saying she doesn't have her lows
at all, Like I'm not going to talk for you there,
(15:26):
but she's somebody that I personally look up to as
to how she like constructs her mind. And I think
one of the things that you spoke about earlier was
your time and your battles within the Columbia national team.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
I think being a just an athlete in general, right,
Like we grew up having to do sprints, having to
do like so many fitness tests, like the grind to
keep on proving yourself to get a starting spot. Not
only like because of the way you're performing, you're scoring goals,
but also you're trying to pass fitness tests. Yeah, and
there's such a mental battle behind that because there's like
(16:01):
a pain cave where you're actually like physically tired.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
You're like, I can't do it anymore. Like you, that's
like an end of lovely yeah, at the end of
a marathon.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
But then all of a sudden, you gotta tell your
brain like I can do it. Yeah, I can push
through these last five minutes. I could push through these
last you know, two minutes.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Or it could push this extra time.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Right. And so I think that just playing sports in general,
whether it was soccer, lacrosse, volleyball, basketball, and I was little,
like those experiences really helped me to become who I
am now, which I think is like a really well
prepped and yeah, like mentally strong woman. And then on
the Columbia national team, like I played for Columbia essentially
(16:44):
like without making any money, which is crazy to say,
Like literally a team that we played in the Olympics,
we played in you know, the Women's Cup, you twenty
rod coup, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
And Columbia soccer team has a lot of visibility.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Yeah, well back then, it unfortunately didn't because, like I mean,
a bunch of like uh Latino men were in charge
and are still to this day in charge of the federation,
and so we weren't getting any coverage or support. And
so you know, we went through when I say we
like my teammates and I went through years of putting
(17:15):
on the jersey, sweating the jersey, you know, to make
it to these World Cups and Olympics, just out of
pure pride and passion, not chasing obviously the money because
we didn't make any zero. Yeah, not trying to chase
any like let's say clout because there's no coverage, right.
It was just more out of like ker gujos, right, yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
And so.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Like I think that has really been able to teach
me life lessons in the long run post soccer playing career.
For instance, It's like I'm not chasing the dollar bills.
I'm not chasing you know this like like an extravagant,
glamorous life. I'm chasing my passion. And I've always told
people when they ask me, like what has like led
you to like so many cool opportunities or different things.
(18:02):
And I've always said, I've life lived my life by passion, Uh,
whether that's playing soccer, or whether that's covering soccer because
I'm so passionate about soccer, whether it's starting this podcast
with you combat because like I found like, wow, I
feel like we need this, like and we need two
latinas like coming together and providing a platform and an
outlet for other people like us to to find like
(18:22):
similar conversations, similarities, you know, relatable things, litible shit that
we go through.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Day and day and day in and day out.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
So anyways, that mental fortitude I think has just like
really told me live your life by passion. Then when
there are hard times in my career, whether it was
on the field or off the field, I just like
it's hard for me to give up.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
It's like, I don't did you tell yourself when I
was like on the on the on the yeah, when
you were yeah, when you were on the realm of
giving up, or like you were in those moments where
you were like you know, like yeah, for lack of
better words, fuck this place. Like these people are like
they don't care d D. But like I know that
I'm passionate about this, and like you know, we know
as women in the space, how valuable it is to
(19:07):
just be that representation for others, Right, So how did
that feel for you? Like how did you even navigate that?
Speaker 1 (19:14):
So I just kept putting my head down, kept grinding
because I had my own goal, and that goal was
to keep on playing for the national team and then
playing at a world like the world's greatest stage, whether
it's like an the Olympics or the World Cup. Now,
you know, there was a time in my career where
I did say fuck these people, like I'm on to
better and bigger things. But I didn't say like fuck
(19:34):
these people because I'm giving up, right. I. It's kind
of like you you shift gears. It's like when one thing,
maybe it isn't working out, can you set up a
plan and another goal that's going to lead you to
your next like potential destination. Yeah, you know, and that's
exact and being smart about it, Yeah for sure. So
when I realized that, you know, I tore my achilles
five days before the Women's World Cup, the Columbing Federation
(19:57):
at the time was treating me like absolute shit.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Which we will get into it, we will, we will
believe me, believe me, believe you.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Uh. And so at that time I realized, after a
year long recovery, that I was more valuable than the
way that other people and especially them, were treating me
and value valuing me. And that's when I shifted my gears,
set up a new goal and said, this is this
is what I want to want to This is what
I want to know.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Other people's opinions of you have absolutely no effect on
exact value period.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
And that's my mental fortitude. Honestly, it's you and your
brain telling yourself you are worth it. You know, whether
it's look, you're at the last milel of your marathon
and you're telling your brain you are worth it. You
can fucking do it, like you can, you know, go
all out, you are you can do this right, or
it's in times in life where you're going through a
rough time and you got to tell your brain and
(20:48):
have faith like I can get through this. There are
better things ahead for me, you know, as long as
you're keep putting in the grind along, as long as
you're I think, like a good person in general. You know,
if you're a good person, other good people will certainly
help you. And so, like I think that just the
mental fortitude has has just been a result of like resilience,
(21:11):
resilient times both on.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
And off the pitch.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Yeah, yeah, And I think there's something to be said
also about understanding that, like believing in yourself and like
trusting in your abilities, like it's only something that can
come from.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
You, Like yeah, one hundred, I mean you did it.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
You trusted your ability, Like yeah, yeah, well yeah, I
mean for me, it's a little bit more on the
creative side, right, because it's like a little bit more
entrepreneurial rather than performance space. Right, So we talk about
like creatively, like how we're gonna have like Astopkata come on.
Like when you think about the careers of like these
(21:50):
big timers, like like Shakida, a musician that has been
through you know so much, she like never just quit.
She continued to reinvent herself. And that's something that I
have a lot of respect and I for other people,
and I do believe that, like you can reinvent yourself
as many times as you want and as many times
as you need. But I would would like to say
(22:10):
put an emphasis on the want, because at the end
of the day, it is our lives and we can
do whatever it is that we want to do with
our lives. Love that for me, like starting out in
like fitness, I remember I was in LA and when
I started like my finish journey, and it wasn't until
I started to like really trust myself because I was
doing like very English forward classes when I was in
(22:30):
LA because I was afraid of like how people would
perceive me, or that the people that came to the
classes wouldn't like the music or wouldn't take my class.
And it wasn't until and I would create I was
creating my programs in Spanish on the side, and I
was training in Spanish on the side, playing that bunny
and playing reggaeton, and that's where I felt like my
calling was. I kept being pulled in that direction. And
it wasn't until I started like really embracing myself and
(22:53):
like fully diving into that side gig that I was
trying to do that things started working out for me.
There were so many different gyms that didn't understand the
value of like what it was that I was bringing,
or wanted me to work for free, and I refuse
to do that.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
And at certain times, you know you have to do that.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
You have to like set yourself up to be able
to have experience. But after a certain amount of time
you have to be like, no, like I understand the
value of what I'm bringing, just because you don't understand that,
or you want to take advantage of me. Because you
are a man and you own a gym and you
have the ability to like say no to me, doesn't
mean that you're right. Matter of factly, like there was
a gym that I like quit and one of one
(23:30):
of my my the owner of the gym had like
said something to me and was like, oh, like he
had said no to me about like something and put
me on like the shittiest time slots and my.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
My male friend that I or the time slots.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
I think it was like it was like six am
or like you wanted me to do like an event
or something for free. Yeah, And I called my guy friend.
I was like, Hey, is this guy like asking you
to do all this? And he's like nah, And I'm
like I'm like why is he asking me to do
so much extra shit? Like you literally just show up
and like go to work and like write out like
and and then he didn't want to pay me for that.
So then I like quit the gym. And then I
(24:04):
called my guy friend and I told him what happened
and he left too, and I was like respect to you,
I love you forever, allies, Yeah, one hundred percent. Also,
like when I was developing my own app, Like I
had to work for a year on an app, and
if you know about like programming and creating your own
app takes forever, especially if you're trying to do it
from scratch for iOS and Android. I worked for a
(24:27):
year and then my partner that I had been working
with ended up sucking me over so then and taking
all the code and taking everything. So I was like mad,
depressed because I had literally and it was like during
the pandemic, so I had like nobody to see we
were all mentally doing so poorly.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
I had recently had a.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Death in my family. I was unwell. I started going
to therapy like twice a week, every single week, and
I was like, I don't want to start from scratch.
I am exhausted, I'm tired, And something in my brain
was like, no, keep going do it from scratch. So
I started again. I did it twice two years.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
It took me.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
It took me two years to build out what eventually
became a beautiful launch pad for me to also like
I was going to create something special, Like I was
creating something so beautiful already. But when I sent an
email to the CEO of Peloton like they were like, yeah,
there's no there's no choice but to hire this girl.
Like she's doing it already, Like she literally is like
(25:23):
the like I was, like in the perfect position. So
for me, that was that took so much mental fortitude
for me not to give up on myself, for me
to trust my gut and like understand that my value
was not determined by some like shitty gym owner who
had no idea what the fuck he.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Was talking about exactly.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Oh, that's so inspiring, dude. Honestly, Like you could have
easily given up. You could have said, you know, I'm
gonna find something else or another I don't.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Know, career path or whatever it is.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
It happened so many times, it's such a common story.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
But you didn't.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
No, you kept going so and I think a lot
of like my mindset comes from well, our mindset obviously
from being athletes, Like we never give up, Like we
know that if we work hard to achieve something, we
know that if I train, I can hit a pace
that I want to pace that I want to hit
for a marathon or for a run, or that I'm
going to get better at my craft at like passing, dribbling, whatever,
it is that you want to get better at you
(26:12):
just have to work on it, which is also the
same mindset that we bring, you know, to ourselves. This
is our first episode. Maybe it's gonna be shitty, but
it's gonna get better. We're gonna work.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
It's only way. It's one way, that's all.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
No, literally, there's only one way. We're starting real alahol.
Don't worry. We'll take it up to the guy.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Baby.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
We're only going up from here.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
And that's that's something beautiful about like sport and fitness,
like they're there. I'm reading this right now, but a
significant percentage of women in executive leadership positions were once athletes.
In fact, ninety four percent of women in the C
suite have a background in playing sports.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
I mean, I could, I could speak wonders about about this,
and I don't want to like X out you know,
women who haven't played sports, who didn't play sports.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
But I just want to say, just out of from
experience like having played sports or having not even played sports,
like having had a like a really committed hobby or
something when you were younger really helps.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
With that mindset.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
It's never too late.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
It's never too late to adopt the mindset now.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
But it really teaches you about, you know, being a
team player working, especially like in let's just say, in
a corporate setting or not even corporate setting, like I'm like,
I of course work for TMT Source, but apart from that,
it's more on the entrepreneurial side, like self employed and
you as well, you know, you have your side a
business apart from peloton.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Yeah, And so you learn a lot.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
About like that, like you know, not giving up getting
through challenges, relying on other people around you for help,
not relying, but like reaching out.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Questing and not being afraid to ask for help.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Exactly, just like you're like, you're on a team. And
then I think the most important thing I've learned from sports,
to be honest, is confidence. Like confidence For me, you
could have a shitty ass game, okay, and I've been
through those, and then I look back and I'm like, damn, Like,
was I really that confident in that game? And then
I look back and I said, you know what I
(28:10):
want have been a shitty game, but at least I
took shots, you know, least I at least I, you know,
gave it out there. And when I look now into
my current career, like on camera on live TV, I
always like have to start out with like just be confident.
Confident will then drive me, drive my energy, Like just
give me that like great baseline and the rest the
(28:32):
rest is gonna flow through, Okay, So like for me,
like for for sports and women who have come from
sports room, maybe who haven't and are working in their
jobs similar to those of like the C Suite exacts,
ninety four percent are women in those positions. I think
a lot of it is because of confidence. You get
into a room, you get a seat at the table,
(28:52):
and if you have confidence, girl, like you will drive conversation.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
Yeah, you have to have confidence, so like there's no
there's no negotiation in those positions for a woman to
be in that space, and like lack of confidence, like
they're just there's not that grace that other people might have.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
For sure.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
I think for me too, Like one of the questions
that I get asked the most relating to confidence too.
And honestly, I was having a conversation about this with
my brother because he has to give a lot of
presentations at work now and he didn't used to have
to do that. And he's like, how do you just
like get on camera and like talk.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
I'm like, I just do it.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
And like a lot of times I'm super nervous and
my throat closes before I go on air sometimes and
I have to be like no, a throat police work
because I can't breathe and it's and I think that
me getting through that too stems from, like, you know,
cross country, you're like towing the line. It's like three two,
the gun goes off and at that point, like your
heart is dropping, but you learn to kind of just
(29:48):
like you have to live through that. You have to
live through those moments. So if you have a girl
in your life and you want to put her into sports,
the time is now. Put your little girls in sports. Baby, Like,
more women in sports, more girls in sports.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Please absolutely amen to that.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
I want to ask you a question, Mellie, because I.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
You are such an inspiration to me personally, which is
why I feel so honored to share this space with you.
When you think of your life, that your life story,
what do you think was the main factor that contributed
to your success.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Hmm, that's a great one.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
I'd say I kind of mentioned passion. I think passion
has really really driven me to so many different accomplishments.
Passion has driven me to so many different experiences and
also and more importantly, to so many different friendships and relationships.
(30:52):
But like what I say is like, you know, if
I'm so passionate about something and I want it, that's
what's gonna drive my motivation. That's what's going to drive
me to get up early and work on it, to
stay up late and work on it. You know, that's
what's really gonna set me apart I think from maybe
others that are trying to achieve that same thing.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
You know.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
It's just like in a game, I relate so much
stuff to sports, and of course soccer.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
It's like if I.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Passionately want to win the freaking championship, like with my
heart my soul, Like that's what's gonna get me to that,
to score that goal or to lift the trophy, or
to start this podcast or to host MESSI or to
I don't know, There's like so many different accomplishtions that
I think back and I'm like, holy shit, Like it
(31:41):
was definitely definitely passion driven.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
That has has really motivated me.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
So Melie's a passionate girly pop shout out to Meli's husband.
We know that'll be a great success.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
I was about to say a dirty jug, but I'm
not going out.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
You can.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
But ideas like sex sex, I you I'm blushing.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Or is it how to hear some me? What about you?
Speaker 3 (32:18):
I think it's I talk about this a lot, but
I think as an immigrant, I think it's the work
ethic that my parents instilled in me that have shown
that have taught me that if you keep going your
you won't lose, like there's a way out always. And
I have a lot of respect for everything that my
(32:42):
parents gave up in order to give me the opportunity
to be here, to be having this podcast, to be
doing a job that may Abuela has absolutely no idea
what it is. I tell her, I think I'll me
bret up your show, the fitness. You know, I work
with a lot of artists. She has absolutely no idea
why they're on bicycles with me or who they are. Oh,
(33:06):
even though she did hear of she called me the
other day She's like, I Lola Balusa and araquandina us
out of faith. I was like, oh, he did a
class with me and then she was like she was like,
oh my god. See she'll say like she was telling everybody,
But I think for me, it's that. I think for me,
it's it's the it's the work ethic and and I
the responsibility that I feel to represent something for the
(33:27):
community that I am a part of and that that
I love. Community is everything to me.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
So the people on the.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Other side that they're my why they're they're what makes
me feel fulfilled. When I get messages from other people
telling me I started to love myself because I started
taking your classes and I started to hear these conversations
from you. When somebody told me I'm sixty years old,
and I finally started to love my body because I'm
taking your classes. Somebody tells me my name is Nick,
(33:57):
but all my friends now call me Nicolas because all I.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Do is attribuce me to that music.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
When people tell me I live in Germany and I
feel so connected to my Puerto Rican, my Mexican, my
Latin roots, because you give me a window into what
makes me feel like I'm home. That's just what does
it for me. So it's both the work ethic and
also the community.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
For Suremmen absolutely love that when we come back, y'all, Ami.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
I'm gonna share some artists that I'm absolutely loving so
that you guys continue on this amazing music discovery moment
and that so that you kids can add it to
your workout playlist. And Mellie, what are you gonna share?
Speaker 1 (34:38):
I'm gonna share a little bit about a big event
coming up in the world of footbook.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Okay, well, we'll be right back. Don't go anywhere.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Every episode come and I will leave you with more
of the two things we love the most, which is
music and football. And when we were brainstorming about what
we wanted to call this like last part of our show,
which we wanted to leave it like on this high,
but also like give you like send you off with
like a tip, you know, send you man.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
It was actually very excited to present this to me.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
I really was.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
She was like, you know how when well, you know,
when if you, if you, if you played soccer, you
know you're about to send a cross in the air,
and the one that wants to score the goal and
like get that that that famous moment of scoring on Golaso.
They scream out, Hey.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
I got me Famoso, or like I got men famosa.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
And that means that's a calling for like someone that
gave me famous, made me famous, Okay, made me famous,
but that's like a calling out loud for someone to
make them famous, like with an assist in the air,
with the cross, with the past, whatever it is. So
that's how I was like, Yo, we gotta we gotta
help people, like send them off with something like not
only educational, but also like, yo, be that MVP at
that party, be that I don't know goal score at
(35:58):
your next social or in the office, and that's your
that's your time to like.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
So we got you with that assist, both in the
in women's sports and also in La mo. For me,
music is so important, as you know, it's a part
of everything that I do. It fuels me. I am
listening to a Latin music playlist everywhere I go. Sometimes
also I listen to some metal, I listen to some rock,
I listen to some pop punk. I I do have layers.
(36:26):
I'm range like a SpongeBob. So for me right now,
what I'm listening to on repeat is this artist right
now from Puerto Rico. You might know her from be
the song that she just did with Bad Bunnyy's new
album It's So. Her voice is incredible. But her new
(36:50):
album Gopi cool well new, relatively new. It dropped a
while ago, but Kapiku is incredible. If you have not
checked it out, please check it out. This is how
you people start trusting you with the ox cord.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Yesay, when you go.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
To the party, nobody's gonna boo you.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
Okay if you listen to me or in the locker
room exactly, So listen to Camilla before you start embarrassing
yourself playing this pasito again.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
For the eighty fifth time, or by Elvis. Nobody wants to.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
Hear that shiit anymore. Okay, stop playing this pasito at
the party.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
We need some pre Okay, we need e El Father,
we need El Bambinombino, we need some Cato g but
not like the pop pop pop tracks. We need to
get a little bit deeper into the albums.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Okay, that's why.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
Also you need to be playing Nati Peluso. She's an
Argentinian artist that lives in Spain. Now. Her latest album
Grasa got some Grammys. You know, she has some really
iconic tracks that come out are coming out of that album.
Make sure that you check them out. My favorite one
is the one that goes le tempura.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
That sounds like a great alarm clock.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
No literally, that means get up right now, bitch. If
it hurts, put a bandond on it.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
I needa as my my alarm tone. Literally, no, no
setting it now.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
She's extremely powerful and also I want to talk about
her swag and the branding that's coming along with the
album and her tour. Right now, she's absolutely killing it.
So if you want to check out a powerful woman
on stage that's taking up space unapologetically, check out NA.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
What about you? Meli? All right ya y'ah.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
So I want to talk about, of course sports in general,
whether it's women's or men's sports. But since this is
the first episode, the timing is just right. It's just
right because I will be heading to Los Angeles because
the US women's national team will be playing against Brazil
on April the fifth at So five at so Fine.
My god, if you have seen So Fat Stadium, it's beautiful.
(38:44):
It is beautiful, and of course it's it's iconic. Uh,
it's a it's a FIFA World Cup stadium that we'll
be able to enjoy in twenty twenty six. But on
top of that, this is the first time a women's
professional sporting event will be.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
Played at so Far.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
So y'all if you're in the La area or near
it and want to travel in April, fifth US women's
national team taken on Brazil also important because that was
the gold medal match in the Olympics over the summer,
which the US women's national team beats Brazil, and so
it's like a revenge match and I'm just so happy
not only to be a part of it, part of
the broadcast team that we will be covering it, but
(39:18):
just also it's another historic and iconic moment to be
a part of, given that it'll be the first women's
professional sporting match at this huge, huge stadium, So La,
what's that? Hit me up when I'm there, let me
give me some good coffee spots, and I love a begun.
Speaker 3 (39:34):
The match moment like that was going to be real spicy.
And also for all of our listeners who may not
be as familiar with women's sports, I just want to
put it out there that this is a beautiful space
for Meli to teach us. Melli's expert here, right, So
we're going to be learning together. There's no shame in
the game. It's never to la, it's get involved. We're
(39:56):
all just really happy to be here and to have
these conversations. So if you have any particular questions or
things that you want to hear from many things that
you want to learn, I feel free to reach out
to us because we're here to make bring women's sports
and women in general Latinas to the forefront.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
So yeah, I mean, and this conversation came up too,
like what do I want to leave the audience with,
because I could have said something, you know, like music,
like soccer in general, whatever it is. But I've had
different conversations even recently, like someone coming up and being like,
oh my gosh, like I not a fan of women's soccer,
but I'm a fan of you, okay because of like
(40:31):
the coverage or things like that, or like I don't
watch women's sports, but like I watch like your coverage,
like some of the men's soccer games like Cobam Medica
and Columbia, like whatever it is, and they're Latinas. And
I realize over the course of time, like it's a
commonality that unfortunately, like some like Latinas aren't supporting Latinas
(40:52):
in different realms in different spaces, right, but more specifically
like women's sports, right, Like so many Latinas could be
fans of Celex Columbia or Celex Argentina in soccer, right,
but they have no idea what the women's team is doing, okay,
And so it's just a common thing. And like you said, Kami,
no stream of the game. We're all here to grow
(41:12):
together and lift each other up, okay. And that's like
what I would love the audience to take away, so
that you know, we're able to say, as a Latina,
I could show like, hey, this other Latina who's playing
for Angel City in the end of your cell, or
this other Latina who's playing in the WNBA, or this
Latina who is playing in the women's whatever it is, like,
look what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
You know, we're gonna make it easy for you guys too.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
So we want to have these conversations to provide you
with the tools so that you can just like you know,
turn on a match and watch it or like know
the latest from Meli so that you're like, okay, April fifth,
I'm there, baby, add into the calendar right now, put
it on your thing.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
Or when you're at the next bar. It's a great conversation,
your sports conversation maker.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Yeah, that breaks the ice.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
So yeah, that's what I'm so pumped and also like
incredibly grateful to have this platform to be able to
educate others with yeah.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
One hundred percent, and I'm grateful that you are educating
all of us at the same time. So stay tuned
because we will be having a lot more of these
amazing conversations. We will be bringing some iconic artists on
the platform very often, because, like we said earlier, nothing
makes or breaks a workout or a training session more
(42:28):
than a shitty or a really good playlist. So we
are gonna hook you up. And I think with that, Millie,
that's a wrap on this week's episode.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
No, we just did our first episode.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
We did our first high five baby, I'm so proud
of us. Thank you guys for joining us.
Speaker 3 (42:46):
And then we will see you next week when we
interview the souk Got family. It's a party, baby. That
was one of my favorite interviews that I've ever done period.
They're so dynamic, do not miss it, extremely inspiring, extremely humble.
So we'll catch you next week.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
Wait, gommy, we can't leave the audience yet without the
last thing we do.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
Oh yeah, wait, first, don't forget to subscribe and we'll.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
See you next time at the at the at the.
Speaker 3 (43:13):
A is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with
Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
For more podcasts, listen to the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hi everyone, I'm coming La Ramond and I'm Liss Ortiz
And this is our very first episode ever.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
This is a baby, this is our podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
We're so pumped to be here at iHeart Women's Sports Network.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Oh my gosh, dude.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
A whole year in the making and it has come
finally come to life into fruition.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Not only into Fruition, but also in the first women's
sports network of its kind. This is the first of
its kind. We're so pumped.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Amazing.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Yeah, yo, like I'm about to do sprints outside of
this building.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
No. Honestly, Medie and I we met a couple of
years ago. It hasn't been a very long time, but
instantly we knew that we needed to get together. As
a matter of fact, several people within the past couple
of weeks have come up to us and been like,
you guys need to start a project together. You need
a podcast together, And I was like, little do you
know that we're already working on that. So we're really
pumped to say that this is going to be the
(00:55):
intersection between music, because you know, music is make or
break when it comes to fitness, when it comes to sport,
and also in everything that I do entrepreneurship in the
Latino community and also obviously sports, fitness, health, wellness, all
of those beautiful things. We're just two cutie but tuty
girly pops a megas in the game, trying to have
(01:16):
real life conversations about things we're going through and motivate
you to get up. Now.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
You hit it on the spotgramy like those Latinas, you know,
really crushing it in specific lanes, whether it's me in
the broadcast in sports or soccer lane, and you of
course in this in the fitness and lifestyle entrepreneur and music.
Like I think we came with two different perspectives, but
then also so many commonalities that a lot of people
(01:48):
like you listeners that have, whether it's music, sports and football.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Right you wait minute, but like, real quick, people, what
if I people don't know you, like, can you give
them real quick? Like?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Who are you?
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Who am I?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Quick?
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Okay, I'm an Olympian.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
I already said I always she said it first, because
I always got on her. She didn't say it.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
First, Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
A former professional soccer player. I played for the Columbia
women's national team for around seven years. Played in the
Olympics of course in a U twenty Women's World Cup heartbreak,
got injured before the full Women's World cub. We'll talk
about that another episode, but now fast forward. After my
retirement from soccer, became not only a social media personality
(02:29):
like an influencer, which led me to also being a broadcaster.
So I cover soccer both men's and women's on TNT Sports,
which I cover the US women's and men's national teams
year round, and then I also do Fox Sports for
like Coba, Medica, World Cups, etcetera. So my life is
full of football, which I'm incredibly honored about, but then
(02:50):
also it's full of music and wuen a vivras and
passion and yeah, that's why I just feel like this
podcast was an incredible outlet to join forces because it
gives us a voice outside of the voice and platforms
that we have, which sometimes we can't talk about certain
things that we want.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
To talk about, Yeah, because there's just no time.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, okay, I.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Got a thirty second push. I'm not going to tell
you my life story or am I.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Or are you go on commy? Let me hear that
introduction to our listeners.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
That's hard. You were very efficient, so I was born
in at Pantina. I grew up in Miami. I grew
up dancing, running, and then I decided, I said, hey,
there's no real space where Latinas can feel like they
can just move to take care of themselves. It's always
with pressure, like aesthetic pressure, to look a certain way
to change yourself. So I started creating my own fitness platform.
(03:39):
Eventually I reached out to Peloton. Peloton said, we want
you on at what time in the morning you reach
out to I'm five in the morning. I'm time to
get a response at nine am. So I'm a bilingual
fitness professional. I was the first to teach in English
and Spanish on the bike the trend dance cardio.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
On the platform at Peloton.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Obviously an instructor and now one of my main passions
is not only to empower Latina's Latinos and literally everybody
to train to take care of themselves, to achieve their dreams,
to discover all the potential that you can discover in
your training so that you can carry it to the
rest of your life and everywhere else in the world
and show everybody how beautiful, amazing and valuable you are.
(04:17):
But also to bring Latin music to the forefront.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Also, I love there's.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
A huge connection between a creative's mindset and an athlete's mindset.
I think because you have to continuously push, push, push, push, push,
you get so many no's along the way that I
think overlap so much. And also I just I love
everything like Latino. I love empowering Latino businesses, owners, entrepreneurs,
(04:45):
things like that. So whenever I can have a chance
to speak to somebody, or to bring a new song
or to discover a new artist in a workout, and
also create an amazing vibe for anybody else on the
other side that's looking to train, to work out, to compete,
That's what I'm gonna do. So that's what I'm here
to talk about as well. And we have some amazing
guests lined up.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
We have the Sukar.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Family, Peruvians who just won two Grammys and they are
the first Provians to ever win Grammys. That's coming up next.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
We have also Ali Cska my Porto Rico.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Such an inspiring conversation. Honestly, that girl is a fighter. Yes,
oh wow, what an incredible story, an amazing musician.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Absolutely. We also have athletes coming on the show. Entrepreneurs
and other artists. I don't know if like ha what ha?
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:33):
So stay tuned you guys. We got some really amazing
things cooking up. And are you ready to start the show?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
I'm ready?
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Are you ready?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I'm ready? This is Ada may drop the beat.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
I'm Kamila Ramon and amilis Arties and every week we'll
cover everything, embracing every part of our identity as professional
athletes female that's you.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Know, entrepreneurs and pereo enthusiast, baby to amias and achieves
mad trying our best and keeping it light, all while
empowering you to know your worth and fight for what's yours.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
That's right, Kami, And remember, okay, no past naa, It's
not that deep. So grab your cafeo and join us.
This is at.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
All right?
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Well, comee, I hope you got your confecito in hands.
You have it in hand?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I do.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
I have it right here, And recently I've been putting
lavender creamer in it, like oat milk lavender creamer. I
know it's very anti and.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Cringing, and sime I actually really love it. Well, guys,
here's the difference to me. I will because you know,
I'm Colombian and I love coffee and I just I
have it straight black and I love love love, just
like fresh beans. I like to grandma own beans and
then you know, just do a pour over and just
(06:57):
taste all of the I don't know elements inside of
my coffee with no additives. Shout out that lavender shit
you're drinking.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
I mean, I do like a little bit of lichen
my cofesito, and I get like for it to be licha.
And every time I ask a Cuban lady in the
vendanita Miami, I'm like dinn, She's like no, and I'm like, okay,
my bad, no.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
But they have like twenty pounds of sugar one hundred percent, and.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
I love that. Shout out kickoff coffee pot. We'll get
into that a little bit. We will get so on
every episode, we're gonna start with some girl talk and
some coffecito. Mellie and I are currently so fucking sore.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Literally, we have ran.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Two half marathons in two weeks. Yes, my body hurts,
but my soul is so happy. Same like my hips flexer.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
When I woke up to my name, my.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Hips Flexer is busted right now, but I'm going to
do some recovery. No.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Same, My knees are just sore. And can we just
talk about the fact that the New York City half marathon, Like,
where the hell did all these incline to come from
our lires?
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Lie?
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Okay, hear me out.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Anybody who says that's a relatively flat course, You're a liar. No,
and I'm going to Yeah. So my ass is also
very sore today, which is I'm not mad about it.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
I mean, I'm when my ass is sore, I'm like,
hope it's from a good perreal Like, you know, I
went out last night to the club. I got a
little love Like That's when I'm like, actually, like hell, yeah,
that was worth it. But I don't know those bridges
Like that's when I'm.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Like, shit, I like my asses store period.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Baby, you got a pr you gotta I did, Okay.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
So, actually the Miami Marathon was Maddie's first half marathon ever.
We ran it together with the speaker, obviously blasting bad Bunny.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
I had a sinus infection.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
She had a sinus infection. I had been working outdoors
for five days. Were tired, and I cannot disclose why
we was doing that, but stay tuned, and I was like,
Maddie hydrated. We went to get IV's the day before.
They were very successful. Honestly, I think that they were.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
She added some performance, added whatever it was. I felt amazing.
The next day, I was like, I'm ready for this ship.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
She was like, do you want to add this?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Added him.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
I'm like, how much is it? She's like it's like
a hundred dollars. Actually, I'm like whatever, you got to do,
whatever you gotta do.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, I got it to It's nice.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Yeah, but thank god I ran with Comuna honestly because
she is a pacer.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Like, you are legit running.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
I know you.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
You've been running like your whole life. You ran in
high school, yeah everything.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
I ran cross country and track, yeah, and.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
In soccer, Like I was always just used to sprints,
you know, you you definitely get it in mileage and
games and practices, but you're you're on and off you're sprinting.
So when it comes to marathons and stuff, this is
like a whole new chapter for me in my life.
And thankfully that was my first half marathon and I
ran it with Commune. It was it was such a
great it was such a great vibes. Like we had
the speaker on gemming out. People were literally left and
(09:51):
right going up to comm like, oh my god, is
that And I was like, yeah, it is. And then
like they would go up to you and like take
pictures with you mid running while we're like shout out.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
To the mafia out there trains with me on the tread.
I love to see you guys out there in the wild.
And I apologize for anybody who I did not see
at the New York City Have marathon because I was
in the zone, like my I had the what do
you call it, the not do not disturb, the sile
audio silent, oh, noise canceling. I had noise canceling on
because I wanted to hear my music in my brain.
(10:22):
So if anybody said hi to me, I apologize. I
love you guys, Mellie. You travel so much for work.
I think lately we've both been traveling a lot, and
like running marathons in I'm in New York data and
now we're doing the pod, We're going to be traveling more,
interviewing different artists and athletes and things like that.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
So how do those gun miles, baby, yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Hell, how do you stay like like in motion while
you're traveling. It's so hard.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
It's so hard. You know, a lot of it seems
like so glamorous, right, Like I have some friends in
me up they're like, oh my gosh, like, so your
life so awesome, which I'm so grateful that what I
what I do, right, Yeah, But it's hard because when
you're not in the same place or have the same routine,
it's challenging because you need to kind of try to
stay in the same routine, but you're in different places
(11:09):
out of your routine. So for me, I mean, man,
like last year, I went on around a hundred flights okay.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
A hundred in the math.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yeah, so far, so good. I haven't gotten those numbers
yet this year, but some you know, it changes as
the years go on, as a year goes on.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
But crazy, Yeah, dude, it was nuts.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
So I like to prioritize certain things, meaning like my
priority for me is like what's gonna make me feel good,
But one is prioritizing like my sleep and how I feel.
So I definitely want to get in like good sleep.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Ye, And it's hard. I don't sleep. Yeah, yeah, you.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Don't want to talk to me.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
I don't sleep the same yeah, literally same. Oh it
has me like oh hit a central, Like I'm like,
I'm really sorry, now whatever what's going on? Uh soh.
I prioritize sleep, and then I also like to prioritize
fitness as well. I either run depending on where I am.
(12:09):
If I know the city, well, I'll run outside. If
I don't know the city well, I mean unfortunately being
a woman in a city that you're not familiar with,
like safety first, so that I just find a shred
and I'll either run, I'll do weightlifting. I love to weightlift,
strength train, or I'll you know, find a class, a
local class, whether it's like pilates or an F forty
five like something like that.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
That's what I usually do.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Yeah, yeah, that's usually that's my like try to stay
in my routine mode. Then recently I've just been traveling
with like my like I'm not gonna lie like a
zip bloc bag of like my go to kits, say,
with like my vitamins, like my protein.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Yeah, being psychic chi probiotics everywhere I go exactly, and
a protein powder also goes a long way when you're traveling,
for sure, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
I've also something that I've been doing as I travel
more and more is prioritizing the things that I know
that I'm not going to be able to get to
you while I'm traveling. So for example, like let's say
most places have a tread like they have a treadmill.
It's not going to be the best tread in the world.
They can get a peloton tread all little, but it's
going to be something that you can run on. And
like I said, oh, how I love being a woman.
(13:14):
You have to worry about running outside wherever you go.
You can't just like run anywhere, especially if you're not
familiar with the neighborhood, the streets, all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
So I know that I'm going to be able to
get my cardio in.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
So I try to prioritize like strength training or weight
training wherever whenever I'm home, so that when I leave,
I'm like, Okay, if it doesn't work out, then I
know that I got like my two to three weight
training sessions and for the week and I'm feeling good
and then I get my runs in. Or if I
know that I'm going to a specific location that has
like a good weight training setup, but I like to
set myself off for success and have like lower expectations
(13:45):
when I travel and be flexible with the training that
I get in, but also like land and if I
have the opportunity or a break after landing, which you
typically do, like get a workout in right away. So
hopefully those hacks help, even though I think we can
dive a little bit deeper into that. But today we're
going to talk about mental fortitude, but that's after the break.
(14:13):
Something I'm super interested in is mental fortitude, not only
from an athlete's.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Perspective, but also from creatives.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
So I personally feel like there's a huge connection between
somebody who is continuously creative, trying to break barriers and
continuously pushing after a dream, after an idea, after you know,
creating like an album, a song, a track, or introducing
something new to a community, and being continuously said no
(14:43):
or told no, like this is not going to work,
this is not gonna be enough, you're not enough whatever.
Athletes and creatives do fight a similar battle in the
sense of like you're continuously like walking into a wall
and being told no before somebody actually understands what your
impact can be. And women too, like as a woman
in the fitness space, that's something that I have seen
(15:05):
a lot. So today we're gonna be talking about mental fortitude.
Melli is somebody who has has a very strong mind.
Like we talk about it all the time, Like we
are so different. I have so much anxiety. I have
suffered from depression before. Melli is somebody who's a genuinely
like positive person. Not saying she doesn't have her lows
at all, Like I'm not going to talk for you there,
(15:26):
but she's somebody that I personally look up to as
to how she like constructs her mind. And I think
one of the things that you spoke about earlier was
your time and your battles within the Columbia national team.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
I think being a just an athlete in general, right,
Like we grew up having to do sprints, having to
do like so many fitness tests, like the grind to
keep on proving yourself to get a starting spot. Not
only like because of the way you're performing, you're scoring goals,
but also you're trying to pass fitness tests. Yeah, and
there's such a mental battle behind that because there's like
(16:01):
a pain cave where you're actually like physically tired.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
You're like, I can't do it anymore. Like you, that's
like an end of lovely yeah, at the end of
a marathon.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
But then all of a sudden, you gotta tell your
brain like I can do it. Yeah, I can push
through these last five minutes. I could push through these
last you know, two minutes.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Or it could push this extra time.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Right. And so I think that just playing sports in general,
whether it was soccer, lacrosse, volleyball, basketball, and I was little,
like those experiences really helped me to become who I
am now, which I think is like a really well
prepped and yeah, like mentally strong woman. And then on
the Columbia national team, like I played for Columbia essentially
(16:44):
like without making any money, which is crazy to say,
Like literally a team that we played in the Olympics,
we played in you know, the Women's Cup, you twenty
rod coup, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
And Columbia soccer team has a lot of visibility.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Yeah, well back then, it unfortunately didn't because, like I mean,
a bunch of like uh Latino men were in charge
and are still to this day in charge of the federation,
and so we weren't getting any coverage or support. And
so you know, we went through when I say we
like my teammates and I went through years of putting
(17:15):
on the jersey, sweating the jersey, you know, to make
it to these World Cups and Olympics, just out of
pure pride and passion, not chasing obviously the money because
we didn't make any zero. Yeah, not trying to chase
any like let's say clout because there's no coverage, right.
It was just more out of like ker gujos, right, yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
And so.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Like I think that has really been able to teach
me life lessons in the long run post soccer playing career.
For instance, It's like I'm not chasing the dollar bills.
I'm not chasing you know this like like an extravagant,
glamorous life. I'm chasing my passion. And I've always told
people when they ask me, like what has like led
you to like so many cool opportunities or different things.
(18:02):
And I've always said, I've life lived my life by passion, Uh,
whether that's playing soccer, or whether that's covering soccer because
I'm so passionate about soccer, whether it's starting this podcast
with you combat because like I found like, wow, I
feel like we need this, like and we need two
latinas like coming together and providing a platform and an
outlet for other people like us to to find like
(18:22):
similar conversations, similarities, you know, relatable things, litible shit that
we go through.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Day and day and day in and day out.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
So anyways, that mental fortitude I think has just like
really told me live your life by passion. Then when
there are hard times in my career, whether it was
on the field or off the field, I just like
it's hard for me to give up.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
It's like, I don't did you tell yourself when I
was like on the on the on the yeah, when
you were yeah, when you were on the realm of
giving up, or like you were in those moments where
you were like you know, like yeah, for lack of
better words, fuck this place. Like these people are like
they don't care d D. But like I know that
I'm passionate about this, and like you know, we know
as women in the space, how valuable it is to
(19:07):
just be that representation for others, Right, So how did
that feel for you? Like how did you even navigate that?
Speaker 1 (19:14):
So I just kept putting my head down, kept grinding
because I had my own goal, and that goal was
to keep on playing for the national team and then
playing at a world like the world's greatest stage, whether
it's like an the Olympics or the World Cup. Now,
you know, there was a time in my career where
I did say fuck these people, like I'm on to
better and bigger things. But I didn't say like fuck
(19:34):
these people because I'm giving up, right. I. It's kind
of like you you shift gears. It's like when one thing,
maybe it isn't working out, can you set up a
plan and another goal that's going to lead you to
your next like potential destination. Yeah, you know, and that's
exact and being smart about it, Yeah for sure. So
when I realized that, you know, I tore my achilles
five days before the Women's World Cup, the Columbing Federation
(19:57):
at the time was treating me like absolute shit.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Which we will get into it, we will, we will
believe me, believe me, believe you.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Uh. And so at that time I realized, after a
year long recovery, that I was more valuable than the
way that other people and especially them, were treating me
and value valuing me. And that's when I shifted my gears,
set up a new goal and said, this is this
is what I want to want to This is what
I want to know.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Other people's opinions of you have absolutely no effect on
exact value period.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
And that's my mental fortitude. Honestly, it's you and your
brain telling yourself you are worth it. You know, whether
it's look, you're at the last milel of your marathon
and you're telling your brain you are worth it. You
can fucking do it, like you can, you know, go
all out, you are you can do this right, or
it's in times in life where you're going through a
rough time and you got to tell your brain and
(20:48):
have faith like I can get through this. There are
better things ahead for me, you know, as long as
you're keep putting in the grind along, as long as
you're I think, like a good person in general. You know,
if you're a good person, other good people will certainly
help you. And so, like I think that just the
mental fortitude has has just been a result of like resilience,
(21:11):
resilient times both on.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
And off the pitch.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Yeah, yeah, And I think there's something to be said
also about understanding that, like believing in yourself and like
trusting in your abilities, like it's only something that can
come from.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
You, Like yeah, one hundred, I mean you did it.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
You trusted your ability, Like yeah, yeah, well yeah, I
mean for me, it's a little bit more on the
creative side, right, because it's like a little bit more
entrepreneurial rather than performance space. Right, So we talk about
like creatively, like how we're gonna have like Astopkata come on.
Like when you think about the careers of like these
(21:50):
big timers, like like Shakida, a musician that has been
through you know so much, she like never just quit.
She continued to reinvent herself. And that's something that I
have a lot of respect and I for other people,
and I do believe that, like you can reinvent yourself
as many times as you want and as many times
as you need. But I would would like to say
(22:10):
put an emphasis on the want, because at the end
of the day, it is our lives and we can
do whatever it is that we want to do with
our lives. Love that for me, like starting out in
like fitness, I remember I was in LA and when
I started like my finish journey, and it wasn't until
I started to like really trust myself because I was
doing like very English forward classes when I was in
(22:30):
LA because I was afraid of like how people would
perceive me, or that the people that came to the
classes wouldn't like the music or wouldn't take my class.
And it wasn't until and I would create I was
creating my programs in Spanish on the side, and I
was training in Spanish on the side, playing that bunny
and playing reggaeton, and that's where I felt like my
calling was. I kept being pulled in that direction. And
it wasn't until I started like really embracing myself and
(22:53):
like fully diving into that side gig that I was
trying to do that things started working out for me.
There were so many different gyms that didn't understand the
value of like what it was that I was bringing,
or wanted me to work for free, and I refuse
to do that.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
And at certain times, you know you have to do that.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
You have to like set yourself up to be able
to have experience. But after a certain amount of time
you have to be like, no, like I understand the
value of what I'm bringing, just because you don't understand that,
or you want to take advantage of me. Because you
are a man and you own a gym and you
have the ability to like say no to me, doesn't
mean that you're right. Matter of factly, like there was
a gym that I like quit and one of one
(23:30):
of my my the owner of the gym had like
said something to me and was like, oh, like he
had said no to me about like something and put
me on like the shittiest time slots and my.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
My male friend that I or the time slots.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
I think it was like it was like six am
or like you wanted me to do like an event
or something for free. Yeah, And I called my guy friend.
I was like, Hey, is this guy like asking you
to do all this? And he's like nah, And I'm
like I'm like why is he asking me to do
so much extra shit? Like you literally just show up
and like go to work and like write out like
and and then he didn't want to pay me for that.
So then I like quit the gym. And then I
(24:04):
called my guy friend and I told him what happened
and he left too, and I was like respect to you,
I love you forever, allies, Yeah, one hundred percent. Also,
like when I was developing my own app, Like I
had to work for a year on an app, and
if you know about like programming and creating your own
app takes forever, especially if you're trying to do it
from scratch for iOS and Android. I worked for a
(24:27):
year and then my partner that I had been working
with ended up sucking me over so then and taking
all the code and taking everything. So I was like mad,
depressed because I had literally and it was like during
the pandemic, so I had like nobody to see we
were all mentally doing so poorly.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
I had recently had a.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Death in my family. I was unwell. I started going
to therapy like twice a week, every single week, and
I was like, I don't want to start from scratch.
I am exhausted, I'm tired, And something in my brain
was like, no, keep going do it from scratch. So
I started again. I did it twice two years.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
It took me.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
It took me two years to build out what eventually
became a beautiful launch pad for me to also like
I was going to create something special, Like I was
creating something so beautiful already. But when I sent an
email to the CEO of Peloton like they were like, yeah,
there's no there's no choice but to hire this girl.
Like she's doing it already, Like she literally is like
(25:23):
the like I was, like in the perfect position. So
for me, that was that took so much mental fortitude
for me not to give up on myself, for me
to trust my gut and like understand that my value
was not determined by some like shitty gym owner who
had no idea what the fuck he.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Was talking about exactly.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Oh, that's so inspiring, dude. Honestly, Like you could have
easily given up. You could have said, you know, I'm
gonna find something else or another I don't.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Know, career path or whatever it is.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
It happened so many times, it's such a common story.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
But you didn't.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
No, you kept going so and I think a lot
of like my mindset comes from well, our mindset obviously
from being athletes, Like we never give up, Like we
know that if we work hard to achieve something, we
know that if I train, I can hit a pace
that I want to pace that I want to hit
for a marathon or for a run, or that I'm
going to get better at my craft at like passing, dribbling, whatever,
it is that you want to get better at you
(26:12):
just have to work on it, which is also the
same mindset that we bring, you know, to ourselves. This
is our first episode. Maybe it's gonna be shitty, but
it's gonna get better. We're gonna work.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
It's only way. It's one way, that's all.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
No, literally, there's only one way. We're starting real alahol.
Don't worry. We'll take it up to the guy.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Baby.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
We're only going up from here.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
And that's that's something beautiful about like sport and fitness,
like they're there. I'm reading this right now, but a
significant percentage of women in executive leadership positions were once athletes.
In fact, ninety four percent of women in the C
suite have a background in playing sports.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
I mean, I could, I could speak wonders about about this,
and I don't want to like X out you know,
women who haven't played sports, who didn't play sports.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
But I just want to say, just out of from
experience like having played sports or having not even played sports,
like having had a like a really committed hobby or
something when you were younger really helps.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
With that mindset.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
It's never too late.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
It's never too late to adopt the mindset now.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
But it really teaches you about, you know, being a
team player working, especially like in let's just say, in
a corporate setting or not even corporate setting, like I'm like,
I of course work for TMT Source, but apart from that,
it's more on the entrepreneurial side, like self employed and
you as well, you know, you have your side a
business apart from peloton.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Yeah, And so you learn a lot.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
About like that, like you know, not giving up getting
through challenges, relying on other people around you for help,
not relying, but like reaching out.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Questing and not being afraid to ask for help.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Exactly, just like you're like, you're on a team. And
then I think the most important thing I've learned from sports,
to be honest, is confidence. Like confidence For me, you
could have a shitty ass game, okay, and I've been
through those, and then I look back and I'm like, damn, Like,
was I really that confident in that game? And then
I look back and I said, you know what I
(28:10):
want have been a shitty game, but at least I
took shots, you know, least I at least I, you know,
gave it out there. And when I look now into
my current career, like on camera on live TV, I
always like have to start out with like just be confident.
Confident will then drive me, drive my energy, Like just
give me that like great baseline and the rest the
(28:32):
rest is gonna flow through, Okay, So like for me,
like for for sports and women who have come from
sports room, maybe who haven't and are working in their
jobs similar to those of like the C Suite exacts,
ninety four percent are women in those positions. I think
a lot of it is because of confidence. You get
into a room, you get a seat at the table,
(28:52):
and if you have confidence, girl, like you will drive conversation.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
Yeah, you have to have confidence, so like there's no
there's no negotiation in those positions for a woman to
be in that space, and like lack of confidence, like
they're just there's not that grace that other people might have.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
For sure.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
I think for me too, Like one of the questions
that I get asked the most relating to confidence too.
And honestly, I was having a conversation about this with
my brother because he has to give a lot of
presentations at work now and he didn't used to have
to do that. And he's like, how do you just
like get on camera and like talk.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
I'm like, I just do it.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
And like a lot of times I'm super nervous and
my throat closes before I go on air sometimes and
I have to be like no, a throat police work
because I can't breathe and it's and I think that
me getting through that too stems from, like, you know,
cross country, you're like towing the line. It's like three two,
the gun goes off and at that point, like your
heart is dropping, but you learn to kind of just
(29:48):
like you have to live through that. You have to
live through those moments. So if you have a girl
in your life and you want to put her into sports,
the time is now. Put your little girls in sports. Baby, Like,
more women in sports, more girls in sports.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Please absolutely amen to that.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
I want to ask you a question, Mellie, because I.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
You are such an inspiration to me personally, which is
why I feel so honored to share this space with you.
When you think of your life, that your life story,
what do you think was the main factor that contributed
to your success.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Hmm, that's a great one.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
I'd say I kind of mentioned passion. I think passion
has really really driven me to so many different accomplishments.
Passion has driven me to so many different experiences and
also and more importantly, to so many different friendships and relationships.
(30:52):
But like what I say is like, you know, if
I'm so passionate about something and I want it, that's
what's gonna drive my motivation. That's what's going to drive
me to get up early and work on it, to
stay up late and work on it. You know, that's
what's really gonna set me apart I think from maybe
others that are trying to achieve that same thing.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
You know.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
It's just like in a game, I relate so much
stuff to sports, and of course soccer.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
It's like if I.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Passionately want to win the freaking championship, like with my
heart my soul, Like that's what's gonna get me to that,
to score that goal or to lift the trophy, or
to start this podcast or to host MESSI or to
I don't know, There's like so many different accomplishtions that
I think back and I'm like, holy shit, Like it
(31:41):
was definitely definitely passion driven.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
That has has really motivated me.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
So Melie's a passionate girly pop shout out to Meli's husband.
We know that'll be a great success.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
I was about to say a dirty jug, but I'm
not going out.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
You can.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
But ideas like sex sex, I you I'm blushing.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Or is it how to hear some me? What about you?
Speaker 3 (32:18):
I think it's I talk about this a lot, but
I think as an immigrant, I think it's the work
ethic that my parents instilled in me that have shown
that have taught me that if you keep going your
you won't lose, like there's a way out always. And
I have a lot of respect for everything that my
(32:42):
parents gave up in order to give me the opportunity
to be here, to be having this podcast, to be
doing a job that may Abuela has absolutely no idea
what it is. I tell her, I think I'll me
bret up your show, the fitness. You know, I work
with a lot of artists. She has absolutely no idea
why they're on bicycles with me or who they are. Oh,
(33:06):
even though she did hear of she called me the
other day She's like, I Lola Balusa and araquandina us
out of faith. I was like, oh, he did a
class with me and then she was like she was like,
oh my god. See she'll say like she was telling everybody,
But I think for me, it's that. I think for me,
it's it's the it's the work ethic and and I
the responsibility that I feel to represent something for the
(33:27):
community that I am a part of and that that
I love. Community is everything to me.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
So the people on the.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Other side that they're my why they're they're what makes
me feel fulfilled. When I get messages from other people
telling me I started to love myself because I started
taking your classes and I started to hear these conversations
from you. When somebody told me I'm sixty years old,
and I finally started to love my body because I'm
taking your classes. Somebody tells me my name is Nick,
(33:57):
but all my friends now call me Nicolas because all I.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Do is attribuce me to that music.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
When people tell me I live in Germany and I
feel so connected to my Puerto Rican, my Mexican, my
Latin roots, because you give me a window into what
makes me feel like I'm home. That's just what does
it for me. So it's both the work ethic and
also the community.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
For Suremmen absolutely love that when we come back, y'all, Ami.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
I'm gonna share some artists that I'm absolutely loving so
that you guys continue on this amazing music discovery moment
and that so that you kids can add it to
your workout playlist. And Mellie, what are you gonna share?
Speaker 1 (34:38):
I'm gonna share a little bit about a big event
coming up in the world of footbook.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Okay, well, we'll be right back. Don't go anywhere.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Every episode come and I will leave you with more
of the two things we love the most, which is
music and football. And when we were brainstorming about what
we wanted to call this like last part of our show,
which we wanted to leave it like on this high,
but also like give you like send you off with
like a tip, you know, send you man.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
It was actually very excited to present this to me.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
I really was.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
She was like, you know how when well, you know,
when if you, if you, if you played soccer, you
know you're about to send a cross in the air,
and the one that wants to score the goal and
like get that that that famous moment of scoring on Golaso.
They scream out, Hey.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
I got me Famoso, or like I got men famosa.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
And that means that's a calling for like someone that
gave me famous, made me famous, Okay, made me famous,
but that's like a calling out loud for someone to
make them famous, like with an assist in the air,
with the cross, with the past, whatever it is. So
that's how I was like, Yo, we gotta we gotta
help people, like send them off with something like not
only educational, but also like, yo, be that MVP at
that party, be that I don't know goal score at
(35:58):
your next social or in the office, and that's your
that's your time to like.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
So we got you with that assist, both in the
in women's sports and also in La mo. For me,
music is so important, as you know, it's a part
of everything that I do. It fuels me. I am
listening to a Latin music playlist everywhere I go. Sometimes
also I listen to some metal, I listen to some rock,
I listen to some pop punk. I I do have layers.
(36:26):
I'm range like a SpongeBob. So for me right now,
what I'm listening to on repeat is this artist right
now from Puerto Rico. You might know her from be
the song that she just did with Bad Bunnyy's new
album It's So. Her voice is incredible. But her new
(36:50):
album Gopi cool well new, relatively new. It dropped a
while ago, but Kapiku is incredible. If you have not
checked it out, please check it out. This is how
you people start trusting you with the ox cord.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Yesay, when you go.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
To the party, nobody's gonna boo you.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
Okay if you listen to me or in the locker
room exactly, So listen to Camilla before you start embarrassing
yourself playing this pasito again.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
For the eighty fifth time, or by Elvis. Nobody wants to.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
Hear that shiit anymore. Okay, stop playing this pasito at
the party.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
We need some pre Okay, we need e El Father,
we need El Bambinombino, we need some Cato g but
not like the pop pop pop tracks. We need to
get a little bit deeper into the albums.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Okay, that's why.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
Also you need to be playing Nati Peluso. She's an
Argentinian artist that lives in Spain. Now. Her latest album
Grasa got some Grammys. You know, she has some really
iconic tracks that come out are coming out of that album.
Make sure that you check them out. My favorite one
is the one that goes le tempura.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
That sounds like a great alarm clock.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
No literally, that means get up right now, bitch. If
it hurts, put a bandond on it.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
I needa as my my alarm tone. Literally, no, no
setting it now.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
She's extremely powerful and also I want to talk about
her swag and the branding that's coming along with the
album and her tour. Right now, she's absolutely killing it.
So if you want to check out a powerful woman
on stage that's taking up space unapologetically, check out NA.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
What about you? Meli? All right ya y'ah.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
So I want to talk about, of course sports in general,
whether it's women's or men's sports. But since this is
the first episode, the timing is just right. It's just
right because I will be heading to Los Angeles because
the US women's national team will be playing against Brazil
on April the fifth at So five at so Fine.
My god, if you have seen So Fat Stadium, it's beautiful.
(38:44):
It is beautiful, and of course it's it's iconic. Uh,
it's a it's a FIFA World Cup stadium that we'll
be able to enjoy in twenty twenty six. But on
top of that, this is the first time a women's
professional sporting event will be.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
Played at so Far.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
So y'all if you're in the La area or near
it and want to travel in April, fifth US women's
national team taken on Brazil also important because that was
the gold medal match in the Olympics over the summer,
which the US women's national team beats Brazil, and so
it's like a revenge match and I'm just so happy
not only to be a part of it, part of
the broadcast team that we will be covering it, but
(39:18):
just also it's another historic and iconic moment to be
a part of, given that it'll be the first women's
professional sporting match at this huge, huge stadium, So La,
what's that? Hit me up when I'm there, let me
give me some good coffee spots, and I love a begun.
Speaker 3 (39:34):
The match moment like that was going to be real spicy.
And also for all of our listeners who may not
be as familiar with women's sports, I just want to
put it out there that this is a beautiful space
for Meli to teach us. Melli's expert here, right, So
we're going to be learning together. There's no shame in
the game. It's never to la, it's get involved. We're
(39:56):
all just really happy to be here and to have
these conversations. So if you have any particular questions or
things that you want to hear from many things that
you want to learn, I feel free to reach out
to us because we're here to make bring women's sports
and women in general Latinas to the forefront.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
So yeah, I mean, and this conversation came up too,
like what do I want to leave the audience with,
because I could have said something, you know, like music,
like soccer in general, whatever it is. But I've had
different conversations even recently, like someone coming up and being like,
oh my gosh, like I not a fan of women's soccer,
but I'm a fan of you, okay because of like
(40:31):
the coverage or things like that, or like I don't
watch women's sports, but like I watch like your coverage,
like some of the men's soccer games like Cobam Medica
and Columbia, like whatever it is, and they're Latinas. And
I realize over the course of time, like it's a
commonality that unfortunately, like some like Latinas aren't supporting Latinas
(40:52):
in different realms in different spaces, right, but more specifically
like women's sports, right, Like so many Latinas could be
fans of Celex Columbia or Celex Argentina in soccer, right,
but they have no idea what the women's team is doing, okay,
And so it's just a common thing. And like you said, Kami,
no stream of the game. We're all here to grow
(41:12):
together and lift each other up, okay. And that's like
what I would love the audience to take away, so
that you know, we're able to say, as a Latina,
I could show like, hey, this other Latina who's playing
for Angel City in the end of your cell, or
this other Latina who's playing in the WNBA, or this
Latina who is playing in the women's whatever it is, like,
look what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
You know, we're gonna make it easy for you guys too.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
So we want to have these conversations to provide you
with the tools so that you can just like you know,
turn on a match and watch it or like know
the latest from Meli so that you're like, okay, April fifth,
I'm there, baby, add into the calendar right now, put
it on your thing.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
Or when you're at the next bar. It's a great conversation,
your sports conversation maker.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Yeah, that breaks the ice.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
So yeah, that's what I'm so pumped and also like
incredibly grateful to have this platform to be able to
educate others with yeah.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
One hundred percent, and I'm grateful that you are educating
all of us at the same time. So stay tuned
because we will be having a lot more of these
amazing conversations. We will be bringing some iconic artists on
the platform very often, because, like we said earlier, nothing
makes or breaks a workout or a training session more
(42:28):
than a shitty or a really good playlist. So we
are gonna hook you up. And I think with that, Millie,
that's a wrap on this week's episode.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
No, we just did our first episode.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
We did our first high five baby, I'm so proud
of us. Thank you guys for joining us.
Speaker 3 (42:46):
And then we will see you next week when we
interview the souk Got family. It's a party, baby. That
was one of my favorite interviews that I've ever done period.
They're so dynamic, do not miss it, extremely inspiring, extremely humble.
So we'll catch you next week.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
Wait, gommy, we can't leave the audience yet without the
last thing we do.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
Oh yeah, wait, first, don't forget to subscribe and we'll.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
See you next time at the at the at the.
Speaker 3 (43:13):
A is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with
Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
For more podcasts, listen to the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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