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 for that mistake, whether it be by a few people or by the online world or whatever it may be.
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It's really funny because this last two or three years, my mantra has been calm is a superpower.
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 I always struggled because I feel as though in women's sports, and women in general, in business, wherever, politics, if you lose your composure, you're considered crazy, irrational, out of control, whereas with a man, you're considered passionate, competitive, and all these things.
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 So I just determined it's better to be calm anyway.
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You look back on things and usually it's when you go crazy.
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You're like, no, I shouldn't have said that.
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I shouldn't have done that.
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I shouldn't have thrown that.
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You're apologizing for action, usually not inaction.
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And so that's kind of been my...
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 place of trying to reach that calm and be calculated.
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And the people I respect the most, they think before they say.
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That's kind of what I've tried to develop.
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I'm not perfect at all.
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I'm probably nowhere near where I need to be, but that's kind of been my mantra.
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Do you think the greatest athletes are more calm than they are reactive and passionate, let's say, or
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 Muhammad Ali was very passionate, very outspoken.
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Conor McGregor, these people are very outspoken and passionate.
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Do you think you can be greater by being more calm?
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I think our society likes to put and label individuals.
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You meet people that are loud and say all these words, but what's the action that backs it up?
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And to me, it's the action.
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It's not necessarily what you do all before that.
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Dame Lillard, to me, is one of the most
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 Guy's a machine.
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He's a machine, but he's one of those leaders that just, you can't tell on his face.
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And unfortunately for me, I was born with this problem that everything I think comes across my face.
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I would say way.
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To the point where now my daughter, 11 years old, will be like, mom, what's wrong?
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Like when something comes on the television or something like that, like, you think this.
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And I'm like, no, I don't think that.
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But I do.
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But I don't.
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You know?
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SPEAKER_01
So it's trying to get under control, having composure.
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 I've learned throughout that when the team or whatever organization you're a part of, as a leader, if they're hyped and their level is 10, it's your job to kind of bring the team down to an even keel level.
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And when everybody is down, it is your job to bring them up.
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Yes.
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 A little bit, yeah.
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It is your job.
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And so I feel as though like as I'm getting older and as I'm maturing, I try to do that in whatever situation, whether it's the team, whether it's my family, um, I'm trying, you know, it's not always, it's not always, you know, it doesn't always work out.
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But at the same time, I think that's what I'm, I'm attempting to do.
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 Are you a student of sports psychology any chance or have you worked with sports psychology?
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SPEAKER_01
It's my minor in college, yeah.
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Do you work with any mindset coaches today or have you recently?
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 So I am huge into reading, and then reaching out to those that read.
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Yeah, those authors.
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Joshua Medcalf wrote a book, Chop Wood, Carry Water, which I read right before, in 2016, before we won our championship.
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And what struck me about that book, and not spoiler, but,
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 In the book, it was talking about golf balls and how initially golf balls were smooth.
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And when people would hit them, you couldn't control the direction that they were going.
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But they noticed that the more dented the golf balls were, as you hit them, they actually traveled better.
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So he used that as a metaphor of like humans and people in life and individuals and like getting beat up and getting bruised, you actually will travel farther and better.
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 That just hit me in a way You know, the whole book is just do the best you can and then you know live in the moment.
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Yeah, that's kind of That that kind of reached me and so I'm huge in psychology.
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I read a Million books like I'm really into it.
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I love panels.
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I love podcasts.
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So that's kind of where I go for my sports psychology Yeah, I read a book I think it was called
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 champion's mindset or maybe it's called train to win.
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I forget, I'll have to check it out again.
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But this sports psychologist said that you should always practice like it's a game and bring your energy to the game level and then at game time actually like calm down.
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 and just be more relaxed and calm and be in the flow.
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So I always thought that was interesting.
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It's like, raise it up in practice, bring it down before the game.
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Because usually, before I learned that, I would get so hyped before a game.
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SPEAKER_00
I'm like, man, I'm tired.
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SPEAKER_00
You know, it's like you got no energy because you've just exhausted it and warmups and you're not relaxed.
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SPEAKER_00
It's so true.
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SPEAKER_00
Have you ever done that where you're just like, ah, I'm going to the championship and then, whew, I can't even lift my knees today.
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SPEAKER_01
 Yeah, we call that the first two minutes, you know, when you get out of breath in the first two minutes of the game.
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You haven't done anything.
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SPEAKER_01
You know, the playoffs is... I remember we were in the WNBA Finals and I walked out there and it was a game five against Minnesota, 2016.
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SPEAKER_01
 This is my first elimination winner take all game and I remember looking around my heart was beaten Taking deep breaths first two minutes and then you get lost in your craft So it's like literally it's just getting past those first minutes of anxiousness And that's when you have the turnovers and the problems or whatever and then you just settle in.
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SPEAKER_01
Mm-hmm And you try to you know, do what you've always done.
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SPEAKER_00
Yeah, who is the most influential person in your life growing up?
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SPEAKER_00
I
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SPEAKER_01
 Well, growing up, I idolized my brothers.
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My two older brothers, Anthony and Marcus, they're 8 and 11 years older than me, so I was the baby, baby sister.
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SPEAKER_01
And Anthony actually went on, played in the NBA, played for Toronto, played for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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 for a while, and then my middle brother is actually a radiologist.
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He wanted to be a doctor since he was five and he went to medical school, went to Johns Hopkins, so we're really proud of him.
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SPEAKER_01
So I had two amazing role models, just in not what their craft was, but just as people.
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Even to this day, anything I go through,
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 any problem, obstacle, any choice I'm trying to make, I always reach out and talk to them.
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I mean, that's, you know, they really are my foundation.
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SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
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What was the greatest lesson each one of them taught you?
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SPEAKER_01
My goodness, that's such a great, great question.
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Anthony is Mr. Devil's advocate.
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So whether he is for it or whether he is against it,
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 he is going to ask you the other side.
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That is my brother.
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So now when I'm thinking, and I think I watched an old Full House episode where it talked about your conscience and how eventually it becomes your own voice as opposed to your parents telling you you're not supposed to do stuff.
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That's my conscience now.
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I hear Anthony and now it's my voice where I'm like, okay, so what if this?
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SPEAKER_01
What is the other side?
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SPEAKER_01
And so Anthony kind of, I joke with him,
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 that he would be the one that would play devil's advocate to winning the lottery or something like that.
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SPEAKER_01
He's that type.
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But I would say that that's the lesson from Anthony.
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And then from Marcus, he is one of those guys that is just so certain on what he wants.
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And he will do and work for anything.
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SPEAKER_01
And he said he wanted to be a doctor at five years old.
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And he worked and stayed motivated and long hours.
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 you know, push through adversity, everything to become a doctor.
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And so I think just watching them operate the way their fathers, their husbands, it really is inspirational for me.
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SPEAKER_00
Yeah, that's cool.
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SPEAKER_00
 I love that you are a TikTok star through your daughter and I love the relationship you guys have together where you're having jokes and playing around a lot on your social media.
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SPEAKER_00
I think everyone should follow you guys there.
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SPEAKER_00
What was that like being a mom in a career that I guess most women don't have kids at that age when they're trying to become great as an athlete in the WNBA that early?
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SPEAKER_00
What was that like for you?
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SPEAKER_00
 being a young mom while being the face of the WNBA, how did you manage that?
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SPEAKER_00
And how do you manage this?
3
SPEAKER_01
 I remember it was coming off of 2008.
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SPEAKER_01
We won the national championship, won Olympic gold medal.
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SPEAKER_01
We lost in the WBA semifinals, Western Conference finals in a last second shot.
3
SPEAKER_00
Anyway, I can still see it.
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And I remember I had just won Rookie of the Year and MVP, and I was in San Antonio.
3
SPEAKER_01
And I remember I started feeling a little sick.
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SPEAKER_01
I was like,
3
SPEAKER_01
 Hmm, okay.
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SPEAKER_01
And my best friend was the first to find out.
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SPEAKER_01
Like I told her that I was expecting.
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SPEAKER_01
 We were all excited.
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SPEAKER_01
I was supposed to go to Russia that year to play overseas.
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SPEAKER_01
But obviously we wanted to wait to tell everybody or whatever.
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SPEAKER_01
The first reactions I got were so disappointing to me.
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SPEAKER_01
It was almost more of like, how could you do this to us as fans?
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SPEAKER_01
Not within the organization, but just the reaction that I got from others of like, oh, she's done.
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SPEAKER_01
She's washed up.
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SPEAKER_01
She's not gonna be able to come back.
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SPEAKER_00
 It's after your first year in the league.
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SPEAKER_01
It's after my first year.
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SPEAKER_01
I became a young mom.
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SPEAKER_01
Let me give you some history.
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SPEAKER_01
I've always wanted to be a mother.
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SPEAKER_01
That has been what I feel as though I was born to be.
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SPEAKER_01
I was playing dolls until I was like dang near 14.
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SPEAKER_01
I just love the idea of having a little you running around.
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SPEAKER_01
 I always wanted to be a young mom, so although I was surprised, I was extremely excited to have a daughter.
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SPEAKER_01
But that wasn't the way it was accepted.
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SPEAKER_01
And at the time, I set my mind where I was like, I'm going to come back and play.
3
SPEAKER_01
 on this date, so she was born May 13th.
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SPEAKER_01
I played on July 5th in a game.
3
SPEAKER_01
Two months later?
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SPEAKER_01
I played two months later.
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SPEAKER_01
I was working out two weeks after I had her.
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SPEAKER_01
I worked out my whole pregnancy.
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SPEAKER_01
Young and dumb, you don't know.
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SPEAKER_00
You're young and dumb.
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SPEAKER_00
I got this, I'll be back in two weeks.
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SPEAKER_01
Young and dumb, yeah, back locked up, everything, it was crazy.
3
SPEAKER_00
Oh my gosh, two months later playing.
3
SPEAKER_01
 Yes.
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And she honestly has been my entire inspiration, motivation, every single thing.
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SPEAKER_01
Every day I wake up, I want her to know that I'm working for her.
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SPEAKER_01
I want her to know that, you know, I love her and I want to set a great example.
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SPEAKER_01
And honestly, the biggest thing that I would like to message, I would like to get across is within parenting, within sports,
3
SPEAKER_01
 we've got to change and shift the perception of athletes and parenting and being there because you know a number of times
3
SPEAKER_01
 I would go places and Layla wouldn't be with me and they would be like, oh, well, who's watching Layla?
3
SPEAKER_01
Who's taking care of Layla?
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SPEAKER_01
Who's whatever?
3
SPEAKER_01
But they're not asking LeBron or Steph or anybody or Dame Lillard or whatever.
3
SPEAKER_01
And I think it's so important for fathers to be there as well and to be present.
3
SPEAKER_01
And we're seeing now paternity leave and we're seeing guys like Jimmy Butler miss his Miami Heat debut to be there for the birth of his daughter.
3
SPEAKER_01
We're seeing how hands-on Steph Curry is.
3
SPEAKER_01
 I think for me, it's the amount of support that I've had from L.A.
3
SPEAKER_01
Sparks, the amount of support I've had from my family.
3
SPEAKER_01
I'm lucky because as a working mom, my organization allows me to bring my daughter along.
3
SPEAKER_01
It was nursing at halftime of games.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, it was just kind of the way it is.
3
SPEAKER_01
And so we've grown up.
3
SPEAKER_01
Me and Layla have grown up together.
3
SPEAKER_00
 Thank you so much for listening.
3
SPEAKER_00
I hope you enjoyed today's episode and inspired you on your journey towards greatness.
3
SPEAKER_00
Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's show with all the important links.
3
SPEAKER_00
And also make sure to share this with a friend and subscribe over on Apple podcasts as well.
3
SPEAKER_00
 I really love hearing feedback from you guys, so share a review over on Apple and let me know what part of this episode resonated with you the most.
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SPEAKER_00
And if no one's told you lately, I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter.
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And now it's time to go out there and do something great.