0:00

Hi,

0:08

I'm Chelsea Clinton and this season on in fact,

0:10

we're celebrating Women's History Month. I'll

0:13

be talking with trailblazing women at the top of

0:15

their fields about their personal journeys, the progress

0:17

we've made, and how far we still have

0:20

to go. Today, I am

0:22

thrilled to be joined by Alison Felix,

0:24

the most decorated US track and field

0:26

athlete of all time, to talk about the importance

0:29

of advocating for oneself and others in sports

0:31

and in every workplace. Born in

0:33

Los Angeles, Allison started running in high school

0:36

and then when her first Olympic medal in two thousand

0:38

and four when she was just eighteen years old.

0:41

From there, she's been unstoppable,

0:43

competing in every World Championship and Olympics

0:46

since. For the majority of her

0:48

career, as you'll hear, Allison thought

0:50

of herself as a private person, separating

0:52

her private life from her public life as an

0:54

athlete. But four years ago,

0:57

when Alison decided she wanted to have a family

0:59

and became pregny it, she made a gutsy

1:01

choice to take on an additional role as an advocate

1:04

and a voice for change. In

1:07

Alison testified before Congress sharing

1:09

her own life threatening birthing experience,

1:11

one that is painfully not unique,

1:14

to shine a light on the black maternal mortality

1:16

crisis in the United States. That

1:18

same year, she wrote an op ed for The

1:21

New York Times bravely detailing

1:23

her fight for maternity protections from her then

1:25

sponsored Nike, leading the company

1:27

to change its policy. And that was

1:29

only the start. I had the

1:31

privilege of speaking with Allison about the fight for

1:33

fair maternal leaf policies in May. A

1:36

year later, she partnered with her current sponsor,

1:39

Athleta and the Women's Sports Foundation

1:41

to create the Power of She Fund, which

1:43

provides grants to cover childcare costs

1:45

so mom athletes can compete

1:48

and know their little ones are well looked after. More

1:51

recently, with her brother, she founded

1:53

Safe, a women sender lifestyle

1:55

brand whose first product is a sneaker designed

1:57

just for women. In fact, Alison

2:00

wore her own specially created spikes

2:02

when she competed last year at the Tokyo Olympics.

2:05

And at those Tokyo Olympics she

2:07

won two medals, bringing her Olympic

2:09

total to eleven. That's an addition

2:12

to her nineteen World Championship

2:14

medals, including the gold she won just

2:16

ten months after giving birth to her daughter, Alison.

2:21

Thank you for being here. Yeah, well,

2:24

thank you so much for having me. It's always

2:26

so nice to talk with you. You know, I think

2:28

that most people know you

2:31

as well the most decorated dragon

2:33

field athlete in American history, and

2:36

certainly know that you're that and so much

2:38

more. And I want to talk about this so much

2:40

more part in a moment, but I do want to

2:42

start with you as an athlete,

2:45

and I wonder if you could share just

2:48

when you first started running and

2:50

when you first realized that this could be your

2:52

career. For me, I have a different

2:54

story than a lot of other Olympians. I actually

2:56

kind of stumbled into the sport. I found

2:58

it in high school. I was a new school and

3:01

I didn't know anybody, and my family

3:03

was like, this is a great way to

3:05

meet people and find friends, and

3:08

so that's why I came out for the

3:10

team and I did. I found like my

3:12

best girlfriends like to this day, but also

3:15

fell in love with the sport. And it was probably

3:17

the middle of high school where I realized

3:20

I have a lot of potential. You know, if I really

3:22

dedicate myself, then I could really

3:24

take this somewhere, and it was pretty much

3:26

a whirlwind because I started my freshman year

3:29

and then when I finished high school the next year,

3:31

I was in the Olympics. So everything happened,

3:34

I just got the chill. That's amazing.

3:38

It was very fast, but I found out,

3:40

you know, quickly, that was my passion. So

3:43

when you were growing up, even before you stepped

3:45

onto a track, were there

3:48

women who inspired you, who you looked

3:51

up to, either athletes or

3:53

not athletes. Since I didn't have any

3:55

aspirations to be an athlete, I

3:58

really looked towards the people in my family,

4:00

so my mom, my grandma, like they

4:02

were the real life role models for

4:04

me. You know, my mom was an elementary school teacher,

4:06

and so I wanted to be just like

4:09

her, and you know, really just loved

4:11

kids and all of that. And then eventually,

4:14

when I came into the sport, then I started to have

4:16

sporting heroes. I remember watching

4:18

in nineties six the Olympics and I saw

4:20

Dominique Dawes, and I had

4:23

no thoughts of being an athlete or anything,

4:25

but I was just fascinated because here was this

4:27

young girl who looked like me doing

4:29

something incredible. So I do remember being

4:31

very inspired by her. I

4:33

was at the ninety six Olympics and it was

4:36

lucky enough to see Dominic Dawes

4:38

and are amazing American women gymnasts

4:41

and other athletes as well, and just

4:43

was in awe of what like

4:46

the human body, spirit, and

4:48

mind are capable of. And

4:50

yet for all of the amazing

4:53

American women athletes who paved

4:56

the way for you, it wasn't

4:58

always an easy journey,

5:01

and you had, as I understand

5:03

it, a pretty painful realization of

5:06

the discrimination that you were confronting

5:09

as a woman athlete who had the temerity

5:12

to also want to be a mom. Can you

5:14

share a little bit about when you

5:16

realized that there was discrimination

5:18

in your life despite the fact that you were already like

5:20

multiple Olympic gold winner and

5:23

had already achieved more than most people could ever

5:25

imagine. Yeah, it was a

5:27

really hard period for me. I

5:29

became a professional at seventeen years old, and

5:31

you know, I had seen women struggle through

5:34

motherhood in the sport, but I think

5:36

being so young, it never affected me,

5:38

and so it's like I saw it in the distance, but

5:40

you know, I didn't really know the ins and outs of it.

5:43

And then you know, as I got older and

5:45

you know, more mature in the sport, I started to

5:48

understand what was actually happening. No

5:50

one ever like sat me down and was like, you shouldn't

5:52

have kids until you've accomplished this and this.

5:54

But I feel like I never saw

5:57

a woman in my sports

5:59

celeb rated as a mother and competing.

6:02

I saw struggle. I saw a hardship.

6:05

I saw women who hid pregnancies

6:07

and tried to secure new contracts and just

6:10

all of this. So when it came time for

6:12

you know, I was really excited to start a family,

6:14

I was also terrified because I was like,

6:17

is this going to be my life as well? And

6:19

it was. It was crazy that in

6:22

and twenty nineteen that all of

6:25

this was taking place, the culture

6:27

was really silenced regarding pregnancy

6:29

in the sport, and so I was

6:31

really met with the reality that I had

6:34

to share my story in order to try to push

6:36

for some change, because I did feel like if

6:38

I didn't do it, you know, and at this point,

6:41

I had a daughter. I was going through

6:43

this while I was pregnant and eventually had

6:45

my daughter, and I think, you know, having a

6:48

daughter really pushed

6:50

me to speak because I've been this really private

6:52

person, but it was like, Okay,

6:54

I have to do this because if I don't,

6:57

it's gonna fall on her generation and

6:59

this is just going to be something that we never tackled.

7:02

So Allison, I know that while

7:04

you were pregnant and then after you had your

7:06

daughter, you were in contract negotiations

7:09

with Nike, and it

7:11

wasn't subtle or small.

7:14

I mean, Nike wanted to pay you, I think, seventy

7:16

percent less than what you've been paid

7:18

before your daughter was born, and

7:21

so it wasn't like you were on the margins

7:24

being told you were somehow less

7:26

then now that you were a mom. I mean, it was substantial.

7:30

Can you just share a

7:32

little bit about what happened my

7:34

negotiations even before they found

7:36

out that I was pregnant, We're already

7:39

at that seventy less place after

7:41

four Olympics. Yes, So, whether

7:44

it was me being too old or whatever

7:46

it is, it made me even more terrified

7:48

to then share that I was pregnant, because

7:51

I knew it was just going to keep becoming

7:53

less and less and I wasn't sure if there would be anything

7:55

at all once I shared my pregnancy,

7:58

and so I wasn't shocked because it

8:00

had been going on for so long and I had seen

8:02

other friends, teammates,

8:05

colleagues go through the same thing. But

8:08

I thought, in my position of having

8:10

accomplished so many different things,

8:13

that it wouldn't happen to me. And

8:15

so when I found myself in that place,

8:18

the money became whatever the money was going to

8:20

become. But what I could not

8:23

stand for was not

8:25

having maternal protections. And so that essentially

8:28

was what I was asking for, was that,

8:30

you know, female athletes would be granted

8:32

a certain amount of time to be able to come

8:35

back to top form to not

8:37

further be reduced in salary, because that's

8:39

how these contracts work, their performance

8:41

based, and so even after you have a baby,

8:44

the way that things were in place where

8:46

that if Olympics or World Championships

8:48

were three or four months after you gave birth,

8:50

if you don't show up, make that team

8:53

and get top three, then your salary

8:55

would be further reduced. And so

8:57

so many mothers have experiences

9:00

that where they're barely making anything

9:03

as a penalty of having a child. They

9:05

eventually told me that they would

9:07

give me a protection, but not tied to

9:09

maternity. It would be okay.

9:12

For me. But the problem with that

9:14

was that it would not be okay for

9:16

the next person coming after me because

9:18

there was no tie to maternity. So that

9:20

was the sticking point, and that was really

9:23

what I was fighting for. Your

9:26

refusal to accept

9:28

that inequity really led

9:30

to some pretty profound changes and also

9:32

led to a lot of other women coming forward.

9:35

Yeah, after the New York Times op ed, other

9:38

colleagues came out and spoke as well.

9:40

I think there was just power in that collective.

9:43

I really start to understand that I do have

9:45

a platform and that it is okay

9:48

for me to speak on these issues that I'm facing.

9:50

It's like, once one story is shared,

9:52

you know, you realize you're not alone. You feel

9:54

so isolated when you're going through it. I

9:57

felt before just so hyper

9:59

focused on performance and that maybe

10:01

nobody would care if I did speak

10:03

up on something. But I was really

10:06

met with a lot of encouragement, and

10:08

you know, I ended up partying ways with

10:10

Nike over this. But then

10:12

after I spoke up and colleagues

10:15

and friends of mine did as well. Then

10:17

a couple of weeks later, you know, the policy was changed,

10:19

and now we're seeing women really

10:21

benefit from that clearly,

10:24

equal pay for women, equal pay for mothers is

10:26

only part of the constellation

10:29

of what pregnant athletes and then

10:32

new parent athletes deserve.

10:34

Can you talk a little bit about

10:36

what you think really are

10:39

the necessary policies and procedures

10:42

to ensure that pregnant

10:44

athletes, new parent athletes, especially

10:46

new mom athletes, you really

10:48

deserve to be able to compete on an actual

10:51

equal playing field. Yeah. I think

10:53

we just have to do a better job of

10:55

supporting mothers, but just

10:57

women holistically. And

10:59

I remember when I came back to compete,

11:02

my daughter was really young, she was about eight

11:04

months, and you know, I'm traveling

11:06

across the world with this newborn, and

11:08

it was just some of the just the practical

11:11

things we're just not in place. Whether

11:13

it was because a woman had never been at

11:15

the table and people

11:17

had not thought of these things, but it was just such

11:19

a struggle from breastfeeding on

11:21

the road, in in stadiums all

11:23

around and not having facilities

11:26

to do that, and staying in

11:28

hotels with newborns, washing bottles,

11:30

just some of the very basic things. I remember

11:32

going to World Championships and being

11:34

given a roommate and having you

11:36

know, my daughter who was under one with

11:39

me and it just seemed wild to

11:41

me that you and your daughter had

11:43

a roommate. Well, thankfully

11:45

we had the resources to rectify the situation,

11:48

but I always think about the people who don't,

11:50

you know, the athletes who would have

11:53

to manage through a situation like that,

11:55

And so I think we can support

11:57

in so many better ways. We created

11:59

a power she Fund to be able to come

12:01

alongside mom athletes and to

12:03

be able to financially support them with childcare

12:06

when they're on the road. So I think it's just thinking

12:08

about things in a different way and

12:11

figuring out how can we better support And

12:13

what's the role of your male athlete

12:16

colleagues here? For the men who run

12:18

track or for men who want

12:20

to be part of the solution, like what advice do you

12:23

have? And for men who may not think this is relevant

12:26

to them yet or at all, what

12:28

would you say? Yeah,

12:30

I think we need men to be good allies

12:33

to amplify the story. There's so

12:35

many men in sports who have huge

12:38

platforms, and I think

12:40

the shocking thing was a lot of people didn't know that this

12:42

was going on. And I think it only

12:44

would take you know, one strong

12:47

man to stand alongside and to shine

12:49

a light on the situations and to listen

12:52

and to help. I think a lot of things

12:54

happen when we start to talk about things

12:56

and have these conversations and bring them to the

12:58

forefront. And so that that's what I always,

13:00

you know, hope for is is listening

13:03

and supporting and really sharing the

13:05

stories as well. I completely

13:07

agree that it's so important to drag

13:10

conversations out of the shadows, especially

13:13

those that should never be cloaked

13:15

in in shame or embarrassment

13:17

in the first place. It's one of the reasons

13:19

I've talked so much about breastfeeding

13:21

and pumping, even though I know

13:24

it's made some people uncomfortable, because I want

13:26

people to then reflect on why

13:28

are they feeling uncomfortable, Like

13:30

where do they think they came from? What do

13:32

they think their mothers did? And

13:36

I know that you've spoken so openly about

13:38

breastfeeding your daughter on the road, and I know you've also

13:41

spoken openly about your birthing experience

13:43

and kind of what happened when you were

13:45

giving birth, and so I wonder if you could share that

13:48

with us. Two. Yeah, I had a

13:50

really traumatic birth experience. I gave birth

13:52

at thirty two weeks. And I felt

13:54

great during my pregnancy. You know, I was really

13:57

healthy, I felt strong, I was working

13:59

out in very active. And

14:02

then at thirty two weeks, I went to the doctor

14:04

for a normal appointment, and

14:06

my doctor had a lot of concerns and

14:09

my blood pressure was up and I was spilling

14:11

protein and so eventually I was sent

14:13

to the hospital and diagnosed with a severe case

14:15

of preclampsia. And from

14:17

their things just kind of spiraled out of control,

14:19

and it it got very scary, and I

14:22

ended up having an emergency c section, and

14:25

my daughter spent a month in the NICK and it was just a

14:27

really hard time period. But I

14:29

will say that my eyes were completely

14:31

open to a whole different

14:33

world, and that was the maternal mortality

14:36

crisis that we're facing in America

14:38

and that women of color are facing.

14:40

And I knew, I think somewhere

14:42

in my head I knew the statistics, but I just

14:44

never thought me, as a professional athlete

14:46

with great health care, would

14:49

end up in this situation. And then the more

14:51

I educated myself and dove

14:54

into this topic, I realized that it has nothing

14:56

to do with the healthcare necessarily,

14:59

but stories being believed

15:01

pain being believed having to advocate

15:03

for your own health in the doctor's office,

15:06

and I just felt like if I could raise

15:08

more awareness than I wanted to do that

15:10

because I know how hard the situation was

15:12

for myself. Also, one of the

15:14

things that I find really

15:17

just hard to acknowledges

15:20

that we have a maternal mortality crisis in our

15:22

country, that it does disproportionately affect

15:25

black and brown women, and also that it's gotten

15:27

worse over our lifetime. I think sometimes

15:29

we have this just visceral sense like things

15:32

get better, like things just naturally

15:34

get better. This year is going to be better than last

15:36

year. And when we think about maternal

15:38

mortality in our country, women

15:41

and especially black and brown women are dying

15:43

at higher rates today

15:45

than when you were born or when I was born, which

15:48

is so crazy, you know. And

15:50

I think the thing to me that is

15:53

so shocking and heartbreaking

15:55

but also hopeful, is that so many

15:58

of these issues complications death are

16:00

preventable, and it's just like we

16:02

actually can do something about this, but

16:04

we do have to acknowledge that

16:06

it is a real issue and start to take

16:08

those real steps to fixing

16:10

this very real problem.

16:14

We'll be right back stay with us. Was

16:27

there ever a moment when you thought, Okay, thankfully,

16:30

my daughter is healthy, I'm healthy, I've done

16:32

enough, or did you quickly realize

16:35

you did need to step in as an advocate

16:37

to use the platform

16:39

that you have to raise awareness both

16:42

about the maternal mortality crisis

16:44

in our country and also about what

16:46

you know can really help make a difference to save

16:49

moms and their babies lives. Yeah.

16:51

I definitely felt right away that it

16:53

was important. I think because I was also

16:55

going through that whole contract

16:58

issue, you know, at the same time, and

17:02

I had just found my voice, you know, I

17:04

realized the power of using my

17:06

voice, and so when I went through this experience,

17:09

I felt like, here's another area where

17:12

you know, I can really speak up and share

17:14

and hopefully do something. Or

17:16

even if just one person is able

17:18

to think about this issue or

17:20

educate themselves because they are at risk, then I

17:22

felt like it was necessary. So it was kind of breaking

17:25

outside of that box of being so private

17:27

and trying to be more vulnerable and

17:29

and really share some of the things that I've

17:31

been through. And do you have

17:34

younger athletes now coming to you and asking

17:37

for advice on how to navigate

17:39

their careers, I'm sure, but also how

17:41

to navigate their lives in which

17:43

their careers are a hugely important part,

17:45

but not the totality of their lives.

17:48

Yeah, and it's something I never had really thought about

17:51

before, but it's been a really neat

17:53

position to be in. I feel like when I came

17:55

into the sport, there wasn't this sense

17:57

of sisterhood necessarily. It felt like

18:00

there was a more competitive nature, where

18:02

like only one person could be successful,

18:04

only one person could cross

18:07

over succeed, and so we

18:09

didn't really talk that much. And now I feel

18:11

like the culture has shifted, and it's been

18:13

such a neat position to be able to help

18:15

younger athletes and to share and to

18:18

celebrate in their winds. And I have had a lot

18:20

of these conversations, even about maternal

18:22

protections and talking to athletes about

18:24

what their contracts look like if they were to have a

18:26

child, and what should they ask for,

18:29

what should be standard, things that

18:31

I never would have thought of as a younger athlete.

18:33

But being able to shed some light on that and provide

18:36

some advice has been really great. Why

18:39

do you think the culture has shifted?

18:42

Like? What what is different today

18:44

that has enabled those conversations to happen

18:47

that wasn't there when you were starting out

18:50

at seventeen as a professional athlete. It's

18:52

really interesting. I don't know if

18:54

there's one thing that happened, but I think some

18:56

of the walls are starting to break

18:58

down. I think I know for myself, I've

19:00

tried to just be more transparent with what

19:02

goes on. I think we've had this shift,

19:05

and you know, we we're focusing more on our

19:07

mental health, and we have greater

19:09

access to each other and we know what's happening

19:11

in our lives. You know, people are sharing

19:13

more. I hope from being an

19:16

older athlete in the sport and

19:18

trying to model that and trying to say,

19:20

like, you know, we should have these conversations, or

19:22

let me help someone who's aside of me

19:24

and let me try to lift them up. I have a foot

19:26

in the door, let me try to bring them along. And

19:29

so I hope that you know, as more athletes

19:31

try to do that, that it has shifted the

19:33

culture more. Do

19:35

you think it's also a shift in

19:38

in coaching, in in sponsorship,

19:41

partly because athletes like you,

19:43

thankfully have demanded more for everyone.

19:46

I think we're starting to see that we can go

19:48

a non traditional route. I think earlier

19:50

on you felt like there was one way to do things,

19:52

and that was it. You get a big footwear sponsor

19:55

and you run fast, you have performances,

19:57

and that's how you you make your thing.

20:00

But I think we're seeing that you can go

20:02

to a smaller company. They can support

20:04

you as a whole person and celebrate

20:07

these different aspects of you and

20:09

you can be successful in that way. So I do

20:11

think as we take a different

20:13

approach to sponsorship that has

20:16

helped as well. And you're talking about

20:18

being more involved in having more

20:20

agency and authorship over not

20:23

only your contracts, but what you're doing and what your

20:26

name and your brand are attached to. And

20:28

I do want to ask you about the sneaker

20:30

that you created. Did you always want

20:33

to design your own

20:35

shoe? How did that happen?

20:38

It actually just happened very

20:40

authentically and out of necessity.

20:42

So out of necessity meaning like you were like, I

20:44

need better shoes, I'll go create

20:46

one. Essentially, I had been to four

20:49

Olympics, you know, and I had part of

20:51

ways with Nike, I had a new

20:53

apparel sponsorship with Athleta, and

20:55

I was really inspired by the way they did

20:57

business, you know, percent female

20:59

lead, and so I was like, I

21:01

want to find this in footwear. I'm a runner,

21:04

Like I'm preparing for the fifth Olympics.

21:06

How do I not have a footwear sponsor? And

21:09

you know, I think there's a lot of reasons to that. I think there

21:11

were definitely consequences of speaking out in

21:13

regards to Nike, and I had been a heavily branded

21:15

athlete, but I was just exhausted of

21:18

trying to get companies to see my value

21:20

and my worth and all of that.

21:22

And so I'm sorry we paused here for something.

21:24

You're like trying to get companies to see your value after

21:27

four Olympics, I

21:29

know, but it was my reality, like it

21:32

was. It was so frustrating. So

21:34

I was talking to my brother and I was just sharing

21:36

with him, like I feel defeated. How

21:38

am I at this place and I'm still begging

21:41

begging for things? And he just looked

21:43

at me. He was like, well, what if we did this ourselves?

21:45

And what if we you know, And I was like, create

21:47

a shoe company like that seems massive.

21:50

But the more I sat with it, I was like, wow,

21:52

you know, here is an opportunity instead of asking

21:55

for change to be and to create

21:57

that change, and so we did it real.

22:00

We created Sage, which is a lifestyle

22:02

brand for women, and our first product

22:04

was a lifestyle sneaker and you know, it's

22:06

designed, engineered by women, It's

22:08

specifically made for the female foot.

22:11

And my proudest moment was going to the

22:13

Tokyo Olympics and competing in shoes

22:15

that my brand made. And I

22:18

felt like for anybody who had been told

22:20

like they were done too old your

22:22

mom, now you know I was able to come

22:25

up against that and really be that representation.

22:27

And so it was so much bigger than the performance, but

22:29

it was a really proud moment for me. Can

22:31

you just tell us a little bit more about designing

22:34

the shoe and how you found

22:36

the designers to work with. Was it a long

22:38

process? Is short process? How many

22:40

laps or miles or whatever

22:43

the right metric is? Did you have to run

22:45

in like different models to find the right

22:47

shoe? Just how did the process work?

22:49

Yeah? I started out obviously I

22:52

was diving into a whole different industry and so

22:54

I was like, I know that I want this

22:56

engineered by a woman, and so I literally

22:59

just reached out to Tiffany Beers,

23:01

who is a legendary

23:03

engineer who has made iconic

23:06

sneakers, and I was like, you know, she's the top

23:08

of the top. Maybe she can lead me in the

23:10

right path. And I think, again, it goes

23:12

back to that sense of sisterhood, because she

23:15

was just so open and welcoming to me,

23:17

and she really educated me

23:19

on an even bigger issue that

23:21

we were facing, and that's that shoes have historically

23:24

been made for men, so shoes

23:26

made on a last, which is essentially just a mold

23:28

of a foot, and it's a man's mold,

23:31

a man's foot that we use to

23:33

make women shoes. And I was like, that's

23:35

absurd. So

23:37

right away, you know, we were able to dive in and tackle

23:40

issues like that. But it was really creating the

23:42

team, and she really connected and

23:44

led us in the right path, and we started to

23:47

build and to create, and it was so

23:49

much fun to be a part of the process because

23:51

I have always loved shoes and

23:54

to really understand, you know, how they're

23:56

made and the specifics ins and

23:58

outs. And then obviously there was a ton

24:00

of trials, you know, to be able to

24:02

make this shoot very technical

24:05

and able for me to compete in it at

24:07

the highest level. How are you

24:09

with your brother and with the team you're building, building

24:11

a culture to help support women,

24:14

to help support moms. What about your

24:16

experiences with Nike and

24:19

in your competitions have you

24:22

taken and what have you changed to

24:24

build a different, better, more

24:26

affirmative culture. We

24:29

are just aligned in the vision that we

24:31

exist for women to see

24:33

them, to know them,

24:35

for them to feel valued, and that is really

24:37

at the core of everyone who comes on board,

24:40

that they really see that clearly and

24:42

that we are trying to serve and create something

24:44

that you know, women haven't had before. And

24:47

that's always at the center of everything and making

24:49

sure that whether it's our internal

24:51

maternity policy or just

24:54

even listening to how

24:56

we can support women on the team and

24:58

do things better. And I think because it

25:01

comes from the place of never wanting anyone to feel

25:03

the way that I did, it's always

25:05

at the forefront of every decision that we make

25:07

in consideration and how we build the brand.

25:10

And I just have to belabor

25:12

the point of how much I

25:15

love that it was your brother who said

25:17

you should do this, because we do need,

25:20

you know, male allies, and we do need

25:23

men to continue to create

25:25

space to support women, to

25:28

champion women, and to follow women.

25:31

And I just think it's really powerful. It

25:34

is, and he's been on the journey with me

25:36

from the very beginning. We get to work together

25:39

and the on the sports side of things

25:41

as well, and to have exactly

25:43

to your point, to have that encouragement and

25:46

that confidence in me to push me

25:48

and challenge me to step out and

25:50

to do things. And too, he always reminded

25:52

me, you know, when I was really unsure

25:55

and scared about speaking out about

25:58

some of the issues, he was like, you know, even if

26:00

your voice shakes, you can still use it

26:02

great advice. And I just held onto that

26:04

because it was like, I am scared, I am

26:06

nervous. This is outside of my comfort zone.

26:09

But the fact that you believe in me

26:11

and I have you for support, it just meant

26:13

a lot. We're

26:17

taking a quick break, stay with us.

26:30

When we spoke during COVID,

26:33

I was so moved

26:35

by kind of you sharing how

26:37

some of the kids in your neighborhood would like make

26:39

signs for you as you were out

26:41

training because you couldn't train on a

26:43

track like you were working from home. But

26:46

you, unlike those of us who can be

26:48

on screens had to still go outside, you

26:51

go for your runs. And I just I found

26:53

that so incredibly moving, Alison, that you're community

26:56

quite literally still showed up for you even

26:58

when there were so much uncertain t in the

27:00

world. It was such a beautiful

27:03

thing. And since I came

27:05

home from the Olympics and my

27:08

neighborhood, like one night

27:10

the door rung. It was like I think it was like the day I got back

27:12

from Tokyo and a huge group

27:14

of them were outside and the kids had made

27:16

cards and they had brought balloons,

27:19

and it was the sweetest thing, and I think they really

27:21

felt like they were there

27:23

with me. They saw me training and

27:26

it was this very like bizarre thing

27:28

that happened where you know, I was training

27:30

on the streets in my neighborhood and they got to be a part

27:32

of it. But it was such a really

27:34

cool moment to see, you know, everybody

27:36

really involved in supporting me. Have

27:39

you talked to your daughter about

27:41

creating your own shoe, creating your own company,

27:44

and if so, what do you tell her

27:46

about the origin story of why this

27:48

was so important for you to do,

27:51

including as her mom. Yeah,

27:54

obviously she doesn't understand everything yet,

27:56

but I am so excited to

27:58

eventually break down on all of the stories

28:01

and that she has been literally

28:03

the motivation and the driving force behind

28:05

it. I often tell her a different things that

28:07

I'm doing at work, or my husband

28:09

will bring her out to a training session, and

28:12

I can't wait until she can understand.

28:14

And I think one of the biggest things that I want

28:17

her to get is that you can

28:19

never let someone put a limit on you

28:21

or tell you what you can

28:23

do, what you're not capable, what

28:25

you're too old to do. And our

28:28

family is proof of that. You know that

28:30

we were able to overcome that, and so

28:33

as she gets older, I'm excited

28:35

that she can learn and be inspired

28:37

by that and set her own path. What

28:40

advice would you give to

28:42

any woman who recognized

28:44

the injustice and discrimination in their

28:47

workplace? Because I don't want people to listen

28:49

to our conversation and think, oh, like, I

28:51

haven't been to four Olympics. Nobody would

28:53

listen to me. Yeah, I think it doesn't

28:55

have to be this huge thing.

28:58

It doesn't have to You don't have to have a big platform.

29:00

You know, you can start to have

29:02

impact within our own circles. At work, and

29:04

I think it's starting small. Sometimes

29:07

it's having conversation in the forefront

29:09

gets power in the collective. You know, if you're

29:11

able to come together with another person, I think

29:13

your voice becomes even stronger, and being

29:16

able to call out an injustice, being

29:18

able to support somebody else

29:20

as they come forward. So I think

29:22

it is wherever we are

29:24

bringing things to light and understanding

29:27

that it's okay if it takes you some time. It

29:29

took me a long time to get to the place

29:31

of really speaking out. But I think we can

29:34

do little things and take these small

29:36

steps before having to do it on a very grand

29:38

scale. And just the last

29:40

question I want to ask is one that we're asking everyone

29:44

on the podcast, given we are talking during

29:46

Women's History Month, which is just

29:49

is there one kind of statistic or

29:51

fact around women in the workplace,

29:54

whether in sports or more broadly,

29:56

that either really makes

29:59

you angry and then motivate you through

30:01

the anchor or that gives you hope.

30:03

One that really fires me up every

30:05

time I hear it is the statistic about

30:08

the visibility of women in sports. Women

30:11

received only four percent of dedicated

30:14

media coverage. Four Yes,

30:17

we have to do better and I think that

30:20

there's so much material,

30:22

there's so many stories there

30:24

women doing incredible things, and

30:26

you know, being able to shine a light on that.

30:29

I think that also

30:31

encompasses tackling so many issues.

30:33

So that's the one that always fires me up

30:35

to do more. And so Alison, for those

30:37

of us who have never been

30:39

to Olympics or one a medal, who

30:42

maybe never even made it onto you

30:44

know, a j V or of our city team, what

30:46

can we do to try to change that? Is that

30:49

where we spend our consumer dollars

30:51

on supporting certain brands, is that

30:53

ensuring we're watching our kind of

30:56

women athletes compete? Like, how do we for

30:58

those of us who you know are very

31:00

far from you and your achievements, how do how

31:02

do we try to be part of that positive change?

31:05

Yeah? I think it's showing up and supporting

31:08

women in sports. And that is watching women's

31:10

sports, showing up in the stadiums,

31:12

going to a basketball game, taking your

31:15

your kids, your sons, and your daughters,

31:17

to support women and to show them that they're

31:19

amazing role models. They are just as

31:22

capable as men, and they're

31:24

exciting and exciting to watch

31:26

and and really support in that way. And so I

31:28

think that's how we begin to start

31:31

to get greater coverage and in

31:33

return more resources to be able to

31:35

support you know, a few athletes. Well.

31:38

Shortly before COVID Closer World, I did

31:40

take my older daughter and son to

31:43

w NBA game, and I

31:45

see how much it matters, just in our own

31:47

family that sons don't think

31:49

it's strange that they look up

31:51

to and are riveted by women in sports,

31:54

and I think that is as important

31:57

as my daughter no feeling like there are people

31:59

who look like who are visible and achieving

32:02

extraordinary things that inspire

32:05

and invigorate her too. Absolutely,

32:07

I think we're seeing it more and more. I saw recently

32:10

a young boy wearing a woman's

32:12

basketball jersey and I thought that was the coolest

32:14

thing, because yeah, it's I think

32:16

we're starting to change that at a very young age,

32:19

and it's really cool to see. Well,

32:21

thank you so much, and it's

32:24

just such an honor and privilege to always

32:26

be in your company, and thank you for your time today

32:28

and all you're doing. Thank you so

32:30

much for having me, and yeah, it's always enjoy

32:32

to speak with you.

32:35

You can find Alison Felix on social media

32:38

at Alison Felix, and you can learn

32:40

more about Safe. That's s a Y

32:43

s h at safe dot com.

32:46

In Fact is brought to you by I Heart Radio.

32:49

We are produced by a mighty group of women

32:51

and one amazing man, Erica

32:53

Goodmanson, Mart Harror, Sarah

32:56

Horrowitz, Jesmin Molly, and Justin

32:58

Wright, with help from n. C. Hoffman,

33:00

Barry Laurie, Joyce Kuban, Julie

33:03

Supran, Mike Taylor, and Emily Young.

33:05

Original music is by Justin Wright.

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