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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Anny and Samantha. I'm welcome to stuff

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Speaker 1: on Never Tell You Perfection. I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 2: With the Olympics and Paralympics around the corner, we thought

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Speaker 2: it would take some time to look at incredible athletes

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Speaker 2: around the world for our feminists around the world, because

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Speaker 2: you know, we love a good athlete. And yes, we

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Speaker 2: will be coming back to talk about some of those

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Speaker 2: Paralympic and Olympic athletes that are about to enter their competition. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: are you gonna watch it this year?

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Speaker 1: Here to watch it?

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Speaker 2: You watch it pretty consistently.

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Speaker 1: I do watch it pretty regularly. I will be Okay,

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Speaker 1: I'm hesitating because I know there's a lot of there's

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Speaker 1: a lot of issues around it, Yes, and I'm curious

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Speaker 1: how it's going to play out, But yes, I will

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Speaker 1: be watching it.

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Speaker 2: Yes, I know, like I've been thinking about that with

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Speaker 2: soccer and the conversations around soccer because similar protests and

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Speaker 2: things have happened. But like we know there was some

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Speaker 2: teams that people weren't expecting and were excited about, and

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Speaker 2: I'm hoping we could see that as well for this

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Speaker 2: year's Olympics and Paralympics. We already got to like sadness

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Speaker 2: of people trying to exclude trans athletes. But at the

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Speaker 2: same time, we've seen trans athletes actually make it and

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Speaker 2: we're very excited to celebrate them as well. But yeah,

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Speaker 2: so as is coming around, we want to look at

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Speaker 2: different athletes who are doing amazing things and using their

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Speaker 2: platform to be activists and advocates for others. And today

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Speaker 2: we are talking about Doah Shehaia, who was born with

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Speaker 2: spina bifida and is currently living in the UK. I

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Speaker 2: believe Plymouth and I was like, Oh, I didn't realize

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Speaker 2: it was a place right politic interesting? Kay, I'm sorry.

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Speaker 2: So Shia is a woman of many talents, including being

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Speaker 2: an athlete, an activist, a speaker, and an artist. She

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Speaker 2: has recently made headlines in her debut competition within the

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Speaker 2: powerlifting world, which is very cool, but before that, she

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Speaker 2: was already making waves as a wheelchair racer, which started

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Speaker 2: at a young age. I think she started around twelve

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Speaker 2: eleven twelve because she has a cute sight. When she

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Speaker 2: started at fifteen talking about being a wheelchair racer, I

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Speaker 2: was like, oh, look at this, and now she'll think

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Speaker 2: she's like in her twenties. So I wonder if she

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Speaker 2: knows she still has that and here's a bit from

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Speaker 2: her LinkedIn embodied in three impactful words. A Muslim woman

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Speaker 2: in a wheelchair lies the essence of my journey, a

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Speaker 2: narrative that transcends labels to become the guiding lens through

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Speaker 2: which I navigate the world. My professional canvas involves at

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Speaker 2: the intersection of disability, accessibility, sport and race, with a

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Speaker 2: particular focus on issues encopassing women's lifestyles, fitness and health.

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Speaker 2: Fueled by an unwavering passion and an unrelenting drive, I

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Speaker 2: am on a mission to not only raise awareness, but

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Speaker 2: to obliterate the prevailing disability narrative. My ultimate goal is

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Speaker 2: to sculpt a society that is not just successible, but

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Speaker 2: inherently inclusive to all. With a unique blend of lived

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Speaker 2: experience and skill, I have been instrumental in shaping positive

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Speaker 2: changes with numerous charities, organizations, and communities. These transformations possessed

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Speaker 2: the transformative power to influence policy changes, a testament to

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Speaker 2: the impact of authentic representation. My commitment extends to amplifying

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Speaker 2: the voices of the marginalized, ensuring they are not only heard,

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Speaker 2: but truly seen. A fervent advocate for improving representation, equality

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Speaker 2: and diversity. I actively seek opportunities that align with my

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Speaker 2: core values.

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Speaker 1: And as she navigates her own activism and career, she

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Speaker 1: has not slowed down and learning or perfecting her skills. Recently,

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Speaker 1: she made headlines as she qualified and competed in the

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Speaker 1: World Pair of Powerlifting Championships in twenty twenty three, and

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Speaker 1: her work earned her a bronze medal and overall competition.

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Speaker 1: And with all of this under her belt, she has

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Speaker 1: been open and vocal about disability justice. In twenty nineteen,

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Speaker 1: she used her love of art to speak out against

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Speaker 1: ablest attitudes and insults. Here's a bit that she wrote

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Speaker 1: for you can find dot com titled Slay those wheels quote.

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Speaker 1: People don't as disability with beauty slash sexiness. But my

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Speaker 1: question is why why can't you be in a wheelchair

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Speaker 1: or have any sort of disability and not still be

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Speaker 1: considered sexy and beautiful. True beauty is in the heart mind,

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Speaker 1: and true confidence within will always radiate right through and

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Speaker 1: knowing you have so much more to offer, regardless of

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Speaker 1: looks or disability. There's more to a person than just looks.

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Speaker 1: Looks are only a part of what makes you who

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Speaker 1: you are. Who you are deep down is what matters.

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Speaker 1: My aim is to change the world's perspective on disability

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Speaker 1: and show that you can still have amazing hair, makeup, nails,

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Speaker 1: and even figure being a wheelchair and still sligh regardless

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Speaker 1: of wheels.

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Speaker 2: And if you ever see a name of pictures, she's

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Speaker 2: been featured in several magazines as well as with a

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Speaker 2: modeling agency. She is gorgeous, so yeah, she could see.

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Speaker 2: She got that figured out and with her talents as

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Speaker 2: a makeup artist. She went on to talk openly about

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Speaker 2: some of the insults she has dealt with. She told

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Speaker 2: BBC News in twenty nine nineteen, I don't feel disability

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Speaker 2: has been accepted. It really does frustrate me. So with

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Speaker 2: the makeup design, I wanted everyone to see what disabled

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Speaker 2: people still have to put up with. In twenty nineteen,

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Speaker 2: it's like the words I write on my face, retard, bedridden,

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Speaker 2: I got called them. It's hurtful, And yeah, if you

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Speaker 2: see the video, she actually does an amazing thing where

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Speaker 2: there's a lot of like half makeup like tutorial and

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Speaker 2: then half of like your regular face, but on the

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Speaker 2: half she had her makeup done and on the other half,

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Speaker 2: she had words that had been said to her and

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Speaker 2: used to insult her, so as a kind of like

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Speaker 2: awareness tactic, and the article continues with how Shehay shared

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Speaker 2: a video on Facebook with her inspiring makeup. A lot

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Speaker 2: of the time to my face, I get people saying,

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Speaker 2: it's such a shame you're pretty. It's wasted on you,

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Speaker 2: doah said. I had a guy on the bus come

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Speaker 2: up to me and look at me with the most

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Speaker 2: sympathetic look. Den He said, it really is a shame

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Speaker 2: you're so beautiful as you're never going to do anything

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Speaker 2: with it because you're in a wheelchair. I mean, what

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Speaker 2: can you say to that. As soon as you're seeing

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Speaker 2: in a wheelchair or with any disability, that beauty is gone.

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Speaker 2: A wheelchair is always going to be seen before I'm

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Speaker 2: going to be seen.

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Speaker 1: She has continued to speak up about the level of

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Speaker 1: marginalism that she has faced as a disabled Muslim woman

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Speaker 1: of color, and how she has learned the importance of

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Speaker 1: taking care of her own mental health as well as

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Speaker 1: learning to love and accept herself. In that same BBC article,

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Speaker 1: she talks about when she switched from using crutches to

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Speaker 1: a wheelchair. Quote Born in Yemen, Doah moved to the

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Speaker 1: southwest of England with her family when she was six

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Speaker 1: years old and swapped her crutches for a wheelchair a

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Speaker 1: few years later. I used to be really paranoid being

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Speaker 1: on crutches as I had a limp, and I was

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Speaker 1: always aware that people were staring at me, she said.

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Speaker 1: Now they still stare, but I can whizz right by

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Speaker 1: them and speed off. Doah said she believed people put

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Speaker 1: a limitation on me straight away and that was something

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Speaker 1: she wanted to break. I can do everything anyone else

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Speaker 1: can do, she added.

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Speaker 2: Right, and she has. Obviously she's a racer, so she

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Speaker 2: has got some sweet and in another interview with Disability

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Speaker 2: Horizons dot Com, they write about her, Doah defines herself

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Speaker 2: as goddess of my own hell, which means she has

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Speaker 2: conquered the fight to exist, be seen and be heard

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Speaker 2: and while facing the negativity and discrimination for being female,

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Speaker 2: a woman of color and disabled. And from another article

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Speaker 2: where she is featured as a top ten activist to

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Speaker 2: Know It says in twenty fourteen, she carried the Queen's

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Speaker 2: baton through Plymouth ahead of Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and

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Speaker 2: she was also awarded the Plymouth Heralds rob Daily Award

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Speaker 2: for quote Overcoming adversity to excel in sports. And yeah,

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Speaker 2: I said she's been doing a lot, and obviously she

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Speaker 2: continues to do a lot, as last year she competed

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Speaker 2: in that powerlifting competition. I'm sure we're going to see

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Speaker 2: and hear a lot more from her.

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Speaker 1: Yes, yes, And we do have some amazing listeners who

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Speaker 1: are great at letting us know about some of the

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Speaker 1: sports stuff we might miss. So looking forward to hearing

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Speaker 1: from all of you. Yeah and yeah. You can contact

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Speaker 1: us through a variety of ways. You can email us

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Speaker 1: at Stephanie mom Stuff at iHeartMedia dot com. You can

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Speaker 1: find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast, or on

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Speaker 1: Instagram and TikTok at stuff I'll Never Told You. We're

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Speaker 1: lso on YouTube, or you have a tea public store

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Speaker 1: and we have a book you can get wherever you

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Speaker 1: get your books. Kanks is always to our super producer

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Speaker 1: Christina or executive producer Maya and your contributor Joey. Thank

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Speaker 1: you and thanks to you for listening. Stuff Never Told

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Speaker 1: You the production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts from

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Speaker 1: My Heart Radio, you can check out the iHeartRadio, Apple podcast,

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