Speaker 1: If you're listening to this podcast, we know one thing
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Speaker 1: the sports Bra. Hello, friends, and welcome to The Powerful podcast.
Speaker 3: I'm your host Aja McCord. In this podcast, we introduce
Speaker 3: you to powerful women who are changing the game in
Speaker 3: and outside of their field of play. These are women's stories,
Speaker 3: women who happen to be doing things that many of
Speaker 3: us can only dream of, but the lessons and inspiration
Speaker 3: they share is universal.
Speaker 1: Welcome to this episode of The Powerful, where we are
Speaker 1: getting to know some of the amazing women competing for
Speaker 1: Team USA this summer. Today, we are talking to a
Speaker 1: woman who won her very first world title at the
Speaker 1: age of fifteen years old. It was the first of
Speaker 1: six four of which she won consecutively before going on
Speaker 1: to become the first member of US Sailing to qualify
Speaker 1: for Paris, where she's going to make some history as
Speaker 1: she competes in a brand new Olympic sport, kiteboarding. Welcome
Speaker 1: Danielle Morose to the Powerful Podcast. I am so thrilled
Speaker 1: to have you here.
Speaker 4: Oh, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1: I'm so excited, and I can imagine that the excitement
Speaker 1: is just getting more and more as we get closer
Speaker 1: to the games themselves. But I want to talk about
Speaker 1: what you just did first, because I have a feeling
Speaker 1: this whole Olympian thing kind of just became real because
Speaker 1: you were in New York City for the Team USA
Speaker 1: media summit, and I do believe you got to do
Speaker 1: some pretty cool things there. Can you bring us up
Speaker 1: to speed on what it was like being there with
Speaker 1: the rest of TUSA.
Speaker 5: Yes, Oh my gosh, it was just such a cool experience.
Speaker 5: And I think anytime you're in that kind of environment
Speaker 5: where you're like seeing all the other athletes and you're
Speaker 5: like doing all the media with them, and everyone's like
Speaker 5: asking you about the Olympics and how you're feeling. It's
Speaker 5: just like it's so i get like a little bit
Speaker 5: overstimulated because I'm just like, oh my god, this is
Speaker 5: all like happening and it's so cool and it's so exciting.
Speaker 5: But it's like it makes you feel it's like so
Speaker 5: unique and special too, and I if it's just it's
Speaker 5: a good reminder to just be grateful for like what's happening.
Speaker 5: And yeah, it was just a it was a really
Speaker 5: cool couple of days. And I started off I was
Speaker 5: there on the day of like one hundred Days to Paris,
Speaker 5: and so we started off the day with we went
Speaker 5: to the Empire State Building with a few other athletes,
Speaker 5: which was super cool, and we actually got to like
Speaker 5: flip a switch and it like switched on the lights
Speaker 5: to the Empire State Building and it made them red,
Speaker 5: white and blue, which was really cool to like support
Speaker 5: Team USA and celebrate you know, one hundred days to Paris,
Speaker 5: which was really cool. And it was just like that
Speaker 5: you can like feel the energy and the vibe like
Speaker 5: everyone is just buzzing and so excited, and it's like
Speaker 5: it's just so exciting to be there and to be a.
Speaker 4: Part of it.
Speaker 5: And then the yeah, we got to go up to
Speaker 5: the to the top of the Empire State Building, which
Speaker 5: was super cool. See the whole city, see all the views,
Speaker 5: and when you look it up online, the Empire State
Speaker 5: Building has one hundred and two floors or like levels,
Speaker 5: but there's a secret one hundred third floor that is
Speaker 5: reserved only for I think it's like celebrities, dignitaries, and olympians.
Speaker 5: So we got to go up to that one hundred
Speaker 5: third floor and be like, I think it's the highest
Speaker 5: point you can be in the West Hemisphere, like without
Speaker 5: like being clipped into the building or being like harnessed in,
Speaker 5: which is like wild. So that was like, we don't
Speaker 5: have a fear of bites, right, We're good, I oh,
Speaker 5: marginal Yeah, Okay. Some people were looking over like, oh
Speaker 5: my god, this is like this is a lot. Yeah,
Speaker 5: but it was just like it was so cool and
Speaker 5: it's just one of those things where it's like it
Speaker 5: just makes you feel so special and like unique, like
Speaker 5: being part of that team and being like an Olympian.
Speaker 5: So yeah, so it was just so cool. And you
Speaker 5: also just get to meet so many cool athletes along
Speaker 5: the way and share share stories with each other and
Speaker 5: you always find that like you can just relate on
Speaker 5: so many levels. And then yeah, so that was kind
Speaker 5: of like the morning part, which was really cool. And
Speaker 5: then the rest of the day was just doing a
Speaker 5: bunch of different media interviews and shoots and.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and like talking to press and all the things.
Speaker 5: So yeah, it was it was a very long day,
Speaker 5: but it's one of those days where I was like,
Speaker 5: oh my god, like the this is all just so
Speaker 5: cool and I can't believe it for real.
Speaker 1: So was there an Olympian that you met that you
Speaker 1: got starstruck by at all? Or do Olympians not get
Speaker 1: startruck with each other?
Speaker 4: No, definitely.
Speaker 5: I So i'd like kind of passed, like I've seen
Speaker 5: Jessica Long in passing a little bit, Like I think
Speaker 5: she was in la at the NBC Universal Studios shoot
Speaker 5: on like the same day or like yeah, or maybe
Speaker 5: slightly different day, but I like overlapped with her at
Speaker 5: some point, so i'd like seen her in passing, but
Speaker 5: I never actually met her. But this time I got
Speaker 5: to like spend a lot of the day with her actually,
Speaker 5: and that was just like so cool and she was
Speaker 5: so nice and just like you just like meet these
Speaker 5: people and they're just such incredible human beings and you realize,
Speaker 5: like you look at them and they're these like really
Speaker 5: bad ass athletes, but then you talk to them, it
Speaker 5: feels like you're just like talking to another person. It's
Speaker 5: like it's easy to forget that they're just like people
Speaker 5: just like me. So yeah, so it was just super cool.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. So I want to get into what you
Speaker 1: are going to be doing in Paris, because, like I mentioned,
Speaker 1: your sport a brand new one to the Olympics, and
Speaker 1: this Olympics is obviously also really special because it is
Speaker 1: the first time in Olympic history that there is an
Speaker 1: equal amount of representation and participation between men and women.
Speaker 1: And so walk me through. Describe your sport to somebody
Speaker 1: who maybe just has no idea what it is.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So my discipline is called Formula Kite and it's
Speaker 5: one of the ten Olympics sailing classes that is at
Speaker 5: the Olympics, and it's racing. So it's just like sailing
Speaker 5: and that we're going around, we're like doing laps around
Speaker 5: buoys out on the water and whoever crossed the finish
Speaker 5: line first wins. And in like kite surfing specifically, we're
Speaker 5: on a board that's like pretty similar to a surfboard
Speaker 5: and then it has a hydrofoil on it, and the
Speaker 5: hydrofoil is what allows to like fly a couple feet
Speaker 5: over the water, and it's actually what makes us the
Speaker 5: fastest summer Olympic sport, which is really cool. So we're
Speaker 5: going around the course. We'll be going at speeds like
Speaker 5: twenty five miles per hour upwind or against the wind,
Speaker 5: and then downwind or with the wind, we're going like
Speaker 5: forty to forty five miles per hour. So it's super fast,
Speaker 5: and it's really tight, close racing, a lot of like
Speaker 5: action in the corners, and.
Speaker 4: It's just it's super exciting to watch.
Speaker 5: And we're flying around getting like completely wind powered by
Speaker 5: a large kite that is attached to us.
Speaker 4: So yeah, so that's kind of how kiting is.
Speaker 5: We compete for five days, so it's a pretty long competition.
Speaker 5: We do like three five races a day for the
Speaker 5: first four days, and then after that the top ten
Speaker 5: go into the like metal series on the final day
Speaker 5: and that's all like how the metals play out.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so I've heard you before describe your sport
Speaker 1: as playing chess while running a marior. But I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be honest with you, Chess and marathon are not sports
Speaker 1: that I view as high risk typically because that's just
Speaker 1: like right, like it's not that it's not hard, but
Speaker 1: it's that they're not as high What you just described
Speaker 1: to me feels more of like we're trying to race
Speaker 1: a race car that I'm actually holding on to the
Speaker 1: back of while competing against like ten other women in
Speaker 1: the water at the same time.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So I mean I like to make that marathon
Speaker 5: and chess comparison because not only are you like pushing
Speaker 5: super hard physically and like trying to go really fast
Speaker 5: around around the race course, and you're just like pushing
Speaker 5: super hard and trying to go as fast as you can,
Speaker 5: but you're also like you need to be looking around
Speaker 5: and like seeing where your competitors are, and you're kind
Speaker 5: of playing this chess game of like the strategy and
Speaker 5: tactics because what might be like I'll say, like the
Speaker 5: shortest way around the course might not be the fast
Speaker 5: and so you have to be paying attention to like
Speaker 5: changing conditions, Like if there's more wind on one side
Speaker 5: of the course than the other, then that's gonna make
Speaker 5: you faster. You have to be paying to paying attention
Speaker 5: to like current because that'll make you go faster on.
Speaker 4: One side or another.
Speaker 5: Or you have a lot of like these tactical moves
Speaker 5: that you'll do if you're like coming up to one
Speaker 5: mark then figuring out like how to make that play
Speaker 5: of like passing someone around you. So there's a lot
Speaker 5: of these, Like there's literally this chess game going on.
Speaker 5: So not only are you like pushing super hard and
Speaker 5: on the edge and going super fast, but you're also
Speaker 5: like you need to be looking around and like making
Speaker 5: really strategic, highly tactical decisions at a really fast rate.
Speaker 4: So yeah, so it's intense.
Speaker 1: So we'll add we'll add marathon, but like with turbo
Speaker 1: boosters on your shoes, yeah, because the wind is like
Speaker 1: also you're propelling, like you're going against mother nature as well,
Speaker 1: which is just there's so many fascinating aspects of your
Speaker 1: sport that we ca get into. But before we get
Speaker 1: into that, I want to talk about just how you
Speaker 1: got into this sport growing up in the Bay area
Speaker 1: give us an idea of how common it is to
Speaker 1: become sort of involved in the sailing, kiteboarding, kite surfing world.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so I always have to start with my parents
Speaker 5: because they're the ones that got me into the sport.
Speaker 4: And they both are originally from former.
Speaker 5: Czechoslovakia and they actually escaped the regime in the early
Speaker 5: eighties and came to America. My dad literally escaped the
Speaker 5: Eastern Block by cross country skiing across the mountains into
Speaker 5: Austria and then getting asylum to the US. So they're like,
Speaker 5: they came from really tough times and they came they
Speaker 5: had to completely leave their lives and they chose to,
Speaker 5: you know, escape to America, to the land of opportunity
Speaker 5: and to be able to experience freedom. And funny enough,
Speaker 5: they met while learning to windsurf in the Berkeley Marina
Speaker 5: in the San Francisco Bay, So they met learning to windsurf.
Speaker 5: So then when I was born, I grew up around windsurfing.
Speaker 5: Eventually my dad switched over to kiting in like two
Speaker 5: thousand and five, two thousand and six, so when I
Speaker 5: was like four or five years old, and then eventually
Speaker 5: once I was kind of big enough and old enough
Speaker 5: to learn like a water sport, I really wanted to
Speaker 5: learn to kite, and so my parents were always super supportive.
Speaker 5: And I was doing a ton of other sports growing
Speaker 5: up and was super competitive, and they were really supportive
Speaker 5: always in no matter what sport I wanted to try
Speaker 5: or activity I wanted to do, Like they drove me
Speaker 5: to all my swim practices and to tennis and to
Speaker 5: dance and tell everything, and so then when I wanted
Speaker 5: to learn to kite, they got me lessons and they
Speaker 5: got me the equipment at the beginning, and as soon
Speaker 5: as I got the opportunity to try competing and kiting,
Speaker 5: me always being the girl that wanted to beat all
Speaker 5: the boys, I jumped on it. And there was a
Speaker 5: really strong community of kaite racers in the San Francisco
Speaker 5: Bay area at the time, and I remember when I
Speaker 5: was just learning to race, the current world champions were
Speaker 5: both from San Francisco, and so it was so cool
Speaker 5: because I could go out racing over the summer and
Speaker 5: be on the same start line as the current world
Speaker 5: champions and be racing around the course with them, and
Speaker 5: I think especially being able to see like Erica Heineken,
Speaker 5: it was this sibling duo was Johnny and Erica Heineken,
Speaker 5: And for me, especially being able to see Erica like
Speaker 5: go out there and just like shred and beat the boys,
Speaker 5: that was so inspiring for me, and I remember I
Speaker 5: wanted to be just like that, and being able to
Speaker 5: actually see that was so huge, and especially like being
Speaker 5: in a male dominated sport and also being one of
Speaker 5: the youngest where I was competing as mostly men that
Speaker 5: were twice my age at that point, So I actually, like,
Speaker 5: I was just so inspired. I just wanted to push
Speaker 5: hard and go fast on the water, and I was
Speaker 5: so hooked on the racing, and so I started racing
Speaker 5: when I was like thirteen or so, and then soon
Speaker 5: enough I realized I was like pretty decent at it,
Speaker 5: and it was beating a lot of the boys. I
Speaker 5: was getting pretty good. And then yeah, won my first
Speaker 5: world championship at fifteen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I believe you earn't the nickname Erica two
Speaker 1: point zero in those early years. Yeah, right, So walk
Speaker 1: me through how you mentioned being in a male dominated
Speaker 1: sport and you were racing against a lot of the
Speaker 1: men in the San Francisco Bay area at the like
Speaker 1: wopping age of twelve, thirteen fourteen. Right, So how did
Speaker 1: having just that one female mentor impact your journey in
Speaker 1: this sport?
Speaker 5: I mean, honestly, like if I didn't have anyone to
Speaker 5: look up to, I think things would have been very,
Speaker 5: very different. And I think I was very intrinsically and
Speaker 5: just like naturally motivated, and I was very driven. So
Speaker 5: I do think I could have like kind of gotten
Speaker 5: to where I got to. I don't think it would
Speaker 5: have happened nearly as quickly as it did. Yeah, And
Speaker 5: it just like even for me now, I do feel
Speaker 5: like I'm in a position where I want those like
Speaker 5: that next generation of young girls to be able to
Speaker 5: see me and go like, oh, I can do that too.
Speaker 5: And I think I was also I was in a
Speaker 5: very like lucky situation in a way because even though
Speaker 5: I was racing against mostly men, everyone was always so supportive. Actually,
Speaker 5: I think in kiting it's pretty unique because even just
Speaker 5: to like get out on the water, like you need
Speaker 5: someone to launch your kite and land your kite, and
Speaker 5: like you need that kind of sense of community, and
Speaker 5: I think that is like more so in kiting than
Speaker 5: almost any other sport because you're like you're all going
Speaker 5: out on the water and you kind of look out
Speaker 5: for each other and you make sure everyone gets back
Speaker 5: in and there's a real sense of like community there.
Speaker 5: So when I was going out there, you know, twelve
Speaker 5: thirteen years old, all the guys were like really supportive
Speaker 5: and they were like really cheering me on, and they
Speaker 5: were like, oh, like we need to beat Danielle. But
Speaker 5: like but they were motivating me and they were helping me.
Speaker 5: And I think when I was at that age, I
Speaker 5: didn't really realize the significance of that because I was
Speaker 5: just like, yeah, like, oh, should I tell dead, Like
Speaker 5: I was just like having a grand old time. But
Speaker 5: now as I've gotten older, I'm just like, oh my god,
Speaker 5: it is like that's not a normal thing really, And
Speaker 5: I think I do think times are changing and it
Speaker 5: is becoming more and more normal now, but that that
Speaker 5: was like not totally normal at the time. And so
Speaker 5: it makes me, Yeah, it makes me like really reflective
Speaker 5: of that in a way that I was really lucky
Speaker 5: to be in such a supportive community.
Speaker 4: And and even.
Speaker 5: Now as I've like dabbled in a little bit of
Speaker 5: sailing and been more exposed to like some of those
Speaker 5: more traditional kind of yeah, that like more traditional culture
Speaker 5: of like how sailing can be. It's it's very different
Speaker 5: and it's and sailing is still very much so a
Speaker 5: boys club, but I do see it like changing now.
Speaker 5: So it's been Yeah, just like being able to see
Speaker 5: a woman doing what I wanted to do was pivotal.
Speaker 1: So you talk about having that one female mentor, and
Speaker 1: now you are looking to become that for the next
Speaker 1: generation of women in the sailing disciplines classes, sailing classes, yeah,
Speaker 1: kiteboarding in particular. But with that, I imagine comes a
Speaker 1: lot of pressure because you're not just carrying your own
Speaker 1: hopes and dreams, maybe that of your parents, who I
Speaker 1: know didn't push you, but are probably super stoked that
Speaker 1: you're following in their footsteps to some extent. And now
Speaker 1: you're talking about as you come into Paris you are
Speaker 1: the first but hopefully sort of opening the floodgates for
Speaker 1: the next and you're only in your early twenties. How
Speaker 1: have you balanced the physical requirements of your sport along
Speaker 1: with all of this pressure, either spoken or felt or
Speaker 1: just sort of around as you've gone through this qualification process.
Speaker 4: Honestly, I like.
Speaker 5: I just anytime I'm like at the beach, and I'm
Speaker 5: I'm getting ready to go training and anytime there's some
Speaker 5: like young kids around that are getting into kiding, like
Speaker 5: it just it makes me so happy and it makes
Speaker 5: me just so excited to see that next generation getting
Speaker 5: excited about the sport that I love so much. So
Speaker 5: I think for me, it's just being able to share
Speaker 5: my sport and the thing that I'm like so passionate
Speaker 5: about and the thing that I love so much with
Speaker 5: the rest of the world, and especially now with the Olympics,
Speaker 5: like it's really just growing so much and with such
Speaker 5: a big audience. Like there are so few sports I
Speaker 5: think that give you that same like appreciation for nature
Speaker 5: and connection to nature and like being out in the elements,
Speaker 5: and also the responsibility of maintaining equipment and being super
Speaker 5: self dependent and like just being able to manage all
Speaker 5: of these things. I think, like sailing is such a
Speaker 5: unique sport and not only does it teach you like
Speaker 5: all of these kind of you know, like self growth things,
Speaker 5: but it teaches you so much about the world and
Speaker 5: like physics, and like I've just learned so much doing it.
Speaker 5: I don't I almost like don't feel that much pressure
Speaker 5: in that sense because I'm just like excited to see
Speaker 5: my sport getting shared, and I definitely feel like pressure
Speaker 5: in other ways, And I think that there's a lot
Speaker 5: of pressure more from the side of like I think
Speaker 5: in recent years, American sailing has really been in decline,
Speaker 5: and just recently in Tokyo, we were surpassed by Great
Speaker 5: Britain that became like the most successful sailing nation, and
Speaker 5: we were a sailing powerhouse like in the eighties and
Speaker 5: nineties and early two thousands, and now that's kind of
Speaker 5: faded out. So if anything, I'm feeling a lot more
Speaker 5: pressure from kind of like being that next generation that
Speaker 5: hopefully brings back some of that power into the country
Speaker 5: in the sport of sailing.
Speaker 4: So yeah, but there's a lot.
Speaker 1: Well because in Tokyo, right, the best US sailing finish
Speaker 1: was ninth, and so you would be, as all of
Speaker 1: you are going for gold, the first US sailor to
Speaker 1: win a gold since like two thousand and eight, I think,
Speaker 1: which was when kiting was not even an Olympic sport, right,
Speaker 1: And so the next sort of thing I want to
Speaker 1: dive into is for you. You started this actually probably
Speaker 1: really in the womb, because your mother was out there
Speaker 1: on the water in the San Francisco Bay while she
Speaker 1: was pregnant with you, which is absolutely unreal. And I
Speaker 1: want to talk about your mom in a little bit.
Speaker 1: But one of the things that I find so fascinating is,
Speaker 1: obviously it's so exciting to have a new sport in
Speaker 1: the Olympics, but you've been doing this for longer than
Speaker 1: this sport was in the option of becoming in the Olympics,
Speaker 1: because you'd already had a few world titles under your
Speaker 1: belt by the time in twenty twenty one the IOC
Speaker 1: approved kiteboarding for the twenty twenty four Games. How have
Speaker 1: you had to adjust your approach to the sport once
Speaker 1: it became an Olympic option.
Speaker 5: Yeah, really cool to have been like in the sport
Speaker 5: and involved in the sport for so long and kind
Speaker 5: of since the beginning. Like I started foiling like as
Speaker 5: soon as everyone else started foiling, and that's kind of
Speaker 5: when I was starting to race. So I think I
Speaker 5: came in at like such a good time and it's
Speaker 5: been so cool to see so much of that development
Speaker 5: over the years. And even though the decision came like
Speaker 5: later in twenty twenty one, we kind of knew, like
Speaker 5: by the end of twenty eighteen that we were pretty
Speaker 5: certain it was gonna happen. And yeah, by then I'd
Speaker 5: won three world championships.
Speaker 4: I was like finishing up.
Speaker 5: I think I was, let's see twenty eighteen, I was
Speaker 5: starting my senior year of high school and.
Speaker 1: Had three world titles before you finished high school. It's fine.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was definitely on my radar, I think. And
Speaker 5: I'd always dreamed of being a professional athlete, and I
Speaker 5: grew up watching the Olympics, so it was Olympic says,
Speaker 5: something I've always dreamed about. So it was really surreal,
Speaker 5: like kind of in those early years where like the
Speaker 5: rumors were the rumors were going around already, like as
Speaker 5: early as twenty sixteen, there was chat about like even
Speaker 5: going in for twenty twenty, and then that didn't end
Speaker 5: up happening. But then pretty much by twenty eighteen, we
Speaker 5: were like, Okay, we're pretty sure, like it's happening, and
Speaker 5: I was just like, yeah, let's do it. Like I've
Speaker 5: been that's a dream. But I think the biggest thing
Speaker 5: was just like how much more professional it became, and
Speaker 5: just seeing how much like resources the different countries and
Speaker 5: federations put into their teams and building up squads. I
Speaker 5: think it's tough in sailing because like for so many reasons,
Speaker 5: but one because it's such a I mean, it's an
Speaker 5: expensive sport, but it's also like it requires a lot
Speaker 5: of traveling and it requires you to be alone a lot.
Speaker 5: And it's also only one athlete or team per country
Speaker 5: can go, So even if you have a training like
Speaker 5: a domestic training group, only one of you can go
Speaker 5: in the end, and I think that makes it really tough.
Speaker 5: So those countries that have more resources are able to
Speaker 5: pay their athletes better so that they can keep training
Speaker 5: as a group all the way up until the Olympics,
Speaker 5: whereas in the US, you know, the funding is tough.
Speaker 5: Like I'm not going to sugarcoat it, like it's really tough.
Speaker 5: And so seeing over the years, like it was tough
Speaker 5: kind of seeing how good my results were and to
Speaker 5: see like all these other countries just getting so much
Speaker 5: more support and resources and me feeling like really alone
Speaker 5: in a way, and me feeling really like how am
Speaker 5: I even supposed to compete against this? Like how do
Speaker 5: I compete against these resources? And so that part was
Speaker 5: definitely tough, and it was weird because over the years,
Speaker 5: like I won literally everything for six years, and at
Speaker 5: the end of that, I could really I could feel
Speaker 5: everyone catching up, and I was like, okay, like I
Speaker 5: know it's gonna happen, and I'm already accepting that. I
Speaker 5: know people are going to catch up, like it's only
Speaker 5: a matter of time. But that actually it made it
Speaker 5: really hard to figure out, like because I was so
Speaker 5: far ahead in some ways and I was so much faster,
Speaker 5: it kind of made it hard to like figure out
Speaker 5: what to even work on and how to improve. And
Speaker 5: of course there's always like you can always improve like
Speaker 5: whatever you're doing, but it was hard to figure out
Speaker 5: how to manage my time as best as possible and
Speaker 5: how to be most efficient with that. And it's lonely
Speaker 5: at the top, and I definitely felt a little bit
Speaker 5: like distance from a lot of the fleet because you know,
Speaker 5: I was literally just winning everything, and over the years
Speaker 5: I thought a bit distant from you know, people that
Speaker 5: I thought were my friends. So yeah, so it's been
Speaker 5: really interesting to go through that phase change of just
Speaker 5: like being another sport to like being an Olympic sport.
Speaker 5: But I've learned so much and never in my wildest dreams.
Speaker 4: Could I have imagined I'd be where I am today,
Speaker 4: So I'd.
Speaker 5: Always hoped for it, but I I don't know, I
Speaker 5: dreaming about it, but I'm just like, wow, these are
Speaker 5: so epic and so yeah, it's been really an incredible experience.
Speaker 1: Well, and I think you touched on something that is
Speaker 1: so relatable, right, especially for people who are really career
Speaker 1: oriented and driven in sort of that way where you
Speaker 1: talked about it's lonely at the top, but it's also
Speaker 1: really lonely when you're the one blazing the trail, because
Speaker 1: that's what you're doing, right, Like, you're not just the
Speaker 1: best in your sport, you are one of the first
Speaker 1: in your sport to you are the first in your
Speaker 1: sport to be competing as an Olympian, and you're doing
Speaker 1: all of this at the ages of like eighteen to
Speaker 1: twenty three, when a lot of your peers are in
Speaker 1: college and figuring out what they want to do with
Speaker 1: their lives. How have you gotten through that personally? Like
Speaker 1: what have you had to do to combat that loneliness
Speaker 1: and sort of lean on the peace in your circle?
Speaker 1: What have you had to do?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it's I mean, it's just taken a
Speaker 5: lot of time.
Speaker 4: And I've always been.
Speaker 5: A pretty like self reflective and introspective person, and so
Speaker 5: I feel like I'm pretty good at like picking up
Speaker 5: on how I'm feeling, and I'm pretty like self aware
Speaker 5: of how certain things will affect me. And I've gotten
Speaker 5: like more and more conscious of that over time. So
Speaker 5: even things like the last few years, I've spent like
Speaker 5: six months of the year in Europe, and I would
Speaker 5: only spend two weeks at home the entire year. So
Speaker 5: I think the most important part has just been like
Speaker 5: making myself feel more at home as I'm traveling or
Speaker 5: wherever I am training or racing, and so doing even
Speaker 5: small things like I have my close circle of friends,
Speaker 5: and I'm very particular about who I let into that circle,
Speaker 5: and until you like can really prove yourself to me,
Speaker 5: like I'm just not going to let you into that
Speaker 5: circle because I give out really good energy and if
Speaker 5: you're not giving out that same energy to me, like
Speaker 5: I'm gonna put up my my barricade, you know. And
Speaker 5: so I've gotten really particular about like who I choose
Speaker 5: to spend my time with, and I have my really
Speaker 5: close circle of like friends and mentors, and like my
Speaker 5: team of my coach and my equipment technician and my
Speaker 5: sports psych and my nutrition is like it takes a village,
Speaker 5: and I have like that tight group of people that
Speaker 5: I work with and.
Speaker 4: That I lean on. But you can get pulled in
Speaker 4: a lot of.
Speaker 5: Different directions on the way, but there's always like just
Speaker 5: some small things you can do. Now, even like I
Speaker 5: used to always kind of stay by myself because I'm
Speaker 5: an only child and I was kind of used to
Speaker 5: like being pretty independent growing up. So I used to
Speaker 5: just stay by myself because I liked having my space
Speaker 5: and I liked, I don't know, just having my quiet
Speaker 5: mornings by myself and yeah, just like doing my own thing.
Speaker 5: But after like kind of years of doing that, I
Speaker 5: was like, I don't know, sometimes I would have not
Speaker 5: a great regatta, not a great day of racing. I
Speaker 5: just come home and like be in the silence with
Speaker 5: my thoughts, and I'd be like.
Speaker 1: I like, there's nothing scarier than after a bad day
Speaker 1: being alone with your thoughts. That's like that and that is.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And that was the thing I actually was horrible at,
Speaker 5: like disconnecting. I was like constantly working and constantly like
Speaker 5: being switched on and I think that's like good in
Speaker 5: some ways, Like I think that can take you really far,
Speaker 5: but once you get to a certain point, you need
Speaker 5: to be able to disconnect. So I found that like
Speaker 5: being by myself wasn't helping me disconnect. So now I
Speaker 5: always try to stay like with a couple people and
Speaker 5: we like take turns cooking, and we try to like
Speaker 5: watch movies and we play Mario Kart and like you know,
Speaker 5: we we have our ways to disconnect. But yeah, it's
Speaker 5: it's tough, but I think you kind of learn over
Speaker 5: time what works for you. And that's thing, like you
Speaker 5: just what works for someone else might not work for you,
Speaker 5: so you kind of have to figure out what works
Speaker 5: for you. And it also like it changes over time.
Speaker 5: Like for many years, like I was super happy saying
Speaker 5: by myself and that was fine, and then eventually I
Speaker 5: got to point I was like, I don't know if
Speaker 5: I don't know if I like this. It's just like
Speaker 5: you kind of learn to be aware of those things
Speaker 5: and you learn what works for you well.
Speaker 1: And I think it's it's something that you were forced
Speaker 1: to learn, right, because I think when you are at
Speaker 1: the top, I need I know for me, I do
Speaker 1: a lot of traveling for work, and I absolutely love it.
Speaker 1: And also I've had to go through that same process
Speaker 1: of like, Okay, what fills me up when my support
Speaker 1: system isn't necessarily right there, or when I've had a
Speaker 1: bad day in the office and I have to go
Speaker 1: back to a quiet hotel room, Like what do I
Speaker 1: need to do to disconnect? And I think the interesting
Speaker 1: thing about sort of what you do for a living,
Speaker 1: and certainly what I do as an escape is getting
Speaker 1: out in nature, right is like that to me is
Speaker 1: always the most grounding thing to come back to. Is
Speaker 1: like I don't care if it's a walk, I don't
Speaker 1: care if it's staring at a tree. Ideally it's taking
Speaker 1: some sort of dip in a body of water, right,
Speaker 1: Like I'm big fan of polar plunges, big fan of
Speaker 1: waterfalls and the ocean and like rivers and whatever that is.
Speaker 1: And so I think that's a big part of I
Speaker 1: don't know, I don't even want to say, like growing up,
Speaker 1: but it feels like is as you find your place
Speaker 1: in this world, you also have to find your place
Speaker 1: within the world you create, if that makes sense. So
Speaker 1: I feel like that's sort of what you're describing and
Speaker 1: something that, like I said, even those of us who
Speaker 1: are not going to become the first woman to kypeboard
Speaker 1: in the Olympics, like, that's something that we all have
Speaker 1: to figure out. And it's cool that you've figured it
Speaker 1: out sort of as you've approached this. And one of
Speaker 1: the things that I was so grateful for just as
Speaker 1: I was learning your story is how willing you are
Speaker 1: to be vulnerable about the hard parts of your story,
Speaker 1: because I think there's so many exciting things right, Like
Speaker 1: you are an Olympian, right, and like you are going
Speaker 1: to be a favorite for the gold medal this summer,
Speaker 1: and also you're kind of the CEO of a really
Speaker 1: big business, which is yourself and fundraising and trying to
Speaker 1: make sure that you have everything necessary to succeed at
Speaker 1: your sport. And it sounds like as you were getting
Speaker 1: ready for Paris, all of that pressure, all of that
Speaker 1: sort of weight came to a head right before you
Speaker 1: were actually trying to kind of officially qualify for Paris.
Speaker 1: So walk me through what happened before Worlds last year
Speaker 1: and how you managed to navigate it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So I have to start like a little bit
Speaker 5: further back because I think things already started brewing kind
Speaker 5: of like the winter twenty twenty two twenty three, and
Speaker 5: I'd had I had a really like a pretty solid
Speaker 5: twenty twenty two season, Like I was really happy with
Speaker 5: my mindset and how I'd learned over the year, and
Speaker 5: I'd won my sixth World Championship, and I was really stoked,
Speaker 5: like with how the year went. And even though I
Speaker 5: didn't like win everything that year and it wasn't exactly
Speaker 5: like the years before, I was so proud of how
Speaker 5: even though I'd gotten beat a few times, and even
Speaker 5: though I wasn't like quite where I wanted to be,
Speaker 5: over the summer, I kept fighting and I like really
Speaker 5: came back at the end of the year.
Speaker 4: For the World Championships. It was like such a great.
Speaker 5: Year and I was super happy with it.
Speaker 4: Took some time off at the end of the.
Speaker 5: Year, and then kind of when I got back to
Speaker 5: training over the winter, I think I got back to training.
Speaker 1: Like in November of twenty two, right, Yeah, yeah, did.
Speaker 4: Take that much time.
Speaker 5: We had our World in middle of October in twenty
Speaker 5: twenty two, and I got back to training in November.
Speaker 5: But I do know things just like felt a bit weird.
Speaker 5: And I was training a little bit in Florida. I
Speaker 5: was like in Miami and in Clearwater a little bit
Speaker 5: in like December and January, and I felt really tired
Speaker 5: all the time, and I really wasn't enjoying the training
Speaker 5: that much, and I was really starting to like force
Speaker 5: myself to go on the water.
Speaker 4: And I was like, that's a bit weird, but it's okay,
Speaker 4: Like I just.
Speaker 5: Need to push through a little bit more like through
Speaker 5: the winter and I'll be fine. And then I did
Speaker 5: a training camp in February and March in Mexico in Lovontana,
Speaker 5: like one of my favorite places, and there things definitely
Speaker 5: started feeling pretty bad, but I just like shoved it down,
Speaker 5: like fully shoved it down, fully ignored it, and I
Speaker 5: was like I'm fine, Like I'm fine, yeah, and.
Speaker 1: We know that's a really healthy way of dealing with
Speaker 1: all of our emotions. It's perfect, it's good, this is
Speaker 1: going well.
Speaker 4: It's fine, everything's fine.
Speaker 5: But I was not excited about my training. I didn't
Speaker 5: want to go on the water, and it started feeling
Speaker 5: really weird because I was like, this is what I
Speaker 5: need to be doing right now, Like I'm trying to
Speaker 5: qualify for the Olympics. This is what I should be
Speaker 5: doing and what I need to be doing. And even
Speaker 5: I remember doing sessions with my sports psychologists and the
Speaker 5: language that I had started using was so different from
Speaker 5: the year before. And kept saying like, oh, I need
Speaker 5: to do this, like I need to go on the
Speaker 5: water to do this and this and this, and I
Speaker 5: was like trying to check all these boxes rather than
Speaker 5: being like, Oh, I want to go work on this
Speaker 5: or I want to actually like try to get better
Speaker 5: at this. And so I started I think I started
Speaker 5: seeing kind of these like flashing warning signs, but I
Speaker 5: just completely ignored them, like ignoring the check engine light
Speaker 5: on your car, like I forgot about it, I shoved
Speaker 5: it down, I ignored it. Then the kind of spring
Speaker 5: racing season came around and I had like a bit
Speaker 5: of a shocker, like the first event, like finished off
Speaker 5: the podium for my first time ever in my career,
Speaker 5: felt really really tired for that first like block I
Speaker 5: had in the spring in Europe, and then kind of
Speaker 5: as we moved into the summer and as we moved
Speaker 5: into like training in Marseille at the Olympic venue and
Speaker 5: getting ready for our Olympic test event, which was like
Speaker 5: the first kind of big event for my like domestic
Speaker 5: selection trials. I started feeling like really really horrible, and
Speaker 5: I remember like I didn't want to go training. The
Speaker 5: only thing that was getting me out of bed and
Speaker 5: like out on the water was just knowing that, like
Speaker 5: my coach was there to help me, and I had
Speaker 5: training partners there, and I kept trying to find these
Speaker 5: like external sources of motivation, and I kept thinking like, oh,
Speaker 5: if I have like these really good training partners, I'm
Speaker 5: gonna want to go.
Speaker 4: On the water.
Speaker 5: Or once I'm training like at the Olympic venue, then
Speaker 5: I'm gonna want to go on the water. But things
Speaker 5: just kept forcing myself to go on the water when
Speaker 5: I like deep down really didn't want to. I kind
Speaker 5: of like survived the test event, and I remember I
Speaker 5: was just like grinding myself so hard because I was like, hmm,
Speaker 5: I was like so horrible to myself in a way,
Speaker 5: and I would like, it's funny how you'll say things
Speaker 5: to yourself and you're just like I would never say
Speaker 5: this to another person, Like how can I say.
Speaker 4: That to myself?
Speaker 5: And I realize this now, but at the time, I
Speaker 5: was just like, yeah, like I'm tough, Like I'm being
Speaker 5: tough on myself.
Speaker 4: That's what you're supposed to do.
Speaker 5: As an athlete, Like you're tough and invincible, and like
Speaker 5: that's what you have to portray. And so I was
Speaker 5: just like, yeah, we just have to keep grinding, and
Speaker 5: like I should feel a little bit burnt out right now,
Speaker 5: because like I need to qualify for the Olympics. So
Speaker 5: I kept like justifying it in that way, just kept
Speaker 5: like shoving it down and on and down, and then eventually,
Speaker 5: like I finished third at the Olympic test event, which
Speaker 5: was what I needed to do to qualify or at
Speaker 5: least get the like country selection, and then the second
Speaker 5: part was actually qualifying the country at the World Championships,
Speaker 5: which were like a month later.
Speaker 4: So I remember like taking a.
Speaker 5: Breath after the testament and like, okay, we've checked one box,
Speaker 5: Like now I just have to do this one last
Speaker 5: thing and.
Speaker 4: Then I can take a break.
Speaker 5: Then I remember getting to So we had our twenty
Speaker 5: twenty three World Championships in the Hague in the Netherlands,
Speaker 5: and I remember getting there and I like did not
Speaker 5: want to go on the water at all, And I
Speaker 5: remember there was like a really bad storm system the
Speaker 5: first days I got there, and I think for like
Speaker 5: the first four or five days, we couldn't even go
Speaker 5: on the water because it was raining all the time
Speaker 5: and super stormy and like it was really just like
Speaker 5: sketchy conditions.
Speaker 4: I remember being like.
Speaker 6: Oh, thank god, I don't have to go on the water, Like,
Speaker 6: thank god the weather is bad and I don't have
Speaker 6: to go training or anything.
Speaker 5: That felt so horrible to say, because I was like,
Speaker 5: I love the sport, Why do I feel like this?
Speaker 4: Like why is this happening to me?
Speaker 5: And then eventually I had like a few training sessions
Speaker 5: and I remember showing up to the beach and it
Speaker 5: was taking like everything in me not to cry before
Speaker 5: going on the water, and like while putting my wet
Speaker 5: sued on, I was almost like shaking because I just
Speaker 5: like I felt so horrible and so awful, and I
Speaker 5: was like, this isn't normal, This is not how I
Speaker 5: should feel.
Speaker 4: I should love doing this. Why am I not loving it?
Speaker 5: And then eventually things just like exploded, and I think
Speaker 5: like two or three days before we started racing out
Speaker 5: the World Championship, I just like I couldn't hold it
Speaker 5: in anymore on the beach, and I was like about
Speaker 5: to start changing and putting my wet suit on, and
Speaker 5: I called my coach who was already on the water
Speaker 5: like ready for our training session, and I was like.
Speaker 4: Chris, like I don't think I should go training.
Speaker 6: Today, Like I just fully lost it, and I was
Speaker 6: like I just I can't do it, and so and
Speaker 6: then I just kind of like took those few days off.
Speaker 6: I didn't show up to the beach for those three days,
Speaker 6: and I was like, I need to get out of here,
Speaker 6: like be away from the beach and away from all
Speaker 6: the people and all the chaos. And for me, like
Speaker 6: all I needed to do for that World was.
Speaker 5: Just to I needed a top eight basically, and I
Speaker 5: was like that's very manageable.
Speaker 4: I know I can do that.
Speaker 5: So I was like, okay, I just have to like
Speaker 5: get through this and qualify and get it done. It
Speaker 5: was horrible even now I get emotional thinking about because
Speaker 5: I was just like, oh my god, what a tough time.
Speaker 4: Like it was so brutal.
Speaker 5: So yeah, yeah, but then thankfully, like after the World,
Speaker 5: I could take a really big break and like I
Speaker 5: did the job.
Speaker 4: I got fifth. Then like didn't win the World TV
Speaker 4: tips for the first time ever.
Speaker 5: That was like something to think about, and there was
Speaker 5: like all this stuff going on, but I was like, hey.
Speaker 4: I got the job done.
Speaker 5: Now I can like step away for a little bit
Speaker 5: and I can like focus on other types of training,
Speaker 5: focus on my mental health, focus on nutrition, and go
Speaker 5: to the gym and like just get away from the
Speaker 5: water for a little bit.
Speaker 4: So pretty much between like.
Speaker 5: Since the World Championships and January, I like didn't kite
Speaker 5: at all, and then I came back in January and
Speaker 5: I was like buzzing, like I was so excited. So yeah,
Speaker 5: so that was like crazy crazy twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And it's I can imagine the pressure right where
Speaker 1: it's not just like, oh I should want to do this.
Speaker 1: I should. I've loved this sport for so long, but
Speaker 1: it's like it's not just another year. It's an Olympic
Speaker 1: qualifying year for the first time. And so to have
Speaker 1: all those emotions, I cannot imagine how overwhelming that must
Speaker 1: have felt. And I'm so proud of you for figuring
Speaker 1: out what you needed to do, even in those small ways,
Speaker 1: right because I think again, like, no matter the job
Speaker 1: you're talking about, I think everybody experiences burnout, and it's
Speaker 1: something that we as a society are just sort of
Speaker 1: learning to talk about, much less how to address. And
Speaker 1: you figured out in the moments, in those tiny ones, right,
Speaker 1: like what you were and weren't able to do, Like
Speaker 1: I cannot do this training session, so I can't not
Speaker 1: do the whole thing, but like I know, I cannot
Speaker 1: do this training session, and I'm going to take that
Speaker 1: tiny breath and it's like getting just like a little
Speaker 1: bit of air before I can finally get a deep
Speaker 1: breath when this is over. So it's like you managed
Speaker 1: to cope in the moment and then find the space afterwards.
Speaker 1: Because I think the other thing, right is like when
Speaker 1: you're feeling all that pressure, it's so easy to forget
Speaker 1: how terrible it was in the moment, right, Like I'm
Speaker 1: sure after worlds and after you qualified, you're like, okay,
Speaker 1: but I did it, so like maybe I don't actually
Speaker 1: need to address this, Like maybe that check engine light
Speaker 1: isn't actually at the point yet. So it's like you
Speaker 1: justify everything that you went through, but you manage to
Speaker 1: get through it, and then you manage to take the
Speaker 1: time to address the root of the issue. And I
Speaker 1: think it's so crazy hearing everything that you went through
Speaker 1: and then talking to you now because you're radiant, like
Speaker 1: you're so excited for Paris and for this journey and
Speaker 1: excited to represent your sport and get on the water.
Speaker 1: But it took that low, that extreme rock bottom for
Speaker 1: you to get there.
Speaker 5: It feels like, yeah, it really did. And I remember
Speaker 5: like it had turned into months of like I would
Speaker 5: wake up in the morning and the first thing I
Speaker 5: would think is like I don't want to be here.
Speaker 4: I don't want to go on the water today.
Speaker 5: I don't want to put my wet suit on, like
Speaker 5: the first thing in the morning, like without even like
Speaker 5: being stimulated by anything.
Speaker 4: And so I'm like.
Speaker 5: Really proud of myself now because to go from that
Speaker 5: last year to how I am now, where like I
Speaker 5: am so excited about my training right now, Like I
Speaker 5: can't wait to go training tomorrow and I can't wait
Speaker 5: to race, Like we start racing in a couple of days,
Speaker 5: Like I can't wait to start racing. And it's not
Speaker 5: even just the thought of like competition and the thought
Speaker 5: of all the buzz that's happening, but it's actually like
Speaker 5: I think I just remembered why I started in the
Speaker 5: first place, and like why I love doing this, And
Speaker 5: it's because I've always loved like learning, and I loved
Speaker 5: feeling that sense of improvement, and I was always very
Speaker 5: rewarded by improving, and I loved like the grind and
Speaker 5: like working super hard and feeling like you're getting that
Speaker 5: zero point zero one percent better and it's those like
Speaker 5: incremental gains. I love that feeling of improving and it's crazy.
Speaker 5: I've been doing this for over ten years now to
Speaker 5: still be learning and improving every single day is like, like.
Speaker 4: That's so cool, Like I'm very excited about that.
Speaker 5: So I think my priorities have changed a lot in
Speaker 5: a way. And I was so results oriented last year
Speaker 5: in a sense, and I was so like tense about
Speaker 5: some of these things, and now I'm like, Okay.
Speaker 4: I just want to focus on getting a little bit
Speaker 4: better every single day because I.
Speaker 5: Know that's what's gonna make me really happy at the
Speaker 5: end of it. And it's also like sailing is one
Speaker 5: of those sports where there are so many uncontrollable variables.
Speaker 5: I think it's like the sport with the most uncontrollable variables,
Speaker 5: like next to like downhill skiing, like ski racing, there's
Speaker 5: so much that's out of your control, so focusing on
Speaker 5: the results isn't going to lead you down a good
Speaker 5: path because there's just like so much that can happen
Speaker 5: in that side of your control. So if you can
Speaker 5: just like focus on kind of the facts and the
Speaker 5: information that you have and yeah, just like figuring out
Speaker 5: how to get a little bit better, then that's like
Speaker 5: seems to be.
Speaker 4: Working for me a little bit more.
Speaker 1: I mean, girl, if you're at the point where you're
Speaker 1: excited to put on a wet suit, you're good because
Speaker 1: as a surfer, I can tell you it is like
Speaker 1: my least Yeah, that is my least favorite thing about
Speaker 1: surfing when the waves are good in California in the
Speaker 1: winter is like, shoot, I have to put on my
Speaker 1: stupid wetsuit and then I have to take it off
Speaker 1: and it's the worst. So if you're at the whatever
Speaker 1: you were excited about, what suit exactly, you've done it.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: So no, I feel like I'm in a really good
Speaker 5: spot now and like it's interesting too because now we've
Speaker 5: had like a couple of regattas already for this year,
Speaker 5: like we had our European Championships in March, and then
Speaker 5: we just had the Palma Regatta, which is another big regatta,
Speaker 5: and I was eighth out of the Europeans. But I
Speaker 5: don't think I've ever been so happy to like not
Speaker 5: even win, or like I think I was more happy
Speaker 5: about like how I sailed that week than I was, like,
Speaker 5: you know, all those six years of winning everything, because
Speaker 5: I just like gotten so much better just in that
Speaker 5: one week. And it's like, yeah, for me to feel
Speaker 5: like this is like a really really positive thing, and
Speaker 5: it just like makes me feel really good going into
Speaker 5: the Olympics this year.
Speaker 1: And that's all you can ask for, you know, is
Speaker 1: like you've done the work and now you get to
Speaker 1: reap the benefits of going and representing Team USA at
Speaker 1: the Olympics. And I am so excited to watch your
Speaker 1: journey continue. I'm so grateful that you took the time
Speaker 1: to share with us a little bit of your journey
Speaker 1: so that we can root for you as a person
Speaker 1: and also as a member of Team USA. This summer.
Speaker 1: We're going to move into our next section of the podcast,
Speaker 1: which I'm really excited about because, like you mentioned, here,
Speaker 1: we go the sports Bra, our media partner for the
Speaker 1: powerful and so one of the things that we're going
Speaker 1: to do this week at the Sports Bra in Portland, Oregon,
Speaker 1: is there's going to be a signature Daniella drink and
Speaker 1: it can be a cocktail or a mocktail. But I
Speaker 1: want to know what is your go to like after
Speaker 1: a hard day on the water, a fun day on
Speaker 1: the water. What is the beverage that you reach for
Speaker 1: to just sort of be in your happy place.
Speaker 5: Oh my gosh, that's so hard. Okay, it depends on
Speaker 5: where I am.
Speaker 1: Pretemdb we're in a warm spot, okay.
Speaker 5: So like right now, I'm in France, and I mean
Speaker 5: I love rose, So okay, you're like, I always go
Speaker 5: for the rose. But then if I'm like in Mexico
Speaker 5: or if I'm in California, I love hard kombucha.
Speaker 4: It's like my focus.
Speaker 5: I love the Flying Embers hard kombucha.
Speaker 4: That's like one of my favorite things ever.
Speaker 5: And then in Spain, I love a white sangria.
Speaker 4: I don't really like red wine.
Speaker 5: I prefer like white wine or rose, and white sangria
Speaker 5: is just like unreal.
Speaker 4: I love it.
Speaker 5: So I have a lot of options, but you can
Speaker 5: what you guys want to do.
Speaker 1: There we go. So now we're gonna move into our
Speaker 1: rapid fire questions. So answer these with your just sort
Speaker 1: of immediate reactions. Okay, okay, coffee or tea coffee, favorite
Speaker 1: ice cream flavor?
Speaker 4: Cookies and cream.
Speaker 1: Oh, such a good one. Go to meal after a
Speaker 1: training session if.
Speaker 5: I can, like a Chipotle burta ble.
Speaker 4: I loved Paula.
Speaker 1: Yes, with the queso.
Speaker 5: I usually have no queso, but I'll have like regular cheese,
Speaker 5: but not the sauce.
Speaker 1: She's a health queen. We're a professional happening over here.
Speaker 1: And okay, so got it. I'll eat the casa for you,
Speaker 1: don't you?
Speaker 4: Friend?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 5: Are you?
Speaker 1: Are you an early birder in Idol? Uh?
Speaker 4: Definitely an early bird.
Speaker 5: I love waking up early and I go to bed
Speaker 5: at eight pm.
Speaker 1: Okay, I love it. I feel like that's a more
Speaker 1: productive way to do life. But I unfortunately find myself
Speaker 1: awake a lot of times at like eleven night, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, what am I doing? I don't even have
Speaker 1: anything to do.
Speaker 5: I just love being in bed at eight and like
Speaker 5: just like reading my book, like I'm such a grandma.
Speaker 4: I'm the most boring twenty three year old ever.
Speaker 1: What is one of the favorite books that you've read
Speaker 1: in the last few years.
Speaker 5: Oh, okay, So I love Sarah J. Mass an author
Speaker 5: that's written. She has three series. It's Thrown of Glass,
Speaker 5: A Court of Thorns and Roses, and Crescent City, and
Speaker 5: so I literally just like reread them over and over.
Speaker 5: And I especially like Throne of Glass because there's a
Speaker 5: really like badass female main character.
Speaker 1: Girl. I literally just finished re listening to that book,
Speaker 1: the final one. I oh, my gosh. And the funny
Speaker 1: thing is, like I am not somebody who loves fantasy
Speaker 1: as a genre, and either a friend of mine was like,
Speaker 1: you have to read this series primarily because of all
Speaker 1: the female badasses who take the lead throughout the entire
Speaker 1: like eight million page series. By the way, this thing
Speaker 1: is like, these are the longest books I've ever read,
Speaker 1: and yet I cannot put them down. I cannot do.
Speaker 4: My gosh, it's so good. I literally so I'm not
Speaker 4: even kidding.
Speaker 5: I will read Throne of Glass like before going out racing,
Speaker 5: because like I will be reading it on my iPad
Speaker 5: on the beach, like before I go out on the water.
Speaker 4: And the reason is.
Speaker 5: I try to channel my inner Solena Sardapian.
Speaker 1: Like, yeah, on the race book. If you weren't a kiteboarder,
Speaker 1: what would be the sport that you would want to
Speaker 1: compete in?
Speaker 5: Oh, so I would to be a downhill alpine ski
Speaker 5: racer because I just love going fast, so I would
Speaker 5: want to yeah, go fast.
Speaker 1: Okay, fair enough. What is the favorite place your sport
Speaker 1: has taken you?
Speaker 4: That's so hard, I mean just so many places.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna go with with love and Tata, Mexico. Okay,
Speaker 5: that's like one of my favorite places. But I have
Speaker 5: so many, But that's like, that's a good one.
Speaker 1: What is the best piece of advice you've ever gotten?
Speaker 5: The best piece of advice is probably that there's always
Speaker 5: gonna be like ups and downs and in like those
Speaker 5: low moments that are really tough for hard or like
Speaker 5: when you're having yeah, like whether it's a bad moment
Speaker 5: or a bad day or whatever it might be. I
Speaker 5: think it's important to remember that it's taking you one
Speaker 5: step closer to a really good day, and you need
Speaker 5: to have those bad days or those tough moments in
Speaker 5: order to have the really good moments or really good days,
Speaker 5: and it's just taking you like one step closer to
Speaker 5: whatever your definition of successes. So rather than seeing it
Speaker 5: as like a negative like bad day, you just have
Speaker 5: to think it's like one step closer to success or
Speaker 5: to a really good day.
Speaker 1: Ooh, I love that perspective. Okay, what is the wildest
Speaker 1: because this is something you kind of glazed over and
Speaker 1: I let it slide because, like I understand, it's not
Speaker 1: a big deal for you. But as somebody who's tried
Speaker 1: foiling right without the kite, one of the things that
Speaker 1: you just sort of glossed over is that this little
Speaker 1: wing underneath the water that you are on when you
Speaker 1: are doing the foiling part of your sport, right, is
Speaker 1: if you fall on that, you're falling on a blade.
Speaker 1: And I have tried foiling and I cannot do it,
Speaker 1: partially because I'm terrified to fall. Like I was a gymnast,
Speaker 1: I know how to fall like that is like it
Speaker 1: goes hand to hand, right, But I cannot fall off
Speaker 1: of a foil because it terrifies me because if I
Speaker 1: fall wrong, I'm going to like decapitate myself or something
Speaker 1: on this freaking blade that is moving underneath the water
Speaker 1: with me. So as somebody who's apparently not thinking about that,
Speaker 1: every single time they get on a foil. I want
Speaker 1: to ask you, what is the wildest mishap you have
Speaker 1: ever had while doing your sport?
Speaker 5: Hmmm.
Speaker 4: I'm trying to think what's my what's the best one.
Speaker 1: Because we definitely have multiple.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I've had a few good ones. I think the
Speaker 5: craziest one was so one time I was in I
Speaker 5: was training at home in San Francisco, and I was
Speaker 5: out on the water kind of by myself, just like,
Speaker 5: you know, just having a fun little session. This was
Speaker 5: pretty early on, I think, and I was still kind
Speaker 5: of learning to like tack and jobs, so I was
Speaker 5: still kind of learning to do my transitions and maneuvers.
Speaker 5: And I was right outside the Golden Gate Bridge. I
Speaker 5: do a tac and I somehow like something doesn't go right,
Speaker 5: and basically my board like flies up in the air
Speaker 5: and it does like a flip over my lines. So
Speaker 5: like my kite is in the air, my board is
Speaker 5: like over my lines, and I remember, like I'm staring
Speaker 5: up at the board that's like about to come crashing
Speaker 5: down on me because it's like it slides down the
Speaker 5: lines and I try to like duck my face out
Speaker 5: of the way to not get to catch me, and
Speaker 5: I basically the trailing edge of the mass, which is
Speaker 5: like the sharpest part of the foil, it like hits
Speaker 5: me in the nose. So I had a massive slice
Speaker 5: in my nose. And I'm like right outside the Golden
Speaker 5: Gate bridge, so I need to like come back in.
Speaker 5: So I'm like feeling my nose and I'm like, my god,
Speaker 5: damn it, like I like I got cut or something.
Speaker 4: So then I like head in, and of course.
Speaker 5: My mom is on the beach and she like catches
Speaker 5: my kite and she's like, oh my god, we have
Speaker 5: to go to the emergency room. I actually only had
Speaker 5: to get three stitches, and you could barely see a.
Speaker 4: Scar on my nose anymore.
Speaker 5: But yeah, So that's like when I'm like good ones.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, and like you're doing this in San Francisco,
Speaker 1: which the waters in San Francisco are like notorious for
Speaker 1: being ones you don't want to be in because of
Speaker 1: all of the wildlife that is right around there, right,
Speaker 1: And so as a again as a surfer, like I
Speaker 1: don't want to be in the water outside of San
Speaker 1: Francisco because the men in gray suits are underneath the
Speaker 1: water pretty much at all times, and that's something that
Speaker 1: you have to navigate when you fall, especially there is
Speaker 1: like you're not just falling and like, oh man, the
Speaker 1: water's cold, bummer, like you have to also avoid you know,
Speaker 1: these creatures.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I know, I like.
Speaker 5: Don't think about it that much anymore. And I've had
Speaker 5: a couple like long swims in too, like when the
Speaker 5: wind has died and I've been like I've been swimming
Speaker 5: in it, and I was definitely thinking about it, but
Speaker 5: it's like, I don't know, I don't think about it
Speaker 5: so much anymore. I also crash less now, which is good.
Speaker 1: That's good. Always nice to crash less. And if you
Speaker 1: are not an ocean person, I don't know, do you
Speaker 1: do you actually call them sharks or do you also
Speaker 1: refer to them as like the men in gray suits?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, so in surfing we don't, and surfing it's
Speaker 1: typically like we do wildlife. There's like I don't know
Speaker 1: if there's a weird like uh, superstition or something around it,
Speaker 1: but I'm always I'm always looking for dolphins and then
Speaker 1: I'm calling yeah, and then I'm like the men in
Speaker 1: gray suits or like the locals who aren't off who
Speaker 1: aren't always friendly. Like that's how I refer to to sharks,
Speaker 1: because I actually sharks are like one of my favorite animals.
Speaker 1: I find them fascinating. I think they're so interesting, and
Speaker 1: I think they get a terrible wrap. And also I
Speaker 1: have so much restruct for them. I like them so
Speaker 1: much that I'd actually never like to come in contact
Speaker 1: with them without intentionally doing so, you know, like I
Speaker 1: don't like, I don't want to fall off my board
Speaker 1: and then and then see see one of the locals.
Speaker 1: That's like not the way I'd like to do it,
Speaker 1: so exactly I support that, Thank you, Thank you. So
Speaker 1: the last question, which is not rapid fire, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: have to change the name of the section for our episode.
Speaker 1: But your mom is somebody that I think, just from
Speaker 1: reading about her a little bit, she is such an
Speaker 1: amazing woman. You mentioned that she and your dad both
Speaker 1: left left the regime and what was in Czechoslovakia met
Speaker 1: as in the Bay at San Francisco, and she was
Speaker 1: out there with you while she was pregnant with you
Speaker 1: for a few months in a competition that, if I
Speaker 1: read it correctly, like only half of the participants completed
Speaker 1: the course because the conditions were so gnarly, and she
Speaker 1: did it while she was pregnant with you, What is
Speaker 1: the biggest thing from your mom that you want to
Speaker 1: carry on in your life and maybe in the generations
Speaker 1: behind you of moroses.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think. I mean both of my parents were
Speaker 5: just always super hard working. And I mean for them
Speaker 5: to have left their lives and come to foreign country
Speaker 5: that like where they didn't speak the language and have
Speaker 5: to start completely new lives like that takes a lot
Speaker 5: of guts and like.
Speaker 4: A lot of work.
Speaker 5: And so I think they also raised me that way
Speaker 5: that like, no matter what I wanted to do, as
Speaker 5: long as I worked hard and I worked hard in school,
Speaker 5: then like that was like that was how you do things,
Speaker 5: like you work hard and so but I think they
Speaker 5: also like they never pushed me into anything, and they
Speaker 5: also wanted to make sure I was like really having
Speaker 5: fun and enjoying whatever.
Speaker 4: I was doing. So I think that I mean even now,
Speaker 4: like she my mom will.
Speaker 5: Always text me before I'm going out racing.
Speaker 4: Is like go kick ass and have fun, you know.
Speaker 4: So She's like, go.
Speaker 5: Fast and have fun, and and the thing it's like, yeah,
Speaker 5: like you know, work hard and and just have fun
Speaker 5: while you're doing it. So I think that's the thing
Speaker 5: I want to bring forward, is like I want myself
Speaker 5: and also like you know, whatever comes after me, to
Speaker 5: just work hard and have fun while.
Speaker 4: I'm while I'm doing it.
Speaker 1: I love that. I think that is the two things, right,
Speaker 1: is like work hard and also make sure you're having
Speaker 1: fun while you're working hard. It's the balance of life.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And then the.
Speaker 1: Last question I have for you. Obviously, this is the
Speaker 1: Powerful Podcast, and we're all about featuring powerful women who
Speaker 1: embody what it means to be powerful while also owning
Speaker 1: their femininity, their grace, their unique strength, all of these things.
Speaker 1: So what does it mean to you to be powerful?
Speaker 4: Oh? So good.
Speaker 5: I think it means really just embracing who you are
Speaker 5: and embracing all of yourself.
Speaker 4: And that can.
Speaker 5: Be really hard, and I definitely I think it's so hard,
Speaker 5: especially now, like with social media and just with with
Speaker 5: everything like that you have to go through, especially in
Speaker 5: your adolescence and when you're a teenager, Like it's so
Speaker 5: hard to like learn to accept all of yourself. And
Speaker 5: so I think, like to be really powerful is like
Speaker 5: learning to accept everything that you are and embracing all
Speaker 5: of yourself and and putting that out to the world
Speaker 5: because I think I love I think people love seeing
Speaker 5: other people in like their most authentic selves. So to me,
Speaker 5: it's like being the most true version of yourself.
Speaker 1: And when do you feel the most powerful? I mean, I.
Speaker 5: Don't know, I feel it like I definitely, of course
Speaker 5: I feel powerful, like when I'm out on the water
Speaker 5: and when I'm racing, and there's like there are so
Speaker 5: few things that will like give me that same feeling
Speaker 5: of like of what it's like to be flying across
Speaker 5: the water and racing and just doing my sport. But
Speaker 5: then I also feel it like other times in small moments,
Speaker 5: like even just being like cooking dinner with my friends
Speaker 5: and like having having a really nice dinner, and like
Speaker 5: knowing that I can be myself around these people and
Speaker 5: that my friends are gonna accept all of me no
Speaker 5: matter what and like and just and they like support
Speaker 5: me and doing that they want to they want what's
Speaker 5: best for me, and they want to see me succeed.
Speaker 5: Like that also makes me feel really powerful into it.
Speaker 5: And to be able to offer like that same sentiment
Speaker 5: to someone else and to my own friends, I think
Speaker 5: that's a really unique like feeling to share. So mm hmmm,
Speaker 5: I love that because I think we can be powerful
Speaker 5: in multiple ways. And for you, it can be flying
Speaker 5: forty five miles an hour across the ocean, or it
Speaker 5: can be cooking dinner and being in a space and
Speaker 5: creating a space where people can be their authentic selves.
Speaker 5: And I think that's that's exactly why I started this pod,
Speaker 5: like that's what I want, That's what I hope people
Speaker 5: feel from you, because it's certainly what I have felt
Speaker 5: throughout this last hour of getting to know.
Speaker 1: You a little bit better. I cannot wait to root
Speaker 1: you on in Paris this summer and also even beyond.
Speaker 1: And so follow Daniella on Life of Daniella right is
Speaker 1: your Instagram, and then also Danielleburas dot com is where
Speaker 1: I have loved reading your blogs and keeping up with
Speaker 1: your journey, and so that's where you guys can follow her.
Speaker 1: And I am just so grateful for your time. I'm
Speaker 1: so grateful for your vulnerability. So thank you so much
Speaker 1: for being here. Thank you so much. It was so nice,
Speaker 1: it was so great to have you. Thanks for joining
Speaker 1: us on this episode of the Powerful Podcast. We will
Speaker 1: see you next time. This is a reminder to check
Speaker 1: us out every Tuesday, all summer long, everywhere you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts, And if you really enjoy this and don't
Speaker 1: want to miss an episode, be sure to hit that
Speaker 1: subscribe it