- 22 hours ago
Maria Taylor hosts a virtual panel with Monique Billings, Sha'Carri Richardson, Swin Cash to talk about being women in the sports world.
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00:00Hello everyone, it's Maria Taylor here and I'm so happy to be a part of the Essence Wellness
00:09House for a special conversation about breaking through mental barriers for the win presented
00:14by Secret. We have an all-star cast here for you today to listen to and learn from and I start with
00:20our vet Swin Cash. She's the vice president of basketball operations and team development for
00:25the New Orleans Pelicans but she's a superstar in her own right before she went into the front
00:29office 15-year WNBA vet three-time WNBA champion four-time all-star and two-time Olympic gold
00:36medalist so I don't know how she fits all of those accolades in one house but she makes it happen
00:41and we have Monique Billings a UCLA women's basketball superstar she still holds the record
00:46for blot shots at her school also now playing in the WNBA and she's also the the self-care queen so
00:54she's got a lot of advice for how to take care of your mental wellness it'll be great to hear
00:58the talking points from Monique and then our young buck is Sha'Carri Richardson she's the eight-time
01:044A state champion out of Texas a junior world record holder in the 100 and 200 meter and also
01:10attended LSU for a season where she won the 100 meter NCAA track championship so saying she's fast
01:16is an understatement we've got a great group here to chat about mental wellness but Swin I want to start
01:22with you because you've transitioned through so many different careers you've done broadcasting you sat
01:26where I am you've been a WNBA vet you're an Olympian and now you're in a front office I wonder how you
01:32grapple with the different identities and roles that you've held over the course of time while staying
01:37mentally tough through all those things I think it's important for me what I've learned throughout
01:43my career and even now I'm being in the front office is make sure you have a solid foundation
01:48and I always go back to that my foundation is my family my foundation is my faith my foundation is
01:57how I approach every day in a very authentic way and I think that's what always kind of kept me
02:03centered even when life gets really crazy whenever you know work gets really crazy it's important to
02:10always have that center and that foundation for yourself I love it foundation and being grounded I feel
02:16like that's something that we can all learn from and use as we move forward and Monique that's something
02:21that you kind of pride yourself in you talk about balance a lot so walk me through the self-care
02:27routines because as athletes we know when our shoulders hurting and we know we need to rehab it but
02:30you know mentally when you're going through something you might not know who to talk to you might not know
02:34how to handle it how do you deal with that I mean just like Swin said having foundation having good
02:40people around you and knowing what you need in that moment you know not every day is going to be the same
02:45so some days my self-care routine looks different than other days a game day self-care routine is
02:50different than an off-day self-care routine where I might like to pamper myself more some days where
02:55I'm having a game that's a day where I'll listen to like a meditation and just do a different form of
03:01self-care so self-care isn't always just bubble baths and massages you know it's a lot mentally too
03:08it's not just bubble baths that's good to know
03:11okay Swin I know that you've been through these situations before you're in a male dominated field
03:20so there's times when you walk into a room and you're probably the only black woman a lot of times
03:24maybe just the only woman in general I wonder how you process those moments in those situations still
03:30have your voice heard and still accomplish whatever it is you wanted to accomplish when you stepped into
03:34that room um well the one thing for me that's always helped um especially now is understanding
03:41that especially athletes when we're younger um majority of time girls play with boys and boys
03:47play with girls and you really don't kind of get separated until pretty much high school right
03:52and so you learn how to interact you learn how to perform and that's what everybody looks at they
03:58don't care if you're male or female and so I take that mindset into every meeting of one
04:03um understanding that yes I may be the only one in the room but it's not okay to just be the only
04:08one in the room like you also want to make sure that your voice is heard that your opinions are
04:12heard and that you that you are also contributing to um to the success or um to the movement in which
04:20the direction the organization is going and so that's what I pride myself on is making sure we're not
04:25only being in the room but making sure we're being heard and mentally just processing the fact that
04:30if you perform and you know what you're talking about you know your job that's what people are
04:34going to see and understand um not to be worried about if you're male or female I think anyone would
04:39tell you that if you're going to help me win if you're going to help contribute to that uh people
04:43usually want to gravitate to that there's the unique strength that you have swin I feel like and it
04:49seems like you've always had it was there ever a time when you did it okay and if you didn't have
04:54that confidence where did you get it from where did you generate it from um well the good thing for
05:00me is that when I was young I had a lot of female role models where everybody was always looking to
05:06outside female role models and my mom um was a foreman on an all guys crew so I saw her as a young
05:12girl getting up putting overalls on getting you know tying her hair up to be ready to go and do
05:17maintenance and electric and electrical work um but putting on lipstick and makeup and so that was
05:22always building me at a young age and and when I grew up um when I had those moments of insecurity
05:27like we all have right um I feel like I'm a confident person but when I have those moments
05:31of insecurity I always think back to the women that came before me who had it harder than I did
05:37and so that gives me strength like I draw strength from people that laid the foundation down for me
05:41that's why I'm always if you ever hear me speaking or talking to people I always give love to those that
05:46came before us because they surely had it rougher than we did but I make sure I take time
05:51to mentally get in a good place and spiritually be in a good place and that's always uh it always
05:57goes back Maria's foundation I think with every woman having a solid foundation of who you are
06:02and what you believe in anytime the world gets shaky or any of those things happen or you feel insecure
06:07you can always go back and stand strong on a solid foundation
06:11and Monique I just saw you giving snaps back to the solid foundation because you were really feeling what
06:17you were hearing right there walk me through moments of insecurity maybe that you've had
06:21over time and how you balanced getting through that while staying true to yourself recognizing that
06:26there was an insecurity or something that you had to process and deal with
06:29well I know this is something that you and Swain can relate to but being a tall girl
06:34yeah I talk about such a young age and not knowing how to navigate through that um my whole life I've
06:40been so tall I was a little awkward and I didn't realize that that tallness was a superpower at the time
06:46now I'm like I wouldn't trade my tallness for the world because I love standing out
06:50and I love being different in that way and I don't mind being asked everywhere I go how tall I am do
06:56you play volleyball do you play basketball what do you do I don't mind but um when I was younger I
07:01didn't want that attention it's funny um I went to Catholic school and I when we would go to mass I'd be
07:07in the pews and I would like bend my knees to try to look small and try to look like everyone else
07:13around me but I just didn't realize um my tallness was a gift so now I'm thankful that I'm able to
07:19embrace that and accept that and I have women um such as all three of you ladies that I can look up to
07:24and I can see you guys' confidence and try to emulate that as much as I can and realize that
07:29there's younger women younger girls looking at me now and um if I don't show my confidence and I don't
07:35truly have confidence how can they be confident so just trying to be a light and example and be
07:40intentional to um be thankful for my flaws to show that I have flaws to show that I'm imperfect
07:47and that's totally okay it's okay to have flaws we had a couple of flaws with our technical
07:51difficulties too but that's okay
07:53I'm sorry
07:55ladies and gentlemen
07:57I'm sorry
07:57okay so let's go back to the question about obviously being someone who's coming up in the social media age
08:04you have an incredible following
08:05um but there's pressures that come along with that I know there's challenges that come along
08:09with that you're not representing your brand sometimes people expect you to represent the
08:12black community or women track athletes how do you handle and deal with some of those pressures
08:17it's definitely dealing with all of those pressures is I wouldn't even see it as a pressure because I
08:23have a passion for every single topic um being a black athlete being a being black um running from
08:30my brand being a professional track athlete all of those things I have a passion for so it's nothing
08:34that I feel a pressure I'm obligated to but at the same I just feel like people have to understand
08:40that we are people too like the same the same things that they do today how they get up every
08:46day and they function we do the same thing we just happen to be maybe a little faster we can shoot
08:51hoop better you know we can probably swim a little better that's it but at the neighbor of humans
08:55and I just um wish that the following will understand that that way they understand that we have a job just
09:02as well as they do but at the same time that our passion if we can and if we choose to do that
09:07of course we're going to express that to show that their voices are being heard just just as well
09:12because their voice is our voice we are their voice so I just want to just let my following
09:16know and just everyone know that like whatever I stand on I definitely believe in and I just want
09:20my following to know that I support them too just as much as they support me because without them
09:25where will we be I love the fact that she said a little bit faster y'all
09:32in the 100 and 200 meters a little bit faster than everybody else
09:37I do have a question for all of you guys because in your own rights I'm sure you've dealt with it
09:41so Carrie for you you might be dealing with haters on Instagram or someone that has something negative
09:46to say Monique's when if you've had instances where people are just saying well basketball but y'all should
09:51be in the kitchen somewhere like these are real things that are still happening if you go on
09:54Instagram and see ESPN posting about Maya Moore right now um how do you handle haters and we'll
10:00start with you Swin but I want all of you guys to ask these questions the doubters whatever how do you
10:04deal with them whoo um you catch me right because I'll pull up and be like oh I got time today it's okay
10:13I got time for you and I can reply back but in it see what I like to do is I like to educate people
10:18through my response right so um if it's somebody that is talking and they're not even talking in
10:24facts and they're saying things I'll give them a tidbit of information before I block them and then
10:29the other way that I handle it is sometimes not even responding like I kind of pick in shoes um because
10:36sometimes I just give people the ability to sit there because a lot of times you have to keep in mind
10:40people will write stuff and be sitting there all day and I know this sitting there waiting for a response
10:46because as soon as you respond before you even finish they're already trying to type something
10:51back so you have to understand and pick your spots um but use your response as your release I only
10:57respond when I need to release and make sure that I'm feeling good about it I don't I don't let people
11:03trigger me that's what I would say you know both to carry um both to mo is like don't let people trigger
11:09you always control your narrative always control your response and that's two things that I feel like
11:14that I've learned of being in the game for the long that I really truly mastered to an extent
11:20I need it yeah honestly it seems like a waste of time and energy to me especially if it's super
11:27disrespectful I'm like who is this person this isn't serving me it's not doing anything for me why am I
11:32going to give you my energy and my attention and I'm big on showing you better than I can tell you so
11:37I'm like okay if someone has something negative to say let me show you I just let my game speak for itself
11:41love it I think I'm a little boat I definitely feel the need that like my performance speaks for
11:50itself so I definitely like to leave it alone but sometimes I do feel like I got just a little
11:55extra energy after practice just a little bit
12:00just a little bit so sometimes I do actually want to but it's in a way to because it's just like they
12:04don't know what what goes on behind closed doors they don't see what we go through where we mentally what
12:10we physically what we put ourselves through when we such a see a performance all I see is a performance
12:15to them is entertainment oh it's nice but to us it's our lifestyle it's our it's our pride this is what
12:21we do 25 8 literally 25 8 you don't just do it just 24 hours this is something you have to make a
12:27lifestyle you want to be great you want to be if you wanted to be a you know your career so I just feel
12:33like yeah with the haters it's it's definitely picking shoes I'm definitely learning so I'm a little
12:39of both I want to talk sometimes and sometimes I just let them just let them sit and just wait
12:47I love the advice that all of y'all have given I'm walking away with not letting anyone trigger me
12:5225 8 I'm going to carry and then Mo I'm recognizing that my self-care routine is more than a bubble bath
12:58there's a little more that I got to put into it um you ladies are great and that's what this is all about I
13:02mean we're we're creating more mental toughness we're breaking down the barriers that women may
13:06experience in their everyday life but we're learning from individuals like you that have been so
13:10successful athletically and obviously when you're off the quarter you're off the track you guys have
13:15been an inspiration to women everywhere um and also someone that has been supporting women for years
13:21is secret they're the first antiperspirant brand designed specifically for women so for the last 60
13:26years they've been on the forefront of women's lives and through the years the brand has really
13:30supported women's advancement the equality through campaigns communications and secret challenges
13:35women everywhere to be all strength and no sweat I want you guys to keep on sweating and keep the
13:41strength that we need every single day um and again thanks for joining the essence wellness house this
13:47has been an amazing conversation I hope everyone was able to learn something from it thank you thank you
14:00so
14:11you
14:11you
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