- 7 hours ago
In this ESSENCE Black Women In Sports exclusive interview, track and field icon, Allyson Felix, shares the motivations behind her hit footwear brand, Saysh, and the importance of standing in the gap for women in sports through advocacy on and off the track.
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00:00We thought we were creating shoes just for me to run in the Olympics and as we did a deep dive
00:05you know into the industry that's when we really had this this learning that shoes are not being
00:11made for women and what that means is a shoe is made off of mold of a foot and it's the mold of
00:16a man's foot to make women's sneakers and when we learned that it was like okay we are where
00:21we're supposed to be what's going on essence family it's your girl sheree nicole here again
00:30with another edition of essence black women in sports i've been fanning out for the last five
00:34minutes so let me calm myself and i will tell you why because i get the opportunity to chat with a
00:39world-class athlete the most decorated olympian in history with a record check this 20 world
00:46championship medals and 11 medals at the olympic games which includes seven gold medals but beyond
00:52that she's a super mom she's an entrepreneur and she's an advocate for women around the world in
00:57sports and beyond she's a ton of amazing things going on in the sports space and i'm so grateful
01:02to be joined by the track and field icon herself allison felix i can't believe i'm saying that
01:07allison thank you so so much for joining thank you so much for having me and thank you for the intro
01:13absolutely you you are more than deserving and um you know you'll be keeping up and you've had
01:18some great things happening you recently rang the the nasdaq bell for your sports management agency
01:22always alpha first of all i love the name secondly just for you to be able to experience that and all
01:27that's encompassed the success of always alpha you know what say you to how you guys are moving forward
01:31yeah we're so excited i mean women's sports is having such momentum right now and it's long overdue and
01:38at always alpha we get to represent female athletes and just show up for them and celebrate
01:44them holistically and so to be able to think about it for me and a legacy perspective i've learned so
01:51much and i really want to pass that on so speaking of passing things on and moving things forward and
01:56you're you're a newly elected member of the ioc athletes commission allison and for those who don't
02:00know guys this is going to give her direct say in olympic policies which includes how they support women
02:04in sports which is such a big obviously heart passion project for you allison so with that said
02:10with this level of of power essentially that you get and advocacy in the space you know what can
02:15people expect what can you expect from yourself in this position well i think it's just so important
02:20to have a seat at the table you know i always want to be that representation for other athletes you
02:24know my goal is to make the road easier and not to have as many barriers and so i'm going to continue
02:30to listen to um what our athletes need and how i can fight for them and stand up for them and and
02:36just push um to make things a bit better yeah and you speak of that fight and before i kind of get
02:41into you know what what happened with nike and how that kind of shifted you into the space before that
02:47happened were you aware that there was a advocate in you for others was there a moment in your life
02:53when you realized that that was the case and the gift you had it took a long time for me to get
02:57there i'm i'm the person who i don't like to ruffle feathers you know as an athlete i just really had
03:03my head down you know and i really focused on what i felt like i was supposed to do you know try to win
03:09medals and run as fast as i could and it wasn't until real life circumstances really started to shake
03:16things up where i felt like okay even though i don't feel comfortable um i need to speak out and and it was
03:22definitely an evolution process to get there when we think about speaking out i know some people have
03:28different ways of doing it some people go out and feet to the pavement and protest some people will
03:32post on social media some people will get out and get a mic and go for it for you you know what's been
03:37and we'll get more into that as well but what's been your main vein when it comes to how you advocate
03:42for now i i use my voice but it took me time to find my voice that i think we all can do it in our
03:49own way exactly like you said and sometimes it is within our own circles it might be you know holding
03:54certain people accountable um you don't have to have this huge platform to to be an advocate but um
04:01i have understood that i am in a seat where you know i can stand up for other people and i've really
04:07been trying to exercise that muscle to speak out more and you know sometimes you have to call people
04:13out and sometimes it's it is an uncomfortable space but i always think about the purpose and i think about
04:19you know my own children and just trying to make things better for those who are coming behind me
04:24yeah heavy is the cape and the crown a lot of times for for people who do the work that you do so
04:29you know i know your mom there's a lot of other things going on you're an entrepreneur how do you
04:32kind of handle that load of of looking out for other people but also making sure that you're still
04:37giving things back to yourself and also to your family i mean it's hard i think it's hard for anyone
04:42who's juggling a lot of things and i have a great support system and so i know that i i don't do any
04:48of this alone and um that really you know that really is helpful to me and then i know that i have
04:54to fill my own cup you know i i won't be helpful to anybody if i don't do that and sometimes it looks
05:00like actually scheduling something on my calendar or you know sitting in the car for a few minutes before
05:05i head into the house or you know whatever it might look look like at that you know stage of
05:10life but it is so important to make that time i'm a car sitter as well allison i have to tell you i get
05:17a good 20 30 minutes in okay depending on how my day goes yeah and you know i i i still work out a lot
05:26i'm a former athlete and for me i don't feel right if i'm not working out at least four to five times a
05:32week and i know sometimes it's hard to kind of turn that switch off and it's like okay you're not
05:36performing at this level anymore you obviously want to stay well but you have to have some boundaries
05:40around how you work out how you how you move forward in your wellness for you have you found
05:45that balance um are you still out there like yeah i'm going for the gold again what does that look like
05:51for you it's definitely been a transition for sure i've had to like figure out what works for me i was
05:56doing a workout um it was probably a year ago and i was like really taking myself down on the
06:01track and i kind of looked around and i was like oh my gosh like i don't have to be doing this like
06:07so since that moment i was like i started to do new things i started to play tennis and just you know
06:14find ways to push my bodies my body in other ways that are different that are fun and so i i still love
06:21you know a great challenging workout but i try to um expand you know the way that i i do them now
06:28yeah speaking of expansion let's talk about sage so you know for those who don't know uh allison you
06:34know she had a little run in with nike wasn't her fault she just got pregnant here we go but uh she
06:38called him out for cutting her pay uh during her pregnancy and rightfully so and so uh with that sage
06:43was kind of birthed as well and um i love how you channeled that that disappointment that dismissal and
06:49even arguably in certain respects that disrespect to then steer your entrepreneurial efforts in this
06:54regard so when when sage kind of came about like were you sitting in a seat of okay i need to do
07:00something right now was this something you had kind of been thinking about prior to and then this this
07:04issue with nike happened and then you moved into it like how did the birth of sage kind of happen
07:08i felt like i always had the spirit of entrepreneurship um but i wasn't sure how that was going to manifest
07:14and when i went through this situation it was really just out of necessity you know it was in
07:19conversation with my brother who is also my business partner my manager and we were just talking
07:25like you know okay what what's the next step and we really looked for another sponsor and couldn't
07:30find it out there and you know he had this idea of doing it ourselves and at first i was like that
07:35feels very big i it just resonated with me like we have the ones uh with the power to create change
07:43instead of asking asking these massive companies to do so when i think about black women and sometimes
07:50how our tone can be misconstrued but also how the responsibilities of looking out for others kind of
07:55just sits on us just innately did you did you kind of war inside with how to approach people with sage
08:02the the even in your advocacy the tone of your voice or what you wrote down like did you ever kind of
08:08tussle with that and if so how did you kind of find that happy medium yeah absolutely you know
08:13i i think for black women that has been the case for so long um that we can be put into a box and so
08:20for me it was about turning this negative situation into something positive and that it was so much
08:27bigger than me and what i went through it was saying that no i see all women and i'm going to support
08:32them and i think that you know all women should have products specifically something specifically made
08:37for our bodies but also it's much larger than that it's standing with women and so i it's an honor to be
08:43able to do that and i just come back to my purpose and you know keep pushing forward um in the in the
08:49face of a lot of adversity yeah speaking of purpose what is one thing that you've learned about yourself
08:54that you didn't realize as you moved through with sage and built this brand i think just the ability to
09:02to pivot you know and the ability to to do something really scary you know i have you know i'm from the
09:10heart of la from the crenshaw district like i didn't grow up you know seeing the people around me um
09:16you know start businesses and and do these different things and so i felt like i really struggled with
09:21imposter syndrome of you know how can i how can i do this but i think getting over that hurdle and
09:27having great mentors and seeing that okay the the people who are doing this you know i'm capable as well
09:34um and that has been probably the the biggest um surprise and encouragement and thing to get through
09:41love it so i want to move to always alpha for a bit i i just i'm so pro i'm so pro girl power i'm so
09:48pro black women in in particular but you know again as you mentioned it's about all women and you make
09:53sure that you know your advocacy ties in it connects us all which i absolutely love and i love out always
09:58alpha as well so when we think about sports management and sometimes again how females are
10:03underrepresented how they're not represented um how you know athletes of your caliber may struggle
10:09with even aligning themselves with the right representation simply because they're women and
10:13kind of don't know where to go you know when it comes to always alpha what are you guys kind of
10:17providing in that vein that are that's helpful to women who may be wanting to be out the next
10:22allison felix or who may already be out there on the track or otherwise competing and just don't
10:26necessarily have the representation they need absolutely i think it's really about a deep listening to
10:32our athletes and to what they want to accomplish you know in the field of play but off of it as well
10:38i think traditionally you know a lot of these large um sports agencies it's kind of like a cookie cutter
10:44model and i i really love the boutique approach where it's different for every single person and we all
10:51have passions and interests and you know right now um we can build our brands you know create our own
10:58content really celebrate uh individuals holistically and that's really what we look
11:03to do and to bring new sponsors in that haven't been in the space of women's sports and just really
11:08build out um strategic plans for each person that we work with yeah what's one thing uh kind of a main
11:15topic that continues to kind of resurface and ruminate um that you guys have kind of heard
11:21the through always alpha from women that you want more people to kind of grab onto and understand is
11:27there one thing in particular i would say probably the biggest thing is not going down the traditional
11:32path you know um we're seeing now more than ever that we're doing things differently you know we are not
11:40staying in the mold i look at myself and even you know competing in a brand that i owned that is there's
11:46going to be so much more of that and i'm so excited you know to help and assist athletes to be able to to do
11:52that and um i i think we're seeing that women in sports have such rich personalities like there's there's so
12:00much there you know away from the field of play as well um and so i think that's it is just breaking out of
12:06this mold and saying okay let's do things differently let's have more equity um and and let's be you know
12:12let's celebrate and be unapologetically who we are yeah i want to shift gears a bit and i was watching
12:19it was i think it was an espn feature a couple days ago and there's a professional soccer player she
12:25recently retired she was like i think late 30s or whatever or perhaps and she wanted to be a mom
12:30and ultimately she had to go through a very you know um stressful we know ibf can be stressful but
12:36she had to go through ibf and and she was saying that she assumed because she was a high level athlete
12:40that motherhood would just happen for her when she was ready so her plan was play high level play
12:45retire boom baby and it didn't happen for her that way and as i was watching her tell her story
12:51you know i think about as an athlete sometimes we get so sold into the fact that our bodies haven't
12:57failed us in our particular sport that they may not have challenges later on so with that being said
13:03what say you two women who are who are competing at a high level in sports right now who may want to
13:08be mothers who may not necessarily be doing some of the checks that they need to the fertility checks
13:12or checking in with their doctor just to kind of get a real understanding of their numbers
13:16and who are assuming oh it could just happen for me i'm an athlete i'll be good what say you to them
13:20yeah i mean i think there we need to really i think we're doing a disservice to our female athletes
13:26you know these are conversations that we have to have so early on and i think it's all about choice
13:31you know if you choose to be a mother if you have that desire or if you don't but i think
13:36the resources we need to offer whether it's egg retrievals thinking about these things early on
13:42so that we can have the options because it's heartbreaking to give yourself to your sport for
13:48so many number of years and then when it's time where you really want to lean into family and
13:53and exploring that um not to have as many opportunities i went through an ivf journey myself and i know how
14:00challenging that can be and so i really think that we have to offer more opportunities and also have the
14:06conversations much earlier yeah when we talk about opening up that door of opportunity when we think
14:12about advocacy and even the work that you that you do even i mean this is advocacy what you're saying
14:16right now um how important for it is how important is it for you to continue to kind of help stand and
14:21stand in the gap or spread that awareness when it comes to to women advocating for themselves for
14:27their health especially if they're mothers expected mothers or want to be mothers it's huge i mean
14:32what i have seen is that they're the systems in place are not made for women athletes to continue
14:39through motherhood um it's just it's just not how it was built and so to have a voice as you know as
14:46we're trying to change some of these things and someone to really stand up and say i've actually
14:51lived this and this is what's helpful and you know this is what you know athletes need i think it's
14:56really crucial we were able to bring a nursery to the paris games and it was a huge win you know to
15:03be able to say and it was also mind-blowing that like how did this not happen until you know 2024
15:09um but i think that's a great example of saying okay i'm gonna raise my hand and say like i think
15:15that this is something that needs to be taking place yeah for sure another thing that needs to
15:19continue to take place is is the success that we're seeing black women in particular have on on the
15:24track i was just enamored by the paris games in in the track and field and in the representation
15:30and it just really made my heart glad and when you think about your own career and then where we're
15:36seeing track and field kind of go with black women female athletes in particular what say you to the
15:41growth but also the challenges that you know they face outside of motherhood that you'd like to see
15:46curved a bit and help them get some assistance with yeah i mean i i share that excitement um as you do
15:52you know we have such a a rich history you know in track and field and it's um it's incredible to see
15:58that on full display and to see these black women be celebrated um and and then to know that it's
16:05still there's still a lot of struggle and whether that is equal pay or opportunity outside of the
16:11olympic space um it's very competitive and um just being able to assist you know as we navigate
16:18this these challenging times i guess i would say um and so continuing to push the elevation of these
16:26athletes outside of just track and field and and really show the world you know um what great
16:32personalities um what great uh ambassadors these athletes are yeah and and a lot of times that that
16:39personality and that ambassadorship kind of ties into financial footing and or at least financial
16:44opportunities i was uh recently attended the grand slam track miami and i got a chance to talk to
16:49michael johnson just about what grand slam track is doing to assist these athletes and getting the
16:53exposure and hopefully some of them the brand opportunities so as someone like yourself who
16:57does an incredible job of building her own brand who's continued to align yourself um in a way that
17:03brings you a level of finance on and off the track what say you to the brand building side of the
17:09sport we know there's challenges but are there some areas where you get where you're encouraged
17:14and you hope athletes are encouraged as well yeah i'm definitely encouraged by um our track athletes
17:22what they're doing beyond the the field of play and so i think we're seeing a lot of them really
17:27showing their personalities creating their own content um building brands and stepping outside of
17:33this hat of only being an athlete and we're really learning about them and i think that that can be the
17:38challenging thing about the olympics is that for a lot of viewers they have this two-week window where
17:43they they watch you but if we can expand that and i think grand slam track and other leagues that are
17:49popping up are are great examples of that because it really takes us outside of the olympic cycle and
17:55says these are the same athletes and this is what they do you know in between the olympic years and
17:59we're getting a glimpse inside of their life and we really need to lean on that and i think it is
18:04a huge upside that that is starting to happen yeah you're such an anchor allison and you take it on
18:11the chin you're so humble um for those who don't know before we before we got going with this
18:16interview we were fangirling out one of our amazing editors answered that myself for fangirling
18:20uh before we got started and you were just so so gracious and humble and and and with that said you
18:26know i think sometimes we're so we're so great we don't necessarily sit in it enough to realize how
18:32important we are to to that next generation you are vital um to this this up and coming generation
18:37of athletes not just track and field um do you feel that that sense of vitality and also what's
18:44the importance for you and making sure that you continue to build bridges uh not only with where
18:48you are presently but with those that are coming behind you well i appreciate that i received that
18:53um i i guess for me it's there have been people who have paved the way and poured into my life
18:59jackie joyner kersey has been a mentor a friend to me um since my very beginning and i think she really
19:07just taught me what mentorship looks like and and what a true role model is and so um i do my best to
19:13be available to all the current athletes um that they can reach out and if i can assist in any way and
19:19then i i i do my best to fight for them you know behind the scenes as well and so the legacy is so
19:25important to me and i i just want to make sure that they have a great path and um don't hit some of the
19:30barriers that a lot of us have have faced before them we talk about we talk about legacy it's almost
19:36like you you led me to to my closing question um with that said you know when people when people
19:42mention alison felix the the track star um you know we obviously understand you know how iconic you are
19:49just just from a medal in performance standpoint but is there one word that you you'd love to hear
19:54when it comes to just what you've been able to do on the track and also one word that that speaks to
20:00what you've been able to do off of it i think on the track you know i hope you know i'm remembered as
20:06being fierce a fierce competitor um and and off of the track you know i hope that people see that i've
20:13really tried to advocate advocate for for other women mothers um and and just try to leave things
20:20better than i found them yeah we see you for sure i want to make sure people can um lock arms with you
20:26if they want to connect with you um and with all the great work that you're doing how can they do that
20:30yes um you can follow me everywhere at alison felix and um at seish.com and always alpha.com
20:39alison felix it happened i still can't believe it but i appreciate it nonetheless enjoy your spring
20:47slash summer and thank you so much for the conversation thank you for having me
20:51you
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