Gracie & Dani Ramirez on Artistic Swimming, Anxiety Underwater, & Redefining the "Athletic Body"

So you use the word anxieties to describe how you feel about your practices right now. I spent probably the last year trying to get over that and trying to like rebuild trust with myself. I'm so sorry. No, you're not going to apologize. She's an Olympic silver medalist. She competed alongside her team at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. In addition to being in the pool for seven plus hours a day, she's also a full-time student studying art at UCLA. Go Bruins. She's been a national team member for 10 years. And get this, she's still hungry for more. She's going for a second Olympics. One wasn't enough. She's currently training for LA 2028. Dani Ramirez, welcome to Athletes After Hours. That's quite the intro. I'm like liking myself more now. Thank you so much for having me, Gracie. Yeah, do you want this card so that you can like say it to yourself every day? Maybe put on your bathroom mirror. Actually, now that you say it, yes. Some like self-affirmations, confidence building. Reminders of my win. No, literally, I was like, I need to make like a book of all my wins because I forget. I feel like I have like short-term memory loss. Like I'm like dory. Everybody does. Right? And then I'm like, Grace, you got this. Like you're a baddie. Just don't forget all the cool things you've done, you know? So it's so important to like, maybe I will give you this card. That's your rule. You have to put up on your mirror. How are you doing? I'm doing good. I really am loving your house. These couches are very comfortable. Good, because we're going to be here for a minute. So get comfy. Let's start from the beginning. Okay. Obviously, you're an Olympic artistic swimmer. It's so unique, so niche. I love it. How did you even get into it? So I'm third-generation artistic swimmer. So it used to be called synchronized swimming, and then it was called, before that, water ballet. And that's when my grandma did it. So she was doing water ballet kind of as a circus act. My mom did it in Venezuela on national team and in college at Ohio State. Wow. And then my sister did it all the way up until college in St. Louis, Missouri. So I wanted a one-upper. I wanted to be. Just like every other little sister. I wanted to be like, I want to do this better. So I really wanted a one-upper, and I think I did it. I love it. You're just like, I just casually went to the Olympics. It's fine. The sibling rivalry is crazy. I love it. That is so funny. And then I remember when we trained at the pool, you said that your brother and your dad also lived in the pool? Yeah. So my dad was a diver. My dad doesn't like to be in the pool. So he's like, okay, if I'm going to get in, I'm getting in for 10 seconds, and that's it. So diving was the perfect thing for him, and that meant. He could share the pool with my mom, and obviously he had a crush on her. So he was like, okay, I'm going to figure out a way to be at the pool. I love that. So he would be at practice and be watching her, and then my brother took up normal swimming, so speed swimming. Yeah, very cool. And he was pretty good at that. Did he do that in college? No, he only did it in high school, and then he wanted to become a chef, and there's not very many athletic and cooking curriculums that go together. Fair enough. Yeah, I think you kind of have to go to culinary school for that. Yeah. Wait, that's actually insane. So basically, your whole house smells like chlorine. Always, always smells like chlorine. And there's swimsuits hanging everywhere. It's the best. That's so cute. And that obviously just, it's such a good attestment to obviously how close you are with your family. Because I think a lot of times when you grow up in a family that all does one thing, like it's very easy to kind of be like, no, I'm going to go do my own thing, you know, especially if you kind of saw it maybe bring in some toxicity or have maybe negative, I don't know. After effects. So I think that's really cool that you grew to it and you wanted to obviously follow in their footsteps. Yeah, I mean, it wasn't always like that. I was really a big rebel as a kid. Like I really just want, because my mom coached me until I was 15. So all the time, like any problem I had at practice, it's going to follow me home. Like if I'm talking back, if I'm having a bad day, like as if your coach came home with you, that's what would happen. So my coach came home with me and I love my mom. She's the best. And she's very positive as a person. So I think she really wanted me to learn how to deal with those things. So coming home and being like, okay, you have to live with this. Like nobody here doesn't know what happened. Everybody here knows what happened. You have to live with these things. And I think it made me more angry as a kid, but it also made me more resilient to like, okay, I had this whole sport thing has to not be okay. I'm at the pool for four hours. That's my four hours. And I leave, this is a 24 hour thing. Like you have to be an athlete for 24 hours. Wow. So. So this is literally like your life. This is your life. Like that's it. Danny Ramirez athlete has been pretty much your identity for how many, how many years? 20, 20 plus years. Yeah. 20 plus years. Oh my gosh. That's crazy. That's crazy. Well, I can't wait to learn more. I want to talk about you going into your sport and the competitive side of it. We as athletes, I feel like all have that one very strong visceral moment in our minds. And in our memories that we could probably think back to and probably like relive. I want to know what moment in your athletic career would you want to relive? Um, I feel like this one might surprise people, but a lot of the success that I had in artistic swimming has been because of my team. And like, not even in just like a general sense, like we want it. Like I didn't. I didn't want to qualify for my first Olympics and I spent the entire four years training for it. So to go into the next quad and we qualified on our very last chance for Paris, like very last chance. Like we lost every single chance before that to qualify. Um, and you only get to take eight to the Olympics and the ninth person doesn't get to swim. So there's eight people that get to swim out of the 12 that qualify you. I had no idea. Yeah. So you could spend throughout, you could spend your entire life working up to one Olympics, make number nine. And, and go, but never compete. Like, that's just the reality of how it works. And that was true for four of my, four of my teammates. So I think my favorite memory was qualifying with them at world championships because all 12 of us got to feel that. Like, oh, that's so cool. And in Paris was only eight, like only eight of us stand on the podium and it was almost bittersweet. I was like, I want my team with me. I want them all to feel this. And like, obviously like they do, but it's different. It's different when it's all 12 of you and all 12 of you. You made it happen and everybody swam that meet. So it was, it was incredible. Like I would relive that moment a million times over in that night of just like getting to celebrate all 12 of us. Like it was crazy. Oh, it's so special. I know. I feel like I can see the emotion like coming out, even you just talking about it. Like that's, that's what I meant by like that moment. I just like, we all know like in our cores, you know, that feeling. And so that's really cool that. Yeah. And everybody thinks it's a medal. They're like, oh my gosh, this medal is Olympic medal. I'm like, gosh. Guys, there were 10 years, 12 years leading up to this. That meant so much more to me than this. Not dumb medal, but this just like materialistic thing that is kind of like your token of, okay, you made it. Like it was never that, like it was always all the stuff that came before it. So I love that. You're like me though. I feel like I was never really driven by the medals because I never got medals growing up. I know I had to learn. So every time my coach is like, other people are working harder than you. They want to beat you. I'm like, I don't care. I want to be better today than I was yesterday. Why would I care what they're doing? Oh my God. I knew you were my soul. It's true. When we first, when we first met, it would make me mad. And then I would shut down, which is like, I feel like a lot of people have like kind of the opposite thing where it's like, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to beat this person. But I feel like maybe in gymnastics, it's the same. Like you're not racing someone and they're not directly next to you. Like it's an individual sport. Yeah. And it's kind of, it kind of is for us too. Like you go out there, you do your best and then your best, if it beats them. Great. But if it doesn't, like at least you did your best and you don't have to, you don't have to answer to anybody for that. Like you improved yourself. So I think that should be the main goal. I think that should be the main goal in every sport, but obviously it's tough when you're competing and you're literally actively combating another person. Like it's a lot tougher to kind of create that separation. I'm really curious to know about your guys' culture versus for us, there were times where the girls like did not get along because we were, we were all competing for the same spot. Only six girls compete. So then when you're trying to compete on the same team as another person, like you're not only competing against the other team, you're also competing against the other team. So when you're competing against the opposing team, you're kind of competing against your teammates just to even get a spot on the floor. Yeah. So I guess my question is, is like, do you guys get along? Do you like your teammates? Well, how is it going? That was one of the things that I think my Olympic coach was really good about is that she was like, I don't care who's the best eight. I want the best eight that are going to be willing to give everything to the team. Like if you're competing and just trying to become an Olympian, you can feel it. Like if you're just competing to try and get that spot and try and get that spot, you can try and get in there because you want to be better than the person next to you and not support your team. You can feel it. And I think she really could read that vibe and wanted to make sure that everybody got along and you could know who's good at what. So there were some days that like we would be like, OK, like she does this part really good. You guys are going to watch her. You're going to cheer her on. And then you guys are going to learn from her. Oh, I love that. So you learn from each other and you want to get better. And obviously, like we definitely have catfights. Like there are definitely times where you're like, hey, you hit me in the face back there and you didn't say sorry. Like, yeah, I apologize. But also seven plus hours in a pool with someone you're going to want to rip your head off at some point. Exactly. So and you're human. Yeah, we're human. We obviously get into fights. But then you come back the next day. You're like, OK, like we've got work to do. And I love you anyways. Let's let's do it. You guys are literally like sisters. Yeah. Oh, that's so. And it becomes like hive mind. Like you go to the pool and you're like, I know exactly what she needs. I know if she's in a bad mood, she's in a good mood. If she's like really excited, like something happened at home, like you can tell. And like, obviously, it's not 100 percent, but reading. vibes off of each other. and like wanting to be a good teammate, I think is like the main thing that this sport has taught me. I love that. If you could change one thing about your sport for the next athlete, what would it be? Hmm. I'd put less time underwater. Really? Yeah. Because is there a requirement for how long you need to be underwater? No, but the way that we, I guess, acquire difficulty scores is by movements. So like, say you're doing like a split spin and like that's worth the most. So you're going to do like a million of them. So like it has, it didn't used to be this way, but now that the system has changed and they've added difficulty scores that like you have to send in before and you have to do what you said now, instead of it being like, okay, we're going to have two hybrids that are 20 seconds that you guys have to do, which is like, that's still really long, which is what it kind of used to be. Now we're doing, okay, the last hybrid now to get, as much DD as we want and to have a higher DD or match China's DD, we're going to have to be under for 40 seconds or 39 seconds. So it's just gotten like more and more because people are trying to one up each other. And like at the junior level, there's a cap. You can't go past 25. Got it. Do as hard as you want. Maybe they need to put a cap for you guys. Yeah. Cause like our lungs don't keep growing. Like our lungs are the same. You don't just grow gills. Yeah. Which is like magically, which has been one of my biggest, I guess, in anxieties surrounding artistic swimming, like the change of the system, because this only changed like four years ago ish. Um, so I would go to practice and like, I would like you come up and like, you think that you're fine. And all of a sudden, like your vision's really like pinpoint and you're like, I could go down right now. This is where it's going to end. And then you come back and it's like, what if that, what if I don't come back? And which has happened? Like there've been times where people don't come back. They go, they're gone. Like, oh my God, I literally just got chills. So Danny girl, it's just nerve wracking to have that thought every single day. Like you have to deal with that every single day. And it's not like the routine changes. The time doesn't change you're under for however long it is. Yeah. And a lot of the things that frustrate me about artistic swimming and like things that I think we really need to change is like no one's studying it. And I think that it's one of the most hard sports that's out there. If not one of, if not the hardest and no one knows that because one, I can attest, I tried really hard a female sport. So obviously there's not going to be as much funding. It's a female sports and obviously there's not a lot of studies and the studies that we do have have been done on men. Yeah. So is there even a men's artistic swimming? There is really, yeah. They're allowed to compete with us now, but there aren't very many. So they're working their way. Okay. They're doing really good, but they're working their way. Like we don't care about the men right now. We're talking about women and how women need to be. I didn't say that. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. But no, I do. I, I understand what you mean by that. Like I didn't really ever think of it as not like, I didn't realize there was no cap on how long you can be underwater. And it sucks because as a coach, I'm sure they want to obviously protect you guys and hold you to obviously a realistic standard for how long you can be underwater, but also you're having to compete with all these incredible other teams to even hold weight, you know, and, and potentially get a medal at the Olympics. Like that's the main goal, right? So, oh my God, I have anxiety just thinking about it. Can we kind of unpack that a little bit? I know that you've expressed to me that you've struggled a little bit with, is it performance anxiety or is it daily anxiety? Hmm. Maybe anxiety isn't the right word. It's more of a fear. Um, because at practice, so this whole new system has been developing, kind of been getting harder and harder, longer and longer underwater. And one day I was doing duet and we did our hybrid. I came up and everything went black, like completely black. Um, and I felt like I, I tried to keep going really hard and eventually I came back, but for a good 10 seconds, I couldn't see anything. Oh, I didn't think that it freaked me out that much. Um, I'm so sorry if I get emotional. Cause this was like, it's like just my nervous system regulating, trying to get over it. But this is such a safe space. Like I already told you, I'm probably going to cry. So it is a safe space. And I'm also a sympathetic crier. So you'll never cry alone. Yeah. I, I came up, everything was black. I couldn't see anything. And after that, I didn't think that that had freaked me out so much two weeks later, I did the same hybrid. And instead of staying under, like I normally am, I can talk myself through it. You're fine. This pain is going to pass. You will come up, you will get air again. Um, the time will pass anyways. Like all these different things I say to myself, all of a sudden I was up and I don't, I didn't decide to come up. I don't remember coming up all of a sudden. I was just breathing. And I was like in the middle of the hybrid or, which is like the part where we do the stuff with our legs. Right. And I was like, that was weird. Why did I do that? Like, I've never done that. Like, that's not me. It's been 10 years. It's like, yeah, why did I do that? And then it happened the next time I did it. And the next time and the next time, and it was okay for team for a while. And then one day I was just up and I was like, no, like I can't make this cannot happen. And I would get through some run throughs, some through some run throughs. No, I tried to explain it to my mental, my mental health coach, my therapist, my coaches. And they were like, we get it. Like you got scared and you're like your body reaction when your nervous system and your body tells you to come up, like whether you decide to not, you're coming up, like you're going to do it. So we get to world championships. We do free team. Everything's fine. We get to tech team, which is like our harder with breath. It's like probably the hardest with breath routine. We did warmup and our music wasn't on underwater when we did our warmup. So they made us restart and go back to the beginning and then go again. But it was instantly. So my heart rate was already up and it freaked me out so bad that I came up at, at warmup at worlds. And then I hadn't, I couldn't do it. I was like, someone else is going to have to swim because I, I can't trust yourself. I don't trust myself anymore. So I spent probably the last year trying to get over that and trying to like rebuild trust with myself. I'm so sorry. No, you don't need to apologize. So coming into this year, I think like my coaches have been really helpful. Like just trying to make sure that like, you're okay. Everything's fine. Like your nervous system is telling you everything's going to happen. Like there was a time where you weren't okay. And we're going to make sure that doesn't happen again. And I just have to keep proving myself again and again and again. Like you're, you're going to be fine. You can do it. And like, like your fear or anxieties aren't real. Like you can do this and you've done it many times before. So, but it's so scary not being able to trust your body and like not know what's going on. I mean, I can completely relate to that. I mean, there's so many times where I used to have like mental blocks and literally stop mid trick. Yeah. And it's like, what the fuck? I mean, I'm in the middle of the air and like my body just stops. Yeah. You're gonna land on your head and you're like, well, and it's just so frustrating when you just, you don't feel like you have a grasp on it, you know? And, and I feel for you, girl. I literally got emotional when you got emotional. You're such a beautiful crier. So you don't even need to say sorry. You look so cute. Freaking Disney princess over here. I'm like, holy shit. Oh, I can't even, you're so brave. I mean, I think just you right now, even being vulnerable is going to impact so many people. And like, that's also why I get emotional is because it's like, people need to hear it. Like it needs to be talked about because like, I think the reason I'm doing this, oh my God, guys, I'm on my period. Um, like the reason I felt so strongly about doing this podcast was because I know that younger me wishes I heard these types of conversations. Cause I felt so alone. Yeah. And like, you don't really understand vulnerability until you're older and how powerful it is and how important it is to like, talk about the things that you struggle with. And I just recently figured out how to do that. Like as a freaking 27 year old. And it's like, these kids aren't going to think, you know, like, oh, maybe I should tell my teammate that I struggle with this really big thing, you know, instead it's like, you kind of just bottle it up. And I just, I hate the idea that like these athletes who are our age or younger that are kind of dealing with this stuff in private. It's just, it shouldn't be a thing anymore. Like I want to use my voice. I'm so glad that you're being brave enough to use yours because like, it's so important that these athletes hear this. So thank you. I mean, thank you. And this is an amazing podcast. I mean, like I'm already crying, like, of course it can't get any better than this. No, literally me too. I already called it before we even started. Gosh, darn it. All right. So I say we get into the toxic stuff. Oh yeah. Um, as young women, we are constantly told to look for the red flags to avoid toxic men, but sometimes our biggest red flags are the ones that show up in our sport. What are some of your sports red flags? red flags it's probably one of the very similar to yours um i know our sport is very similar yes i think one of the main red flags that i see all the time is when your coach is constantly like pointing things out about your weight like i can see your lunch today those legs are never gonna get anywhere like really just like demeaning things that you don't there's no way for you to respond to it besides either you get defensive you avoid so you're more likely to quit or you react and i think the reaction part is probably the worst thing that you can do because it leads to many eating disorders um insecurities um just so many things that i think women already struggle with that many times it's the women in your life that are your coaches or the women in your life that are like your nutritionist or like people that are supposed to be on your side and you're like oh my god i'm gonna be like oh my god i'm gonna be on your side and i'm gonna be like oh my god i'm gonna be like oh my god i'm gonna be like oh my that end up being the ones that make you feel the worst you know so i think that's something that's really toxic in my in my sport and it's getting better i won't say that it's not because it is getting much better we're allowed to be strong instead of just thin um it's definitely more normalized to have muscle in this day and age on social media i feel like i for sure i have noticed like a massive weight off my shoulders as a more strong girl like not having to compare myself constantly to like stick thin yeah and i know that obviously the the solution is like oh just don't compare yourself you know be confident in who you are and everything but like how can you not you're literally scrolling on social media every day and you're seeing people that yeah don't even look like themselves you know it's all fake it's all a highlight reel and we know this but still it doesn't change the fact that it's gonna condition our minds to expect something that's completely unrealistic yeah but i'm so glad that you said that because like fucking so relatable yeah are you kidding like i think every athlete can probably especially well i think every female athlete can think of one time in their life that someone's commented on their body and i think that is disgusting i block people that make comments about my body um to this very day i wish i could do it back then um i wish i could do it in real life i wish someone made a comment about my body i could like you're blocked babe but like it it's so unnecessary and i think people like alona mar and all of these amazingly strong and one of my best friends molly carlson who does who does a lot of body positivity type content it's so cool to see like these are some of the most world-class athletes and they're comfortable in their skin and they're using their bodies to do amazing things and honestly the way we look is the least interesting thing about us yeah and that's a great thing and that's so rad that's so amazing you know like and i think that's even when i get sucked into that like really toxic mindset i just try to remind myself of that it's like that is literally the least interesting thing about me even when i have a bad skin day or a bad body day it's like okay i'm bloated so i can still do some crazy cool stuff and like i can still run five miles i can still do some crazy cool stuff and like i can still run five miles i can still do some crazy incredible things and i think when we forget that is when it really hits different i love that i love that you say those things to yourself it took a lot of years a lot of a lot of stressful years but yeah i'm glad that we've i feel like i've kind of finally come to that place how are you because i know that you're a little bit younger you're still in the thick of it obviously with the olympics coming around and still holding yourself to such a high standard do you struggle with body image yeah i mean just like everybody else and i think when i first joined national team so i say that i was coached by my mom until i was 15 right right when i stopped being coached by hers because i moved cross-country because i'm from florida i moved to california and i've been living here ever since i'm um not exactly the ideal build for an artistic swimmer which is usually pretty lanky kind of more on the thin side very very lean stuff and being hispanic that's not usually how we're built i'm more built on the bottom side so great for me not great for artistic swimming right and so my first few years on national team it was like okay you're gonna how are you feeling about going running before practice starts sending us your running schedule and we'll wait we'll weigh you before and after practice it was like what why like why do we need to do that like it was just you yeah and when you're 15 you're going right through puberty you're trying to figure out who you are you're trying to sleep as much as you can because you're like in a growth spurt that's why i say i'm short because i miss my growth spurt because too busy training period skipped right over it yeah skipped right over it so i think that type of culture that like kind of breeds you to be like you're never going to be thin enough and it's always going to be you against the girl that's eating not so great but looking way better than you um i think that was probably the beginning of like my body image issues and like really just feeling like inadequate as an athlete and i don't think that those two things have anything to do with each other at all yeah they're very mutually exclusive yeah you can be an amazing athlete and have the amazing athlete's body like you are the amazing athlete whether or not you think that you're the ideal body shape or not like if you're doing amazing in your sport you are the ideal body shape oh i love that clip that period that was so good i mean that's i was just thinking about that as well because it's like every single sport is going to utilize different muscle groups right so yes obviously if you're like i don't know the one percent that looks insane doesn't matter what sport you do yeah like fine whatever good for you that's not everybody that's not realistic i mean swimmers i know swimmers are so insecure about like their their big lats and like their strong upper body and it's like well babe if you didn't have that you wouldn't be able to swim as fast exactly you already are the ideal body shape for your sport exactly that includes optimizing your eating because i'm not saying that like okay you can eat whatever you want if you're extra sizing you're gonna do great at your sport that's not true like everybody knows eating and your fuel how you feel your body is how the gas is gonna run it's gonna make you better you gotta put premium gas in your tank if you put premium gas yeah you will be the ideal body shape for your sport and we have nutritionists to do that for you now we have science behind it including women being studied i know hard to believe but women are being studied for these type of things about damn time optimize your eating optimize everything that you can and you will be you will be the ideal body shape but you're gonna do great at your sport that's not true like everybody knows eating and dieting but i think if you stress about it stress makes cortisol right yeah so cortisol makes more fat like it like you will the more stressed about losing weight you are the less weight you're gonna lose if that's your goal or if you're trying to gain muscle like the same thing happens in your body when you're trying to gain muscle and you're so stressed about it like you're never gonna get it relax chill baby chill everything will come in its time proper time god's timing and also who gives flying fuck what you look like if you can become an olympian like hello like come on you're doing such cool stuff that it's like again your body's the least interesting thing about you yeah and i have so many girls that like in my messages every single day you know how do i lose weight how do i look a certain way i see you know my teammates looking this way and they're really good at gymnastics does that mean that i need to look that way and every single person's body is unique to them everyone's a snowflake and if you recognize that and embrace that you're gonna one compare yourself a lot less but also you're gonna struggle a lot less with that weird unrealistic expectation that you've set for yourself that like i remember comparing myself to girls who had the longest legs babe you got legs like a corgi we know this you're not gonna look like her let's be real but you're you but i'm me and i love my corgi legs now even though they love them because they allow me to do really cool stuff and like i remember i was thinking about even like i've been insecure about my arms for as long as i can remember because i've always had muscular arms because my arms are short so there's nowhere for it to go right it doesn't lean out the same way like a tall girl arms would be and i always wanted those like really stick thin pilates arms and i'm just like if you had those babe you would not be able to do 10 pull-ups exactly you wouldn't be able to hold your body weight in a handstand like get fucking real it's not realistic so i think yeah like just remembering that and hearing you say like a literal olympian who's already done it you've already been to the pinnacle the peak of your sport you saying that holds weight in the best way so you should be really proud of yourself for already figuring that out and it didn't happen overnight until like i was like 22 maybe to be like wait i don't have to constantly do that i don't have to constantly do that i don't have to constantly be trying to lose weight like that isn't like a constant state of being of being like okay how many calories are you am i eating what are my macros like yeah how much do i weigh today oh my god did i had get enough fluids are these fluids gonna affect if i weigh in do i weigh in now or do i wait in the morning do i wait until after i have to take a shit or not like it's like why am i so anxious like go to practice like yeah and i bet your cortisol was like through the roof and just combating all of that work that you were doing anyway so it's just like what's the point yeah what's the point and then you're actually miserable and you're like oh my god why do i resent going to practice yeah i resent if you're not having fun what's the point literally what's the point what's the point leave there's a reason why sport they call it playing yeah just play yeah field of play it is not that fucking deep it is not it is really not so but when you said that they had you running before practice can we break this down how far did you have to run how long did you have to run and then how long was your practice i don't remember i know that my practice was definitely eight hours that day because it it hasn't changed in a long time i at the time i wasn't doing team i had just joined so i was i was swimming a solo okay at the time so it was just me competing against three other girls that were trying to make the junior team that next summer but they invited us to come and train full-time so that we could get a head start try and make it for tokyo like all these different things yeah so i don't remember how much they made me run i remember my team captain right now her name is anita alvarez she's three-time olympian going for her fourth wow and she noticed me working really hard she came running with me she would come at 5 30 in the morning run with me until 6 30 we'd have practice at seven oh my god that's a freaking team leader right there yeah so that is like the epitome of like that is incredible yeah what's that saying it's like like a wolf pack is only as strong as their weakest wolf or something like that yeah and it's like you gotta lead from behind and like you're not a good leader unless you're leading from behind and i remember learning that in college at ucla and i anytime i spotted a freshman struggling like i always had that back of mind and i just would go help them and give them tips on like how to stick better you know even if they were just like beating themselves up but i could see it like they were just getting so in their head i just you know pull them aside and hype them up for a second because you're only as strong as your weakest link and also at the end of the day like it's just a sport like at the end of the day we're all human beings and we're we're gonna move on to do normal things in our life at some point and it's like i hope that you leave this sport feeling better about yourself than when you entered it and i hate that that's not the case and i think that's why these conversations need to be heard because i want people to be able to leave their sport being a better human yeah and getting so much out of it in a positive way and not leaving with all this trauma and baggage you know like look at all that you were capable of like yes let's get after the rest of your life and i hope that you're feeling better about yourself and i hope that you're feeling better about your life yes and like look at all these amazing resources we got and all these incredible tools that we learned and now we can take that with us to attack the next thing that we want to do whether that's being an entrepreneur or a doctor or whatever it is oh i love that you're so wise by the way and like so smart i'm just you inspire me just got that ucla degree baby no big deal all right i want to know what is the most important thing in your life the most outrageous thing someone has said to you because we talked about hearing a coach or anyone fucking let it rip i don't know hmm okay whatever one really like hits hits you like you you still think about it maybe to this day i think the one that kind of stuck with me the worst was that i had a coach tell me that i swam like a wet teddy bear because i was big and slow oh my god and i was i like went underwater because i was laughing because i was like this is so ridiculous i can't even take this insult seriously because that's what it was was it's not a correction you're not making me better but this is so funny that i am not that hurt but as i like kept going with practice i was like ouch what what the fuck why would you say that yeah i was like 14 15 maybe and i was like literally the most impressionable age and like i was like even i'm even i'm not gonna say some shit like that yeah even i'm not gonna say something like that to an athlete if i was a coach yeah and i know that now and you don't you know it's just like why why this doesn't make sense adults projecting is absolutely like the worst thing ever well i think that sometimes if you're a coach and something makes you angry i think they might be missing their why because like we talk i don't know i don't i don't know if you talk about this but like yes i think having a why as a coach is really important like knowing why you coach crucial why you do these things and why you give them a correction and why they need to be corrected and why they need to be corrected and why they need to know these things like as a kid like you spend so much time with your coaches like you you spend almost more time with your coaches than you do with your parents like you wake up you go to school you go to practice like that's the athlete that's the one person that you have to respect the most throughout the day is your teachers and that's one of your teachers and if not the most the more important teacher in your head right that's your coach like that's the person eight hours with yeah i don't spend eight hours with my parents i know so if your coach doesn't have a why like they don't know why they're doing this or why like they're doing it for the wrong reasons yeah for a medal or something like that yeah i don't know why they're doing this or why they're doing it for the for accolades yeah especially at that age when you're like 13 14 like maybe you're going for an olympics but if that's the case like you should be happy doing it like no medal is ever going to win you your self-confidence and it's never going to win you anything other than a piece of metal like that piece of metal should remind you of all the things you did to get there and yeah what you've become as a person like not wow look at how great i am it's wow look at how great this journey was like look at how great i am and i'm like wow look at how great this journey was like look at how great these things that i did leading up to this were it's a reflection of all those things and all those hours you put in and your dedication to your craft yeah but yeah the people that have the bad um intentions it's just it shows very quickly and sometimes they don't even know it they're just like this is a job that i picked up that i just keep going with like you're literally impacting the youth of america yeah like you are the people and figure out how to coach yeah yeah you are the shaping what they are like for the rest of their life like if you let them slack off they will now be slackers if you let them if you really discipline them like very harshly they're now afraid of ever getting any type of reprimanding you know like or you only reward them for when they succeed yeah or you only give them like positive you know feedback when you don't give them positive feedback and all of a sudden they're like well i thought that that was expected i didn't know that that was a good thing to do yeah then they're so emotionless you know like all these things like really rewarding like effort like that's the stuff that you should be rewarding like it's literally psychological warfare yeah it's crazy the i genuinely think it needs to be harder for people to get coaching jobs i know that they get paid like shit but like i think that people need to be like psychologically vetted before coaching young athletes because of how much weight comes with that responsibility yeah i've been a coach i know what that responsibility is and it's hard it's so hard it's not an easy job it's not easy to show up because like you know there's days where you want to show up and not give 100 but there's now kids that rely on you and they they show up for you you gotta show up for them and vice versa it's like if in your head like what helps you sleep at night is knowing that your kid's gonna win a medal fuck that yeah i wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing that i said that to a child yeah oh you're slow and wet and that's why you look like a wet teddy like no like what are you talking about like that's insane and i i can recall multiple things that have been said to me in the past that i'm just like i still think about and it's thankfully doesn't affect me anymore it doesn't have the same weight that it did back then but it did then but it did and it made practices harder it made my self-confidence dip it's just it sucks and i do think that coaches need to be better yeah and for the coaches that are really amazing it's sad but it's like they're rare yeah and they you keep them really close to your heart like i was devastated when my like favorite coach passed away this past year and i just remember like reflecting on all of that time i had spent with him i had spent more time with him than my own dad and i remember like kind of gaslighting myself and being like why are you so upset it's like he was basically like your second dad yeah like that's a hard loss you know so i think when you have that really positive side of it it's it's yeah you you understand like success is a lot easier when you're all working together in a positive way you're not knocking on the door you're not knocking on the door you're not knocking each other down you know um okay i kind of want to pivot okay because we're so emotional i can't i love that we're sipping um if we were to drop the labels because miss man's got a lot of labels she's an olympian she's a college student she's an icon who are you beyond your sport um i am amazing and i don't want to be ashamed to say that like i think that i am a really good advocate for people that want to get beyond their anxieties and want to calm their lives and i think i'm someone who wants to hear you out and wants to help you and sometimes that means that i'm a little bit of tough love like i'll tell you how it is i'm not going to sugarcoat it and a lot of times i'll forget that it needs a little bit of sugar you know it's a little bit too bitter but i'm a little bit of a tough love and i'm a little bit of a but i think that's a good thing and i really enjoy that about myself that i'm i'm i'm really blunt and i want to tell you how it is even if it hurts your feelings because i want you to be a better person and i want everybody around me to be a better person oh my god my girl no like that's literally to a t i think okay do you know what the enneagram is enneagram enneagram i'm gonna make you take the test i make all my friends take the test i'm an enneagram nerd i absolutely love it it's kind of like some people's you know star sign or whatever but like for me it's a person essentially there's nine types and then you can have all nine types in you but some are stronger than others i think you're type eight if you're listening and you know what enneagram is you're already listening along you're like yep period she's an eight like for real because you have that like incredible leadership and like that strong confidence within you and I it took time for me to develop it as well but like when I did I was like I took the test and I read the whole report and it just gives you so much confidence in yourself and your abilities and being like oh my gosh like that's why I'm like that or like they even tell you like it's really cool they tell you like the stuff that maybe like are not so good about your personality like yeah we can be really blunt we can sometimes like rub people the wrong way oh for sure or like people may assume that we're coming from a bad place if we like you know worded a certain way so like one we had to take it at UCLA because we it was important for us to all know each other's types so that when we approached each other we knew how to talk so like there were some people I knew on the team who were a little bit more sensitive that I had to sugarcoat more with but then on the flip side I knew that there were certain people on my team that I could be like babe we gotta get together like come on let's work on that you know and so it's really cool and powerful and I think you maybe should like maybe you should have your whole team do it that'd be so fun it'd be really it's really fun and then you can also like you you learn about who you're most compatible with on the team and like what numbers you vibe with more and like it just it make it just makes so much more sense and I remember when I first read my report I got emotional about it because I was like oh my god that's why I am the way I am and it just makes you like it's kind of like putting up a mirror and just seeing yourself truly for who you are and it's just it's very cool anyways I didn't mean to go on a whole rant no it's fine I really I really want to know what this enneagram is it's very cool you need to get into it but um okay so now that we've learned about the fact that you're amazing and I could not agree more I think that that is so important for every athlete to know that who they are outside of their sport because I didn't know who the fuck I was outside of my sport and so when COVID ended my career it was one of the most devastating things I've ever any things in my entire life I remember my ex-boyfriend picked me up in his pickup truck and drove me around for three hours and I cried that entire time because he knew he just like put sad girl music on he's like I just know and thankfully he like knew not to talk he didn't need to say anything he just drove me around and I just sobbed for literally three hours and that's good I mean so that's that's something that I feel like a lot of people don't prepare themselves for is leaving their sport and leaving a part of their identity you know like that's who they are that's who you were but that's not all that you are and like I didn't I didn't know that at the time I didn't know to develop that side of my personality because it was like I was just all in on my season I was like I'm going into my senior year it needs to be all gymnastics all the time so I genuinely pretty much threw everything else out the window I maintained my school to be a good student and obviously graduate but like I didn't think about life after sport as much as I probably should have you know and like hey it's fine you're here now that's why I'm still doing it I guess yeah but I want to fast forward five years you just finished your second olympics we're gonna we're gonna manifest for a little bit visualize so you just finished your second olympics we're in LA everyone's screaming your name right your name is in lights maybe you're on some billboards the tonight show maybe you're on the tonight show be crazy oh sorry is that jimmy kimmel jimmy kimmel get her on maybe you even won a gold medal with your team okay what now what now what now what's next well I'm just kidding I'm just kidding I'm like no um do you think that'll be it do you think you'll be done after LA I don't know I feel like it's too much pressure I think for me to think beyond this year right now I love that like if I think beyond this year trying to plan too much ahead like I kind of have everything set for right now like this year is happening next year will happen the next year will happen after that just be present yeah and enjoy it I think I don't have very many years left of the sport and I just want to cherish every single moment and that includes these three years so if I'm just like waiting for the olympics to happen I can't wait for them to happen it's like you've missed everything I missed it all and I think that's what happened before Tokyo I was really like where did my teenage years go like yeah all the time I was like I'm not gonna do it again I'm not gonna do it again I'm not gonna do it all of a sudden I'm 20 years old and I'm like what did I do like oh yeah who am I like that I think that was when I realized like right when I got to college I was like so is there more besides this because it seems like I'm starting over on a journey that ended in a big heartbreak right now yeah and I still don't know what I'm doing here I still don't know who I am I don't have any friends besides my teammates and now everybody has left me yeah so if I was finishing if I was finished with LA I think I'd be really sad yeah and just like I'd want to be able to go out and club with my friends yeah period go out and like really celebrate all these 15 years now oh whoa like 15 years of being on national team and like representing my country like yeah that'd be crazy like I I want to be able to give really small girls the chance to dream big because I'm not the ideal body type but I was the deal mentality and I made it happen oh my god what a good quote I mean I'm gonna quote you you're welcome from here on out like I love that and you have such a good approach to sport as well I feel like that's why you're still doing it because you have such a good mindset I think otherwise if you were to be toxic and kind of feed into all the bullshit that you know maybe we used to feed into yeah you probably wouldn't still be doing it yeah you'd be too miserable if I was focused on results I would for sure have quit a long time ago wow like for sure like there's no way I would be doing this if it was about results because I feel like after a while I was like like okay why am I doing this like found my why like okay I want to have fun why do I want to have fun because I want to do this with my friends okay why do I want to do with my friends because I want to learn something from it and I want to come on the other side like oh my god I'm an amazing person now like and I'm not perfect like my perfect and I know y'all are gonna watch this and I know I know you'll be like oh yeah Dani she's amazing but like I want to be able to share that like you can have self-confidence and not feel like oh like I have to be humble all the time like you're allowed small is so overrated I know you're allowed to be to sit at the head of the table and be like I belong here I love like I I choose to be here because I want to be here and I deserve to be here and if someone shuts you down okay like it's not my time right now but your time will come I love that I love that oh my gosh you're incredible we've literally covered like all of my questions yay I need to keep looking wait okay wait I have a question for you what what what do you think is the main thing that you want to see young girls come out of their sport with like the main thing you want them to feel when they come out of this we're like oh I really got better at this or I really I really persevered through this like what do you think that you want from that I love that question first of all I think I think something that I would love to impact young athletes to feel is proud of every single try doesn't matter what it is try because there's so many times in my life where I was so scared to try because I just predicted the outcome and what that created was this mentality of I probably can't do it because it's kind of what you're telling yourself is well I don't want to try in case I fail I don't want to try in case I fail it's like so then you're confirming that you think that you're gonna fail and I had zero self-confidence and so I think something I really try to implement now when I whenever I coach or mentor or work with young girls is like cutting out the self-deprecation cutting out the self-criticism and just learning how to enjoy trying and trying new things and I think that's the main reason why I get so fired up to try new sports and try new hobbies and try you know work new workouts whatever it is because one I get to capture it from my audience and show them like hey it's not so scary it's actually really important to develop your confidence and to develop just yourself as a whole to just get out of your comfort zone and grow you're never gonna grow if you don't try yeah and I wish I learned that sooner have you heard of the or like I don't remember where I saw this I'm definitely not gonna be able to quote something at you because I'm not like that oh you're so good I'm not like that either but there's a Theodore Roosevelt quote that's like the real credit belongs to the man in the arena not the person that's talking about it oh so the more that you try like the person that has been through all of it they're the one with the credit like you deserve the credit because you've tried to do it and you come out the victor yeah it doesn't matter how many times you lost because you still won yeah no 100 percent and I know this is kind of wild to say but it's like I literally would not be sitting here with you if I didn't push myself out of my comfort zone time and time again for an entire year because doing this was like the scariest thing ever and it's so out of my comfort zone and like every single day has been such a journey for me mentally and emotionally because it's it I don't know it just like requires so much self-confidence to just be like an entrepreneur and just fucking send it and try something that like is so different than like your normal day to day stuff like I could you know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know easily stay in my comfort zone make good money doing my normal content and do that till the day I die would that be fine? Sure. You wouldn't be fulfilled. I wouldn't be fulfilled. And I also think that I was put on this earth to use my voice and I haven't used my voice yet. And I'm like, I'm fucking over it. I'm done shutting up. I want to use my voice and I want to make a difference. Let's get you that mic girl. It's time. It's time to use your voice. Yeah. So I think that's probably the, I hopefully I answered your question. You definitely did. Try new things and use your voice. So we're going to answer some questions together. Are you ready? Yeah, I'm ready. All right. Have you encountered any unpleasant experiences where artistic athletes get sexualized? Yes. I actually made a big post or I guess it wasn't posted as an Instagram rant because NBC posted a like compilation of everything. It was like a slow-mo of all of the Olympic routines, but it was, um, artistic swimming provocative. And I was like, what? Provocative. That's not a word you should use. Why are you using the word provocative? How are we provocative? NBC used that word? Yeah. What? Yeah. And I was like, I need to see this. That's crazy. What the hell? Like why? Like we're not being provocative at all. None of these routines have anything to do with anything sexual. We're just women. In swimsuits. Yeah. We're just women in swimsuits. Sue us. That's crazy work. And also like, maybe it's easier in gymnastics because you guys are dry all the time, but like, there's no like glue that we can put to like, make sure like the suit doesn't ride up our butt or like, like things move around all the time. People's swimsuits get unclasped sometimes and you just have to keep going. Oh my gosh. Like you need to keep going. If there's a nip slip, you just keep going. You just keep going. Power through the nip slip. Yeah. And that's happened before. That's crazy. Like you accidentally like brush somebody the wrong way. Wow. It's gone. Oh shit. And it's live. There's nothing you can do. Oh shit. But that hasn't happened. And it didn't happen at this, in this video. And it's just us giving Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl. Yeah. So for them to call us provocative, I was like, NBC. I wonder why they use that word. I literally no idea. Like do they have to maybe put it as a disclosure so that they didn't like get it taken down? Like that's bizarre to me. I have literally no idea. It was the weirdest thing. And I like, I can totally relate to that because like, I felt like I worked so hard to eliminate the sexualization of my sport. Like I feel like I've tried to really shift the energy around gymnastics and make it more fun and like hard. Like literally like this is fucking hard. This sport is a sport. So like stop commenting about my body and start like acknowledging what's happening. And like there have been so many times in videos even like now obviously living online and putting my life out there every day. It's like I do get comments where it's like, I don't know what's happening. I don't know what's happening. Where it's just like, I will be doing the most insane gymnastics skill. People are like, damn, her ass is fat. It's like, can we not? I know. That's all you got from that. Like, are we kidding? Yeah. It's just shit like that that I'm like, you need to go to a therapist and like maybe get, I don't know, get help. Yeah. Go get help. Like we're still sexualizing women in 2026. Like we need to touch. Like there's a place for this and it's not on my page. No. And it's not on the ABC sports. And I'm not asking for it either. If I were like posting asking for it, like if I was being sexual. Like sure. Then fine. Comment all you want, but also go away. Respectfully. Fuck off. Yeah. Our favorite non-athletic hobby. All my shit is athletic. Well, I was gonna say like beach volleyball. I'm like, wait, that's athletic. Um, okay. I have one. Okay. Go ahead. I really enjoy like arts and crafts and painting. I'm not the best at painting and I'm really OCD arts and crafts, but I really enjoy it. And I want to start scrapbooking this year. And like, like I told you how I want to have all my accomplishments, like in one place, I'm going to make an accomplishment scrapbook. Yeah. So I'm gonna like print out all like really cool moments. Like when I walked my first red carpet, I'm going to have like a page for that and stuff like that. Nice. Yeah. Just so like when I get older and like, maybe I'm a grandma, I can be like, look at all the cool stuff your grandma did. I don't know. Well, yeah. You'd be a banging grandma. You'd be a hot grandma. Oh, well, Lorraine looks amazing. My mom. So. Oh, perfect. Can't wait. I want to meet Lorraine. Oh, she's such a job. We gotta give, she's gotta give us the skincare routine. Oh, period. No, literally everyone was commenting on my story with her recently. And they were like, is she aging in reverse? Like what's going on? Literally. I'm like, she's just an icon and she's gotten zero work done. She's like literally my inspo. So yeah, that's inspo. Both my parents just so healthy. And so I feel like that's, I live that lifestyle because I've watched that live it. Yeah. And I want to be that type of parent for my kids too. What about you? What's your non-athletic hobby? Well, I am an art major. So I also do painting. Yeah. I do paintings. I do sculpture. I do sculptures. Um, I really, really love journaling. I've been journaling for a long time. Cool. So, so you're into writing. Yeah. I really, really love writing. I'm writing a book right now. What? Oh my God. Yeah. Oh, I'm going to be the first one to buy it. Okay. Good. I know a lot of really good publishers. Oh, that's good to know. Also our producer is also an author. So you can talk to him after. Period. Yay. Networking. Yeah. Yeah. All right. What is a common misconception about you? About me? Well, about both of us. I'm going to answer too. I got a thing on it too. A misconception. It's kind of a lot. Ooh, I think a big misconception about me, and I guess I kind of, I guess this is kind of my fault. Um, I, a lot of people think that I am extremely, extremely confident in myself at all times. Um, because I think I portray that. And obviously everything that I'm doing, I am confident in to some degree, but like, I don't show the like mornings before I go do those things or the moments where I changed my outfit 10 times. Like literally my producer saw me change like my outfit different time. I, I like closed the door, walked back out a different outfit and he's like different outfit. Okay. I'm like, just to film this episode. Yeah. You know, it's just like, I don't share that enough. I, I really hope that with this podcast and this new outlet, I'm, I learned to be braver with my vulnerability. And so, yeah, I think that's a big misconception about me. I always have it together and I'm definitely not, I do not always have it together. And I'm also very type A. So like, I look like I have it together because I have gone over every single thing to avoid slipping. Hmm. I feel like that's very similar to me. Like, I feel like people always think that I have it together. I'm like, girl, do you know what it took to get here? Like I cried 30 minutes ago. I know. Seriously. Like this is not, not as simple stuff. So I definitely like, I relate to that a lot. But when I think of like a misconception, I feel like people think that I'm very aggressive because of the, whatever we were talking about. Yeah. Number eight being type eight. Yeah. We are aggressive. I think that I'm just, we're passionate. Yeah. Like when I really want you to know something, like I need you to know it right then. Like, yeah, you need to know this right now. I think this is very important. This is going to happen right now. See, but for me, I love people like that. I'm like, give it to me straight. Tell me right now. Don't sugarcoat it. I don't want, cut the bullshit. Yeah. Tell me exactly what you mean. Tell me how you feel. Yeah. And I've had people literally beat around the bush with me and I'm like, girl, just tell me what is it? Yeah. I shouldn't have to like, it's not like pulling teeth to get it out of you. Like just tell me I can take it. I do think that it rubs people the wrong way a lot of the time. Which is like very frustrating because I feel like I'm being kind and I feel like I want them to know that like, this is because I love you. Like I literally, like I'm obsessed with you. Like I want you to be amazing. The best version of you. Yeah. But a lot of the time, like maybe sometimes it's just like either not the right moment or I'm, I'm coming from a bad place. Like I don't know everything about what I'm saying. So I'm saying something wrong in the right moment, in like the wrong moment, you know, like, um, I think it's tough too. When, if you are extremely successful in your sport, you're not going to be the best version of yourself. You're not going to be the best person in your sport, which you are. And you've been around for as long as you have. I think maybe if they're younger, they're newer, they're just more insecure, like outside looking in, like you look like you have it all together. So then maybe just they're like, what does she know? She always has it together. You know, like she doesn't know what it feels like to experience the things that I'm experiencing outside of practice. So maybe like, I guess my advice to you would be like, maybe just be more vulnerable with them, but like outside of the pool and outside of practice so that they know that you're coming from a good place. Because that's something that I learned. And like, obviously we're extremely similar. So I'm just literally telling you what worked for me and building better like relationships with my teammates because yeah, they would always be like, I'm sure they probably talk behind my back, like Gracie, such a bitch. But like at the end of the day, like it all came from love. It all came out of my heart. And I think just continuing to express that and also good taking the time outside of that practice to like grab a cup of coffee with them. Yeah. And just be like, Hey, how are you doing? Human to human, cut the, you know, pull stuff out of it. No more sports. Like, let's just be real with each other. I want you to know that I was coming from a good place, that my intentions were pure. And I hope that you know that. And like, I think that alone speaks volumes to like your character and who you are and obviously your intentions behind it, you know? So like, I don't know, that was just something that really helped me like moving forward as a leader because I wanted to help people and I wanted to lead and I realized that I was good at it. And that's why I got into coaching and I got into mentoring and like, but understanding how to do it. Yeah. Especially when we do have pretty strong personalities. It's sometimes hard for people, but I think it's important that like once you channel it, it's, you're unstoppable. Yeah. It's so cool. Okay. If you didn't do your sport, what sport would you do? Diving. Oh, I was going to say diving. But then I also thought about how I would have to be in chlorine and I'm like, nah, I don't really know. She was complaining so much. We had to get in the pool. She was like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. She was like, how do you do this every day? You're going to be like wet and like wet hair. I hate being wet. I don't like it. It's the worst. And then your skin is all scratchy and itchy afterwards and your hair gets wet. Yeah. Imagine doing it for seven hours, eight hours a day. And my hair touches my back. And like, sometimes you're looking at the coaches for so long, your face dries. So then you're itchy and then you have to put it back in the water. So it's like even more itchy. You start getting hives. I'd get overstimulated. Absolutely not. Yeah. And then you can't like, well, you guys still look really cute when you, when you perform, like you just crazy. I need you to drop the makeup routine right away. Oh, crazy. Love L'Oreal. Um, but yeah, I, I would say I was thinking about it. Obviously you guys know I'm on my beach volleyball journey right now, so it would be really fun. Everyone makes fun of me though. Cause I'm very short. So they're like you beach volleyball. I'm like, guys, I'm close to the ground. I can get the guys. Don't underestimate me. Yeah. Libero. Yeah. Yeah. I'll blow you out I honestly, I feel really good. Yay. I don't have anything else for you. Yeah. This has been amazing. Any takeaways? Um, I feel like everything that we've talked about one has come back to self-confidence and two has come back to remembering like why you're doing something and what you can get out of it. Not just the result that you want out of it, but what you want from the process and what you want from the actual act of doing it every day. Yep. Um, and that's like your life, your, like your sport, like all of the things that you want to do in a breakup. Like what are, what are you doing for yourself and why are you doing this? And like, do you know yourself well enough to know that this is the healthiest thing that you could do for yourself? Because that kindness that you have to keep going in your life with like that goes in everything. Oh my God. Everything. Everything. So, and the moment you hate yourself is when everything falls apart. Yeah. You gotta be your best friend. You gotta be your, your biggest supporter. And that's how you are going for a second Olympics is you're going to be out on that stage and yeah, you'll be with your teammates, but at the end of the day, like you'll be with yourself. Yeah. And I pray that you figure out this mental block. I know that it's tough. It's I'm working through it. Like it's, I know that this fear is never going to go away because it was there before and it's going to be there after, but I can't be brave if I'm not afraid. Right. So it's time to be brave. I love it. I'm so proud of you. And I can't wait to see all the amazing things that you do. Be sure to follow her on Instagram and follow subscribe to my YouTube channel so that you can see all the visuals. Um, cause we look freaking gorgeous right now. Okay. So if you want to see, I didn't do my makeup for y'all not to see this. No, literally period. Like come on over here. I didn't do my heatless curls for you to not watch us on YouTube. I'm so jealous of heatless girls. Look at this. Are you kidding? You're a vision. All right. Well, I love you guys so much. I'll see you next Wednesday. Bye. Bye.