How Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Rewrote the Rules for Working Mothers in Sports

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I go home and I ball. I ball like ball. And it's not because I'm a sore loser cuz I'm not a sore loser. But it's it's a grieving process.

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That I think as athletes and as human is necessary for us to get it out because you have to understand as an athlete with a champion mindset. I don't train to lose. We never train to lose.

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Athlete with a champion mindset. I don't train to lose. We never train to lose.

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Right? I don't go in an exam thinking I'm going to fail. Nobody does that. And I believe as a successful athlete,

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You also have to grieve the process because you have to now go home and you have to sit with yourself and you have to let that out because I don't want to carry it with me.

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Yes. Double should goosebumps.

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[music]

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Your path is your path. Stay committed. Stay focused. Be disagreeable, optimistic, and relentless.

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[music]

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All right, welcome to Less Than One Percent. You can tell things are a little bit different. Studio looks a little bit different and it's... But don't tell anybody I'm in Jamaica, okay? So, don't tell everybody at work. I'm actually still in Dallas working. This is a virtual Jamaica scene.

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But no, seriously, I'm in Jamaica. I'm here with the wonderful, amazing, champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

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Hi. Thank you so much for coming.

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Thank you. Thanks for having me. This is a long time coming.

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A long time. You know, nothing happens before it's time. So, I'm glad we actually got to do it in Jamaica.

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As opposed to—

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Yes. Tell us where we're at right now.

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Yes. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean because I'm a little bit of a stalker and so—

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[laughter]

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That pays off sometimes. No, but seriously, you were so gracious. Thank you for being on. And you know the show is about a lot of people who are underestimated. A lot of people who, you know, people think that they can't do things.

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And so I think with all you have accomplished, it's amazing. But it wasn't always like that. I mean, you really worked hard to get to where you are.

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Very hard to get to this point.

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Yeah.

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I've had to overcome environmental issues as well as personal and emotional issues to kind of get to this point. I grew up in Waterhouse and I can say I love my community with all my heart.

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But at the same time, it wasn't easy to love when you were in it because the reality is, you're young. All you can see is poverty around you. So you're almost like, "Is this going to be my reality? Is this going to be what it is going forward?"

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And you can't see anything else outside of that. And while I had a close family because I lived in what was called a tenement yard—

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So where aunts, uncles, cousins, all of us were there. And it was lovely. I enjoyed every moment of being there.

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But then it was hard when you're now by yourself and you're sitting by yourself and you're thinking, "All right, my bathroom is outside."

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I have to wait until somebody else finishes showering because we have to line up. Everybody wants to shower at the same time.

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So it was hard to see beyond that.

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So for me, being able to now see myself in this position, I can tell you that it took a lot of hard work, a lot of sacrifice, a lot of self-belief—

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—and also trusting God's word.

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True because it's easy to say you have faith, but a lot of persons, when they're faced with circumstances, that faith is thrown out the window. So for me, you being here is a moment that says, you know, I never gave up.

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And I'm glad that I had people in my corner that believed even when I didn't at the time. They were sowing good seeds in my life, and you're holding on to it and you're like, "All right then."

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Yeah, man. You believe in me. I don't believe yet, but we'll get there. So, I'm grateful to be in this position.

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So, it's funny you said people believe in you before you believe in yourself.

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Correct.

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I told you yesterday you liked one of my daughter's posts before we even met. Just watching you in awe.

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I told you she's 5 foot 3 and 2% body fat, and I think she posted something. You liked it just randomly.

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Oh my gosh. To this day she said, "When you're there, tell her that she liked my post."

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I said, "She knows she liked your post." I think the idea that people support us even before we know who we're going to be is so amazing. And you did that last night.

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...

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Yes. So, the Pocket Rocket Foundation was born in 2013 because of individuals who saw more in me and created space, access, and guidance to help me get to this point.

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So I never take the help and the journey for granted because I knew from an early stage what went into it.

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Having the Pocket Rocket Foundation is about creating lasting change. It's not just for athletes who want to run fast, but for athletes who want to create impact, build community, and develop holistically.

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Because I think for a lot of us, we think it's just about winning, medals, and accolades.

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But what about life after that? How are we inspiring our generation?

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It's not just about inspiration. It's about guidance and the people who pour into you.

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I've used the journey I've been on to inspire them to say, "It doesn't matter how you start."

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Sometimes you get a rocky start, and you have to pick yourself up and go again.

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At every juncture of my life, I've been able to show them that whatever success I have also belongs to you.

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Having the Pocket Rocket Foundation has given me the platform to really invest in and pour into these student athletes because I didn't have a lot of that growing up.

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So it's something I never take for granted.

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I come in, I sit down, and I'm very intentional about what I do with the foundation.

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It's not something I'm doing just to pass time, and it's definitely not something I'm doing to evade taxes.

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[laughter]

Right? This is something I'm passionate about, something I love, something I put my own money into.

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It's not something that just looks good or adds to my résumé. It's something I'm invested in.

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The Student Athlete Summit that we just had was our second one, and it brings student athletes from all across Jamaica together, representing different sports.

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If there's one thing that's true across every sport, it's that if you don't have discipline, work ethic, and commitment, it's not going to get done.

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They're already on common ground. So we bring them together, inspire them, and give them real skills and resources they can use.

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We're at a different stage globally when it comes to sports.

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There are so many opportunities out there, and athletes need the information to make the right choices.

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Because a lot of us didn't choose properly. We chose because we were trying to survive.

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When I did track and field, it was my mom who told me every single day that track was going to be my way out.

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Period.

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That was drilled into my head. Every day I'd come home, and if I didn't go to track practice, she'd make me stand outside because I wasn't coming in the house.

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She understood early that track would earn me a scholarship to go overseas.

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Mind you, I knew nothing about overseas at that time.

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The dream was to go to school in the United States and hopefully take my family out of poverty.

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That's what she saw. That was her vision.

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Sport gives you a platform. It opens doors. What you do with those opportunities is up to you.

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That's why the Pocket Rocket Foundation exists—to create lasting change, build community initiatives, and invest in early childhood institutions.

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Because I've lived it, and I've seen the impact that investing in people can have.

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That's amazing.

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You didn't just fly in, show up, and leave.

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You walked to every single table. You spoke to every student.

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What impressed me most was that you knew their stories.

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You pointed out a student, and you knew everything about them—their journey, their sport.

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Honestly, I thought you probably even knew their grades.

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That's a testament to who you are.

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You don't live in Dallas, New York, Miami, or LA.

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You live in the place that raised you.

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That's important.

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Everything about me is homegrown. I went to school in Jamaica. I went to college in Jamaica.

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Every coach I've ever had is Jamaican.

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Everything about me says Jamaica because Jamaica raised me.

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I love being able to give back, and I love knowing who I'm giving back to. I want to know your story. I want to know what makes you unique.

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Every year we check in with our students—not just the current ones, but everyone who's come through the foundation.

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We ask them, "Where are you now? What are you doing? How's school? What's been going on?"

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They share their accomplishments in sports, academics, and life.

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One young lady had just graduated from St. John's University.

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There are so many stories, and for me, that's my fuel.

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Knowing I've helped create opportunities for them to do more and become more.

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Whatever I want for myself, I want for them.

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When they thank the Pocket Rocket Foundation for a scholarship, I tell them, "I'm grateful, but I want to know how you're doing. What's next? How's life?"

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The summit was actually born from conversations with the students, asking them, "What more can we do for you?"

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They shared their ideas, and we listened.

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We brought those ideas back to our meetings and asked, "What can we create that's different?"

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Every project we launch through the Pocket Rocket Foundation starts by listening to our student athletes.

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I'm almost, you know, big. I'm almost big. Yeah.

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I don't know what is happening in high school now. I don't know what their challenges are now. How are they navigating that space?

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When I was navigating it, I didn't have Instagram. I didn't have a whole heap of people in my ears.

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It's way different. These kids are navigating a space that's so different. Nobody knew I was training.

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The only time you knew I was training was when I ran at Champs.

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Now everybody has a peek inside your life. Everybody has a comment. Whether it's criticism or something else, somebody is adding to the conversation in your life.

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You want to know what they're internalizing and what they're taking from all of that because it's a different space to navigate.

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We just want to meet them where they are, provide access, give them resources, and help them through their journey.

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Provide them with the tools to win because make no mistake—I want them to win.

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I'm competitive. I want to win.

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And winning looks different for everybody. We all win at different moments and in different ways.

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So that's the joy for me.

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You've obviously had a great impact on my daughter, who's at Boston College playing basketball.

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And you've had a great impact on so many students. I met them all, and they're amazing.

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Has there been one story that's really impacted you?

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There are a lot of stories that come out of the Pocket Rocket Foundation.

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During Hurricane Beryl was when I really got to see what some of our student athletes were facing.

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We visited a young man at Wolmer's Boys' School after the hurricane, and his mom showed me their home situation.

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You don't know these things because they don't tell you.

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They're content with what they have. They're fine. They're still excelling regardless.

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But we still want to know.

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One young lady I'd have to mention is Tashika Young. She joined us from Manning's High School in Westmoreland.

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She lost her home, and her school was devastated because of Hurricane Beryl.

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You would think someone so young would buckle under that kind of stress, the relocation, and everything that came with it.

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But she didn't.

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She has the kind of tenacity I wish I had at her age.

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We visited her while she was staying with her aunt in Red Gate District near St. Elizabeth.

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At the time, we were delivering care packages and helping families affected by the hurricane.

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She wanted to go back to school, but her school wasn't ready to reopen.

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Mrs. Colleen Montique, the principal at Wolmer's Girls' School, was also my principal and now serves on the Pocket Rocket Foundation board.

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We approached her and asked if Tashika could temporarily enroll at Wolmer's until she decided what to do next.

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We spoke with her parents, and they agreed. She had an aunt living in Portmore, so we transferred the funding to Wolmer's.

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She moved to Kingston and started at Wolmer's.

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You never would have known she hadn't been there from first form.

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She wasn't afraid. She got her uniform, sent us a picture, and walked in like she'd been there her whole life.

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That's the kind of adaptability I want students to have—to know that circumstances and obstacles will come, but we have to find a way to rise.

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We have to find a way to pivot and discover our strength in those moments.

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I'm always inspired by her—the way she carries herself, the way she speaks, and the way she commands a room.

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It's a privilege to play a small part. I'm not taking the credit. Her parents, her school, and her community nurtured her.

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It's an honor for us to help her get to the point where one day the world will know her name.

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I hope our student athletes learn that challenges will come, but they get to decide how they move through those challenges.

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Yeah.

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I'm an emergency doctor. In my job, when something bad happens, I'm supposed to run toward it while everyone else is running away.

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You're in that same camp. You ran toward the people who needed you most.

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It's another connection between us. It feels like this conversation was destined to happen.

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My father went to Manning's.

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My mother went to Wolmer's.

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I've been accused of having Wolmer's tendencies.

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We claim you.

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One thing that's deeply rooted in Jamaican culture is where you went to school. It becomes part of who you are.

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Growing up in Toronto, I'd see people going to Manning's reunions 40 years after graduating.

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I was like, "What are you all doing?"

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Jamaicans take high school seriously.

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I think my school is the only school that exists. If my son could go to the all-girls school, I'd send him there.

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I went to Wolmer's High School for Girls, and I have to say—it was transformational.

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Coming from Waterhouse, the culture shock was real.

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In Waterhouse, you went to the corner shop, not the supermarket.

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You bought half a stick of butter, a few eggs, whatever your family needed.

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I'd never been to a supermarket until I was older.

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I'd walk everywhere. My mother rode a bicycle. I walked to the bus stop every day.

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I was taking the bus by myself from the age of three.

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That's the life I lived.

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Then I put on the blue-and-white Wolmer's uniform and entered a completely different world.

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Most of the students spoke standard English. Their parents dropped them off at school.

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People were getting 90s like it was normal.

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It forced me to elevate my game.

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You fake it until you make it. You go to the library. You study. You learn.

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It was completely different from the environment I went home to.

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At home, my mom, my brothers, my grandmother, and my aunts all shared a very small space.

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My room had one bed, a little couch, and our TV sat on top of a barrel.

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Back then, my grandmother would send barrels home from England.

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Those barrels became TV stands, tables—everything.

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That's what I knew.

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Then I entered an environment where I had to act differently.

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I remember my first principal, Mrs. Pamela Harrison.

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Every morning my mom would put powder on my neck before school to keep me cool and smelling fresh.

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[laughter]

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I had a long commute—walking, buses, markets—before I got to school.

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...

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I wasn't allowed to take a taxi because of safety, so I walked.

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It was a lot of walking.

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My mom even gave me a washcloth to wipe my face when I got sweaty.

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I walked into school with powder on my neck and the washcloth in my hand.

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Mrs. Harrison stopped me and asked, "Why are you carrying a washcloth? Why do you have powder on your neck?"

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She told me to go to the bathroom and wipe it off.

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I never wore powder on my neck to school again.

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She also told me to stop carrying my bag across my shoulder.

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My first school bag was secondhand because my mother couldn't afford a new one.

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She said, "Aren't you a lady? Please act like one."

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"Carry yourself like a lady."

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Imagine growing up one way and then suddenly being placed in an environment where you had to walk differently, speak differently, and carry yourself differently.

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Wolmer's was transformational.

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Even when I got into trouble for running across the lawn or hanging out with the boys because I did track...

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...

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The teachers would always redirect me, encourage me, and remind me who I could become.

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That environment forced me to elevate.

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Even though the transition was difficult, I found people who poured into me.

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I'd spend time in the library or in teachers' offices getting support.

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Even when I tried to skip class or hide in the sick bay...

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The school nurse would remind me that I was a leader and capable of so much more.

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People kept speaking life into me.

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Mrs. Jean Coe and the Wolmer's Old Girls' Association opened doors for me.

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Because of my school, I flew on an airplane for the first time.

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I went to Penn Relays for the first time.

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My entire family came to the airport to see me off.

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They were so excited.

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When I say Wolmer's was transformational, I truly mean it.

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They poured into me academically, athletically, and personally.

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I see you pouring into your students, but I want to shift gears a little.

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I don't just see you as an athlete.

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Athletics opened the first door, but I believe you would've found another platform to make an impact.

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Now you're expanding that impact far beyond the track.

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I always talk about sports.

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People tell me that's all I ever talk about.

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But sports has the power to bring people together.

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It can unite people who otherwise would never connect.

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Tell me how you're using your platform now to change the world.

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Sport is a platform. It opens doors.

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Eventually the sport ends, but what matters is how you use that platform afterward.

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It's about creating opportunities and opening doors for other people.

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Showing them there's another way.

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Early in my career, I didn't advocate for myself, and I made a lot of mistakes.

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I don't want the next generation to repeat those mistakes.

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I figured out another way, and now I want to share it.

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Your experiences become lessons for the next generation.

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There are many different paths that can take you to the same destination.

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Getting there faster doesn't always mean getting there better.

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Sport has given me a platform to create opportunities for student athletes, women, mothers, and entrepreneurs.

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It's helped me elevate others—and myself.

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Because you can't pour from an empty cup.

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You have to develop yourself before you can pour into others.

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When speakers came to my school, I used to sit in the back and ignore them.

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I'd think, "You grew up uptown. What do you know about my life?"

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I couldn't relate to them.

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Looking back, they were right.

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But it took me time to believe it.

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If someone from my own community had stood in front of me, I would've believed them immediately.

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"If she made it, maybe I can too."

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That's why it's important that I use my platform to impact communities and remind young girls that success isn't just for me.

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Success belongs to you too.

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Just because your bathroom is outside today doesn't mean it can't be inside five or ten years from now.

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If you dream of becoming an Olympic champion, it's possible.

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If you dream of being both a mother and an athlete, it's possible.

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If you want to start a business, it's possible.

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That's what sport has given me—the opportunity to show others what's possible.

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People together that comes from different background to be able to sit at the same table and all of us feel like we belong. Right? And that's the door that sports open. It's just for us to be able to understand that when

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you're in it and you're in the sport, do not limit yourself to just the sport.

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find another avenue or find another interest that you love and you can pour into because again who you are as a person will remain and the sports will go and you have to now find a way to channel all of that

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hard work, that discipline, that consistency. You have to find a way now to put it in something else. And what

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greater way to do it than investing in people who are otherwise just sitting down and feeling like I can't I need

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some inspiration. Help them find the inspiration cuz I'm going to tell you sometime the inspiration is just not enough. It's not enough that you talk

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about it, but it's enough when you show them. Creating the summit, creating a six aside football competition in my

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community where inner city boys can come together and play football and understand that it don't make no sense to kill off each other argues.

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Right? So that's what it does in an inner city or in a community. When you use that celebrity and that impact to build a school, that's what sports does.

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When you're able to use that sport to create another access where kids can get scholarships to go to school, I can tell

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you there are people who have done way more. Yes, they have been given medals and they've done all of that and they've win World Cup and they've won all of it.

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accolades, but there are other young people will hear the story to say, "Hey, did you know that X bought me my first shoe? I am who I am because somebody bought me a shoe, bought me a bag, bought me a uniform, invested in me."

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That's amazing. You you talked yesterday about um something you were you you were forced in a box. I like I like to use

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the term box and people tell me, you know, that I couldn't be a CEO. They tell me I couldn't do, you know, all these different things they tell me. I

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actually love when they tell me that cuz I hold grudges and I remember all their names. But yeah, I always I'm an elephant. I I have good memory.

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I forgive, but I and I always for I'm sorry. I forget, but I You forgive. I forgive, but I never forget.

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I mean, we can debate that another No, no, no. I'm I'm I have issues. I have issues. [laughter] No, no, no.

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Let's this is Yeah, you can interview me next time [laughter] because uh but so lots of boxes, right?

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Yeah.

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The Waterhouse box, right? The the the small, you know, athlete box, right? There's lots of boxes that I think you and I can think about that

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where we we transcended those boxes. But the one the one I want to talk about is the the mom and athlete box. You mentioned it yesterday that that people

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were really looking at you like you had to make a choice and you and you said I don't know what it is with women. Yeah.

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I don't know what it I think as women we have to I think our portion is doubled for some

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strange reason because the last time I checked yes I'm a mom. My husband is also a father. Why didn't you tell him

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to go and sit down? [laughter] Right. I mean the both of us will have to raise our son. So if I need to stay

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home and raise my son, my husband need to stay home and raise our son cuz we're a partner partnership, right? So I say

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that to say so when I must confess that for me personally, I was scared. When I found out I was

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pregnant, I stayed home for 10 days or a week and something because you were worried about

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I was listen I was still training remember [clears throat] I had I think I came third at the Olympic

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games. So how I am in that moment mind you coming third in Rio was the a

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big deal cuz I had to overcome so many things. I had to know that okay then even when physically I wasn't at my best

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I could use the mental space to understand that there's still things that's possible for me to achieve right and I think for me being in that space

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was hard so when I came third and I had the toe injury and I'm trying to get it better like a like the competitor that I

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am I go home and I start plot my revenge to say homie I go come back wait you just told me that I need help

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And now you [laughter] No, but that's it. But now you're plotting revenge. Yeah. That's how I am.

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Like when I lose a race, I'm going home to All right. Then I need to go do some more abs. I going run some more this. I going that.

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No names. No names.

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No. So my competitiveness is not tied to individuals. Individuals. It's a me thing. Like I feel like okay then

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I come third. All right. Then go work out fix my to go do this. Go start. and I'm planning because that's the type of

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person I am. I'm very calculating, right? So, I'm sitting down. I'm planning everything that I'm going to be doing. And then lo and behold, I'm

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pregnant. So, my 2017 plan gone out the door because I'm saying to I'm the defending champion cuz I had won the world championship before the Olympic Games.

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So, I was already going in as defending champion and I didn't need to run at the national championship back home. And if anybody know Jamaica National

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Championship, hardest championship, right? So I'm planning and then I sit down and then I hear I'm pregnant. 10

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test later buy one cheap one. So we go buy the expensive one cuz I said the cheap one is lying.

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But it wasn't lying. So I sit down. I remember I it was 2:00 in the morning when I did the test and my husband was we were sitting up and I was like Lord Jesus.

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I was scared because I'm like I don't see a lot of women in track having babies and coming back and running

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worse. Well, not worse. I was going to be turning 30. And I don't know what is it about the world when women turn 30,

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but them all of a sudden feel like at the end of a world war pack it up. They're like, "Pack it up.

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Go and have a seat." So all of those thing together was creating an environment in my head that says, "Man,

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I'm sad." So instead of being grateful and you know in that moment cuz my my husband wanted to be a father for a very long

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time, right? So instead of being grateful and for the gift and you know all of that I I remember calling my

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pastor and I said boy the man said the show and the man scream and I said all calm down him said no no no he's excited

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and I said Lord no don't be excited

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[laughter]

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because I'm planning to come back and I said how am I going to tell my coach how am I going to tell people right I was still training so I remember going to

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training in big jacket but it wasn't new right because we train in Jackie cuz early in the morning is very cold

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and I my my training program was tailored because of my toe injury. So it was fine to see me miss a day or two and

39:03

whatnot. So you know eventually I I accepted that I was pregnant for true but I knew at that moment that I was

39:11

coming back. I'm as stubborn as they come very stubborn from I was very young very stubborn. Mother said don't do it and say me do it. You can't stop me.

39:20

That's the kind of mentality I have.

39:22

Right. So I remember saying I'm coming back and as I train up to about five or 6 months and then you say you know what my body has been doing this for years.

39:30

I'll be fine for the next 6 months. Took the time off and I enjoyed my pregnancy. Rough but I enjoyed my pregnancy. Right.

39:36

And I decided I was coming back. Nobody was stopping me. So I had my son via C-section which is something I didn't plan for. Yeah.

39:43

So that kind of delayed me going back to training. But I knew it in my head that I was coming back. So when everybody was saying, "Oh, Shel just stay home and be a mom." Oh, she won Olympics already.

39:52

She won world champion. She'll be fine.

39:54

Whose whose life is it? It's my life. I get to decide, right? Why can't I have both? Why can't I be an athlete and a mom?

40:03

Why why can't I choose to do what I want to do, right? And the thing about me is nobody absolutely nobody writes this story but me and God.

40:16

And for me, there's only two things can happen. You're going to win or you not go. You going to work or you not go

40:23

work. Two things. The world doesn't stop. It doesn't end. There's nothing that happens if that any of those

40:30

scenarios play out. You get to live again. You get to fight again. And you go on, you go on. You go on until you decide you want to stop.

40:38

So when I had my son, I can tell you my son changed my life.

40:43

Right. I think he mellowed me out. It was an opportunity now to show I think my son when he looks back I want to tell

40:50

him that I became better because of you because I think a lot of person and we grow up like that where in an inner city

40:57

where you hear your mother say Lord if do this we hear that a lot where parents

41:03

say oh if tree pne for do this no I am better because of my child right and I

41:11

always want him to know that and when he's older he can sit down and go on YouTube like I'm going on YouTube now and think him can exercise him can hear

‍

41:16

me saying that Zion Price is the best thing that happened to me. He made me work harder. I was more, you know,

41:28

committed. I was dedicated because I had something to prove to myself that I believed it that I could come back,

41:35

right? And I trained and I trained and I was being a mom and I never at one I didn't sacrifice my son for track so

41:42

people can I he was along for the ride every step of the way. I was tugging along my with my son go everywhere put

41:49

my stroller and the back anywhere my son because it was important for me to make

41:55

sure that I was 100% in all spaces at home I was 100% there a training 100%

42:04

right because those things are important to me to understand that motherhood is a it's it's part of who we are you can be

42:11

a mom can be a wife you can be an entrepreneur you can be a leader leader, you can be an activist, you can be an athlete, you can be all of it and that makes you woman. Full stop.

42:23

I think you might want to drop the mic now. Take it [laughter] and throw it on the ground. You know, I think what's interesting about that balance, I hate the term balance.

42:33

Oh, because I love us, too.

42:35

I love what you say, right? I feel like as a parent, I'm 100% when I'm there. I'm 100% at everything in everything.

42:42

And and yeah, I mean, are there sacrifices? Of course. But when you have a goal, when you it's a fulfillment.

42:47

It's not People said they're burned out, but there's no burnout when you have something greater that you're focused on.

42:52

Mhm. And something that you're passionate about.

42:54

Yeah. But I have a I ask this question of everybody and I have an idea what my answer would be, but I ask everybody what their superpower is.

43:05

Okay? And I'll describe it so you can think. Okay?

43:07

A superpower for me is something that is intrinsic to you. Only you can do.

43:12

You're the best at it. And it also doesn't you don't lose any energy. So what would you say that your superpower is?

43:19

Oh, what would I say my superpower is? I think my superpower would have to be I would have to say why I say resilience.

43:26

Like for me it no matter what environment, circumstances,

43:33

obstacles, disappointment, I will bounce back.

43:38

Yes, that's my superpower. You can count on it. You can bet on it. You can put your house on it. The man them used to say in my community that every time I go into a

43:47

championship to run them the store betal that's the spirit that I have. It

43:56

doesn't matter what it looks like. I am going to come back. I am bouncing back.

44:02

The ability to adapt. That's me. Like I can What's the lady name that come in? X-Man. The lady the shape shifter lady.

44:11

Oh yeah yeah yeah. Oh yeah. I can take the space of the wall if take the space of the wall. I can be the table. Yes. The chair.

44:14

Yes. Yeah. That mystique. Yes. Mystique. I Mystique. Yeah.

44:24

That's my super power. [laughter] Like don't ever call.

44:28

So if you're if you're casting the next Mystique.

44:31

Yeah. Me. [laughter] No. That's my superpower because that's how I grew up. Like I'm in a hard

44:38

environment. I found a way. I went to the world championship as a reserve the next year as Olympic champion.

44:46

I won the world championship the the year after I had surgery. I removed my appendix the March of me winning the

44:54

Olymp world championship title in August.

44:58

The ability to find a way to adapt because here's what I learned growing up in Waterhouse.

45:06

First of all, God loves me. I know that my pastor used to say I'm favored. I kind of where me will debate that but that's what he says right.

45:14

I would agree.

45:16

But I look at it and I say you see being in Waterhouse there's nothing absolutely nothing that

45:24

comes my way and I can't push through it. So when you're running, right, surgery, having a baby, you know,

45:33

losing, right, maybe you didn't run, you didn't follow your path exactly how you wanted to and you didn't have the outcome you wanted. What does the bounce

45:40

back look like now post career, athletic career? What does that bounce back look like? Where does that resilience?

45:49

because I see I see some we have some of your your brands and we have some but but it seems to me like some of that bounce back is going to present in ways

45:57

that maybe we aren't used to seeing you in.

46:00

Yeah, I think for me the bounce back would have to I would have to take time and space. I think that's what it is.

46:08

I'm used to going and going and going and figuring it out. And I realize now in this time maybe I need to be patient

46:16

in some of these seasons. So like I just finished running like maybe almost I don't reach I think I don't I don't reach a year

46:23

September will make a year before I've been retired right and I look at it and I'm going and I'm going and then I'll have disappointment and I sit down and I

46:32

said to myself maybe it's not yet. Yeah, maybe it's a it's it's not it's delayed, but it's not denial, right? It's me now

46:39

saying, "Okay, maybe I need to fine-tune something else." So, I'm not I'm in a space where I'm not sitting down and

46:47

thinking, "Oh my god, I need something to do now. I need it to fix now." No.

46:53

All my life is always been about speed and fast and getting it done. Maybe this chapter of my life is taking it slow.

47:02

It's being intentional in building the things that I'm building before I put them out. And nothing is wrong with that

47:10

because you have to understand this is not me. There's no medal for this. You're not getting a medal for it.

47:18

And it's not it's not centered on time in such a way where an Olympic games is

47:26

you start training September, the championship is August. You know what I mean?

47:30

Yeah. Yeah, it's a different it's a different Yeah, it's a different it's a very it's a different journey that will involve

47:38

it's it will involve evolving at different changing some things and being okay with it pulling back and being okay

47:45

with it going again and being okay with that. So it involves a very you know different mindset than than the athlete.

47:53

sure you I'm using the the tools and all the experiences being an athlete, the resilience, the consistency, all of that. And I'm still applying those

48:01

things to where I'm at now, but I'm also understanding and it's okay to be patient and to be intentional and to take the time to make sure what it

48:09

whatever it is that you're doing, it's right. It's for me, I'm a perfectionist sometimes. I want it done properly,

48:18

right? Some people will get away with some things. I find I don't get away with nothing. If I if I don't do it right, it's not going to do right. Full stop.

48:27

So, you have a lot of people that I I've seen you interact with that you've known for a long time. And it it almost seems

48:34

like if you look at who's around Shelly, there's all these people that that you love and you care about. I mean,

48:42

yesterday on stage, you had so many people that had stories and they knew you from 2008 and they knew you from 2010. there's a lot of people that

48:49

probably want to get um you know to get in your sphere but you keep that it seems like you keep that network tight

48:58

um is that something that you would have to change do you feel like in this new world with Instagram with social media

49:06

with all the different pressures that are coming that are not necessarily focused now on the track but they're focused on you as a brand is that

49:16

yeah I've had to pull back on a lot of things, right? Cuz I can't be everywhere, can't do everything. And I think I owe

49:23

it to my family as well because I've always been up and down and they they they sacrifice a lot.

49:30

Especially my husband, he has sacrificed a lot to help me chase my dreams. Yeah.

49:35

Right. So, I've had to be in spaces where I'm like, I can't do that and be okay with saying I can't do it. Yeah. Because generally, I'm not a no person.

49:45

I once went to therapy because I didn't know how to say no [laughter] because somebody say, "All right, then you need to do do this." And I'm like,

49:52

"Oh, man. I don't want to do it, but I feel like I have to, you know, because I'm like, oh, you know, I'm a nice person and I just want to do it because

50:00

I want them to know that I'm nice." Like, I am nice, but sometimes you need to say no. So, I leave it there. I'm nice.

50:09

Yeah. Know your soul.

50:10

But if it's a no, it's a no. And if you love and respect me, you'll understand that if I say no, it's not because I

50:19

don't want to, but it's maybe I don't have the time, you know, um I'm busy or maybe if you catch me at another time,

50:27

I'll do it or I'm tired because those things can happen. There are a lot of time I get a lot of emails asking me, oh, can you come and speak here? Can you come here?

50:36

I have been on a plane, I think more now than when I was running.

50:41

Wow. right? Because I have to go places, but there are things that are important to me and I have to make the sacrifice for those things. So when my son has a

50:50

football game, somebody may sit on the outside and be like, "Oh, he's just U9." So no, I want to be there for my son cuz again,

51:00

they have sacrificed a lot to my son, his first birthday, he celebrated in Jamaica. Every other birthday has been

51:07

celebrated somewhere in Europe somewhere else with a pizza or us going out for dinner.

51:15

it's never a party or my teammates buying a cake and we celebrate a birthday with just

51:21

him the only kid being there, right? So for me when I say they have sacrificed, they have sacrificed and also

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51:24

my husband my husband birthday is a week after my son so they have always been with me busy training I have trained at their birthdays so for me my family is important so boundaries are important if I can't I can't and you have to be okay with people thinking okay then she's a bad person. I can't do it all. I said it earlier. You can't pour from an empty cup. If I'm tired and depleted and weak and I can't do it, how do I effectively help you? I can't.

51:59

Yeah.

52:00

Right. So, I have to make sure that for me personally, I'm showing up in a space assisting or doing what I need to do whole, not just physically, mentally, spiritually. Sure, there are moments that I do things when I'm tired. Sure. But that's not all the time. So I have to make sure that I am good in every way to make sure that I'm showing up for other people because if I'm tired, I'm tired.

52:25

Yeah. But like yesterday, when you commit, you commit. I mean, you commit.

52:30

I couldn't believe how much time you really spent. But you know what? I do.

52:35

As a friend, I feel a little bit—I feel I have a bone to pick with you.

Really?

Yes.

All right. Go on. Tell me.

52:41

Okay. So this—I wanted to highlight...

Hold on. I'm getting old.

So this is to protect hair?

52:52

Yes. So just a heat protector and also sealant.

52:56

So no, but it's so, you know, particles still... it still will aim. It will do what it needs to do.

53:05

Okay. Okay. Okay. So this—I'm gonna try it. Not now, but I'm gonna try it. But tell me more. Tell me more.

53:12

So yes, so you have a... which is the protect, which is a leave-in oil or a sealant and a heat protector.

53:19

So of course Aimi is everything. It's my baby. You know, Aimi is deeply rooted in the essence of Jamaica and also me—the essence of me, my roots, my culture, my individuality, my authenticity, how I wear my hair, my family heritage. All of it is translated to "it's mine."

53:42

It shows ownership. That's what Aimi is.

53:45

And for me, when I started Aimi, I've said that I grew up with my grandmother blending up things, putting them in my hair because people think I've been changing my hair now. I've been doing it forever.

53:57

Like when I was young, I had S-curl, I had jerry curl, I had cream hair or processed hair. I had braids. I shaved it off. But I've done it all from when I was very young. My obsession was with hair.

54:11

And then my mother and my grandmother would always have to find a way to help me grow it back. So I would be blending up, you know, aloe vera. I would be using, you know, beer and egg and mayonnaise to steam my hair. I was using castor oil. I'm using car grease because my father was a mechanic and my grandmother said the truck grease, if you blend it up with the blue... Anyway, don't try it.

54:38

Don't try it. My grandmother is not alive to say, you know, and she would blend it up and she'd put it in my hair because she says she's going to stimulate the hair growth. Who am I to question my granny? She's been around longer than me. So, who am I to question her?

54:54

So, I've always been blending things. So, Aimi is almost like my personal gift to the world from Jamaica.

55:02

It's interesting because the Jamaican term means "it's mine," but you're actually sharing it, which is, I think, to me, a little bit of a twist.

55:11

Yeah, because when you're younger and your friends are playing at the playground and they give you something that they have, isn't it yours after that?

Yes.

Yes. It's yours.

55:26

So once you go to the store, you go on the website and you get an Aimi, it becomes yours. It becomes your... I'm transferring it to you. I'm transferring greatness to you. I want you to have the same results I have. I want you to change your hair just as much as I change my hair.

55:42

So these are all natural products. Everything was done in Jamaica—manufacturing everything.

That's awesome.

55:48

Blending the product, having persons who are connected, you know, to the roots and the heritage and really exporting that and just showing the world that as a country, people like to say we're a third world country. Whatever it is that you can do overseas, we can bottle the best here and send it to the world. So that's what Aimi is.

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56:04

So for me, I'm hopefully launching July 1st.

56:12

Okay.

56:13

You know, internationally. Again, I'm a perfectionist and being an entrepreneur, I think sometimes because of that perfectionism, I don't think it's a good quality to have. I think sometimes you have to start and you just have to understand that you'll make mistakes and you'll have moments where you have to change something, but at least you start from where you are and you can grow from that. No tree grows overnight. It takes time. You have to plant it and you have to nurture it and it gets to that point.

56:49

And sometimes you have to... when you have the tree, you realize it has a brown leaf. You probably have to pick it off and then it will grow a new leaf. Or you probably have to get some fertilizer, and fertilizer can represent the help. And that's what I'm getting now—the help to really make sure that I own everything and bring it forth.

57:06

Yeah, we always talk about in business MVP, you know, that minimum viable product. Even though it's not perfect, get it out so you know, and now you can improve upon.

57:12

So that's what we're doing.

So July 1.

57:16

All right. July 1.

I do want... I have a few more questions for you. One, I want to know because I feel like you owe it to me because you made fun of me here. So, I want to know something that you can say just to the people on Less Than 1% that are subscribing and following on Instagram and YouTube and all these different places that you've never said anywhere before.

57:45

Something about you or something about...

I think for me, when people see me compete and I walk away and I'm hugging my competitor, especially if I didn't win, and I'm smiling—I go home and I bawl. I bawl like... bawl. And it's not because I'm a sore loser, because I'm not a sore loser.

58:06

But it's a grieving process that I think as athletes and as humans is necessary for us to get it out. Because you have to understand, as an athlete with a champion mindset, I don't train to lose. We never train to lose. I don't go into an exam thinking I'm going to fail. Nobody does that.

58:27

When I get up in the morning to go to practice, my mindset is always on winning. I want to win.

Yes.

58:35

And my coach has told me for a very long time that there's a process that gets you to win. My process is every day that I go to training, I give 100%.

I was a full-time student when I won my second Olympic gold medal. Full-time. Four subjects. Sometimes I'm at class until 9:00 at night and everything is in my car. My husband would carry food to school for me so that I could eat at a certain time and finish my class.

59:05

So when I talk about being intentional, I'm intentional about everything that I do. And I want to win. And I believe as a successful athlete, you also have to grieve the process.

Yes.

59:15

Because you have to now go home and you have to sit with yourself and you have to let that out because I don't want to carry it with me.

Yes.

59:23

A lot of people carry that loss with them and they end up losing again because they haven't overcome that loss before and they feel they need to carry it.

No. I am bawling because I'm letting it go and I'm preparing myself for what's next.

59:39

That's what I'm doing. So I go home and sometimes when I bawl, my husband bawls with me. People would think...

Yes.

He'll cry with me because he understands. He says, "Man, you worked hard."

And this is not me saying the person who won didn't deserve it because they worked. But it's personal.

59:55

When I step to the line and I'm in lane four, I'm in lane five, or whatever lane I'm in—it's your lane. There's a line that separates us. It means I can't go over into your lane and you can't go into my lane. It means we're running two different races.

1:00:12

As women, we share in the fact that we are overcoming things and we are creating space and we're breaking barriers so that other women can come into the sport and reap the fruit of those successes because they see that it's possible.

1:00:28

But I go home and I grieve that. Man, I worked hard. What went wrong? What can I fix, Lord? Okay then, I need to change this. And I let it go.

1:00:42

Then I begin. I start to write down the plans for the next year. The minute I lose a championship, I'm writing down my plans for the next year. I'm setting the tone early.

Yeah.

1:00:55

And I get up and as a result, when I face the world the next day from that, I'm fine. I'm not bitter. I'm not envious.

1:01:04

I'm not anything. I have grieved that.

1:01:07

And you let it go.

And I let it go because then I go and I face this person and I'm standing on the podium and I say, "Watch her."

No.

1:01:14

Yeah, I've already grieved that. I've already let that go. Now I'm standing on the podium and I'm celebrating my moment.

1:01:21

That's such a great point. I think a lot of us, me included—I'm getting therapy here—you know, I hold on to losses.

1:01:28

Yeah. And if you don't, the truth is you end up losing the same way because you haven't gotten that memory out of your mind.

1:01:38

So if you look at a lot of people who watch this, I think I told you the story—and I'll tell you the shorter version because everybody out there has already heard it a hundred times.

I did not have a plan to be a CEO. That was never...

I told you yesterday, I wanted to be a rapper. You wanted to be a basketball player.

1:02:03

So now I go into medical school and then the CEO job comes up and I said, "I'll try that."

Leadership—I was a point guard. This is something I can do.

And a coach that I had said, "There's no chance."

I said, "Well, give me a percentage."

And he said, "Less than 1%."

1:02:25

So I do hold grudges.

And so my whole brand is "Less Than 1%."

1:02:30

Is less than 1%.

1:02:33

Yeah. I feel like there are so many people that we underestimate, that we put in boxes before we even know. We're picking the winners and losers before the race is even run. I've experienced that.

1:02:45

So all of those people out there, if you had to give them one piece of advice, what would you give them?

1:02:52

One piece of advice I would give them—I would have to say start where you are. What you have is unique to you. Only you possess that quality.

1:03:02

Start where you are. Start believing that there's more to come. And the doubts that's out there—it's noise. White noise. If they're not in the arena, it doesn't help you.

So you have to understand that where you are, you're uniquely positioned for success. You have to believe that. You have to be intentional about it. And you have to chase it with every fiber of your being.

1:03:28

And we've already been created for more.

1:03:30

Whatever it is that you need is already inside of you. You were created with it.

1:03:36

So you just have to tap into that. Find your community. Find your space and thrive in that.

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