Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Welcome, welcome, welcome to us. I'm coming, I'm here with nothing.
We have a very special guest here today. We often
talk about the fight to get in the room, how
hard is it for us to get our foot in
the door. But what's the work like once you've already
have a seat at the table.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
And y'all, that's the work that is often not talk about.
Once you're in the room.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
You have to build for others from the inside out.
And just because you've got a seat doesn't mean the
culture in those rooms have always changed or developed. It's
all about working to do that and fighting for each other.
And we're about to talk to someone incredibly special, a
role model who is here today with Kamie and I. Yes,
I can't wait to dive into this. And obviously Kami's
(00:56):
Kammy's dressed for the for the for the for the occasion.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I were my Miami Dolphins, best ladies, gens and everybody here.
We have Pre Shoemate, the chief marketing officer of the
Miami Dolphins and the hard Rock Stadium. I'm a Miami
girly fins up. Thank you so much for being here,
so happy to have you.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Of course, thank you guys, thank you for the fins
up and the outfit. I absolutely love it. You got
the full aqua, the retro logo. You're like, you're in
I am.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
I'm in it, comings through and through like Miami raised,
like Dolphins fan. I am fortunate to be honest. I'm
born and raised in West colm Beach. It's a sin
to say this right now. I have never been not
only to a Dolphins game, but to an American football
game in my life.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Oh my god, you just you just broke my heart.
I mean you are like an hour up the road.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
I know.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
I literally Goodnsten.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
You know, I'll tell you if it's helpful. Here's how
I got into American football. So I came from Brazil
and I got to college. I came from from from
Brazil in my second year of college and I landed
at Texas A and M University. And I knew nothing
about the university. My dad was working for a company
(02:16):
in Texas and we'd get in stituition if I went
to school there, and so you know, it was better
than the international rate. And so I went there and
knew nothing about football. But it's a big football school
and I learned that every time Texas A and M scores,
you have to kiss, and I was like, oh my god,
let's go to the game.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
Let's make out so pretty as associast, he said, I'm
gonna be there at all the games because I want
to kiss exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
And today you are the CM of the Dolphins and
the hard Rock Stadium were I'm so happy to have
you here today. I have a coffee in my hand.
We're gonna dive deep into this conversation, but first I
want to ask you like a little bit of like
Gofi Setel time questions.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
Okay, okay, great, I have one too.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Okay, perfect. We're just at our cutoff time right because
it's like after three pm we should probably not be
drinking coffee. It's like two forty seven, okay, so sue me.
All right, what is your morning like?
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Free?
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Do you drink coffee in the morning? Do you drink
warm water with lemon? Do you go on our run?
Do you vegetate in your bed and have eight alarms?
Speaker 3 (03:28):
What we just need to know, like, what do CMO's
mornings look like?
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Exactly?
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Yeah? Yeah, you know. So I'm in this thing called
the five Am Club and basically show out it's no,
it's me and a couple of my coworkers, okay, and
we basically we call each other at five am every morning.
We text each other, we don't call, and we make
sure that the other person's up. And I learned this
from the book The Five Am Club. And in the
(03:55):
five Am Club book, yeah you know it, they have
what's called the victory hour, right, which is like forty minutes. No,
it's twenty minutes of learning, twenty minutes of exercise, and
then twenty minutes of setting your intentions for the day.
I don't do it quite like that because I don't
have all that. I have the time actually because I
do it for an hour. But I typically do like
(04:16):
forty minutes of workout either biking or walk run, and
then I'm listening to a podcast and while I do that,
and then I do take like ten fifteen minutes to
set my intentions for the day literally like one paragraph,
like just one thing. If I can just do one
thing today, what's it gonna be? And it's good because
it allows me to kind of have that moment before
(04:37):
my kids get up.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
I find myself too, like I'm not I'm not saying
I'm a part of the five am club because now
I'm teaching.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
At night at work.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
I when I was early in the morning, I also
had to go teach in the morning. So it's never
been like my time unless I wake up early. But
when I do wake up early, it's like my most
productive hour. Like nobody is texting you, nobody's up, Like
it's just you and all your goals and all of
your dreams and all of your sweat and your workouts.
So that's amazing. And you live in Miami, right.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
I actually live in Southwest Ranches, which is a little
north of Miami. Okay, yep, but I'm in Miami a
lot for work, and you know, when there's things going on,
obviously a lot of stuff is south. But I kind
of run that corridor from like Southwest Ranches weston all
the way down, you know, uh to south like the
(05:27):
very very tip of South Florida.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
So so question, if you're waking up at five am,
what time do you go.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
To sleep the normal day? Like if I just go
from home from work to home, I'll probably be in
bed reading a book at nine thirty.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Wow, Okay, okay, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
But I do have to do a lot of work
at night though, like this week, like two or three
nights this week I have to do stuff out. So
it's just gonna be a little a little bit of
a rougher week. I'll just have a you know, more
exhausting Saturday.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
All right, So coming are we starting this text chain?
Like IA hit you up tomorrow morning? I feel like
I got to get it.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
How do I get into this?
Speaker 1 (06:05):
My problem is I teach like a nine PM. Sometimes
I don't get home until like eleven, and then I'm
so like excited from class. I'm like, whoa, whoa, let
me go to sleep at midnight, and then I'm not
like seven am is my new five am now? And
I'm okay with that. Yeah, sometimes you've got to modify,
fair enough.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
You got to modify. Yeah, yeah, I honestly I wouldn't
do at five am if I didn't have my kids
getting up at six thirty, you know, true?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (06:28):
Right?
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Sure?
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Sure? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Pretty So you are someone that a lot of women
definitely look up to.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Did you have a role model growing up?
Speaker 4 (06:38):
My mom? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Love?
Speaker 3 (06:40):
And how which ways did she did she inspire you?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Did she impact you?
Speaker 4 (06:46):
Yeah? So my parents got separated when I was about nine,
and you know, there was a little bit of that
back and forth, as there always is, but she was
always that rock for me, you know. She was always
the person that was working her butt off to make
sure that I had all the opportunities that I could.
(07:07):
My parents had had my dad had gone to school
in the US several years before I was born, and
they had gotten a green card at the time. When
I was born, I got a green card. But then
when I was eleven, they changed the green card rules
and you had to come to the US every year
to maintain your green card status. My mom would literally
(07:30):
put me on a charter flight from Brazil, like literally
one of those that like, you know, you pack as
many Brazilians as you can because they're coming to Disneyland,
Disney World. She would put me in one of those flights.
I would spend the night in Miami, Eden and Panada,
get the stamp in my passport, and go back to
Brazil because she wanted to ensure that I had the
(07:52):
opportunity to come here later if I wanted to, and
in fact I did come so and it wasn't easy,
you know, like those those chartter flights weren't cheap, and
they were the cheapest option for sure for people to fly,
but but it was it was a struggle, and she
did it all for me.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
So yeah, I love that, so beautiful.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Did you Did you understand at the time, like what
a green card meant and just like the whole process
and everything.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
You know, I did, because I did have this fascination
with the US, Like I was a huge fan of
like everything American, you know, Like I I loved the
Nike brand, which eventually I ended up working for for
seventeen years. I was like the total just do it generation,
and you know, I admired all things American. In fact,
Dan Marino, that's how that's how the Dolphins actually came
(08:46):
first into my radar was because I felt like they
were like this American you know, representation and yeah, and
I really I really believed in the American dream and
and eventually that's what got me here, you know, So
I did. I understood it. I understood that I needed
to have this thing that it would it would make
my life easier and it would give me the option.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
You know, I can totally relate to that. I'm an immigrant,
came with my parents, you know, when we were little,
my dad had a green card and so did we,
you know, and the value of that is just like insane.
You know. They give up everything for us to be
able to like have opportunities, and I too feel like
I'm also living, you know, the American dream nowadays, you know,
(09:28):
in the position that I'm in so a lot of respect.
Do you feel like it impacted your work ethic? Because
for me being an immigrant and seeing like everything that
my parents sacrifice, Like when I came to this country
and I finally had the opportunity to go to college
and to like reach out and do these things that
I have dreamed of, Like, I was like, this is
(09:50):
my one opportunity. I can't mess this up. How did
you feel about it?
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Yeah, it definitely did. It definitely did, because I knew
how much my mom had sacrificed, you know, like like
she worked really hard. She had all sorts of odd jobs.
And you know that in that period between out when
I was eleven when I finally came for college, we
did live in the US a couple of times for
brief periods of time, and you know, one of those times,
(10:17):
we cleaned offices in the evening you know, and I
would go with her. You know, I was like eleven, twelve,
thirteen years old, and I would like pick up the trash,
you know, underneath the desk like people do now, and
I'm leaving the office, and and you know, I knew
how hard she had worked and how hard I had worked.
(10:37):
So when I got to Texas a and m her,
she basically was able to scrape just the right amount
for me to cover the first semester and she was like,
you're gonna have to figure it out. And I was
able to figure it out through you know, federal grants,
through work programs, through just having jobs. I had three
(11:00):
jobs in my first year of college. But it but
it didn't it never felt honestly, it never felt oh
god like it felt good. It felt like the American dream.
You know. It felt like I was I was giving
myself opportunity.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
You know, yeah, absolutely, And I feel like that's that's
exactly what it is. It's coming to this country and
finding opportunities because it's endless. You know, like in Spanish,
the saying is could get it, you know, like those
who want to can get it, can access it, and
could do it, can make it out become triple. So
(11:43):
we talked about who you looked up to when you're
growing up, how about present day? Is there someone that
you are really inspired by or someone that you look
up to?
Speaker 4 (11:52):
You know, I think there's a couple of people. But
I'm actually gonna mention my sister now, so I'm gonna
keep it in the family. Yeah, my sister. You know,
she kind of followed the American dream just like I did.
And I think her journey was a lot harder than mine.
(12:16):
And and she persisted, you know, she persisted and and
for her kids. So I saw her doing the same thing,
you know, and now she has these two amazing kids,
they're both grown. And she persisted at a time, so
she had a baby, her first baby, she was twenty
years old, and so it wasn't easy, you know, And
(12:39):
and yeah, she just had a much much harder go
at it than mine. And in the end, I think
when she looks back, she's got a Master of Fine
Arts from UCLA. She has these two kids, one that
lives in Australia and one that lives in Brazil now
that are you know, have their lives started and are
(13:00):
doing well. And and it was all because of the
work that that her and her husband put into it.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
You gotta gotta show your respects to Latia.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
That's right exactly. Latia Vera is her.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Name, and not yeah, not everybody's. You know, journey is
gonna be linear and people are gonna struggle more. But
I think one of the things that like, I hate
to say it because it's so cliche sometimes, but as
long as you don't like give up, there's always a
way out, there's always a way through. And that's something
that I have found even with my parents, like like sidebar,
(13:36):
like let's not even take my story into consideration, but
taking into account like their struggles and the amount of
times that they've had to pivot, one of the main
things that they taught me is that there's always a
way through, and there's always a way to, you know,
find a way out, and and to to create the
baseline that you need for yourself in order at least
to survive and to provide you know, food and a
(13:59):
shelter for her family, et cetera.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Yeah, and I'll say one more thing, like, since you
were talking, you know a little bit about your journey, Like,
I think one of the things that I admire today
is like this new younger generation that is like there's
so many opportunities now. There's so not that there wasn't before.
It's just the path is so different, right, you can
do you can be a podcaster, right, like, and I
(14:25):
think that the people that are taking that into their
own hands and and building their brands and building their businesses,
and it's it's risky, and it's like it's it's not easy,
you know. The the easier path is still to go
join an organization, you know, but doing it on your
own and like really getting after it and like just
(14:46):
figuring doing what you guys are doing is pretty amazing.
And I'm I'm in all that. And I actually I
do think that the world as it is today, people
have the opportunity to pivot. So I'll call you guys
for advice in the next, you know, five years or
so when I want to start my own thing.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Please do I have a question for you, because this
is something that I like also kind of struggled with,
Like sometimes it's hard to explain. Like I used to
be in PR and marketing. Now I'm a peloton instructor
and I teaching fitness and we're doing the podcast together.
My Aweila like had absolutely no idea, still probably has
kind of no idea what it is. I tell her,
I have my own fitness show. She kind of understands
(15:28):
when you were coming into you know, marketing, was that
something that was difficult to explain to your family. Did
you have to kind of convince them for them to
kind of understand that it was like a quote unquote
real job, because I remember my dad used to tell me, like,
you should probably be a doctor scientist or da da
da da, so that you can always guarantee like income
for yourself.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Yeah. You know, it's funny because the two things that
I was that I wanted to do was either journalism
or marketing. Uh huh. And and I think that, you know,
my mom was like, I'm not sure how much money
you're gonna make being a journal the less, so this
other marketing thing sounds good.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Right, yeah?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Free.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
So we talked about your family and just to touch
upon family again, you are a mom and also a
CMO mom life, Like how do you balance the two?
Speaker 4 (16:27):
Yeah? You know, it's interesting because people talk about that
all the time, right, like the whole work life balance thing.
I don't know that it exists. I don't. I don't
think that that's a thing. I think that you need
to have your priorities and and and they're gonna they're
gonna ebb and flow, and you need to decide what's
(16:47):
really important to you. So in my mind, I am
a mom before anything else. And the moment I feel like, uh,
my work sacrifices the life of my kids, I'm gonna
make changes, you know now. I think that at different
(17:07):
stages in your parenthood, in parenting, you know, sometimes it's
not just time, like the quantity of time that you
spend with your kids. Sometimes it's the quality of time
that you spend with your kids. Like in this current job,
I feel like I'm giving them so many cool opportunities,
you know, Like they get to like come to the
(17:28):
hard rock stadium and like my little one last year,
I was entering this job, and I knew that they
were going to have the Taylor Swift concerts here, and
my little one really likes Taylor Swift. And he said, Mama,
if you get this job, can we make sure that
we go to Taylor Swift? And so I told my boss,
(17:49):
I was like, Hey, the only way I'm gonna sign
at the dotted line is if I guarantee that I
can take my phone to Taylor Swift.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
We're like, we're not even talking about furrow one case,
not even talking about that.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
We're like, no, it doesn't make exactly.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
But you took him to the Taylor Swift concerts two nights. Yes,
let's go, not just last twice.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
Yeah, And and I took and I took a few
of his friends too, So that.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Was let's see that. And a lot of respect for
what you said about boundaries when it comes to your life.
I think something that I'm struggling with personally a lot.
I don't have children of my own yet, but I
think in my family as I get busier is like
drawing that line and creating those boundaries for myself. So
it's really nice to see another woman in a very
(18:39):
in a position of power like creating those boundaries for
herself and her family and reinforcing that. To me is
something that's very special. But I have questions because I
also want to like dive a little bit into some
like marketing, like trade secrets. Like marketing is changing so much.
The landscape is like so intense, so competitive, Like what
(19:01):
is it that you're doing now, like right now with
the Dolphins with the hard Rock Stadium to stand out.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
You know, I think we have a really differentiated business
here right because at the hard Rock Stadium, you have
F one, you have the Miami Open of Tennis, and
you have the Miami Dolphins. So it's like, you know,
it truly is kind of a global sports and entertainment destination,
and there's like so many crossovers. So I think, you know,
(19:31):
what we're doing is leveraging the crossover opportunities because people
love to see that, you know, they love to understand
like how American football players can connect to Formula one
players and then can connect to tennis players, and so
I think that that whole like understanding how we can
leverage the ecosystem that we've created here to tell really
(19:52):
cool stories is a really important thing. And then you know,
I think this organization is like it's so innovative, Like
it's just we're doing things differently, and I think that
the innovation comes from just putting the consumer experience, that
fan experience like right smack in the middle, you know,
(20:13):
like we have a guest experience team that we're actually, uh,
I'm gonna actually participate in one of their trainings tomorrow.
We have a guest experience team that is just like
the best in the business, and we see them every day,
like you know, they there's some people that work in
the building all the time and they are the nicest people.
They make my day better and I know that the
(20:34):
day of the event. So it sounds like a small thing,
but really when you start to look at the overall experience,
like the people that are here and the way they
act and you know, how they represent the brands, I
think is really important. And I think that the team
here has that orientation. You know, they're like, hey, at
the end of the day, we're all human. The way
you get treated the experience culture is so important. Yeah, So,
(21:00):
I mean I think that those are a couple of
the things. You know, when you talk about marketing. Obviously
it's all about content nowadays, right for real, Like yeah,
it's actually wait, this is a fun story.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
I so I was wearing this jacket and also I
helped on the Dolphins have such a cute little logo
like this is a Dolphins fan. I was wearing this
sweater and I was at the salon and some girl
was like, oh, my god, is that the Dolphins sweater?
I'm like, oh my god, yeah, it's a collab. I
just picked it up. I was like, are you a
(21:33):
Dolphins fan? They're like yeah, now because Alex Earl and
I was like, oh wow. I was like, that's funny.
I was like, well, I lived in Miami.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
Well, so honestly, you just you just touched on a
couple of things that are really important to us, right, Like,
you know, you are the company you keep right, And
I think that as a brand, we need to be
really thoughtful about that. So it's like, how do we
how do we invite people into our world that are
(22:04):
people that are that have influence, that are opinion leaders, right,
and and that are also like authentic to our brand.
It's not about just like getting whomever that has nothing
to do with the brand, but when you have that
authentic connection, you know, like the obviously Alex had that
authentic connection through her man, you know. And so it's like, Okay,
(22:25):
I think that those things are invaluable and you can't
you can't plan for them, but you can leverage them.
You can be prepared to leverage them, you know. And uh,
and I think that that's that's really important. And there's
so many people that love the brands that we have here,
and you talked about like, yeah, yeah, I'm kind of
(22:46):
a Dolphins fan, but I bought the shirt right, Like,
I feel like we're kind of a lifestyle brand to
a certain extent now too.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, and you guys are very smart atting, like leveraging,
Like there's brands that won't do that. Sometimes people move
very slowly, and it's always good to hear like when
brands like see an opportunity and react to it quickly,
like so respect.
Speaker 4 (23:07):
Yeah, Oh my gosh, that's what this team can do.
It's amazing, and I think in the market that we're in,
we have to do that. This is Miami.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
With your experience at Nike, what was your position at Nike?
Speaker 4 (23:21):
So my last job, I was VP of Brand Marketing
for Nike Running, which was one of the biggest businesses
you know, in the portfolio.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Amazing.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
So in what ways do you think like that experience
seventeen years you said at Nike helped you prepare for
now this role because obviously coming from a powerhouse in
branding Nike and then implementing it into a sporting team
and putting into a stadium experience culture. It's such a
(23:50):
thinking outside of the box, like how did it help
you now into this role?
Speaker 4 (23:55):
Yeah? I think there's two things that I'm really trying
to do with this team that come from that Nike world.
The first one is like, Okay, we are masters that
we were at Nike masters in storytelling. These guys are
actually masters in story doing, right, Like, so when I
(24:18):
got here, I was like, we create these live stories
and experiences for consumers every day, but maybe we're not
telling that story as much as we can. So I'm
taking the story doing, which is actually like the most
important They were doing the most important part before I
got here. I think that the discipline that I'm helping
(24:42):
them now bring to the fold is the storytelling. You know,
how do we talk about the things that have happened here?
How do we use that to then attract more people
to kind of join the party and come be, you know,
a part of the experience. It's funny because of one
of the folks on my team, he coined this phrase,
(25:02):
if you if you've lived in Miami or in South
Florida for a year and you haven't been to hard
rock stadium, you haven't lived.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Oh, I've.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Lived.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
I thought he was gonna I thought he was gonna
steal my phrase. I always say, if you live in
Miami and you're paying for mangos, you don't have friends.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
Oh I love that. I love that. I absolutely no.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
But hard rock is a must. It is like it
is just an incredible stadium in the I I feel
like I've been like only like three times in my life,
so it's not that many like opportunities that I've had
to really experience something there. But every time that I
have been, it's been incredible.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
I just moved to Miami a few months ago, like
obviously born and raised.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
In moved to New York where I met my girl, Come.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Here right here, and then now I'm in New York.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Yeah, sorry, she's without me.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
No, but you have to tell us when you're coming,
because we'll take you around and you know, we'll give
you we'll give you the we'll give you the good treatment.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Oh I'm gonna hit you up. I'll go hit you
say less.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
I know, Yeah, I could get I could get a
plane ticket.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
That's a Sagittarius in me. I refuse to Oh.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
My gosh, I'm a Sagittarius.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
What's your birthday?
Speaker 4 (26:25):
December third?
Speaker 1 (26:27):
I'm December eighteenth. I mean, can you I loved you free?
Speaker 3 (26:30):
As as as she's a sagy like, have you ever
texted your friend like on a Friday and be like, hey,
do you want to go to Puerto Rico tomorrow? Because
I mean that's something I've received from my Sagittarius friend Cammi.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
Here, oh one hundred percent. Maybe not to Puerto Rico
because I actually haven't been to Puerto Rico, but that
is how I like to plan.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Yeah, it's funny that.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
It's that Friday, it's like, hey, do you want to go?
It's funny because it really frustrates some of my friends,
you know, but that's the best way to let Well.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
It's good because it's a good balance. I'm Aquarius, so
i'd go with a flow. So sometimes I'm like less roll,
but then there's sometimes.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
That's why you're good, That's why you're good together.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
I know she's a more organized one I do. I
must say that in my professional life, I'm very organized,
very reliable, But in my personal life that's when I
get the real SAJ comes out. Every other time I'm
like fighting against all of my instincts to be like
the most professional one in the room. Alo, but Pari
speaking about being professional and like, obviously you're a Latina,
(27:31):
you're a female in a male dominated space, you're working
in sports, you're working in the NFL. How do you
feel like one that has shaped you? And like, was
it hard to get in the door? How did you
feel when you finally got a seat at the table
and you were in these like large conference rooms with
all these people with a lot of opinions.
Speaker 4 (27:52):
Yeah. Yeah, you know it's interesting because I think like
the things that the things that got me in the door.
I think we're always like there's this positive energy that
that that people always said that I had, and they
would come to me and they were like, oh man,
her energy is amazing, and I'm like, why don't you
(28:15):
talk about my like strategic ability or my incredible intelligence?
You know, they were like her positive energy, and you know,
I used to take exception to that, and now I'm
like lean into it completely. So I think in the
beginning of my career there were things that that that
make me who I am, including being a Latina, because
(28:35):
I think that you know, the Brazilian specifically, Like I
think I'm very Brazilian, you know, even though I've been
I've lived here for a long time, Like I come
off Brazilian, you know, Like what does that mean?
Speaker 3 (28:47):
What does that mean?
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (28:50):
Yeah, yeah, Well, like you know, like I'm using my
hands and I'm calling you like I'm calling you by
half of your name the second after I met you,
and you know, like I'm I'm a little louder than
maybe the typical you know, American exactly exactly. I'm very
(29:17):
much like that. And I think, you know, while some
people really gravitated towards that in my career, I think
it turned a lot of people off, you know, and
I think a lot of people because I didn't fit
a specific mold of leadership style that they had grown
accustomed to. They basically are like, oh no, no, no,
(29:38):
you can't. You can't present like that. And I mean,
like that, how with with with like what's the problem.
And so the feedback that I used to get a lot,
and it was probably right to a certain extent, is
I was very prolific and I told a lot of
stories and and they were like, no, you got to
edit it down. So I did the job. I worked
for several years and I got better at like editing
(29:58):
my communication, but it it was still flavorful, you know,
in quotes, if you if you will. And then I
think what I discovered is that what people wanted me
to do certain leaders is actually take the flavor out
of my out of my presentation, you know, And that
was really hard, Like I know, I was actually so
(30:18):
listen to this. I So I took the flavor out
of my presentation for a few years and it felt
really weird, but I I I think it's served a purpose.
In that moment. It all changed when I had this
this guy come to me one of my bosses. He
said to me, you know you're not Latina enough.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Huh.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
I was like, first of all, what is yeah? Yeah,
yeah yeah, Like I was like what does that mean?
And what do you even know about Latinas? Like what
is this box that you've created where you've put all
the Latinas from all the different countries that we might
come from, right literally anyway? And and so I was like,
you know, I I have to be who I am
(31:05):
and I have to be really authentic to me. And
and it's been it's been a journey. You know, I
think what I've done is I've tried to get really
I've tried to get better at my communication style in
terms of editing it down, because I do think that,
you know, I told a lot of stories and in
the corporate world like the more edited you are probably
the better. But I try to continue to add flavor
(31:27):
and be myself throughout communication, you know, And that's done.
It's done me. It's I've done well in certain moments
and and it's been hard at other moments. And but
I don't want to sacrifice myself, like I don't. I'm
I'm even for my kids, right like when I when
I've been at a company, like I had one company
(31:48):
that my style really didn't work for that particular leader
I worked with, and I decided to leave. It was
a difficult decision because there was a lot of runway,
but I was like, I'm not gonna do that. I'm
not going to do that.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
How do you feel in your present day because you
said like you're not sacrificing those those things are your
identity or your culture. How do you feel like in
your seat at the table right now, in your position
and even inspiring other latinas, how are you embracing yourself
and your culture in the role that you're in.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
Yeah, I think you know, it's it's tricky, right because
a little bit of what I was saying earlier, like
I'm okay, now, I embrace like my positive energy and
like you know, I embrace the things that I bring
that and I actually look at it as a differentiator.
And and I do give credit to my culture and
(32:43):
to my Latini dad to be the way that I am.
But I also make sure that I'm trying to communicate
in the way that people want me to communicate when
it comes to the content, right, So it continues to
be like how do I really edit, how do I
put forth even with flavor the nuggets that I know
(33:03):
are going to make a difference for this organization, right,
And I try to work with my teams in the
same way. Marketers sometimes, especially brands and organizations where marketing
is a really important function like at Nike for instance,
you know, it was a really important function, like it
(33:23):
led the company in many ways. Marketers tend to be
very colorful, and you know, when I arrived here, this
is much more of a business led you know, revenue
driven organization that's very brand aware, but there there was
I have to adapt a little bit, you know, and
(33:45):
and but I think we're finding that really happy medium.
So I'm really excited about the journey that I'm in
here because I think that the team that's here really
understands what what marketers can do and as thought partners,
not just as like you know, ticket salespeople. And I
think that they do appreciate me for the energy that
(34:07):
I bring to the organization, and that energy isn't just
a party flavor energy, but it is a strategic, thoughtful,
business forward energy. But it's it's a trick look honestly,
every day I struggle with it every single day.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
That there's also something thousand percent. But there's also something
to be said about the culturally diverse organization, the athletes
that you represent, and how your identity and your upbringing
and your personal experience that understands not only the intricacies
of being culturally diverse, brings so much gold to an
(34:51):
organization like that, So I think it goes way further
than just like the way that we carry ourselves.
Speaker 4 (34:59):
I think. So this is an organization that I've been really,
really really excited about like there's so many young people here,
like I love it. Like there there's just a bunch
of like, you know, twenties, really a bunch of twenty
year olds that are incredible and that have given so
much responsibility and they're so good. I'm learning from them
(35:23):
every day, and I think that it's been a really
nice exchange here. And a lot of those folks do
represent the city of Miami, you know, which is like
we're you know, or really even Miami and Broward Counties
right like we're sixty percent Latino, very international, you know,
(35:43):
we have Like I'm stoked about where I'm at right
now because of that, because there's we're really representative of
the city, and I think that they've built that intentionally here,
which is why like our events show up the way
that they show up. You know.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
Yeah, I have to ask this because obviously soccer girlly
here with the FIFA World Cup coming in twenty twenty seven, Oh.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
My god, I'm so pumped. No, I'm pumped. Oh, I
was like, I just got excited. That's it, period, that's
the sentience.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
You gotta fly down, you gotta fly down.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Oh I will So Miami's hosting seven I believe games.
How like what is your life going to be, Like,
what's your role going to be? Like, this's gonna be madness.
Speaker 4 (36:29):
Yeah, it's crazy. So you know when when those games happen,
the obviously, like FIFA is is the one that's organizing everything, right,
So we don't play the same role that we would
play like in a Dolphins game, just like when m
plays here, there's a different team that kind of leads
(36:50):
that execution. But we're intimately involved because we still do
we send like you know, no before you go emails, like,
we still facilitate a lot of the experience. The guest
experience team also does it. So we're intimately involved and
we work with those organizations and we're just proud that
that we're gonna be able to host those games, you know,
(37:10):
and and that we're going to feel that passion inside
of this building.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
You know, absolutely, it's gonna be awesome.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
I want to ask you this last question, if you
have any word of advice for Alectina looking to do
what you're doing or have done in your career, Like
what do you think is the most important element to
that type of journey of success and inspiration?
Speaker 4 (37:37):
You know, I think I think you have to be
true to yourself, right, like not not at the at
the at the at the danger of like sounding cheesy, like,
you have to be true to yourself and you have
to know that.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Like.
Speaker 4 (37:55):
I think one of the things that I learned in
my Nike career, right, I joined the organization, like and
I was there for seventeen years, and one day it
just wasn't true to me anymore. I love I love
the brand, but it just it just wasn't true to
me anymore. You know. It felt like I needed to
do something else. And I think what it taught me
(38:16):
once I left Nike is that I existed outside of Nike,
you know, and so having that central like core person
because after seventeen years and an organization, there's a lot
of people at Nike that they just end up staying
because they don't know themselves outside of the company. Yes,
And I think it's really important for you to know yourself,
(38:38):
like outside of the outside of your job.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
We are not our jobs.
Speaker 4 (38:44):
That's right, Like, that's right, and it's you know, you
can be super passionate and you can be in it
and you can, but there has to be like some
level of you that's just core and central because if
that thing falls apart, you're not going to fall apart
with it. You don't have to, you know. And so
even if you own a business, you know, I think
(39:06):
that that you have to create some level of separation
because you're you, regardless of what it is that you're
doing at that moment, you know. And I think that
I think that that's a really important thing because people's
lives are gonna ebb and they're gonna flow, and and
there's so many opportunities today to be one thing and
(39:29):
then kind of pivot completely, and people find incredible happiness,
like doing something that they never thought was in the
cards for them. So I guess the thing is like
be true to yourself and like try, you know, say
yes right like when you when you have a new opportunity, like.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Give it a shot, precess you can be all the
things that you want to be an amors yes to everything.
I love that so much because lately what I've been
living on is like people when people ask me like
what's next, I'm like, I'm I'm just not saying no
to anything, and I'm just allowing all of the opportunities
to come my way. And seeing where life takes me.
So I appreciate that so much. Pre this is such
(40:09):
a wonderful conversation from Elli and I. You are an
absolute icon. We hope to see you at the hard
Rock Stadium soon during all the Dolphins fins up. I
know I do the little thing, okay, I like to
do it like this and flap it like this. I
know it goes like this, but I'm a little unique
in that way.
Speaker 4 (40:30):
But I love it. I love it.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
Thank you so much for joining us here, asked and
Milli and I are coming right back with the aga
my famos. Last segment.
Speaker 3 (40:46):
Okay, just like in every as our whole show, we
want to leave you with more on two things that
Gamy and I love the most, and that is m
football and we're calling of course.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
And I think I think it's only appropriate that we
had Brazileia on the pod to highlight some Brazilian music.
Now I'm also from Matgenthina, so I think the combo
between the two is really exquisite. So I'm gonna go
first with the latest collab from Emiliam and Lasa and
Argentinian singer with Luisa Sonza de Brazil with Bunda that
(41:25):
song in skulo by the way, So there you go.
That's all you need to know. Listen to it, go
on and run and enjoy it.
Speaker 3 (41:33):
Now.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
I also love DJ Dennis. That's probably not how you
pronounce it in Portuguese, but I'm okay with that. That
song that he has with also Luisa Sonza, who is
slaying the game. I think it's called Martina two point
zero is so lit mely like, you need to listen
to it tomorrow. Oh and then if you know anything
about me, you know that I love my boy do
Reno from Margenthina. He did a collab with Marshmallow and
(41:55):
I'm not even gonna try to pronounce the name of
the song, but it starts with fallet and I don't
know how to pronounce the second word, but just google it,
look it up on Spotify and then think me there
because those are all lit okay ya.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
File it in tao in taoa dao.
Speaker 1 (42:10):
Yeah, I think it might be something like that, but
I don't want to embarrass myself. I need some Brazilian
Portuguese lessons. Okay, But Millie, what do you have for
us in the world of football?
Speaker 2 (42:20):
All right? So in the World of Football.
Speaker 3 (42:23):
FIFA announced in this latest World of Women's Football Women's
Soccer that what it was supposed to be the twenty
twenty six FIFA Women's Club World Cup will actually be
delayed and postpone until twenty twenty eight.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
My first reaction to that crime.
Speaker 3 (42:38):
We honestly was just like, seriously, gonna you're gonna postpone,
like a huge women's tournament that had been in conversation
since twenty twenty one, twenty two.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
My face changed, right, I know.
Speaker 3 (42:50):
My also first just assumption is just thinking because twenty
twenty six the Men's Roll Cup, the biggest World Cup
in history.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
Who knows.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
I don't know if that's factual, but in my opinion,
it's unfortunate because I was really looking forward to, you know,
enjoying the best of both men's and women's football that year. However,
in twenty twenty eight there will be nineteen total clubs
and that FIFA Women's Club World Cup and coming. What
does this mean for those of you who don't know about,
you know, FIFA Club World Cup in general or FIFA
(43:18):
Women's World Club.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
World Club Club World Cup.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
That's such a tongue twister when that's when the top
clubs in the world compete against each other. Okay, so
instead of your countries like Argentina, Columbia, Arrentina Francia, like
in the World Cup final, these are the top clubs competing.
So Real Madrid can play against the club in the
MLS like Elnter Miami, right, so they have to go
through a whole qualification process to get there. So the
(43:42):
same thing is being done on the women's side, which
is an incredible, incredible progress because it's it's only providing
opportunity for for the you know, women's soccer, and it's
not the first time for FIFA, it's going to be
the first time because there's there has been international club tournaments,
especially I've worked a Women's Champions Cup, I relevant, et cetera.
(44:03):
So this is gonna be the first time. So twenty
twenty eight, yeah from FIFA, Yeah bye Fifi. But in
twenty twenty six, even though there's not gonna be that tournament,
there will be what you want to say, a smaller
tournament for clubs to join it, which is gonna be
called the twenty twenty six Women's Champions Cup.
Speaker 2 (44:19):
So for all my.
Speaker 3 (44:20):
Foot boleras and foot boleros out there. Women's soccer is
continuing to grow and this is exciting because on this stage,
in terms of club soccer, it hasn't been done. So
a lot to look forward to in the world of
women's soccer.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
Let's go, and you know we will be waiting patiently
till twenty twenty eight.
Speaker 3 (44:39):
Yeah, I mean shit, I'm gonna be like what thirty eight.
By then I might get say, oh, gray hair, more
gray hairs.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
Stop saying that, oh oh thirty eight and fine, my
red light therapy better be working fine at that time.
Thank you everybody for listening, Thank you for joining us.
As always, this was and keep keep dropping it low baby,
(45:05):
We'll catch you next time. ADA is an iHeart women's
sports production and partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
For more podcasts, listen to the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.