March 19, 2025 • 62 mins
In this episode of Quiet Please! hosts Mel Reid and Kira Dixon catch up on their week, discussing Kira's commentating at the Players Championship, their shared love of Beef Wellington and thoughts on the Creator Classic. Mel and Kira bring on golf content creator, influencer and queen of hot takes, Paige Spiranac. Paige opens up about the difficulties of breaking into the golf scene and dealing with online criticism when navigating her own personal mental health struggles. They delve into how Paige has monetized her social media presence, the weirdest DM’s she’s received and even what it’s like to date with such a public image.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quiet Please, with Mel Reed and Kira Dixon, is an
iheartwomen's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, Mel, welcome to
(00:25):
Quiet Please.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
How are you.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
I'm good?
Speaker 4 (00:30):
Yes, I am good. I am good. We'll get into
the cinnamonute. My dad's here visiting me for a week,
which is quite the experience. But yeah, we've had a
good time so far. We had a nice little weekend.
It's nice when the player is is on in Jacksonville,
I feel like the vibe is very high when that song.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Did you go actually watch any of the golf?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Not for me, Kira, not for you love. You're over that,
so over it.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
I just can't deal with crowds. I can't deal with
just all of it, to be honest. I've been a
few times and I've really enjoyed it. It's usually been
in hospitality, which is all my scene nowadays.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yeah, that is nice.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
It is nice, but it's just it gets so busy.
But it's really fun, Like it's a really fun event.
Like obviously I think it's a massive, massive event, but
it's just fun. It's definitely gives a different energy to
the to Jacksonville, so it's it's pretty.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Sweet when it's in town. But yeah, no, it's been good.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
And you were commentating it the players, did you have
to stay nextra day?
Speaker 1 (01:24):
So no, I was in Stanford at our at the
NBC studios up there doing the studio part of the
Live from shows. Uh and because of the playoff that
they had, so we're recording this on Monday this week,
so today was the playoff this morning. I was out
this morning because I am working the PGA Tour event
(01:45):
this week in Tampa, so I had to get out.
But they also, I think, you know, at that point,
they don't need me.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
They figure it out.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
I thought you did great. I was actually watching you.
Thank you?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
What did you think? Told me everything?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I thought you were great. You know, I'm away a
big fun of yours here.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Wait, I saw you. Did you make a beef Wellington?
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Dude? I okay, love, I'll be fire.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
Let me tell you, I haven't done one since like
before Christmas, and I just fancied one. It was a
bit like it was a bit shitty weare Yesterday it
was like rainy and stuff, and so I kind of
wanted to. I've become a bit soft now living in Florida.
I feel like whenever it's below like sixty, I feel
like I want to light the fire and do like
a proper English or dinner or something. So I made
beefine into Inla sit.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Fifty nine degrees. Break out the beef Wellington.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Yeah, get the Canada goose jacket out and let's get
the beef one into and out.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
So, yeah, we lit fire. They're hard to make, Yeah
they are. I do cheat a little bit.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
I used Gordon Ramsey's recipe and it's I must say
it is.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Who's that other British guy, Jamie Jamie al I've made
his beef Wellington once from my family for a Christmas.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
He's a bit of a gaze of an't he absolutely?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Ay?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yeah, he's a bit southern.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah okay, well I thought it was lovely. Yeah, great.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Before he's he's a big fan of him. I've got
a few cookbooks of his few cooks. He's got a
fantastic Christmas pash.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Before we talked about your dad visiting somewhere this morning
the playoff, did you see how that all unfolded.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
What what? What?
Speaker 1 (03:12):
What are your inner physical feelings when you're watching something
like that, because even I was feeling like super dirvy.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Yeah, I mean I think as well. Okay, so I'm
a huge I've always been a big Rory fan. I
grew up with the lad and just will always kind
of stick up for him and just love the way
he plays golf, to be honest, like, I think he's
just generationally amazing. But you always kind of fight for
the underdog, don't you. And I was kind of feeling
for how JJ would be feeling like I've had to
sleep on that and then not only like go up
(03:41):
against Rory, but the way that Rory just absolutely smashed
his first T shirt.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, big statement, here we go.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
And then I was, yeah, I don't know, it was windy.
It was so windy here this morning, Like it was
so gusty. I kind of felt like once Rory hit
on the green on seventeen, felt like it was kind
of his I know. I felt so bad for jjause
I thought he's going to do it yesterday, I know.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
And I thought he's going to do it yesterday.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Yeah, Because on the one hand, you want you want
to root for the Rory pre Augusta storyline and everything
that comes with that. But on the other hand, you
want to root for the guy that literally had one
hand on the trophy may or may not ever get
this opportunity again and just play like he played so good,
Like Rory didn't play his best but still somehow was
(04:29):
shooting for under every day and that JJ is, yeah,
so so good the whole time under pressure, that he
could have crumbled so many times, and if they didn't
have to call it for darkness, like who knows what
would have happened, Like he would have still had he
would like you said you wouldn't, he wouldn't have had
to sleep on it. And I think they were saying
something about that on the broadcast too, like he hasn't
had to sleep on it that much, whereas like Rory
(04:49):
has this is his sixth player or something like that,
and then he's also one and twenty eight times.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
So yeah, one hundred percent, And I think that this,
you know, I saw JJ in an oppress conference, I
think it was earlier in the week, saying that he's
had quite an unusual upbringing as in a professional golf
like he hasn't been groomed, and it just made me
think like wow, Yeah, like when Maury was thirteen, he
was kind of had every kind of opportunity he wanted.
(05:14):
His future was he obviously earned it, by the way,
Like I'm not saying that he didn't earn it.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
I mean, no one worked harder.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Yeah, right, and he was incredible at thirteen, But my goodness,
the opportunities he got given compared to you know, he
was destined to be one of the best players in
the world. And so that's why another reason why I
think people I certainly wanted to fight for JJ would
have been life changing.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
And he just seems like a pretty cool dude to
be honest with you.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yeah, no, he is. He's great.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
He's always one of my nicest guys that you see
on the range.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Always says allow.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
It's like a normal, regular dude that like treats you
like a normal person, which is lovely about in this
in his business. But you know, hopefully JJ can get
another chance at it again because he deserves it. Oh
the other thing, Creator Classic, did you see any of that?
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Okay? Please? She did something with Grant Horvat.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
I did a thing with him on Monday for AWS
and first time I met the guy, and he could
not have been more lovely. To be quite honest with you,
he said he was absolute shitting about this great classic comper.
I know, he says, like, I don't play golf like this,
like I can edit and like make myself look really
good and things like that, and I just I don't.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Know, I don't believe everything you see people.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Yeah, exactly, like the realness of him. And he's like,
I'm actually like really nervous.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
I did watch he played great.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
A little bit. The most entertaining thing was what's his
name from barstool?
Speaker 1 (06:36):
I mean, no posted was that he shot sixty one,
which was the course record, but it was like or something.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
I juggled at that.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Yeah, that was genius. That was comedy genius.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
But yeah, look, I mean listen, I'm not against it.
I think that it gets I mean, kids are getting
into the game now because of YouTubers, you know, so
I'm not against it at all, but it's I wasn't
quite ready to watch it just yet.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Okay, I watched some of it. Well, actually I had
to watch the last thirty minutes because.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
It was on Golf Channel. But it went long, so we.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Were and our show was coming because Trent could be
probably because.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Trent hit seventeen balls into the water.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
So we we were literally like like hair and makeup.
I'm sitting there in my dress like in the studio
waiting to come on air because of The Creator Classic.
So I was I was locked in. I mean, I
think it's great. I'd like to see them leaning into
something like this instead of being super like.
Speaker 5 (07:36):
Buttoned up the PGA door.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
You know.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah, yeah, what like is this work? Guys? Is Golf's
this is what the world is.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
So yeah, I think that they probably need to work
out a few things, a few kinks with the broadcast
and those sorts of things, and that's you know, that
takes time.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
But it was I thought it was great.
Speaker 5 (07:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
I thought the first time wasn't too bad.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Okay, So, speaking of the Creator Classic, Page Sporanic was
one of the announcers on Creador Classic last week. Yep,
shout out Page did a great job.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
She did great, great job she did, did her interviews.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
I had talked to her a little bit beforehand and
she was saying she was nervous, and then afterwards she
was like, oh my gosh, you know, she like, you know,
you have to wear the headset and you can't really hear,
and it's a whole thing. And so with all of that, great,
and we're very lucky to have our on our show.
We had an amazing conversation with her back in February.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
She since then has been in the Creator Classic.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
She's been on full swing and our girl Page is
big in the golf scene as we know.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Yeah, and she was great.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
I Actually, I hope people enjoy this interview. I think
she's very authentic, very real. Obviously she gets misunderstood with
some of the stuff that she probably posts, but I've
always don't up never really against what Page does. If
I'm honest, I'm I'm kind of like you do you
like it? And I think that having interviewed her and
having it on the podcast, I was even more a
bigger fan of Page, to be quite honest. Yeah, I
(08:52):
just thought she was very raw and real and she's
very open on this interview, and I just, yeah, she
definitely earned.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
A new fan.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
It's a completely different side than with Yeah. You would
see on the internet. She posts a lot of spicy takes.
She likes to get into these little social media beefs
and things like that, and that's all kind of like.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Part of her brand.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
But this was this to me was like real Page,
and we talked about, Yeah, some really meaningful things that
I think a lot of people can get out of
that conversation.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
No matter who you are, what you do, it's just
like human things.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Yeah, and she was vulnerable, and I thought that that
was very brave of her, and I thought it was cool.
And she's just nothing about ours fake, to be honest
with you. So she's a businesswoman and she does a
business business and she keeps it very professional she does,
and so I thought she was great, great, great, she
was great. Here we go with Page Sporanic.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Today a very special guest. We have content creator, model influencer.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
I don't know exactly how you like to be introduced,
Paige all around badass, likes to turn golf on its head.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Paige Sperandic, Welcome to Quiet Please.
Speaker 5 (09:57):
Thanks for having me. Yeah, the intro is always hard
because I don't love golf influencer or a content creator,
and I definitely can't say golfer because people get upset
about that. So it's like, you really can please anyone
with the intro.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Okay, we're just happy to have page sprainder. I think
it's itself.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
I was telling some of my friends that we were
going to record with you, and they were very excited.
So I think a lot of people are very envious
of my position right now. Obviously with a former Miss
America a new page, so I feel like we're around royalty.
To be quite honest with you, ladies, I'm feeling very honored.
So thank you compliments early.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
You know, you follow me everywhere, just like hype me up.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Not a problem page, not a problem, but yeah. I
mean I was obviously going through some of your stuff
for research, and I've always been a massive fan of you,
Like I remember when you came to playing Dubai. You
remember that years ago, and I was, you know, obviously
some of the players kind of had their opinions and stuff,
but I was like, I think this is awesome. At
the end of the day, the more eyes that we
get on golf is the better for us and our
(10:57):
game is. I've always been a huge fan of you,
but Mike, God, you must get some shit.
Speaker 5 (11:03):
I mean, it's so funny. You were like, do you
remember Dubai? And I'm like, yeah, that was like the
worst moment of my life. Like, I'll never forget that.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
But because you got criticized bad for that dud.
Speaker 5 (11:13):
Badly badly. It's weird how it kind of all happened.
So I played in college at San Diego State, and
I was kind of having a weird relationship with the
game of golf, and anyone who has played competitively has
gone through this where the lows are really low, and
mentally for me, I just always really struggled with that.
And so I finished college out and I didn't know
(11:35):
what I want to do. I always want to play professionally,
but just mentally I couldn't handle it. My parents were like,
let's just give it a year, and I ended up
going viral. And this was back when you know, people
weren't going viral all the time, so I didn't know
how to handle it. And my whole life got flipped
upside down and went from having like five hundred followers
to one hundred thousand followers. And I got this invite
(11:57):
to play an LED event and I had just turned pro.
I had never played golf outside the country, and everyone's like,
it's going to be low key, don't worry about it.
You know, no one's gonna know if you play well
or not. And I show up and I was doing
hours of press, which I wasn't prepared for. I had
(12:18):
no training to do this. And I would say there
were a couple girls who were really supportive and who
were nice, but the majority it was brutal. I mean
I'd go on the range and girls would just scatter.
No one wanted to hit next to me. There were
constant comments of you know, I did sexual favors to
get this invite, and I was listening to it and they
(12:40):
would say in earshots of me, and it was tough
and so not only being there, not knowing what I
was doing. It was my first pro event. It was
really difficult. I just wanted to be liked and I
play so bad, like it was oh regress. It wasn't good.
I mean I had a lot of pressure on me
and it was like the I remember one new story
(13:01):
in the world and it was Paige blows up, throws
up all over herself, and that was basically like the
start of all of this. And I would say the
first couple of years were really hard to deal with
because I just wasn't equipped with any of the tools
to be able to one handle this amount of tension
that I was receiving from people within the golf community,
(13:24):
all the criticism that I was receiving from people outside
who were just you know, casual sports fans, to being
able to navigate playing pro golf, which you know, I
was still trying to do that the first year, and
I was barely holding it together. To say the least.
I was a mess. I was, so it was brutal.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
I apologize on behalf of the girls that week if
they gave you any shit, because I was a big
fan of it.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
I thought it was a cool invite. I honestly did.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
Like I said, I think the more eyes we get
on it, and you know, people they have issues when
they don't kind of understand what they don't understand, do
you know what I mean? And I'm like, girls, what
are you talking about? I just I remember I think
I spoke to you that week and I was like,
she's lovely. I don't know what the fucking problem is, Like,
SHU get it.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Though people are scared of something different, especially in golf, exactly,
you have to see it from their.
Speaker 5 (14:12):
Perspective too, and that's something that I always did where
it's like, Okay, you work your ass off weeken and
week out, and you're already fighting with each other to
get the limited opportunities that are out there with sponsors,
and then here comes me and I just walk on
in and it's like I come with a new callaway
bag and I had, you know, lou Lemon that week,
and you know, I can see why it ruffled some feathers.
(14:34):
And I tried everything I could do to make amends
with the female professional golfers because I knew how it
looked and I never wanted to step on anyone's toes
and I'm so respectful of the hard work that goes
into it, and I was like, I'm just gonna get
so much hate, and this is going to be so bad,
because I do see it from their perspective, like it
(14:55):
just sucks, and like the way that the industry is,
it just pits women against each other because it just
feels like there's so many limited opportunities that you're fighting
each other for the one opportunity another opportunity, and then
you have major champions who can't get a sponsor, and
yet I could get one, And so I can see
why there was that tension, and it was just hard
because I had no financial backing, and so I needed
(15:18):
to do what I needed to do to survive and live.
But I also understood the other side of it, and
it's more of the product of women's athletics than anything,
and I was just the one who kind of got
caught in the middle of it.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Yeah, like everyone's out here trying to make a living.
We're all trying to do it what we can.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
And I think that, especially at the time, it's unfair
because this is a very specific women's sports issue, but
you do have to put yourself out there more in
the women's game to be able to get sponsors and
get attention. And I think a lot of people at
the time probably were thinking, I'm playing such great golf,
I'm doing the work, but I'm still not getting the
attention that I should be receiving. And that's because people
(15:55):
were not open to social media. They're not putting themselves
out there, they're saying no to interview.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Is they're not.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Necessarily buying into the machine, which is an unfair thing
that women especially have to do.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
But you were like thriving in the machine.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
It was necessity.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
I had to.
Speaker 5 (16:11):
I had to take the opportunities to at the time
finance my golf career, and then once I stopped playing
golf and realized that that wasn't the path for me,
I still had to make a living for myself, and
so the first couple of years it was survival. But
I think what you said earlier where it's like you
don't put yourself out there, actually, I think a lot
of women and sports do put themselves out there, and
(16:34):
they do try.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Now more so. I think at the time though, it.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
Was like yeah, at the time, not really, And I
think the conversation was really interesting because I was putting
myself out there, but I was doing it in a
way that people would seem, as you know, over sexualizing myself,
and so the conversation was, okay, so now, as a woman,
do I have to dress the way that Page dresses
to get the attention? And you know, it was really
(17:00):
interesting to try to navigate that as well. But I
always said that my brand is my brand. It's who
I am authentically, it's what I wear when I'm shooting content,
when I'm not shooting content, and it's all about just
being yourself. And I think showing more personality and connecting
with people on that level is how you build that community.
And that's something that I think I did really well.
(17:22):
Was the worst times of my life were in the
beginning of my career, and so people who followed me
then were able to see a vulnerability and I was
open about things that I was going through and how
hard it was. And I think that's why a lot
of people connected to my story early on. And I
know people were also there for other reasons, but I
(17:44):
think I was able to create this long lasting brand
because of that vulnerability and being open and just being
who I am and being myself. And I think for
all athletes or anyone who's trying to do anything on
social media, it's not trying to replicate what someone else does.
It's about putting yourself out there authentically and who you are,
(18:07):
and that's something that I always just tried to do.
I would take opportunities that felt authentic to me. I
would say yes to brands that I like their products,
and that was just something that I always did, even
early on in my career.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
What were some of those hard things in the beginning,
If you don't mind sharing an example or two of
something that people might not understand would have been a
big challenge for you at the time.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
So when I played the European Tour event, I was
the night before and I was already kind of dealing
with personal issues out of college where I was wrongly medicated,
so they thought that I was suffering with depression. I
actually had anxiety, and so the medication that it put
me on made me depressed, and so I was dealing
with that while also being in a new place, a
(18:58):
new environment, with all all of this pressure on me.
And it was the night before the first round, and
I locked myself in the bathroom and I was trying
to find anything I possibly could to not wake up
the next morning because I was so unbelievably stressed out.
I didn't have the tools again to be able to
handle it. And so there were things like that that
(19:19):
happened early on in my career, or I the next year,
everything bad that happened to me was in dubuying that tournament.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
But even no, no straight for it.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
Yeah, no, It's a huge part of my story and
who I am and the growth as a person, so
I don't mind talking about it. But even the next
year where I was like, I can't believe I'm gonna
do this again, but I'm gonna go back. I'm gonna
prove myself that I can do this. And it was
five minutes before I did a press conference and someone
was threatening to leak a personal picture that was stolen
from me, and so I was dealing with this, I
(19:53):
had to go on ended up crying in the press conference,
and so there were a ton of things that were
happening behind the scenes personally that I had to deal with,
that were tying back into business that we're tying back
into golf, and I spoke about it. It took me
a little bit of time to be able to fully
speak about it in a very comfortable way. But those
are things that I have shared with my community and
(20:14):
my audience, and I think a lot of people can
relate to the feeling of helplessness at times in your
life where you don't know what you want to do,
if it's the right path that you're on, do you
have the right people that are surrounding you. There's all
of these factors in your life where you have these
moments where you're like, it would probably just be easier
(20:34):
to just cut out all of the noise, and it's
the perseverance and having someone talk about that. I think
back then, this was twenty fifteen sixteen, where on Instagram
all you would see was, you know, people throwing up
cash and crazy bottles of tequila and private jets. It
was all about what you had and showing the best
side of yourself. And I just I didn't have anyone
(20:57):
to talk to, and so the people who were following
me ended up being my family in my community, and
I shared my deepest, darkest secrets with them.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
So I've always been an advocate for being authentically yourself.
I really have in on all walks of life, and
I think it's extremely honorable that you are authentic to yourself,
especially in your brand. I want to know, like, from
twenty fifteen to now, you seem like a completely different
human being in the best way.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
How do you build like.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
That armor and that strength of not basically giving a
shit what people say and you just being true to
yourself Because there's been even things that and I'm definitely
not comparing myself to you, but I've definitely done things
in the past where like I've been outspoken about certain
things and the backlash from even me, who's like a
nobody on Instagram at the time, was horrific. It was
(21:45):
fucking awful. I really struggled to deal with it, to
be honest with you. And then obviously over time, you know,
you do deal with it, and I've been a little
bit more careful about.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
Why you say. But I'm like, why should I be
like careful way what I saying?
Speaker 4 (21:56):
So I just want to kind of know, like, have
you like grown and built that kind of detective armor
of yourself and just become kind of the strong woman
that you are.
Speaker 5 (22:04):
Well, thank you. I mean I've looked up to you
forever even always one of my favorite players. So please
talk about yourself now. In a way, you are such a.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Model over here.
Speaker 5 (22:16):
So how is eraic confidence about you? So to hear
that you even struggle with that is really shocking for me.
And again it goes back to what I was just
talking about, where we all internally struggle with our insecurities
and it's magnified when you go online. And so that
was something that I learned over the years. I think
(22:38):
age is a big factor. I was twenty one twenty
two when I started doing this, and now I'm in
my thirties. You learn about yourself, you mature, you grow,
and it's work in therapy. I've done a huge advocate
for going to therapy and having someone to talk to
the journey of self discovery and self love because you know,
at the end of the day, what I realized was
(23:01):
that when I was outspoken about something and someone would
insult me back, if it was something that I was
insecure about, it really hurt. So a big one for
me is when someone comments on my golf ability or
my golf game, I always feel like a failure because
I never made it playing professionally, and that's something that
I still have to tackle. And so that's something that
(23:23):
when someone comments that, it's really hard. But I've realized
that the loudest voices are the most negative voices, and
there are so many other people who are silent cheering
you on from the side and also agree with what
you're saying, and so it's much better to be outspoken
and sometimes make the take, post it and then don't look,
(23:44):
you know, don't take the time because it's so easy
to doom scroll and focus on one negative comment and
there's ten other really positive ones and it ruins your day,
and I've just realized that I like being outspoken, I
like being myself. There are people who will never like
what I do, and that is totally okay. It's great
to start these discussions. But Mel you have so much
(24:06):
to say and so much insight. It would be a
loss to golf if you don't speak out and you
don't use your voice. And I think that's so important
to empower other people to speak up about certain topics
or certain things in golf because we need more diversity
and more diverse discussions. And so if you are coming
(24:27):
from it from a different perspective, of course you're going
to have some backlash or of course you're going to
have some resistance. But that's when you know you're doing
the right thing. That's when you know that you were
actually making a difference. And so always remember that too.
It's like if you say something and not everyone agrees
with you because you're coming from it from a different perspective,
and we need more people in golf with a different viewpoint.
(24:49):
Please keep speaking up and keep using your voice. Same
with you, Kira too.
Speaker 4 (24:54):
Damn pirt shit bloody have If you're very spun, I'm
not gonna lie.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
So when you post on X, you go for it,
you say the thing, and you engage with people, you
call them out. And I have done that a few
times in my social media career, and any time I do,
I get immediate hate and I just I shrivel up
and die. I just can't so the fact that you
can do that and put yourself out there and you're
(25:24):
so strong about it, and you just built this amazing
voice and view polt like when did you When did
you start putting out those sorts of takes on Twitter
and realizing like, okay, there's something here.
Speaker 5 (25:37):
I can't remember the exact timeframe of when it happened,
but early on in my career, I'm such a people
pleaser and like I want to be well liked, especially
in the golf industry, because I value this game so
deeply and I tried to play at a high level.
I respect it so much and I respect the people
within the community that it was frustrating that I was seen,
(25:59):
as you know, ruining the game of golf or hurting
the growth of women's golf. And so I really tried
to be quiet, and I tried to do what other
people wanted me to do, and I posted this picture
and I had leggings and a full turtleneck, I mean,
(26:19):
and the only skin was my hands. And I got
so many comments about people saying that my outfit was inappropriate.
And at that point, I was like, there's nothing that
I can do now at this point to please other people,
and so I might as well keep pushing. And I
felt like I was doing all the right things, and
I was saying the right things, and I wasn't getting
these opportunities. Everyone kept putting me in this box. And
(26:42):
so I just woke up one day and I said,
if you're going to put me in that box, then
I'm going to do that better than anyone else has
ever done it. And so I kind of created this persona,
this character, this parody of how people viewed me. And
so you have seen a switch over the years. And
I don't know if it's out of because I tend
to do that at times because she doesn't want to
(27:03):
be quiet. But it's so stupid. There's so much hypocrisy
in the game of golf, where guys can do and
say in all this stuff, but people are offended by
a little bit of cleavage. And I hated that and
it did make sense to me, and so I pushed
the limits with what I would wear. I was outspoken
when things didn't sit right with me. I think that
times people in the golf community are so stuck in
(27:25):
their own ways that they don't want to hear different perspective.
So I started throwing out crazy hot takes because it
was fun, and I feel like social media should be fun.
And so the last couple of years of my career,
it's like, if you follow me, you know, you know,
and you're in on the joke and it's this kind
of parody, like I said, but if you're looking at
it from an outsider, you're like, this girl is so
(27:46):
full of herself, she's so crazy, she has these crazy takes.
And so that's where a lot of the hate comes from.
But it's just out of rebellion of just being put
in this box and there was nothing else I could do,
and so I just thought that people or monetizing off
of me without any of my say so I might
as well be able to monetize myself and do it
the way that I want to do it.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
I think it's so frustrating, especially with like golf at
Tire nowadays, like I feel like it's definitely shifting, Like
I feel like a lot of the apparel companies are
getting more. I kind of say, like, you come off
the golf course, you could go straight to the pub
and no one knows that you've played golf. That's kind
of like where it's going. But yeah, it is the
goal because that's usually what I do.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
But this is like.
Speaker 4 (28:28):
Reality, that's true, it's actually a fact. A couple of
years ago, I was at like a pretty popular golf
course in West Palm and I don't wear anything like
I would never even say inappropriate, but my shorts are
a little short, probably for my age, but whatever.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
Like I work out and I'm pretty proud of my
legs are like I don't care.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
And this guy I'm getting ready in the car park
and this guy comes scooting over and I'm like, oh,
for fox sake, here we go.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
And he goes, excuse me, those shorts are a little
bit short.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Does anyone ever like said anything to you about them
at this golf club? And I said, oh, that's a shame,
I said, because these are a long one. I said,
I was gonna wear my short one tomorrow. And I'm
looking at this guy by the way, why he's having
a bollock at me.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
I'm looking at him and.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
He's got like the filthiest shoes on is shorts are
light from nineteen eighty seven, and his T shirt has
bo sweatstains on it, and I'm thinking, bruh, like, come on,
what are you talking about?
Speaker 3 (29:20):
And it must it's so it frustrates me.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
So it must just be like an absolute ridiculous for
somebody like yourself who just rocks up in what you
do and just goes in its golf balls and doesn't
give a ship. I think it's awesome.
Speaker 5 (29:31):
It's insane, it's funny because your short shorts are probably
like pants on me.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
So yeah, her winter where.
Speaker 5 (29:42):
But it's true, like you'll show up to a golf
course and this guy will be wearing joggers that are
so tight you can see his dick outline, and no
one has a problem with that.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
That is a lesbian disgusting.
Speaker 5 (29:54):
Put it away, right, any of that actually gress but
it's true. And then you have like a little kid
who's out there for the first time, and someone from
the golf course is showing up being like you got
to remove your kid because I'm not wearing proper golf attime.
It's stills the growth of the game. It just Ryan's
my gears because public golf courses able to wear whatever
(30:17):
you want. But even I remember when the LPGA where
they were like no joggers. HM, Like that's insane.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
I know, that's how to show me off. They told
her for like a razorback. I was like, have you
seen how good shoes?
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Oh, that's right, that's right. I agree about the razor
And I.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Was like, she looks incredible like that.
Speaker 4 (30:35):
She looks like an athlete for once, like with the
attie that Nike was doing at the time, and then
that got cough, you know, and I'm like, what are
you guys doing?
Speaker 5 (30:42):
And it's not like they're wearing bikinis out there, no, no,
you know, And you look at other dress codes and
it's like, golfers are athletes. I even think it's outrageous
when men have to wear pants in one hundred degree
weather and ninety percent humidity.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
That's crazy.
Speaker 4 (30:59):
There's still long socks is in England where you have
to wear like long socks and shorts at some golf clubs.
Speaker 5 (31:03):
Now that's actively against dress code.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
I got to the name yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Find a golf pro come up to me at a
very popular golf course in the Bay Area and say,
I'm so sorry on a regulation length skirt where you know,
you put your arms down your thighs and you do
the measurement and everything.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
The skirt has passed my hands on the sides of
my thighs. I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Unfortunately, this is not appropriate for this property. And then
you go into the pro shop you have to buy something.
The rack only has mediums and larges, which is not
my size. I end up buying this heinous skirt for
one hundred and twenty dollars, which sharing comptable probably, and
also the pro has now snickered about you to all
the other people there and maybe a member.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Now people are looking at you.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Now you're physically shaking on the first tee as you
have to play.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
In a program with a bunch of people that are
making fun of you. Anyway, So yeah.
Speaker 5 (31:53):
It's so hard because you can never win. I showed
up to a really exclusive golf course and surprisingly I
am actually like a stickler for rules. I will call
up and see what the dress code is before. Because
of that reason, I don't want to show up and
be embarrassed. And it was like fifty degrees freezing outside.
I had a turtleneck and an overlayer and a sweater
(32:15):
and a jack.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
My shirts on.
Speaker 5 (32:17):
Yeah yeah if my pants weren't even that tight that day,
Like I really played it safe done. So I walked in.
All of a sudden, everyone was staring at me, and
I walked out and the head pro came up and
he said, we need to check that you're wearing a polo.
We need to see if you have a collar on.
I'm like, I have thunder all your stuff. Yes, They're like,
(32:37):
you need to have a collar on. Even if we
can't see it, we just know that you're wearing white.
And I was like, this is ridiculous, Like what are
you thinking I'm going to do?
Speaker 3 (32:46):
It is one of the most no one's going to
see your call.
Speaker 5 (32:49):
No one's going to see it. So I had to
go in and buy a shirt to make sure I
had a call.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
It's honestly one of the most frustrating things for me
because I constantly talk about this to to like members
and stuff at the golf pool. So I'm like, this
is what you're right you spoke about an earlier page.
This is what stunts like the growth of the game,
like it really does. It's just like little things like this,
like it's just so frustrating. Can I ask you a
a golf technical question? Yeah, I hope this isn't out
of line. I'm just quite curious. Actually, So I had
(33:13):
a friend who had quite large breasts, and I get.
Speaker 5 (33:19):
This question all the time.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
Okay, that's the way.
Speaker 4 (33:21):
Okay, Now, just to put this in perspective, I've basically
worn the same size bra since i was about twelve
years old.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Okay, So I've.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
Got peanuts on an ironing board. You can only see
them when it's freezing outside. Okay, I've never heard that expression.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
If you're not peanuts on an irony board.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
No, no, no, that's gonna being British.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
People say, probably not being very nice of the peanut
to be honest with you. But like with your assets,
I was just curious if it makes your swing flat?
Speaker 5 (33:47):
Yeah, one d percent. It's so funny because I've always
had a takeaway where my hand shoot out, it goes
inside and then I get a little flat, and then
I come over the top and I get steep on it.
And it was years and years of this, and I'm like,
I feel stuck, like I feel jammed, and I couldn't
figure it out. And I obviously had male instructors, and
(34:07):
everyone's like, it's fine, you just got to keep bringing
your hands back, hands back, hands back. I'm like, I
can't do it. It's not working. And so one day
I just looked at my instructor and I was like, Hi,
I have boobs. They are in the way, and I
think it's really ruining my backswing. True, it is true,
and so we had like an honest conversation of how
(34:29):
we can adjust to make this work and what you
need to do. You step a little farther away from
it to give yourself some space, and then with your
left arm if you're a righty, you go over and
then on the right you tuck and go under. So
there you're already in the position and you can just
take it back. But the problem is I tend to
hit some shots on the toe and I'll get like
(34:49):
a little toe draw and I take that shots because
I have to stand a little farther away from it.
And so, yeah, it is difficult. But that's another thing
too that is hard for women. You go to male
instructors and they're not comfortable talking about the female body,
and a lot of them are getting bad instruction because
(35:09):
they truly are stuck and they can't swing and they
don't want to address it. And so women are already starting,
you know, a step or two behind because they're getting
bad instruction. They're not hitting good shots, they're uncomfortable and
they can't figure it out, and it's challenging for sure.
So yeah, a lot of women reach out and they're like,
what do I do because I'm so frustrated.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
No, honestly, my may had the same problem. She was like,
it really it sucks, especially like they got a bit bigger.
I don't know what happened, but she got more flat
and she was like, it's.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Really qu changed. Yeah, that didn't happen to me too.
Speaker 5 (35:41):
I had like kind of a late gross burd and
like I gained weight in birth control and they got
a lot bigger and my swing was so flat and
I couldn't hit a shot and I was like, what's
going on again? It just took time, and I'm still
to this day not a good ball striker.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
I'm still waiting for my grosser.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
It might be so I'm still waiting to be a
good ball striker. So all the same page. You mentioned
something earlier page.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
About just doing your own thing on social media, being yourself.
But I think that you inspired this whole generation of
content creators that many of them are doing their own thing,
but many of them are trying to do what you do.
What is it like for you to see all of
these accounts pop up of girls that are essentially just
trying to copy your formula?
Speaker 5 (36:24):
You know, at first, it was a little bit frustrating,
not gonna lie. I think that you put so much
time and effort into curating this brand and making it
to what it is. And I also faced like, we
talked about a lot of criticism and a lot of
hardship on my path, and so to see a lot
of these girls come up and at sunshine and rainbows
and a gain these deals and everyone's accepted it now
(36:46):
years later, it was a little frustrating at first, and
I was like, Oh, this is actually what this was
all for. We talk about growing the game, we talk
about getting more women into the game, and now so
many women, whatever reason it might be, are now out
on the range hitting golf balls. And I think that's awesome.
I think that my biggest advice is to again be
(37:07):
authentic to who you are and what makes you genuine,
because you can emulate someone, but they'll never be me,
but I will never be them, And so there's certain
pieces about yourself that make unique and really special. And
so if I ever tried to post like Eumail or
like you, Kira, it would come off not authentic to
(37:29):
who I am. And so I would hope that more
girls would try to take bits and pieces of the
things that I've done well, but also find their own
path and their own journey in this golf industry and
not duplicate every little thing that I'm doing, because again,
I can never be them and they can never be me.
They need to find their own essence because that's where
(37:50):
I think they'll start to thrive more.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
Yeah, and the way that you figured out monetizing it,
You've got your hand in so many different things. Can
you explain how you've actually figured out the financial part
of all of this and the monetization and all of
the different revenue streams that you now ten years later
are essentially the CEO of Yeah.
Speaker 5 (38:12):
So in twenty fifteen, again, influencers were popular but more
in lifestyle, beauty and fashion. There weren't golf influencers, and
there especially weren't really you know, sports influencers at all.
This was still very new and so when I first
started doing this and getting a lot of attention, Callaway,
who is one of the most progressive brands when it
(38:34):
comes to golf media and trying new things, reached out
to me and asked me if I would be signed
on their media side, and I was like, wow, I
can use this money to finance my golf career. And
that's how it started. And so for the first year,
I was signed under these brands, not as a player,
and I think a lot of people got that confused.
(38:56):
They thought I was signed as a player. I was
signed to do all of their social media content. And
so they were traditional deals where I tried to at
least not do one off deals. I tried to do
long partnerships, and so I had all of these partnerships
with these companies to basically be a walking build board
for them. And after that, I realized that I felt
(39:19):
like I could bring a lot of value to these brands,
and so I started asking for equity or I started
asking for different things that made me really excited and
more motivated to help grow their brand. I also realized
too that I wanted my own products, and so I
did calendars and golf towels. I have a subscription site
(39:42):
and it's just different avenues to try to monetize as
much as I can. I know that how I've built
my brand, there is a possibility of having a shelf life,
and so I've just wanted to take every opportunity. And
I'm at the point now to where as I'm getting older,
i don't want my brand to be what it has
(40:02):
been for the last ten years, and so I'm working
on pivoting and trying new things. I'm going to do
en course for the Creator Classic which is coming up
at Sawgrass, which I'm excited about. So I'm trying new things,
and so I think the biggest thing is to explore
and challenge yourself. I've never had a traditional path, and
(40:23):
most of the time in most jobs, it's like this
is the next step, and then you go here and
that's the next up. And so I've been forced to
be really creative, and so I challenge everyone to also
be as creative as possible, to try different things because
you never know what you'll end up liking. I wrote
a children's book, Like I really have just tried everything
that has made me feel inspired or passionate, or that
(40:45):
I thought it was a good opportunity to also just
make money and that's okay too, Like you can also
just do something because you think it's going to be
a good deal and you can make money, and then
that allows you to invest in other projects or invest
in other things that you do.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
I wanted to ask how do you keep it fresh?
Speaker 4 (41:00):
And also you keep your personal life very very separate,
very private, which I think that it's it's hard digital thing.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
It's really hard. It's really hard to do.
Speaker 4 (41:08):
And like literally I don't know anything about your private
life to a certain degree, and I think that that's
pretty incredible in the profession that you're in to keep
it that private.
Speaker 5 (41:17):
Yeah, it's just like yeah, by design, No, it truly is. Though,
Like if you go and look at a brand social
media account, you're not seeing pictures of their family or
they're not seeing different things. You're seeing the person, you're
seeing the brand. And so that's how I approached it.
When you come on to my page, you're going to
see me and what I think you want to see.
(41:38):
A beginning of my career, I did open up a
little bit and I had a relationship, I was married,
and then I was divorced. And people still to this
day will send me messages of updates of what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
What the other partner was doing, Yeah, what the other
partner was.
Speaker 5 (41:53):
Doing, Like, oh, so and so it's doing this. You know,
it's like a way to be a hater. And I
just didn't appreciate that, and it's just not something that
you know, I want to open up about. I don't
talk about my friends, I don't talk about my family,
and I don't talk about relationships. I personally have opened
(42:14):
myself up to this world. They haven't, and so I
don't want to expose them to the good and the
bad that you get when you live on social media.
And I don't think it matters who I'm dating or
not dating, what I'm doing in my life. I just
like to keep that completely separate. Because I'm so open
about almost every single aspect of my life. I want
(42:36):
to leave a little bit to myself and have that
because I think that people go crazy doing this because
you are the brand and it's exhausting when there's no
separation from your real life to your work life. And
so to be able to do this day in and
day out, I need that separation. And so for me,
that's my friends, my family, or a romantic partner, whatever
(43:00):
it is, like, that's where I'm able to separate and
then I can get back into work mode when it
starts to bleed over. I don't know how family bloggers
do it. Your whole life then is consumed with monetizing
your wedding and monetizing a baby shower and monetizing their
first steps, and before you know it, it's very black
mirror where you're living your entire life on the internet
(43:22):
for everyone to see. And so this was a way
for me to protect myself in a way and also
to have that separation when it comes to keeping it fresh.
I mean, after ten years of doing this, it's like,
I don't know how many more ways I can teach
someone a bunker shot. You know, it's definitely really tricky,
and I just try to do new things. So now
(43:43):
I'm doing hot takes where I will just film the
hottest take in golf that I can think of for
the day, and that's something and I'll probably do for
a little bit and then when I feel like that
fizzles out, then I'll try something else. It's just all
about trial and error, seeing what people like, what they dislike.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
Talk to us about the d ms.
Speaker 4 (44:02):
I was just about to say this, Cara. I was like, what,
it's the weirdest DM you've ever had? I bet it is.
I I want to hear it.
Speaker 5 (44:09):
Yeah, okay, this one's probably the best one, the weirdest one.
If it's to in appropriate, you guys to tell myself.
I okay, this is the place where go. So do
you remember on Snapchat how you could draw pictures? Right?
Speaker 2 (44:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (44:23):
Okay, So this guy would send me a Dick pic
and instead of a normal Dick pic, he would create
animals and so it would be a snake, or it
would be an elephant.
Speaker 6 (44:36):
Or with his with his dick as snake as the snake,
and then he would draw on it and create these
pictures but the body was the dick.
Speaker 5 (44:46):
Or he would do a butterfly, so dick was the body.
He would draw these wings on it and make these
like kind of pretty artistic pictures, very beautiful every day
with a new animal, and it's crazy yeah, it was
really creative. Yeah, and he went on for like months,
(45:06):
I swear, and he just kept going and going, and
then one day he just stopped and I haven't.
Speaker 2 (45:12):
Did you ever respond? Did you ever say?
Speaker 3 (45:14):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (45:14):
What a great Ardvork never responded.
Speaker 5 (45:16):
He went like on read the entire time. There was
another guy that he was trying to figure out my
favorite type of soup, and so every day he'd be
like split peat or chicken noodle and he just sends
like different types of sleep every single day.
Speaker 3 (45:33):
Weird.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
Yeah, Like I just can't imagine sitting there and being like,
you know what, I'm gonna ask her about soup and
then she'll respond.
Speaker 5 (45:41):
But I but I remember it. I mean till this day.
I will never forget, like some of the ones.
Speaker 2 (45:46):
Guy, if you're out there impression.
Speaker 3 (45:48):
Yeah, god, oh my god, that is so funny.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
Sometimes I get requests for undergarments. Do you ever get
like people asking you to sell undergarments?
Speaker 5 (46:00):
Yeah, bathwater? What someone asked me to like like fart
in a jar and then sell sell it.
Speaker 4 (46:11):
Oh my.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
I told my husband that I was getting requests for
under garments and he goes.
Speaker 2 (46:17):
Well, we're not made of money.
Speaker 3 (46:18):
Yeah, So.
Speaker 5 (46:21):
Like new socks, like, yeah.
Speaker 4 (46:24):
Yeah, I don't get that request girls lucky. Yeah, okay,
So I will say one thing though, some of my
fan base, okay, and this happens at every tournament, so
like my cadder'll be like, there's one of your fans,
and hey, hey, I love these fans.
Speaker 3 (46:38):
I love them, I love you guys. Stuff.
Speaker 4 (46:40):
But they're quite the older generation lesbians. So it's like
cargo shorts and it's like a buzzy cut.
Speaker 3 (46:46):
It's that kind of thing.
Speaker 4 (46:47):
I'm like, for God's sake, I thought when I came out,
as you know, at a leza a few years ago, I thought,
I've got one fit bird follow me, you know what
I mean. And to this day, I don't think I've
had one fit lessard follow me. I just get there
about fifty to seventy year olds to like asked me
to be like their second wife and stuff. And so
my fan base is much different to yours, which I'm
a bit disappointed in.
Speaker 3 (47:07):
But hey, so love you girls.
Speaker 2 (47:08):
They might like page two.
Speaker 5 (47:09):
Yeah, I want that. I want a little bit of
that in my way.
Speaker 4 (47:12):
Yeah, a little bit of shugar mama. Yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 5 (47:16):
Want more of a female fan base when.
Speaker 3 (47:19):
I don't want to. I mean no, they're mine. They're mine.
Speaker 2 (47:22):
I'm very possessive of It's like you have enough. You
have like four million people.
Speaker 4 (47:27):
Let me have something greedy, Okay, let them enjoy the
peanuts and a ninning board like when I won it
shot right. So the bar behind eighteen is mcghedigan's. You
have been too shot right.
Speaker 3 (47:37):
It's an Irish.
Speaker 4 (47:38):
It's fantastic, right. I love it. It's like my phob
on the planet. But after I won the later the
owners like, you know, you've made this into like a
lesbian bar, and I'm like what It's like the locals
are raging. It's just every time walking, these older lesbians
are in there, like buying my hoodies.
Speaker 3 (47:52):
And I'm like, you are so welcome. It's the mel
Reed movement.
Speaker 5 (47:56):
You're a sex and mole male.
Speaker 4 (48:00):
I don't know about that, but actually no, I will
take that. So, yeah, I have a sex similar to
the six years lesbians and.
Speaker 5 (48:05):
Those little shorts of yours.
Speaker 2 (48:07):
Yeah, this audience, I.
Speaker 4 (48:09):
Know I should bring out a collection with like Puma,
like a long cargo short for my fun base the
zip offs.
Speaker 3 (48:16):
Yeah, don't.
Speaker 4 (48:17):
Honestly, I was looking at that the other day, I'm like, no, mal,
don't do it. I was I was looking online because
we're talking about going to Colorado in the summer, and
it did it cross my mind for a second, and
I was like.
Speaker 3 (48:26):
Get off this page. Can do it.
Speaker 4 (48:28):
I know, but come on, Kira, you can't have a
zip off. So but that's my fun base.
Speaker 5 (48:32):
I think you're has the best fan base out of
the three of us. If I had to like, pick
I Thoek, you have like a good mix of life.
Speaker 1 (48:39):
I definitely have a lot of women. I have a
lot of Miss America holdovers. I get a lot of
like young girls that.
Speaker 2 (48:44):
Are asking questions that are Miss America fans. Now I
get the I was.
Speaker 1 (48:49):
Ten years old when I saw you win, so the
girls that you know you made an impression on when
they were little. But then I also get the guys,
like old crusty guys that show up to any prem
that I play in and they always always do the
eight by ten printed glosses from Miss America Life. They
stand at the you know, at eighteen on the way
(49:09):
to scoring and they've got the printed out photo.
Speaker 2 (49:11):
Of me in a swimsuit or me winning Miss America.
Ready for me to sign. I'm like, what are you
going to do with this eight by ten glossy? But no,
I know because gone through so much effort to get here.
Speaker 5 (49:20):
If we play in the same event, people think I'm you,
and so then I will. They'll show up and I'm like,
that's Kira and they're like, oh, they are so disappointed
and walk away.
Speaker 2 (49:39):
Page.
Speaker 1 (49:39):
I do want to ask you, how hard is it
to date on a ten thousand foot view.
Speaker 5 (49:47):
Yeah, I would say the biggest challenge that I have
faced is dealing with insecure men. I obviously have a
very difficult job to be in a relationship with, Like
you have to be a very confident, secure man to
understand that, like taking the pictures I'm taking and I
(50:11):
joke around with other people, and that's the biggest thing,
Like you have to be very, very confident and very
trusting to be in a relationship with me. And it's
hard to find someone who has that type of confidence
because it's it's difficult because I always thinking about in reverse,
if I was dating someone who just had a solely
female fan base and they're posting, you know, like thirst
(50:33):
traps every day and females are commenting on it, that'd
be tough, Like that would be really tough, and so yeah,
that's definitely the biggest challenge. It's funny because people like
your job at first. They're attracted to you because you're
driven and motivated and you have a good job and
it's cool. And then once you start dating that person,
it's like, I don't like your job anymore and you
need to stop doing this and you know it's it's
(50:53):
taking away and I want you to quit and do that.
So and it comes down to again insecurities.
Speaker 4 (50:58):
Yeah, yeah, okay, so is this true? Are you the
most followed golfer? Could you have more follows than target?
Speaker 3 (51:05):
I don't.
Speaker 5 (51:05):
Yeah, I think I think I still am. I'm not positive.
It changes all the time, but yes, I think I
might still be the most followed golfer, which is insane
to think about this.
Speaker 3 (51:16):
I mean, that's awesome though, isn't it.
Speaker 5 (51:18):
It's it's cool, but it's also like a lot of
pressure to put out good content and try to like
always grow and sometimes it's like I want to try
new things, and if you feel like you're losing followers,
then it's deflating at times. And so it's like you
always want to stay or keep growing. And sometimes it's
like I just want to try something new and I
want to like do different things and push myself creatively,
(51:41):
but that also could equate less followers and less growth,
And so it's always that balance.
Speaker 2 (51:46):
Who takes your pictures, It's either.
Speaker 5 (51:49):
My mom or I will do it on a self
timer with like my cell phone.
Speaker 4 (51:54):
Are you posting every day as well? Do you post
like religiously every single day?
Speaker 5 (51:59):
Not as much I used to. I wouldn't say that
I was burnt out at kind of the start of
last year, but I had a management change, and they're
just things in my life that were like changing, and
so I just wanted to take a little bit of
a break from posting. And I really haven't posted as
(52:21):
much on Instagram as I used to, and I feel
like it's actually been really beneficial for myself and like
the growth of what I want to do, and like
I was saying, I'm trying to pivot and do new things,
and so I've actually taken some time back of not
posting every day. But it is really interesting how the
algorithm sets you up to post multiple times a day
(52:44):
and the loss that you see and you have to
be super active, and it's really difficult to keep up
with like the alex Earls of the world who post
multiple times a day, and so they just have this
energy now and I'm like, I'm getting old, Like this
is really this is challenging, Like this is crazy.
Speaker 1 (53:03):
How much like every aspect of her life is content,
the way that she gets ready, the way that she
gets unready, the way that she gets dressed, what she's
eating like all day every day. But I feel like
she blew up a lot on TikTok. Are you doing
similar content like that on TikTok page.
Speaker 5 (53:18):
I'm trying to do more on TikTok. I think the
hardest thing is keeping my personal life private while also
trying to talk about my every day and what I'm doing.
And that's been something that I have really been struggling
with because before it was really easy just talk about
golf content. But now with the shift on TikTok and
(53:41):
a younger generation, it's all about authenticity and it's all
about every little detail of your life. They want to
hear about the breakup, they want to hear about the dates,
they want to hear about all this stuff, and that's
just something that as i've gotten older, I want to
keep some of it to myself because I don't want
my digital footprint is already bad enough. Like I don't
(54:03):
want every single detail of my life to be online,
but I also don't want the rest of my life
to have to live online, Like I said, like the
monetizing a wedding and the baby, and then all of
a sudden you have to create content all around your kids.
And what kind of damage is that going to do
to your kid if they're constantly in front of the
camera and they have a profile before the day that
(54:23):
they're born, Like, we don't know the lasting impact that
this will have on certain generations. And so I've had
a harder time growing on TikTok, where it is all
about authenticity and sharing all of your life, and that's
just not something that I feel as comfortable doing as
a lot of creators who are gaining a lot of
popularity right now.
Speaker 4 (54:43):
I mean, people just get so engulfed in it, don't they,
that they actually almost lose complete reality and all that stuff.
Like I follow a couple of people I'm like, Jesus,
I literally post everything about everything of their life, and
I'm like, my goodness, I mean, each their own. Like
I'm not here to judge, but I'm like, I don't know.
I mean, I post a little bit about like family stuff,
but I feel like me and Kry have had many
discussions like I'm not very good at it, first of all,
(55:05):
and second of all, like we've definitely have a line
and we're like, there's no way that we would ever ever,
ever even come close to that line, because it's just
what would that do for us?
Speaker 3 (55:13):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (55:14):
I think you've got to keep things very private. I
think you're doing it the right way if I'm completely honest.
In the industry that you're in.
Speaker 3 (55:19):
Anyway, what's the best and worst thing about what you do?
Speaker 5 (55:24):
The best thing is getting to connect with my community
every single day. I love the group of people who
have supported me over these years, and I'm so lucky
to have them. They're the first one to wish me
a happy birthday or like happy holidays. They check it
on me. It's insane how someone you might have never
met in person can care about you so deeply, and
(55:46):
I just find that so beautiful. I think the worst
thing is, I would say there's two. One is security threats,
So I have a lot of impersonating accounts, and that
can lead to very scary situations of you know, having
to file restraining orders and you know, just deal with that.
And that's something that I never thought I would have
(56:09):
to deal with. I hope that was something that no
one would ever have to deal with, but it's just
kind of the sad reality of social media. And the
second thing I would say is this kind of constant
feeling of having to defend my character. I think because
of how my story started and being in a more conservative,
(56:29):
stuffy industry like golf, people have a lot of misconceptions
on who I am, and I know who I am,
and the people I never show also know who I am.
And it's hard to constantly have to justify why you're
doing something or defend your character or feel like you
even have to do that because I don't feel like
I'm ever doing anything wrong. I feel like, if you
(56:52):
talk to me about it, like actually have pretty good
intentions and there's a reason why I'm doing what I'm
doing and there's purpose behind it. And I think that's
hard because even if I tried to explain that, people
always want to have this gotcha moment you know, and
it's like, well, why can't you be honest about why
people follow you? Okay, well then I'm honest about that
(57:12):
and say, hey, you know, thanks to the girls for
you know, the getting me where I am. And they're like, well,
now you're shallow and you know, self absorbed, and why
don't you try to be more serious? And then you
do that and it's like it's just never good. No,
you can't please living yeah, and it's like you try
to show these different sides of you and still people
will always have this like moment of no, that's not
(57:32):
what you said before, or this is what it should
be or this is what needs to be. And I
think that's the most exhausting part. Of course, you can
always ignore it, but it's challenging to always just kind
of brush that off and you know, feel like you
don't have to defend yourself.
Speaker 1 (57:47):
What's been a good recent like breakthrough moment for you
where you've felt like people have gotten you or you
felt like really proud of something in particular about like,
as you said, you're constantly evolving, like that next step
of what page looks like, like what's been something recently
that you're just like super excited about.
Speaker 5 (58:06):
I don't know if I've ever had like an aha
moment where I'm like, finally my career is shifted or
this is what I have been working for. People get
me now. I think that you see that in the
growth of my community, and I think you see in
the growth of my business that there are a lot
of people who dislike what I do, but there's a
(58:28):
lot of people actually really like what I do. And
I try to remind myself about that. I think new opportunities,
like I'm going to be in full swing and to
get an opportunity like that. I don't know how much
I'll be shown in it, but you know, even just
getting that opportunity that's more mainstream.
Speaker 3 (58:46):
Yeah, congrass, thank you.
Speaker 5 (58:47):
I appreciate that. That's when I get that momentere I'm like, okay,
like I can now take that next step where I
can try new things, because I'm always seen as not
a safe bet when it comes to doing more commercial,
mainstream media, and that's something that I do want to
try to do and it might not be what I
end up doing, but I at least want to have
those opportunities.
Speaker 4 (59:08):
I mean, I think you're absolutely lovely if I'm completely
honest with you, and I think that I love that
you're authentic to what you do. And I think whether
people like to hear it or not, and this is
me being completely honest, is that you have moved the
needle in the golf content space for sure, and everyone's
obviously inteled to their opinion, and I think when they
make negative comments, it's because people get very uncomfortable in
(59:29):
what they don't know. Right, We talked about that earlier.
So I've always been a big fan of you, mate.
You know, people that I've spoke to about you have
always spoken very very highly of you about what fantastic
human being you are. I'm even more of a fan
after having this conversation with you. So yeah, it's been
really cool getting to know you. I think, yeah, thank you,
and you inspired me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (59:46):
No, your page, you're amazing, Right, I appreciate this so
much like Kiro when you reached out and asked me
to come on.
Speaker 5 (59:55):
It kind of goes back to the last question, like
new breakthroughs are opportunities. I never thought that I be
someone that you guys would ask to be on this podcast,
and so it means a lot to me, and I'm
so honored and touched because I think one thing is
like I want to have female connections within the golf industry,
and I feel like that's something that I've always really
struggled with. And so when you reached out to come
(01:00:17):
on this podcast, like it almost made me cry, Like
I never thought that I would be able to do
this or that you would care to listen to my
story or what I had to say. And so I
just want to thank you for having me on and
having this discussion. It really really means a lot to me.
Speaker 1 (01:00:36):
Well, Page First of all, the fact that you would
ever think that we wouldn't want you on the show
is wild, because you're amazing. And even though I'm in
the actual recording, I'm listening to this and getting so
much out of it in the moment because for you
to be so open about the mental health stuff that
you went through early on and the personal life stuff
and how you're growing your business from like a business
(01:00:57):
one perspective, like the value is insane and I'm super
super grateful and you've got us, so we're going to
hang and stick together.
Speaker 4 (01:01:05):
Yeah, And I hope that people that might have an
impression of you or a judgment on you have listened
to this and gone, actually, if she's a fucking badass,
because I don't know anybody who would listen to this
and not think that.
Speaker 3 (01:01:14):
I really really enjoyed that. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (01:01:15):
I just love people that are just very two to
themselves and run through walls, and I feel like you're
on them people page. So that was a really cool conversation.
Speaker 1 (01:01:24):
Dah.
Speaker 5 (01:01:24):
Thank you so much for having me on.
Speaker 1 (01:01:28):
Thanks for listening to Quiet Please. We'll be back next
week with more golf apps, and we.
Speaker 2 (01:01:32):
Want to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (01:01:33):
Leave us a review in Apple Podcasts and tell us
what you want to talk about.
Speaker 2 (01:01:37):
It just might be the topic of our next show.
Speaker 1 (01:01:40):
Quiet Please is hosted.
Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
By Mel Reed and Kira Dixon.
Speaker 1 (01:01:43):
Our executive producer is Jesse Katz. Our supervising producer is
Grace Views. Our producer is Zoe Danklers.
Speaker 4 (01:01:50):
Listen to Quiet Please on America's number one podcast network, iHeart.
Speaker 3 (01:01:55):
Open your free iHeart
Speaker 4 (01:01:56):
App and search Quiet Please with Mel Reed and Kira
Dixon and start listening.
Quiet Please, with Mel Reed and Kira Dixon, is an
iheartwomen's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, Mel, welcome to
(00:25):
Quiet Please.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
How are you.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
I'm good?
Speaker 4 (00:30):
Yes, I am good. I am good. We'll get into
the cinnamonute. My dad's here visiting me for a week,
which is quite the experience. But yeah, we've had a
good time so far. We had a nice little weekend.
It's nice when the player is is on in Jacksonville,
I feel like the vibe is very high when that song.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Did you go actually watch any of the golf?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Not for me, Kira, not for you love. You're over that,
so over it.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
I just can't deal with crowds. I can't deal with
just all of it, to be honest. I've been a
few times and I've really enjoyed it. It's usually been
in hospitality, which is all my scene nowadays.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yeah, that is nice.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
It is nice, but it's just it gets so busy.
But it's really fun, Like it's a really fun event.
Like obviously I think it's a massive, massive event, but
it's just fun. It's definitely gives a different energy to
the to Jacksonville, so it's it's pretty.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Sweet when it's in town. But yeah, no, it's been good.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
And you were commentating it the players, did you have
to stay nextra day?
Speaker 1 (01:24):
So no, I was in Stanford at our at the
NBC studios up there doing the studio part of the
Live from shows. Uh and because of the playoff that
they had, so we're recording this on Monday this week,
so today was the playoff this morning. I was out
this morning because I am working the PGA Tour event
(01:45):
this week in Tampa, so I had to get out.
But they also, I think, you know, at that point,
they don't need me.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
They figure it out.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
I thought you did great. I was actually watching you.
Thank you?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
What did you think? Told me everything?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I thought you were great. You know, I'm away a
big fun of yours here.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Wait, I saw you. Did you make a beef Wellington?
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Dude? I okay, love, I'll be fire.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
Let me tell you, I haven't done one since like
before Christmas, and I just fancied one. It was a
bit like it was a bit shitty weare Yesterday it
was like rainy and stuff, and so I kind of
wanted to. I've become a bit soft now living in Florida.
I feel like whenever it's below like sixty, I feel
like I want to light the fire and do like
a proper English or dinner or something. So I made
beefine into Inla sit.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Fifty nine degrees. Break out the beef Wellington.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Yeah, get the Canada goose jacket out and let's get
the beef one into and out.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
So, yeah, we lit fire. They're hard to make, Yeah
they are. I do cheat a little bit.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
I used Gordon Ramsey's recipe and it's I must say
it is.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Who's that other British guy, Jamie Jamie al I've made
his beef Wellington once from my family for a Christmas.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
He's a bit of a gaze of an't he absolutely?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Ay?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yeah, he's a bit southern.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah okay, well I thought it was lovely. Yeah, great.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Before he's he's a big fan of him. I've got
a few cookbooks of his few cooks. He's got a
fantastic Christmas pash.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Before we talked about your dad visiting somewhere this morning
the playoff, did you see how that all unfolded.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
What what? What?
Speaker 1 (03:12):
What are your inner physical feelings when you're watching something
like that, because even I was feeling like super dirvy.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Yeah, I mean I think as well. Okay, so I'm
a huge I've always been a big Rory fan. I
grew up with the lad and just will always kind
of stick up for him and just love the way
he plays golf, to be honest, like, I think he's
just generationally amazing. But you always kind of fight for
the underdog, don't you. And I was kind of feeling
for how JJ would be feeling like I've had to
sleep on that and then not only like go up
(03:41):
against Rory, but the way that Rory just absolutely smashed
his first T shirt.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, big statement, here we go.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
And then I was, yeah, I don't know, it was windy.
It was so windy here this morning, Like it was
so gusty. I kind of felt like once Rory hit
on the green on seventeen, felt like it was kind
of his I know. I felt so bad for jjause
I thought he's going to do it yesterday, I know.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
And I thought he's going to do it yesterday.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Yeah, Because on the one hand, you want you want
to root for the Rory pre Augusta storyline and everything
that comes with that. But on the other hand, you
want to root for the guy that literally had one
hand on the trophy may or may not ever get
this opportunity again and just play like he played so good,
Like Rory didn't play his best but still somehow was
(04:29):
shooting for under every day and that JJ is, yeah,
so so good the whole time under pressure, that he
could have crumbled so many times, and if they didn't
have to call it for darkness, like who knows what
would have happened, Like he would have still had he
would like you said you wouldn't, he wouldn't have had
to sleep on it. And I think they were saying
something about that on the broadcast too, like he hasn't
had to sleep on it that much, whereas like Rory
(04:49):
has this is his sixth player or something like that,
and then he's also one and twenty eight times.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
So yeah, one hundred percent, And I think that this,
you know, I saw JJ in an oppress conference, I
think it was earlier in the week, saying that he's
had quite an unusual upbringing as in a professional golf
like he hasn't been groomed, and it just made me
think like wow, Yeah, like when Maury was thirteen, he
was kind of had every kind of opportunity he wanted.
(05:14):
His future was he obviously earned it, by the way,
Like I'm not saying that he didn't earn it.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
I mean, no one worked harder.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Yeah, right, and he was incredible at thirteen, But my goodness,
the opportunities he got given compared to you know, he
was destined to be one of the best players in
the world. And so that's why another reason why I
think people I certainly wanted to fight for JJ would
have been life changing.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
And he just seems like a pretty cool dude to
be honest with you.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yeah, no, he is. He's great.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
He's always one of my nicest guys that you see
on the range.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Always says allow.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
It's like a normal, regular dude that like treats you
like a normal person, which is lovely about in this
in his business. But you know, hopefully JJ can get
another chance at it again because he deserves it. Oh
the other thing, Creator Classic, did you see any of that?
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Okay? Please? She did something with Grant Horvat.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
I did a thing with him on Monday for AWS
and first time I met the guy, and he could
not have been more lovely. To be quite honest with you,
he said he was absolute shitting about this great classic comper.
I know, he says, like, I don't play golf like this,
like I can edit and like make myself look really
good and things like that, and I just I don't.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Know, I don't believe everything you see people.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Yeah, exactly, like the realness of him. And he's like,
I'm actually like really nervous.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
I did watch he played great.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
A little bit. The most entertaining thing was what's his
name from barstool?
Speaker 1 (06:36):
I mean, no posted was that he shot sixty one,
which was the course record, but it was like or something.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
I juggled at that.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Yeah, that was genius. That was comedy genius.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
But yeah, look, I mean listen, I'm not against it.
I think that it gets I mean, kids are getting
into the game now because of YouTubers, you know, so
I'm not against it at all, but it's I wasn't
quite ready to watch it just yet.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Okay, I watched some of it. Well, actually I had
to watch the last thirty minutes because.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
It was on Golf Channel. But it went long, so we.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Were and our show was coming because Trent could be
probably because.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Trent hit seventeen balls into the water.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
So we we were literally like like hair and makeup.
I'm sitting there in my dress like in the studio
waiting to come on air because of The Creator Classic.
So I was I was locked in. I mean, I
think it's great. I'd like to see them leaning into
something like this instead of being super like.
Speaker 5 (07:36):
Buttoned up the PGA door.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
You know.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah, yeah, what like is this work? Guys? Is Golf's
this is what the world is.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
So yeah, I think that they probably need to work
out a few things, a few kinks with the broadcast
and those sorts of things, and that's you know, that
takes time.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
But it was I thought it was great.
Speaker 5 (07:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
I thought the first time wasn't too bad.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Okay, So, speaking of the Creator Classic, Page Sporanic was
one of the announcers on Creador Classic last week. Yep,
shout out Page did a great job.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
She did great, great job she did, did her interviews.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
I had talked to her a little bit beforehand and
she was saying she was nervous, and then afterwards she
was like, oh my gosh, you know, she like, you know,
you have to wear the headset and you can't really hear,
and it's a whole thing. And so with all of that, great,
and we're very lucky to have our on our show.
We had an amazing conversation with her back in February.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
She since then has been in the Creator Classic.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
She's been on full swing and our girl Page is
big in the golf scene as we know.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Yeah, and she was great.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
I Actually, I hope people enjoy this interview. I think
she's very authentic, very real. Obviously she gets misunderstood with
some of the stuff that she probably posts, but I've
always don't up never really against what Page does. If
I'm honest, I'm I'm kind of like you do you
like it? And I think that having interviewed her and
having it on the podcast, I was even more a
bigger fan of Page, to be quite honest. Yeah, I
(08:52):
just thought she was very raw and real and she's
very open on this interview, and I just, yeah, she
definitely earned.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
A new fan.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
It's a completely different side than with Yeah. You would
see on the internet. She posts a lot of spicy takes.
She likes to get into these little social media beefs
and things like that, and that's all kind of like.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Part of her brand.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
But this was this to me was like real Page,
and we talked about, Yeah, some really meaningful things that
I think a lot of people can get out of
that conversation.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
No matter who you are, what you do, it's just
like human things.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Yeah, and she was vulnerable, and I thought that that
was very brave of her, and I thought it was cool.
And she's just nothing about ours fake, to be honest
with you. So she's a businesswoman and she does a
business business and she keeps it very professional she does,
and so I thought she was great, great, great, she
was great. Here we go with Page Sporanic.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Today a very special guest. We have content creator, model influencer.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
I don't know exactly how you like to be introduced,
Paige all around badass, likes to turn golf on its head.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Paige Sperandic, Welcome to Quiet Please.
Speaker 5 (09:57):
Thanks for having me. Yeah, the intro is always hard
because I don't love golf influencer or a content creator,
and I definitely can't say golfer because people get upset
about that. So it's like, you really can please anyone
with the intro.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Okay, we're just happy to have page sprainder. I think
it's itself.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
I was telling some of my friends that we were
going to record with you, and they were very excited.
So I think a lot of people are very envious
of my position right now. Obviously with a former Miss
America a new page, so I feel like we're around royalty.
To be quite honest with you, ladies, I'm feeling very honored.
So thank you compliments early.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
You know, you follow me everywhere, just like hype me up.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Not a problem page, not a problem, but yeah. I
mean I was obviously going through some of your stuff
for research, and I've always been a massive fan of you,
Like I remember when you came to playing Dubai. You
remember that years ago, and I was, you know, obviously
some of the players kind of had their opinions and stuff,
but I was like, I think this is awesome. At
the end of the day, the more eyes that we
get on golf is the better for us and our
(10:57):
game is. I've always been a huge fan of you,
but Mike, God, you must get some shit.
Speaker 5 (11:03):
I mean, it's so funny. You were like, do you
remember Dubai? And I'm like, yeah, that was like the
worst moment of my life. Like, I'll never forget that.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
But because you got criticized bad for that dud.
Speaker 5 (11:13):
Badly badly. It's weird how it kind of all happened.
So I played in college at San Diego State, and
I was kind of having a weird relationship with the
game of golf, and anyone who has played competitively has
gone through this where the lows are really low, and
mentally for me, I just always really struggled with that.
And so I finished college out and I didn't know
(11:35):
what I want to do. I always want to play professionally,
but just mentally I couldn't handle it. My parents were like,
let's just give it a year, and I ended up
going viral. And this was back when you know, people
weren't going viral all the time, so I didn't know
how to handle it. And my whole life got flipped
upside down and went from having like five hundred followers
to one hundred thousand followers. And I got this invite
(11:57):
to play an LED event and I had just turned pro.
I had never played golf outside the country, and everyone's like,
it's going to be low key, don't worry about it.
You know, no one's gonna know if you play well
or not. And I show up and I was doing
hours of press, which I wasn't prepared for. I had
(12:18):
no training to do this. And I would say there
were a couple girls who were really supportive and who
were nice, but the majority it was brutal. I mean
I'd go on the range and girls would just scatter.
No one wanted to hit next to me. There were
constant comments of you know, I did sexual favors to
get this invite, and I was listening to it and they
(12:40):
would say in earshots of me, and it was tough
and so not only being there, not knowing what I
was doing. It was my first pro event. It was
really difficult. I just wanted to be liked and I
play so bad, like it was oh regress. It wasn't good.
I mean I had a lot of pressure on me
and it was like the I remember one new story
(13:01):
in the world and it was Paige blows up, throws
up all over herself, and that was basically like the
start of all of this. And I would say the
first couple of years were really hard to deal with
because I just wasn't equipped with any of the tools
to be able to one handle this amount of tension
that I was receiving from people within the golf community,
(13:24):
all the criticism that I was receiving from people outside
who were just you know, casual sports fans, to being
able to navigate playing pro golf, which you know, I
was still trying to do that the first year, and
I was barely holding it together. To say the least.
I was a mess. I was, so it was brutal.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
I apologize on behalf of the girls that week if
they gave you any shit, because I was a big
fan of it.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
I thought it was a cool invite. I honestly did.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
Like I said, I think the more eyes we get
on it, and you know, people they have issues when
they don't kind of understand what they don't understand, do
you know what I mean? And I'm like, girls, what
are you talking about? I just I remember I think
I spoke to you that week and I was like,
she's lovely. I don't know what the fucking problem is, Like,
SHU get it.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Though people are scared of something different, especially in golf, exactly,
you have to see it from their.
Speaker 5 (14:12):
Perspective too, and that's something that I always did where
it's like, Okay, you work your ass off weeken and
week out, and you're already fighting with each other to
get the limited opportunities that are out there with sponsors,
and then here comes me and I just walk on
in and it's like I come with a new callaway
bag and I had, you know, lou Lemon that week,
and you know, I can see why it ruffled some feathers.
(14:34):
And I tried everything I could do to make amends
with the female professional golfers because I knew how it
looked and I never wanted to step on anyone's toes
and I'm so respectful of the hard work that goes
into it, and I was like, I'm just gonna get
so much hate, and this is going to be so bad,
because I do see it from their perspective, like it
(14:55):
just sucks, and like the way that the industry is,
it just pits women against each other because it just
feels like there's so many limited opportunities that you're fighting
each other for the one opportunity another opportunity, and then
you have major champions who can't get a sponsor, and
yet I could get one, And so I can see
why there was that tension, and it was just hard
because I had no financial backing, and so I needed
(15:18):
to do what I needed to do to survive and live.
But I also understood the other side of it, and
it's more of the product of women's athletics than anything,
and I was just the one who kind of got
caught in the middle of it.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Yeah, like everyone's out here trying to make a living.
We're all trying to do it what we can.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
And I think that, especially at the time, it's unfair
because this is a very specific women's sports issue, but
you do have to put yourself out there more in
the women's game to be able to get sponsors and
get attention. And I think a lot of people at
the time probably were thinking, I'm playing such great golf,
I'm doing the work, but I'm still not getting the
attention that I should be receiving. And that's because people
(15:55):
were not open to social media. They're not putting themselves
out there, they're saying no to interview.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Is they're not.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Necessarily buying into the machine, which is an unfair thing
that women especially have to do.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
But you were like thriving in the machine.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
It was necessity.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
I had to.
Speaker 5 (16:11):
I had to take the opportunities to at the time
finance my golf career, and then once I stopped playing
golf and realized that that wasn't the path for me,
I still had to make a living for myself, and
so the first couple of years it was survival. But
I think what you said earlier where it's like you
don't put yourself out there, actually, I think a lot
of women and sports do put themselves out there, and
(16:34):
they do try.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Now more so. I think at the time though, it.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
Was like yeah, at the time, not really, And I
think the conversation was really interesting because I was putting
myself out there, but I was doing it in a
way that people would seem, as you know, over sexualizing myself,
and so the conversation was, okay, so now, as a woman,
do I have to dress the way that Page dresses
to get the attention? And you know, it was really
(17:00):
interesting to try to navigate that as well. But I
always said that my brand is my brand. It's who
I am authentically, it's what I wear when I'm shooting content,
when I'm not shooting content, and it's all about just
being yourself. And I think showing more personality and connecting
with people on that level is how you build that community.
And that's something that I think I did really well.
(17:22):
Was the worst times of my life were in the
beginning of my career, and so people who followed me
then were able to see a vulnerability and I was
open about things that I was going through and how
hard it was. And I think that's why a lot
of people connected to my story early on. And I
know people were also there for other reasons, but I
(17:44):
think I was able to create this long lasting brand
because of that vulnerability and being open and just being
who I am and being myself. And I think for
all athletes or anyone who's trying to do anything on
social media, it's not trying to replicate what someone else does.
It's about putting yourself out there authentically and who you are,
(18:07):
and that's something that I always just tried to do.
I would take opportunities that felt authentic to me. I
would say yes to brands that I like their products,
and that was just something that I always did, even
early on in my career.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
What were some of those hard things in the beginning,
If you don't mind sharing an example or two of
something that people might not understand would have been a
big challenge for you at the time.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
So when I played the European Tour event, I was
the night before and I was already kind of dealing
with personal issues out of college where I was wrongly medicated,
so they thought that I was suffering with depression. I
actually had anxiety, and so the medication that it put
me on made me depressed, and so I was dealing
with that while also being in a new place, a
(18:58):
new environment, with all all of this pressure on me.
And it was the night before the first round, and
I locked myself in the bathroom and I was trying
to find anything I possibly could to not wake up
the next morning because I was so unbelievably stressed out.
I didn't have the tools again to be able to
handle it. And so there were things like that that
(19:19):
happened early on in my career, or I the next year,
everything bad that happened to me was in dubuying that tournament.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
But even no, no straight for it.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
Yeah, no, It's a huge part of my story and
who I am and the growth as a person, so
I don't mind talking about it. But even the next
year where I was like, I can't believe I'm gonna
do this again, but I'm gonna go back. I'm gonna
prove myself that I can do this. And it was
five minutes before I did a press conference and someone
was threatening to leak a personal picture that was stolen
from me, and so I was dealing with this, I
(19:53):
had to go on ended up crying in the press conference,
and so there were a ton of things that were
happening behind the scenes personally that I had to deal with,
that were tying back into business that we're tying back
into golf, and I spoke about it. It took me
a little bit of time to be able to fully
speak about it in a very comfortable way. But those
are things that I have shared with my community and
(20:14):
my audience, and I think a lot of people can
relate to the feeling of helplessness at times in your
life where you don't know what you want to do,
if it's the right path that you're on, do you
have the right people that are surrounding you. There's all
of these factors in your life where you have these
moments where you're like, it would probably just be easier
(20:34):
to just cut out all of the noise, and it's
the perseverance and having someone talk about that. I think
back then, this was twenty fifteen sixteen, where on Instagram
all you would see was, you know, people throwing up
cash and crazy bottles of tequila and private jets. It
was all about what you had and showing the best
side of yourself. And I just I didn't have anyone
(20:57):
to talk to, and so the people who were following
me ended up being my family in my community, and
I shared my deepest, darkest secrets with them.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
So I've always been an advocate for being authentically yourself.
I really have in on all walks of life, and
I think it's extremely honorable that you are authentic to yourself,
especially in your brand. I want to know, like, from
twenty fifteen to now, you seem like a completely different
human being in the best way.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
How do you build like.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
That armor and that strength of not basically giving a
shit what people say and you just being true to
yourself Because there's been even things that and I'm definitely
not comparing myself to you, but I've definitely done things
in the past where like I've been outspoken about certain
things and the backlash from even me, who's like a
nobody on Instagram at the time, was horrific. It was
(21:45):
fucking awful. I really struggled to deal with it, to
be honest with you. And then obviously over time, you know,
you do deal with it, and I've been a little
bit more careful about.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
Why you say. But I'm like, why should I be
like careful way what I saying?
Speaker 4 (21:56):
So I just want to kind of know, like, have
you like grown and built that kind of detective armor
of yourself and just become kind of the strong woman
that you are.
Speaker 5 (22:04):
Well, thank you. I mean I've looked up to you
forever even always one of my favorite players. So please
talk about yourself now. In a way, you are such a.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Model over here.
Speaker 5 (22:16):
So how is eraic confidence about you? So to hear
that you even struggle with that is really shocking for me.
And again it goes back to what I was just
talking about, where we all internally struggle with our insecurities
and it's magnified when you go online. And so that
was something that I learned over the years. I think
(22:38):
age is a big factor. I was twenty one twenty
two when I started doing this, and now I'm in
my thirties. You learn about yourself, you mature, you grow,
and it's work in therapy. I've done a huge advocate
for going to therapy and having someone to talk to
the journey of self discovery and self love because you know,
at the end of the day, what I realized was
(23:01):
that when I was outspoken about something and someone would
insult me back, if it was something that I was
insecure about, it really hurt. So a big one for
me is when someone comments on my golf ability or
my golf game, I always feel like a failure because
I never made it playing professionally, and that's something that
I still have to tackle. And so that's something that
(23:23):
when someone comments that, it's really hard. But I've realized
that the loudest voices are the most negative voices, and
there are so many other people who are silent cheering
you on from the side and also agree with what
you're saying, and so it's much better to be outspoken
and sometimes make the take, post it and then don't look,
(23:44):
you know, don't take the time because it's so easy
to doom scroll and focus on one negative comment and
there's ten other really positive ones and it ruins your day,
and I've just realized that I like being outspoken, I
like being myself. There are people who will never like
what I do, and that is totally okay. It's great
to start these discussions. But Mel you have so much
(24:06):
to say and so much insight. It would be a
loss to golf if you don't speak out and you
don't use your voice. And I think that's so important
to empower other people to speak up about certain topics
or certain things in golf because we need more diversity
and more diverse discussions. And so if you are coming
(24:27):
from it from a different perspective, of course you're going
to have some backlash or of course you're going to
have some resistance. But that's when you know you're doing
the right thing. That's when you know that you were
actually making a difference. And so always remember that too.
It's like if you say something and not everyone agrees
with you because you're coming from it from a different perspective,
and we need more people in golf with a different viewpoint.
(24:49):
Please keep speaking up and keep using your voice. Same
with you, Kira too.
Speaker 4 (24:54):
Damn pirt shit bloody have If you're very spun, I'm
not gonna lie.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
So when you post on X, you go for it,
you say the thing, and you engage with people, you
call them out. And I have done that a few
times in my social media career, and any time I do,
I get immediate hate and I just I shrivel up
and die. I just can't so the fact that you
can do that and put yourself out there and you're
(25:24):
so strong about it, and you just built this amazing
voice and view polt like when did you When did
you start putting out those sorts of takes on Twitter
and realizing like, okay, there's something here.
Speaker 5 (25:37):
I can't remember the exact timeframe of when it happened,
but early on in my career, I'm such a people
pleaser and like I want to be well liked, especially
in the golf industry, because I value this game so
deeply and I tried to play at a high level.
I respect it so much and I respect the people
within the community that it was frustrating that I was seen,
(25:59):
as you know, ruining the game of golf or hurting
the growth of women's golf. And so I really tried
to be quiet, and I tried to do what other
people wanted me to do, and I posted this picture
and I had leggings and a full turtleneck, I mean,
(26:19):
and the only skin was my hands. And I got
so many comments about people saying that my outfit was inappropriate.
And at that point, I was like, there's nothing that
I can do now at this point to please other people,
and so I might as well keep pushing. And I
felt like I was doing all the right things, and
I was saying the right things, and I wasn't getting
these opportunities. Everyone kept putting me in this box. And
(26:42):
so I just woke up one day and I said,
if you're going to put me in that box, then
I'm going to do that better than anyone else has
ever done it. And so I kind of created this persona,
this character, this parody of how people viewed me. And
so you have seen a switch over the years. And
I don't know if it's out of because I tend
to do that at times because she doesn't want to
(27:03):
be quiet. But it's so stupid. There's so much hypocrisy
in the game of golf, where guys can do and
say in all this stuff, but people are offended by
a little bit of cleavage. And I hated that and
it did make sense to me, and so I pushed
the limits with what I would wear. I was outspoken
when things didn't sit right with me. I think that
times people in the golf community are so stuck in
(27:25):
their own ways that they don't want to hear different perspective.
So I started throwing out crazy hot takes because it
was fun, and I feel like social media should be fun.
And so the last couple of years of my career,
it's like, if you follow me, you know, you know,
and you're in on the joke and it's this kind
of parody, like I said, but if you're looking at
it from an outsider, you're like, this girl is so
(27:46):
full of herself, she's so crazy, she has these crazy takes.
And so that's where a lot of the hate comes from.
But it's just out of rebellion of just being put
in this box and there was nothing else I could do,
and so I just thought that people or monetizing off
of me without any of my say so I might
as well be able to monetize myself and do it
the way that I want to do it.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
I think it's so frustrating, especially with like golf at
Tire nowadays, like I feel like it's definitely shifting, Like
I feel like a lot of the apparel companies are
getting more. I kind of say, like, you come off
the golf course, you could go straight to the pub
and no one knows that you've played golf. That's kind
of like where it's going. But yeah, it is the
goal because that's usually what I do.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
But this is like.
Speaker 4 (28:28):
Reality, that's true, it's actually a fact. A couple of
years ago, I was at like a pretty popular golf
course in West Palm and I don't wear anything like
I would never even say inappropriate, but my shorts are
a little short, probably for my age, but whatever.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
Like I work out and I'm pretty proud of my
legs are like I don't care.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
And this guy I'm getting ready in the car park
and this guy comes scooting over and I'm like, oh,
for fox sake, here we go.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
And he goes, excuse me, those shorts are a little
bit short.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Does anyone ever like said anything to you about them
at this golf club? And I said, oh, that's a shame,
I said, because these are a long one. I said,
I was gonna wear my short one tomorrow. And I'm
looking at this guy by the way, why he's having
a bollock at me.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
I'm looking at him and.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
He's got like the filthiest shoes on is shorts are
light from nineteen eighty seven, and his T shirt has
bo sweatstains on it, and I'm thinking, bruh, like, come on,
what are you talking about?
Speaker 3 (29:20):
And it must it's so it frustrates me.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
So it must just be like an absolute ridiculous for
somebody like yourself who just rocks up in what you
do and just goes in its golf balls and doesn't
give a ship. I think it's awesome.
Speaker 5 (29:31):
It's insane, it's funny because your short shorts are probably
like pants on me.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
So yeah, her winter where.
Speaker 5 (29:42):
But it's true, like you'll show up to a golf
course and this guy will be wearing joggers that are
so tight you can see his dick outline, and no
one has a problem with that.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
That is a lesbian disgusting.
Speaker 5 (29:54):
Put it away, right, any of that actually gress but
it's true. And then you have like a little kid
who's out there for the first time, and someone from
the golf course is showing up being like you got
to remove your kid because I'm not wearing proper golf attime.
It's stills the growth of the game. It just Ryan's
my gears because public golf courses able to wear whatever
(30:17):
you want. But even I remember when the LPGA where
they were like no joggers. HM, Like that's insane.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
I know, that's how to show me off. They told
her for like a razorback. I was like, have you
seen how good shoes?
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Oh, that's right, that's right. I agree about the razor
And I.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Was like, she looks incredible like that.
Speaker 4 (30:35):
She looks like an athlete for once, like with the
attie that Nike was doing at the time, and then
that got cough, you know, and I'm like, what are
you guys doing?
Speaker 5 (30:42):
And it's not like they're wearing bikinis out there, no, no,
you know, And you look at other dress codes and
it's like, golfers are athletes. I even think it's outrageous
when men have to wear pants in one hundred degree
weather and ninety percent humidity.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
That's crazy.
Speaker 4 (30:59):
There's still long socks is in England where you have
to wear like long socks and shorts at some golf clubs.
Speaker 5 (31:03):
Now that's actively against dress code.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
I got to the name yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Find a golf pro come up to me at a
very popular golf course in the Bay Area and say,
I'm so sorry on a regulation length skirt where you know,
you put your arms down your thighs and you do
the measurement and everything.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
The skirt has passed my hands on the sides of
my thighs. I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Unfortunately, this is not appropriate for this property. And then
you go into the pro shop you have to buy something.
The rack only has mediums and larges, which is not
my size. I end up buying this heinous skirt for
one hundred and twenty dollars, which sharing comptable probably, and
also the pro has now snickered about you to all
the other people there and maybe a member.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Now people are looking at you.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Now you're physically shaking on the first tee as you
have to play.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
In a program with a bunch of people that are
making fun of you. Anyway, So yeah.
Speaker 5 (31:53):
It's so hard because you can never win. I showed
up to a really exclusive golf course and surprisingly I
am actually like a stickler for rules. I will call
up and see what the dress code is before. Because
of that reason, I don't want to show up and
be embarrassed. And it was like fifty degrees freezing outside.
I had a turtleneck and an overlayer and a sweater
(32:15):
and a jack.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
My shirts on.
Speaker 5 (32:17):
Yeah yeah if my pants weren't even that tight that day,
Like I really played it safe done. So I walked in.
All of a sudden, everyone was staring at me, and
I walked out and the head pro came up and
he said, we need to check that you're wearing a polo.
We need to see if you have a collar on.
I'm like, I have thunder all your stuff. Yes, They're like,
(32:37):
you need to have a collar on. Even if we
can't see it, we just know that you're wearing white.
And I was like, this is ridiculous, Like what are
you thinking I'm going to do?
Speaker 3 (32:46):
It is one of the most no one's going to
see your call.
Speaker 5 (32:49):
No one's going to see it. So I had to
go in and buy a shirt to make sure I
had a call.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
It's honestly one of the most frustrating things for me
because I constantly talk about this to to like members
and stuff at the golf pool. So I'm like, this
is what you're right you spoke about an earlier page.
This is what stunts like the growth of the game,
like it really does. It's just like little things like this,
like it's just so frustrating. Can I ask you a
a golf technical question? Yeah, I hope this isn't out
of line. I'm just quite curious. Actually, So I had
(33:13):
a friend who had quite large breasts, and I get.
Speaker 5 (33:19):
This question all the time.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
Okay, that's the way.
Speaker 4 (33:21):
Okay, Now, just to put this in perspective, I've basically
worn the same size bra since i was about twelve
years old.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Okay, So I've.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
Got peanuts on an ironing board. You can only see
them when it's freezing outside. Okay, I've never heard that expression.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
If you're not peanuts on an irony board.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
No, no, no, that's gonna being British.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
People say, probably not being very nice of the peanut
to be honest with you. But like with your assets,
I was just curious if it makes your swing flat?
Speaker 5 (33:47):
Yeah, one d percent. It's so funny because I've always
had a takeaway where my hand shoot out, it goes
inside and then I get a little flat, and then
I come over the top and I get steep on it.
And it was years and years of this, and I'm like,
I feel stuck, like I feel jammed, and I couldn't
figure it out. And I obviously had male instructors, and
(34:07):
everyone's like, it's fine, you just got to keep bringing
your hands back, hands back, hands back. I'm like, I
can't do it. It's not working. And so one day
I just looked at my instructor and I was like, Hi,
I have boobs. They are in the way, and I
think it's really ruining my backswing. True, it is true,
and so we had like an honest conversation of how
(34:29):
we can adjust to make this work and what you
need to do. You step a little farther away from
it to give yourself some space, and then with your
left arm if you're a righty, you go over and
then on the right you tuck and go under. So
there you're already in the position and you can just
take it back. But the problem is I tend to
hit some shots on the toe and I'll get like
(34:49):
a little toe draw and I take that shots because
I have to stand a little farther away from it.
And so, yeah, it is difficult. But that's another thing
too that is hard for women. You go to male
instructors and they're not comfortable talking about the female body,
and a lot of them are getting bad instruction because
(35:09):
they truly are stuck and they can't swing and they
don't want to address it. And so women are already starting,
you know, a step or two behind because they're getting
bad instruction. They're not hitting good shots, they're uncomfortable and
they can't figure it out, and it's challenging for sure.
So yeah, a lot of women reach out and they're like,
what do I do because I'm so frustrated.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
No, honestly, my may had the same problem. She was like,
it really it sucks, especially like they got a bit bigger.
I don't know what happened, but she got more flat
and she was like, it's.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Really qu changed. Yeah, that didn't happen to me too.
Speaker 5 (35:41):
I had like kind of a late gross burd and
like I gained weight in birth control and they got
a lot bigger and my swing was so flat and
I couldn't hit a shot and I was like, what's
going on again? It just took time, and I'm still
to this day not a good ball striker.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
I'm still waiting for my grosser.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
It might be so I'm still waiting to be a
good ball striker. So all the same page. You mentioned
something earlier page.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
About just doing your own thing on social media, being yourself.
But I think that you inspired this whole generation of
content creators that many of them are doing their own thing,
but many of them are trying to do what you do.
What is it like for you to see all of
these accounts pop up of girls that are essentially just
trying to copy your formula?
Speaker 5 (36:24):
You know, at first, it was a little bit frustrating,
not gonna lie. I think that you put so much
time and effort into curating this brand and making it
to what it is. And I also faced like, we
talked about a lot of criticism and a lot of
hardship on my path, and so to see a lot
of these girls come up and at sunshine and rainbows
and a gain these deals and everyone's accepted it now
(36:46):
years later, it was a little frustrating at first, and
I was like, Oh, this is actually what this was
all for. We talk about growing the game, we talk
about getting more women into the game, and now so
many women, whatever reason it might be, are now out
on the range hitting golf balls. And I think that's awesome.
I think that my biggest advice is to again be
(37:07):
authentic to who you are and what makes you genuine,
because you can emulate someone, but they'll never be me,
but I will never be them, And so there's certain
pieces about yourself that make unique and really special. And
so if I ever tried to post like Eumail or
like you, Kira, it would come off not authentic to
(37:29):
who I am. And so I would hope that more
girls would try to take bits and pieces of the
things that I've done well, but also find their own
path and their own journey in this golf industry and
not duplicate every little thing that I'm doing, because again,
I can never be them and they can never be me.
They need to find their own essence because that's where
(37:50):
I think they'll start to thrive more.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
Yeah, and the way that you figured out monetizing it,
You've got your hand in so many different things. Can
you explain how you've actually figured out the financial part
of all of this and the monetization and all of
the different revenue streams that you now ten years later
are essentially the CEO of Yeah.
Speaker 5 (38:12):
So in twenty fifteen, again, influencers were popular but more
in lifestyle, beauty and fashion. There weren't golf influencers, and
there especially weren't really you know, sports influencers at all.
This was still very new and so when I first
started doing this and getting a lot of attention, Callaway,
who is one of the most progressive brands when it
(38:34):
comes to golf media and trying new things, reached out
to me and asked me if I would be signed
on their media side, and I was like, wow, I
can use this money to finance my golf career. And
that's how it started. And so for the first year,
I was signed under these brands, not as a player,
and I think a lot of people got that confused.
(38:56):
They thought I was signed as a player. I was
signed to do all of their social media content. And
so they were traditional deals where I tried to at
least not do one off deals. I tried to do
long partnerships, and so I had all of these partnerships
with these companies to basically be a walking build board
for them. And after that, I realized that I felt
(39:19):
like I could bring a lot of value to these brands,
and so I started asking for equity or I started
asking for different things that made me really excited and
more motivated to help grow their brand. I also realized
too that I wanted my own products, and so I
did calendars and golf towels. I have a subscription site
(39:42):
and it's just different avenues to try to monetize as
much as I can. I know that how I've built
my brand, there is a possibility of having a shelf life,
and so I've just wanted to take every opportunity. And
I'm at the point now to where as I'm getting older,
i don't want my brand to be what it has
(40:02):
been for the last ten years, and so I'm working
on pivoting and trying new things. I'm going to do
en course for the Creator Classic which is coming up
at Sawgrass, which I'm excited about. So I'm trying new things,
and so I think the biggest thing is to explore
and challenge yourself. I've never had a traditional path, and
(40:23):
most of the time in most jobs, it's like this
is the next step, and then you go here and
that's the next up. And so I've been forced to
be really creative, and so I challenge everyone to also
be as creative as possible, to try different things because
you never know what you'll end up liking. I wrote
a children's book, Like I really have just tried everything
that has made me feel inspired or passionate, or that
(40:45):
I thought it was a good opportunity to also just
make money and that's okay too, Like you can also
just do something because you think it's going to be
a good deal and you can make money, and then
that allows you to invest in other projects or invest
in other things that you do.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
I wanted to ask how do you keep it fresh?
Speaker 4 (41:00):
And also you keep your personal life very very separate,
very private, which I think that it's it's hard digital thing.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
It's really hard. It's really hard to do.
Speaker 4 (41:08):
And like literally I don't know anything about your private
life to a certain degree, and I think that that's
pretty incredible in the profession that you're in to keep
it that private.
Speaker 5 (41:17):
Yeah, it's just like yeah, by design, No, it truly is. Though,
Like if you go and look at a brand social
media account, you're not seeing pictures of their family or
they're not seeing different things. You're seeing the person, you're
seeing the brand. And so that's how I approached it.
When you come on to my page, you're going to
see me and what I think you want to see.
(41:38):
A beginning of my career, I did open up a
little bit and I had a relationship, I was married,
and then I was divorced. And people still to this
day will send me messages of updates of what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
What the other partner was doing, Yeah, what the other
partner was.
Speaker 5 (41:53):
Doing, Like, oh, so and so it's doing this. You know,
it's like a way to be a hater. And I
just didn't appreciate that, and it's just not something that
you know, I want to open up about. I don't
talk about my friends, I don't talk about my family,
and I don't talk about relationships. I personally have opened
(42:14):
myself up to this world. They haven't, and so I
don't want to expose them to the good and the
bad that you get when you live on social media.
And I don't think it matters who I'm dating or
not dating, what I'm doing in my life. I just
like to keep that completely separate. Because I'm so open
about almost every single aspect of my life. I want
(42:36):
to leave a little bit to myself and have that
because I think that people go crazy doing this because
you are the brand and it's exhausting when there's no
separation from your real life to your work life. And
so to be able to do this day in and
day out, I need that separation. And so for me,
that's my friends, my family, or a romantic partner, whatever
(43:00):
it is, like, that's where I'm able to separate and
then I can get back into work mode when it
starts to bleed over. I don't know how family bloggers
do it. Your whole life then is consumed with monetizing
your wedding and monetizing a baby shower and monetizing their
first steps, and before you know it, it's very black
mirror where you're living your entire life on the internet
(43:22):
for everyone to see. And so this was a way
for me to protect myself in a way and also
to have that separation when it comes to keeping it fresh.
I mean, after ten years of doing this, it's like,
I don't know how many more ways I can teach
someone a bunker shot. You know, it's definitely really tricky,
and I just try to do new things. So now
(43:43):
I'm doing hot takes where I will just film the
hottest take in golf that I can think of for
the day, and that's something and I'll probably do for
a little bit and then when I feel like that
fizzles out, then I'll try something else. It's just all
about trial and error, seeing what people like, what they dislike.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
Talk to us about the d ms.
Speaker 4 (44:02):
I was just about to say this, Cara. I was like, what,
it's the weirdest DM you've ever had? I bet it is.
I I want to hear it.
Speaker 5 (44:09):
Yeah, okay, this one's probably the best one, the weirdest one.
If it's to in appropriate, you guys to tell myself.
I okay, this is the place where go. So do
you remember on Snapchat how you could draw pictures? Right?
Speaker 2 (44:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (44:23):
Okay, So this guy would send me a Dick pic
and instead of a normal Dick pic, he would create
animals and so it would be a snake, or it
would be an elephant.
Speaker 6 (44:36):
Or with his with his dick as snake as the snake,
and then he would draw on it and create these
pictures but the body was the dick.
Speaker 5 (44:46):
Or he would do a butterfly, so dick was the body.
He would draw these wings on it and make these
like kind of pretty artistic pictures, very beautiful every day
with a new animal, and it's crazy yeah, it was
really creative. Yeah, and he went on for like months,
(45:06):
I swear, and he just kept going and going, and
then one day he just stopped and I haven't.
Speaker 2 (45:12):
Did you ever respond? Did you ever say?
Speaker 3 (45:14):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (45:14):
What a great Ardvork never responded.
Speaker 5 (45:16):
He went like on read the entire time. There was
another guy that he was trying to figure out my
favorite type of soup, and so every day he'd be
like split peat or chicken noodle and he just sends
like different types of sleep every single day.
Speaker 3 (45:33):
Weird.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
Yeah, Like I just can't imagine sitting there and being like,
you know what, I'm gonna ask her about soup and
then she'll respond.
Speaker 5 (45:41):
But I but I remember it. I mean till this day.
I will never forget, like some of the ones.
Speaker 2 (45:46):
Guy, if you're out there impression.
Speaker 3 (45:48):
Yeah, god, oh my god, that is so funny.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
Sometimes I get requests for undergarments. Do you ever get
like people asking you to sell undergarments?
Speaker 5 (46:00):
Yeah, bathwater? What someone asked me to like like fart
in a jar and then sell sell it.
Speaker 4 (46:11):
Oh my.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
I told my husband that I was getting requests for
under garments and he goes.
Speaker 2 (46:17):
Well, we're not made of money.
Speaker 3 (46:18):
Yeah, So.
Speaker 5 (46:21):
Like new socks, like, yeah.
Speaker 4 (46:24):
Yeah, I don't get that request girls lucky. Yeah, okay,
So I will say one thing though, some of my
fan base, okay, and this happens at every tournament, so
like my cadder'll be like, there's one of your fans,
and hey, hey, I love these fans.
Speaker 3 (46:38):
I love them, I love you guys. Stuff.
Speaker 4 (46:40):
But they're quite the older generation lesbians. So it's like
cargo shorts and it's like a buzzy cut.
Speaker 3 (46:46):
It's that kind of thing.
Speaker 4 (46:47):
I'm like, for God's sake, I thought when I came out,
as you know, at a leza a few years ago, I thought,
I've got one fit bird follow me, you know what
I mean. And to this day, I don't think I've
had one fit lessard follow me. I just get there
about fifty to seventy year olds to like asked me
to be like their second wife and stuff. And so
my fan base is much different to yours, which I'm
a bit disappointed in.
Speaker 3 (47:07):
But hey, so love you girls.
Speaker 2 (47:08):
They might like page two.
Speaker 5 (47:09):
Yeah, I want that. I want a little bit of
that in my way.
Speaker 4 (47:12):
Yeah, a little bit of shugar mama. Yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 5 (47:16):
Want more of a female fan base when.
Speaker 3 (47:19):
I don't want to. I mean no, they're mine. They're mine.
Speaker 2 (47:22):
I'm very possessive of It's like you have enough. You
have like four million people.
Speaker 4 (47:27):
Let me have something greedy, Okay, let them enjoy the
peanuts and a ninning board like when I won it
shot right. So the bar behind eighteen is mcghedigan's. You
have been too shot right.
Speaker 3 (47:37):
It's an Irish.
Speaker 4 (47:38):
It's fantastic, right. I love it. It's like my phob
on the planet. But after I won the later the
owners like, you know, you've made this into like a
lesbian bar, and I'm like what It's like the locals
are raging. It's just every time walking, these older lesbians
are in there, like buying my hoodies.
Speaker 3 (47:52):
And I'm like, you are so welcome. It's the mel
Reed movement.
Speaker 5 (47:56):
You're a sex and mole male.
Speaker 4 (48:00):
I don't know about that, but actually no, I will
take that. So, yeah, I have a sex similar to
the six years lesbians and.
Speaker 5 (48:05):
Those little shorts of yours.
Speaker 2 (48:07):
Yeah, this audience, I.
Speaker 4 (48:09):
Know I should bring out a collection with like Puma,
like a long cargo short for my fun base the
zip offs.
Speaker 3 (48:16):
Yeah, don't.
Speaker 4 (48:17):
Honestly, I was looking at that the other day, I'm like, no, mal,
don't do it. I was I was looking online because
we're talking about going to Colorado in the summer, and
it did it cross my mind for a second, and
I was like.
Speaker 3 (48:26):
Get off this page. Can do it.
Speaker 4 (48:28):
I know, but come on, Kira, you can't have a
zip off. So but that's my fun base.
Speaker 5 (48:32):
I think you're has the best fan base out of
the three of us. If I had to like, pick
I Thoek, you have like a good mix of life.
Speaker 1 (48:39):
I definitely have a lot of women. I have a
lot of Miss America holdovers. I get a lot of
like young girls that.
Speaker 2 (48:44):
Are asking questions that are Miss America fans. Now I
get the I was.
Speaker 1 (48:49):
Ten years old when I saw you win, so the
girls that you know you made an impression on when
they were little. But then I also get the guys,
like old crusty guys that show up to any prem
that I play in and they always always do the
eight by ten printed glosses from Miss America Life. They
stand at the you know, at eighteen on the way
(49:09):
to scoring and they've got the printed out photo.
Speaker 2 (49:11):
Of me in a swimsuit or me winning Miss America.
Ready for me to sign. I'm like, what are you
going to do with this eight by ten glossy? But no,
I know because gone through so much effort to get here.
Speaker 5 (49:20):
If we play in the same event, people think I'm you,
and so then I will. They'll show up and I'm like,
that's Kira and they're like, oh, they are so disappointed
and walk away.
Speaker 2 (49:39):
Page.
Speaker 1 (49:39):
I do want to ask you, how hard is it
to date on a ten thousand foot view.
Speaker 5 (49:47):
Yeah, I would say the biggest challenge that I have
faced is dealing with insecure men. I obviously have a
very difficult job to be in a relationship with, Like
you have to be a very confident, secure man to
understand that, like taking the pictures I'm taking and I
(50:11):
joke around with other people, and that's the biggest thing,
Like you have to be very, very confident and very
trusting to be in a relationship with me. And it's
hard to find someone who has that type of confidence
because it's it's difficult because I always thinking about in reverse,
if I was dating someone who just had a solely
female fan base and they're posting, you know, like thirst
(50:33):
traps every day and females are commenting on it, that'd
be tough, Like that would be really tough, and so yeah,
that's definitely the biggest challenge. It's funny because people like
your job at first. They're attracted to you because you're
driven and motivated and you have a good job and
it's cool. And then once you start dating that person,
it's like, I don't like your job anymore and you
need to stop doing this and you know it's it's
(50:53):
taking away and I want you to quit and do that.
So and it comes down to again insecurities.
Speaker 4 (50:58):
Yeah, yeah, okay, so is this true? Are you the
most followed golfer? Could you have more follows than target?
Speaker 3 (51:05):
I don't.
Speaker 5 (51:05):
Yeah, I think I think I still am. I'm not positive.
It changes all the time, but yes, I think I
might still be the most followed golfer, which is insane
to think about this.
Speaker 3 (51:16):
I mean, that's awesome though, isn't it.
Speaker 5 (51:18):
It's it's cool, but it's also like a lot of
pressure to put out good content and try to like
always grow and sometimes it's like I want to try
new things, and if you feel like you're losing followers,
then it's deflating at times. And so it's like you
always want to stay or keep growing. And sometimes it's
like I just want to try something new and I
want to like do different things and push myself creatively,
(51:41):
but that also could equate less followers and less growth,
And so it's always that balance.
Speaker 2 (51:46):
Who takes your pictures, It's either.
Speaker 5 (51:49):
My mom or I will do it on a self
timer with like my cell phone.
Speaker 4 (51:54):
Are you posting every day as well? Do you post
like religiously every single day?
Speaker 5 (51:59):
Not as much I used to. I wouldn't say that
I was burnt out at kind of the start of
last year, but I had a management change, and they're
just things in my life that were like changing, and
so I just wanted to take a little bit of
a break from posting. And I really haven't posted as
(52:21):
much on Instagram as I used to, and I feel
like it's actually been really beneficial for myself and like
the growth of what I want to do, and like
I was saying, I'm trying to pivot and do new things,
and so I've actually taken some time back of not
posting every day. But it is really interesting how the
algorithm sets you up to post multiple times a day
(52:44):
and the loss that you see and you have to
be super active, and it's really difficult to keep up
with like the alex Earls of the world who post
multiple times a day, and so they just have this
energy now and I'm like, I'm getting old, Like this
is really this is challenging, Like this is crazy.
Speaker 1 (53:03):
How much like every aspect of her life is content,
the way that she gets ready, the way that she
gets unready, the way that she gets dressed, what she's
eating like all day every day. But I feel like
she blew up a lot on TikTok. Are you doing
similar content like that on TikTok page.
Speaker 5 (53:18):
I'm trying to do more on TikTok. I think the
hardest thing is keeping my personal life private while also
trying to talk about my every day and what I'm doing.
And that's been something that I have really been struggling
with because before it was really easy just talk about
golf content. But now with the shift on TikTok and
(53:41):
a younger generation, it's all about authenticity and it's all
about every little detail of your life. They want to
hear about the breakup, they want to hear about the dates,
they want to hear about all this stuff, and that's
just something that as i've gotten older, I want to
keep some of it to myself because I don't want
my digital footprint is already bad enough. Like I don't
(54:03):
want every single detail of my life to be online,
but I also don't want the rest of my life
to have to live online, Like I said, like the
monetizing a wedding and the baby, and then all of
a sudden you have to create content all around your kids.
And what kind of damage is that going to do
to your kid if they're constantly in front of the
camera and they have a profile before the day that
(54:23):
they're born, Like, we don't know the lasting impact that
this will have on certain generations. And so I've had
a harder time growing on TikTok, where it is all
about authenticity and sharing all of your life, and that's
just not something that I feel as comfortable doing as
a lot of creators who are gaining a lot of
popularity right now.
Speaker 4 (54:43):
I mean, people just get so engulfed in it, don't they,
that they actually almost lose complete reality and all that stuff.
Like I follow a couple of people I'm like, Jesus,
I literally post everything about everything of their life, and
I'm like, my goodness, I mean, each their own. Like
I'm not here to judge, but I'm like, I don't know.
I mean, I post a little bit about like family stuff,
but I feel like me and Kry have had many
discussions like I'm not very good at it, first of all,
(55:05):
and second of all, like we've definitely have a line
and we're like, there's no way that we would ever ever,
ever even come close to that line, because it's just
what would that do for us?
Speaker 3 (55:13):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (55:14):
I think you've got to keep things very private. I
think you're doing it the right way if I'm completely honest.
In the industry that you're in.
Speaker 3 (55:19):
Anyway, what's the best and worst thing about what you do?
Speaker 5 (55:24):
The best thing is getting to connect with my community
every single day. I love the group of people who
have supported me over these years, and I'm so lucky
to have them. They're the first one to wish me
a happy birthday or like happy holidays. They check it
on me. It's insane how someone you might have never
met in person can care about you so deeply, and
(55:46):
I just find that so beautiful. I think the worst
thing is, I would say there's two. One is security threats,
So I have a lot of impersonating accounts, and that
can lead to very scary situations of you know, having
to file restraining orders and you know, just deal with that.
And that's something that I never thought I would have
(56:09):
to deal with. I hope that was something that no
one would ever have to deal with, but it's just
kind of the sad reality of social media. And the
second thing I would say is this kind of constant
feeling of having to defend my character. I think because
of how my story started and being in a more conservative,
(56:29):
stuffy industry like golf, people have a lot of misconceptions
on who I am, and I know who I am,
and the people I never show also know who I am.
And it's hard to constantly have to justify why you're
doing something or defend your character or feel like you
even have to do that because I don't feel like
I'm ever doing anything wrong. I feel like, if you
(56:52):
talk to me about it, like actually have pretty good
intentions and there's a reason why I'm doing what I'm
doing and there's purpose behind it. And I think that's
hard because even if I tried to explain that, people
always want to have this gotcha moment you know, and
it's like, well, why can't you be honest about why
people follow you? Okay, well then I'm honest about that
(57:12):
and say, hey, you know, thanks to the girls for
you know, the getting me where I am. And they're like, well,
now you're shallow and you know, self absorbed, and why
don't you try to be more serious? And then you
do that and it's like it's just never good. No,
you can't please living yeah, and it's like you try
to show these different sides of you and still people
will always have this like moment of no, that's not
(57:32):
what you said before, or this is what it should
be or this is what needs to be. And I
think that's the most exhausting part. Of course, you can
always ignore it, but it's challenging to always just kind
of brush that off and you know, feel like you
don't have to defend yourself.
Speaker 1 (57:47):
What's been a good recent like breakthrough moment for you
where you've felt like people have gotten you or you
felt like really proud of something in particular about like,
as you said, you're constantly evolving, like that next step
of what page looks like, like what's been something recently
that you're just like super excited about.
Speaker 5 (58:06):
I don't know if I've ever had like an aha
moment where I'm like, finally my career is shifted or
this is what I have been working for. People get
me now. I think that you see that in the
growth of my community, and I think you see in
the growth of my business that there are a lot
of people who dislike what I do, but there's a
(58:28):
lot of people actually really like what I do. And
I try to remind myself about that. I think new opportunities,
like I'm going to be in full swing and to
get an opportunity like that. I don't know how much
I'll be shown in it, but you know, even just
getting that opportunity that's more mainstream.
Speaker 3 (58:46):
Yeah, congrass, thank you.
Speaker 5 (58:47):
I appreciate that. That's when I get that momentere I'm like, okay,
like I can now take that next step where I
can try new things, because I'm always seen as not
a safe bet when it comes to doing more commercial,
mainstream media, and that's something that I do want to
try to do and it might not be what I
end up doing, but I at least want to have
those opportunities.
Speaker 4 (59:08):
I mean, I think you're absolutely lovely if I'm completely
honest with you, and I think that I love that
you're authentic to what you do. And I think whether
people like to hear it or not, and this is
me being completely honest, is that you have moved the
needle in the golf content space for sure, and everyone's
obviously inteled to their opinion, and I think when they
make negative comments, it's because people get very uncomfortable in
(59:29):
what they don't know. Right, We talked about that earlier.
So I've always been a big fan of you, mate.
You know, people that I've spoke to about you have
always spoken very very highly of you about what fantastic
human being you are. I'm even more of a fan
after having this conversation with you. So yeah, it's been
really cool getting to know you. I think, yeah, thank you,
and you inspired me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (59:46):
No, your page, you're amazing, Right, I appreciate this so
much like Kiro when you reached out and asked me
to come on.
Speaker 5 (59:55):
It kind of goes back to the last question, like
new breakthroughs are opportunities. I never thought that I be
someone that you guys would ask to be on this podcast,
and so it means a lot to me, and I'm
so honored and touched because I think one thing is
like I want to have female connections within the golf industry,
and I feel like that's something that I've always really
struggled with. And so when you reached out to come
(01:00:17):
on this podcast, like it almost made me cry, Like
I never thought that I would be able to do
this or that you would care to listen to my
story or what I had to say. And so I
just want to thank you for having me on and
having this discussion. It really really means a lot to me.
Speaker 1 (01:00:36):
Well, Page First of all, the fact that you would
ever think that we wouldn't want you on the show
is wild, because you're amazing. And even though I'm in
the actual recording, I'm listening to this and getting so
much out of it in the moment because for you
to be so open about the mental health stuff that
you went through early on and the personal life stuff
and how you're growing your business from like a business
(01:00:57):
one perspective, like the value is insane and I'm super
super grateful and you've got us, so we're going to
hang and stick together.
Speaker 4 (01:01:05):
Yeah, And I hope that people that might have an
impression of you or a judgment on you have listened
to this and gone, actually, if she's a fucking badass,
because I don't know anybody who would listen to this
and not think that.
Speaker 3 (01:01:14):
I really really enjoyed that. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (01:01:15):
I just love people that are just very two to
themselves and run through walls, and I feel like you're
on them people page. So that was a really cool conversation.
Speaker 1 (01:01:24):
Dah.
Speaker 5 (01:01:24):
Thank you so much for having me on.
Speaker 1 (01:01:28):
Thanks for listening to Quiet Please. We'll be back next
week with more golf apps, and we.
Speaker 2 (01:01:32):
Want to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (01:01:33):
Leave us a review in Apple Podcasts and tell us
what you want to talk about.
Speaker 2 (01:01:37):
It just might be the topic of our next show.
Speaker 1 (01:01:40):
Quiet Please is hosted.
Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
By Mel Reed and Kira Dixon.
Speaker 1 (01:01:43):
Our executive producer is Jesse Katz. Our supervising producer is
Grace Views. Our producer is Zoe Danklers.
Speaker 4 (01:01:50):
Listen to Quiet Please on America's number one podcast network, iHeart.
Speaker 3 (01:01:55):
Open your free iHeart
Speaker 4 (01:01:56):
App and search Quiet Please with Mel Reed and Kira
Dixon and start listening.
Hosts And Creators
Kira Dixon
Mel Reid
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com