Steffany Lien is a lawyer in Omaha but is also a member of the Hype Squad for the Omaha Supernovas, specializing as their baton twirler. She talks about how she got to that level of baton twirling, how it helped her become Miss Nebraska, and so much more.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
It's the Emery Songer Podcast live on the free iHeartRadio app.
We thank you for listening, always bringing you to some fun,
fascinating things happening in and around Omaha. I've told you
a lot of different times, and We've had multiple players
on this podcast. The Omaha Supernova's just an absolutely fantastic
event that you can go and bring your family to.
And I'm already counting down the days to next season.
(00:30):
But one thing that got my attention this year was
the sheer size and the power of their cheer squad,
the hype squad that was with the Supernovas this year,
and one member in specific was it's kind of stealing
the show. Let's just be completely honest. And I had
to bring her onto this podcast to talk about what
she does because it really is quite unique. And her
(00:53):
name is Stephanie Lean. She is sitting in here with
us in the studio. Stephanie, thanks so much for coming in,
Thank you for having me. This is so great. Thanks
for making some time for us today. You know, I
know that you have a job that we're going to
get into here in a bit, but you are a
baton twirler.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I am.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
I don't know like when I was in high school,
that was not even a thing that people could do
as like a marching band option or a performance option.
But when we were at these games and my wife
is you know, was very into color guard and she's
into the dancing aspect and stuff. So I've seen her
twirl a bunch of different things over the years, and
(01:31):
I have a real appreciation for somebody who can do
it at this level. And I was like, where did
this girl come from? This is unbelievable. So before we
even get into all of the stuff that goes into
this and all the other things that you've done and
the supernovas thing, I just want to know how one
gets interested into something like this to get this good
(01:54):
at it.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
My mom was a baton twirler, so that's yes, that's
where it stemmed from, and twirled for Wisner Pilger High School,
and she she didn't do competitive baton twirling. So I
started when I was four years old, and by age five,
I was doing competitions. So I my ultimate goal was
(02:15):
to obtain a college scholarship, and that's why I dedicated
so much of my life to the sport.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
This really interesting that you mentioned that four years old.
There's no way you were twirling these batons right now.
These are like the size of a four year old.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Right, They're the size of your arm, so that is
the length. So when you're four, they're about probably a
third of the size of what they are now.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Okay, but like in terms of the actual practice of
what you're doing, it actually probably is proportionate in a
way that can translate as you grow and as you know,
get older and you start getting the bigger batons, the
technique is probably close to the same. Right, was there
any moment of you know, growth period that you started
to notice I'm actually kind of good at this.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Well, there's a lot of hand coordination involved, and the
ambi dexterity aspect is really good for your brain as
you're growing up. So I think that's one of the
reasons my mom thought, if nothing else, this will be
a good hobby for her. But she actually put me
in a baton twirling camp, gymnastics camp, and cheerleading and
it was just like week long summer camps when I
(03:21):
was four, And at the end of the summer she said, okay,
let's choose one to continue doing, and I chose baton
and have never looked back.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
So that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I can't say there was a definitive moment where I
knew this is what I was going to be spending
so much of my life doing. But definitely by the
time I was in middle school, high school, you know,
I had to have some sacrifices in life, prioritizing towirling
over you know, social things sometimes. But I'm just so
grateful for the opportunities that I've had through twirling and
(03:52):
all the places I've been.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Okay, for people listening to this, there's like, but how
like how is that a thing? Like? So so you
go batontrolling, like you had to make sacrifice for batontrolling,
Like you know, uh, my wife doing the Color Guard.
She spent every summer marching with Phantom Regiment, which is
you know, drum Corps, and that was a really big
part of her life and she she wanted to do
that more than anything else that she she did. Everything
(04:15):
that she did, like the work, the job that she
had in high school was a means to be able
to pay for her to be able to do that,
you know, right, So for you know, somebody out there
that doesn't understand kind of what is baton trolling competitively?
What kind of schedule on a year to year basis?
What were you going to do while you were growing up?
What were some of those things? And who else is
(04:38):
competing in this? Were there other people in your school
that also was doing this? Like what does that look like?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
When I was a freshman, there were two senior baton twirlers,
so there were three of us twirling together for a year.
School Lincoln Southwest.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Okay, all right, cool? So not far away, not too far.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
And you know, Omaha actually has a pretty big baton presence.
Baton twirling is really big on the coasts, so that's
where you'll see a lot of big twirling teams and
just towirlers in a lot of the high schools and colleges.
And then across the country, I mean, some universities have
a line of baton twirlers. For example, University of Alabama
(05:14):
has the Crimsonets. They have about twenty on their line,
I believe.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And then contrast that with individual baton twirling. So where
I went to undergrad University of Louisville, I was the
only baton twirler. So just a very different experience and
set of skills required.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Okay, so the scholarship part of this, you mentioned from
an early age you were aware that this was something
you'd like to do. Let's kind of fast forward into
the high school age. You still really love doing this, obviously,
but you also know that there was a reason you
loved it. The goal was you wanted to get a
collegiate scholarship. What does the recruiting look like for something
(05:53):
like this, Like you mentioned, there are schools that have
multiple slots open for somebody like this, but you may
not have a big depth of competition here as much,
but you know that there are dozens of really high quality,
high level people far away from here that you might
not see in local competitions that you know are also
(06:14):
gunning for those scholarship spots. What was that process like
and how did you land in Louisville.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
It's you know, many years in advance that you start
thinking about where you're going to college and where you
hope to twirl, and really for probably middle school up
until when I was actually in college, my main focus
was excelling at the baton toweling competitions because that was
a way that I could build up my toiling resume.
Really set myself apart and continue to you know, dedicate
(06:44):
time and skills and just you know, continue to improve
over time. So every three years is the World Baton
Towiling competition, so it's it's kind of the Olympics of
baton twirling. And first you have to qualify to go
to the national comp petition. They take the top three
in each state go to nationals, and then the top
three at Nationals go to the World competition. So I
(07:07):
was very lucky to be able to compete at four
World Championships. So that was in Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, and Norway.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
So how old were you when this was happening here?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
So Belgium was two thousand and nine, so I was
eleven at the youngest. And then every three years and
then my final World Championships, I was in college, so
I really just continued focusing on the competitive aspect of it,
and then the timing of the college positions, you know, fluctuates,
(07:37):
because some people race through college in three years. Sometimes
it takes people five years. So you're really just keeping
an eye out on the spots. And for me in particular,
I was looking for a feature twirler position hopefully with
a substantial scholarship, and this.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Was you wanted to go in knowing that that spot
was open when you were a freshman.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Correct. Okay, So the recruiting process for University of Louisville,
I was initially contacted by the girl that twirled there
at the time.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
We cause you're known in the community at this point
for your presence and competitions.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
I think the elite level of twirlers. When you're competing
at the World Championships, you start to get to know
each other because you're encountering each other at nationals every year,
and you know, with social media, you're just able to
stay in touch so much better. So the girl's name
was Melissa, who twirled there before me, and we were
actually friends for years. We had the same coach for years.
(08:35):
So she was sharing with me all the great experiences
she had at Louisville. And I never really expected to
end up in Kentucky, but she was telling me about
how you toil at Kentucky Derby and all of these
cool experiences that you only get in Louisville. So I
sent in a video audition that's the first round of
the audition process, and people from across the country submit
(08:57):
their videos. There's you know, a portion where you're speaking
and introduce yourself and then display some of your skills,
and then they invited about twenty twenty five of us
to audition in person.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Okay, so this is a couple dozen people that made
the cut, so we can assume that, you know, it's
probably a few more dozen at least that didn't get
those calls.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
And honestly, I don't know what the full pool of
candidates were, but I did recognize a lot of the
people when I got to the audition, which was kind
of fun.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Which tells you that this was like a spot a
lot of people wanted right.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Right and I think there were only there was only
one girl that was actually from Kentucky, so the majority
of us were coming from out of state, really hoping
to go to University of Louisville for the toiling position
and the live audition process. Then we actually performed at
a football game on a Saturday, and then Sunday was
your private audition where you did a routine and then
(09:55):
sat down with the panel of judges for your interview portion.
So they wanted to see how you handle the pressure
of a game day. Actually on the field in front
of the crowd, and then you know, your private audition
with your skills displayed at that point. So there was
you know a little bit of pressure at that point
because there was so much riding on that and I
(10:16):
just wanted to do my absolute best. And you know,
where you end up getting offered a toiling position could
have a bearing on where you go to college for
the next several years. So it really was a big
deal at that point.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
And you got it right, so they call you. I'm
sure that was a great feeling for you. I I've
talked to a lot of athletes before, and a lot
of times, you know, twenty years ago, it mattered what
was being offered at the school. Can I major in
the thing that I'm most interested in because that affects
my college decision. That's not really a thing for a
(10:50):
lot of athletes now, But in a boton trolling position,
I'm sure that was part of your decision making process.
You wanted not just go to a place that had
a really awesome toiling spot, especially you're the only one
and you have all these unique experiences ahead of you.
But did you know what you wanted to study and
did you think that Louivill was a good fit for
you academically also.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Great question, and academics were very important to me, really
above Twirling. My academic journey has always been first and foremost.
That's something my mom instilled in me that, you know,
as hard as I work at Twirling School, and academics
always come first. So I'm really grateful that she put
those priorities in place for me. But I was really
lucky since I wanted to go to law school. You
(11:32):
don't really have to major in anything very niche, so
I knew I would be able to find that anywhere.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
So you knew law was the thing, right, Okay, so
when did that happen? Well, like what I was before,
I got really dumb and stupid and decided to get
into communications. I was, you know, one of the smart
kids in my class. Was I was going through middle school.
In this thing called mock trial came up, and you know,
we got to those a first time. You started learning
(12:01):
about some legal lingo and you started to understand what
the procedures were. And I found it to be fascinating,
but it got over my head so fast, you know,
So like some of the stuff that you can and
cannot do or some of the stuff that is or
is not permitted, and you're learning this at like thirteen
and fourteen years old. Was there some part of that
at this you know, at school age, whether it's middle school,
(12:24):
high school, that inspired you to want to get involved
in the legal world. Because for a lot of people
that I know, that inspiration doesn't necessarily come until they're
already in college. A lot of times I.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Knew I loved working with kids. I did a lot
of volunteer work when I was younger, and really my
dream job was doing family law, representing children in court.
That's always what I thought I wanted to do. Fast
forward to when I was actually in law school and
then got a law clerk position in that area doing
family law, and it turns out it is not for me.
(12:58):
I have so much respect for the people that do that,
but it just ended up being a lot darker and
deeper than what I could anticipate doing every day for
the rest of my life. But I stayed, you know,
with the legal field, and then transitioned kind of to
a family instead of family law to real estate and
property law.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Interesting, so you are a lawyer, Yes, that's awesome. Okay,
So you came back from Louisville and you went to like,
you're in Nebraska obviously because you're talking to me, But
is Nebraska where you ended up going?
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Right? Went to University of Nebraska and Lincoln for law school.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
And what's the timeline of that? Is that another couple
of years?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
It's a three year program. It took me four years
because I had to take a year off when I
won Miss Nebraska.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Oh okay, So that is a perfect liaison into our
next conversation. You are Miss Nebraska, yes, okay, So now
we have to go back in time and we have
to talk about pageants. All of a sudden, this I
talked to a girl who was second runner, like first
runner up to being Miss South Carolina, okay, and was
(14:00):
working television and I when I got to meet her
and talked to her, and she's a Southern gal. She's
she's you know, like talking to somebody from South Carolina
is very different than talking to somebody from Nebraska. Right,
But pageants are like a religion for some people in
some of these places. And I was just blown away
at the preparation and how much you really have to
(14:22):
know about yourself to be really competitive, especially when you
get to like a Miss USA style pageant. Right, So
where does that fit in as you're growing up? Because
at some point you decided, hey, like, I could also
go of this pageant route, and you know, and what even,
(14:43):
like do you do to get good at that?
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Right?
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Like? You are you just born with the natural skills?
Like what happens there? So take me through the very
beginning of Hey like, I kind of want to do
this too.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
First of all, you're absolutely right, it's a very introspective
experience and there's just a lot that you gain from
going through pageantry. So I did the Miss Nebraska teen
program in twenty fifteen. That was my first exposure to
the pageant world.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
And how were do you like a mid high school?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Where is sixteen? And then I won the state pageant
turned seventeen during my reign. But it was just so
many things that I'm passionate about kind of fit together
really well in terms of the volunteer aspect, serving in
your community, working on your speaking ability, meeting so many
people from across the community, and sharing your talent. So
(15:38):
of course my talent was Buttondwiling.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Okay, so you did that and I'm guessing Miss teen
Nebraska's open for anybody who's a teenager. It's got to
be a pretty decent number of competitors who want to
do this, right, So, did you feel like you were
one of the better ones? How do you know what's
that judging process like? Because I feel like, you know,
that could be an intimidating process for some people, and
(16:03):
sometimes the judges can be different from pageant to pageant
and what you know, kind of how they score a grade.
Just because you won once doesn't mean you would win
the next year of the year.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Before, absolutely, And that's one of the things about pageantry.
It is so subjective. So I encourage anyone that's in
it to just always keep that in the back of
your mind, because you can work so hard at your
platform and your talent and just feel your absolute best
and then it turns out it's not your day. And
(16:32):
that was something I was fully prepared for. I think
when I was competing, I wasn't really too focused on
what other people were doing. I you know, appreciated everyone's
talent and ability and tried to look at it separate
from in a sense of comparing it to myself because
I think that's such a dangerous way of competing in pageantry,
(16:55):
and something a lot of people fall into is that comparison.
But just looking at it from the sense of bringing
each other up and using that as a chance to
just make new connections and friendships, and then just you know,
praying about it and hoping I can do my best
and everyone else can put their best foot forward as well.
And really I didn't know what I was doing that
(17:18):
first year. I was surprised to win, and then next
thing I knew I was competing at Miss America's team,
and then it's on a much bigger scale, and you know,
a lot of the girls had been doing it for
many years. So I kind of felt like a newbie
throughout the whole process, but definitely learned a lot about
the pageant system, learned a lot about myself, and then
(17:38):
I knew at some point I wanted to compete for
Miss Nebraska, just because when you're a teen, you're looking
up to the big girls and you hope that's you
someday getting to represent your state at the next level,
And then ended up doing that in law school in
twenty twenty one, decided to compete for Miss Nebraska. And
then one and then one.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
So you've won both you want on your first time,
so it wasn't like you had to learn something else.
What are like the questions? Right, like, so what's the process?
At some point they do the Bton twirling. I think
a lot of us, you know, who are completely fools
about this stuff and completely ignorant of how it really works.
We think about like bikinis and dresses and like trying
(18:20):
to look good in different ways with the talent, and
you know, you see people seeing you see people dance
in your case, you know you have a very unique talent.
But the one thing that we also know is there's
like a question process, and that to me feels like
the biggest wild card of everything is you know, you
look the way that you look and you can do
(18:41):
the you know, I don't know what all you know,
outfits and stuff you're supposed to look good in, but
nobody gets the same questions you know, like it, how
how did you prepare yourself for that moment? And did
you feel like you got a favorable question or two?
Like did like how did that part of it factor
into why you won both the teen contests and then
(19:03):
eventually miss Nebraska.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
So the private interview with the judges is ten minutes,
and that is their first impression of you. They see
you in the interview room and get to know you
before they see any of your on stage events.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Oh okay, so they already have an idea of who
you are as a person before they get to see
you do anything.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
That's right. They have your paperwork, they have your resume,
what you're passionate about, what you've done in your life,
and you try to, you know, let them get to
know you within ten minutes, which is such a short
timeframe to be able to explain all your life experiences,
what has made you who you are today, what your
plans are with the title, and then why you should
(19:41):
be Miss Nebraska. And then after the ten minute interview,
which is private again no one else sees that, then
you transition to the on stage events. And that's for us.
We had fitness, so Miss America transitioned away from the
swimsuit right before I started competing, so I never competed
in the swimsuit comp petition, which I loved fitness. I
(20:02):
thought it was so empowering because you know, fitness is
a huge part of my life. I teach Puerbar I
taught fitness classes in Lincoln as well, So that's something
that I just think is so fun getting to encourage
people and work out together.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
So fitness in this situation is what, like do you show,
like how many pull ups you can do? Like how
does that work?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
So there's kind of a routine that you have, and
it's it's more strutting than anything. You're not really doing
push ups or planks or anything, but you're just wearing
a workout outfit and you just go out there and
just have your most confident walk. You do a few poses,
and then you're off stage. It's all of about thirty seconds.
But it's really about the confidence that you display and
(20:48):
if you're comfortable and confident in your own skin.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
So yeah, and okay, so I think the swimsuit competition
the thing that I thought about, right, And there's a
lot of beautiful women that look great in a swimsuit, right,
But I think a lot of it is about body
shape that you've put that work in. You know, I
look at the bodybuilding women and they're always wearing like
the swimsuits and stuff. But it has everything just to
show off the amazing muscles that they have worked really
(21:14):
hard to build and get themselves lined up right. And
so you are fit because of the lifestyle that you live,
and you know it doesn't hurt that you have this
hobby that certainly keeps you in shape. And then you
have those questions and then is there still a dress element, Yes, there's.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
An evening gown. And then you have an on stage
question with your evening gown. And that's usually where they
hit you with a controversial question which you have to
manage that really fun to handle in front of a
live audience.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
And you get scored on that correct and nobody gets
the same question. So like, do you remember your question
the year you won.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
So Miss Nebraska, My question was about gun control? And
oh nice, yes, and I think you know in my opinion,
And I also coach interview now, so I get to
share this with some of the women that are competing now.
I think any time you just are so confident in
(22:10):
your answer, you know, not trying to shy away from
giving a neutral answer, just genuinely tell them what you think.
If you have a personal anecdote or story to go
along with that, so that the judges know where you're
coming from I always think that's extra helpful for me,
you know, gun control. I didn't have anything really personal
to be able to share, but I just you know,
(22:32):
stuck to what I felt, and I don't even remember
what I said, to be honest. There's probably a video somewhere, but.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Much do you have a time limit of, like how
much time you can say?
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Yes, I believe it's forty five seconds and Miss America,
they will cut you off. There's a thing that you
hear in the background and you.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Don't want to get danced time. Yeah, that's that probably
hurts the score a little bit when you Wow, that's tough, man,
And I do this for a living, you know, so
like thinking like if I was given something that I
may not have been totally prepared for, because do they
give you like a list of things that could be
You just have to be like ready for.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Anything, prepared for anything, anything and everything.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
And that's in front of people, right Yeah, okay, so yeah, gosh,
that intimidate the heck out of me. That's crazy, which
is a real testament to what you guys do. And
like what the pageant is, so you win and you
know there are how many other girls on the stage
that made it that far.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Like at Miss Nebraska. Yeah, I believe they are about
twenty of us. So the way it works, you compete
for a local title. I competed for Miss Lincoln, won
the Miss Lincoln title, and then represented Lincoln at Miss Nebraska.
So there's local competitions across the state. You know, there's
some in Western Nebraska, there's a few in the more
metro areas. And then we all get to compete together
(23:43):
at Miss Nebraska.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
How long does this take? A couple of days?
Speaker 2 (23:46):
We're there for a full week.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
There's preliminary competition, your private interview, and then I believe
it's the top ten. They kind of change it from
year to year. The top ten will recompete in their
evening fitness on stage question and then usually they ask
you a few extra questions at the end when it
gets down to the top five.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Okay, so they kind of do cuts, kind of like
make it to semi final in a final. Okay, Wow,
that's that's intimidating. So the moment when you win, and
you'd already won Miss teen Nebraska you mentioned you know
that was kind of a surprise to you, But did
you have an expectation, knowing that you'd won a pageant
like this before that you would be in pretty good
(24:26):
shape here.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
No, I mean it's always different. It's you know, a
brand new set of judges. It was several years between
when I competed in teen and Miss Nebraska, and you know,
I had just completed a year of law school. My
brain was very focused on that side of things, and
I just was feeling so blessed for the opportunity, and
(24:51):
in the first ten seconds, my brain kind of ran through, Okay,
I'm going to take the next year off law school.
I'm going to be competing at Miss America. My life
is changing so much all of a sudden, and you're
just kind of thrown into the new role.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
So you did a year of law school and you
interrupted the law school. Wow, And then you came back
and you were able to finish. That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
People then think I'd come back and I did that tough.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
I don't know if that could have done. That's that's
you know, it's impressive to win one of these things,
but like you said, the work just kind of starts
at that point. Miss America. How is that different because
and this is another thing you said, you had to
take a year off. You're you're kind of an ambassador
in a lot of ways for your state, and you
go in a lot of different places, not just in
Nebraska as Miss Nebraska. So what was the next year
(25:42):
like and how was that experience different when you went
to the Miss America pageant, which all of a sudden
has a ton more eyeballs and now you're seeing the
best of the absolute best in pageantry in America, right.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
And I will contrast, there's a huge difference between being
Miss Nebraska teen and Miss Nebraska. They are, you know,
equally amazing opportunities. Miss Nebraska is very much a full
time job. That is your role, that is your focus
for the entire year. So that's why everything else in
your life kind of needs to be put on pause
for the most part. So immediately after I won, I
(26:18):
was doing Nebraska Land Days in North Platte for a week,
so I didn't even come home first. I had to
have my mom come home and grab clothes for the
next week. And I'm you know, living out of suitcases,
doing a lot of appearances obviously throughout the state of Nebraska,
speaking to a lot of students in schools, promoting fundraising events,
(26:39):
attending fundraising events, and Miss America orientation was in Dallas,
so I went there for that. I attended market in Atlanta,
and then our actual competition was in Connecticut in December.
So Miss America was about halfway through my reign, so
I spent you know, the first six months it's very
(27:01):
active in my state, but also in the background preparing
for Miss America and that experience to come Miss America
itself was an absolute whirlwind. We actually started in New
York City. They wanted us to do some press events there,
and I just remember every day we started really early,
(27:21):
we ended really late, and you're just embracing the no
sleep full glam every day and just trying to make
the most of the experience with your Miss America's sisters, so.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
You're with them all all the time. You make a
lot of friends. Like attitude is probably the same as
everybody's kind of cheering each other on.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Yes, you know yes. And you're randomly assigned a roommate.
So my roommate was Miss Vermont and she was so sweet.
We had the best time. We got locked out of
our hotel room once because we both left the key
in the room. You know, we just we lived some
unique Miss America experiences together, and it's really encouraging having
other people there with you every minute of the day,
(28:01):
kind of going through the same experience that you are,
because it's the first and only time that each of
us is going to experience this. You don't get to
go to Miss America twice.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
That's a good thing to mention because I think a
lot of people are like, Okay, so did you win
Miss America? And if you didn't, can you just keep
trying and going back? There are rules against stuff like that.
You know, you win your states, you know miss State
or whatever, like that's kind of like that's your shot,
that's your one sun. Yeah, So how did the pageant
actually go? Do you feel like you performed well? Did
you feel like you had a shot at that one
(28:31):
as well? What was that feeling like?
Speaker 2 (28:33):
I had absolutely no regrets leaving Miss America. And that
says a lot because I'm very critical on myself and
always looking back at things thinking how could I have
done this better? How could I have you know, changed
one little thing that maybe would have made a difference
in the result. But I stayed just so strong in
my prayer and my faith, and I genuinely feel like
(28:55):
I put myself out there. Fully. I had quite a
crew that went to Miss America supporting me, which was
just really incredible to see. I have a very small family.
It's really just my mom and I that are so
close knit, so a lot of friends flew out to
see me live out that once in a lifetime experience.
(29:16):
And I just look back on it with the fondest memories,
knowing that I prepared for it to the fullest extent.
And I didn't win Miss America, but I'm so grateful
for the opportunity. And then I got to come back
home and live out the next six months representing the
state of Nebraska.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Right, and probably just a little freer in your mind
at that point that the big hurdle of the year
is over with. Do you know how you finished?
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Like, do they tell you if they don't give you
your ending score?
Speaker 1 (29:44):
And that's totally fine, okay, Stephanie. I the reason that
I'm talking to you now. You mentioned you're a lawyer now,
so you're got to be in your like, what late
twenties now, so you're really kind of getting started in
your professional career and I don't know where these people
(30:05):
came from. I just know that I went to the
Supernova's game this year and I was just like, wow,
there's a lot of cheerleaders. Where did these people come from? Like?
Where are they from? This is these are not just
like school age children. These are these are legitimate athletes,
like these are people that know what they're doing. They
have to have been doing this a while. And you
stood out immediately because you have these batons. We'll talk
(30:26):
about the baton part of this in a second, but
how did you, like, you're back in Nebraska and you're
a professional, now, how did you hear about this cheer
squad they were building for this professional volleyball team that
was performing at CHI Health Center. You know, this team
that is only a few years old. How did you
learn about this? And you know when? When was the
(30:47):
moment You're just like, yeah, I'd be interested in that.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
So of course I knew about the Supernova's because you know,
the volleyball presence in Nebraska is taken very seriously. And
I actually had a friend on the team the first
year they had the hype squad. Her name is Christa
and we've been friends since high school. I got to
see a lot of her experience, and you know, she
shared it with me kind of behind the scenes before
(31:12):
I was done with law school, and she's the one
that encouraged me to audition. And the timing of it
was a little funky because it was about two days
after the bar exam that we had the tryout. Oh
and at that point, I'm really just a shell of myself.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
May not have any brain.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Cells left for all, right, And I thought, I really
want to put on makeup and put on clothes that
are not pajamas and you know, try to go audition
for this. But at that point I had already accepted
my job in Omaha. I knew I was going to
be here, and it's just, you know, one of those
experiences that you just have to go for it.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Okay. So where did they come from? Though?
Speaker 2 (31:55):
So Cheer Athletics is the one that really initiated this
hype squad, and some of the performers the first year
came from their competitive cheer squad. And then the next
year that they had the hype squad, you know kind
of expanded in their search of candidates, so they had
(32:15):
live tryouts at the cheer athletics studio and that's that's
where we had our practices. And so I actually tried
out for a dance position. They didn't know that I
twirled at the time. I just oh, interesting, I tried
out for You can either try out for a cheer
position or a dance position. And I don't do the stunting,
so I was very firmly planted in the dance.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
So yeah, And you mentioned cheerleading and passing when you
were a kid and kind of had to make a
choice of what you were going to do, which is
crazy to ask like a five year old, you know, like, hey,
what's the thing you want to do for the.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Rest of your old Tell me I could change my
mind though.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Okay, But cheerleading was a part of that. Did you
do any like I mean you had to have some
dance or cheer like background beyond the twirling, right, Yes.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
I trained and dance dance at a studio called Chase
the Spirit of Dance and Lincoln and they, you know,
were the basis of my dance technique. I took dance
to compliment twirling and to build my technique.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Because there's a part, there's a big part of dance
in what you.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Do, absolutely, and they were always very supportive of knowing
that I took dance to accompany my twirling and the
fact that dance wasn't my main goal, but I ended
up falling in love with it, and you know, it
has absolutely helped me so much in my twirling ability
and just ability to present and have good technique one twiling.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
So you're in your late twenties now, you had the
Louisville thing, you went to Nebraska. Do you twirl at
Nebraska while you were there? Is that a thing you
could be? Okay? So you could? You could come back
and you could troll while you're in law school, which
was awesome, So you stayed up with it on that
was like, so did you have any time where you
weren't just having some reason to twirl? Really?
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Or I have always been toirling, so.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
You did, Like there wasn't like a moment in life
where's just like, Okay, don't have a reason to do
this anymore, Like even when you're on the road with
you know, the Miss Nebraska stuff like finding ways to.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Practice like yes, and as Miss Nebraska I would perform
at various events and.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
Because everybody loves to see this right, Like.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
It's unique. It's it's fun to share what I love doing,
especially with the kids that maybe haven't seen thetond twirling before,
and gets them excited about it. That's my favorite part.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Okay, So, and I'm a full grown adult in my
thirties and I got excited when I saw you doing this.
You say, you auditioned just to be a dancer, something
to do, and it's cool you're in an arena with
you know, ten plus thousands you guys. Also, yeah, like,
so I can see why, you know, the cheer squad
members want to do this because what a cool thing
to do, and everybody's very good. That's the thing I'm
(34:48):
most impressed with is the quality of what you guys do.
So how did they learn about the twirling part of this?
Did you make the team before or did they like
or you look familiar? Were you like Miss Nebraska or
someth thing like? How did that conversation change?
Speaker 2 (35:01):
I made the team as a dancer, and then we
had some community performances leading up to the start of
the volleyball schedule. So it was actually the Bud Crawford Parade.
After he won, we did a celebratory parade, and I
mentioned to them, I'm actually a baton twirler if that's
something you would want me to do for the parade,
(35:23):
because you know, of a ton twirling kind of goes
along with parades, absolutely, and they had me do it,
and they actually hadn't seen me twirl before the parade,
so they really just had faith in me that I
was gonna be able to pull it off. And then
at the end of the parade they said, yes, we're
gonna have you do that at the games.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
So I know, what a cool what a cool thing
to just like you know, and Bud winning is I
remember the parade day and everything. You know, I didn't
put two and two together that you know, that was
the same group of people out hyping up right. So
you you go to these games and each rol now
and I don't know, like you have to hear the
crowd just like why you you know, no disrespect to
(36:02):
your fellow members, but you have these things, I do
how long are these like two feet two and a
half feet maybe thirty inches thirty inches? Yeah, two and
a half feet. Nice?
Speaker 2 (36:12):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
So you got these things, they're pretty heavy and you're
throwing them around and I like, it just steals my
attention every time you guys are out there are just like, wow,
look how good she is at this, and you just
don't mess up like they're like you're juggling three of
them at a time. You're throwing it, Like, do you
know how high you're throwing it?
Speaker 2 (36:34):
People have asked me that, I don't know. I'll have
to find some system of measurement. At some point, you.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Got to be like twenty feet in the air.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
The Hype Squad is really special because you know, I
have this unique talent of throwing these steel sticks in
the air. They're throwing people, so I think what they
do is way cooler because you know, worst thing that
happens what the steel stick hits the ground. I mean
they are throwing actual humans in the air and catching
them on the.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Way down, so it could be dangerous. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
So have you accidentally hit yourself in the face with
one of these? Oh yeah, I was gonna say like
this you had to write like my wife talks about
like the time where she messed up like a twirl
or something and the why hits her in a face
or something like it happens. Yeah, I mean, but this
is it's cool that you're getting to share this now
with like an audience, because I don't there can't be
a lot of volleyball cheer squads that have a baton twirler.
(37:25):
And so you you go out there, like do you
have set routines because you have a lot of different moves.
And I'll ask you about some of the moves here
in a second, but like the the tosses are what
everybody's like, whoa, and then you're just like waiting on
it to come down and then you catch it and
you're still like you're juggling them. You have this move
where you do the elbow thing. I love the elbow thing.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
That one later.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Yeah, it's just like like I don't know how it works.
It's just and it just you never mess it up
ays And I saw you one time like just drop
you kick, you can kick it, you can hit it
with your knee up in the air, catch it. I
saw you catch a baton with the back of your
leg once, which is an insane move to pull off
in front of that many people. So do you plan
(38:10):
what you're doing before you go out there or is
it a moment of just like you know, I think
I'm gonna throw this move out here.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
Our timeouts are much more planned, so we have specific
times written into the schedule, you know, with the management
of the Supernova's when the team the Hype Squad is
going to go out and perform. So those are a
bit more planned because usually we know the music, we
know a little bit more what the timeframe is going
to be like. But you've been at the Supernova Games,
(38:37):
a lot of it is just go with the flow
and we go out and perform every time that the
Supernova's get a point. So someone or a team from
the Hype Squad is performing every single time that the
Supernova's score. So it's a lot of you know, leaping
out there and just taking the time that is allotted
and then doing a walkover off or you know, doing
(38:59):
a leap off and it goes really fast.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
Yeah, so okay, the timeouts have you know a little
bit of time. You'll run out there and you have
the batons you have going the dark ones I think too,
which are really cool and you're you're tossing them around
and you know you're you're doing this and you're having
a great time. I would wonder, you know, in your mind. Right,
as far as the like the cheer element of this,
(39:26):
there has to be some growth to what you're doing.
Like somebody from somewhere in Omaha or Lincoln or seeing
you do this at like a volleyball game and they're like,
we have to find a way to incorporate this activity
somehow into our marching band competitions, into our dancers. Have
you been approached by people who are just interested in
(39:48):
this activity that people don't generally see.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
I have, And one of my favorite parts of our
Supernova game day is at the end when we usually
get some time for fan interaction, and I've been approached
several times about you know, parents that are there with
their kids and they say, I want to get my
daughters involved in this, or you know, we've never seen this.
How do we get involved? And that is really why
(40:12):
I love continuing to do this after so many years,
because for me, you know, I've been doing it twenty
something years at this point, but for someone else, this
is their very first time seeing it, and that is
so special to me.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
I think that that's the one gift that you know
you're giving back already, right, is there? I mean, do
you want to do this next year, Like, is this
something that you're excited to keep doing because it's obvious
you're still at a ridiculously high level here. You've got
to be one of the best people in the United
States at this Thank you. I mean you've won, You've
won competition that.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
Say that, and I'm I'm definitely beyond the point of competing.
That's for sure. I won't be hopping back into competitions
anytime soon, but definitely taking advantage of opportunities to perform
and just share the sport that I love. I'm going
to continue saying yes as long as I'm here.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Well, it's really awesome. I think that honestly. It's it
was a huge element of game Day, right, It's like
how much how exciting, Yeah, how exciting it was to
have the hype squad in general, but this element of it,
I think people were just like, wow, how cool is that?
Made the environment right? The people were like rave the
volleyball is great, obviously, but people talk about it's one
(41:20):
of the funnest sporting events you can go to anywhere
around here because of you know, the light show and
the way that they you know, hype the crowd in
between timeouts. But the Hype Squad was such a big
part of that in your part of this as well,
you know, just like the true uniqueness and the quality
of what this is is awesome. So I'm so glad
I was able to wrangle you and to get you
(41:41):
to do this. I would love to have you on
again sometime and we can talk about different things as
it relates to this, because you know, we've talked for
forty minutes and I still have so many things that
I'd like to talk to you about. But thank you
so much, Stephanie for coming in here and for talking
to me. We'll get a video up on our social
media so people kind of know if they're like, okay,
so like what are we talking about here?
Speaker 2 (41:59):
We'll get you to do a trick.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
Yeah, we'll see how that goes, but we'll definitely have
Stephanie show a couple of the things that she knows
how to do. Thank you so much. Is there any
place that people can like follow you? Do you have
like a social media account?
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Yes, my first and last name. It is at Stephanie
st E F F A N Y Underscore, Lean l
I E N on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
There you go. And honestly, you've got to remember the
spelling changes there because it can be tough, can be
tough to find.
Speaker 2 (42:29):
Because I know Stephanie is spelled really unique as well.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
That's s T E F F A n Y and
then Leen is l I E N. Stephanie, thank you
so much for coming in.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
This is great, Thanks for having me. This is so fun, all.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
Right, and yeah that's Stephanie Lean. If you enjoyed this conversation,
we're going to have more where that came from this week,
next week and beyond. Just keep following the Emery Songer
podcast on the free iHeartRadio app. We thank you so
much for listening and we appreciate it. Weoble to talk
to you again soon
It's the Emery Songer Podcast live on the free iHeartRadio app.
We thank you for listening, always bringing you to some fun,
fascinating things happening in and around Omaha. I've told you
a lot of different times, and We've had multiple players
on this podcast. The Omaha Supernova's just an absolutely fantastic
event that you can go and bring your family to.
And I'm already counting down the days to next season.
(00:30):
But one thing that got my attention this year was
the sheer size and the power of their cheer squad,
the hype squad that was with the Supernovas this year,
and one member in specific was it's kind of stealing
the show. Let's just be completely honest. And I had
to bring her onto this podcast to talk about what
she does because it really is quite unique. And her
(00:53):
name is Stephanie Lean. She is sitting in here with
us in the studio. Stephanie, thanks so much for coming in,
Thank you for having me. This is so great. Thanks
for making some time for us today. You know, I
know that you have a job that we're going to
get into here in a bit, but you are a
baton twirler.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I am.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
I don't know like when I was in high school,
that was not even a thing that people could do
as like a marching band option or a performance option.
But when we were at these games and my wife
is you know, was very into color guard and she's
into the dancing aspect and stuff. So I've seen her
twirl a bunch of different things over the years, and
(01:31):
I have a real appreciation for somebody who can do
it at this level. And I was like, where did
this girl come from? This is unbelievable. So before we
even get into all of the stuff that goes into
this and all the other things that you've done and
the supernovas thing, I just want to know how one
gets interested into something like this to get this good
(01:54):
at it.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
My mom was a baton twirler, so that's yes, that's
where it stemmed from, and twirled for Wisner Pilger High School,
and she she didn't do competitive baton twirling. So I
started when I was four years old, and by age five,
I was doing competitions. So I my ultimate goal was
(02:15):
to obtain a college scholarship, and that's why I dedicated
so much of my life to the sport.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
This really interesting that you mentioned that four years old.
There's no way you were twirling these batons right now.
These are like the size of a four year old.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Right, They're the size of your arm, so that is
the length. So when you're four, they're about probably a
third of the size of what they are now.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Okay, but like in terms of the actual practice of
what you're doing, it actually probably is proportionate in a
way that can translate as you grow and as you know,
get older and you start getting the bigger batons, the
technique is probably close to the same. Right, was there
any moment of you know, growth period that you started
to notice I'm actually kind of good at this.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Well, there's a lot of hand coordination involved, and the
ambi dexterity aspect is really good for your brain as
you're growing up. So I think that's one of the
reasons my mom thought, if nothing else, this will be
a good hobby for her. But she actually put me
in a baton twirling camp, gymnastics camp, and cheerleading and
it was just like week long summer camps when I
(03:21):
was four, And at the end of the summer she said, okay,
let's choose one to continue doing, and I chose baton
and have never looked back.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
So that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I can't say there was a definitive moment where I
knew this is what I was going to be spending
so much of my life doing. But definitely by the
time I was in middle school, high school, you know,
I had to have some sacrifices in life, prioritizing towirling
over you know, social things sometimes. But I'm just so
grateful for the opportunities that I've had through twirling and
(03:52):
all the places I've been.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Okay, for people listening to this, there's like, but how
like how is that a thing? Like? So so you
go batontrolling, like you had to make sacrifice for batontrolling,
Like you know, uh, my wife doing the Color Guard.
She spent every summer marching with Phantom Regiment, which is
you know, drum Corps, and that was a really big
part of her life and she she wanted to do
that more than anything else that she she did. Everything
(04:15):
that she did, like the work, the job that she
had in high school was a means to be able
to pay for her to be able to do that,
you know, right, So for you know, somebody out there
that doesn't understand kind of what is baton trolling competitively?
What kind of schedule on a year to year basis?
What were you going to do while you were growing up?
What were some of those things? And who else is
(04:38):
competing in this? Were there other people in your school
that also was doing this? Like what does that look like?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
When I was a freshman, there were two senior baton twirlers,
so there were three of us twirling together for a year.
School Lincoln Southwest.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Okay, all right, cool? So not far away, not too far.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
And you know, Omaha actually has a pretty big baton presence.
Baton twirling is really big on the coasts, so that's
where you'll see a lot of big twirling teams and
just towirlers in a lot of the high schools and colleges.
And then across the country, I mean, some universities have
a line of baton twirlers. For example, University of Alabama
(05:14):
has the Crimsonets. They have about twenty on their line,
I believe.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And then contrast that with individual baton twirling. So where
I went to undergrad University of Louisville, I was the
only baton twirler. So just a very different experience and
set of skills required.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Okay, so the scholarship part of this, you mentioned from
an early age you were aware that this was something
you'd like to do. Let's kind of fast forward into
the high school age. You still really love doing this, obviously,
but you also know that there was a reason you
loved it. The goal was you wanted to get a
collegiate scholarship. What does the recruiting look like for something
(05:53):
like this, Like you mentioned, there are schools that have
multiple slots open for somebody like this, but you may
not have a big depth of competition here as much,
but you know that there are dozens of really high quality,
high level people far away from here that you might
not see in local competitions that you know are also
(06:14):
gunning for those scholarship spots. What was that process like
and how did you land in Louisville.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
It's you know, many years in advance that you start
thinking about where you're going to college and where you
hope to twirl, and really for probably middle school up
until when I was actually in college, my main focus
was excelling at the baton toweling competitions because that was
a way that I could build up my toiling resume.
Really set myself apart and continue to you know, dedicate
(06:44):
time and skills and just you know, continue to improve
over time. So every three years is the World Baton
Towiling competition, so it's it's kind of the Olympics of
baton twirling. And first you have to qualify to go
to the national comp petition. They take the top three
in each state go to nationals, and then the top
three at Nationals go to the World competition. So I
(07:07):
was very lucky to be able to compete at four
World Championships. So that was in Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, and Norway.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
So how old were you when this was happening here?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
So Belgium was two thousand and nine, so I was
eleven at the youngest. And then every three years and
then my final World Championships, I was in college, so
I really just continued focusing on the competitive aspect of it,
and then the timing of the college positions, you know, fluctuates,
(07:37):
because some people race through college in three years. Sometimes
it takes people five years. So you're really just keeping
an eye out on the spots. And for me in particular,
I was looking for a feature twirler position hopefully with
a substantial scholarship, and this.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Was you wanted to go in knowing that that spot
was open when you were a freshman.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Correct. Okay, So the recruiting process for University of Louisville,
I was initially contacted by the girl that twirled there
at the time.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
We cause you're known in the community at this point
for your presence and competitions.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
I think the elite level of twirlers. When you're competing
at the World Championships, you start to get to know
each other because you're encountering each other at nationals every year,
and you know, with social media, you're just able to
stay in touch so much better. So the girl's name
was Melissa, who twirled there before me, and we were
actually friends for years. We had the same coach for years.
(08:35):
So she was sharing with me all the great experiences
she had at Louisville. And I never really expected to
end up in Kentucky, but she was telling me about
how you toil at Kentucky Derby and all of these
cool experiences that you only get in Louisville. So I
sent in a video audition that's the first round of
the audition process, and people from across the country submit
(08:57):
their videos. There's you know, a portion where you're speaking
and introduce yourself and then display some of your skills,
and then they invited about twenty twenty five of us
to audition in person.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Okay, so this is a couple dozen people that made
the cut, so we can assume that, you know, it's
probably a few more dozen at least that didn't get
those calls.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
And honestly, I don't know what the full pool of
candidates were, but I did recognize a lot of the
people when I got to the audition, which was kind
of fun.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Which tells you that this was like a spot a
lot of people wanted right.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Right and I think there were only there was only
one girl that was actually from Kentucky, so the majority
of us were coming from out of state, really hoping
to go to University of Louisville for the toiling position
and the live audition process. Then we actually performed at
a football game on a Saturday, and then Sunday was
your private audition where you did a routine and then
(09:55):
sat down with the panel of judges for your interview portion.
So they wanted to see how you handle the pressure
of a game day. Actually on the field in front
of the crowd, and then you know, your private audition
with your skills displayed at that point. So there was
you know a little bit of pressure at that point
because there was so much riding on that and I
(10:16):
just wanted to do my absolute best. And you know,
where you end up getting offered a toiling position could
have a bearing on where you go to college for
the next several years. So it really was a big
deal at that point.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
And you got it right, so they call you. I'm
sure that was a great feeling for you. I I've
talked to a lot of athletes before, and a lot
of times, you know, twenty years ago, it mattered what
was being offered at the school. Can I major in
the thing that I'm most interested in because that affects
my college decision. That's not really a thing for a
(10:50):
lot of athletes now, But in a boton trolling position,
I'm sure that was part of your decision making process.
You wanted not just go to a place that had
a really awesome toiling spot, especially you're the only one
and you have all these unique experiences ahead of you.
But did you know what you wanted to study and
did you think that Louivill was a good fit for
you academically also.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Great question, and academics were very important to me, really
above Twirling. My academic journey has always been first and foremost.
That's something my mom instilled in me that, you know,
as hard as I work at Twirling School, and academics
always come first. So I'm really grateful that she put
those priorities in place for me. But I was really
lucky since I wanted to go to law school. You
(11:32):
don't really have to major in anything very niche, so
I knew I would be able to find that anywhere.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
So you knew law was the thing, right, Okay, so
when did that happen? Well, like what I was before,
I got really dumb and stupid and decided to get
into communications. I was, you know, one of the smart
kids in my class. Was I was going through middle school.
In this thing called mock trial came up, and you know,
we got to those a first time. You started learning
(12:01):
about some legal lingo and you started to understand what
the procedures were. And I found it to be fascinating,
but it got over my head so fast, you know,
So like some of the stuff that you can and
cannot do or some of the stuff that is or
is not permitted, and you're learning this at like thirteen
and fourteen years old. Was there some part of that
at this you know, at school age, whether it's middle school,
(12:24):
high school, that inspired you to want to get involved
in the legal world. Because for a lot of people
that I know, that inspiration doesn't necessarily come until they're
already in college. A lot of times I.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Knew I loved working with kids. I did a lot
of volunteer work when I was younger, and really my
dream job was doing family law, representing children in court.
That's always what I thought I wanted to do. Fast
forward to when I was actually in law school and
then got a law clerk position in that area doing
family law, and it turns out it is not for me.
(12:58):
I have so much respect for the people that do that,
but it just ended up being a lot darker and
deeper than what I could anticipate doing every day for
the rest of my life. But I stayed, you know,
with the legal field, and then transitioned kind of to
a family instead of family law to real estate and
property law.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Interesting, so you are a lawyer, Yes, that's awesome. Okay,
So you came back from Louisville and you went to like,
you're in Nebraska obviously because you're talking to me, But
is Nebraska where you ended up going?
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Right? Went to University of Nebraska and Lincoln for law school.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
And what's the timeline of that? Is that another couple
of years?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
It's a three year program. It took me four years
because I had to take a year off when I
won Miss Nebraska.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Oh okay, So that is a perfect liaison into our
next conversation. You are Miss Nebraska, yes, okay, So now
we have to go back in time and we have
to talk about pageants. All of a sudden, this I
talked to a girl who was second runner, like first
runner up to being Miss South Carolina, okay, and was
(14:00):
working television and I when I got to meet her
and talked to her, and she's a Southern gal. She's
she's you know, like talking to somebody from South Carolina
is very different than talking to somebody from Nebraska. Right,
But pageants are like a religion for some people in
some of these places. And I was just blown away
at the preparation and how much you really have to
(14:22):
know about yourself to be really competitive, especially when you
get to like a Miss USA style pageant. Right, So
where does that fit in as you're growing up? Because
at some point you decided, hey, like, I could also
go of this pageant route, and you know, and what even,
(14:43):
like do you do to get good at that?
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Right?
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Like? You are you just born with the natural skills?
Like what happens there? So take me through the very
beginning of Hey like, I kind of want to do
this too.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
First of all, you're absolutely right, it's a very introspective
experience and there's just a lot that you gain from
going through pageantry. So I did the Miss Nebraska teen
program in twenty fifteen. That was my first exposure to
the pageant world.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
And how were do you like a mid high school?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Where is sixteen? And then I won the state pageant
turned seventeen during my reign. But it was just so
many things that I'm passionate about kind of fit together
really well in terms of the volunteer aspect, serving in
your community, working on your speaking ability, meeting so many
people from across the community, and sharing your talent. So
(15:38):
of course my talent was Buttondwiling.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Okay, so you did that and I'm guessing Miss teen
Nebraska's open for anybody who's a teenager. It's got to
be a pretty decent number of competitors who want to
do this, right, So, did you feel like you were
one of the better ones? How do you know what's
that judging process like? Because I feel like, you know,
that could be an intimidating process for some people, and
(16:03):
sometimes the judges can be different from pageant to pageant
and what you know, kind of how they score a grade.
Just because you won once doesn't mean you would win
the next year of the year.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Before, absolutely, And that's one of the things about pageantry.
It is so subjective. So I encourage anyone that's in
it to just always keep that in the back of
your mind, because you can work so hard at your
platform and your talent and just feel your absolute best
and then it turns out it's not your day. And
(16:32):
that was something I was fully prepared for. I think
when I was competing, I wasn't really too focused on
what other people were doing. I you know, appreciated everyone's
talent and ability and tried to look at it separate
from in a sense of comparing it to myself because
I think that's such a dangerous way of competing in pageantry,
(16:55):
and something a lot of people fall into is that comparison.
But just looking at it from the sense of bringing
each other up and using that as a chance to
just make new connections and friendships, and then just you know,
praying about it and hoping I can do my best
and everyone else can put their best foot forward as well.
And really I didn't know what I was doing that
(17:18):
first year. I was surprised to win, and then next
thing I knew I was competing at Miss America's team,
and then it's on a much bigger scale, and you know,
a lot of the girls had been doing it for
many years. So I kind of felt like a newbie
throughout the whole process, but definitely learned a lot about
the pageant system, learned a lot about myself, and then
(17:38):
I knew at some point I wanted to compete for
Miss Nebraska, just because when you're a teen, you're looking
up to the big girls and you hope that's you
someday getting to represent your state at the next level,
And then ended up doing that in law school in
twenty twenty one, decided to compete for Miss Nebraska. And
then one and then one.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
So you've won both you want on your first time,
so it wasn't like you had to learn something else.
What are like the questions? Right, like, so what's the process?
At some point they do the Bton twirling. I think
a lot of us, you know, who are completely fools
about this stuff and completely ignorant of how it really works.
We think about like bikinis and dresses and like trying
(18:20):
to look good in different ways with the talent, and
you know, you see people seeing you see people dance
in your case, you know you have a very unique talent.
But the one thing that we also know is there's
like a question process, and that to me feels like
the biggest wild card of everything is you know, you
look the way that you look and you can do
(18:41):
the you know, I don't know what all you know,
outfits and stuff you're supposed to look good in, but
nobody gets the same questions you know, like it, how
how did you prepare yourself for that moment? And did
you feel like you got a favorable question or two?
Like did like how did that part of it factor
into why you won both the teen contests and then
(19:03):
eventually miss Nebraska.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
So the private interview with the judges is ten minutes,
and that is their first impression of you. They see
you in the interview room and get to know you
before they see any of your on stage events.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Oh okay, so they already have an idea of who
you are as a person before they get to see
you do anything.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
That's right. They have your paperwork, they have your resume,
what you're passionate about, what you've done in your life,
and you try to, you know, let them get to
know you within ten minutes, which is such a short
timeframe to be able to explain all your life experiences,
what has made you who you are today, what your
plans are with the title, and then why you should
(19:41):
be Miss Nebraska. And then after the ten minute interview,
which is private again no one else sees that, then
you transition to the on stage events. And that's for us.
We had fitness, so Miss America transitioned away from the
swimsuit right before I started competing, so I never competed
in the swimsuit comp petition, which I loved fitness. I
(20:02):
thought it was so empowering because you know, fitness is
a huge part of my life. I teach Puerbar I
taught fitness classes in Lincoln as well, So that's something
that I just think is so fun getting to encourage
people and work out together.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
So fitness in this situation is what, like do you show,
like how many pull ups you can do? Like how
does that work?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
So there's kind of a routine that you have, and
it's it's more strutting than anything. You're not really doing
push ups or planks or anything, but you're just wearing
a workout outfit and you just go out there and
just have your most confident walk. You do a few poses,
and then you're off stage. It's all of about thirty seconds.
But it's really about the confidence that you display and
(20:48):
if you're comfortable and confident in your own skin.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
So yeah, and okay, so I think the swimsuit competition
the thing that I thought about, right, And there's a
lot of beautiful women that look great in a swimsuit, right,
But I think a lot of it is about body
shape that you've put that work in. You know, I
look at the bodybuilding women and they're always wearing like
the swimsuits and stuff. But it has everything just to
show off the amazing muscles that they have worked really
(21:14):
hard to build and get themselves lined up right. And
so you are fit because of the lifestyle that you live,
and you know it doesn't hurt that you have this
hobby that certainly keeps you in shape. And then you
have those questions and then is there still a dress element, Yes, there's.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
An evening gown. And then you have an on stage
question with your evening gown. And that's usually where they
hit you with a controversial question which you have to
manage that really fun to handle in front of a
live audience.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
And you get scored on that correct and nobody gets
the same question. So like, do you remember your question
the year you won.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
So Miss Nebraska, My question was about gun control? And
oh nice, yes, and I think you know in my opinion,
And I also coach interview now, so I get to
share this with some of the women that are competing now.
I think any time you just are so confident in
(22:10):
your answer, you know, not trying to shy away from
giving a neutral answer, just genuinely tell them what you think.
If you have a personal anecdote or story to go
along with that, so that the judges know where you're
coming from I always think that's extra helpful for me,
you know, gun control. I didn't have anything really personal
to be able to share, but I just you know,
(22:32):
stuck to what I felt, and I don't even remember
what I said, to be honest. There's probably a video somewhere, but.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Much do you have a time limit of, like how
much time you can say?
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Yes, I believe it's forty five seconds and Miss America,
they will cut you off. There's a thing that you
hear in the background and you.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Don't want to get danced time. Yeah, that's that probably
hurts the score a little bit when you Wow, that's tough, man,
And I do this for a living, you know, so
like thinking like if I was given something that I
may not have been totally prepared for, because do they
give you like a list of things that could be
You just have to be like ready for.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Anything, prepared for anything, anything and everything.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
And that's in front of people, right Yeah, okay, so yeah, gosh,
that intimidate the heck out of me. That's crazy, which
is a real testament to what you guys do. And
like what the pageant is, so you win and you
know there are how many other girls on the stage
that made it that far.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Like at Miss Nebraska. Yeah, I believe they are about
twenty of us. So the way it works, you compete
for a local title. I competed for Miss Lincoln, won
the Miss Lincoln title, and then represented Lincoln at Miss Nebraska.
So there's local competitions across the state. You know, there's
some in Western Nebraska, there's a few in the more
metro areas. And then we all get to compete together
(23:43):
at Miss Nebraska.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
How long does this take? A couple of days?
Speaker 2 (23:46):
We're there for a full week.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
There's preliminary competition, your private interview, and then I believe
it's the top ten. They kind of change it from
year to year. The top ten will recompete in their
evening fitness on stage question and then usually they ask
you a few extra questions at the end when it
gets down to the top five.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Okay, so they kind of do cuts, kind of like
make it to semi final in a final. Okay, Wow,
that's that's intimidating. So the moment when you win, and
you'd already won Miss teen Nebraska you mentioned you know
that was kind of a surprise to you, But did
you have an expectation, knowing that you'd won a pageant
like this before that you would be in pretty good
(24:26):
shape here.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
No, I mean it's always different. It's you know, a
brand new set of judges. It was several years between
when I competed in teen and Miss Nebraska, and you know,
I had just completed a year of law school. My
brain was very focused on that side of things, and
I just was feeling so blessed for the opportunity, and
(24:51):
in the first ten seconds, my brain kind of ran through, Okay,
I'm going to take the next year off law school.
I'm going to be competing at Miss America. My life
is changing so much all of a sudden, and you're
just kind of thrown into the new role.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
So you did a year of law school and you
interrupted the law school. Wow, And then you came back
and you were able to finish. That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
People then think I'd come back and I did that tough.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
I don't know if that could have done. That's that's
you know, it's impressive to win one of these things,
but like you said, the work just kind of starts
at that point. Miss America. How is that different because
and this is another thing you said, you had to
take a year off. You're you're kind of an ambassador
in a lot of ways for your state, and you
go in a lot of different places, not just in
Nebraska as Miss Nebraska. So what was the next year
(25:42):
like and how was that experience different when you went
to the Miss America pageant, which all of a sudden
has a ton more eyeballs and now you're seeing the
best of the absolute best in pageantry in America, right.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
And I will contrast, there's a huge difference between being
Miss Nebraska teen and Miss Nebraska. They are, you know,
equally amazing opportunities. Miss Nebraska is very much a full
time job. That is your role, that is your focus
for the entire year. So that's why everything else in
your life kind of needs to be put on pause
for the most part. So immediately after I won, I
(26:18):
was doing Nebraska Land Days in North Platte for a week,
so I didn't even come home first. I had to
have my mom come home and grab clothes for the
next week. And I'm you know, living out of suitcases,
doing a lot of appearances obviously throughout the state of Nebraska,
speaking to a lot of students in schools, promoting fundraising events,
(26:39):
attending fundraising events, and Miss America orientation was in Dallas,
so I went there for that. I attended market in Atlanta,
and then our actual competition was in Connecticut in December.
So Miss America was about halfway through my reign, so
I spent you know, the first six months it's very
(27:01):
active in my state, but also in the background preparing
for Miss America and that experience to come Miss America
itself was an absolute whirlwind. We actually started in New
York City. They wanted us to do some press events there,
and I just remember every day we started really early,
(27:21):
we ended really late, and you're just embracing the no
sleep full glam every day and just trying to make
the most of the experience with your Miss America's sisters, so.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
You're with them all all the time. You make a
lot of friends. Like attitude is probably the same as
everybody's kind of cheering each other on.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Yes, you know yes. And you're randomly assigned a roommate.
So my roommate was Miss Vermont and she was so sweet.
We had the best time. We got locked out of
our hotel room once because we both left the key
in the room. You know, we just we lived some
unique Miss America experiences together, and it's really encouraging having
other people there with you every minute of the day,
(28:01):
kind of going through the same experience that you are,
because it's the first and only time that each of
us is going to experience this. You don't get to
go to Miss America twice.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
That's a good thing to mention because I think a
lot of people are like, Okay, so did you win
Miss America? And if you didn't, can you just keep
trying and going back? There are rules against stuff like that.
You know, you win your states, you know miss State
or whatever, like that's kind of like that's your shot,
that's your one sun. Yeah, So how did the pageant
actually go? Do you feel like you performed well? Did
you feel like you had a shot at that one
(28:31):
as well? What was that feeling like?
Speaker 2 (28:33):
I had absolutely no regrets leaving Miss America. And that
says a lot because I'm very critical on myself and
always looking back at things thinking how could I have
done this better? How could I have you know, changed
one little thing that maybe would have made a difference
in the result. But I stayed just so strong in
my prayer and my faith, and I genuinely feel like
(28:55):
I put myself out there. Fully. I had quite a
crew that went to Miss America supporting me, which was
just really incredible to see. I have a very small family.
It's really just my mom and I that are so
close knit, so a lot of friends flew out to
see me live out that once in a lifetime experience.
(29:16):
And I just look back on it with the fondest memories,
knowing that I prepared for it to the fullest extent.
And I didn't win Miss America, but I'm so grateful
for the opportunity. And then I got to come back
home and live out the next six months representing the
state of Nebraska.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Right, and probably just a little freer in your mind
at that point that the big hurdle of the year
is over with. Do you know how you finished?
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Like, do they tell you if they don't give you
your ending score?
Speaker 1 (29:44):
And that's totally fine, okay, Stephanie. I the reason that
I'm talking to you now. You mentioned you're a lawyer now,
so you're got to be in your like, what late
twenties now, so you're really kind of getting started in
your professional career and I don't know where these people
(30:05):
came from. I just know that I went to the
Supernova's game this year and I was just like, wow,
there's a lot of cheerleaders. Where did these people come from? Like?
Where are they from? This is these are not just
like school age children. These are these are legitimate athletes,
like these are people that know what they're doing. They
have to have been doing this a while. And you
stood out immediately because you have these batons. We'll talk
(30:26):
about the baton part of this in a second, but
how did you, like, you're back in Nebraska and you're
a professional, now, how did you hear about this cheer
squad they were building for this professional volleyball team that
was performing at CHI Health Center. You know, this team
that is only a few years old. How did you
learn about this? And you know when? When was the
(30:47):
moment You're just like, yeah, I'd be interested in that.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
So of course I knew about the Supernova's because you know,
the volleyball presence in Nebraska is taken very seriously. And
I actually had a friend on the team the first
year they had the hype squad. Her name is Christa
and we've been friends since high school. I got to
see a lot of her experience, and you know, she
shared it with me kind of behind the scenes before
(31:12):
I was done with law school, and she's the one
that encouraged me to audition. And the timing of it
was a little funky because it was about two days
after the bar exam that we had the tryout. Oh
and at that point, I'm really just a shell of myself.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
May not have any brain.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Cells left for all, right, And I thought, I really
want to put on makeup and put on clothes that
are not pajamas and you know, try to go audition
for this. But at that point I had already accepted
my job in Omaha. I knew I was going to
be here, and it's just, you know, one of those
experiences that you just have to go for it.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Okay. So where did they come from? Though?
Speaker 2 (31:55):
So Cheer Athletics is the one that really initiated this
hype squad, and some of the performers the first year
came from their competitive cheer squad. And then the next
year that they had the hype squad, you know kind
of expanded in their search of candidates, so they had
(32:15):
live tryouts at the cheer athletics studio and that's that's
where we had our practices. And so I actually tried
out for a dance position. They didn't know that I
twirled at the time. I just oh, interesting, I tried
out for You can either try out for a cheer
position or a dance position. And I don't do the stunting,
so I was very firmly planted in the dance.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
So yeah, And you mentioned cheerleading and passing when you
were a kid and kind of had to make a
choice of what you were going to do, which is
crazy to ask like a five year old, you know, like, hey,
what's the thing you want to do for the.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Rest of your old Tell me I could change my
mind though.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Okay, But cheerleading was a part of that. Did you
do any like I mean you had to have some
dance or cheer like background beyond the twirling, right, Yes.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
I trained and dance dance at a studio called Chase
the Spirit of Dance and Lincoln and they, you know,
were the basis of my dance technique. I took dance
to compliment twirling and to build my technique.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Because there's a part, there's a big part of dance
in what you.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Do, absolutely, and they were always very supportive of knowing
that I took dance to accompany my twirling and the
fact that dance wasn't my main goal, but I ended
up falling in love with it, and you know, it
has absolutely helped me so much in my twirling ability
and just ability to present and have good technique one twiling.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
So you're in your late twenties now, you had the
Louisville thing, you went to Nebraska. Do you twirl at
Nebraska while you were there? Is that a thing you
could be? Okay? So you could? You could come back
and you could troll while you're in law school, which
was awesome, So you stayed up with it on that
was like, so did you have any time where you
weren't just having some reason to twirl? Really?
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Or I have always been toirling, so.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
You did, Like there wasn't like a moment in life
where's just like, Okay, don't have a reason to do
this anymore, Like even when you're on the road with
you know, the Miss Nebraska stuff like finding ways to.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Practice like yes, and as Miss Nebraska I would perform
at various events and.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
Because everybody loves to see this right, Like.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
It's unique. It's it's fun to share what I love doing,
especially with the kids that maybe haven't seen thetond twirling before,
and gets them excited about it. That's my favorite part.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Okay, So, and I'm a full grown adult in my
thirties and I got excited when I saw you doing this.
You say, you auditioned just to be a dancer, something
to do, and it's cool you're in an arena with
you know, ten plus thousands you guys. Also, yeah, like,
so I can see why, you know, the cheer squad
members want to do this because what a cool thing
to do, and everybody's very good. That's the thing I'm
(34:48):
most impressed with is the quality of what you guys do.
So how did they learn about the twirling part of this?
Did you make the team before or did they like
or you look familiar? Were you like Miss Nebraska or
someth thing like? How did that conversation change?
Speaker 2 (35:01):
I made the team as a dancer, and then we
had some community performances leading up to the start of
the volleyball schedule. So it was actually the Bud Crawford Parade.
After he won, we did a celebratory parade, and I
mentioned to them, I'm actually a baton twirler if that's
something you would want me to do for the parade,
(35:23):
because you know, of a ton twirling kind of goes
along with parades, absolutely, and they had me do it,
and they actually hadn't seen me twirl before the parade,
so they really just had faith in me that I
was gonna be able to pull it off. And then
at the end of the parade they said, yes, we're
gonna have you do that at the games.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
So I know, what a cool what a cool thing
to just like you know, and Bud winning is I
remember the parade day and everything. You know, I didn't
put two and two together that you know, that was
the same group of people out hyping up right. So
you you go to these games and each rol now
and I don't know, like you have to hear the
crowd just like why you you know, no disrespect to
(36:02):
your fellow members, but you have these things, I do
how long are these like two feet two and a
half feet maybe thirty inches thirty inches? Yeah, two and
a half feet. Nice?
Speaker 2 (36:12):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
So you got these things, they're pretty heavy and you're
throwing them around and I like, it just steals my
attention every time you guys are out there are just like, wow,
look how good she is at this, and you just
don't mess up like they're like you're juggling three of
them at a time. You're throwing it, Like, do you
know how high you're throwing it?
Speaker 2 (36:34):
People have asked me that, I don't know. I'll have
to find some system of measurement. At some point, you.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Got to be like twenty feet in the air.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
The Hype Squad is really special because you know, I
have this unique talent of throwing these steel sticks in
the air. They're throwing people, so I think what they
do is way cooler because you know, worst thing that
happens what the steel stick hits the ground. I mean
they are throwing actual humans in the air and catching
them on the.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Way down, so it could be dangerous. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
So have you accidentally hit yourself in the face with
one of these? Oh yeah, I was gonna say like
this you had to write like my wife talks about
like the time where she messed up like a twirl
or something and the why hits her in a face
or something like it happens. Yeah, I mean, but this
is it's cool that you're getting to share this now
with like an audience, because I don't there can't be
a lot of volleyball cheer squads that have a baton twirler.
(37:25):
And so you you go out there, like do you
have set routines because you have a lot of different moves.
And I'll ask you about some of the moves here
in a second, but like the the tosses are what
everybody's like, whoa, and then you're just like waiting on
it to come down and then you catch it and
you're still like you're juggling them. You have this move
where you do the elbow thing. I love the elbow thing.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
That one later.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Yeah, it's just like like I don't know how it works.
It's just and it just you never mess it up
ays And I saw you one time like just drop
you kick, you can kick it, you can hit it
with your knee up in the air, catch it. I
saw you catch a baton with the back of your
leg once, which is an insane move to pull off
in front of that many people. So do you plan
(38:10):
what you're doing before you go out there or is
it a moment of just like you know, I think
I'm gonna throw this move out here.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
Our timeouts are much more planned, so we have specific
times written into the schedule, you know, with the management
of the Supernova's when the team the Hype Squad is
going to go out and perform. So those are a
bit more planned because usually we know the music, we
know a little bit more what the timeframe is going
to be like. But you've been at the Supernova Games,
(38:37):
a lot of it is just go with the flow
and we go out and perform every time that the
Supernova's get a point. So someone or a team from
the Hype Squad is performing every single time that the
Supernova's score. So it's a lot of you know, leaping
out there and just taking the time that is allotted
and then doing a walkover off or you know, doing
(38:59):
a leap off and it goes really fast.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
Yeah, so okay, the timeouts have you know a little
bit of time. You'll run out there and you have
the batons you have going the dark ones I think too,
which are really cool and you're you're tossing them around
and you know you're you're doing this and you're having
a great time. I would wonder, you know, in your mind. Right,
as far as the like the cheer element of this,
(39:26):
there has to be some growth to what you're doing.
Like somebody from somewhere in Omaha or Lincoln or seeing
you do this at like a volleyball game and they're like,
we have to find a way to incorporate this activity
somehow into our marching band competitions, into our dancers. Have
you been approached by people who are just interested in
(39:48):
this activity that people don't generally see.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
I have, And one of my favorite parts of our
Supernova game day is at the end when we usually
get some time for fan interaction, and I've been approached
several times about you know, parents that are there with
their kids and they say, I want to get my
daughters involved in this, or you know, we've never seen this.
How do we get involved? And that is really why
(40:12):
I love continuing to do this after so many years,
because for me, you know, I've been doing it twenty
something years at this point, but for someone else, this
is their very first time seeing it, and that is
so special to me.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
I think that that's the one gift that you know
you're giving back already, right, is there? I mean, do
you want to do this next year, Like, is this
something that you're excited to keep doing because it's obvious
you're still at a ridiculously high level here. You've got
to be one of the best people in the United
States at this Thank you. I mean you've won, You've
won competition that.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
Say that, and I'm I'm definitely beyond the point of competing.
That's for sure. I won't be hopping back into competitions
anytime soon, but definitely taking advantage of opportunities to perform
and just share the sport that I love. I'm going
to continue saying yes as long as I'm here.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Well, it's really awesome. I think that honestly. It's it
was a huge element of game Day, right, It's like
how much how exciting, Yeah, how exciting it was to
have the hype squad in general, but this element of it,
I think people were just like, wow, how cool is that?
Made the environment right? The people were like rave the
volleyball is great, obviously, but people talk about it's one
(41:20):
of the funnest sporting events you can go to anywhere
around here because of you know, the light show and
the way that they you know, hype the crowd in
between timeouts. But the Hype Squad was such a big
part of that in your part of this as well,
you know, just like the true uniqueness and the quality
of what this is is awesome. So I'm so glad
I was able to wrangle you and to get you
(41:41):
to do this. I would love to have you on
again sometime and we can talk about different things as
it relates to this, because you know, we've talked for
forty minutes and I still have so many things that
I'd like to talk to you about. But thank you
so much, Stephanie for coming in here and for talking
to me. We'll get a video up on our social
media so people kind of know if they're like, okay,
so like what are we talking about here?
Speaker 2 (41:59):
We'll get you to do a trick.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
Yeah, we'll see how that goes, but we'll definitely have
Stephanie show a couple of the things that she knows
how to do. Thank you so much. Is there any
place that people can like follow you? Do you have
like a social media account?
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Yes, my first and last name. It is at Stephanie
st E F F A N Y Underscore, Lean l
I E N on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
There you go. And honestly, you've got to remember the
spelling changes there because it can be tough, can be
tough to find.
Speaker 2 (42:29):
Because I know Stephanie is spelled really unique as well.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
That's s T E F F A n Y and
then Leen is l I E N. Stephanie, thank you
so much for coming in.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
This is great, Thanks for having me. This is so fun, all.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
Right, and yeah that's Stephanie Lean. If you enjoyed this conversation,
we're going to have more where that came from this week,
next week and beyond. Just keep following the Emery Songer
podcast on the free iHeartRadio app. We thank you so
much for listening and we appreciate it. Weoble to talk
to you again soon
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