May 21, 2025 • 47 mins
She’s back!WWE’s in-ring announcer Lilian Garcia is a force of energy. She’s been using her voice for more than 2 decades in the world of wrestling, and is the first woman to be the ring announcer in all of combat sports.
In this podcast, she talks about the ups and downs in and out of the ring, and shares her mindset that keeps her going.
Now, back with the WWE, she’s slated to be the ring announcer for Saturday Night’s Main Event on NBC/Peacock.
It’s an inspiring story from a trailblazing performer who isn’t finished living, growing or giving.
In this podcast, she talks about the ups and downs in and out of the ring, and shares her mindset that keeps her going.
Now, back with the WWE, she’s slated to be the ring announcer for Saturday Night’s Main Event on NBC/Peacock.
It’s an inspiring story from a trailblazing performer who isn’t finished living, growing or giving.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to ten Seconds to Air. I'm Alita Gien. My
guest today has been using her voice to connect and
entertain millions of people over the last twenty five plus years.
She's a singer, an announcer, and a podcaster. Lillian Garcia
has spent most of her career as the in ring
announcer for the WWE. She's the first woman to announce WrestleMania,
(00:21):
the first woman to become an in ring announcer in
all of combat sports. She holds the record for singing
the most times at WrestleMania. She actually left the WWE
in twenty sixteen to care for her ailing father. Then
she returned in twenty twenty four and is now set
to be the ring announcer for Saturday night's main event.
(00:43):
She joins me now to talk about her career, her
life out of the ring, becoming a worship leader, and
the mindset to keep it all going.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Grand by going alive, going hard.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Brillian, So great to have you here.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Wow, what an introduction. Thank you so much. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
You know. I love your energy. You bring it every
time they have it. Every time. It's that smile, it's
it's everything that you bring. You've basically been on stage
for life, so this question is is kind of a
funny question, maybe for you because you do it so often.
But what goes through your mind ten seconds to air?
Speaker 3 (01:43):
My heartbeat is playing a mile a minute still to
this day, and I'll never forget. I was at PFL.
This is when I was announcing for MMA and I
was about to go live, and I was it was
just so beating, so hard that day that I go,
why do I do this? Why do I put myself
(02:04):
through this? But then you know what, when you go
there and you kill it, you're on such a high
that you go that's why. Yeah, to prove to yourself
what you're capable of. It's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
And what are you hearing right before you get out there?
I mean that crowd is intense, so I can imagine
if your heart's not beating, they're making it beat.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Yeah, I mean, there's nothing like the crowds at our events,
whether it's WWE or what I experienced at PFL is amazing.
We just have the best of audiences, seriously, and they're
so into it and you can't wait, like I can't
wait to be a part of it. And that's one
of the big reasons I was so excited to come
back was to really reconnect with them. It's something that
(02:49):
you know, even the Rock talks about it when he's
back and you see him in the turmbarkle and he's
like smelling, well, he's taking in the crowd. Yeah, because
it's an energy that you just can't get and were out.
It's awesome.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah. So so how did you even get started? What
was that first day?
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Oh? My gosh, So you're ready for this story, I
can tell I can't wait. Wild It is wild. So
I at the time, I was living in New York
City and my I was I had a job, but
I was also working with an agent who had me
doing commercials and some voiceover work, and I was trying
to get more and more. And then he called me
(03:29):
for the audition. And at first when he said WWF,
before I got you know, the name, that switch, I
was like, oh the world Wildlife one. He's like, no
Wrestling Federation. I'm like, wait what me and wrestling? I
watched it as a kid with my dad, so I
loved wrestling, but I couldn't see what I could be
doing in it. And so immediately I'm like, but wait,
(03:50):
I'm not a wrestler. He's like, no, no, it's got something
to do with the broadcast team. So, you know, the
best advice that I actually took that he gave was
he said, go to the audition. You never know. And
so I went, and long story short, in that part,
I got, you know, the job. It called me. They
made it obvious too. I was literally praying, God, if
(04:11):
it's meant to be, make it obvious. If it's not
meant to be, make it obvious. Well when they called,
they said, we'd like to offer you for two to
three months to try you out, and you could quit
it anytime. That was pretty obvious. Yeah, so I had
nothing to lose. So I go to Iowa. That was
our very first show. If people don't know, WWE travels
around and so we were in Iowa that week. It
(04:33):
was the day after Summer Slam, which is the second
biggest WWE event, second to WrestleMania, and so it was
a big deal that I was going to start. Now,
I didn't know that I was going to start that day.
I just show up. I'm given the orientation. I still
haven't been told what my job is going to be,
and So at three thirty that afternoon is when they
(04:55):
came up to me and they're like, congratulations, you're going
to be our brand new announcer starting tonight in front
of fourteen million people. Wow, and you're actually going to
be replacing the legend Howard Finkel, who's been doing this
job for over twenty years. We know that you have
zero training to do this job, but.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Hey, w w what okay? So what's going through your mind?
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Then? I I, you know, the first things out of
my mouth, which I almost couldn't believe. I was like, Okay,
how do you do this job? And now looking back,
I go, man, that was monumental. I asked how instead
of I can't do this. I can't go out there,
you know, So asking how was really big, and so
(05:42):
I sat with the guy. Tony Chimmel sat with me
an hour later at four point thirty. There's a reason
I'm telling you the timestamps because that was pretty big. Here.
We were going live at eight o'clock that night because
we were Central time, so we always go nine o'clock
Eastern time, so it was four point thirty. He sits
with me, He tells me exactly what I'm supposed to
say for every match. There was about eight to ten
(06:03):
matches that night. You have to know the towns, the weights,
what kind of matches there are there? Any rules? Is
the wrestler holding a title? What kind of title? I mean,
there's just a lot of different thing.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
That's a lot.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
It's a lot, it's a lot. So I was writing
everything down as fast as possible. He tells me, all right,
you got forty five minutes to get dressed, okay, forty
five minutes for a female to do hair, makeup and
wardrobe to go on TV.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
So I'm like, oh, and are you doing your own makeup?
Speaker 1 (06:32):
And did you do it? I?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Sure did. I did my own. I brought my own
outfit everything. I'm trying to figure this out on my own.
So then he's like, okay, I need you at ringside
at six thirty. You're gonna watch me do Sunday Night Heat,
which was the show that was right before it was taped,
right before Raw. That was four matches that he was doing.
He goes, I need you to watch me do those
four matches and then you're gonna go live at eight.
(06:57):
So that was my training even do for matches as
I'm rewriting my cue cards because I can't. I can't
read my chicken scratch from the afternoon. Twenty minutes before
we go on live. Mark Aayton, who is the timekeeper,
who was sitting next to me. He sees me and
he's like, you do know you can't use those que
(07:18):
cards up there right?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
No way?
Speaker 3 (07:20):
And I'm like, you do know this is a bad
time for a joke, right. He's like, no, no, no,
They the executive producer doesn't want this to look like boxing.
You're not allowed to use the cue cards. I don't
like thinking to myself, how how am I supposed to
remember not only their names because I'd fallen out of
wrestling for a while, so I didn't even know the
(07:40):
wrestler's names, their names, their towns, their weights. Do they
have a title? Do? What title is it? Are the
rules to the match? How? And I almost ran, I'm
not gonna lie to you. I looked at the exit sign.
I'll never forget this. I looked at the exit sign
and I'm like everything in me was like bord commission.
(08:02):
I had a full on panic attack for like ten minutes,
and then I remember two instances that I got thrown
in the swim team without knowing how to swim when
I was nine years old, and I got thrown into
a radio station like not knowing how to function it.
But I figured it out on both and so quickly
I was like, Okay, what did I do in those circumstances?
(08:23):
And I basically took from that and applied it to
that night and just really just focused on match by match.
And I don't know how I did it, but I
got through it. I sounded horrible, I had no cadence,
no nothing, but I got through it. I went home
and I studied everything as much as I could and
memorized all the towns and weights, and I improved so
(08:44):
much from week one to week two that they kept
giving me an opportunity. And here I am still twenty
six years later.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Six years later. Wow. And in the process of all that,
I mean, you've you have done so much, and you've
also been singing like you were only I mean, where
where are you finding all the time to do the
time and the energy? I just keep going back to
energy with you, because you just have incredible energy. But
where do you find that time and that energy to
(09:13):
do so much? I mean even just hearing you tell
that story. I mean, you're You're inspiring me so much already,
so I'm a real This is such a great conversation
of watching you and like, my God, like I need
to do more. But where do you find that that
kind of time and energy to get all that done?
Speaker 3 (09:32):
I think the number one thing I tell people in
life is to do something that you're passionate about.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Right.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
I love to sing, I love announcing, I loved entertainment.
I love doing podcasts like this, Like for me, this
is fun. And so when you were in your flow
and in your natural state of what you love to do,
you will find the energy. It will just ooze out
of you because it's the most alive and the most
(09:59):
in when you're in Europe Bean And for me personally,
believe it or not, Like I didn't even start drinking
coffee till twenty twelve. I just always had this natural
high about me. And then I started drinking coffee, and
then I realized I wasn't feeling good, and so I
recently just quit coffee and I am vibrating on another
(10:22):
level that I'm almost amazed. I feel like some people.
I'm not gonna say everybody. But I feel like some
people are chasing the high with the coffee, and what
they're doing is they're killing their adrenal glance. And that's
what was happening with me. And so now I have
more energy, more natural. And it took a minute, Like
the first two days I was like, oh my god, driving,
(10:44):
but it just takes a minute to get it out.
But yeah, it's just being high on life and what
you're doing.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Yeah, well, that's funny. You said that you didn't drink
coffee until twenty twelve, So did something happen in there
where you said?
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Okay, Yeah, it's funny because I grew up in Spain,
right in Spain, and like so much coffee. But I
left Spain when I was eight. But I just anytime
I had coffee, I felt like it made me jittery
because I already have like this this excitement for life.
By twenty twelve, I was hit as a pedestrian by
a car. It was a lifeguard truck. Actually I got
(11:19):
slammed in the I was down doing pushups. He forgot
that I was there because he was acknowledging me one
minute and then forgetting that I was at the other
when he went to get on his radio. The passenger
side car tire hit me on the top of my
head and it collapsed some of my vertebrates and all that,
and the pain went all through my back. It was
an excruciating two years. Thank goodness to pilates on the reformer,
(11:43):
I got my body back, but I just remembered that
it was at the time I was married. My ex
was started drinking coffee and I was so in so
much pain that I asked him for a couple SIPs
one day, and there was like this rush that came
obviously the caffeine, and so I guess because the medication
(12:06):
they had me on for this was making me sluggish
that I was chasing. I wasn't in my natural state.
I was chasing that high. So I started drinking coffee.
So then I got hooked, and so then I thought, okay,
well this I just need to always just have coffee.
And I actually liked it, but now I realized, like, yeah,
it was not doing good for my body.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Okay, wait, can you go back to the accident. What
happened when you were on the ground doing pushups, like
in training with the lifeguard or no.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
I was at the time. That's when insanity. The video
everybody was doing insanity I think was beach body had
it out, and so I had my laptop and I
was way by the water and a lifeguard truck came
to answer an emergency that they had, and then another
lifeguard truck came and park next dam. They dealt with
(12:59):
their em and see on their way back, they watched
me work out and I even waved to them, and
then all of a sudden they got in their cars.
I went down. The next thing on the video was
for me to go down to push ups, and I'm
going down to do push ups and then I felt
this immense pain thing hit. He thought he hit a
(13:21):
speed bump, so he kept going. My natural instinct, I
didn't know what had happened, but my natural instinct, I say,
my angel had me go to the right. And when
I look up, I'm still underneath the truck and the
truck is rolling over me. And luckily I had an
angel that flagged him down, that said, oh my gosh, stop,
and so he stopped. He got out and he pulled
(13:42):
me out and I was just like a rag doll.
And I was rushed to the hospital and yeah, for
two years. It was just the worst. I never knew
what back pain was, and now I do, and I
don't wish it on my worst enemy. It's horrible.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Yeah what do you do? What do you do for
the back pain? Or did you stay strong keep your
spine strong?
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Well? What I did was I got with because I
had done physical therapy. I had done all of that,
and when they told me about pilates on the reformer
that works all the small muscles on your back and
so it helps to release from all these other muscles
that are taking all the stress, and that just was amazing.
And I still have, like right now, I have a trainer.
(14:24):
I invest a lot in myself, whether it's my mental
or my physical. I believe in investing in yourself. And
when you ask like how do I have the time
or how do I have the energy? Whatever, this is
what I love to do. And I'm not just going
to stay stagnant and stay like, oh I know everything.
I don't. Tom Brady had a coach all the way
(14:44):
to the end. Coaches make you better.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
So did you have to take time off from work
during that time?
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Yeah? So I did, and I was it was all
over TMZ when it happened because I was at WWE.
I think I was gone for three months, I believe,
and then I got back on the road and I'll
just never forget like I had to. We traveled on
our own at the time. I think they still do,
like from town to town. Well, now there's the schedules.
You don't really travel from town to town anymore, which
(15:11):
is so great, But we used to travel from town
to town two three hundred miles in between shows. And
so for a time, for seven years, I traveled with
Trish Stratus, and then when she left, I ended up
basically traveling on my own because I was the one
that was always at the end. Everybody else left, so
I had to stay at the end to host. And
(15:31):
I just remember being in the car and I just
could not get comfortable and like tears streaming down my
face as I'm trying to drive two and three hundred
miles to the next town. But somehow you make it.
And there were times that I had to pull over,
like at a CBS parking lot or whatever and just
lay back and just cried out and then get back
and then try to keep going.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
So it seems like you have had I mean You've
done a lot. There's a lot that's gone on, had
some injuries that wasn't your only injury, right, there's some
other injuries that tore my acl scheme. Yeah, wow, yeah,
So you've had there's a lot. And then you talk
about jumping into the ring without even having had the
(16:13):
experience and pulling from other places. So there is like
this inner strength that I see that you have. Where
does in a mindset? Where does that inner strength and
mindset come from?
Speaker 3 (16:28):
So I think back to when I was a kid.
It's funny because I was I had my communion when
I was seven, and I look at those pictures of
me and I had a strong relationship with God. I
just felt that as a kid. Even when I see
the photos, I can feel myself at seven and this
(16:52):
like attachment and love that I had for that. And
I think it's just I know that there's something in
keeping me alive, because even as a little kid, I'll
never forget. We were in the car and Mom looked
back and she always kept an eye on my sister
and I. We were always in the back seat. She
always would turn. One day, she said, she turned and
(17:13):
my face was blue, And do you remember crackerjacks when
they had the little games inside the box. And yeah,
luckily you know, now they have the stickers or stuff,
but they used to have the little toys. Well, I
put the toy in my mouth and I choked on
it and I couldn't get my breath, and so when
she looked at me, I was literally choking to death.
(17:36):
And she and we were in the middle of Madrid
and we were in the middle of the big Lasibeles fountain,
which is the main fountain right in the middle of Madrid.
And Mom tells my dad stop, like start screaming. Saint
Lilian is choking. My dad stops right there because you
can't pull over. There's no side nothing. You were like
(17:57):
in the roundabout. He pulls over. All the cars are
honking right. He gets me out. I remember him like
turning me upside down, shaking me and couldn't get it out.
This is before the Heimlich maneuver was like a thing
that you knew about, and his only instinct was to
reach in. And it's like I feel like it was yesterday,
Like he reached in and just grabbed the toy and
(18:18):
I spit up blood because it tore my throat. But
it was right here. But he saved my life. And
I just think about like that being hit like a
car came and hit me right like head on on
the highway. The guy literally went the wrong side on
the highway. He was drunk. My sister and I were
in the car and bom, he hit me head on.
(18:39):
I think about all of these things that I've been
able to overcome that I go, oh, I'm here for
a reason, and this is bigger than me. And so
now I think when you ask about that and what
happened to me by the end of twenty one where
I lost my parents and I lost my marriage and
I was so distraught, and a girl invited me to
(19:02):
church with her non denominational and I was like, yeah, sure,
I'll go. And I had kind of stepped away from faith.
I always believed in God, but stepped away from it.
And when I went back and I just fully surrendered.
At that point, I was I was a shell of
myself and I surrendered. There is something that happened that
I can't explain it, and it's why I've become a
(19:25):
worship leader and it's why I do what I do now.
I go like I've been going to House of Charit,
which is a house that home the house these women
that these women that have been dealing with human trafficking
or domestic violence or you know, these these really hard issues,
and I visit with them, and I go and minister
(19:47):
and help with kids or the military. I'm very big
on the military. My dad was a lieutenant colonel, so
I was born on a military base. I grew up
with soldiers all around me, So I go and help them.
I just spoke at last week where they helped transition
the veterans from trying to get them, you know, from
their military life as to going back into civilian life
(20:10):
and what they do and their purpose and very passionate
about it. So I think that all of these things
that have happened to me are leading me to be
able to be in a position to share and have
immense empathy for people and to help in some way.
Like that's that's the best way I could put it.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
And so now as a worship leader, you feel like
you're giving back, you're doing giving back, and how so
talk even more about that, what does it mean to
be a worship leader? How does that unfold?
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Well, when I went to that church, I'd never been
into a non denominational church. I grew up Catholic, and
so I didn't quite understand what non denominational. But she's
just like, it just means that any denomination can come
in here and just like, you know, we just you know,
worship Jesus. And I was like, oh, well, I'm all
for that. So I walk in and the band starts playing.
(21:04):
And now the band is like a rock band and
they're playing for like twenty twenty five minutes before the sermon,
and like, this is very different from Catholic church, so
I had not experienced this. Plus, this isn't like your
church with the steeple, this isn't an arena. It was massive.
Thousands of people were in there, and I'm like, am
(21:25):
I a church or am I at a rock concert?
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (21:28):
It was. But by the end of that service, I
was so moved and so in tears, and it was amazing.
But I said, I got to come back next week.
So I went back the next week and it was
at that service that I could it's could feel cheeses
coming through. I know it's gonna sound crazy, but until
(21:49):
you experience stuff like this, it's wild, but it's like
I need you up there is all I kept hearing,
I need you up there. So I immediately went and asked, Hey,
do you guys need a singer. I'm a singer and
this is very moving and something's calling me to do it,
and they scheduled an audition the next week. Boom, I
got in and I started serving three weekends out of
(22:12):
the month at Mariners. This was in California when I
lived there, and then when I moved to South Carolina
to handle my parents' house because they had passed, I
found a church there to serve. And now that I'm
living in Atlanta, I found a church here and so
I just sing and these songs are so powerful, and
I see people in just tears and they're bringing all
(22:35):
of their worries and their fears and all of that
and just releasing it to God. And the transformation has
been incredible.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
And how are you managing that with now your back
with WWE? And yeah, that's a yeah, how is that
working out?
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Well? When I first got to WWE, so I came
back last October, so I was annow sing from raw
and I knew right off the hand, right off the top,
they had said we want you to come back at
the get go. We're going to have you be a
part of this every single week. You're going to be
doing raw until January. Then you'll pass it along to
Alicia and get her ready for that. And then you're
(23:15):
gonna you're going to help Mark get in there for SmackDown.
So I covered SmackDown. I helped then Mark get in
there for SmackDown. And then they're like, we're going to
have you do Saturday Night's main events and which is
on NBC, which that's next week, and then we're going
to have you do some other shows as well. They've
got all my gosh, WWE's explosion. I mean, it's bigger
(23:36):
now than ever. So they have so many shows and
in Spanish as well, and so it's really great that
I am being put into. I told them, I said,
whatever you need, like, I'm here to serve. That's the
thing is being a worship leader and being more into that.
You start your lingo is more about not what I
(23:57):
can get out of things, but what where do you
need me? Right, I'll do whatever you need as far
as how in the best place that I can serve.
And that has released a lot of pressure off of
me and has made the schedule work. When you have
a heart of serving, of not like again, what can
(24:20):
I get out of this? But what can I do
for you? It's almost like what RFK had said, right,
don't ask what your country can do for you, ask
what you can do for your country. Like that's exactly
the mindset that I have now, and I have everything
is just in a flow. I enjoy everything so much
and I love that when I'm asked to do something,
(24:41):
I know it's because I'm needed in that position and
it feels great. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Wow, that is just such a great mindset to have
a great approach. How can I serve?
Speaker 3 (24:51):
How can I serve?
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Yeah, it's really just a shift of attitude and mindset.
And if you've come at it with how can I serve?
The reward is so deep and it's not just amazing.
It's about it's about me, it's about you, it's about
the community, it's about everyone.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
It's not about Lil wins and everybody else loses this.
So you know, it's how can I create a win win?
So sure you don't need me for this, but you
need me for that great and when you approach it
like that, It's amazing how the schedule just.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Fits that it.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
I haven't lost anything, I just keep gaining. And the
time that I've also had free, I appreciate it, and
I I'm very relaxed about it, and I'm not in
this anxiety of oh, I'm gonna lose.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
This, not needing me here.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
No, it's fine. This is my time to enjoy also,
you know, whether it's with my friends, my dog, myself.
I've been doing a lot of inner work and not
scared to be alone anymore either.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Were you scared to be alone at one time?
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Yes, when I got divorced, it was tough. I'm not
gonna lie like I had been married for so long
and just always live with someone. This is the first
time I've ever been living by myself. It's been three
and a half years now since my divorce. And at
first I'm like, how do you do this? Because I
live with my parents, I live with my sister, I
lived with roommates, I got married, you know, so living
(26:15):
by myself I'll never forget like it was torture. At first,
I was like, I'm lonely, I don't know how to
do this. I don't feel loved. But it was the
most amazing gift. It has been absolutely incredible. I spend
my mornings I create I watched the war Room movie
(26:36):
and I created a prayer clauset in the mornings. I
spend my time in there. And let me tell you,
it's centers my day. It's just the way you start
your morning really is magical and concenter your day. And
just from that, everything else has just lined up. And
now I'm putting myself out there in the dating world.
But ready are you an app? Are we ready?
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Are you an apps? Girl? Or just word of mouth?
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Okay, how funny is this? So I did an app
for the after year one, I did an app. I
lasted three weeks. I was like, no way, get me
out of the w.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Why what happened? I'm married and I haven't. But I
have friends that are on the apps and they have
all different experiences just rough.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
No it catch.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
I would imagine that it was rough, so and I
could tell mentally I wasn't ready, And so I got
off of that quick.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
And then about another year went by. So year two
I got on a different app. I lasted and it
was my friend who's like, get on an app, and
I'm like, Nope, not doing it again. She's like, you say,
you're adventurous, just get on the ASP.
Speaker 5 (27:45):
I was like, oh, you're daring me, right right, right, Okay,
So then I started sending her like what the algorithm
was matching me with and I'm thinking, no, wait, it literally.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Is because that's all they had. And so I started
sending her these profiles and she's like, get off, off,
get off. So I did. So, Look I literally just
signed up this past weekend.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Oh but I have.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
I've approached it now, this is year three and a half, right,
I'm approaching it very different. I'm approaching it more as
an adventure fun like back to hey just see yeah,
you know, it's almost like what that agent said, Hey,
go to the audition. You never know, right, my mindset
is in a different place than it was year one,
(28:36):
year two. I'm completely different, right, So I know that
I'm ready now, and so I'm god'll see to be continued,
Yeah exactly, I'll see what happens.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
So through all of these years, all the progression, all
the growth, incredible growth, I'm from the beginning kind of
to the end. You're a woman in this I don't
even know what kind of world to call it, We'll
just say.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
The male dominated industry.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Male dominated and not just mail. We're talking like mail,
you know, like you know, flexing male kind of kind
of look Teddy Bears Teddy Bear, which which brings me
to that which you've talked about many times, but brings
me to that interview with the Rock where the famous interview.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Which would never fly these days, that would never here
was that. I would think that that's either two thousand
or two thousand and one.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Okay, two thousand for people who have not seen it.
You're interviewing him and it's very playful, and he kind
of takes over the interview and accuses you of like
wanting him, dreaming about him, I mean really, and and
he goes deeper and deeper every time where you say,
he's not going to say that, Oh yes.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
He did, Yes, oh.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Yes he did. So was that and you were Then
he takes the mic from you. Yeah, he takes the
mic from you, and you're the whole time you're very
very like, what, no, you know, it was very cute.
How much of that was rehearsed? And how much of
that did you know? Is it word for word? What
was it?
Speaker 3 (30:09):
It's funny, but no, at that time, things were like
they were like bullet points, like here's the idea. Yeah,
and then we just kind of flowed with it. But
they said. All I remember them saying to me is
at first, you're like very Barbara Walter of the word,
which is why he says barbar right. Right, He's like,
you're gonna be all Barbara Walters, and then he's going
(30:31):
to work on you, right, and then all of a sudden,
your your whole demeanor is going to be like finally, oh,
because he goes, what is it, Uh, you're dreaming about
the rock or something, right, and and then I just
finally came in more than anything rock. And the reason
that that interview came about we had done some other
(30:51):
interviews leading up to that, and there was just something
about he could make me blush so easily, so easily. Yeah,
even thinking about it, it makes me bluck. So when
they picked up on that, they're like, oh, we like this, okay,
so we're gonna have fun with this. So that's why
(31:11):
they started working that and then that was the big interview. Man.
People still talk about that interview, right, Yeah, it was funny.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
I mean, yeah, definitely would not fly today, No, no.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
No, But you know it's funny because I look back
and I go, there was such innocence and just fun
and playing or whatever. And it's funny how people have
become so oh touchy about everything.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Yeah, careful, guarded totally. Yeah, so it Yeah, and you're
in this world where that really I mean, how does
that even work? And what has that? Do you see
it now? Like we say that interview wouldn't have happened.
Are there other things that kind of you notice don't
happen in that world anymore? That used to happen.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Well, I mean they used to do the bikini contest
and stuff like that for the girls and all, and
that I do love the fact. Look, there was a
time for it, right, there's a time. But I do
love that the women have been able to evolve and
be able to show their athleticism like they're showing at
times their matches are even better than the men. I'm sorry,
(32:22):
but even the men will admit that, even the men's
superstars will admit that the match at WrestleMania between Rio
Ripley Eosky and Bianca bell Air blew my mind, blew
so many people's mind. It was just it was, oh
my gosh, I mean to think about there were times
(32:42):
that I was the only female to be out there
the entire night. There'd be no women that were booked
on the show. And I'd remember looking around with all
these males that are in the audience and going, wow,
not one female besides me is coming out of here.
And I almost felt sorry for that because the women
are so beautiful. Right but now to see how there
(33:02):
the headlining Vesselmania, They're headlining different you know events, and
and just the athleticism and just the costume, right man,
they not only look amazing in the ring, they look
amazing put together.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
It's incredible.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
So what was that like being the only woman. I mean,
I know, you say, oh, I'm sorry that they're missing
out on that, but it's can be intimidating.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Yeah, I mean, thank goodness, I got along with the
women in the locker room, but they were, you know,
I could see them. They were frustrated. They were frustrated
that they were if they did get a match, they
would they'd get two or three minutes or four, they'd
get out there and go, okay, you got to go home. Now.
I'm like, wait, we just worked on a four minute match.
What but I mean things have evolved, right. I'm grateful
(33:47):
to the men like The Rock was one of the
first to befriend me, Stone Cold Mark, Henry Mick Foley.
I really created some incredible relationships. You know. Bautista, Dave
Batista is another one, Kurt Angle, like these people that
throughout the years, anytime I see them. I've sometimes seen
(34:08):
them in the airport and we were like brothers and sister.
We see each other, We're like, oh my god, you know, family,
And it was really incredible. They embraced me. They embraced
me in a way because they saw that it was
really trying. I think that's the main thing when you
go into a job. Make sure you give it your all,
make sure you're really invested, make sure that you put attention.
(34:31):
They saw how I went home and was like memorizing
everything and you know, learning everything a lot quicker and
putting the effort, and so I earned their respect. And
when you earn people's respect, that's where kindness comes in, right.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
And it is the WWE. A lot of people don't
know that E is for entertainment. Yeah, how did you
feel your role was in that? Entertainment piece because you
sort of play the you know, once Robert, but you
know you play the ringmaster or the end. You've got
all these guys, mainly some women that are definitely entertaining.
(35:09):
There's a lot of fun. We know that they're entertaining,
but we don't look at you and think that. Did
you see yourself as an entertainer?
Speaker 3 (35:18):
Yeah, because it's still part of the show. So like
The Greatest Showman for example, you know you saw that
and Hugh Jackman, when you play that role, like you
see he's like the presenter and he's like putting it
all togey. He's the host. I see. A host is
definitely part of entertainment, and so I've always seen myself
as that. Like I go out there and a lot
of times you didn't see the things that I would
(35:38):
do during the commercial breaks. Obviously the audience that's there
alive can see it. But I'm the first one to
go out there. I was the first one to greet
the crowd, to pump them up, to let them know
what's happening, to get them all excited. I keep them
fired up during the commercial breaks. We do different activities
during the commercial breaks. You know, and then obviously when
I get to sing within the show. You know, I
(36:00):
opened up the show with a national anthem. For many years,
in fact, we were trying to see if I could
get the Guinness Book of World Records, but unfortunately we
didn't have all those events logged in the way they
needed them logged in, so we couldn't do it. But yeah,
it just shows you like I was able to incorporate singing,
my love of entertaining and all within this so and
(36:22):
I got thrown into a lot of storylines a lot.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Sorry, yeah, you know you did. Yeah, so you did
see yourself as an entertainer.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
Yeah, yeah, for surely.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Okay, and the national anthem. You had your own style
for the national anthem. What were you always trying to
achieve or were you doing different things at different times,
but you definitely put a stamp on your national anthem.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
Yeah. You know, when I got asked to start doing
the National Anthem, I remember when I was rehearsing it.
The thing that really stuck out to me is that
part was says and I fled was there. I'm thinking,
why are we going down in that part? Why was
that written like that? Like for me, that's a statement.
Our flag was still there.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Yeah, right, it's up like.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
I'm gonna go high. I'm gonna be you know, And
so I started holding it out and going high and
holding it out in the crowd would just like really,
you know, really affected by it. Well, little did I
know it's wild because I got to sing it my
very first WrestleMania was two thousand, the year two thousand
and then I sang it at every single event right
(37:33):
before we went on the air, and then nine to
eleven hits, of course, and we know that's two thousand
and one. We went. We were supposed to tape that night.
When a nine to eleven hit, Obviously, Vince is like, okay,
we're not taping, but nobody can go home. We got
to figure out what we're gonna do because the show
was going to air on Thursday, and of course nine
(37:55):
to eleven happened on Tuesday. So we stuck around for
two days and we found out. Well, he came to
me the very next day and he said, we are
going to go What we're going to do is we're
going to go live. Everybody else was canceling, NFL canceled,
NBA canceled, everybody he goes, we're not canceling, We're going
to do a tribute show. We're going to go live
on SmackDown and Lili and I want you to open
(38:16):
us up with our national anthem. I was like, oh, okay,
of course I wanted to do it. I'm an army
brat like my dad. I could hear him step into
the mission, step into the mission. But I was terrified.
And I was also very emotional because I lived in
New York City at the time. I had a lot
of people. I had somebody that was actually gonna was
(38:38):
supposed to be in the building and arrived late and
just I mean, it was just really horrific. But he
asked me, and I'm like, okay, I'm going to do
this and so and luckily the Rock encouraged me. All
Hayman encouraged me. They saw my nerves right, so they
were like, you've got this, You've got this. You've been
singing this for a year now. I mean, think about that.
(39:00):
That's why I always feel like I have God's hand
on all of this, because for an entire year, it's
like I was getting trained for that moment. And so
I'm standing in the middle of the ring, all the
superstars are lined up, and it's so emotional with all
the people in the arena holding up their signs and
just needing a moment to come together. And I sing
(39:23):
it and when I held that high part, our flag
was still there. Oh and you can google this, you
can find it is chills. It still gives me chills.
And I almost almost I almost broke at the end.
You could hear my voice like because I was getting
so emotional. And then finally I finish, and then I
(39:44):
just let it all out, and it was something I
will never forget. And just as an Army brad, it's
meant so much to be able to sing our national
anthem and then go on to sing it at NFL
games and NBA games and all over and yeah, it's
just been really special.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
And do you keep that? Do you always go up
at that at that point?
Speaker 4 (40:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (40:04):
You do, Yeah, I always do. And it's funny how
now so many other singers that have started doing the
same thing.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
That's good seeing you are you are giving again? You
are sorry.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
I take it as a compliment.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
I take it as a compliment absolutely, absolutely, so. I
mean I can't even I'm going to say, like what's
next for you? But it just seems like you're so
you know, you don't even need to look there, You're
so in the moment right now. But I'll throw it out.
Is there something that you know you're not telling us
about that is next?
Speaker 3 (40:33):
Well, I want to continue with my worship singing for sure.
I mean obviously with WWE, this is amazing, what's happening.
I also loved speaking, so like I spoke at that
military camp last week, I love speaking women empowerment. I
love speaking at churches talking about my when I had
my life at WWE and I was looking for validation
(40:56):
from the people and from the you know, from the
fans and from I co workers and not from God
and how empty I was feeling because there were some
years that was very, very empty. And so I love
sharing my story with different people with that and even businesses.
So I love speaking and then yeah, the worship leading,
it's just been so impactful. So it's just using my
(41:19):
voice in whatever capacity I can. Again, I go, God
just put me in places that I can serve. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
So if there was a woman out there that was
thinking about kind of following your footsteps at your role model,
what advice would you give? What do you tell her?
Speaker 3 (41:37):
Be yourself, don't try to copy anybody, like even re announcing.
There's been other ring announcers that have come and they've
asked me what what advice would you give? And I'm like,
don't try to sound like me, you know if another
female isn't there. And I love like Alicia Taylor, She's
got her own style, which is great. And then Mark
Schnook you know, you hear him and you go, oh, yeah,
(41:57):
that's Mark. And so I think it's just important for
people to get their own style and do something you're
passionate about. Don't do something because you think it's going
to get you fame or it's going to get you money.
Because trust me, if you go after those two things
number one, you're probably not going to succeed because that's
(42:18):
not the driving force. It's going to make you successful
a lot of times. And if you do succeed, you're
not going to be happy. So do something that you're very,
very passionate about and then put your all to it.
Just put your all, you know. Robin Sharma, I went
to a convention. He wrote The Monk who sold his
Ferrari Great book and I went to his convention and
he told me something that in the entire three or
(42:40):
four days of his convention. This is what really stuck
out to me. He said, it's easier now than ever
to get ahead in the world. And I'm thinking to myself,
how is that possible with eight billion people in the world,
And he said, because if you're trustworthy, you're dependable, you're
on time, you're a team player, you go above and beyond.
You will always have a job, and you're going to
(43:02):
stick out above the rest. Because so many people are
not on time, they're not team players, they don't want
to go above and beyond. You know, there's so many things.
They don't have a good attitude, right, that you will
stick out and when you stick out, you will always
have a position. And so that stayed with me, and
that's just something that I've always tried to do again,
(43:23):
is serving but also with a great attitude and just
we're going to help you go above and beyond beyond time.
You know, that's something I can't be one second late.
Speaker 1 (43:34):
It's on air, right, that's right.
Speaker 3 (43:36):
And I learned that too with being on time. I
think it's very important because when you're late, you're telling
the other person that's waiting for you that you are
more important than they are, and so it's a show
of respect when you're on time.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
Okay, coming full circle now, for people who don't like
to get up on stage, have to give a speech,
perform in some way speaking of a group, you give
a presentation at work, what little piece of advice can
you give them that they can hold on to?
Speaker 3 (44:08):
Right now, Okay, know that first of all, the crowd
wants to see you succeed. They are actually on your side.
The reason that they are already automatically on your side
is because they want to get something out of your speech.
They want to enjoy what you're doing. Right, So if
you go up there very awkward and or whatever, it
(44:30):
makes them feel uncomfortable and now they're like, oh gosh,
I got nothing out of this. But if you can
know that you have all of them cheering for you,
and use that as support and get excited about your message,
just have a clear message that you can be very,
very excited about, so that you can step up there
with the attitude of oh my gosh, I can't wait
(44:51):
to share this, because you guys are going to be
changed by what I'm about to say, and it's your way. Remember,
it's your way of serving. So if you get that,
you're serving them with whatever you've learned this right, you've
picked up this whatever you're about to share, So you're
just doing a sharing of something that you picked up
along the way. And just like you get excited to
(45:13):
tell a story that you heard that you absolutely love
the same thing. Whatever you're going to share, just be
excited about it and know that they're cheering you on.
Speaker 1 (45:21):
Okay. I love that that I can get behind anything.
I did not ask you that you want to talk
about I.
Speaker 3 (45:30):
Don't think so I did. I really appreciate your time.
I think it's great what you're doing. I have watched
your show. I think it's great. So I love You've
got an authenticity about you, which is it is beautiful
and it resonates with people. So it's great what you're
doing because you know you're you're passing things along, you're learning,
you're being, you know you're serving, you're serving, So it's awesome.
(45:52):
So keep keep doing that.
Speaker 1 (45:54):
Thank you, thank you. I'd love a shout out from you,
just ask it would be awesome. When when this is,
when this is ready to go live. You know, I
just feel like I'm a real curious person. So when
I find somebody that I want to share, like you
and your story, I just there's so much noise and
other stuff. I just feel like if I can find
(46:14):
some really interesting stories and really interesting information to share
with people, then I can curate that and they know
where to come, and then they know what they're going
to get. They're going to get a good, authentic conversation
that's going to go a little deep and maybe it'll
take a little piece of something, you know.
Speaker 3 (46:30):
And that's the thing is that you can see that
in what you're doing, so you're coming from passion. I
can instantly hear. This conversation was so easy to have
with you because you're a great listener and you're asking
some beautiful questions and you're very interested, and so that
makes me feel excited to share with you.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
So good. Good. Yeah right, I'm glad. I'm glad you
felt that because that is true. That is my truth. Lillian,
Thank you so much, such a pleasure.
Speaker 3 (46:58):
Thank you
Welcome to ten Seconds to Air. I'm Alita Gien. My
guest today has been using her voice to connect and
entertain millions of people over the last twenty five plus years.
She's a singer, an announcer, and a podcaster. Lillian Garcia
has spent most of her career as the in ring
announcer for the WWE. She's the first woman to announce WrestleMania,
(00:21):
the first woman to become an in ring announcer in
all of combat sports. She holds the record for singing
the most times at WrestleMania. She actually left the WWE
in twenty sixteen to care for her ailing father. Then
she returned in twenty twenty four and is now set
to be the ring announcer for Saturday night's main event.
(00:43):
She joins me now to talk about her career, her
life out of the ring, becoming a worship leader, and
the mindset to keep it all going.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Grand by going alive, going hard.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Brillian, So great to have you here.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Wow, what an introduction. Thank you so much. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
You know. I love your energy. You bring it every
time they have it. Every time. It's that smile, it's
it's everything that you bring. You've basically been on stage
for life, so this question is is kind of a
funny question, maybe for you because you do it so often.
But what goes through your mind ten seconds to air?
Speaker 3 (01:43):
My heartbeat is playing a mile a minute still to
this day, and I'll never forget. I was at PFL.
This is when I was announcing for MMA and I
was about to go live, and I was it was
just so beating, so hard that day that I go,
why do I do this? Why do I put myself
(02:04):
through this? But then you know what, when you go
there and you kill it, you're on such a high
that you go that's why. Yeah, to prove to yourself
what you're capable of. It's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
And what are you hearing right before you get out there?
I mean that crowd is intense, so I can imagine
if your heart's not beating, they're making it beat.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Yeah, I mean, there's nothing like the crowds at our events,
whether it's WWE or what I experienced at PFL is amazing.
We just have the best of audiences, seriously, and they're
so into it and you can't wait, like I can't
wait to be a part of it. And that's one
of the big reasons I was so excited to come
back was to really reconnect with them. It's something that
(02:49):
you know, even the Rock talks about it when he's
back and you see him in the turmbarkle and he's
like smelling, well, he's taking in the crowd. Yeah, because
it's an energy that you just can't get and were out.
It's awesome.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah. So so how did you even get started? What
was that first day?
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Oh? My gosh, So you're ready for this story, I
can tell I can't wait. Wild It is wild. So
I at the time, I was living in New York
City and my I was I had a job, but
I was also working with an agent who had me
doing commercials and some voiceover work, and I was trying
to get more and more. And then he called me
(03:29):
for the audition. And at first when he said WWF,
before I got you know, the name, that switch, I
was like, oh the world Wildlife one. He's like, no
Wrestling Federation. I'm like, wait what me and wrestling? I
watched it as a kid with my dad, so I
loved wrestling, but I couldn't see what I could be
doing in it. And so immediately I'm like, but wait,
(03:50):
I'm not a wrestler. He's like, no, no, it's got something
to do with the broadcast team. So, you know, the
best advice that I actually took that he gave was
he said, go to the audition. You never know. And
so I went, and long story short, in that part,
I got, you know, the job. It called me. They
made it obvious too. I was literally praying, God, if
(04:11):
it's meant to be, make it obvious. If it's not
meant to be, make it obvious. Well when they called,
they said, we'd like to offer you for two to
three months to try you out, and you could quit
it anytime. That was pretty obvious. Yeah, so I had
nothing to lose. So I go to Iowa. That was
our very first show. If people don't know, WWE travels
around and so we were in Iowa that week. It
(04:33):
was the day after Summer Slam, which is the second
biggest WWE event, second to WrestleMania, and so it was
a big deal that I was going to start. Now,
I didn't know that I was going to start that day.
I just show up. I'm given the orientation. I still
haven't been told what my job is going to be,
and So at three thirty that afternoon is when they
(04:55):
came up to me and they're like, congratulations, you're going
to be our brand new announcer starting tonight in front
of fourteen million people. Wow, and you're actually going to
be replacing the legend Howard Finkel, who's been doing this
job for over twenty years. We know that you have
zero training to do this job, but.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Hey, w w what okay? So what's going through your mind?
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Then? I I, you know, the first things out of
my mouth, which I almost couldn't believe. I was like, Okay,
how do you do this job? And now looking back,
I go, man, that was monumental. I asked how instead
of I can't do this. I can't go out there,
you know, So asking how was really big, and so
(05:42):
I sat with the guy. Tony Chimmel sat with me
an hour later at four point thirty. There's a reason
I'm telling you the timestamps because that was pretty big. Here.
We were going live at eight o'clock that night because
we were Central time, so we always go nine o'clock
Eastern time, so it was four point thirty. He sits
with me, He tells me exactly what I'm supposed to
say for every match. There was about eight to ten
(06:03):
matches that night. You have to know the towns, the weights,
what kind of matches there are there? Any rules? Is
the wrestler holding a title? What kind of title? I mean,
there's just a lot of different thing.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
That's a lot.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
It's a lot, it's a lot. So I was writing
everything down as fast as possible. He tells me, all right,
you got forty five minutes to get dressed, okay, forty
five minutes for a female to do hair, makeup and
wardrobe to go on TV.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
So I'm like, oh, and are you doing your own makeup?
Speaker 1 (06:32):
And did you do it? I?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Sure did. I did my own. I brought my own
outfit everything. I'm trying to figure this out on my own.
So then he's like, okay, I need you at ringside
at six thirty. You're gonna watch me do Sunday Night Heat,
which was the show that was right before it was taped,
right before Raw. That was four matches that he was doing.
He goes, I need you to watch me do those
four matches and then you're gonna go live at eight.
(06:57):
So that was my training even do for matches as
I'm rewriting my cue cards because I can't. I can't
read my chicken scratch from the afternoon. Twenty minutes before
we go on live. Mark Aayton, who is the timekeeper,
who was sitting next to me. He sees me and
he's like, you do know you can't use those que
(07:18):
cards up there right?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
No way?
Speaker 3 (07:20):
And I'm like, you do know this is a bad
time for a joke, right. He's like, no, no, no,
They the executive producer doesn't want this to look like boxing.
You're not allowed to use the cue cards. I don't
like thinking to myself, how how am I supposed to
remember not only their names because I'd fallen out of
wrestling for a while, so I didn't even know the
(07:40):
wrestler's names, their names, their towns, their weights. Do they
have a title? Do? What title is it? Are the
rules to the match? How? And I almost ran, I'm
not gonna lie to you. I looked at the exit sign.
I'll never forget this. I looked at the exit sign
and I'm like everything in me was like bord commission.
(08:02):
I had a full on panic attack for like ten minutes,
and then I remember two instances that I got thrown
in the swim team without knowing how to swim when
I was nine years old, and I got thrown into
a radio station like not knowing how to function it.
But I figured it out on both and so quickly
I was like, Okay, what did I do in those circumstances?
(08:23):
And I basically took from that and applied it to
that night and just really just focused on match by match.
And I don't know how I did it, but I
got through it. I sounded horrible, I had no cadence,
no nothing, but I got through it. I went home
and I studied everything as much as I could and
memorized all the towns and weights, and I improved so
(08:44):
much from week one to week two that they kept
giving me an opportunity. And here I am still twenty
six years later.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Six years later. Wow. And in the process of all that,
I mean, you've you have done so much, and you've
also been singing like you were only I mean, where
where are you finding all the time to do the
time and the energy? I just keep going back to
energy with you, because you just have incredible energy. But
where do you find that time and that energy to
(09:13):
do so much? I mean even just hearing you tell
that story. I mean, you're You're inspiring me so much already,
so I'm a real This is such a great conversation
of watching you and like, my God, like I need
to do more. But where do you find that that
kind of time and energy to get all that done?
Speaker 3 (09:32):
I think the number one thing I tell people in
life is to do something that you're passionate about.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Right.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
I love to sing, I love announcing, I loved entertainment.
I love doing podcasts like this, Like for me, this
is fun. And so when you were in your flow
and in your natural state of what you love to do,
you will find the energy. It will just ooze out
of you because it's the most alive and the most
(09:59):
in when you're in Europe Bean And for me personally,
believe it or not, Like I didn't even start drinking
coffee till twenty twelve. I just always had this natural
high about me. And then I started drinking coffee, and
then I realized I wasn't feeling good, and so I
recently just quit coffee and I am vibrating on another
(10:22):
level that I'm almost amazed. I feel like some people.
I'm not gonna say everybody. But I feel like some
people are chasing the high with the coffee, and what
they're doing is they're killing their adrenal glance. And that's
what was happening with me. And so now I have
more energy, more natural. And it took a minute, Like
the first two days I was like, oh my god, driving,
(10:44):
but it just takes a minute to get it out.
But yeah, it's just being high on life and what
you're doing.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Yeah, well, that's funny. You said that you didn't drink
coffee until twenty twelve, So did something happen in there
where you said?
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Okay, Yeah, it's funny because I grew up in Spain,
right in Spain, and like so much coffee. But I
left Spain when I was eight. But I just anytime
I had coffee, I felt like it made me jittery
because I already have like this this excitement for life.
By twenty twelve, I was hit as a pedestrian by
a car. It was a lifeguard truck. Actually I got
(11:19):
slammed in the I was down doing pushups. He forgot
that I was there because he was acknowledging me one
minute and then forgetting that I was at the other
when he went to get on his radio. The passenger
side car tire hit me on the top of my
head and it collapsed some of my vertebrates and all that,
and the pain went all through my back. It was
an excruciating two years. Thank goodness to pilates on the reformer,
(11:43):
I got my body back, but I just remembered that
it was at the time I was married. My ex
was started drinking coffee and I was so in so
much pain that I asked him for a couple SIPs
one day, and there was like this rush that came
obviously the caffeine, and so I guess because the medication
(12:06):
they had me on for this was making me sluggish
that I was chasing. I wasn't in my natural state.
I was chasing that high. So I started drinking coffee.
So then I got hooked, and so then I thought, okay,
well this I just need to always just have coffee.
And I actually liked it, but now I realized, like, yeah,
it was not doing good for my body.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Okay, wait, can you go back to the accident. What
happened when you were on the ground doing pushups, like
in training with the lifeguard or no.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
I was at the time. That's when insanity. The video
everybody was doing insanity I think was beach body had
it out, and so I had my laptop and I
was way by the water and a lifeguard truck came
to answer an emergency that they had, and then another
lifeguard truck came and park next dam. They dealt with
(12:59):
their em and see on their way back, they watched
me work out and I even waved to them, and
then all of a sudden they got in their cars.
I went down. The next thing on the video was
for me to go down to push ups, and I'm
going down to do push ups and then I felt
this immense pain thing hit. He thought he hit a
(13:21):
speed bump, so he kept going. My natural instinct, I
didn't know what had happened, but my natural instinct, I say,
my angel had me go to the right. And when
I look up, I'm still underneath the truck and the
truck is rolling over me. And luckily I had an
angel that flagged him down, that said, oh my gosh, stop,
and so he stopped. He got out and he pulled
(13:42):
me out and I was just like a rag doll.
And I was rushed to the hospital and yeah, for
two years. It was just the worst. I never knew
what back pain was, and now I do, and I
don't wish it on my worst enemy. It's horrible.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Yeah what do you do? What do you do for
the back pain? Or did you stay strong keep your
spine strong?
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Well? What I did was I got with because I
had done physical therapy. I had done all of that,
and when they told me about pilates on the reformer
that works all the small muscles on your back and
so it helps to release from all these other muscles
that are taking all the stress, and that just was amazing.
And I still have, like right now, I have a trainer.
(14:24):
I invest a lot in myself, whether it's my mental
or my physical. I believe in investing in yourself. And
when you ask like how do I have the time
or how do I have the energy? Whatever, this is
what I love to do. And I'm not just going
to stay stagnant and stay like, oh I know everything.
I don't. Tom Brady had a coach all the way
(14:44):
to the end. Coaches make you better.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
So did you have to take time off from work
during that time?
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Yeah? So I did, and I was it was all
over TMZ when it happened because I was at WWE.
I think I was gone for three months, I believe,
and then I got back on the road and I'll
just never forget like I had to. We traveled on
our own at the time. I think they still do,
like from town to town. Well, now there's the schedules.
You don't really travel from town to town anymore, which
(15:11):
is so great, But we used to travel from town
to town two three hundred miles in between shows. And
so for a time, for seven years, I traveled with
Trish Stratus, and then when she left, I ended up
basically traveling on my own because I was the one
that was always at the end. Everybody else left, so
I had to stay at the end to host. And
(15:31):
I just remember being in the car and I just
could not get comfortable and like tears streaming down my
face as I'm trying to drive two and three hundred
miles to the next town. But somehow you make it.
And there were times that I had to pull over,
like at a CBS parking lot or whatever and just
lay back and just cried out and then get back
and then try to keep going.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
So it seems like you have had I mean You've
done a lot. There's a lot that's gone on, had
some injuries that wasn't your only injury, right, there's some
other injuries that tore my acl scheme. Yeah, wow, yeah,
So you've had there's a lot. And then you talk
about jumping into the ring without even having had the
(16:13):
experience and pulling from other places. So there is like
this inner strength that I see that you have. Where
does in a mindset? Where does that inner strength and
mindset come from?
Speaker 3 (16:28):
So I think back to when I was a kid.
It's funny because I was I had my communion when
I was seven, and I look at those pictures of
me and I had a strong relationship with God. I
just felt that as a kid. Even when I see
the photos, I can feel myself at seven and this
(16:52):
like attachment and love that I had for that. And
I think it's just I know that there's something in
keeping me alive, because even as a little kid, I'll
never forget. We were in the car and Mom looked
back and she always kept an eye on my sister
and I. We were always in the back seat. She
always would turn. One day, she said, she turned and
(17:13):
my face was blue, And do you remember crackerjacks when
they had the little games inside the box. And yeah,
luckily you know, now they have the stickers or stuff,
but they used to have the little toys. Well, I
put the toy in my mouth and I choked on
it and I couldn't get my breath, and so when
she looked at me, I was literally choking to death.
(17:36):
And she and we were in the middle of Madrid
and we were in the middle of the big Lasibeles fountain,
which is the main fountain right in the middle of Madrid.
And Mom tells my dad stop, like start screaming. Saint
Lilian is choking. My dad stops right there because you
can't pull over. There's no side nothing. You were like
(17:57):
in the roundabout. He pulls over. All the cars are
honking right. He gets me out. I remember him like
turning me upside down, shaking me and couldn't get it out.
This is before the Heimlich maneuver was like a thing
that you knew about, and his only instinct was to
reach in. And it's like I feel like it was yesterday,
Like he reached in and just grabbed the toy and
(18:18):
I spit up blood because it tore my throat. But
it was right here. But he saved my life. And
I just think about like that being hit like a
car came and hit me right like head on on
the highway. The guy literally went the wrong side on
the highway. He was drunk. My sister and I were
in the car and bom, he hit me head on.
(18:39):
I think about all of these things that I've been
able to overcome that I go, oh, I'm here for
a reason, and this is bigger than me. And so
now I think when you ask about that and what
happened to me by the end of twenty one where
I lost my parents and I lost my marriage and
I was so distraught, and a girl invited me to
(19:02):
church with her non denominational and I was like, yeah, sure,
I'll go. And I had kind of stepped away from faith.
I always believed in God, but stepped away from it.
And when I went back and I just fully surrendered.
At that point, I was I was a shell of
myself and I surrendered. There is something that happened that
I can't explain it, and it's why I've become a
(19:25):
worship leader and it's why I do what I do now.
I go like I've been going to House of Charit,
which is a house that home the house these women
that these women that have been dealing with human trafficking
or domestic violence or you know, these these really hard issues,
and I visit with them, and I go and minister
(19:47):
and help with kids or the military. I'm very big
on the military. My dad was a lieutenant colonel, so
I was born on a military base. I grew up
with soldiers all around me, So I go and help them.
I just spoke at last week where they helped transition
the veterans from trying to get them, you know, from
their military life as to going back into civilian life
(20:10):
and what they do and their purpose and very passionate
about it. So I think that all of these things
that have happened to me are leading me to be
able to be in a position to share and have
immense empathy for people and to help in some way.
Like that's that's the best way I could put it.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
And so now as a worship leader, you feel like
you're giving back, you're doing giving back, and how so
talk even more about that, what does it mean to
be a worship leader? How does that unfold?
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Well, when I went to that church, I'd never been
into a non denominational church. I grew up Catholic, and
so I didn't quite understand what non denominational. But she's
just like, it just means that any denomination can come
in here and just like, you know, we just you know,
worship Jesus. And I was like, oh, well, I'm all
for that. So I walk in and the band starts playing.
(21:04):
And now the band is like a rock band and
they're playing for like twenty twenty five minutes before the sermon,
and like, this is very different from Catholic church, so
I had not experienced this. Plus, this isn't like your
church with the steeple, this isn't an arena. It was massive.
Thousands of people were in there, and I'm like, am
(21:25):
I a church or am I at a rock concert?
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (21:28):
It was. But by the end of that service, I
was so moved and so in tears, and it was amazing.
But I said, I got to come back next week.
So I went back the next week and it was
at that service that I could it's could feel cheeses
coming through. I know it's gonna sound crazy, but until
(21:49):
you experience stuff like this, it's wild, but it's like
I need you up there is all I kept hearing,
I need you up there. So I immediately went and asked, Hey,
do you guys need a singer. I'm a singer and
this is very moving and something's calling me to do it,
and they scheduled an audition the next week. Boom, I
got in and I started serving three weekends out of
(22:12):
the month at Mariners. This was in California when I
lived there, and then when I moved to South Carolina
to handle my parents' house because they had passed, I
found a church there to serve. And now that I'm
living in Atlanta, I found a church here and so
I just sing and these songs are so powerful, and
I see people in just tears and they're bringing all
(22:35):
of their worries and their fears and all of that
and just releasing it to God. And the transformation has
been incredible.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
And how are you managing that with now your back
with WWE? And yeah, that's a yeah, how is that
working out?
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Well? When I first got to WWE, so I came
back last October, so I was annow sing from raw
and I knew right off the hand, right off the top,
they had said we want you to come back at
the get go. We're going to have you be a
part of this every single week. You're going to be
doing raw until January. Then you'll pass it along to
Alicia and get her ready for that. And then you're
(23:15):
gonna you're going to help Mark get in there for SmackDown.
So I covered SmackDown. I helped then Mark get in
there for SmackDown. And then they're like, we're going to
have you do Saturday Night's main events and which is
on NBC, which that's next week, and then we're going
to have you do some other shows as well. They've
got all my gosh, WWE's explosion. I mean, it's bigger
(23:36):
now than ever. So they have so many shows and
in Spanish as well, and so it's really great that
I am being put into. I told them, I said,
whatever you need, like, I'm here to serve. That's the
thing is being a worship leader and being more into that.
You start your lingo is more about not what I
(23:57):
can get out of things, but what where do you
need me? Right, I'll do whatever you need as far
as how in the best place that I can serve.
And that has released a lot of pressure off of
me and has made the schedule work. When you have
a heart of serving, of not like again, what can
(24:20):
I get out of this? But what can I do
for you? It's almost like what RFK had said, right,
don't ask what your country can do for you, ask
what you can do for your country. Like that's exactly
the mindset that I have now, and I have everything
is just in a flow. I enjoy everything so much
and I love that when I'm asked to do something,
(24:41):
I know it's because I'm needed in that position and
it feels great. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Wow, that is just such a great mindset to have
a great approach. How can I serve?
Speaker 3 (24:51):
How can I serve?
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Yeah, it's really just a shift of attitude and mindset.
And if you've come at it with how can I serve?
The reward is so deep and it's not just amazing.
It's about it's about me, it's about you, it's about
the community, it's about everyone.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
It's not about Lil wins and everybody else loses this.
So you know, it's how can I create a win win?
So sure you don't need me for this, but you
need me for that great and when you approach it
like that, It's amazing how the schedule just.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Fits that it.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
I haven't lost anything, I just keep gaining. And the
time that I've also had free, I appreciate it, and
I I'm very relaxed about it, and I'm not in
this anxiety of oh, I'm gonna lose.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
This, not needing me here.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
No, it's fine. This is my time to enjoy also,
you know, whether it's with my friends, my dog, myself.
I've been doing a lot of inner work and not
scared to be alone anymore either.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Were you scared to be alone at one time?
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Yes, when I got divorced, it was tough. I'm not
gonna lie like I had been married for so long
and just always live with someone. This is the first
time I've ever been living by myself. It's been three
and a half years now since my divorce. And at
first I'm like, how do you do this? Because I
live with my parents, I live with my sister, I
lived with roommates, I got married, you know, so living
(26:15):
by myself I'll never forget like it was torture. At first,
I was like, I'm lonely, I don't know how to
do this. I don't feel loved. But it was the
most amazing gift. It has been absolutely incredible. I spend
my mornings I create I watched the war Room movie
(26:36):
and I created a prayer clauset in the mornings. I
spend my time in there. And let me tell you,
it's centers my day. It's just the way you start
your morning really is magical and concenter your day. And
just from that, everything else has just lined up. And
now I'm putting myself out there in the dating world.
But ready are you an app? Are we ready?
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Are you an apps? Girl? Or just word of mouth?
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Okay, how funny is this? So I did an app
for the after year one, I did an app. I
lasted three weeks. I was like, no way, get me
out of the w.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Why what happened? I'm married and I haven't. But I
have friends that are on the apps and they have
all different experiences just rough.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
No it catch.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
I would imagine that it was rough, so and I
could tell mentally I wasn't ready, And so I got
off of that quick.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
And then about another year went by. So year two
I got on a different app. I lasted and it
was my friend who's like, get on an app, and
I'm like, Nope, not doing it again. She's like, you say,
you're adventurous, just get on the ASP.
Speaker 5 (27:45):
I was like, oh, you're daring me, right right, right, Okay,
So then I started sending her like what the algorithm
was matching me with and I'm thinking, no, wait, it literally.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Is because that's all they had. And so I started
sending her these profiles and she's like, get off, off,
get off. So I did. So, Look I literally just
signed up this past weekend.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Oh but I have.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
I've approached it now, this is year three and a half, right,
I'm approaching it very different. I'm approaching it more as
an adventure fun like back to hey just see yeah,
you know, it's almost like what that agent said, Hey,
go to the audition. You never know, right, my mindset
is in a different place than it was year one,
(28:36):
year two. I'm completely different, right, So I know that
I'm ready now, and so I'm god'll see to be continued,
Yeah exactly, I'll see what happens.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
So through all of these years, all the progression, all
the growth, incredible growth, I'm from the beginning kind of
to the end. You're a woman in this I don't
even know what kind of world to call it, We'll
just say.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
The male dominated industry.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Male dominated and not just mail. We're talking like mail,
you know, like you know, flexing male kind of kind
of look Teddy Bears Teddy Bear, which which brings me
to that which you've talked about many times, but brings
me to that interview with the Rock where the famous interview.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Which would never fly these days, that would never here
was that. I would think that that's either two thousand
or two thousand and one.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Okay, two thousand for people who have not seen it.
You're interviewing him and it's very playful, and he kind
of takes over the interview and accuses you of like
wanting him, dreaming about him, I mean really, and and
he goes deeper and deeper every time where you say,
he's not going to say that, Oh yes.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
He did, Yes, oh.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Yes he did. So was that and you were Then
he takes the mic from you. Yeah, he takes the
mic from you, and you're the whole time you're very
very like, what, no, you know, it was very cute.
How much of that was rehearsed? And how much of
that did you know? Is it word for word? What
was it?
Speaker 3 (30:09):
It's funny, but no, at that time, things were like
they were like bullet points, like here's the idea. Yeah,
and then we just kind of flowed with it. But
they said. All I remember them saying to me is
at first, you're like very Barbara Walter of the word,
which is why he says barbar right. Right, He's like,
you're gonna be all Barbara Walters, and then he's going
(30:31):
to work on you, right, and then all of a sudden,
your your whole demeanor is going to be like finally, oh,
because he goes, what is it, Uh, you're dreaming about
the rock or something, right, and and then I just
finally came in more than anything rock. And the reason
that that interview came about we had done some other
(30:51):
interviews leading up to that, and there was just something
about he could make me blush so easily, so easily. Yeah,
even thinking about it, it makes me bluck. So when
they picked up on that, they're like, oh, we like this, okay,
so we're gonna have fun with this. So that's why
(31:11):
they started working that and then that was the big interview. Man.
People still talk about that interview, right, Yeah, it was funny.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
I mean, yeah, definitely would not fly today, No, no.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
No, But you know it's funny because I look back
and I go, there was such innocence and just fun
and playing or whatever. And it's funny how people have
become so oh touchy about everything.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Yeah, careful, guarded totally. Yeah, so it Yeah, and you're
in this world where that really I mean, how does
that even work? And what has that? Do you see
it now? Like we say that interview wouldn't have happened.
Are there other things that kind of you notice don't
happen in that world anymore? That used to happen.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Well, I mean they used to do the bikini contest
and stuff like that for the girls and all, and
that I do love the fact. Look, there was a
time for it, right, there's a time. But I do
love that the women have been able to evolve and
be able to show their athleticism like they're showing at
times their matches are even better than the men. I'm sorry,
(32:22):
but even the men will admit that, even the men's
superstars will admit that the match at WrestleMania between Rio
Ripley Eosky and Bianca bell Air blew my mind, blew
so many people's mind. It was just it was, oh
my gosh, I mean to think about there were times
(32:42):
that I was the only female to be out there
the entire night. There'd be no women that were booked
on the show. And I'd remember looking around with all
these males that are in the audience and going, wow,
not one female besides me is coming out of here.
And I almost felt sorry for that because the women
are so beautiful. Right but now to see how there
(33:02):
the headlining Vesselmania, They're headlining different you know events, and
and just the athleticism and just the costume, right man,
they not only look amazing in the ring, they look
amazing put together.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
It's incredible.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
So what was that like being the only woman. I mean,
I know, you say, oh, I'm sorry that they're missing
out on that, but it's can be intimidating.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Yeah, I mean, thank goodness, I got along with the
women in the locker room, but they were, you know,
I could see them. They were frustrated. They were frustrated
that they were if they did get a match, they
would they'd get two or three minutes or four, they'd
get out there and go, okay, you got to go home. Now.
I'm like, wait, we just worked on a four minute match.
What but I mean things have evolved, right. I'm grateful
(33:47):
to the men like The Rock was one of the
first to befriend me, Stone Cold Mark, Henry Mick Foley.
I really created some incredible relationships. You know. Bautista, Dave
Batista is another one, Kurt Angle, like these people that
throughout the years, anytime I see them. I've sometimes seen
(34:08):
them in the airport and we were like brothers and sister.
We see each other, We're like, oh my god, you know, family,
And it was really incredible. They embraced me. They embraced
me in a way because they saw that it was
really trying. I think that's the main thing when you
go into a job. Make sure you give it your all,
make sure you're really invested, make sure that you put attention.
(34:31):
They saw how I went home and was like memorizing
everything and you know, learning everything a lot quicker and
putting the effort, and so I earned their respect. And
when you earn people's respect, that's where kindness comes in, right.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
And it is the WWE. A lot of people don't
know that E is for entertainment. Yeah, how did you
feel your role was in that? Entertainment piece because you
sort of play the you know, once Robert, but you
know you play the ringmaster or the end. You've got
all these guys, mainly some women that are definitely entertaining.
(35:09):
There's a lot of fun. We know that they're entertaining,
but we don't look at you and think that. Did
you see yourself as an entertainer?
Speaker 3 (35:18):
Yeah, because it's still part of the show. So like
The Greatest Showman for example, you know you saw that
and Hugh Jackman, when you play that role, like you
see he's like the presenter and he's like putting it
all togey. He's the host. I see. A host is
definitely part of entertainment, and so I've always seen myself
as that. Like I go out there and a lot
of times you didn't see the things that I would
(35:38):
do during the commercial breaks. Obviously the audience that's there
alive can see it. But I'm the first one to
go out there. I was the first one to greet
the crowd, to pump them up, to let them know
what's happening, to get them all excited. I keep them
fired up during the commercial breaks. We do different activities
during the commercial breaks. You know, and then obviously when
I get to sing within the show. You know, I
(36:00):
opened up the show with a national anthem. For many years,
in fact, we were trying to see if I could
get the Guinness Book of World Records, but unfortunately we
didn't have all those events logged in the way they
needed them logged in, so we couldn't do it. But yeah,
it just shows you like I was able to incorporate singing,
my love of entertaining and all within this so and
(36:22):
I got thrown into a lot of storylines a lot.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Sorry, yeah, you know you did. Yeah, so you did
see yourself as an entertainer.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
Yeah, yeah, for surely.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Okay, and the national anthem. You had your own style
for the national anthem. What were you always trying to
achieve or were you doing different things at different times,
but you definitely put a stamp on your national anthem.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
Yeah. You know, when I got asked to start doing
the National Anthem, I remember when I was rehearsing it.
The thing that really stuck out to me is that
part was says and I fled was there. I'm thinking,
why are we going down in that part? Why was
that written like that? Like for me, that's a statement.
Our flag was still there.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Yeah, right, it's up like.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
I'm gonna go high. I'm gonna be you know, And
so I started holding it out and going high and
holding it out in the crowd would just like really,
you know, really affected by it. Well, little did I
know it's wild because I got to sing it my
very first WrestleMania was two thousand, the year two thousand
and then I sang it at every single event right
(37:33):
before we went on the air, and then nine to
eleven hits, of course, and we know that's two thousand
and one. We went. We were supposed to tape that night.
When a nine to eleven hit, Obviously, Vince is like, okay,
we're not taping, but nobody can go home. We got
to figure out what we're gonna do because the show
was going to air on Thursday, and of course nine
(37:55):
to eleven happened on Tuesday. So we stuck around for
two days and we found out. Well, he came to
me the very next day and he said, we are
going to go What we're going to do is we're
going to go live. Everybody else was canceling, NFL canceled,
NBA canceled, everybody he goes, we're not canceling, We're going
to do a tribute show. We're going to go live
on SmackDown and Lili and I want you to open
(38:16):
us up with our national anthem. I was like, oh, okay,
of course I wanted to do it. I'm an army
brat like my dad. I could hear him step into
the mission, step into the mission. But I was terrified.
And I was also very emotional because I lived in
New York City at the time. I had a lot
of people. I had somebody that was actually gonna was
(38:38):
supposed to be in the building and arrived late and
just I mean, it was just really horrific. But he
asked me, and I'm like, okay, I'm going to do
this and so and luckily the Rock encouraged me. All
Hayman encouraged me. They saw my nerves right, so they
were like, you've got this, You've got this. You've been
singing this for a year now. I mean, think about that.
(39:00):
That's why I always feel like I have God's hand
on all of this, because for an entire year, it's
like I was getting trained for that moment. And so
I'm standing in the middle of the ring, all the
superstars are lined up, and it's so emotional with all
the people in the arena holding up their signs and
just needing a moment to come together. And I sing
(39:23):
it and when I held that high part, our flag
was still there. Oh and you can google this, you
can find it is chills. It still gives me chills.
And I almost almost I almost broke at the end.
You could hear my voice like because I was getting
so emotional. And then finally I finish, and then I
(39:44):
just let it all out, and it was something I
will never forget. And just as an Army brad, it's
meant so much to be able to sing our national
anthem and then go on to sing it at NFL
games and NBA games and all over and yeah, it's
just been really special.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
And do you keep that? Do you always go up
at that at that point?
Speaker 4 (40:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (40:04):
You do, Yeah, I always do. And it's funny how
now so many other singers that have started doing the
same thing.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
That's good seeing you are you are giving again? You
are sorry.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
I take it as a compliment.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
I take it as a compliment absolutely, absolutely, so. I
mean I can't even I'm going to say, like what's
next for you? But it just seems like you're so
you know, you don't even need to look there, You're
so in the moment right now. But I'll throw it out.
Is there something that you know you're not telling us
about that is next?
Speaker 3 (40:33):
Well, I want to continue with my worship singing for sure.
I mean obviously with WWE, this is amazing, what's happening.
I also loved speaking, so like I spoke at that
military camp last week, I love speaking women empowerment. I
love speaking at churches talking about my when I had
my life at WWE and I was looking for validation
(40:56):
from the people and from the you know, from the
fans and from I co workers and not from God
and how empty I was feeling because there were some
years that was very, very empty. And so I love
sharing my story with different people with that and even businesses.
So I love speaking and then yeah, the worship leading,
it's just been so impactful. So it's just using my
(41:19):
voice in whatever capacity I can. Again, I go, God
just put me in places that I can serve. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
So if there was a woman out there that was
thinking about kind of following your footsteps at your role model,
what advice would you give? What do you tell her?
Speaker 3 (41:37):
Be yourself, don't try to copy anybody, like even re announcing.
There's been other ring announcers that have come and they've
asked me what what advice would you give? And I'm like,
don't try to sound like me, you know if another
female isn't there. And I love like Alicia Taylor, She's
got her own style, which is great. And then Mark
Schnook you know, you hear him and you go, oh, yeah,
(41:57):
that's Mark. And so I think it's just important for
people to get their own style and do something you're
passionate about. Don't do something because you think it's going
to get you fame or it's going to get you money.
Because trust me, if you go after those two things
number one, you're probably not going to succeed because that's
(42:18):
not the driving force. It's going to make you successful
a lot of times. And if you do succeed, you're
not going to be happy. So do something that you're very,
very passionate about and then put your all to it.
Just put your all, you know. Robin Sharma, I went
to a convention. He wrote The Monk who sold his
Ferrari Great book and I went to his convention and
he told me something that in the entire three or
(42:40):
four days of his convention. This is what really stuck
out to me. He said, it's easier now than ever
to get ahead in the world. And I'm thinking to myself,
how is that possible with eight billion people in the world,
And he said, because if you're trustworthy, you're dependable, you're
on time, you're a team player, you go above and beyond.
You will always have a job, and you're going to
(43:02):
stick out above the rest. Because so many people are
not on time, they're not team players, they don't want
to go above and beyond. You know, there's so many things.
They don't have a good attitude, right, that you will
stick out and when you stick out, you will always
have a position. And so that stayed with me, and
that's just something that I've always tried to do again,
(43:23):
is serving but also with a great attitude and just
we're going to help you go above and beyond beyond time.
You know, that's something I can't be one second late.
Speaker 1 (43:34):
It's on air, right, that's right.
Speaker 3 (43:36):
And I learned that too with being on time. I
think it's very important because when you're late, you're telling
the other person that's waiting for you that you are
more important than they are, and so it's a show
of respect when you're on time.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
Okay, coming full circle now, for people who don't like
to get up on stage, have to give a speech,
perform in some way speaking of a group, you give
a presentation at work, what little piece of advice can
you give them that they can hold on to?
Speaker 3 (44:08):
Right now, Okay, know that first of all, the crowd
wants to see you succeed. They are actually on your side.
The reason that they are already automatically on your side
is because they want to get something out of your speech.
They want to enjoy what you're doing. Right, So if
you go up there very awkward and or whatever, it
(44:30):
makes them feel uncomfortable and now they're like, oh gosh,
I got nothing out of this. But if you can
know that you have all of them cheering for you,
and use that as support and get excited about your message,
just have a clear message that you can be very,
very excited about, so that you can step up there
with the attitude of oh my gosh, I can't wait
(44:51):
to share this, because you guys are going to be
changed by what I'm about to say, and it's your way. Remember,
it's your way of serving. So if you get that,
you're serving them with whatever you've learned this right, you've
picked up this whatever you're about to share, So you're
just doing a sharing of something that you picked up
along the way. And just like you get excited to
(45:13):
tell a story that you heard that you absolutely love
the same thing. Whatever you're going to share, just be
excited about it and know that they're cheering you on.
Speaker 1 (45:21):
Okay. I love that that I can get behind anything.
I did not ask you that you want to talk
about I.
Speaker 3 (45:30):
Don't think so I did. I really appreciate your time.
I think it's great what you're doing. I have watched
your show. I think it's great. So I love You've
got an authenticity about you, which is it is beautiful
and it resonates with people. So it's great what you're
doing because you know you're you're passing things along, you're learning,
you're being, you know you're serving, you're serving, So it's awesome.
(45:52):
So keep keep doing that.
Speaker 1 (45:54):
Thank you, thank you. I'd love a shout out from you,
just ask it would be awesome. When when this is,
when this is ready to go live. You know, I
just feel like I'm a real curious person. So when
I find somebody that I want to share, like you
and your story, I just there's so much noise and
other stuff. I just feel like if I can find
(46:14):
some really interesting stories and really interesting information to share
with people, then I can curate that and they know
where to come, and then they know what they're going
to get. They're going to get a good, authentic conversation
that's going to go a little deep and maybe it'll
take a little piece of something, you know.
Speaker 3 (46:30):
And that's the thing is that you can see that
in what you're doing, so you're coming from passion. I
can instantly hear. This conversation was so easy to have
with you because you're a great listener and you're asking
some beautiful questions and you're very interested, and so that
makes me feel excited to share with you.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
So good. Good. Yeah right, I'm glad. I'm glad you
felt that because that is true. That is my truth. Lillian,
Thank you so much, such a pleasure.
Speaker 3 (46:58):
Thank you
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