May 18, 2025 โข 43 mins
In this empowering episode of the Champion Mindset Collective, Anthony speaks with Angela Lewis, a former professional basketball player, award-winning coach, author, and global leader, about what it truly means to bounce forward, not just bounce back.Standing six-foot-one by the age of 12, Angela faced insecurity, self-doubt, and the awkwardness of growing up different. But basketball became her teacherโbuilding her confidence, resilience, and leadership from the inside out.Now the Head of Operations at SpeakerHUB, Angela works with speakers and thought leaders across the globe to help them share their voice and make an impact. In this conversation, she opens up about cultural leadership, personal setbacks, and her Learn, Grow, Give model for building lasting confidence.Whether you're navigating transition, facing uncertainty, or ready to stretch your comfort zone, Angelaโs story is a powerful reminder that every challenge is a chance to grow and every moment is an opportunity to bounce forward.We discuss:Angelaโs transformation from insecure teen to confident leader
Lessons from global leadership and cross-cultural growth
How to expand your comfort zone and grow through discomfort
Her Learn, Grow, Give framework for long-term success
Why your story matters more than you thinkThis conversation is packed with wisdom, energy, and actionable insights, perfect for anyone facing transitions, seeking confidence, or stepping into a leadership role.๐ Subscribe & hit the bell to stay updated with new episodes!๐Connect with Angela Lewis:โก๏ธ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-lewis/โก๏ธ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theangelarlewis/๐๐ Champion Mindset Collective:โข โโ โ Click this link to visit and join the โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ Champion Mindset Collective Facebook Groupโ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ ( / championmindsetcollectivepodcast ) โข โClick this link to visit and join the โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ Champion Mindset Collective: https://tinyurl.com/m7b4c3r4Keep Championing Your Life and your Greatness!Anthony Dahya๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐:โถ Website: โ https://sites.google.com/anthonydahya...โถ LinkedIn: / anthonydahya โถ AI Workflows Email: aiworkflows@anthonydahya.comโถ Instagram : / anthony.dahya โถ Facebook: / anthonydahya โถ Spotify : โ https://open.spotify.com/show/7kjTpNO...โถ TikTok: / anthonydahya Want to be on the podcast, connect with me by emailing me on:podcast@anthonydahya.comโ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐: This video and my YouTube channel contain dialog, music, and image that are property of "Anthony Dahya " ๐ Thanks for visiting my Channel! ๐
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Have older brothers that forced me to be competitive hadn't seen
women be that competitive at that level until like University
of Tennessee changed it at Summit with her competitive
spirit. Really I feel like I have so
many women the opportunity to say ohh I can be really
anatomical hotspot embodied thatculture of toughness and she was
(00:22):
a winner and as I mentioned, I've never travelled abroad.
We went to Memphis, TN and my body Mississippi.
So for me to leave in the city of Saint Louis and travel to
Europe was a really, really big deal and it wasn't what I wanted
but ended up being the most incredible, life changing
experience. Being immersed in another
culture. You're stuck feeling like I
(00:43):
don't know the next step to takeor I don't know what skills I
may have in a deficit. Go to your manager, go to a
colleague, ask how you can get better.
If you're learning, then you canbuild confidence.
Confidence is the foundation. If I can gain confidence in that
area, then I've grown and the growth may be painful and I may
have a set back, but I can grow from it if I'm willing to
(01:05):
continue to learn through the process what it means to be a
champion. To have a champion mindset is to
never quit. Never you.
If you just keep going, If you can out last others.
If you can out last yourself. Because the competition really
is internal. It's not even external.
You being willing to get up everyday and pursue something
worth pursuing that you know is your gift is on your heart.
(01:28):
You can't lose if you keep. Welcome back to the Champion
Monsieur Collective podcast. What do you do when life knocks
your game? Some people break, others bounce
back. But Angela Lewis, she bounces
forward from being a tall, self-conscious teen to a pro
basketball player, coach, speaker and global leader.
(01:49):
Angela story is about confidence, reinvention and
rising with purpose. If you've ever faced it back and
wondered how to rebuild stronger, this episode is for
you and this is one of my favourite topics.
Today's guest to someone who knows how to rise again and
again at six foot one. At the age of 12, Angela Lewis
(02:12):
struggled with insecurity, coordination and self doubt.
But everything changed when she found basketball.
The game became her teacher, shaping her into a resilient
leader with the drive to uplift others.
Angela has since played and coached professionally authored
Box, delivered global talks, andnow serves as the Head of
(02:33):
Operations at Speaker Hub, Helping Thought it has growth.
The impact through speaking through her Learn and Grow Give
framework and upcoming book KeepBouncing forward, Angela shows
us how to stay confident even when life throws curveballs.
You're about to hear a real talkon resilience, reinvention, and
(02:53):
leading with purpose. Welcome, Angela to the Champion
Monster Collective podcast. Anthony, thank you so much for
inviting me. So excited about our talk today.
Yes, it's a pleasure. It's been a long time in the
making and glad we finally got there.
And so I'm excited to hear your story and for you to share with
the audience. Junior, you went through and
(03:15):
hopefully someone's going to be inspired and might someone even
change someone's life? So yeah, let's dive into that.
Angela, tell us about your childhood, your journey in life
to this point. From the intro and the buyer
that you sent me and also the chair we had before this
interview, it seems like you went through quite a quite a bit
of challenges in your life. Would love to hear about your
(03:38):
story. Sure, yes, so I am.
I'm really excited to be here. I think now more than ever,
women's sports is, is getting onthe big stage, so to speak.
And there are so many stories ofyoung women who play that often
go untold. So really excited.
I am as, as you mentioned, 6 foot one.
(03:58):
I've been this tall since I was 12, so I've been this high for a
really long time. And as you can imagine, it
wasn't very cool back then. So I felt really uncomfortable,
very insecure, definitely would not have spoke in public.
And basketball found me. There was a coach that saw me
that asked me to be on the team and I wasn't very good like most
(04:21):
people when they start somethingnew.
But that ultimately led to me playing professionally and
coaching young women at all levels.
And then now working as speaker hub where I hope people share
their voice. So to go from a really insecure
kid actually being able to help other people do the same is
really a blessing. And then tell us about your
(04:44):
childhood. Like like with other kids, you
being tall. What made it really awkward was
that I never felt like I fit into a place that was never a
place that felt comfortable until I started playing
basketball. There were other girls like me,
but the shoot this, I wasn't very good because I was new.
But one of the greatest gifts was being on a team with people
(05:08):
who were already winners. There was these young women who
could really play and they took me up to the full but push me in
ways that I had never been pushed before.
I grew up with older brothers who pushed me in ways that I've
never been pushed before and thecoach who actually believed in
(05:28):
me. And So what I didn't know,
Anthony, is that I was going to be playing on this travel team
and we would go to different places to play ball, but my
family only went two places. Mom by you Mississippi and
Memphis, TN because our family was there and basketball
literally opened up the world and I didn't run very fast.
(05:49):
I didn't jump very high like I'mtall, but I I'm I was not overly
athletic. I just learned how to work and
I'm really grateful to everyone in St.
Louis, MO, where I'm from who supported our team like we
didn't have fundraisers. Our parents didn't have a lot of
money. We were the kids on the corner
on Saturday morning asking for money to be able to participate
(06:14):
in in these activities. And so I'm really grateful for
everyone who supported us so that we could have these number
duties. Sounds like basketball helped
you shift from that sort of insecurity to more of an inner
strength within you. Yes, yes, anytime.
So I think we all have the certain level that we think we
(06:38):
can push ourselves too. But when you're in an
environment where you're forced to grow, I've never run laps
outside the way that I did. I would never forget my coach
saying, okay, you can't just practise that practise.
You have to go home and do thesesquats and do these wall jumps
and do all of these extra thingsin order to become better.
(06:58):
And it was not fun. You know, like we see people
playing the game in that part ofSun, but what's really not fun
is all of the training that goesinto giving you those
opportunities and who you becomeand the process is really the
gift. Lessons did you learn from the
game that still guides you in your life and in leadership
today? The lessons that guide me most
(07:22):
today are you can get better. Like it is possible to improve a
skill. And most things in life are
really skills. Whether it's marketing in
business, whether it's operations, which is what I do
now, whether it's public speaking.
Those are skills that you can improve upon.
And when you start as an athleteand you go from not being very
(07:44):
good and see yourself becoming better just through the work,
you know that the only thing that's stopping you is the work.
That's one of the greatest lessons is that you can get
better at the skill. The second lesson is you're
going to make mistakes, but there's another game, right?
You're going to miss shots the best.
The best shooters only make halfof their shots, 50%.
(08:06):
You're an incredible shooter andwe still think you're pretty
good. If you shoot 40%, that means
you're missing 6 out of the ten shots that you take.
You're still a very good player.So it's okay to make mistakes
and the more you make, the greater opportunity you have to
get better. And in terms of leadership, what
I learned is force gives you be greatest opportunity to meet
(08:27):
people from all over the world and to connect through through
the game. You get to connect with
different cultures and that has been one of the most amazing
things that's come out of playing sports and coaching.
Yeah. And you know, it's that
consistency, right. Like when you with repetition
and consistency, you can build that competency and you can, you
(08:47):
can become more confident in what you what you do with that
sports or with the whatever you do.
But like you said, yeah, absolutely.
You've got to do the work, whether it's internal work or
whether it's external work. You know, you've got to do the
work. Absolutely.
That's always both. It's like you don't give
external without the internal and vice versa.
(09:09):
Personally, I think it's stats internally, you've got to do the
internal work 1st and it kind ofcomplements each other.
So yeah, it's a, it's a like a tug of war, I guess.
But yeah, so now bouncing forward, now I resonate with
bouncing forward and I would, I would imagine some of the
audience may, may know what thatmeans.
(09:30):
It's a powerful concept. What does that phrase mean to
you personally? What this means to me personally
is when whenever you have a difficult situation and
something hard happens, you don't go back to where you were.
You actually get a little bit better.
You know, there's this great book called Antifragile and it
(09:50):
talks about the concept, if you keep it is possible to continue
to get better and to get stronger through difficult
things and difficult situations.And so the opportunity is to
learn and to grow from that, learning not to just go back to
where things were before becausehonestly, really, do they just
(10:11):
go right back? Yeah, absolutely.
And it's like a like a rubber band or something when you
stretch it, it doesn't doesn't always go back to the way it it
was, right, because you've stretched it further.
And that's what I comfort zone is like a comfort zone is, is
keeps us restricted and limited.But the more that we push
(10:31):
ourselves and tell our brain that it's okay, take one step
and go, it's okay. You know, you haven't died,
nothing's nothing bad has happened.
And that's when your brain starts to go, hey, it's okay,
you know, let's take another step.
So absolutely, you know, in, in my life, like I've been through
many adversities and I've alwayskept bouncing forward because
(10:55):
you gotta keep moving forward. You can't go backwards.
Yeah, you literally can't go backwards.
It's the way that we become the next version of ourselves
because there, there's, there's levels to it.
Like once you, I, I was talking to a friend's daughter and, and
I meant to her and she is in herearly 30s and we have this
(11:19):
conversation all the time around.
Like you got to make mistakes, you got to mess up, and you're
still very smart and competent and capable.
So making mistakes doesn't mean that you're incapable.
It literally means that here's an opportunity for you to learn
and grow from it. And I think a lot of times when
things don't go the way that we expect them to, we question our
(11:43):
self worth and our self esteem, when in fact it is literally
just a normal part of life. Yeah, and we are, we are
shifting identities every moment, right?
Every moment to moment we are, we are becoming a different
version of ourselves. We're shifting identities.
So we are never ever the same person that we were a moment ago
(12:06):
because we're learning new things.
We're becoming the best version of ourself.
And as one of the peak performance coaches here in New
Zealand, one of the top performance coaches said to me,
on the other side of your comfort zone is your best
vision. Ohh I just love their concept.
Absolutely at it, as you know. And so David Neath coached a
(12:27):
number of kickboxing fighters, golfers and so on.
And it used to be New Zealand's strongman and this guy's like 6
foot something and there's like a brick house.
And but yeah, like when I had that conversation with him, he
(12:48):
just said, yeah, on the other side of your comfort zone is
your best vision. And I was like, wow, that is so
profound. Can you share a moment where you
had to leave that message in a tough season of your life of
bouncing forward? Sure, sure.
So I talk about playing overseasall the time, like it was a part
(13:10):
of my plan, but it really wasn'tactually.
Like most young women, I wanted to plan the WMD A and I was at
the Final Four my senior year incollege and there was a pro
combine that I had registered for.
So the day of the event, the dayof the combine, Combine is like
(13:30):
a showcase for those who don't know.
So it's a showcase of all the women who want to play their
next level. And there were professional
scouts there who were looking for players for the team.
And the day of the event, hopping the cab, go over to the
ohh, God, I'm dating myself. No one even uses cabs anymore,
right? It's like Uber's nowadays.
So we get in the car and go overto the gym and it's over and
(13:52):
everyone's leaving. And I was devastated, Anthony,
because I worked really hard to prepare for this showcase and I
can't. I contact my college coaches and
told them I still wanted to playand they said, well, I know an
agent. I know someone who knows someone
who's an agent in Germany. Are you interested in having a
(14:14):
conversation with her? So of course I want a
conversation. I send my game film and there
was this low time of graduating and waiting to go overseas where
I was like, I don't really know what's going to happen but I
know how hard I work and have faith that is going to work out.
And I ended up getting the contract and going to Europe.
And as I mentioned, I never travelled abroad.
(14:35):
We went to Memphis, TN and my body Mississippi.
So for me to leave in the city of Saint Louis and travel to
Europe was a really, really big deal.
And it wasn't what I wanted, butended up being the most
incredible life changing experience being immersed in
another culture. And so things don't always work
out the way you want them to, but they can work out in ways
(14:58):
you could never imagine if you just keep bouncing forward.
Yeah, and often also we we have a we know, we think we know what
we want, but the universe, the universe has so much more for
us. And it's like no matter
ourselves, right, we gotta dreambig.
We gotta dream like so big. Ohh, docious goals that that
(15:18):
people are going to go now that's never going to happen.
And you go, let me show you And then and right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
I would like to hear about some of your highlights or your or
your proud moments and, and whenyou were playing basketball and
like, what were some of the the key highlights that you that
(15:42):
you're really proud of and, you know, tell, tell us a bit about
it the game and. Yeah, there's some on the court
highlights and some off the court highlights.
I saw with the off the court highlights because basketball is
so it's such a special game and particularly for young women
(16:02):
from where where I'm from, it's really special because of who
you get to meet in the process. I remember going to visit a new
Washington IN with one of my college team mates.
She's we used to call her Bird and nickname was Bird, like
Larry Bird. And I'm from the inner city of
Saint Louis. She's some new Washington IN
this really small town. And I went home with her and it
(16:22):
was the first time I rode on like riding lawn mowers.
This is the first time I saw like a stalk of corn and a
cornfield because it was just this country around.
And we got so close from that visit that I would go back to
year after year and do basketball clinics because she
was a high school basketball coach.
Now do basketball clinics for her, her team.
(16:44):
And so the off the court is the relationships that you deal with
your team mates because you go through so much help together.
It really forms a strong bond onthe court.
My junior year, it was the firstyear we went to postseason play
and that was amazing to have a banner in the Raptors for our
team. And then personally, my senior,
(17:06):
I won this award called I'm Robin Roberts Sports
Communication Award. That's for young women who play
sports, who have a desire to grow in the communication field,
whether it's speaking or journalism or helping grow in
that industry. So those are kind of three
(17:27):
experience some basketball that I really appreciate.
Hmm, well, that's cool. Now, who was your who was your
inspiration at the time when youwere playing basketball?
My inspiration was Shamika Hosla, choose my favourite
player of all time. She played the University of
Tennessee #23 won multiple national titles.
(17:47):
He was so good. She was the first one in that
whose shoes that I bought. Nike put out Smokehouse Bar
branded shoe and I was blown away because we were all wearing
Jordans. So you like shacks or poop?
Allen Iverson. But to have a woman with a shoe
in a woman's style, I thought was just the best thing ever.
(18:10):
Hmm. And was this something about
that person that really resonated with you and and like
what? What was it that drew you to
her? What drew me to her was I could
see myself in her. We were about the same height.
She's like 6 months, 62. Steve was way more athletic than
me, way, way more. But she was so competitive.
(18:34):
You know, Anthony, I'm actually not naturally competitive at
all. Have older brothers that forced
me to be competitive and so I hadn't seen women be that
competitive at that level until like University of Tennessee
changed it at summit with her competitive spirit really gave I
(18:55):
feel like gave so many women theopportunity to say I can be
really tough and chemicals caught embody that culture of
toughness and she was a winner. Cool, that's awesome.
So you've lived and worked around the world.
How has being immersed in different cultures shaped your
(19:16):
approach to leadership, communication and confidence?
Hi, Chris, everyone just leave home, leave your country, go go
live somewhere else because it changes your mind and heart and
spirit in ways that you don't even know that are going to
happen in terms of leadership first, right?
That's the first part. The way that has changed the way
(19:38):
that I lead is I'm incredibly more empathetic.
When I was in Germany, I took these a German class.
So it was my first time actuallyattempting to learn another
language in another country. Not like the Spanish class
taking the US with your Americanprofessor.
No, like taking a German class in Germany with someone who is
(20:00):
German was very different. And my team mates want some
Romania. One was from Russia.
Laughed at me histerically. When I start to pronounce this
word, it was the first time I'veever been like, laughed at.
So as a leader, I have a heightened sense of humility and
compassion because our team now is speaker hub is global and
(20:24):
everyone's bilingual, water in Spanish a little bit, but
everyone's bilingual. And so we have have behind sense
of compassion as a leader to really understand and value
talent work regardless of where it comes from.
So that's on the leadership sideand the communication side.
I'm I'm more patient and I listen more.
(20:45):
I'm more focused on the listening of communication with
our team and being immersed. Another culture is just
developed, this confidence that you could put it, you can make
it anywhere and that you can connect with people from
anywhere and sport was a big part of that foundation for me.
Hmm, and what about the confidence side of it?
(21:07):
The confident side is that, um, living abroad taught me that
learning is critical because when you live, when you live in
another country, you don't have a choice but to learn every
single day. Whether it's the grocery store
and everyone speaking Spanish and you're trying to figure out
how to buy the bread, whether you're doing the conversion rate
(21:28):
from pesos to USDI mean learningbecomes a part of who you are,
and confidence develops when youlearn new skills.
So living in other cultures helpme develop this this mindset
that I'm constantly learning newthings.
Hmm, that's cool. What?
(21:51):
What's 1 cultural lesson that really stuck with you?
Relax, relax. In the US, we, we, we push going
hard all the time to the point of burnout, which I have
definitely burned a few times. But I when I lived in medicine
(22:12):
in Colombia, umm, tranquilo was always the like, no worry
tranquilo like relax. So I was able to learn that it's
okay to the the level of joy that I saw people have in Latin
(22:33):
America blew me away. And in America, most people have
exponentially more than the people that I saw in the places
I visited in Latin America. And the people in America were
so much happier. By.
Tenfold by what I saw. And so that stuck with me.
It doesn't take a lot to enjoy this life and sometimes we put
(22:53):
too much pressure on ourselves to consume the things and we
miss out on the living part. And they live in Latin America.
Yeah, absolutely. I was watching a video yesterday
on TikTok, I think it was. And there was it was about money
and, and the study was reading this book and the author was
sitting next to her and she said, she said to her that, you
(23:16):
know, like she's talking about how when she went to Cuba,
Americans were saying that people in Cuba were struggling.
And, you know, it was tough. But when she went there, it was
totally the opposite because shesaid people were so happy and
joyful because they were happy with what they all they, what
they had. You know, and often we judge
(23:37):
others based on what will be at have or don't have, right on the
lack of scarcity of what we don't have.
And so, but I agree with you. Having a simple life where you
have got enough to love and but being joyful and be happy in
your life is so simple. Yeah.
It is. It is.
(23:58):
Yeah. I've never danced so much in my
life as I do in medicine. Salsa dancing all night long.
I mean, it was amazing. Absolutely.
Quite. I did a basketball clinic in
Minneapolis, Colombia and after the clinic the last day that
turned on music and we were all salty dancing in the middle of
the quick. It was amazing, so much fun.
(24:21):
I I used this to go to salsa dancing here in Auckland and I
was singing and singing and playing the percussion in the
South Sudan and I ended up beingdating a Colombian girl as well.
So, so that's as close as I want.
I got to Colombia, but when one day I will make it out to Smith,
(24:45):
South America. It's interesting.
I'm, I'm Indian to see it, but I've always, I've always loved
the Latin culture and I was like, I always wished that I'd
be in a Latina, you know, so you'll learn, learn, grow and
give framework. Sounds like a little powerful
(25:05):
cycle. How did you develop this model
and how can listeners apply the apply it and build their
confidence and momentum in theirlives there?
Was a few young women that I wasmentoring and they kept getting
stuck with. Maybe it was a situation at
(25:26):
work. Are they working on this project
and and I was reflecting like what what do you call want them
to know? Like what I don't have children
and tell us like if what happened to the nephews and like
they're these employment mentor.They're what do I what's the
simplest way for them to know that their moving forward in
(25:50):
their life? And it's if you're learning,
then you can build confidence. Confidence is the foundation.
Like how do we build confidence?It's really the question is how
do they stay confident? Okay, so if I learn something
new, I can gain confidence in that area.
If I can gain confidence in thatarea, then I've grown.
(26:12):
And the growth may be painful and I may have a set back, but I
can grow from it if I'm willing to continue to learn through the
process until you to learn and continue to work.
And then giving, I mean, there'sso many studies that have shown
the impact of giving on the giver as well as the person
receiving the gift. So even if everything isn't
(26:34):
working for you, you still have something, whether it's your
time, your resources, your talent that you can give to
someone else and impact their lives.
So then it takes the focus for me and it's like, okay, what
greater impact can I have in this world?
I'm constantly learning, I'm constantly growing, and I'm
constantly giving them. My legacy is never in question.
It's really clear that it that Iwill have an impact on those
(26:57):
around me. Yeah, we got, we gotta become
lifelong learners. We're we're, we're learning all
the time because that's the onlyway to grow is to learn.
And as I said before, it's aboutexpanding their comfort zone.
And but you know, life is about expansion.
It's about growing, it's about learning.
It's about, yeah, becoming a different version of ourselves
(27:19):
that that is going to push past those pain, painful moments.
But you know, like it's, it's half the time, it's not even
pain. It's just really uncomfortable,
right? So so it's getting comfortable
with the discomfort. Yes, and there's a lot of
discomfort in life and keeps coming.
(27:40):
Exactly if you're you know there's Rob dialled amounts it
meant to talks about the comfortzone and your dreams.
Your dreams go to die and your comfort zone.
So let's get out of your comfortzone.
If you want to achieve your dreams and push yourself and
challenge yourself, and I believe you just every now and
(28:00):
then you got to ski yourself suddenly, you know?
Yes, and and the filling of fearisn't always a bad thing, of
course. If it's not your, your, If you
were not in danger, like if you're not in physical harm, the
feeling is literally pushing youto try it.
I mean, I was nervous before every game, literally every game
(28:23):
nervous without fail. Even speaking I I'm still
nervous like before this podcast, I'm like, okay, it's
game time, right? It's the same feeling, but
that's okay. It's just a part of doing things
that help you grow. Yeah, yeah.
Look, I've done, I've published 130 episodes and I still get
(28:45):
nervous at times when I'm showing up here to do episodes.
And, and, you know, I've been a singer for all my life.
And every time if I still get upand I still get nervous, but I
just push past it, feel the fearand do it anyway, right?
Yes, that's correct. Yeah, So what are what does 1
(29:06):
practical way someone can start this process of learning,
growing and giving framework? 1 practical way is to ask for
feedback, and sometimes it's painful to hear, but if you are
really stuck, find someone who knows you.
(29:26):
If you're let's say you want to advance in your career and you
are stuck feeling, you're stuck feeling like I don't know the
next step to take or I don't know what skills I may have in a
deficit. Go to your manager, go to a
colleague, ask how you can get better.
That's one way. I think another way is just to
(29:49):
slow down and reflect. Oftentimes we just get caught in
this rat race of going and we don't slow down, maybe get up 10
minutes earlier and really thinkabout what is it that you want
to accomplish? Because quite often the answer
already inside of us, right? Even in the scenario I mentioned
before, think about what is it you want to accomplish, what's
(30:11):
missing, and then just do one thing to get you a little closer
everyday and you eventually are able to learn, ultimately grow
and then give that to someone else.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
And you know, one of the things that I also heard not downside
is that you want to do the hard things now and do the easy stuff
(30:33):
later. If you do the easy stuff now,
then you're going to have to do the hard stuff later.
It's a choice that we have. Do we want to, you know, do like
when you, when you show up everyday, first part of your
morning should be doing the hardstuff right?
And then the rest of it is just plain sailing.
If you do the easy stuff first, then you're going to have such
(30:56):
a, you're going to have a harderday because you, you know, you
want to put all your energy intothe hard stuff 1st and then just
ease into the rest of the day here.
So as someone who helps amplify others, others amplify their
voice, what advice do you give people who feel like they don't
(31:16):
have a story with telling or lack of confidence to speak up?
Because everyone's got a story to tell, right?
Yes, everyone has a story to tell, and the story is connected
to some human emotion. And we all have those emotions,
whether it's fear, like we mentioned before, Maybe it's
lost, maybe it's pain, it's joy,excitement.
(31:41):
So there are people who will say, well, I don't know what
story to tell. Well, how do you feel about a
situation? And then you can unpack that and
be able to create the flow of a story from that.
And in terms of getting in the confidence, you're doing in
small ways. You do it with the people who
are around you. You say, hey, can I share this
(32:02):
with you? It's practise, just like in
sport. It's literally just practise to
be able to tell your story more confidently.
Absolutely, yeah. And how can leaders find their
voice even when they're facing uncertainty and especially in
this day and age at the moment, because you know, there's so
much with AI and technology advancing and the financial
(32:28):
challenges we've had, how can leaders find their voice?
During the time of uncertainty, as leaders, it's really
important for us so acknowledge one, that we don't have all the
answers. Sometimes as leaders we feel
like we have to know everything.And of course there's an
expectation of competence like that's baseline, but the
(32:52):
expectations also that you're continuously learning and your
teams and the people who are following you will respect that
you are trying to learn. But we do a speaker hub.
We always ask for our team's input.
We're always like, okay, So whatdo you guys think?
We have some dynamic. Maria is incredible with design
and held an amazing designer. I mean, Carlos incredible with a
(33:13):
I. So I go to them, I set up
one-on-one meetings. Okay, teach me what you're
doing. I don't understand it.
So we need we have this softwareand this software connects to
this. We use these platforms, we give
our team the ability to the autonomous and create what we
need, but at the same time like I need and want to learn from
them. So be willing to say I don't
(33:35):
know, others may have better ideas, and just be willing to
learn in uncertainty. Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, that's, that's great. And you know, as leaders, we are
role models for the people that look up to us.
So yeah. So if we're not able to to, you
(33:55):
know, push throughout then and, and really be confident and, and
in what we doing, then how do weexpect others to follow us to to
do the same? So it's important that leaders,
you know, if your leader and you're uncertain about
something, it's okay. Don't just sit back.
Learn, you know, learn how to, as Angela said, learn new things
(34:18):
and then you you get better. Is there anything else, Angela,
that you'd like to share before we go into the quick fire
questions? Anything else?
I I think that now more than ever, I think young women who
(34:40):
play sports have just this incredible opportunity to have
an impact in ways like never before.
And so I hope that they're able to use their voice, but everyone
has the potential to impact other people's lives, and we're
doing it whether we're consciousof it or not.
So yeah, I think that's really it, to use our voices to have
(35:02):
impact, positive impact on others lives and to teach
whatever you know, because there's someone who's looking
and listening and relying on you.
And, you know, yesterday I was in a meeting with a young, young
person who came to meet me here and we were talking about some
of the I work that I'm doing. And he, he actually said to me,
(35:25):
ohh, I've listened to you, to your episodes and it's really
helped me. And I was like, well, I've
created an impact in this person's life, you know, So
that's that's so amazing that, you know, even though she had
something, it actually impacted this person.
And and he's been able to to take the right chips and his
life to be able to, yeah, you know, make things beautiful him.
(35:47):
So yeah, everyone has a story totell.
And, and there's a saying that if we don't share, then we're
being selfish. Yeah, we've been placed with
with experiences and we don't see it, then we've been selfish.
So get out there and start sharing your story and don't
(36:10):
worry about people that say, youknow, ohh, you talk too much or
any of that. That's their problem.
Just go and share, be you and, and yeah, do you and, and Share
your story because you will impact someone.
You will change someone's life. Angela, I've got 6-6 questions
for you. First question is what is your
(36:32):
definition of success and has their definition changed for you
overtime? My definition of success is
having a goal that is meaningful, meaningful to you
that positively impacts someone else and going after it.
Have they changed overtime? Absolutely.
Success for me in the past was the destination.
(36:52):
Like achieving this one thing and that it ends for me now.
It's the constant pursuit of something meaningful that
positively impacts others. Because once you arrive,
wherever that first destination is, life doesn't stop.
So it's the constant pursuit with peace.
Like I don't mean constant in inthe most stressful sense, but
(37:14):
annoyingness that you have the ability to impact others.
Yeah, the peak of every mountainis another mountain to climb.
And it is, Yeah. Yeah, another valley back up and
down you. Know.
Yeah. And that's where the growth
happens. That's where you do the the
work. Yeah.
Who's been your greatest inspiration and why?
(37:35):
My parents have been my greatestinspiration.
They, my mom grew up in Mumbai, you Mississippi, its oldest all
black municipality in the US andshe literally picked cotton,
which I can't even imagine. So she had an incredibly
challenging upbringing. And my father who's 85 now,
mom's 83, dad is 85, grew up andwas born in Mississippi as well.
(37:59):
And they both just worked so hard to ensure that my mother
going to have opportunities. So they've gone through things I
could never imagine. So they inspire me daily.
Hmm, what is something that you believe that others may disagree
with? That is OK to have less things.
(38:24):
So I moved to my living from India, sold everything and never
felt more free in my life. So the car, so the rental
property sold the house like everything and having it is okay
to not have a lot of things. That's what I believe, yeah.
That's what I've been learning as well.
(38:45):
And I've been there. I've been the decluttering and
and getting the stuff and keeping them off simple.
If you could go back and give your younger self one piece of
advice, what would that be? How much younger self?
I'm interested is this like my 8year old self or my 21 year old
self? Because at this age I had a lot
of younger selves. Ever age that resonates with you
(39:08):
at this point in time? Okay, what the Asia resonates
with me at this point in time. I think about my 21 year old
self about to graduate college because we are approaching May
and I would tell my 21 year old self build some professional
mentors. So all of the professionals I
(39:29):
knew at 21 where coaches, basketball coaches are or
professors, those are the only two I didn't know any other.
So I would I would tell her gameprofessional mentors and
everything's going to work out just fine.
Just relax. You actually should stress a lot
less because when you go throughright now is nothing compared to
(39:51):
what you're headed for. So you'll be fine.
And what is 1 message that you'dlike to share with the world?
Be kind to people, to speak goodto people.
It's OK to be good to people reliving a world that's
(40:11):
seemingly divisive. So be good to people who don't
look like you. Don't talk like you use.
Because we all are looking for the same care and concern and
need need. We need each other.
Yeah, absolutely. And the last question is, what
does it mean to be a champion and to have a champion mindset?
(40:33):
What it means to be a champion, to have a champion mindset is
the never quit, never quit you if you just keep going, if you
can out last others, if you can outlasts yourself because the
competition really is internal. It's not even external you being
willing to get up everyday and pursue something worth pursuing
(40:55):
that you know is your gift and it's on your heart.
You can't lose if you keep going.
Help me 100%. Yeah.
Angela, thank you so much for bringing your energy, your
wisdom, and your heart to this podcast.
Your story is powerful. Reminded that setbacks don't
define us and we can refinance right from the court to a global
(41:22):
stage you have you show us that that means what it means to keep
bouncing forward with courage and clarity.
And to everyone listening out there, if today's conversation
is spoken to you, then be sure to connect with Angela.
She's available on LinkedIn and also there's where where else
(41:43):
here, where else people can contact you Instagram.
On Instagram, so on LinkedIn it's Angela R Lewis.
Apparently there are a lot of Angela Lewis in the world, so be
sure to socially with the R on Instagram, the Angela R Louis,
my website's angelarlouis.com and YouTube Angela R Louis the
(42:04):
Angela Lewis. Nice.
We'll put those links into the show notes so that people can
contact connect with you. And finally, don't forget to
keep learning, growing, giving. And because the world needs more
view, the world needs your bounce back story as well as as
(42:24):
well as your bounce forward story.
So, so tell both those stories of what's happened in your life.
And yeah, you know, lastly, I just want to say you are loved.
You're worthy, champion your life, camping your greatness and
have an amazing day.
Have older brothers that forced me to be competitive hadn't seen
women be that competitive at that level until like University
of Tennessee changed it at Summit with her competitive
spirit. Really I feel like I have so
many women the opportunity to say ohh I can be really
anatomical hotspot embodied thatculture of toughness and she was
(00:22):
a winner and as I mentioned, I've never travelled abroad.
We went to Memphis, TN and my body Mississippi.
So for me to leave in the city of Saint Louis and travel to
Europe was a really, really big deal and it wasn't what I wanted
but ended up being the most incredible, life changing
experience. Being immersed in another
culture. You're stuck feeling like I
(00:43):
don't know the next step to takeor I don't know what skills I
may have in a deficit. Go to your manager, go to a
colleague, ask how you can get better.
If you're learning, then you canbuild confidence.
Confidence is the foundation. If I can gain confidence in that
area, then I've grown and the growth may be painful and I may
have a set back, but I can grow from it if I'm willing to
(01:05):
continue to learn through the process what it means to be a
champion. To have a champion mindset is to
never quit. Never you.
If you just keep going, If you can out last others.
If you can out last yourself. Because the competition really
is internal. It's not even external.
You being willing to get up everyday and pursue something
worth pursuing that you know is your gift is on your heart.
(01:28):
You can't lose if you keep. Welcome back to the Champion
Monsieur Collective podcast. What do you do when life knocks
your game? Some people break, others bounce
back. But Angela Lewis, she bounces
forward from being a tall, self-conscious teen to a pro
basketball player, coach, speaker and global leader.
(01:49):
Angela story is about confidence, reinvention and
rising with purpose. If you've ever faced it back and
wondered how to rebuild stronger, this episode is for
you and this is one of my favourite topics.
Today's guest to someone who knows how to rise again and
again at six foot one. At the age of 12, Angela Lewis
(02:12):
struggled with insecurity, coordination and self doubt.
But everything changed when she found basketball.
The game became her teacher, shaping her into a resilient
leader with the drive to uplift others.
Angela has since played and coached professionally authored
Box, delivered global talks, andnow serves as the Head of
(02:33):
Operations at Speaker Hub, Helping Thought it has growth.
The impact through speaking through her Learn and Grow Give
framework and upcoming book KeepBouncing forward, Angela shows
us how to stay confident even when life throws curveballs.
You're about to hear a real talkon resilience, reinvention, and
(02:53):
leading with purpose. Welcome, Angela to the Champion
Monster Collective podcast. Anthony, thank you so much for
inviting me. So excited about our talk today.
Yes, it's a pleasure. It's been a long time in the
making and glad we finally got there.
And so I'm excited to hear your story and for you to share with
the audience. Junior, you went through and
(03:15):
hopefully someone's going to be inspired and might someone even
change someone's life? So yeah, let's dive into that.
Angela, tell us about your childhood, your journey in life
to this point. From the intro and the buyer
that you sent me and also the chair we had before this
interview, it seems like you went through quite a quite a bit
of challenges in your life. Would love to hear about your
(03:38):
story. Sure, yes, so I am.
I'm really excited to be here. I think now more than ever,
women's sports is, is getting onthe big stage, so to speak.
And there are so many stories ofyoung women who play that often
go untold. So really excited.
I am as, as you mentioned, 6 foot one.
(03:58):
I've been this tall since I was 12, so I've been this high for a
really long time. And as you can imagine, it
wasn't very cool back then. So I felt really uncomfortable,
very insecure, definitely would not have spoke in public.
And basketball found me. There was a coach that saw me
that asked me to be on the team and I wasn't very good like most
(04:21):
people when they start somethingnew.
But that ultimately led to me playing professionally and
coaching young women at all levels.
And then now working as speaker hub where I hope people share
their voice. So to go from a really insecure
kid actually being able to help other people do the same is
really a blessing. And then tell us about your
(04:44):
childhood. Like like with other kids, you
being tall. What made it really awkward was
that I never felt like I fit into a place that was never a
place that felt comfortable until I started playing
basketball. There were other girls like me,
but the shoot this, I wasn't very good because I was new.
But one of the greatest gifts was being on a team with people
(05:08):
who were already winners. There was these young women who
could really play and they took me up to the full but push me in
ways that I had never been pushed before.
I grew up with older brothers who pushed me in ways that I've
never been pushed before and thecoach who actually believed in
(05:28):
me. And So what I didn't know,
Anthony, is that I was going to be playing on this travel team
and we would go to different places to play ball, but my
family only went two places. Mom by you Mississippi and
Memphis, TN because our family was there and basketball
literally opened up the world and I didn't run very fast.
(05:49):
I didn't jump very high like I'mtall, but I I'm I was not overly
athletic. I just learned how to work and
I'm really grateful to everyone in St.
Louis, MO, where I'm from who supported our team like we
didn't have fundraisers. Our parents didn't have a lot of
money. We were the kids on the corner
on Saturday morning asking for money to be able to participate
(06:14):
in in these activities. And so I'm really grateful for
everyone who supported us so that we could have these number
duties. Sounds like basketball helped
you shift from that sort of insecurity to more of an inner
strength within you. Yes, yes, anytime.
So I think we all have the certain level that we think we
(06:38):
can push ourselves too. But when you're in an
environment where you're forced to grow, I've never run laps
outside the way that I did. I would never forget my coach
saying, okay, you can't just practise that practise.
You have to go home and do thesesquats and do these wall jumps
and do all of these extra thingsin order to become better.
(06:58):
And it was not fun. You know, like we see people
playing the game in that part ofSun, but what's really not fun
is all of the training that goesinto giving you those
opportunities and who you becomeand the process is really the
gift. Lessons did you learn from the
game that still guides you in your life and in leadership
today? The lessons that guide me most
(07:22):
today are you can get better. Like it is possible to improve a
skill. And most things in life are
really skills. Whether it's marketing in
business, whether it's operations, which is what I do
now, whether it's public speaking.
Those are skills that you can improve upon.
And when you start as an athleteand you go from not being very
(07:44):
good and see yourself becoming better just through the work,
you know that the only thing that's stopping you is the work.
That's one of the greatest lessons is that you can get
better at the skill. The second lesson is you're
going to make mistakes, but there's another game, right?
You're going to miss shots the best.
The best shooters only make halfof their shots, 50%.
(08:06):
You're an incredible shooter andwe still think you're pretty
good. If you shoot 40%, that means
you're missing 6 out of the ten shots that you take.
You're still a very good player.So it's okay to make mistakes
and the more you make, the greater opportunity you have to
get better. And in terms of leadership, what
I learned is force gives you be greatest opportunity to meet
(08:27):
people from all over the world and to connect through through
the game. You get to connect with
different cultures and that has been one of the most amazing
things that's come out of playing sports and coaching.
Yeah. And you know, it's that
consistency, right. Like when you with repetition
and consistency, you can build that competency and you can, you
(08:47):
can become more confident in what you what you do with that
sports or with the whatever you do.
But like you said, yeah, absolutely.
You've got to do the work, whether it's internal work or
whether it's external work. You know, you've got to do the
work. Absolutely.
That's always both. It's like you don't give
external without the internal and vice versa.
(09:09):
Personally, I think it's stats internally, you've got to do the
internal work 1st and it kind ofcomplements each other.
So yeah, it's a, it's a like a tug of war, I guess.
But yeah, so now bouncing forward, now I resonate with
bouncing forward and I would, I would imagine some of the
audience may, may know what thatmeans.
(09:30):
It's a powerful concept. What does that phrase mean to
you personally? What this means to me personally
is when whenever you have a difficult situation and
something hard happens, you don't go back to where you were.
You actually get a little bit better.
You know, there's this great book called Antifragile and it
(09:50):
talks about the concept, if you keep it is possible to continue
to get better and to get stronger through difficult
things and difficult situations.And so the opportunity is to
learn and to grow from that, learning not to just go back to
where things were before becausehonestly, really, do they just
(10:11):
go right back? Yeah, absolutely.
And it's like a like a rubber band or something when you
stretch it, it doesn't doesn't always go back to the way it it
was, right, because you've stretched it further.
And that's what I comfort zone is like a comfort zone is, is
keeps us restricted and limited.But the more that we push
(10:31):
ourselves and tell our brain that it's okay, take one step
and go, it's okay. You know, you haven't died,
nothing's nothing bad has happened.
And that's when your brain starts to go, hey, it's okay,
you know, let's take another step.
So absolutely, you know, in, in my life, like I've been through
many adversities and I've alwayskept bouncing forward because
(10:55):
you gotta keep moving forward. You can't go backwards.
Yeah, you literally can't go backwards.
It's the way that we become the next version of ourselves
because there, there's, there's levels to it.
Like once you, I, I was talking to a friend's daughter and, and
I meant to her and she is in herearly 30s and we have this
(11:19):
conversation all the time around.
Like you got to make mistakes, you got to mess up, and you're
still very smart and competent and capable.
So making mistakes doesn't mean that you're incapable.
It literally means that here's an opportunity for you to learn
and grow from it. And I think a lot of times when
things don't go the way that we expect them to, we question our
(11:43):
self worth and our self esteem, when in fact it is literally
just a normal part of life. Yeah, and we are, we are
shifting identities every moment, right?
Every moment to moment we are, we are becoming a different
version of ourselves. We're shifting identities.
So we are never ever the same person that we were a moment ago
(12:06):
because we're learning new things.
We're becoming the best version of ourself.
And as one of the peak performance coaches here in New
Zealand, one of the top performance coaches said to me,
on the other side of your comfort zone is your best
vision. Ohh I just love their concept.
Absolutely at it, as you know. And so David Neath coached a
(12:27):
number of kickboxing fighters, golfers and so on.
And it used to be New Zealand's strongman and this guy's like 6
foot something and there's like a brick house.
And but yeah, like when I had that conversation with him, he
(12:48):
just said, yeah, on the other side of your comfort zone is
your best vision. And I was like, wow, that is so
profound. Can you share a moment where you
had to leave that message in a tough season of your life of
bouncing forward? Sure, sure.
So I talk about playing overseasall the time, like it was a part
(13:10):
of my plan, but it really wasn'tactually.
Like most young women, I wanted to plan the WMD A and I was at
the Final Four my senior year incollege and there was a pro
combine that I had registered for.
So the day of the event, the dayof the combine, Combine is like
(13:30):
a showcase for those who don't know.
So it's a showcase of all the women who want to play their
next level. And there were professional
scouts there who were looking for players for the team.
And the day of the event, hopping the cab, go over to the
ohh, God, I'm dating myself. No one even uses cabs anymore,
right? It's like Uber's nowadays.
So we get in the car and go overto the gym and it's over and
(13:52):
everyone's leaving. And I was devastated, Anthony,
because I worked really hard to prepare for this showcase and I
can't. I contact my college coaches and
told them I still wanted to playand they said, well, I know an
agent. I know someone who knows someone
who's an agent in Germany. Are you interested in having a
(14:14):
conversation with her? So of course I want a
conversation. I send my game film and there
was this low time of graduating and waiting to go overseas where
I was like, I don't really know what's going to happen but I
know how hard I work and have faith that is going to work out.
And I ended up getting the contract and going to Europe.
And as I mentioned, I never travelled abroad.
(14:35):
We went to Memphis, TN and my body Mississippi.
So for me to leave in the city of Saint Louis and travel to
Europe was a really, really big deal.
And it wasn't what I wanted, butended up being the most
incredible life changing experience being immersed in
another culture. And so things don't always work
out the way you want them to, but they can work out in ways
(14:58):
you could never imagine if you just keep bouncing forward.
Yeah, and often also we we have a we know, we think we know what
we want, but the universe, the universe has so much more for
us. And it's like no matter
ourselves, right, we gotta dreambig.
We gotta dream like so big. Ohh, docious goals that that
(15:18):
people are going to go now that's never going to happen.
And you go, let me show you And then and right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
I would like to hear about some of your highlights or your or
your proud moments and, and whenyou were playing basketball and
like, what were some of the the key highlights that you that
(15:42):
you're really proud of and, you know, tell, tell us a bit about
it the game and. Yeah, there's some on the court
highlights and some off the court highlights.
I saw with the off the court highlights because basketball is
so it's such a special game and particularly for young women
(16:02):
from where where I'm from, it's really special because of who
you get to meet in the process. I remember going to visit a new
Washington IN with one of my college team mates.
She's we used to call her Bird and nickname was Bird, like
Larry Bird. And I'm from the inner city of
Saint Louis. She's some new Washington IN
this really small town. And I went home with her and it
(16:22):
was the first time I rode on like riding lawn mowers.
This is the first time I saw like a stalk of corn and a
cornfield because it was just this country around.
And we got so close from that visit that I would go back to
year after year and do basketball clinics because she
was a high school basketball coach.
Now do basketball clinics for her, her team.
(16:44):
And so the off the court is the relationships that you deal with
your team mates because you go through so much help together.
It really forms a strong bond onthe court.
My junior year, it was the firstyear we went to postseason play
and that was amazing to have a banner in the Raptors for our
team. And then personally, my senior,
(17:06):
I won this award called I'm Robin Roberts Sports
Communication Award. That's for young women who play
sports, who have a desire to grow in the communication field,
whether it's speaking or journalism or helping grow in
that industry. So those are kind of three
(17:27):
experience some basketball that I really appreciate.
Hmm, well, that's cool. Now, who was your who was your
inspiration at the time when youwere playing basketball?
My inspiration was Shamika Hosla, choose my favourite
player of all time. She played the University of
Tennessee #23 won multiple national titles.
(17:47):
He was so good. She was the first one in that
whose shoes that I bought. Nike put out Smokehouse Bar
branded shoe and I was blown away because we were all wearing
Jordans. So you like shacks or poop?
Allen Iverson. But to have a woman with a shoe
in a woman's style, I thought was just the best thing ever.
(18:10):
Hmm. And was this something about
that person that really resonated with you and and like
what? What was it that drew you to
her? What drew me to her was I could
see myself in her. We were about the same height.
She's like 6 months, 62. Steve was way more athletic than
me, way, way more. But she was so competitive.
(18:34):
You know, Anthony, I'm actually not naturally competitive at
all. Have older brothers that forced
me to be competitive and so I hadn't seen women be that
competitive at that level until like University of Tennessee
changed it at summit with her competitive spirit really gave I
(18:55):
feel like gave so many women theopportunity to say I can be
really tough and chemicals caught embody that culture of
toughness and she was a winner. Cool, that's awesome.
So you've lived and worked around the world.
How has being immersed in different cultures shaped your
(19:16):
approach to leadership, communication and confidence?
Hi, Chris, everyone just leave home, leave your country, go go
live somewhere else because it changes your mind and heart and
spirit in ways that you don't even know that are going to
happen in terms of leadership first, right?
That's the first part. The way that has changed the way
(19:38):
that I lead is I'm incredibly more empathetic.
When I was in Germany, I took these a German class.
So it was my first time actuallyattempting to learn another
language in another country. Not like the Spanish class
taking the US with your Americanprofessor.
No, like taking a German class in Germany with someone who is
(20:00):
German was very different. And my team mates want some
Romania. One was from Russia.
Laughed at me histerically. When I start to pronounce this
word, it was the first time I'veever been like, laughed at.
So as a leader, I have a heightened sense of humility and
compassion because our team now is speaker hub is global and
(20:24):
everyone's bilingual, water in Spanish a little bit, but
everyone's bilingual. And so we have have behind sense
of compassion as a leader to really understand and value
talent work regardless of where it comes from.
So that's on the leadership sideand the communication side.
I'm I'm more patient and I listen more.
(20:45):
I'm more focused on the listening of communication with
our team and being immersed. Another culture is just
developed, this confidence that you could put it, you can make
it anywhere and that you can connect with people from
anywhere and sport was a big part of that foundation for me.
Hmm, and what about the confidence side of it?
(21:07):
The confident side is that, um, living abroad taught me that
learning is critical because when you live, when you live in
another country, you don't have a choice but to learn every
single day. Whether it's the grocery store
and everyone speaking Spanish and you're trying to figure out
how to buy the bread, whether you're doing the conversion rate
(21:28):
from pesos to USDI mean learningbecomes a part of who you are,
and confidence develops when youlearn new skills.
So living in other cultures helpme develop this this mindset
that I'm constantly learning newthings.
Hmm, that's cool. What?
(21:51):
What's 1 cultural lesson that really stuck with you?
Relax, relax. In the US, we, we, we push going
hard all the time to the point of burnout, which I have
definitely burned a few times. But I when I lived in medicine
(22:12):
in Colombia, umm, tranquilo was always the like, no worry
tranquilo like relax. So I was able to learn that it's
okay to the the level of joy that I saw people have in Latin
(22:33):
America blew me away. And in America, most people have
exponentially more than the people that I saw in the places
I visited in Latin America. And the people in America were
so much happier. By.
Tenfold by what I saw. And so that stuck with me.
It doesn't take a lot to enjoy this life and sometimes we put
(22:53):
too much pressure on ourselves to consume the things and we
miss out on the living part. And they live in Latin America.
Yeah, absolutely. I was watching a video yesterday
on TikTok, I think it was. And there was it was about money
and, and the study was reading this book and the author was
sitting next to her and she said, she said to her that, you
(23:16):
know, like she's talking about how when she went to Cuba,
Americans were saying that people in Cuba were struggling.
And, you know, it was tough. But when she went there, it was
totally the opposite because shesaid people were so happy and
joyful because they were happy with what they all they, what
they had. You know, and often we judge
(23:37):
others based on what will be at have or don't have, right on the
lack of scarcity of what we don't have.
And so, but I agree with you. Having a simple life where you
have got enough to love and but being joyful and be happy in
your life is so simple. Yeah.
It is. It is.
(23:58):
Yeah. I've never danced so much in my
life as I do in medicine. Salsa dancing all night long.
I mean, it was amazing. Absolutely.
Quite. I did a basketball clinic in
Minneapolis, Colombia and after the clinic the last day that
turned on music and we were all salty dancing in the middle of
the quick. It was amazing, so much fun.
(24:21):
I I used this to go to salsa dancing here in Auckland and I
was singing and singing and playing the percussion in the
South Sudan and I ended up beingdating a Colombian girl as well.
So, so that's as close as I want.
I got to Colombia, but when one day I will make it out to Smith,
(24:45):
South America. It's interesting.
I'm, I'm Indian to see it, but I've always, I've always loved
the Latin culture and I was like, I always wished that I'd
be in a Latina, you know, so you'll learn, learn, grow and
give framework. Sounds like a little powerful
(25:05):
cycle. How did you develop this model
and how can listeners apply the apply it and build their
confidence and momentum in theirlives there?
Was a few young women that I wasmentoring and they kept getting
stuck with. Maybe it was a situation at
(25:26):
work. Are they working on this project
and and I was reflecting like what what do you call want them
to know? Like what I don't have children
and tell us like if what happened to the nephews and like
they're these employment mentor.They're what do I what's the
simplest way for them to know that their moving forward in
(25:50):
their life? And it's if you're learning,
then you can build confidence. Confidence is the foundation.
Like how do we build confidence?It's really the question is how
do they stay confident? Okay, so if I learn something
new, I can gain confidence in that area.
If I can gain confidence in thatarea, then I've grown.
(26:12):
And the growth may be painful and I may have a set back, but I
can grow from it if I'm willing to continue to learn through the
process until you to learn and continue to work.
And then giving, I mean, there'sso many studies that have shown
the impact of giving on the giver as well as the person
receiving the gift. So even if everything isn't
(26:34):
working for you, you still have something, whether it's your
time, your resources, your talent that you can give to
someone else and impact their lives.
So then it takes the focus for me and it's like, okay, what
greater impact can I have in this world?
I'm constantly learning, I'm constantly growing, and I'm
constantly giving them. My legacy is never in question.
It's really clear that it that Iwill have an impact on those
(26:57):
around me. Yeah, we got, we gotta become
lifelong learners. We're we're, we're learning all
the time because that's the onlyway to grow is to learn.
And as I said before, it's aboutexpanding their comfort zone.
And but you know, life is about expansion.
It's about growing, it's about learning.
It's about, yeah, becoming a different version of ourselves
(27:19):
that that is going to push past those pain, painful moments.
But you know, like it's, it's half the time, it's not even
pain. It's just really uncomfortable,
right? So so it's getting comfortable
with the discomfort. Yes, and there's a lot of
discomfort in life and keeps coming.
(27:40):
Exactly if you're you know there's Rob dialled amounts it
meant to talks about the comfortzone and your dreams.
Your dreams go to die and your comfort zone.
So let's get out of your comfortzone.
If you want to achieve your dreams and push yourself and
challenge yourself, and I believe you just every now and
(28:00):
then you got to ski yourself suddenly, you know?
Yes, and and the filling of fearisn't always a bad thing, of
course. If it's not your, your, If you
were not in danger, like if you're not in physical harm, the
feeling is literally pushing youto try it.
I mean, I was nervous before every game, literally every game
(28:23):
nervous without fail. Even speaking I I'm still
nervous like before this podcast, I'm like, okay, it's
game time, right? It's the same feeling, but
that's okay. It's just a part of doing things
that help you grow. Yeah, yeah.
Look, I've done, I've published 130 episodes and I still get
(28:45):
nervous at times when I'm showing up here to do episodes.
And, and, you know, I've been a singer for all my life.
And every time if I still get upand I still get nervous, but I
just push past it, feel the fearand do it anyway, right?
Yes, that's correct. Yeah, So what are what does 1
(29:06):
practical way someone can start this process of learning,
growing and giving framework? 1 practical way is to ask for
feedback, and sometimes it's painful to hear, but if you are
really stuck, find someone who knows you.
(29:26):
If you're let's say you want to advance in your career and you
are stuck feeling, you're stuck feeling like I don't know the
next step to take or I don't know what skills I may have in a
deficit. Go to your manager, go to a
colleague, ask how you can get better.
That's one way. I think another way is just to
(29:49):
slow down and reflect. Oftentimes we just get caught in
this rat race of going and we don't slow down, maybe get up 10
minutes earlier and really thinkabout what is it that you want
to accomplish? Because quite often the answer
already inside of us, right? Even in the scenario I mentioned
before, think about what is it you want to accomplish, what's
(30:11):
missing, and then just do one thing to get you a little closer
everyday and you eventually are able to learn, ultimately grow
and then give that to someone else.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
And you know, one of the things that I also heard not downside
is that you want to do the hard things now and do the easy stuff
(30:33):
later. If you do the easy stuff now,
then you're going to have to do the hard stuff later.
It's a choice that we have. Do we want to, you know, do like
when you, when you show up everyday, first part of your
morning should be doing the hardstuff right?
And then the rest of it is just plain sailing.
If you do the easy stuff first, then you're going to have such
(30:56):
a, you're going to have a harderday because you, you know, you
want to put all your energy intothe hard stuff 1st and then just
ease into the rest of the day here.
So as someone who helps amplify others, others amplify their
voice, what advice do you give people who feel like they don't
(31:16):
have a story with telling or lack of confidence to speak up?
Because everyone's got a story to tell, right?
Yes, everyone has a story to tell, and the story is connected
to some human emotion. And we all have those emotions,
whether it's fear, like we mentioned before, Maybe it's
lost, maybe it's pain, it's joy,excitement.
(31:41):
So there are people who will say, well, I don't know what
story to tell. Well, how do you feel about a
situation? And then you can unpack that and
be able to create the flow of a story from that.
And in terms of getting in the confidence, you're doing in
small ways. You do it with the people who
are around you. You say, hey, can I share this
(32:02):
with you? It's practise, just like in
sport. It's literally just practise to
be able to tell your story more confidently.
Absolutely, yeah. And how can leaders find their
voice even when they're facing uncertainty and especially in
this day and age at the moment, because you know, there's so
much with AI and technology advancing and the financial
(32:28):
challenges we've had, how can leaders find their voice?
During the time of uncertainty, as leaders, it's really
important for us so acknowledge one, that we don't have all the
answers. Sometimes as leaders we feel
like we have to know everything.And of course there's an
expectation of competence like that's baseline, but the
(32:52):
expectations also that you're continuously learning and your
teams and the people who are following you will respect that
you are trying to learn. But we do a speaker hub.
We always ask for our team's input.
We're always like, okay, So whatdo you guys think?
We have some dynamic. Maria is incredible with design
and held an amazing designer. I mean, Carlos incredible with a
(33:13):
I. So I go to them, I set up
one-on-one meetings. Okay, teach me what you're
doing. I don't understand it.
So we need we have this softwareand this software connects to
this. We use these platforms, we give
our team the ability to the autonomous and create what we
need, but at the same time like I need and want to learn from
them. So be willing to say I don't
(33:35):
know, others may have better ideas, and just be willing to
learn in uncertainty. Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, that's, that's great. And you know, as leaders, we are
role models for the people that look up to us.
So yeah. So if we're not able to to, you
(33:55):
know, push throughout then and, and really be confident and, and
in what we doing, then how do weexpect others to follow us to to
do the same? So it's important that leaders,
you know, if your leader and you're uncertain about
something, it's okay. Don't just sit back.
Learn, you know, learn how to, as Angela said, learn new things
(34:18):
and then you you get better. Is there anything else, Angela,
that you'd like to share before we go into the quick fire
questions? Anything else?
I I think that now more than ever, I think young women who
(34:40):
play sports have just this incredible opportunity to have
an impact in ways like never before.
And so I hope that they're able to use their voice, but everyone
has the potential to impact other people's lives, and we're
doing it whether we're consciousof it or not.
So yeah, I think that's really it, to use our voices to have
(35:02):
impact, positive impact on others lives and to teach
whatever you know, because there's someone who's looking
and listening and relying on you.
And, you know, yesterday I was in a meeting with a young, young
person who came to meet me here and we were talking about some
of the I work that I'm doing. And he, he actually said to me,
(35:25):
ohh, I've listened to you, to your episodes and it's really
helped me. And I was like, well, I've
created an impact in this person's life, you know, So
that's that's so amazing that, you know, even though she had
something, it actually impacted this person.
And and he's been able to to take the right chips and his
life to be able to, yeah, you know, make things beautiful him.
(35:47):
So yeah, everyone has a story totell.
And, and there's a saying that if we don't share, then we're
being selfish. Yeah, we've been placed with
with experiences and we don't see it, then we've been selfish.
So get out there and start sharing your story and don't
(36:10):
worry about people that say, youknow, ohh, you talk too much or
any of that. That's their problem.
Just go and share, be you and, and yeah, do you and, and Share
your story because you will impact someone.
You will change someone's life. Angela, I've got 6-6 questions
for you. First question is what is your
(36:32):
definition of success and has their definition changed for you
overtime? My definition of success is
having a goal that is meaningful, meaningful to you
that positively impacts someone else and going after it.
Have they changed overtime? Absolutely.
Success for me in the past was the destination.
(36:52):
Like achieving this one thing and that it ends for me now.
It's the constant pursuit of something meaningful that
positively impacts others. Because once you arrive,
wherever that first destination is, life doesn't stop.
So it's the constant pursuit with peace.
Like I don't mean constant in inthe most stressful sense, but
(37:14):
annoyingness that you have the ability to impact others.
Yeah, the peak of every mountainis another mountain to climb.
And it is, Yeah. Yeah, another valley back up and
down you. Know.
Yeah. And that's where the growth
happens. That's where you do the the
work. Yeah.
Who's been your greatest inspiration and why?
(37:35):
My parents have been my greatestinspiration.
They, my mom grew up in Mumbai, you Mississippi, its oldest all
black municipality in the US andshe literally picked cotton,
which I can't even imagine. So she had an incredibly
challenging upbringing. And my father who's 85 now,
mom's 83, dad is 85, grew up andwas born in Mississippi as well.
(37:59):
And they both just worked so hard to ensure that my mother
going to have opportunities. So they've gone through things I
could never imagine. So they inspire me daily.
Hmm, what is something that you believe that others may disagree
with? That is OK to have less things.
(38:24):
So I moved to my living from India, sold everything and never
felt more free in my life. So the car, so the rental
property sold the house like everything and having it is okay
to not have a lot of things. That's what I believe, yeah.
That's what I've been learning as well.
(38:45):
And I've been there. I've been the decluttering and
and getting the stuff and keeping them off simple.
If you could go back and give your younger self one piece of
advice, what would that be? How much younger self?
I'm interested is this like my 8year old self or my 21 year old
self? Because at this age I had a lot
of younger selves. Ever age that resonates with you
(39:08):
at this point in time? Okay, what the Asia resonates
with me at this point in time. I think about my 21 year old
self about to graduate college because we are approaching May
and I would tell my 21 year old self build some professional
mentors. So all of the professionals I
(39:29):
knew at 21 where coaches, basketball coaches are or
professors, those are the only two I didn't know any other.
So I would I would tell her gameprofessional mentors and
everything's going to work out just fine.
Just relax. You actually should stress a lot
less because when you go throughright now is nothing compared to
(39:51):
what you're headed for. So you'll be fine.
And what is 1 message that you'dlike to share with the world?
Be kind to people, to speak goodto people.
It's OK to be good to people reliving a world that's
(40:11):
seemingly divisive. So be good to people who don't
look like you. Don't talk like you use.
Because we all are looking for the same care and concern and
need need. We need each other.
Yeah, absolutely. And the last question is, what
does it mean to be a champion and to have a champion mindset?
(40:33):
What it means to be a champion, to have a champion mindset is
the never quit, never quit you if you just keep going, if you
can out last others, if you can outlasts yourself because the
competition really is internal. It's not even external you being
willing to get up everyday and pursue something worth pursuing
(40:55):
that you know is your gift and it's on your heart.
You can't lose if you keep going.
Help me 100%. Yeah.
Angela, thank you so much for bringing your energy, your
wisdom, and your heart to this podcast.
Your story is powerful. Reminded that setbacks don't
define us and we can refinance right from the court to a global
(41:22):
stage you have you show us that that means what it means to keep
bouncing forward with courage and clarity.
And to everyone listening out there, if today's conversation
is spoken to you, then be sure to connect with Angela.
She's available on LinkedIn and also there's where where else
(41:43):
here, where else people can contact you Instagram.
On Instagram, so on LinkedIn it's Angela R Lewis.
Apparently there are a lot of Angela Lewis in the world, so be
sure to socially with the R on Instagram, the Angela R Louis,
my website's angelarlouis.com and YouTube Angela R Louis the
(42:04):
Angela Lewis. Nice.
We'll put those links into the show notes so that people can
contact connect with you. And finally, don't forget to
keep learning, growing, giving. And because the world needs more
view, the world needs your bounce back story as well as as
(42:24):
well as your bounce forward story.
So, so tell both those stories of what's happened in your life.
And yeah, you know, lastly, I just want to say you are loved.
You're worthy, champion your life, camping your greatness and
have an amazing day.
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