December 19, 2023 • 43 mins
Join Dr. Mailhiot on the 'Baroness' podcast as she delves into the remarkable journey of Priscilla Loomis an Olympian, entrepreneur, founder of the "Priscilla E. Frederick Foundation," 3X Hall of Fame inductee, 2X female athlete of the year, and World Class Medalist. Discover her inspiring story of resilience, impact, and unwavering confidence as she shares insights on leading a life of excellence, turning obstacles into opportunities, and thriving through failure Get ready for a dose of motivation and empowerment!
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Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (00:00):
Welcome to Rowan College at Burlington
County's Baroness Podcast. I'mDr. Brooke Mailhoit program
chair and assistant professor ofour entertainment technologies
department. I'm the co-chair ofthe Women's Advocacy Group a
subcommittee of the President'sAdvisory Council on diversity,
equity and inclusion. Thismonthly series highlights women
in leadership while encouraginglisteners to build their skills,
(00:24):
connect with the community andvisualize the opportunities
available to women in variousprofessions. Tune in for a
female perspective on theBurlington County community. We
are here to listen to amazingwomen. And if you want to hear
from women who lead and inspirethis podcast is for you. Welcome
(00:45):
to our bareness podcast, it'sour end of the year podcast I
can't believe that we wentthrough a whole year December
holidays are here, we arelooking to turn obstacles into
opportunities, balancing healthand wellness empowerment,
persistent practice findingempowerment and starting over
quitting our toxic environmentsand thriving through failure and
more on what better person to behere to connect us with all of
(01:09):
those amazing topics isPriscilla Loomis, a South Jersey
native and Wildwood New Jerseyresident a track and field
Olympian, an entrepreneur, thefounder of Priscilla e Frederick
Foundation, supporting singleparent households and granting
educational scholarship a threetime Hall of Fame Inductee two
times Female Athlete of the Yearworld class medalist. I mean, we
(01:34):
could go on and on for probablyweeks and months of all the
amazing things that you do.Welcome Priscilla to the
Baroness. Oh my goodness, thankyou so, so much for that
incredible intro. I'm veryblessed and grateful to be here.
Well, thank you so much forbeing incredible yourself. I
mean, I know I just read thefirst little mini paragraph
(01:57):
about what you do. And you saidshort bio, and I know, my bed
said,
Unknown (02:03):
I'm sure your bio must be a three to four or five pages
long. But small nerd I know. Butyou know, you're such an
inspiration to women everywherethat I knew. And I, I saw you on
social media. And I was like, Ifollow you. You are everywhere
(02:23):
supporting every, you know,amazing thing. And you I mean,
you're a mentor. I feel like thelife a lifelong learner, you're
supporter of all these amazingprojects and things. You're a
motivational speaker. I mean,it's my baby. I can't I couldn't
ask for someone better to behere in December and celebrating
(02:44):
the end of the year with withme. Oh, thank you so much. I'm
so uncle. Thank you. Thank you.So tell us what what are you
doing now? What what is what'shappening now? Because I know
you're in so involved with somany things. What's, what's kind
of coming down the pipeline foryou, ending December and coming
(03:05):
out into the new year in 2024.So I will say a lot of people
say that they're like, Do yousleep? When do you get all this
stuff done? How do you timemanage. And so for me, I just
want to continuously be thisexample of positivity and impact
and self love. So you know,every single, I'm a big believer
(03:26):
in New Year's resolutions. And Iam a very big believer and new
year new me. And I know a lot ofpeople are like, No, that's not
the right way. But for me, thenew year is a is a reset button,
you're allowed to grow andbecome a different, better
version of yourself. Right? Andwe are creatures of habit. So
(03:49):
why not use the new year as atime to say, This is my time to
reset, you know, a lot of peopleare off, you know, they get to
see their families. They're allfrom work, and it gives them
time to reflect. And so that'swhat I pretty much do starting
in December. And throughout thewhole year. I'm always looking
for new opportunities to impactthe world with excellence and
(04:13):
you know, self resilience andbeing these badass warriors. How
can I continuously do that?
And I one of the things is witha podcast. So I've had my
podcast two times before. Onewas during COVID. And the other
was during probably this lastyear. And I realized that I
(04:34):
really wanted it to be excellentand make a bigger impact. So we
pulled out all the stops. Andnow we are relaunching our
podcast in the new year calledrespect the audacity. And that
statement is such a testament towho I am and where I'm at now,
where I was tired of makingmyself small, and I don't think
(04:56):
other people should make theirselves small to fit into other
people's perceptions.
Have themselves. So that'swhat's coming up in the new
year. You know, it's that's sucha beautiful thing. And a lot of
people don't realize, you know,I deal with, you know, young
women in my classes and studentsthat come here to rcbc. How
would you tell them to do that?How do you how do you tell a
(05:20):
young woman woman to be able tolook at herself reset, be the
new person they want to be andbe able to do that without
people thinking they're small ornot important? So my biggest
thing is that you have
a right, you have
(05:43):
it. It's disrespectful.
To not put yourself first. It'sdisrespectful to talk to
yourself negatively. It'sdisrespectful to make yourself
small. So if you wouldn'tdisrespect a friend, why would
you disrespect yourself? And sofor me, it is a habit. It is an
(06:03):
every day habit of being able towake up and look at yourself and
say, Wow, I am unstoppable. AndI'm incredible. And even right
now for myself. There's a lot ofthings that are happening,
right? Nothing is ever perfect.And so I have a mantra
and dependent on what chapter ofmy life I'm in. The mantra
(06:24):
becomes different and it growswith me. And so the mantra that
I'm seeing right now and I havebeen for the last three weeks,
weeks is weather, the storm,weather the storm weather the
storm. And from that, if I'm youknow, the morning started off a
little rough. If you know thingsin my life aren't aligning,
because they're out of mycontrol. It's weather the storm,
(06:47):
things will get better. I'm inthe right spot. I'm in the right
place could be worse. I'm havingfirstworldproblems right. Sure.
I yeah, let me go get my pumpkinspice. Let me go get my holiday
blend. Right. Wow. Let me put onthis Christmas music by the
Jonas Brothers because they putout a fire Christmas album
Right? Like it's I had no idea.I'm gonna have to check it out.
(07:08):
Oh my gosh, I love the JonasBrothers. Like that's a whole
nother
a whole nother separate combo.But it's it's a habit of putting
myself first and being selfish.Now selfish to a lot of people's
and negative term. But for me, Ihave to be selfish important to
myself every single day. Or elseI won't be able to pour into
(07:30):
other people's cups, right? Sofor it starts with me. And if
I'm trying to be the example ofpositivity and love and
resilience and courage, then Ihave to put that as a priority
in my life every single day. Andyou start to realize that things
will align once you start sayingthe mantra once you start doing
it, and it does become a habit.And then you're gonna start to
(07:53):
see the negativity kind of showitself and show its ugly head.
Yeah, yeah. So to align yourselfand you I know you hit you know,
you're going to grab your latteor whatever. Oh, no, girl, just
regular coffee. Just regularcoffee from Wawa. Don't do the
lockdown and okay, that'scoffee, coffee, and then I'm
sorry, my coffee, coffee.
(08:15):
Everybody I gotta get I gottaget the I gotta get that. I say
coffee. I say talk. Yes. That'show it's a little bit of Yeah, I
was gonna save a little it's alittle Long Island. Yeah. 100%.
Yeah, like cash. And it comes,it comes out in different times.
So when I'm passionate, when I'mpassionate, that's 100% Well, to
align yourself with yourpassion, your vibe, your whole
(08:38):
thing. And you were saying aboutresetting? What are some things
that you do to reset, where'syour go to to reset, I will tell
you, it is taking myself away.And it can be different things
at different times. So when Iwas in my 20s, it looked a
little different. And so in my20s, when I wanted to reset, I
(09:00):
was like, I need to take a stepback and be with friends and be
with family. And just be sureright. So and as you know, I was
a track athlete in college. Andso everything revolved around
the sport. So it was about mynutrition. And it was about you
know, weight room, it was abouttrack practice. It was about
meetings with Coach it was itwas all these tracks centric.
(09:22):
And so when I needed to reset, Iwas like, I need to humble
myself and find that route.Right. So and it was you know,
doing my hair, getting my nailsdone and sitting with my
girlfriend and just chatting,calling my cousin and you know,
just having a normalconversation with her. But now
that I'm in my 30s I very early30s
You know, it's it really istaking a personal day, sitting
(09:47):
at home. Whether it be vacuumingmy house, watching a Netflix
movie, popping popcorn, doing mydoing my nails on my own couch,
right? It's things that I canpull
Pour into myself and just be,that's the biggest thing. It's
not me comparing. It's not me onsocial media feeling, you know,
(10:07):
irrelevant, right? It's notthinking about all the work that
needs to get done. It's taking astep back and saying, you know,
what, pay, what do you feel likedoing what is gonna make you
happiest? And sometimes it'ssitting on the couch, sometimes
it's making a meal. It'sdifferent, but it's just about
how I'm feeling. And what's mostimportant to me and being
(10:27):
selfish. I'm a big advocate forbeing selfish.
You know, it's interesting, wechatted about your history about
being the road to your, youknow, athleticism, being an
athlete, yes. world classathlete, three time Hall of Fame
inductee to time Female Athleteof the Year Olympian, you know,
(10:49):
that must have looked a lotdifferent with, with what you're
sharing now, to being almost inthat.
You know, it's like an industry,it's like a corporation. And,
and you were part of that wholecorporation. And now it's a
Yeah, and I would love for youjust to share, like some of that
(11:12):
emotional and mental
stresses that you were under asa young woman, because I think
at the end of the year here,we're celebrating, you know,
wrapping up December andstarting fresh. There's a lot of
people out there that are undera lot of mental stress. Yeah,
emotional stress. And I'm surethat was in the forefront of
(11:35):
being part of that corporationof of building your brand. And
being that athlete, can youshare? Yeah, of course.
Absolutely. It's one of thethings that I'm extremely
passionate about. And I thinkwhat a lot of people are
surprised to hear is that I wasmiserable. Have a great deal of
(11:56):
my career. Yeah. And when youmake the decision to go all in,
you realize how much you'regoing to sacrifice along the
way. And from a very young age,I grew up in a single parent
household, it was just my mom,my sister and I. So we didn't
(12:18):
have a lot.
So comparison started at a veryearly age of what I don't have.
And this is all before socialmedia show, right? Yeah. So then
you go on, and you go to aprivate school, where I am one
of
I don't know, five kids ofcolor, right? So now it's
(12:41):
the lack of representation.Diversity show. That's not I
have to fit into a separate box,right. And I was never, I'm
Dominican. And my dad is fromAntigua. So I've Caribbean
blood, and an all white school.
So now I'm not black enough. Andcan't fit in. We can't fit.
(13:02):
Yeah, yeah. You're trying tofind where you're going to fit
in? Yeah, yeah. 100%. Right. Andthen, as I move forward, you
know, you go into high school, Ifind my calling of, you know,
track and field, but also onstage and, you know, acting and
all that kinds of stuff. Andthen how do you pursue the
passion? How do one or thepassion that you're pushed to
(13:24):
follow a course? Yeah. And sothen I also think about, I don't
want my mom to pay for college.So I need to put my wants and
needs on the backburner to makesure that she doesn't have to
struggle anymore. So and then,you know, of course, not having
a father and my mom trying tohave that relationship for us,
you know, that kind of stuff.But then when you go to
(13:45):
auditions, and you go to these,you know, these modeling cattle
calls, sure. them telling me,you know, you have a fat face,
you photograph that, and thenbecoming a high jumper and, you
know, trying to do the best thatyou can and weight always being
top dieting. Yeah, the top ratedtopic all the time, right. So,
(14:06):
then you move on to become a proathlete, and you're so excited
because you're representing acountry that I wanted to get
close to and understand. Andhaving the country the
representation of the countryand athletics strictly because
the people loved me not resent
(14:26):
represent your culture. Yeah.You know, so being born in
America, but then representingAntigua and Barbuda. I'm coming
from, you know, it's all malerun, and they're very sexist.
And they truly don't respectfield events. Right. So now I'm
(14:47):
at the lowest on the totem poleas a professional track and
field athlete and then going tomeats and being told, hey, you
know, if you lost a fewkilograms, you probably have
done better. You know, so ever
Every step of the way, there wasjudgment. There was human, all
these things, right? Yeah. Soyou do all these things, and
you're just trying to beperfect, you're trying to be
(15:09):
perfect. And
when you're young, and you'redoing this for the first time,
and you have an agent, andyou're trying to get seen by all
these big sponsorship companies,but you realize that you can't,
you have to swallow your prideand mature a lot faster. And,
you know, I started my owncompany, becoming an
entrepreneur, I was a cleaningservice, right, because I had no
(15:32):
money. So I'm scrubbing toilets,in order to make sure that I can
train for the Olympics. And thenmaking my first Olympics, crying
every single day at theOlympics, because I just wasn't
enough. And then I had thepeople, my own teammates say
that they would like me betterif I was from the island, right?
And then the pressure ofcompetition and not letting
(15:56):
anybody down. How did you? Howdo you wake up every day? I
mean, no, I mean, as a femalebeing judged every inch every
thing, like and it's everyaspect, like you're talking
about weight, you're talkingabout culture, you're talking
about, you know, coaching,you're talking about your, your
teammates, the people that arethere to support you, and like
(16:19):
I'm trying to date.
We're not gonna go right now.Right? Like, that's the thing.
And it's like all facets. It'slike every facet of where you
want to turn, you turn left,there's a barrier. Yes, you turn
right. There's a stop. Yeah, youknow what I mean. And I think
that's what's happening. Andthat's why I feel so relevant,
quote, unquote, is because Ithink people are like, Oh, she's
(16:41):
an Olympian. She didn't dealwith this. But I dealt with my
own battles, my own demons andmy own enemies in a different
way. They just had a differentmask. Now, in this day and age,
all you have to do is just openyour phone. And all you're doing
is comparing yourself to otherpeople who are looking like they
have this incredible life,especially during I mean, look
(17:02):
at Christmas time, right? Theirhouse is so beautiful. Look at
what this husband is doing forhis wife. And it's ridiculous,
right? So all we're doing rightnow is comparing our life and
going through these stages. Andas we're growing, we're not
saying, You know what, thisteaching me a lesson, I'm gonna
look back at this and laugh. No,we're stuck in that moment. So
(17:26):
all of that that I went through,
was to teach me how to bestrong, how to be resilient, how
to be perfectly okay, andauthentic and exactly who I am.
And I'm glad that I went throughall of that, because it shaped
the person that I am right now.And I love who I am. I look in
(17:48):
the mirror every single day,like I didn't cower, I didn't
fail. I didn't, it didn't killme. And I thought that it would,
but I'm here. And I don't wantother people to have to
experience the nonsense that Iwent through. And I'm hoping
that through my storytelling,and through my motivational
(18:09):
speaking, and through my brand,
I am an example. I'm not tellingpeople exactly what to do. I am
an exact example, to just wakeup, show up for yourself, pour
into yourself and understandthat you have a right to be
here, your voice matters, youare important, we need you
(18:30):
exactly as you are. And I and Iam an example of that. So that
they can look in the mirror andsay, You know what, I didn't go
through what she went through,but I connect with her, I'm
gonna wake up a little bitdifferent. Each day, I'm gonna
get a little bit better, I'mgonna get a little bit stronger,
because that's what it is. Andwhen we all come together, and
(18:52):
we continuously support eachother, and become this magnet
than we all were the were therising tide that lifts all
ships. You know, I think it's sobeautiful about the word, being
authentic and staying true toyourself and, and being real.
And I think a lot of peoplewouldn't think after reading
(19:12):
your bio and knowing about allthis stuff, you were cleaning
toilets, and you were under allthis emotional distress. Yeah,
right. I still do I still havemy cleaning business. Right.
Like I'm still Yeah, cleaningpeople's houses. Yeah. So I'm
saying people don't understandthat. That's okay. And that's
being authentic. Yeah, it'sstaying true to you. Yeah. I
(19:33):
love to clean Yeah. My mom andmy mom, I need you over my
house.
And I got to well gotten alittle kids but oh my god. I
even believe the stuff I find intheir rooms. My thing is like,
how do we teach young women tobe authentic like you said, they
(19:55):
have you have these these youngwomen on social media people
body shame.
mean people, people, you know,like you're saying everybody's
posting about the perfect life,the perfect lifestyle this that
like you are using some of theseexamples? How do we then keep
these young women from goingdown these rabbit holes of
feeling that it's missing outthat I'm not good enough that
(20:19):
I'm not smart enough that I amnot intelligent enough, I, you
know, I need to put on this fakepersona for people to like me.
How did you get out of that andbreak that mold? I think what
was really incredible to me wasI just, it's not an epiphany.
But I felt like in a state oflack, like, I just wasn't
(20:43):
enough. And even people likeyou're an Olympian. Look at
this.
I can't be anybody else.Literally, I can't pay to be
somebody else. I can't Yeah, nomatter what, this is my life,
right. And I realized that I hadto be the same kind of mindset
that I had in the Olympics wasthe same thing I take in
everyday life, I had to be aleader and I had to fight. I had
(21:06):
to fight for me. I think peoplethink it's going to be an easy
fix, or everybody has a phone.So no matter what, if you have
social media, you're going to belooking at other people's lives,
right? So fight for you. That'swhat's going to be the biggest
change. If you fight for you. Ithink you put yourself like I
(21:27):
said, being selfish, you putyourself first, right. And so
what I did was I took a hardreset, and I had to restructure
my mindset. Because there werethings that I was following that
I didn't, I didn't want tofollow. I didn't want to see
that every day. So it was timeto unfollow I cut people out of
my life that were toxic, verysimply. And it's not like I'm
(21:50):
telling somebody, it's just youput the you put them at arm's
length, it's time for you togrow. The only way that I can
grow is by, you know, movingaway from this one thing, right?
So they're not included family,there were people that I had to
cut off and kind of block inorder for me to grow and be the
best person that I could be.
(22:12):
You know, people were like, Oh,you got to watch this. You got
to watch this. It's such a greatshow. It didn't align with me.
It made me feel awful afterwatching it. And that's why I
mean, I don't watch scary movieseven around Halloween. I'm like
I'm trying. It just doesn't sitright with my spirit. It doesn't
fit right with my life. So I waslike, No, I don't need that.
Before I go to bed. I'm watchingKim Possible. That's what I
(22:35):
watch. Every night, you can askmy husband, I'm watching Kim
Possible. I'm watching you know,things on Disney Channel,
because it's just uplifting.It's a light, right. And
sometimes that's what'sdisrupting my was disrupting my
life was things that didn'talign with who I am. And so
that's why I say be authentic,because I don't care what that
(22:55):
other person's opinion of me isbecause their opinion does not
matter truly, andwholeheartedly. Like I love you,
boo, boo. But that's not myjourney. Amazing that you can
say that. And I say it didn'tstart like that I had to learn
it. Right. And it was an everyday practice. So I start with
the vision boards. And I did Iput little sticky notes
(23:15):
everywhere around my house. Andeven when I you know, I do have
a spiritual side. And you know,I'm a Roman Catholic, I pray I
have my own relationship. I'mnot going to be come out here
preaching you the Bible. I justwant you to live a good life.
One that you know, your lovesthat you can give love, right?
And so when I went to church, Iwas going for my own I said, you
(23:38):
know, talk to me in my own way.So when I'm praying, I'm like,
yo, God, what is good, you know,I'm having a bad day, you know,
help me out. Help me out. Helpme see, sometimes you got to
shake me a little bit Jesus. Butyou know, I'm still here. I'm
here. So like, I, I knew who Iwas. And I just wanted to show
it authentically. When you showwho you are authentically, it
(23:59):
disrupts a lot of people'snegativity. True the 100%. And
one of the greatest quotes thatI did read was your character
will sometimes disrupt otherpeople's titles. Right? Oh my
god, I realized powerful right?Yeah, I sat back and I was like,
(24:20):
because I always was like, Ifeel uncomfortable, or I feel
like people don't like me. AndI'm thinking to myself one,
probably because you're in thewrong rooms. And too, because
your positivity is disruptingtheir negativity. Negativity
just spirals out of control, butso does positivity. So for me,
I'm this light, bright, happyout, going, colorful person
(24:46):
coming in to everyday life thesame way. Yeah, nothing's
disrupting me and that bothersother people. It's beautiful
that you're kind of reversingthe norm. Yeah, and you're going
against the norm. And I thinkthat's what a lot of people are
scared about. Being able to notjust do it, but then also speak
(25:11):
about it. That like you're outthere like I don't care, do not
care. And this is me Take it orleave it. Amen to that. And I
think it's a beautiful thing.Who was the person that inspired
you to be who you are today?Because you have so many like
all these mottos and these?Yeah, I mean, these powerful
(25:31):
mantras that you have verypowerful for a woman. Who was
that person for you that'sinspired you that was your
mentor that that why why are youhere today in this this place?
So everybody knows everybody whoknows me.
I've talked about this
for at least over a decade, andevery interview, every prize,
(25:58):
every scholarship, I give everyaward, every magazine, every
article, every article, every
question, everything. I say,it's my mom, my mom. And it's
still no matter how many times Italk about it, I get choked up,
and I remember getting my Hallof Fame induction and she was in
the audience. And I'm writing itout. I'm like pouring out
(26:20):
crying, and I'm just like,Priscilla, just get through it.
Don't look at her. Just lookdown, say the word. Because
she's bawling. You're bawling.You're like,
worst, but I made her stand upbecause I, I'm kind of like the
rock, or I really want to givemy mom everything. She deserves
the world. My mom came fromDominican Republic when she was
(26:41):
young, she didn't speak English.And my mom fought many, many
demons. She had a lot of a lotof negativity thrown her way.
And I don't know how she didn'tgive up. I am so in awe of her.
Everything I do is for my mom,my nonprofit is in honor of her.
Every everything she has, shehas a scholarship named after
(27:01):
her. You know, she was awarrior. She was the original.
She never gave up on me. Shepushed me like nobody's
business. I wanted to quit trackat least 10 times. She was not
having it. Right. Like shepushed me to where some people
would say like, oh, you can't dothat to your kid. My mom was
(27:22):
like, I don't care. She's a kid.She doesn't know she needs this
is her path. This is herdirection. And so everything
that I am today is because ofher. And the one thing that I
see in my mom is that she's notconfident in herself. And that's
what's so crazy. She just put onput on like a face and just
said, I have to keep going. Andso everything she was my mentor,
(27:46):
she is my godson, she is myexample. She is the reason why I
do what I do. Literally, I shegave me life.
So everything I'm alwaysgrateful for my mom and what
she's done and still continuesto do. She's, she's an angel. So
you had mentioned that yourfoundation is after your mom,
(28:07):
tell us what your foundationdoes. So the facility Frederick
Foundation was probably abouttwo decades long dream. I said,
when I make my first million, Iam going to start the nonprofit.
And millions come in. She's nothere yet. So I realized I was
like, You know what, I just wantto do good. So I had to start
somewhere. So I wanted to makesure that her legacy was always
(28:32):
alive and well. And so thefacility Frederick Foundation is
a foundation that supportssingle parent households, which
my mom was, so we give grants,so all they have to do is apply.
And if we have money in theaccount, we'll send out a check.
And we also award and grantscholarships to children coming
(28:53):
from single parent households.But any underserved child,
anybody that wants to continuetheir education will write a
check for as well, from theamount of 500 to $1,000. And it
grows every year, which I'm verygrateful for. And we do women,
we host women empowermentworkshops all across the
country, which I'm super excitedabout. And we had one in
(29:13):
Wildwood. And then we just didone in Camden last month. And so
now we're moving across countryand we'll do one in California.
We'll do one in Texas. We'll doone in Georgia. And these are
just we partner with brands thatare all about women empowerment.
And I just reach out, slide intothe DMS ask them to sponsor and
(29:35):
we've had great success withthat. So Cover Girl has you know
helped down sponsored us andBebo, the breakfast, they you
know, they do a fooddistribution. They have
sponsored every breakfast. Imean, I go to local places, and
I'll ask them to sponsor so wehad the Chegg the chicken or the
egg. They sponsored ourbreakfast which we were super
(29:55):
grateful Wawa has given us youknow, you know, coffee and you
All this kind of stuff. So it'sbeen absolutely incredible with
these women empowermentworkshops, and they grow
financial education, collegeprep, anything that we can do,
the community that we're at,they need will be, you know, a
helping hand. And then that'sthe final piece of it, we are
(30:16):
the helping hand. So, you know,one of my, one of my favorite
quotes is be the rising tidethat lifts all ships. And I
believe John F. Kennedy said it,and that's what it is not about
me. I just want to make surethat if I'm making an impact,
it's raising other people up. Sowe do random acts of kindness,
no matter what fee if I'm inlying, getting gas, I'll pay for
(30:38):
the person's gas in front of meor behind me, I'm at Wawa. I'm
buying things, you know, like wewere, we just did a whole
fundraiser this month. And we'resupporting 50 children that
Christmas this season. And weawarded another you know,
partner with another nonprofitto give away scholarships. So
we're just a positive impact.I've raised money so I can give
(31:00):
money away. That's what I do. Soanybody can reach out and, and
we'll help in any way possiblethat we can. And when I did a I
did, I was on Disney plus, whichwas like a huge thing for me.
Because I love Disney says somuch. I can hear that. And I
love Disney. And I'm still myheight, the personality that
fits every Disney character bythe way.
(31:22):
I said I love Disney, I'll doit, I'll play a villain or the
hero doesn't matter. I just wantto be I just want to be a part
of Disney. And so they did thissegment on Disney plus, and it
was called the M. M power. Andit was women who were inspired
by female, wonderful characters.And so my episode was on
(31:42):
Gomorrah.
And I talked about thefoundation. And it was
incredible, because we got somany applicants from all across
the country. Beautiful. And sojust writing checks to them and
writing like you'll get apersonal note from me. And so
it's amazing. You know, itreally is and everything that I
do ties into it's my brand.Yeah, who I am right, separate.
(32:03):
So yeah, my foundation is myessential elaborative effort in
all fronts, all fronts. Yep. Soit's amazing. And so when I do
any kind of social mediapartnership or anything, they
have to know that it's going totie into, you know, the
nonprofit in some way, shape, orform. And so, you know, we have
Dutch and deco which is aplanner and journal company, and
they've been great aboutdonating or hosting women
(32:25):
empowerment and sponsoring. Soeverything that we do is just
about making a positive impact.And that is my quote, live a
life with excellence impact andinsane competence. Well, you
just exude that.
And my you know, it'sinteresting, because I think
what you were saying aboutmaking this positive impact and
(32:48):
being empowered and
and drinking lots of coffee,lots of coffee.
Do you have any days whereyou're not on 100%? Because
there's lots of women out therethat you're you're so positive
you're so empowering. When doyou have do you have down to No
(33:11):
wonder you have down days worse?I do. I hate hate the phrase no
days off? I don't know whoinvented that. They should never
speak again. I swear to you, Igotta talk to my HR. No, no days
off is absolutely ridiculous.You've got to take days off. But
this is me. I will honestly tellyou anybody that knows me. I
(33:34):
live this life. This is my callit a phone. This is my gift.
Right? But that's, that'sbeautiful. Because not many
people can say that. And it's anend like I just said you are you
are 100% representation of allof these things that you're
talking right about your yourfrom your personal life to your
professional life to like you'resaying your your nonprofit, it's
(33:59):
it's this giving attitude, thisopenness, this empowerment this
female, just strong, powerfulwomen. And there's not enough of
us out there. There are not andthat's why many never ever Yeah,
no, that's the biggest thing isthat I never ever want
negativity to start with me,right? If somebody's coming to
(34:21):
my page, and they're having arough day. I never ever want
them to leave, not feeling 100%Better, right? So I need to be
the example. I don't have enoughtime to mentor one on one. And
it stinks right? We don't haveenough time because there aren't
enough of us. Right? But if Ican be that example of just if
(34:41):
they're scrolling and they get asmile on their face, or I make
their day 2% better. That'sthat's, that's the that's the
point, right? That's why I'mhere. I'm here to make other
people's lives better. And I dotake days off I take my
downtime, and I do have rough
moments, right? But it was thesame thing that I said to the
(35:02):
kids that I was coaching. I usedto coach it, Paul, the sixth and
his kids thought I was crazy.And I am and I love it. I'm a
beautiful, crazy, fabulouswoman, right? And I own that.
But the biggest thing was theywere like, can we have a cheat
meal, or a cheat day, I said,You gotta have a cheat meal, you
can't have a whole cheat day. Sofor me, it's important, you can
(35:24):
have a bad moment, can't have abad day, you have 24 hours in a
day.
control what you can control.Once you once you realize that
and take that to heart, controlwhat you can control. You can
control your emotions, you cancontrol what you eat, you can
control how you see life. That'swhat I control. And that's it.
(35:46):
There's a lot more things thatyou can't control. Right? A lot
more, but you wish you could.But the one thing you have
control over is you sure so showup for you. And be the excellent
queen that I that we all knowyou are that you can be. Life is
always going to be tough,always. But don't let us start
with you. That is beautiful. Youare truly an example
(36:11):
of what young women should be.Yeah, up to I appreciate your
your you're living and breathingyour words, your mantras. I
mean, this positive energy, yourwhole vibe, your whole aura. I
mean, I just I want to likefollow you around for like a
way. No, I'm telling you, youguys are more than welcome to
(36:32):
come to,
like breathe you in like I don'tknow, like I'm breathing. You're
breathing in for like a wholeweek and be like, Oh my God, I
want to like shadow you. Butimagine if we had that like
imagine if there was a 200 ofme, right? And they were just
all positive and happy. Andthat's all you saw on your on
your, on your social media. Ifthat's all that you heard, like,
all of that makes you a betterperson right now it is. And as I
(36:56):
said, I control my environment.I control what I look like I
control what I put out. Icontrol what I listened to from
podcasts in the morning, Ilistened to the positive mindset
podcast, right? Yeah. I'mlistening to either, you know,
the old Destiny's Child, right.I'm listening to, you know,
certain songs like JonasBrothers, they always make
Waffle House is like one of myfavorite songs, right? So you
(37:19):
listen to things that are goingto motivate you and make you
feel good. But that is what'smost important. You, whew, you
are important. And I thinkthat's that's the end of the at
the end of the day. That'swhat's most important. I swear
you are important. That's it?Well, you've been important to
this podcast, I am very podcastfor the holiday, I want to share
(37:40):
all of our great words. I putall these words at the end of
our podcasts that we've beenI've been, you know, writing
down while we're talking and Iuse these as almost like
hashtags for empowerment. So I'mgoing to read them and then I'm
going to turn to you and ask youwhat your personal hashtag is.
So here we got we've gotpositivity, self impact, self
(38:01):
love, reset, grow betterversion. Excellent. Right? Put
yourself first. Nothing isperfect. out of my control,
being selfish starts here. Findyour root sacrifice, comparison
judgment trying to be perfect,relevant, authentic show up.
state of
(38:24):
I don't even know what I wrotethere.
You were just it was like, youwere like word vomiting. Yes,
leader fight for me. Good Lifewarrior path, confidence, crazy
woman. And control. Yeah. What'syour personal hashtag. So
honestly, I will say it's kindof similar to my podcast title.
(38:49):
But it's going to be hashtagrespect my excellence. I truly
believe that. As I wake up andlive and breathe every single
day, I think
I am putting my best footforward, I am doing everything
possible to leave a positiveimpact. And I think like I said
(39:10):
before, I think that disrupts alot of people's negativity and
their negative spirit. And sowhen you approach me, when you
are around me, you know that Icome correct, you know that you
will not make me feel less thanyou will not talk down to me.
(39:30):
And I think as women in this dayand age, nobody should make you
feel small. Nobody should makeyou feel less than. So when you
wake up in the morning, peoplebetter respect your name. People
better respect your officeauthenticity, and you they need
to respect your excellence.Right? And so I think there is
this vibe. I'm not trying to beperfect because I am excellent.
(39:53):
I know that for a fact. I put mybest foot forward. I have a
positive mindset. I love mylife. I love
What I do, and I've made surethat I am the beacon of light
for others. So when when I sitat a table when I am around
people, I will be the positivelight. I will uplift people and
(40:16):
let them know just howincredible they are just how
wonderful their presence is, andthat we are so much better for
having them in our lives. Willyou have just been a joy
and a presence of light here.I'm very grateful. I want to
wish you and your family happyholidays. Hey, thank you for
(40:38):
being part of our barenesspodcast. Let me tell you
Priscilla Loomis is not just aname. She's an inspiration
dedicated to leading a life withexcellence impact. You are
insanely confident. I love it. Iwant to drink it all in with my
coffee. That'll be my nextthing. Like here's some joy to
add to your coffee. Sprinkle alittle joy. Sprinkle a little
(41:01):
joy.
Thank you Priscilla, we are sohonored to have you here. And
always
why don't you share with peoplebefore we leave any socials
where they can contact you andstart following your
beautifulness thank you so somuch I'm so I'm always in awe
when people invite me on totheir shows because it just is
(41:22):
living proof that I'm doingsomething right and as crazy as
my life gets. And as much asthings are moving and happening
so fast. It's a beautiful to, tobe respected and to be able to
share on other people'splatform, my message so I thank
you, I'm so so grateful you'redoing a wonderful job. And we
need more people like you, butpeople can follow me in many
(41:44):
different ways. So obviously, wehave respect the audacity coming
out soon. And so I'll be sharingthat on my socials. Everything
is kind of aligned to my brand.And so it'll be on Priscilla
loomis.com That's where all ofmy events everything keeps gets
updated. You can find out moreabout me. And I am very very
very active on Instagram. So youcan follow me Instagram would
(42:05):
not let me change my to mymarried name. So it is Priscilla
underscore Frederick. And so Ikeep everybody in the loop up to
date. You can subscribe becauseI do a little bit motivational
speaking on my, on my Instagramas well. So those are the big
ones. So Instagram, Priscillaunderscore Frederick Priscilla
(42:25):
loomis.com. And then of coursewhen my YouTube on is coming
out, we're gonna launch in thenew year. So I'm very, very
excited. Awesome. I can't waitto continue connecting with you
that I already do. You areamazing to follow with all of
your amazing stuff that you do.Thank you all for joining us
here at the bareness podcast.Happy Holidays, and we are
(42:46):
looking forward to speaking withyou in 2024 and to see what
Priscilla is up to. Here we go.Thanks so much for joining us.
Have a great day. Take care.Thanks. You've been listening to
the rcbc bareness podcast, whichhighlights women in leadership
while encouraging listeners tobuild their skills, connect with
the community and visualize theopportunities available to women
in various professions. For moreinformation about this podcast
(43:08):
or other podcasts available onthe rcbc Podcast Network, visit
rcbc.edu/podcast And be sure tosubscribe to the rcbc bareness
podcast available on allstreaming platforms.
Welcome to Rowan College at Burlington
County's Baroness Podcast. I'mDr. Brooke Mailhoit program
chair and assistant professor ofour entertainment technologies
department. I'm the co-chair ofthe Women's Advocacy Group a
subcommittee of the President'sAdvisory Council on diversity,
equity and inclusion. Thismonthly series highlights women
in leadership while encouraginglisteners to build their skills,
(00:24):
connect with the community andvisualize the opportunities
available to women in variousprofessions. Tune in for a
female perspective on theBurlington County community. We
are here to listen to amazingwomen. And if you want to hear
from women who lead and inspirethis podcast is for you. Welcome
(00:45):
to our bareness podcast, it'sour end of the year podcast I
can't believe that we wentthrough a whole year December
holidays are here, we arelooking to turn obstacles into
opportunities, balancing healthand wellness empowerment,
persistent practice findingempowerment and starting over
quitting our toxic environmentsand thriving through failure and
more on what better person to behere to connect us with all of
(01:09):
those amazing topics isPriscilla Loomis, a South Jersey
native and Wildwood New Jerseyresident a track and field
Olympian, an entrepreneur, thefounder of Priscilla e Frederick
Foundation, supporting singleparent households and granting
educational scholarship a threetime Hall of Fame Inductee two
times Female Athlete of the Yearworld class medalist. I mean, we
(01:34):
could go on and on for probablyweeks and months of all the
amazing things that you do.Welcome Priscilla to the
Baroness. Oh my goodness, thankyou so, so much for that
incredible intro. I'm veryblessed and grateful to be here.
Well, thank you so much forbeing incredible yourself. I
mean, I know I just read thefirst little mini paragraph
(01:57):
about what you do. And you saidshort bio, and I know, my bed
said,
Unknown (02:03):
I'm sure your bio must be a three to four or five pages
long. But small nerd I know. Butyou know, you're such an
inspiration to women everywherethat I knew. And I, I saw you on
social media. And I was like, Ifollow you. You are everywhere
(02:23):
supporting every, you know,amazing thing. And you I mean,
you're a mentor. I feel like thelife a lifelong learner, you're
supporter of all these amazingprojects and things. You're a
motivational speaker. I mean,it's my baby. I can't I couldn't
ask for someone better to behere in December and celebrating
(02:44):
the end of the year with withme. Oh, thank you so much. I'm
so uncle. Thank you. Thank you.So tell us what what are you
doing now? What what is what'shappening now? Because I know
you're in so involved with somany things. What's, what's kind
of coming down the pipeline foryou, ending December and coming
(03:05):
out into the new year in 2024.So I will say a lot of people
say that they're like, Do yousleep? When do you get all this
stuff done? How do you timemanage. And so for me, I just
want to continuously be thisexample of positivity and impact
and self love. So you know,every single, I'm a big believer
(03:26):
in New Year's resolutions. And Iam a very big believer and new
year new me. And I know a lot ofpeople are like, No, that's not
the right way. But for me, thenew year is a is a reset button,
you're allowed to grow andbecome a different, better
version of yourself. Right? Andwe are creatures of habit. So
(03:49):
why not use the new year as atime to say, This is my time to
reset, you know, a lot of peopleare off, you know, they get to
see their families. They're allfrom work, and it gives them
time to reflect. And so that'swhat I pretty much do starting
in December. And throughout thewhole year. I'm always looking
for new opportunities to impactthe world with excellence and
(04:13):
you know, self resilience andbeing these badass warriors. How
can I continuously do that?
And I one of the things is witha podcast. So I've had my
podcast two times before. Onewas during COVID. And the other
was during probably this lastyear. And I realized that I
(04:34):
really wanted it to be excellentand make a bigger impact. So we
pulled out all the stops. Andnow we are relaunching our
podcast in the new year calledrespect the audacity. And that
statement is such a testament towho I am and where I'm at now,
where I was tired of makingmyself small, and I don't think
(04:56):
other people should make theirselves small to fit into other
people's perceptions.
Have themselves. So that'swhat's coming up in the new
year. You know, it's that's sucha beautiful thing. And a lot of
people don't realize, you know,I deal with, you know, young
women in my classes and studentsthat come here to rcbc. How
would you tell them to do that?How do you how do you tell a
(05:20):
young woman woman to be able tolook at herself reset, be the
new person they want to be andbe able to do that without
people thinking they're small ornot important? So my biggest
thing is that you have
a right, you have
(05:43):
it. It's disrespectful.
To not put yourself first. It'sdisrespectful to talk to
yourself negatively. It'sdisrespectful to make yourself
small. So if you wouldn'tdisrespect a friend, why would
you disrespect yourself? And sofor me, it is a habit. It is an
(06:03):
every day habit of being able towake up and look at yourself and
say, Wow, I am unstoppable. AndI'm incredible. And even right
now for myself. There's a lot ofthings that are happening,
right? Nothing is ever perfect.And so I have a mantra
and dependent on what chapter ofmy life I'm in. The mantra
(06:24):
becomes different and it growswith me. And so the mantra that
I'm seeing right now and I havebeen for the last three weeks,
weeks is weather, the storm,weather the storm weather the
storm. And from that, if I'm youknow, the morning started off a
little rough. If you know thingsin my life aren't aligning,
because they're out of mycontrol. It's weather the storm,
(06:47):
things will get better. I'm inthe right spot. I'm in the right
place could be worse. I'm havingfirstworldproblems right. Sure.
I yeah, let me go get my pumpkinspice. Let me go get my holiday
blend. Right. Wow. Let me put onthis Christmas music by the
Jonas Brothers because they putout a fire Christmas album
Right? Like it's I had no idea.I'm gonna have to check it out.
(07:08):
Oh my gosh, I love the JonasBrothers. Like that's a whole
nother
a whole nother separate combo.But it's it's a habit of putting
myself first and being selfish.Now selfish to a lot of people's
and negative term. But for me, Ihave to be selfish important to
myself every single day. Or elseI won't be able to pour into
(07:30):
other people's cups, right? Sofor it starts with me. And if
I'm trying to be the example ofpositivity and love and
resilience and courage, then Ihave to put that as a priority
in my life every single day. Andyou start to realize that things
will align once you start sayingthe mantra once you start doing
it, and it does become a habit.And then you're gonna start to
(07:53):
see the negativity kind of showitself and show its ugly head.
Yeah, yeah. So to align yourselfand you I know you hit you know,
you're going to grab your latteor whatever. Oh, no, girl, just
regular coffee. Just regularcoffee from Wawa. Don't do the
lockdown and okay, that'scoffee, coffee, and then I'm
sorry, my coffee, coffee.
(08:15):
Everybody I gotta get I gottaget the I gotta get that. I say
coffee. I say talk. Yes. That'show it's a little bit of Yeah, I
was gonna save a little it's alittle Long Island. Yeah. 100%.
Yeah, like cash. And it comes,it comes out in different times.
So when I'm passionate, when I'mpassionate, that's 100% Well, to
align yourself with yourpassion, your vibe, your whole
(08:38):
thing. And you were saying aboutresetting? What are some things
that you do to reset, where'syour go to to reset, I will tell
you, it is taking myself away.And it can be different things
at different times. So when Iwas in my 20s, it looked a
little different. And so in my20s, when I wanted to reset, I
(09:00):
was like, I need to take a stepback and be with friends and be
with family. And just be sureright. So and as you know, I was
a track athlete in college. Andso everything revolved around
the sport. So it was about mynutrition. And it was about you
know, weight room, it was abouttrack practice. It was about
meetings with Coach it was itwas all these tracks centric.
(09:22):
And so when I needed to reset, Iwas like, I need to humble
myself and find that route.Right. So and it was you know,
doing my hair, getting my nailsdone and sitting with my
girlfriend and just chatting,calling my cousin and you know,
just having a normalconversation with her. But now
that I'm in my 30s I very early30s
You know, it's it really istaking a personal day, sitting
(09:47):
at home. Whether it be vacuumingmy house, watching a Netflix
movie, popping popcorn, doing mydoing my nails on my own couch,
right? It's things that I canpull
Pour into myself and just be,that's the biggest thing. It's
not me comparing. It's not me onsocial media feeling, you know,
(10:07):
irrelevant, right? It's notthinking about all the work that
needs to get done. It's taking astep back and saying, you know,
what, pay, what do you feel likedoing what is gonna make you
happiest? And sometimes it'ssitting on the couch, sometimes
it's making a meal. It'sdifferent, but it's just about
how I'm feeling. And what's mostimportant to me and being
(10:27):
selfish. I'm a big advocate forbeing selfish.
You know, it's interesting, wechatted about your history about
being the road to your, youknow, athleticism, being an
athlete, yes. world classathlete, three time Hall of Fame
inductee to time Female Athleteof the Year Olympian, you know,
(10:49):
that must have looked a lotdifferent with, with what you're
sharing now, to being almost inthat.
You know, it's like an industry,it's like a corporation. And,
and you were part of that wholecorporation. And now it's a
Yeah, and I would love for youjust to share, like some of that
(11:12):
emotional and mental
stresses that you were under asa young woman, because I think
at the end of the year here,we're celebrating, you know,
wrapping up December andstarting fresh. There's a lot of
people out there that are undera lot of mental stress. Yeah,
emotional stress. And I'm surethat was in the forefront of
(11:35):
being part of that corporationof of building your brand. And
being that athlete, can youshare? Yeah, of course.
Absolutely. It's one of thethings that I'm extremely
passionate about. And I thinkwhat a lot of people are
surprised to hear is that I wasmiserable. Have a great deal of
(11:56):
my career. Yeah. And when youmake the decision to go all in,
you realize how much you'regoing to sacrifice along the
way. And from a very young age,I grew up in a single parent
household, it was just my mom,my sister and I. So we didn't
(12:18):
have a lot.
So comparison started at a veryearly age of what I don't have.
And this is all before socialmedia show, right? Yeah. So then
you go on, and you go to aprivate school, where I am one
of
I don't know, five kids ofcolor, right? So now it's
(12:41):
the lack of representation.Diversity show. That's not I
have to fit into a separate box,right. And I was never, I'm
Dominican. And my dad is fromAntigua. So I've Caribbean
blood, and an all white school.
So now I'm not black enough. Andcan't fit in. We can't fit.
(13:02):
Yeah, yeah. You're trying tofind where you're going to fit
in? Yeah, yeah. 100%. Right. Andthen, as I move forward, you
know, you go into high school, Ifind my calling of, you know,
track and field, but also onstage and, you know, acting and
all that kinds of stuff. Andthen how do you pursue the
passion? How do one or thepassion that you're pushed to
(13:24):
follow a course? Yeah. And sothen I also think about, I don't
want my mom to pay for college.So I need to put my wants and
needs on the backburner to makesure that she doesn't have to
struggle anymore. So and then,you know, of course, not having
a father and my mom trying tohave that relationship for us,
you know, that kind of stuff.But then when you go to
(13:45):
auditions, and you go to these,you know, these modeling cattle
calls, sure. them telling me,you know, you have a fat face,
you photograph that, and thenbecoming a high jumper and, you
know, trying to do the best thatyou can and weight always being
top dieting. Yeah, the top ratedtopic all the time, right. So,
(14:06):
then you move on to become a proathlete, and you're so excited
because you're representing acountry that I wanted to get
close to and understand. Andhaving the country the
representation of the countryand athletics strictly because
the people loved me not resent
(14:26):
represent your culture. Yeah.You know, so being born in
America, but then representingAntigua and Barbuda. I'm coming
from, you know, it's all malerun, and they're very sexist.
And they truly don't respectfield events. Right. So now I'm
(14:47):
at the lowest on the totem poleas a professional track and
field athlete and then going tomeats and being told, hey, you
know, if you lost a fewkilograms, you probably have
done better. You know, so ever
Every step of the way, there wasjudgment. There was human, all
these things, right? Yeah. Soyou do all these things, and
you're just trying to beperfect, you're trying to be
(15:09):
perfect. And
when you're young, and you'redoing this for the first time,
and you have an agent, andyou're trying to get seen by all
these big sponsorship companies,but you realize that you can't,
you have to swallow your prideand mature a lot faster. And,
you know, I started my owncompany, becoming an
entrepreneur, I was a cleaningservice, right, because I had no
(15:32):
money. So I'm scrubbing toilets,in order to make sure that I can
train for the Olympics. And thenmaking my first Olympics, crying
every single day at theOlympics, because I just wasn't
enough. And then I had thepeople, my own teammates say
that they would like me betterif I was from the island, right?
And then the pressure ofcompetition and not letting
(15:56):
anybody down. How did you? Howdo you wake up every day? I
mean, no, I mean, as a femalebeing judged every inch every
thing, like and it's everyaspect, like you're talking
about weight, you're talkingabout culture, you're talking
about, you know, coaching,you're talking about your, your
teammates, the people that arethere to support you, and like
(16:19):
I'm trying to date.
We're not gonna go right now.Right? Like, that's the thing.
And it's like all facets. It'slike every facet of where you
want to turn, you turn left,there's a barrier. Yes, you turn
right. There's a stop. Yeah, youknow what I mean. And I think
that's what's happening. Andthat's why I feel so relevant,
quote, unquote, is because Ithink people are like, Oh, she's
(16:41):
an Olympian. She didn't dealwith this. But I dealt with my
own battles, my own demons andmy own enemies in a different
way. They just had a differentmask. Now, in this day and age,
all you have to do is just openyour phone. And all you're doing
is comparing yourself to otherpeople who are looking like they
have this incredible life,especially during I mean, look
(17:02):
at Christmas time, right? Theirhouse is so beautiful. Look at
what this husband is doing forhis wife. And it's ridiculous,
right? So all we're doing rightnow is comparing our life and
going through these stages. Andas we're growing, we're not
saying, You know what, thisteaching me a lesson, I'm gonna
look back at this and laugh. No,we're stuck in that moment. So
(17:26):
all of that that I went through,
was to teach me how to bestrong, how to be resilient, how
to be perfectly okay, andauthentic and exactly who I am.
And I'm glad that I went throughall of that, because it shaped
the person that I am right now.And I love who I am. I look in
(17:48):
the mirror every single day,like I didn't cower, I didn't
fail. I didn't, it didn't killme. And I thought that it would,
but I'm here. And I don't wantother people to have to
experience the nonsense that Iwent through. And I'm hoping
that through my storytelling,and through my motivational
(18:09):
speaking, and through my brand,
I am an example. I'm not tellingpeople exactly what to do. I am
an exact example, to just wakeup, show up for yourself, pour
into yourself and understandthat you have a right to be
here, your voice matters, youare important, we need you
(18:30):
exactly as you are. And I and Iam an example of that. So that
they can look in the mirror andsay, You know what, I didn't go
through what she went through,but I connect with her, I'm
gonna wake up a little bitdifferent. Each day, I'm gonna
get a little bit better, I'mgonna get a little bit stronger,
because that's what it is. Andwhen we all come together, and
(18:52):
we continuously support eachother, and become this magnet
than we all were the were therising tide that lifts all
ships. You know, I think it's sobeautiful about the word, being
authentic and staying true toyourself and, and being real.
And I think a lot of peoplewouldn't think after reading
(19:12):
your bio and knowing about allthis stuff, you were cleaning
toilets, and you were under allthis emotional distress. Yeah,
right. I still do I still havemy cleaning business. Right.
Like I'm still Yeah, cleaningpeople's houses. Yeah. So I'm
saying people don't understandthat. That's okay. And that's
being authentic. Yeah, it'sstaying true to you. Yeah. I
(19:33):
love to clean Yeah. My mom andmy mom, I need you over my
house.
And I got to well gotten alittle kids but oh my god. I
even believe the stuff I find intheir rooms. My thing is like,
how do we teach young women tobe authentic like you said, they
(19:55):
have you have these these youngwomen on social media people
body shame.
mean people, people, you know,like you're saying everybody's
posting about the perfect life,the perfect lifestyle this that
like you are using some of theseexamples? How do we then keep
these young women from goingdown these rabbit holes of
feeling that it's missing outthat I'm not good enough that
(20:19):
I'm not smart enough that I amnot intelligent enough, I, you
know, I need to put on this fakepersona for people to like me.
How did you get out of that andbreak that mold? I think what
was really incredible to me wasI just, it's not an epiphany.
But I felt like in a state oflack, like, I just wasn't
(20:43):
enough. And even people likeyou're an Olympian. Look at
this.
I can't be anybody else.Literally, I can't pay to be
somebody else. I can't Yeah, nomatter what, this is my life,
right. And I realized that I hadto be the same kind of mindset
that I had in the Olympics wasthe same thing I take in
everyday life, I had to be aleader and I had to fight. I had
(21:06):
to fight for me. I think peoplethink it's going to be an easy
fix, or everybody has a phone.So no matter what, if you have
social media, you're going to belooking at other people's lives,
right? So fight for you. That'swhat's going to be the biggest
change. If you fight for you. Ithink you put yourself like I
(21:27):
said, being selfish, you putyourself first, right. And so
what I did was I took a hardreset, and I had to restructure
my mindset. Because there werethings that I was following that
I didn't, I didn't want tofollow. I didn't want to see
that every day. So it was timeto unfollow I cut people out of
my life that were toxic, verysimply. And it's not like I'm
(21:50):
telling somebody, it's just youput the you put them at arm's
length, it's time for you togrow. The only way that I can
grow is by, you know, movingaway from this one thing, right?
So they're not included family,there were people that I had to
cut off and kind of block inorder for me to grow and be the
best person that I could be.
(22:12):
You know, people were like, Oh,you got to watch this. You got
to watch this. It's such a greatshow. It didn't align with me.
It made me feel awful afterwatching it. And that's why I
mean, I don't watch scary movieseven around Halloween. I'm like
I'm trying. It just doesn't sitright with my spirit. It doesn't
fit right with my life. So I waslike, No, I don't need that.
Before I go to bed. I'm watchingKim Possible. That's what I
(22:35):
watch. Every night, you can askmy husband, I'm watching Kim
Possible. I'm watching you know,things on Disney Channel,
because it's just uplifting.It's a light, right. And
sometimes that's what'sdisrupting my was disrupting my
life was things that didn'talign with who I am. And so
that's why I say be authentic,because I don't care what that
(22:55):
other person's opinion of me isbecause their opinion does not
matter truly, andwholeheartedly. Like I love you,
boo, boo. But that's not myjourney. Amazing that you can
say that. And I say it didn'tstart like that I had to learn
it. Right. And it was an everyday practice. So I start with
the vision boards. And I did Iput little sticky notes
(23:15):
everywhere around my house. Andeven when I you know, I do have
a spiritual side. And you know,I'm a Roman Catholic, I pray I
have my own relationship. I'mnot going to be come out here
preaching you the Bible. I justwant you to live a good life.
One that you know, your lovesthat you can give love, right?
And so when I went to church, Iwas going for my own I said, you
(23:38):
know, talk to me in my own way.So when I'm praying, I'm like,
yo, God, what is good, you know,I'm having a bad day, you know,
help me out. Help me out. Helpme see, sometimes you got to
shake me a little bit Jesus. Butyou know, I'm still here. I'm
here. So like, I, I knew who Iwas. And I just wanted to show
it authentically. When you showwho you are authentically, it
(23:59):
disrupts a lot of people'snegativity. True the 100%. And
one of the greatest quotes thatI did read was your character
will sometimes disrupt otherpeople's titles. Right? Oh my
god, I realized powerful right?Yeah, I sat back and I was like,
(24:20):
because I always was like, Ifeel uncomfortable, or I feel
like people don't like me. AndI'm thinking to myself one,
probably because you're in thewrong rooms. And too, because
your positivity is disruptingtheir negativity. Negativity
just spirals out of control, butso does positivity. So for me,
I'm this light, bright, happyout, going, colorful person
(24:46):
coming in to everyday life thesame way. Yeah, nothing's
disrupting me and that bothersother people. It's beautiful
that you're kind of reversingthe norm. Yeah, and you're going
against the norm. And I thinkthat's what a lot of people are
scared about. Being able to notjust do it, but then also speak
(25:11):
about it. That like you're outthere like I don't care, do not
care. And this is me Take it orleave it. Amen to that. And I
think it's a beautiful thing.Who was the person that inspired
you to be who you are today?Because you have so many like
all these mottos and these?Yeah, I mean, these powerful
(25:31):
mantras that you have verypowerful for a woman. Who was
that person for you that'sinspired you that was your
mentor that that why why are youhere today in this this place?
So everybody knows everybody whoknows me.
I've talked about this
for at least over a decade, andevery interview, every prize,
(25:58):
every scholarship, I give everyaward, every magazine, every
article, every article, every
question, everything. I say,it's my mom, my mom. And it's
still no matter how many times Italk about it, I get choked up,
and I remember getting my Hallof Fame induction and she was in
the audience. And I'm writing itout. I'm like pouring out
(26:20):
crying, and I'm just like,Priscilla, just get through it.
Don't look at her. Just lookdown, say the word. Because
she's bawling. You're bawling.You're like,
worst, but I made her stand upbecause I, I'm kind of like the
rock, or I really want to givemy mom everything. She deserves
the world. My mom came fromDominican Republic when she was
(26:41):
young, she didn't speak English.And my mom fought many, many
demons. She had a lot of a lotof negativity thrown her way.
And I don't know how she didn'tgive up. I am so in awe of her.
Everything I do is for my mom,my nonprofit is in honor of her.
Every everything she has, shehas a scholarship named after
(27:01):
her. You know, she was awarrior. She was the original.
She never gave up on me. Shepushed me like nobody's
business. I wanted to quit trackat least 10 times. She was not
having it. Right. Like shepushed me to where some people
would say like, oh, you can't dothat to your kid. My mom was
(27:22):
like, I don't care. She's a kid.She doesn't know she needs this
is her path. This is herdirection. And so everything
that I am today is because ofher. And the one thing that I
see in my mom is that she's notconfident in herself. And that's
what's so crazy. She just put onput on like a face and just
said, I have to keep going. Andso everything she was my mentor,
(27:46):
she is my godson, she is myexample. She is the reason why I
do what I do. Literally, I shegave me life.
So everything I'm alwaysgrateful for my mom and what
she's done and still continuesto do. She's, she's an angel. So
you had mentioned that yourfoundation is after your mom,
(28:07):
tell us what your foundationdoes. So the facility Frederick
Foundation was probably abouttwo decades long dream. I said,
when I make my first million, Iam going to start the nonprofit.
And millions come in. She's nothere yet. So I realized I was
like, You know what, I just wantto do good. So I had to start
somewhere. So I wanted to makesure that her legacy was always
(28:32):
alive and well. And so thefacility Frederick Foundation is
a foundation that supportssingle parent households, which
my mom was, so we give grants,so all they have to do is apply.
And if we have money in theaccount, we'll send out a check.
And we also award and grantscholarships to children coming
(28:53):
from single parent households.But any underserved child,
anybody that wants to continuetheir education will write a
check for as well, from theamount of 500 to $1,000. And it
grows every year, which I'm verygrateful for. And we do women,
we host women empowermentworkshops all across the
country, which I'm super excitedabout. And we had one in
(29:13):
Wildwood. And then we just didone in Camden last month. And so
now we're moving across countryand we'll do one in California.
We'll do one in Texas. We'll doone in Georgia. And these are
just we partner with brands thatare all about women empowerment.
And I just reach out, slide intothe DMS ask them to sponsor and
(29:35):
we've had great success withthat. So Cover Girl has you know
helped down sponsored us andBebo, the breakfast, they you
know, they do a fooddistribution. They have
sponsored every breakfast. Imean, I go to local places, and
I'll ask them to sponsor so wehad the Chegg the chicken or the
egg. They sponsored ourbreakfast which we were super
(29:55):
grateful Wawa has given us youknow, you know, coffee and you
All this kind of stuff. So it'sbeen absolutely incredible with
these women empowermentworkshops, and they grow
financial education, collegeprep, anything that we can do,
the community that we're at,they need will be, you know, a
helping hand. And then that'sthe final piece of it, we are
(30:16):
the helping hand. So, you know,one of my, one of my favorite
quotes is be the rising tidethat lifts all ships. And I
believe John F. Kennedy said it,and that's what it is not about
me. I just want to make surethat if I'm making an impact,
it's raising other people up. Sowe do random acts of kindness,
no matter what fee if I'm inlying, getting gas, I'll pay for
(30:38):
the person's gas in front of meor behind me, I'm at Wawa. I'm
buying things, you know, like wewere, we just did a whole
fundraiser this month. And we'resupporting 50 children that
Christmas this season. And weawarded another you know,
partner with another nonprofitto give away scholarships. So
we're just a positive impact.I've raised money so I can give
(31:00):
money away. That's what I do. Soanybody can reach out and, and
we'll help in any way possiblethat we can. And when I did a I
did, I was on Disney plus, whichwas like a huge thing for me.
Because I love Disney says somuch. I can hear that. And I
love Disney. And I'm still myheight, the personality that
fits every Disney character bythe way.
(31:22):
I said I love Disney, I'll doit, I'll play a villain or the
hero doesn't matter. I just wantto be I just want to be a part
of Disney. And so they did thissegment on Disney plus, and it
was called the M. M power. Andit was women who were inspired
by female, wonderful characters.And so my episode was on
(31:42):
Gomorrah.
And I talked about thefoundation. And it was
incredible, because we got somany applicants from all across
the country. Beautiful. And sojust writing checks to them and
writing like you'll get apersonal note from me. And so
it's amazing. You know, itreally is and everything that I
do ties into it's my brand.Yeah, who I am right, separate.
(32:03):
So yeah, my foundation is myessential elaborative effort in
all fronts, all fronts. Yep. Soit's amazing. And so when I do
any kind of social mediapartnership or anything, they
have to know that it's going totie into, you know, the
nonprofit in some way, shape, orform. And so, you know, we have
Dutch and deco which is aplanner and journal company, and
they've been great aboutdonating or hosting women
(32:25):
empowerment and sponsoring. Soeverything that we do is just
about making a positive impact.And that is my quote, live a
life with excellence impact andinsane competence. Well, you
just exude that.
And my you know, it'sinteresting, because I think
what you were saying aboutmaking this positive impact and
(32:48):
being empowered and
and drinking lots of coffee,lots of coffee.
Do you have any days whereyou're not on 100%? Because
there's lots of women out therethat you're you're so positive
you're so empowering. When doyou have do you have down to No
(33:11):
wonder you have down days worse?I do. I hate hate the phrase no
days off? I don't know whoinvented that. They should never
speak again. I swear to you, Igotta talk to my HR. No, no days
off is absolutely ridiculous.You've got to take days off. But
this is me. I will honestly tellyou anybody that knows me. I
(33:34):
live this life. This is my callit a phone. This is my gift.
Right? But that's, that'sbeautiful. Because not many
people can say that. And it's anend like I just said you are you
are 100% representation of allof these things that you're
talking right about your yourfrom your personal life to your
professional life to like you'resaying your your nonprofit, it's
(33:59):
it's this giving attitude, thisopenness, this empowerment this
female, just strong, powerfulwomen. And there's not enough of
us out there. There are not andthat's why many never ever Yeah,
no, that's the biggest thing isthat I never ever want
negativity to start with me,right? If somebody's coming to
(34:21):
my page, and they're having arough day. I never ever want
them to leave, not feeling 100%Better, right? So I need to be
the example. I don't have enoughtime to mentor one on one. And
it stinks right? We don't haveenough time because there aren't
enough of us. Right? But if Ican be that example of just if
(34:41):
they're scrolling and they get asmile on their face, or I make
their day 2% better. That'sthat's, that's the that's the
point, right? That's why I'mhere. I'm here to make other
people's lives better. And I dotake days off I take my
downtime, and I do have rough
moments, right? But it was thesame thing that I said to the
(35:02):
kids that I was coaching. I usedto coach it, Paul, the sixth and
his kids thought I was crazy.And I am and I love it. I'm a
beautiful, crazy, fabulouswoman, right? And I own that.
But the biggest thing was theywere like, can we have a cheat
meal, or a cheat day, I said,You gotta have a cheat meal, you
can't have a whole cheat day. Sofor me, it's important, you can
(35:24):
have a bad moment, can't have abad day, you have 24 hours in a
day.
control what you can control.Once you once you realize that
and take that to heart, controlwhat you can control. You can
control your emotions, you cancontrol what you eat, you can
control how you see life. That'swhat I control. And that's it.
(35:46):
There's a lot more things thatyou can't control. Right? A lot
more, but you wish you could.But the one thing you have
control over is you sure so showup for you. And be the excellent
queen that I that we all knowyou are that you can be. Life is
always going to be tough,always. But don't let us start
with you. That is beautiful. Youare truly an example
(36:11):
of what young women should be.Yeah, up to I appreciate your
your you're living and breathingyour words, your mantras. I
mean, this positive energy, yourwhole vibe, your whole aura. I
mean, I just I want to likefollow you around for like a
way. No, I'm telling you, youguys are more than welcome to
(36:32):
come to,
like breathe you in like I don'tknow, like I'm breathing. You're
breathing in for like a wholeweek and be like, Oh my God, I
want to like shadow you. Butimagine if we had that like
imagine if there was a 200 ofme, right? And they were just
all positive and happy. Andthat's all you saw on your on
your, on your social media. Ifthat's all that you heard, like,
all of that makes you a betterperson right now it is. And as I
(36:56):
said, I control my environment.I control what I look like I
control what I put out. Icontrol what I listened to from
podcasts in the morning, Ilistened to the positive mindset
podcast, right? Yeah. I'mlistening to either, you know,
the old Destiny's Child, right.I'm listening to, you know,
certain songs like JonasBrothers, they always make
Waffle House is like one of myfavorite songs, right? So you
(37:19):
listen to things that are goingto motivate you and make you
feel good. But that is what'smost important. You, whew, you
are important. And I thinkthat's that's the end of the at
the end of the day. That'swhat's most important. I swear
you are important. That's it?Well, you've been important to
this podcast, I am very podcastfor the holiday, I want to share
(37:40):
all of our great words. I putall these words at the end of
our podcasts that we've beenI've been, you know, writing
down while we're talking and Iuse these as almost like
hashtags for empowerment. So I'mgoing to read them and then I'm
going to turn to you and ask youwhat your personal hashtag is.
So here we got we've gotpositivity, self impact, self
(38:01):
love, reset, grow betterversion. Excellent. Right? Put
yourself first. Nothing isperfect. out of my control,
being selfish starts here. Findyour root sacrifice, comparison
judgment trying to be perfect,relevant, authentic show up.
state of
(38:24):
I don't even know what I wrotethere.
You were just it was like, youwere like word vomiting. Yes,
leader fight for me. Good Lifewarrior path, confidence, crazy
woman. And control. Yeah. What'syour personal hashtag. So
honestly, I will say it's kindof similar to my podcast title.
(38:49):
But it's going to be hashtagrespect my excellence. I truly
believe that. As I wake up andlive and breathe every single
day, I think
I am putting my best footforward, I am doing everything
possible to leave a positiveimpact. And I think like I said
(39:10):
before, I think that disrupts alot of people's negativity and
their negative spirit. And sowhen you approach me, when you
are around me, you know that Icome correct, you know that you
will not make me feel less thanyou will not talk down to me.
(39:30):
And I think as women in this dayand age, nobody should make you
feel small. Nobody should makeyou feel less than. So when you
wake up in the morning, peoplebetter respect your name. People
better respect your officeauthenticity, and you they need
to respect your excellence.Right? And so I think there is
this vibe. I'm not trying to beperfect because I am excellent.
(39:53):
I know that for a fact. I put mybest foot forward. I have a
positive mindset. I love mylife. I love
What I do, and I've made surethat I am the beacon of light
for others. So when when I sitat a table when I am around
people, I will be the positivelight. I will uplift people and
(40:16):
let them know just howincredible they are just how
wonderful their presence is, andthat we are so much better for
having them in our lives. Willyou have just been a joy
and a presence of light here.I'm very grateful. I want to
wish you and your family happyholidays. Hey, thank you for
(40:38):
being part of our barenesspodcast. Let me tell you
Priscilla Loomis is not just aname. She's an inspiration
dedicated to leading a life withexcellence impact. You are
insanely confident. I love it. Iwant to drink it all in with my
coffee. That'll be my nextthing. Like here's some joy to
add to your coffee. Sprinkle alittle joy. Sprinkle a little
(41:01):
joy.
Thank you Priscilla, we are sohonored to have you here. And
always
why don't you share with peoplebefore we leave any socials
where they can contact you andstart following your
beautifulness thank you so somuch I'm so I'm always in awe
when people invite me on totheir shows because it just is
(41:22):
living proof that I'm doingsomething right and as crazy as
my life gets. And as much asthings are moving and happening
so fast. It's a beautiful to, tobe respected and to be able to
share on other people'splatform, my message so I thank
you, I'm so so grateful you'redoing a wonderful job. And we
need more people like you, butpeople can follow me in many
(41:44):
different ways. So obviously, wehave respect the audacity coming
out soon. And so I'll be sharingthat on my socials. Everything
is kind of aligned to my brand.And so it'll be on Priscilla
loomis.com That's where all ofmy events everything keeps gets
updated. You can find out moreabout me. And I am very very
very active on Instagram. So youcan follow me Instagram would
(42:05):
not let me change my to mymarried name. So it is Priscilla
underscore Frederick. And so Ikeep everybody in the loop up to
date. You can subscribe becauseI do a little bit motivational
speaking on my, on my Instagramas well. So those are the big
ones. So Instagram, Priscillaunderscore Frederick Priscilla
(42:25):
loomis.com. And then of coursewhen my YouTube on is coming
out, we're gonna launch in thenew year. So I'm very, very
excited. Awesome. I can't waitto continue connecting with you
that I already do. You areamazing to follow with all of
your amazing stuff that you do.Thank you all for joining us
here at the bareness podcast.Happy Holidays, and we are
(42:46):
looking forward to speaking withyou in 2024 and to see what
Priscilla is up to. Here we go.Thanks so much for joining us.
Have a great day. Take care.Thanks. You've been listening to
the rcbc bareness podcast, whichhighlights women in leadership
while encouraging listeners tobuild their skills, connect with
the community and visualize theopportunities available to women
in various professions. For moreinformation about this podcast
(43:08):
or other podcasts available onthe rcbc Podcast Network, visit
rcbc.edu/podcast And be sure tosubscribe to the rcbc bareness
podcast available on allstreaming platforms.
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