June 22, 2023 • 49 mins
Motivational speaker & author, Lizzie Velasquez {@littlelizziev}, is on for all 4 things. FIRST THING: Lizzie was born with an extremely rare congenital disease. It prevents her from accumulating body fat and gaining weight. Her parents were told by doctors when Lizzie was born, she wouldn’t be able to do simple things on her own and live a “normal life." There are a lot of things in this world that people allow to define them (job, culture, age, role in life, appearance, etc.)...Lizzie talks about what defines her and how she encourages others to discover their purpose.
SECOND THING: No matter who you are, people will try to create their own labels to put on you. Lizzie shares her experience with this & how she handles bullying...specifically when a photo was being used of her on the TikTok #NewTeacherChallenge. “If you are an adult who has a young human in your life, please do not teach them that being scared of someone who doesn’t look like them is OK." -Lizzie.
THIRD THING: Lizzie is all about using some of the bad things that happen as a “teaching moment." Many people find it difficult to stay in the moment during conflict. Lizzie shares how she stays the course and speaks truth without allowing the lies to creep in about self-worth.
FOURTH THING: Lizzie shares 4 things she is currently thankful for!
Watch Lizzie's Ted Talk HERE!
HOST:
Amy Brown // RadioAmy.com // @RadioAmy
GUEST:
Lizzie Velasquez // @littlelizziev
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Cats up little food for yourself life.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Oh it's pretty bad.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Hey, it's pretty beautiful.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Beautiful.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
That for a little more exciting, said he.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
You're kicking with full with Amy Brown.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
So I'm excited to be sitting down with my friend
Lizzie for all four things today Lizzie Velasquez and on Instagram,
she's little Lizzie.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
A lot of you may follow her. But Lizzie, how
long have we known each other?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
A long time? It's been a long time.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
I remember meeting you when you came up to visit us,
and it's just been so amazing to watch you grow
and see your journey and you're so inspiring to so
many people, including me. And I also love that you're
wearing your es Boi pull over, the white one with
the hot pink as bois, which means hope in Haitian Creole.
(01:08):
And you are just that, your hope for so many people,
and you spread so much of that, and you've been
an ambassador of Pimp and joy as well and all
the things, and it just warms my heart to see
the impact that you've paid across the world, so for
people that.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Aren't familiar with you. In the story in.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
This box that the world has tried to put you
in walk us through some of that.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
So I was born with the rare syndrome that doesn't
allow me to gain weight. I was born two pounds
ten ounces.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
When I came out.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I actually had to be born six weeks early because
the doctor saw that I had stopped growing completely, so
my mom had to have an emergency C section. And
when I came out, there was no amniotic fluid around me,
so I shouldn't have come out screaming or alive.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
And everything was normal.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
I was just very small, and there was nothing that
could definitively say this is what she has. They basically
just scared my parents and said she's not going to
be able to do anything in her life on her own,
and you're just going to have to do everything for her.
So basically, from literally day one, I was already being
told I can't do anything, and so my parents just said,
(02:18):
we're going to take her home and raise her to
the best of our ability, and that's what they did.
And I wasn't officially diagnosed until unexpectedly at the age
of twenty five. I have neo needle prodroid syndrome, which
is made up of two things, lipodystrophe and mar fans.
Lipodystrophe just doesn't allow me to gain weight, which we know,
(02:39):
and mour fans affects my eyes, my bones, and my heart,
and so with my heart, I now run the risk
of my aortic valve dilating basically just getting too big,
which is the scariest thing. And so the good thing
is that we know when we're aware, and I have
a great team of doctors now, But basically that's all
the causes. So because of that, I am in a
very very small body, and I have had to deal
(03:01):
with a lot of bullying in person. When I was younger,
and when social media became a thing, it was, you know,
being teased online. And when I was seventeen, someone posted
a video of me calling me the world's ugliest woman,
and there was over four million views when I found it.
I was seventeen when I found it, and all the
comments were just horrible and you know, telling me to
(03:22):
end my life. And why didn't my parents just support
me if I was going to be so disgusting and
saying for me to put like a plastic bag over
my head when I went out, because if people saw
my face, they would go blind from my ugliness.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
So it was just horrible, horrible.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Things that I sat there and I read all the comments,
I think mostly because I was so desperate to find
one that was positive or one that was like supporting me,
and unfortunately I didn't find one one And so that
sort of was the biggest turning point in my life.
And obviously I didn't see that at the time, but
it was one of the biggest times where I was like,
(04:00):
I need to either show these people who I am
or I'm going to let them keep me inside and
keep me hidden away.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
And that's not It's not who I am. No.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
I just want to commend your parents, your family, your
friends that were surrounding you during that time, because I'm
sure you know their support also helped you know that, like, yes,
you're not going to let this keep you down, like
you're going to actually use this as motivation to move
forward and be an advocate for anyone facing any type
(04:31):
of adversity.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I can say it was, you know, like, oh yeah,
eventually I forgave everyone and it was fine.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
But it wasn't like that at all.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
It was a process and it took many years for
me to fully actually not only just say it out loud,
but fully admit and believe myself that I was forgiving
these people who were saying these horrible things. And I
think that was one of the biggest lessons I learned
from that is realizing that not only did I need
to forgive them, but I need to understand them because
(05:03):
they don't have the resources that I have. Those people
who are saying horrible things they probably don't have parents
like mine, or they don't have friends like mine who
are showing them that this isn't right. So I can't
blame them or hold it against them because they don't
have the resources. And so I think that's really what
made me want to continue to do what I do
(05:25):
because I want it to be that resource for them.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
Oh yeah, you are absolutely a resource for so many
and you know this is now your purpose in life,
at least one of them. Through all of this, You've
found what you're meant to be doing. So what would
you say to someone listening right now that is still
trying to figure out their purpose right now?
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Honestly, right now, one of my biggest things that I'm
personally working on and continuing to remind myself and tell
myself is not so to focus on what is it?
When is it coming? How is it going to be here?
But more so change your mindset to thinking, I know
it's there. I don't know when I'm going to find
it or who's going to show it to me, but
(06:05):
it's going to come, and to change just the simple
mindset of the question mark in your head to more
so of an excitement of you don't know when it's
going to come, but it's exciting to wake up every
day and think, Oh, I'm gonna find my purpose or
my purpose is going to find me, or my answer
to some question I've had in my mind for so
(06:28):
long now all of a sudden, I don't know when
or who's going to bring it to me, but I'm
going to find out and that answer is coming, and
that's exciting Versus I don't know what I'm doing, I
don't have anyone why is this happening? So I think
it's so important to just change your mindset to know
that we all have a purpose. And it sounds corny
(06:48):
and everyone says it, but we truly truly have a purpose,
and it doesn't matter what age, it doesn't matter what
stage in life that you are told these things or
you find out these things they're set and they're there.
You're gonna have them. You just have to have sort
of the patients, which I'm definitely working on having the patients,
(07:10):
and have that sense of excitement ready to go versus
the sense of fear and why isn't this happening right now?
Speaker 4 (07:17):
So you have a Ted talk that's up on YouTube
and it has twelve million views basically, so let's talk
about your Ted talk. If people haven't listened to it
or watched it, I recommend they go do that, but
we'll do a quick summary here and then also what
it's like for you to have that kind of reach.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
I mean, the whole thing is still crazy. I did
the Ted talk in twenty thirteen, and I had started
speaking professionally two thousand and eight or so, so I
had been speaking for a while up until that point,
and I had got an email to do something called
ted X and I never heard of it at the time.
(07:59):
I thought it was spam, so I ignored it for
like a week, and.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Then they kept emailing me.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
And it was back when newspapers were really a thing,
and I was at home with my parents, and my
dad was reading a newspaper and saw that this Ted
ex Austin Women event was happening, and he was telling
me about it, and right when he said it, I
was like, I got an email from that and he's like,
are you crazy? Go tell them You'll do it. So
I did it. I still didn't really know what it
(08:27):
was exactly. I didn't realize that there were many speakers
throughout the day and you just do like a quick
little speech. And at that point I had developed my
speaking style to where I don't plan, I just know
this is the goals, this is the message, and somehow
I start talking and somehow I get there. And with
Ted there's lots of rules, so you have to submit
(08:49):
outlines and I had to do it and I had
an entire speech planned and literally right before, like when
they called me up and introduced me, I looked at
the girl who I was planning with, who I had
only met once ever, and I said, do you trust me?
And she said yes, And I said, well, I'm going
to throw away everything.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
We talked about.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Just just trust me and going up and speaking about
how do you define yourself? I don't know where that
came from I've never spoken on that in my life.
There's a part if you watch it, where I lose
my train of thought and it's so genuine because I
was just talking. So to see that that specific speech
went viral in less than two weeks when it was posted,
(09:32):
and to see that it took my career to a
whole other level was unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
You know, that makes me think of like TED Talks
have changed a lot of people's lives, including Brene Brown.
I mean, she's someone that after she gave her TED talk,
it completely changed the trajectory of you know what she
was doing, still at the core, doing a lot of
her research and all of that. So it's interesting to
hear that it changed your career as well. So let's
(09:57):
focus on that the topic that came to you or
as you're walking on to the stage, how do you
define yourself at.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
That specific event.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
There's a school in Austin that's an all girls private school,
and they had them bust in for that specific event,
and they had pillows and blankets and stuff for them
on the floor. So they were right in front of
me on stage, and then all around was like the
tables and the women and all that kind of stuff,
and so going up and talking about how to define yourself.
(10:26):
I remember very very vividly as I was deciding to
just do my own thing, telling myself, pretend you're talking
to your best friend, and having those girls in the
front and the way that they were looking at me,
I think I just went into their mindset and started thinking, like,
how do you define yourself?
Speaker 2 (10:46):
How do you see yourself?
Speaker 1 (10:47):
And throughout my speech, I think I was I surprised
myself with my answer because I'm very into my faith
and I always sort of just let God speak through
me whenever I go on stage, and it's just become
such a comfort and so natural for me, and so
going out there and just expressing like, this is who
I am, this is how I define myself as someone
(11:07):
who the world has been trying for so long, so
hard to define me and put me in a certain
category that I refuse to stay in, and so for
me to be able to show the world like you
can't tell me who I am, this is who I am,
this is how I figured it out, this is how
I'm going to do it, and now I'm able to
talk about that in my speeches.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Okay, so when it comes to defining ourselves, Basically, we
are in charge of that. What you're saying is we
cannot let others in the world.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Do that for us. It is up to us.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
And gosh, Lizzie, I mean, you have had to deal
with so much and the amount of grace that you've
had to extend to other people, and the patience is
wild to me. And I know you've admitted to sometimes
it's hard, and I appreciate your honesty. But something I
want to circle back to that you said a minute
ago was the reframing. Like I've never had somebody tell
(12:00):
me to reframe something as excitement of the unknown instead
of keeping it a question mark, just make it more
of like a fun mystery of like, yeah, we get
to be a part of this journey and this exciting
stuff is gonna happen. I mean, I know it's hard
(12:20):
for somebody if they're in some lows, and I don't
think either one of us is saying don't be in
those low moments by any means and fake yourself out.
I'm sure you still deal with the people online that
are super cruel. So let's say you have a day
where you're just inundated.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
With a lot.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Do you have some self care or some practices that
you do to help make sure you're taking care of
those emotions, because you do need to recognize them as
they come up.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah, I mean, I would say pre quarantine. My schedule
was so insane that I never I.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Would have the low times. But my low.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Times were on an airplane when it was like I
couldn't go anywhere and I was thinking about something, but
then I would land, and then I'm distracted and I'm busy.
But over this past year, I was in my house
and it was me and my two dogs and that's it,
and that's where we were all the time. And I
had social media, which was great, but it was also
hard at the same time because I didn't have anything
(13:17):
else to distract me from these comments or thinking about
life or whatever it was that was going on in
my head. And so I had to learn to let
those days happen where I was like today, I'm sad
and I don't care who knows it. I'm not going
to hide it, even if I'm posting it on social media.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I'm going to be honest.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Because for so long I thought I needed to be
that positive person that I put myself out there to
be twenty four to seven, even though I wasn't that way,
And there were times where I was hitting rock bottom,
but I was still on my phone and saying, like
it gets better, things are great while I'm falling as
I'm typing, and I realized how unhealthy that was for me,
(13:58):
and it wasn't me true to everyone else, like I mean,
especially to myself, but really this past year realizing like,
I am sad today and that's okay, and I'm going
to stay in a dark room, I'm gonna listen to
sad music. I'm going to express however it is I
need to feel. But also I really implemented how can
(14:19):
I allow myself to feel those things? But how am
I going to pick myself back up again? And I
really held myself accountable for that because it's so easy
to just let yourself fel sad and then just stay
in bed and then roll into the next day and
you're still feeling those emotions and it gets harder and
harder to pick yourself back up again. So I had
(14:41):
to find little random things, whether it was I ordered
a Lego set for the first time since I was
like a kid, and I ordered the Friend's coffee shop.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Yes, I saw Jennifer Garner doing that one I think
on Instagram.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yes, it made me the whole thing. Like I start something,
I have to finish it, even if it takes me forever.
So having this concentration on this one little thing was
such a big help. So doing legos or doing like
adult paint by numbers like random things really really really
helped me pick myself back up again and remind me
(15:18):
that there is something else to focus on rather than
whatever it is I was going through.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
I love that, and I'll just piggyback or listeners, maybe new,
maybe old. But that's exactly what puzzles did for me.
I never was a puzzle person until it was kind
of something that was my form of going through some
hard times, and that is what I needed to sort
of recover and dig out.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Same with the bird watching.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
So like bursts and puzzles, but I might have to
try the adult lego set. Now I'm suddenly intrigued by that.
I'd seen people posting about it online, but now you've
got me curious. And then you have so many people
that are following you and watching you, and I do
think you do a great job of keeping that balance
and keeping it real. And I'll I'll get vulnerable here
(16:04):
for a second and tell people that right before I
got on this zoom with Lizzie, like, I was having
a little bit of a meltdown and when I clicked
the video thing, I was trying to recover. But I
was already five minutes late to our zoom because of
my little breakdown. And I knew I could tell I
had been crying, but I felt safe with you because
I have known you. And then I thought, oh, no,
(16:24):
should I just reschedule? But then I was also so
excited to talk with you, and I want to respect
your time, and I didn't want to have to move it.
But yeah, I just want people to know that we
all go through things and we're all just trying to
get through the day sometimes and get everything done that
we need to get done.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
You know what's so funny. I don't want to interrupt you,
but with you saying like feeling comfortable, I have to
tell you this. So do you have like a comfort
show or like a comfort movie or something that like
you just hear and for me, it's still magnolius like
hearing still Magnolius is like my anxiety calm thing.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
I don't even have to watch it, just listen to it.
But the show was.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
My comfort for so long, and since I'd been listening
since I was in middle school. Just hearing your voices
is something that helped me, especially when I started traveling
a lot and traveling out of the country. I would
download old podcast and it was just something that made
me feel so safe and like I was at home.
(17:27):
And so I think it's so nice that it's a
good reminder that, like, even during my heart times, that
someone would feel safe, you know, with me, and.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
So with you.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
I hope you know that you are that same comfort
for a lot of people, not just me.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Yeah, and by show, just for anyone listening. She's talking
about the Bobby Bone show from from back in the day,
just to yeah, you know, clarify and yeah, you've been
such a huge supporter for so long, and so yeah,
that's why I was super special to have you on
the podcast today. So if I had to think of
a show that brings me comfort, it probably is friends,
(18:04):
you know, since you bring them up like the little
Lego thing. But Stell Magnolius is one of my favorite
movies ever. I recorded Mike D's movie podcast and he
asked me my three favorite movies from my childhood.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
And I don't know.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
I had an older sister, and I guess my parents
didn't really monitor really what we watched. But my top
three are Stell Magnolia's Pretty Woman, and Dirty Dancing.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
I was just talking to my friend about this because
I was telling her my top three favorite movies are
so sad and so depressing that I only watch like
seventy five percent of them, So I don't watch the ending,
oh mine, there's still Magnolius terms of endearment in Beaches,
oh gosh, and so like, they're all like the staddest
movies possible.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
I don't know why.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
I'm not like a sad person. I feel like I'm
a happy person, but I just love those movies.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Is there anything that you would recommend that we need
to be watching right now, whether it's a movie you
recently saw or a TV show that you're loving.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
I feel like all my recommendations are like sad and dark,
and I don't want anyone to watch anything that's sad
and dark.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Okay, Well, if you think of something I don't know where.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
I don't know what I'm saying about, like I'm sharing
about myself right now.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
That's okay, people, Well, I mean, I know we've been
talking about the Bobby Bone Show, and you know Bobby
well enough to know that like sad music. He listens
to that to almost feel happy in a weird way.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
I mean, I get it, Yeah, I get it.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
It's a thing.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
So in the first thing, Lizzie, you mentioned that at seventeen,
you experienced this video that went up and there was
four million views by the time you had seen it,
and there was all of these comments, and I know
that there was recently, and I say recent, more recent
than when you were seventeen, something that happened with TikTok
And just also over all these years, how you've gone
(20:06):
from bullying to helping empower people and educate people for
that matter. So can you share with us what happened
with TikTok and then what inspired you to kind of
continue pursuing what you're already doing.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
The whole TikTok thing was so out of the blue,
and I did not realize that it was going to
get as big as it did, which normally happens in
my life where I just say something and then sort
of it just goes. But I downloaded TikTok and I
was one of those people that was like, I'm not
going to do it, and then I did it, and
then I couldn't stop. And I remember seeing a trend
(20:42):
where the video is like someone it looks like you're
on a FaceTime call, so it's like you, and then
the little square photo in the corner where it's someone else.
And I saw it, and it's weird that I when
I see certain things like something just tells me I'm
going to be a part of it, and true every time.
And so I saw it and I took a screenshot
(21:03):
of it, and I didn't tell anyone, and I just,
you know, went on to whatever it as I was doing,
and I thought, someone's going to use my photo.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
I know what's going to happen.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
And sure enough, it was like eleven o'clock at night
and someone tagged me in the comments and it was
a mom. I think it was around the time school
was supposed to be starting, and it was a mom
who put one of my photos from Google. It was
like an old photo in the corner of the screen,
and she said to her son, this is going to
be your new teacher, knowing the kid was going to
(21:34):
have a certain reaction, and so she showed her son
the photo and it was me, and the kid made
like a scared, scared face, like a scared reaction. And
so I looked through.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
The other videos.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
It was photos of babies who had down syndrum. It
was photos of just all different kinds of people.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
And I saw it and.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
I was so upset, and I remember texting my friends
and just like I knew this was going to happen.
And I tried to go to sleep, and I couldn't sleep.
I just kept thinking about it. And I wasn't mad
for myself at all. I was mad because they were
using other people's photos and they don't have the platform
that I do, and I wanted to say something. And
(22:18):
so I got up and I put on my Choose
Joy sweatshirt and I put it on and it was
like two o'clock in the morning, I think, and put
my contact in, set my phone up, and I basically
just told parents, like, this isn't funny, this lesson is
not okay for you to be showing your kids that
it's okay to laugh at someone who looks different. And
(22:39):
so I posted that and I went to sleep, and
I woke up the next day and it was everywhere.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
Well, I'm very impressed by your ability to be in
a situation like that and to want to use your
platform for good and to you know, yeah, throw on
that choose joy hoodie and set out to like really
make a difference.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Did you ever end up talking with that mom?
Speaker 4 (23:03):
That's the first photo that was used, and so what
happened with that?
Speaker 2 (23:06):
I did.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
We started messaging, and she apologized, and I actually talked
to two different moms because there was another mom who
did it after that, like after it sort of went everywhere,
she still did it. And so basically with both of them,
it was me saying, I'm not doing this to attack
you and call you out. I'm doing this so that
it could stop for everyone else because this isn't okay,
(23:30):
and basically just reiterating why this isn't okay. But also
I have that inside frustration of I should not have
to be explaining this to another adult. Oh yeah, And
that's where like it sort of just makes me so angry.
And there are times where I find these things and
I get really angry, and I get mad for myself
for a little while. But then it's sort of like
(23:51):
this lesson that I feel like I need to teach people.
But there are certain times where I'll get certain things
and it hits me personally and then it makes me
very angry. And that happened about a year ago when
I was sent on Instagram. You know, if like, you
post a story and you can reply to that person
through the message.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
I didn't.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Accidentally, the person who replied to my story was a
news anchor. I found out it was a verified account,
and I think they meant to forward my story to
a friend, but they sent it to me directly and
their response was God, that's ugly, and it was a
story of me and it was a verified account, and
(24:34):
so I saw it and I was so angry. Like
the second I saw it, I was so angry. And
then I was like, who is this? And then I
went and I saw that it was a news anchor
and then I saw that he was a dad with daughters,
and I was so mad. And it was in October,
during anti bowling month, and I'm like, oh, this is this?
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Is it?
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Like I have to say something and Normally, if I
get something from like like a kid or you know,
not verified person, I will cover there any way for
anyone to find.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Out, I cover it.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
But this was a verified person and I was pretty mad,
and so I posted it and I basically said, I'm
telling myself that you didn't need to send this to me.
And it was an accident, but I saw it, and
this is okay, and maybe the next time you reply
to someone you sort of think about your words before
you send it. And oh my gosh, it went everywhere
(25:31):
and it was it was crazy, and the news station
reached out to me and they wanted me to go
on and talk with him on air about this, and
it was just like, no, thank you.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
Did you ever speak with him like DM one on
one or personally?
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Did he try to reach out and apologize?
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Yeah, he did. He tried.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
He messaged me, but I don't I didn't reply. I
don't think it was a long time ago. I don't
think I replied. But he did message me and apologize
and said he has daughters and he wants to, you know,
do the right thing and stuff.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
But to do the right thing, you don't do it
in the.
Speaker 4 (26:02):
First Yeah, I mean, and it's too perfect that that
happened during anti bullying months. I mean it's like you
were handed this gift to pass around to teach people.
Oh okay, this is a perfect example of bullying because
it's not even like he was trying to be public
about it. He was sending it to a friend. And
I think it's just a reminder too of how we
(26:24):
can speak about people that we don't even know behind
their backs.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
And I mean, I mean.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
Not regarding you, but there a lot of different things
that we do that I know that I'm certainly guilty of.
And you don't think it's harming anybody, and you're talking
with your best friends, so it's like, oh, you know,
but yeah, just to second guess anything that you're going
to say to someone else, like is this uplifting?
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Is this positive? Is this worth really saying?
Speaker 4 (26:53):
Kind of good to have a little checklist for yourself
before you type something or speak something. I do have
a Lizzie quote, can I read it? Just is regarding
you know, similar topic the new teacher challenge. I believe
so you said, if you are an adult who has
a young human in your life, please do not teach
(27:13):
them that being scared of someone who doesn't look like
them is okay, this is a trend that needs to stop.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Because we are humans, we have feelings.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
I remember saying that, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:26):
It's such simple words, easy for everybody to understand for sure,
but yet for some people it's just so hard to
grasp the concept of like, oh, yeah, this person has
feelings too, and you know, the little saying like if
you prick me, I will bleed. I feel as though
sometimes people forget that people behind the screen, or even
(27:48):
us like on the radio, or you behind all of
you know, your social media stuff and things you have
going on, that you are very real and you have
very real feelings.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Yeah. Yeah, I mean I'm sure you've you've gotten this before,
where someone will they in their mind they're telling you
something nice, but it comes off looks not nice at
all to you, and then you sort of you just
get defensive right away.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Even though you know they didn't mean it in a
mean way.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
And so it's kind of that mental thing of like
going back and forth of like how do I react
to this in a nice way even though I really
offended by that?
Speaker 2 (28:25):
So I've I've had.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
That before in person, where it's like someone will come
up to me and they're like, you know, even though
you're not that pretty on the outside, you still have
the biggest heart and you're like Jesus.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
And I'm like, okay, it doesn't cancel out. It's not nice.
Speaker 4 (28:44):
What I am like, I know, speechless right now that
someone has come up to you and said.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
That, yeah, Lizzy, it's happened.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
I mean I instantly smiled because like, this isn't happening,
but it's happened before.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
I don't even know other than like right now, if
you're listening, don't ever say that to anybody. I feel
like though my listeners already know that, I feel like
I have pretty kind ones.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Yeah, don't start a compliment with something negative, because it
just doesn't end well, it's just.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Not work at all.
Speaker 4 (29:17):
Okay, Well, thank you for all that you do towards
educating and helping people learn and helping people unlearn. I
feel like that that's a big thing, and you know,
just reaching kids and adults on a level that you're
just really making a difference, and I love that you're
dedicated to it and I just I enjoy watching you grow.
(29:41):
So thank you for guiding us, like helping us be better.
I feel like I learned so much from following you,
which I think I said your Instagram earlier was.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Little Lizzy, but it's at little Lizzy V.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
So I wanted to correct that because in the beginning
I said little Lizzy. So I want to make sure
people go follow you and they follow the correct account.
And trust me, you will be empowered by Lizzie for sure,
because she's amazing.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
We got thirday.
Speaker 4 (30:21):
So Lizzie, We've talked about some difficult moments for sure
on the podcast today that have already happened to you.
Some I'm still gasping about. But how are you able
to kind of stay true to who you want to
be in those moments and you know, use them for
good and like see them as okay, like this is
a teaching moment, Like how are you able to stay
(30:42):
the course?
Speaker 1 (30:43):
I owe that to my parents because I have a
younger brother and sister. Well they're not they're not younger,
they're adults, but I'm the oldest, and they've raised us
exactly the same, the three of us, and I have
a rule for myself that I'm exactly the same. In
front of twenty thousand people, then I am just looking
(31:03):
at you and talking right now. I cannot pretend I'm
anyone else because it just feels uncomfortable. And any time
that I see where this is like a teaching moment
or whatever. I got that from my dad. My dad
was in education for thirty two years. He just retired,
and he was an elementary school principal at my elementary
(31:24):
the entire time I was there. And I remember there
are so many times where we would either be at
school or out in public and I would see people
staring and my automatic response was to, like, you know,
hide behind someone else or just pretend I didn't see it.
And he would always go up to the person or
whoever it was and basically just say, this is my daughter, Lizzie.
(31:47):
Do you want to meet her? Versus stop staring at
my daughter. You don't know what's wrong with her or whatever.
It was always something positive, and so I look at that,
and that's sort of how I am now where if
something's happening, if I'm with other people, my instinct is to,
you know, make it like normal and casual and introduce
(32:08):
myself or whatever. But if I'm by myself, I respond
completely differently. I don't know why but pre pandemic. I
traveled a ton by myself, and I have this sense
of confidence and I can, you know, go through an
airport and do what I need to do by myself.
But also it's like I feel like I need to
prove myself to people who I feel like are.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Staring at me.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
And I don't know if they're staring at me just
to stare or they recognize me, but in my mind,
they're staring at me to stare. And so I'm walking
and I don't feel like I have the same sense
of confidence that I do if I'm walking with someone
else that I know. So it's I want to be
very honest about that. I do try to take advantage
of a situation and you know, make things positive and
(32:53):
make it a teaching moment. But if I'm by myself,
I feel completely different.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
And so the teaching moments mostly are you saying when
you're with other people.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Because I feel more confident.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
I don't know why, because I will react the exact
same because if I need to say something when I'm
by myself, I'll react the same way. But I just
don't feel like I can do it by myself, which
is weird.
Speaker 4 (33:16):
I yeah, I kind of feel like I see you
doing it by yourself. So maybe I don't know I'm
having like a premonition or like I see it actually happening.
Like I know that it's difficult to say something, but
I see maybe you one day growing into that person
and not in a rude way, but in a very thoughtful,
kind way.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
And it's a goal, like I'm working towards it.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Do you make vision boards or anything like that.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Yes, but I just started doing them in a different way.
So I am developing a kid series right now, and
I have very big plans for this kid series. And
I had magnets made of where I'm envisioning this show
to live, and so I had them made in some magnets.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
So I see the magnets.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Every day of like my show is going to be
on this, or my show is going to be on this.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Okay. So like actually, like magnets like that go on.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Your fridge, like I had them printed.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
Yeah okay, And so is that that's where you keeop?
Do you move them around in your fridge or in
another room or like where I'm just.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Right now they're all on my fridge. But my other
thing is I know This doesn't really count as like
a vision board, but it's like list lists of like anything.
So anytime like I say this is going to happen,
or I want this to happen, or if I have
a random idea, whether it's just a word or a
phrase or whatever it is, I write it down, so
I have a list like random lists all over.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
Yeah, it's not a you know, you're not like cutting
things out of a magazine and making a vision board,
which you're actually like putting pin to paper and you're
focusing on it. I've talked about the Steve Harvey story
before on the podcast. He was on Oprah's Super Soul Conversation,
or maybe it was Oprah's MA Class. I can't remember
exactly when and where I heard it, but he's told
it multiple times.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
But his teacher told him he was never going to
be on TV.
Speaker 4 (35:08):
In fact, I think it was a homework assignment like
at school, but what do you want to do when
you grow up? And he and I'm paraphrasing the whole thing,
by the way, so going from memory here, but he
basically was like, I'm going to be on TV and
she kind of got onto him like go home and
do this homework assignment correctly.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
You can't know you're not going to be on TV.
Speaker 4 (35:26):
And so he got a bad grade for it or whatever,
and his dad sort of got onto him, was like,
oh no, you're going to be on TV. And his
dad's the one that was like, you write this down,
put it in his room and he looked at it
every day, like I'm going to be on TV. And
then once he got famous, and he went through a
lot of lows before he made it high and made
(35:49):
it big. His story is actually pretty fascinating. But every
year for Christmas, once he was rich and famous, he
sent that teacher a TV.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Oh my gosh, it's like the best thing to do.
I have a similar story to that, except it was
my mom. My mom who did it for me. I
didn't know that she did this. But when I was
a freshman in college, I went to Texas State, so Sint. Marcus,
so you know, not that far from Austin. It was
(36:18):
my first time to be on my own and away
from my parents, and like, I can do this, I
can be independent. And so I went and it was
my second semester. I came home for the weekend, you know,
had my suitcase went back to my dorm and I
was in packing, And when I was in packing, there
was a thick manila envelope and it had like two
composition books and a spiral and I didn't know what
(36:42):
it was and I opened it and they were letters
that my mom started writing me from when I was
born until middle school. Every day she wrote me a
letter in these journals of what I did that day,
if I was sick, if I was bad, you know,
any little And I was a mess, like I was
(37:02):
crying so hard reading these letters. I had like a
towel wiping my tears away. And there was one letter
that I got to that said, I don't know when
I'm going to give you these letters, but I'm going
to give them to you one day. And I hope
and I pray that when I give you these letters,
you're reading them in your college dorm room. And I
(37:24):
was at the desk in my room I get chill sleep,
and it was just like the most incredible manifesting moment.
Speaker 4 (37:33):
Yeah, oh, thanks for sharing that story, and thanks for
sharing the 's your your magnet idea. Some people might
take that and run with it. How did you figure
out a company that makes magnets.
Speaker 3 (37:43):
Did you just google it?
Speaker 1 (37:45):
So when I moved into my house like three years ago,
I really wanted magnets and googled it. And there's an
app called Social Print Studio, I think, and they do
all different sizes so you can just put your photos
and mel.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
To oh perfect.
Speaker 4 (38:02):
I think that's a great idea for adults, kids, anything
that you want, so that you have that visual every day,
and you can even move them around, rearrange them. I
worked with it was before the pandemic, so it kind
of lost some steam. But I learned that I had
been on someone's refrigerator vision board guarding an adoption project
(38:24):
that was in the works. And turns out one of
her friends ended up dating my dad for a little bit,
so then she got away to meet me. And when
I finally met with her and we had a meeting,
and I love the work that she was doing, she
later confessed to me that I had been on her.
Speaker 3 (38:41):
Refrigerator for a while, and I.
Speaker 4 (38:44):
Just thought that was interesting. I never knew I had
been on somebody's refrigerator. But all that to say not
that like, oh hey, I was on someone's vision board,
but I was on a refrigerator and she was trying
to find a way to meet me and then we met.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
So, yeah, it's a thing.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
When I was teaching myself how to be a motivational speaker,
I watched all of these videos and do you know
who Bill Ransick is?
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Yes, Juliana's husband.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Okay, so he was my speaker idol, and I like
watched all of his stuff and like studied his website
like such a nerd. And I watched this one speaker
video he did where he was standing in the like
the center of a stage and there was like thousands
of people around him, and I was like, I'm going
to do that, and I know I made it.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Why I thought that was a thing.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
I know I made it when I'm standing like Bill
in the center of the stage surrounded by people, and
I did it.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
And I was like I had that moment.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
And eventually I had lunch with him and I was like,
I have to tell you a story. I studied you,
and I told myself I'd make it. I sounded so crazy,
but it works. Tell yourself you can do these things.
Speaker 4 (39:55):
Who is the person you've been most excited to meet
on your journey with all of this all of this,
I mean your your life journey.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
I think I think the one that I've become the
closest with, like genuinely become really close friends with, that
I would say most grateful for versus most excited because
this was very random. But it is Eva Mendet. Okay, yeah,
so she is incredible. So she invited me to a
(40:25):
fashion weak thing she did a few years ago. Yet
again I thought it was a joke. I have to
stop thinking things are jokes. But I also didn't pay
attention to that one because I was like, there, Eva
Mendes is not inviting me to like a fashion show
in New York like this what?
Speaker 2 (40:42):
And it was? It was actually her.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
But anyway, my whole point is that she's just the
most genuine, down to earth, amazing, amazing person.
Speaker 4 (40:49):
Yeah, she does seem super nice. Who's she with Ryan Gosling?
Did you get to meet him?
Speaker 3 (40:54):
You did? Okay? Okay, all right, yeah I can tell
you more about that later. Okay, so we'll talk about
that offline.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
So wait, that sounds bad, but you know, I know,
I know.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
What you mean.
Speaker 4 (41:07):
I don't think you mean anything bad at all. I'm
still laughing at Bill Ransick is your speaker, idol. Not
not for any reason like I'm sure he's amazing. I
just had never I never even knew that he was
a speaker.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
It was because him and Juliana had their show at
the time, and he was an entrepreneur and doing a
lot of speeches about entrepreneur stuff. And when I googled
how to be a votivational speaker, he just was like
in all articles.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
And so he's the one that came up. So he
was the chosen one.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
I picked him because he was popular at the time,
like I want to be Bill Ransick of all people.
Speaker 3 (41:45):
I love that. I actually love where this thing went.
Speaker 4 (41:48):
I know we started off talking about, you know, teaching moments,
but I definitely can appreciate when a conversation just goes
somewhere totally random. And now anytime I see Bill Ransick,
I'm gonna kind of laugh a little and.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
Think of you, my idol.
Speaker 4 (42:06):
Things All right, Lizzie, you know we are big on
gratitude here, and I'm pretty sure you have one of
our four Things gratitude journals. I've seen you post about
it before, which is super sweet of you to do.
So we're going to wrap things up with four things
(42:27):
that you are currently thankful for today.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
So I am completely independent in all aspects of my life.
But I can't drive because I'm blind and when eye
and so the fact that I can't you know, hop
in my car and go to the grocery store to
get something or you know, do anything like that, it
really really got me for a really long time because
I was like ashamed and embarrassed by that. But now
(42:52):
I've gotten the courage to take an uber to go
do a random errand that I need to do. So
the fact that I don't have to depend on someone
to take me to do a random erin I got
to do that today, And so being able to have
that tiny sense of independence back, I'm so grateful for
so so grateful for that. I think the other thing
(43:14):
is I this is also random. I wear one contact
because I can see out of one eye, so I
have one contact, But I also have to wear reading glasses,
and I lost my reading glasses. I have no idea
where they are. But I'm grateful that I have other
humans that I can FaceTime and call and have them
read me random things that I can't see because it
(43:37):
happens so like measuring things. If I can't see that,
then I have to like FaceTime a friend and say,
I don't want to talk to you. I just need
you to know what this says.
Speaker 4 (43:47):
And that would you say I don't want to talk
to you, I just need you to read this to me.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
I don't really want to have a conversation. I just
need to know what this says. Sometimes there's some like
possible dangerous situation where I'm cooking and I say, is
this fully cooked or not, which you know I should
probably not do, but I've done. And I think the
third thing would be my house. Every day I think
I'm still surprised that I live here and that I'm
(44:15):
able to have this space.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
I'm so so grateful for it in.
Speaker 1 (44:19):
The fact that there's just so many people who aren't
in this situation, especially with this past year.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
And every day I wake.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
Up and it's like it's new and it's exciting, and
I've been here for three years, but every day it's
just like this sense of security and happiness that I have,
even though I've gone crazy being here for so long.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
And I think the fourth thing.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
The fourth thing is my dog's not many people know this,
but I got my first dog, Alie. He saved my life.
I had a documentary premiere by Southwest in twenty fifteen,
and right after we had finished filming, I absolutely hit
rock bottom, completely hit rock bottom. And it was during
(45:05):
a time where I was traveling out of the country
for the first time, I was speaking to the biggest audiences.
I was literally having the movie made about my life,
and I was having thoughts of not wanting to be here,
and despite everything in my life that's happened, I've never
had those thoughts until that time, and so I had
an overwhelming amount of guilt on me because I was
(45:29):
living my dream. But I was in the worst place
of my life mentally and emotionally, and I got dangerously
good at hiding it. And during all of that time,
I started living on my own. I had my own
apartment at the time, and I had always had a roommate.
It was my first time alone, and so I was
just not in.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
A good place.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
And I got a dog on my own for the
first time, and I didn't know how to have a
dog on my own. But he became the reason why
I had to get out of bed every morning because
he depended on me. And so now I have two
dogs and they're just my whole entire world.
Speaker 4 (46:07):
Oh well, thank you for sharing some of the backstory
of why is it Allie? Yeah, Alie saved your life.
I mean, that's definitely not an easy thing probably to
revisit and say out loud again, but thank you for
sharing that, and even you were dangerously good at hiding it,
because I think that's also just another reminder of like,
(46:28):
you never know what someone is really going through, and
you may think you know because maybe they do have
X y Z going on that are all pretty amazing,
fabulous stuff or things or opportunities like everything you would
have ever hoped for, right right, But yet you were
still at a lowe that.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
Was broken, completely broken.
Speaker 3 (46:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (46:49):
Yeah, so God gave you Allie? How did you find Allie?
How did y'all end up together?
Speaker 1 (46:54):
My mom suggested I get a dog, and everyone else
was like, no, this isn't the right time, it's going
to be too much. And I reached out to a
family at our church who had posted that they were
looking to rehome one of their dogs, and it was Allie,
and he had a different name, and I'm like, I'm
not gonna call him that name.
Speaker 2 (47:13):
It was weird.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
I don't even remember what it was, but it was
such a weird name. And it turned out he was
two years old and he had already been in three
different homes, and just that broke me. And I was like,
come here to me. I don't know how to have
a dog. You're probably stronger than me, but come here
to me. And I did everything without telling anyone I saw.
(47:34):
I had Alli come over, didn't tell anyone, and I
loved him. I had to leave to Vegas to speak,
came back and Allie came to.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
Live with me.
Speaker 4 (47:42):
Oh, and so what kind of dog is Ali? He's
a shit sue, and your other dog is I don't
want to leave the other dog out.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
She's a shit sue as well.
Speaker 1 (47:49):
So Allie's all white and Olivia is all black, and
I couldn't think of another name, so I've all of
her and Olivia h cute because I'm not creative.
Speaker 3 (47:58):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (47:59):
Well, Lizzie, thank you, thank you so much for coming
on and talking about all of this. And I hope
people go follow you if they aren't already.
Speaker 3 (48:06):
And you have written.
Speaker 4 (48:08):
Four books, yeah, which is so amazing. So I'll be
linking all four of your books on my Amazon page,
so it's an easy place for people to find them.
Just Radioamy dot com for that. But the titles of
your books, I love them, so I'm going to read them, thanks, Lizzie.
Beautiful is the first one, be Beautiful, Be You is
(48:30):
the second one, Choosing Happiness is the third, and then
Dare to Be Kind How Extraordinary Compassion can transform Our World.
And that's the latest book, and I mean that title
in itself.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
That one's my favorite.
Speaker 1 (48:45):
That's where I chose to disclose everything about hitting rock bottom,
so everything that I went through is in there. And
then also there's a chapter called how a dog named
all You saved my life, and then that's about how
I got back up again.
Speaker 4 (49:00):
I appreciate you sharing your story and even your Ted Talk.
Speaker 3 (49:04):
People should go watch that again.
Speaker 4 (49:06):
Basically twelve million views, which is insane. So I'm incredibly
proud and honored to call you a friend, and thank
you for being a safe space for me.
Speaker 2 (49:16):
Of course, thanks for having me
Cats up little food for yourself life.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Oh it's pretty bad.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Hey, it's pretty beautiful.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Beautiful.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
That for a little more exciting, said he.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
You're kicking with full with Amy Brown.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
So I'm excited to be sitting down with my friend
Lizzie for all four things today Lizzie Velasquez and on Instagram,
she's little Lizzie.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
A lot of you may follow her. But Lizzie, how
long have we known each other?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
A long time? It's been a long time.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
I remember meeting you when you came up to visit us,
and it's just been so amazing to watch you grow
and see your journey and you're so inspiring to so
many people, including me. And I also love that you're
wearing your es Boi pull over, the white one with
the hot pink as bois, which means hope in Haitian Creole.
(01:08):
And you are just that, your hope for so many people,
and you spread so much of that, and you've been
an ambassador of Pimp and joy as well and all
the things, and it just warms my heart to see
the impact that you've paid across the world, so for
people that.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Aren't familiar with you. In the story in.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
This box that the world has tried to put you
in walk us through some of that.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
So I was born with the rare syndrome that doesn't
allow me to gain weight. I was born two pounds
ten ounces.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
When I came out.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I actually had to be born six weeks early because
the doctor saw that I had stopped growing completely, so
my mom had to have an emergency C section. And
when I came out, there was no amniotic fluid around me,
so I shouldn't have come out screaming or alive.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
And everything was normal.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
I was just very small, and there was nothing that
could definitively say this is what she has. They basically
just scared my parents and said she's not going to
be able to do anything in her life on her own,
and you're just going to have to do everything for her.
So basically, from literally day one, I was already being
told I can't do anything, and so my parents just said,
(02:18):
we're going to take her home and raise her to
the best of our ability, and that's what they did.
And I wasn't officially diagnosed until unexpectedly at the age
of twenty five. I have neo needle prodroid syndrome, which
is made up of two things, lipodystrophe and mar fans.
Lipodystrophe just doesn't allow me to gain weight, which we know,
(02:39):
and mour fans affects my eyes, my bones, and my heart,
and so with my heart, I now run the risk
of my aortic valve dilating basically just getting too big,
which is the scariest thing. And so the good thing
is that we know when we're aware, and I have
a great team of doctors now, But basically that's all
the causes. So because of that, I am in a
very very small body, and I have had to deal
(03:01):
with a lot of bullying in person. When I was younger,
and when social media became a thing, it was, you know,
being teased online. And when I was seventeen, someone posted
a video of me calling me the world's ugliest woman,
and there was over four million views when I found it.
I was seventeen when I found it, and all the
comments were just horrible and you know, telling me to
(03:22):
end my life. And why didn't my parents just support
me if I was going to be so disgusting and
saying for me to put like a plastic bag over
my head when I went out, because if people saw
my face, they would go blind from my ugliness.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
So it was just horrible, horrible.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Things that I sat there and I read all the comments,
I think mostly because I was so desperate to find
one that was positive or one that was like supporting me,
and unfortunately I didn't find one one And so that
sort of was the biggest turning point in my life.
And obviously I didn't see that at the time, but
it was one of the biggest times where I was like,
(04:00):
I need to either show these people who I am
or I'm going to let them keep me inside and
keep me hidden away.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
And that's not It's not who I am. No.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
I just want to commend your parents, your family, your
friends that were surrounding you during that time, because I'm
sure you know their support also helped you know that, like, yes,
you're not going to let this keep you down, like
you're going to actually use this as motivation to move
forward and be an advocate for anyone facing any type
(04:31):
of adversity.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I can say it was, you know, like, oh yeah,
eventually I forgave everyone and it was fine.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
But it wasn't like that at all.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
It was a process and it took many years for
me to fully actually not only just say it out loud,
but fully admit and believe myself that I was forgiving
these people who were saying these horrible things. And I
think that was one of the biggest lessons I learned
from that is realizing that not only did I need
to forgive them, but I need to understand them because
(05:03):
they don't have the resources that I have. Those people
who are saying horrible things they probably don't have parents
like mine, or they don't have friends like mine who
are showing them that this isn't right. So I can't
blame them or hold it against them because they don't
have the resources. And so I think that's really what
made me want to continue to do what I do
(05:25):
because I want it to be that resource for them.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
Oh yeah, you are absolutely a resource for so many
and you know this is now your purpose in life,
at least one of them. Through all of this, You've
found what you're meant to be doing. So what would
you say to someone listening right now that is still
trying to figure out their purpose right now?
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Honestly, right now, one of my biggest things that I'm
personally working on and continuing to remind myself and tell
myself is not so to focus on what is it?
When is it coming? How is it going to be here?
But more so change your mindset to thinking, I know
it's there. I don't know when I'm going to find
it or who's going to show it to me, but
(06:05):
it's going to come, and to change just the simple
mindset of the question mark in your head to more
so of an excitement of you don't know when it's
going to come, but it's exciting to wake up every
day and think, Oh, I'm gonna find my purpose or
my purpose is going to find me, or my answer
to some question I've had in my mind for so
(06:28):
long now all of a sudden, I don't know when
or who's going to bring it to me, but I'm
going to find out and that answer is coming, and
that's exciting Versus I don't know what I'm doing, I
don't have anyone why is this happening? So I think
it's so important to just change your mindset to know
that we all have a purpose. And it sounds corny
(06:48):
and everyone says it, but we truly truly have a purpose,
and it doesn't matter what age, it doesn't matter what
stage in life that you are told these things or
you find out these things they're set and they're there.
You're gonna have them. You just have to have sort
of the patients, which I'm definitely working on having the patients,
(07:10):
and have that sense of excitement ready to go versus
the sense of fear and why isn't this happening right now?
Speaker 4 (07:17):
So you have a Ted talk that's up on YouTube
and it has twelve million views basically, so let's talk
about your Ted talk. If people haven't listened to it
or watched it, I recommend they go do that, but
we'll do a quick summary here and then also what
it's like for you to have that kind of reach.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
I mean, the whole thing is still crazy. I did
the Ted talk in twenty thirteen, and I had started
speaking professionally two thousand and eight or so, so I
had been speaking for a while up until that point,
and I had got an email to do something called
ted X and I never heard of it at the time.
(07:59):
I thought it was spam, so I ignored it for
like a week, and.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Then they kept emailing me.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
And it was back when newspapers were really a thing,
and I was at home with my parents, and my
dad was reading a newspaper and saw that this Ted
ex Austin Women event was happening, and he was telling
me about it, and right when he said it, I
was like, I got an email from that and he's like,
are you crazy? Go tell them You'll do it. So
I did it. I still didn't really know what it
(08:27):
was exactly. I didn't realize that there were many speakers
throughout the day and you just do like a quick
little speech. And at that point I had developed my
speaking style to where I don't plan, I just know
this is the goals, this is the message, and somehow
I start talking and somehow I get there. And with
Ted there's lots of rules, so you have to submit
(08:49):
outlines and I had to do it and I had
an entire speech planned and literally right before, like when
they called me up and introduced me, I looked at
the girl who I was planning with, who I had
only met once ever, and I said, do you trust me?
And she said yes, And I said, well, I'm going
to throw away everything.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
We talked about.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Just just trust me and going up and speaking about
how do you define yourself? I don't know where that
came from I've never spoken on that in my life.
There's a part if you watch it, where I lose
my train of thought and it's so genuine because I
was just talking. So to see that that specific speech
went viral in less than two weeks when it was posted,
(09:32):
and to see that it took my career to a
whole other level was unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
You know, that makes me think of like TED Talks
have changed a lot of people's lives, including Brene Brown.
I mean, she's someone that after she gave her TED talk,
it completely changed the trajectory of you know what she
was doing, still at the core, doing a lot of
her research and all of that. So it's interesting to
hear that it changed your career as well. So let's
(09:57):
focus on that the topic that came to you or
as you're walking on to the stage, how do you
define yourself at.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
That specific event.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
There's a school in Austin that's an all girls private school,
and they had them bust in for that specific event,
and they had pillows and blankets and stuff for them
on the floor. So they were right in front of
me on stage, and then all around was like the
tables and the women and all that kind of stuff,
and so going up and talking about how to define yourself.
(10:26):
I remember very very vividly as I was deciding to
just do my own thing, telling myself, pretend you're talking
to your best friend, and having those girls in the
front and the way that they were looking at me,
I think I just went into their mindset and started thinking, like,
how do you define yourself?
Speaker 2 (10:46):
How do you see yourself?
Speaker 1 (10:47):
And throughout my speech, I think I was I surprised
myself with my answer because I'm very into my faith
and I always sort of just let God speak through
me whenever I go on stage, and it's just become
such a comfort and so natural for me, and so
going out there and just expressing like, this is who
I am, this is how I define myself as someone
(11:07):
who the world has been trying for so long, so
hard to define me and put me in a certain
category that I refuse to stay in, and so for
me to be able to show the world like you
can't tell me who I am, this is who I am,
this is how I figured it out, this is how
I'm going to do it, and now I'm able to
talk about that in my speeches.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Okay, so when it comes to defining ourselves, Basically, we
are in charge of that. What you're saying is we
cannot let others in the world.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Do that for us. It is up to us.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
And gosh, Lizzie, I mean, you have had to deal
with so much and the amount of grace that you've
had to extend to other people, and the patience is
wild to me. And I know you've admitted to sometimes
it's hard, and I appreciate your honesty. But something I
want to circle back to that you said a minute
ago was the reframing. Like I've never had somebody tell
(12:00):
me to reframe something as excitement of the unknown instead
of keeping it a question mark, just make it more
of like a fun mystery of like, yeah, we get
to be a part of this journey and this exciting
stuff is gonna happen. I mean, I know it's hard
(12:20):
for somebody if they're in some lows, and I don't
think either one of us is saying don't be in
those low moments by any means and fake yourself out.
I'm sure you still deal with the people online that
are super cruel. So let's say you have a day
where you're just inundated.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
With a lot.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Do you have some self care or some practices that
you do to help make sure you're taking care of
those emotions, because you do need to recognize them as
they come up.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah, I mean, I would say pre quarantine. My schedule
was so insane that I never I.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Would have the low times. But my low.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Times were on an airplane when it was like I
couldn't go anywhere and I was thinking about something, but
then I would land, and then I'm distracted and I'm busy.
But over this past year, I was in my house
and it was me and my two dogs and that's it,
and that's where we were all the time. And I
had social media, which was great, but it was also
hard at the same time because I didn't have anything
(13:17):
else to distract me from these comments or thinking about
life or whatever it was that was going on in
my head. And so I had to learn to let
those days happen where I was like today, I'm sad
and I don't care who knows it. I'm not going
to hide it, even if I'm posting it on social media.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I'm going to be honest.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Because for so long I thought I needed to be
that positive person that I put myself out there to
be twenty four to seven, even though I wasn't that way,
And there were times where I was hitting rock bottom,
but I was still on my phone and saying, like
it gets better, things are great while I'm falling as
I'm typing, and I realized how unhealthy that was for me,
(13:58):
and it wasn't me true to everyone else, like I mean,
especially to myself, but really this past year realizing like,
I am sad today and that's okay, and I'm going
to stay in a dark room, I'm gonna listen to
sad music. I'm going to express however it is I
need to feel. But also I really implemented how can
(14:19):
I allow myself to feel those things? But how am
I going to pick myself back up again? And I
really held myself accountable for that because it's so easy
to just let yourself fel sad and then just stay
in bed and then roll into the next day and
you're still feeling those emotions and it gets harder and
harder to pick yourself back up again. So I had
(14:41):
to find little random things, whether it was I ordered
a Lego set for the first time since I was
like a kid, and I ordered the Friend's coffee shop.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Yes, I saw Jennifer Garner doing that one I think
on Instagram.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yes, it made me the whole thing. Like I start something,
I have to finish it, even if it takes me forever.
So having this concentration on this one little thing was
such a big help. So doing legos or doing like
adult paint by numbers like random things really really really
helped me pick myself back up again and remind me
(15:18):
that there is something else to focus on rather than
whatever it is I was going through.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
I love that, and I'll just piggyback or listeners, maybe new,
maybe old. But that's exactly what puzzles did for me.
I never was a puzzle person until it was kind
of something that was my form of going through some
hard times, and that is what I needed to sort
of recover and dig out.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Same with the bird watching.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
So like bursts and puzzles, but I might have to
try the adult lego set. Now I'm suddenly intrigued by that.
I'd seen people posting about it online, but now you've
got me curious. And then you have so many people
that are following you and watching you, and I do
think you do a great job of keeping that balance
and keeping it real. And I'll I'll get vulnerable here
(16:04):
for a second and tell people that right before I
got on this zoom with Lizzie, like, I was having
a little bit of a meltdown and when I clicked
the video thing, I was trying to recover. But I
was already five minutes late to our zoom because of
my little breakdown. And I knew I could tell I
had been crying, but I felt safe with you because
I have known you. And then I thought, oh, no,
(16:24):
should I just reschedule? But then I was also so
excited to talk with you, and I want to respect
your time, and I didn't want to have to move it.
But yeah, I just want people to know that we
all go through things and we're all just trying to
get through the day sometimes and get everything done that
we need to get done.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
You know what's so funny. I don't want to interrupt you,
but with you saying like feeling comfortable, I have to
tell you this. So do you have like a comfort
show or like a comfort movie or something that like
you just hear and for me, it's still magnolius like
hearing still Magnolius is like my anxiety calm thing.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
I don't even have to watch it, just listen to it.
But the show was.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
My comfort for so long, and since I'd been listening
since I was in middle school. Just hearing your voices
is something that helped me, especially when I started traveling
a lot and traveling out of the country. I would
download old podcast and it was just something that made
me feel so safe and like I was at home.
(17:27):
And so I think it's so nice that it's a
good reminder that, like, even during my heart times, that
someone would feel safe, you know, with me, and.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
So with you.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
I hope you know that you are that same comfort
for a lot of people, not just me.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Yeah, and by show, just for anyone listening. She's talking
about the Bobby Bone show from from back in the day,
just to yeah, you know, clarify and yeah, you've been
such a huge supporter for so long, and so yeah,
that's why I was super special to have you on
the podcast today. So if I had to think of
a show that brings me comfort, it probably is friends,
(18:04):
you know, since you bring them up like the little
Lego thing. But Stell Magnolius is one of my favorite
movies ever. I recorded Mike D's movie podcast and he
asked me my three favorite movies from my childhood.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
And I don't know.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
I had an older sister, and I guess my parents
didn't really monitor really what we watched. But my top
three are Stell Magnolia's Pretty Woman, and Dirty Dancing.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
I was just talking to my friend about this because
I was telling her my top three favorite movies are
so sad and so depressing that I only watch like
seventy five percent of them, So I don't watch the ending,
oh mine, there's still Magnolius terms of endearment in Beaches,
oh gosh, and so like, they're all like the staddest
movies possible.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
I don't know why.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
I'm not like a sad person. I feel like I'm
a happy person, but I just love those movies.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Is there anything that you would recommend that we need
to be watching right now, whether it's a movie you
recently saw or a TV show that you're loving.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
I feel like all my recommendations are like sad and dark,
and I don't want anyone to watch anything that's sad
and dark.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Okay, Well, if you think of something I don't know where.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
I don't know what I'm saying about, like I'm sharing
about myself right now.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
That's okay, people, Well, I mean, I know we've been
talking about the Bobby Bone Show, and you know Bobby
well enough to know that like sad music. He listens
to that to almost feel happy in a weird way.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
I mean, I get it, Yeah, I get it.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
It's a thing.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
So in the first thing, Lizzie, you mentioned that at seventeen,
you experienced this video that went up and there was
four million views by the time you had seen it,
and there was all of these comments, and I know
that there was recently, and I say recent, more recent
than when you were seventeen, something that happened with TikTok
And just also over all these years, how you've gone
(20:06):
from bullying to helping empower people and educate people for
that matter. So can you share with us what happened
with TikTok and then what inspired you to kind of
continue pursuing what you're already doing.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
The whole TikTok thing was so out of the blue,
and I did not realize that it was going to
get as big as it did, which normally happens in
my life where I just say something and then sort
of it just goes. But I downloaded TikTok and I
was one of those people that was like, I'm not
going to do it, and then I did it, and
then I couldn't stop. And I remember seeing a trend
(20:42):
where the video is like someone it looks like you're
on a FaceTime call, so it's like you, and then
the little square photo in the corner where it's someone else.
And I saw it, and it's weird that I when
I see certain things like something just tells me I'm
going to be a part of it, and true every time.
And so I saw it and I took a screenshot
(21:03):
of it, and I didn't tell anyone, and I just,
you know, went on to whatever it as I was doing,
and I thought, someone's going to use my photo.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
I know what's going to happen.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
And sure enough, it was like eleven o'clock at night
and someone tagged me in the comments and it was
a mom. I think it was around the time school
was supposed to be starting, and it was a mom
who put one of my photos from Google. It was
like an old photo in the corner of the screen,
and she said to her son, this is going to
be your new teacher, knowing the kid was going to
(21:34):
have a certain reaction, and so she showed her son
the photo and it was me, and the kid made
like a scared, scared face, like a scared reaction. And
so I looked through.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
The other videos.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
It was photos of babies who had down syndrum. It
was photos of just all different kinds of people.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
And I saw it and.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
I was so upset, and I remember texting my friends
and just like I knew this was going to happen.
And I tried to go to sleep, and I couldn't sleep.
I just kept thinking about it. And I wasn't mad
for myself at all. I was mad because they were
using other people's photos and they don't have the platform
that I do, and I wanted to say something. And
(22:18):
so I got up and I put on my Choose
Joy sweatshirt and I put it on and it was
like two o'clock in the morning, I think, and put
my contact in, set my phone up, and I basically
just told parents, like, this isn't funny, this lesson is
not okay for you to be showing your kids that
it's okay to laugh at someone who looks different. And
(22:39):
so I posted that and I went to sleep, and
I woke up the next day and it was everywhere.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
Well, I'm very impressed by your ability to be in
a situation like that and to want to use your
platform for good and to you know, yeah, throw on
that choose joy hoodie and set out to like really
make a difference.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Did you ever end up talking with that mom?
Speaker 4 (23:03):
That's the first photo that was used, and so what
happened with that?
Speaker 2 (23:06):
I did.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
We started messaging, and she apologized, and I actually talked
to two different moms because there was another mom who
did it after that, like after it sort of went everywhere,
she still did it. And so basically with both of them,
it was me saying, I'm not doing this to attack
you and call you out. I'm doing this so that
it could stop for everyone else because this isn't okay,
(23:30):
and basically just reiterating why this isn't okay. But also
I have that inside frustration of I should not have
to be explaining this to another adult. Oh yeah, And
that's where like it sort of just makes me so angry.
And there are times where I find these things and
I get really angry, and I get mad for myself
for a little while. But then it's sort of like
(23:51):
this lesson that I feel like I need to teach people.
But there are certain times where I'll get certain things
and it hits me personally and then it makes me
very angry. And that happened about a year ago when
I was sent on Instagram. You know, if like, you
post a story and you can reply to that person
through the message.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
I didn't.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Accidentally, the person who replied to my story was a
news anchor. I found out it was a verified account,
and I think they meant to forward my story to
a friend, but they sent it to me directly and
their response was God, that's ugly, and it was a
story of me and it was a verified account, and
(24:34):
so I saw it and I was so angry. Like
the second I saw it, I was so angry. And
then I was like, who is this? And then I
went and I saw that it was a news anchor
and then I saw that he was a dad with daughters,
and I was so mad. And it was in October,
during anti bowling month, and I'm like, oh, this is this?
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Is it?
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Like I have to say something and Normally, if I
get something from like like a kid or you know,
not verified person, I will cover there any way for
anyone to find.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Out, I cover it.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
But this was a verified person and I was pretty mad,
and so I posted it and I basically said, I'm
telling myself that you didn't need to send this to me.
And it was an accident, but I saw it, and
this is okay, and maybe the next time you reply
to someone you sort of think about your words before
you send it. And oh my gosh, it went everywhere
(25:31):
and it was it was crazy, and the news station
reached out to me and they wanted me to go
on and talk with him on air about this, and
it was just like, no, thank you.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
Did you ever speak with him like DM one on
one or personally?
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Did he try to reach out and apologize?
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Yeah, he did. He tried.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
He messaged me, but I don't I didn't reply. I
don't think it was a long time ago. I don't
think I replied. But he did message me and apologize
and said he has daughters and he wants to, you know,
do the right thing and stuff.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
But to do the right thing, you don't do it
in the.
Speaker 4 (26:02):
First Yeah, I mean, and it's too perfect that that
happened during anti bullying months. I mean it's like you
were handed this gift to pass around to teach people.
Oh okay, this is a perfect example of bullying because
it's not even like he was trying to be public
about it. He was sending it to a friend. And
I think it's just a reminder too of how we
(26:24):
can speak about people that we don't even know behind
their backs.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
And I mean, I mean.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
Not regarding you, but there a lot of different things
that we do that I know that I'm certainly guilty of.
And you don't think it's harming anybody, and you're talking
with your best friends, so it's like, oh, you know,
but yeah, just to second guess anything that you're going
to say to someone else, like is this uplifting?
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Is this positive? Is this worth really saying?
Speaker 4 (26:53):
Kind of good to have a little checklist for yourself
before you type something or speak something. I do have
a Lizzie quote, can I read it? Just is regarding
you know, similar topic the new teacher challenge. I believe
so you said, if you are an adult who has
a young human in your life, please do not teach
(27:13):
them that being scared of someone who doesn't look like
them is okay, this is a trend that needs to stop.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Because we are humans, we have feelings.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
I remember saying that, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:26):
It's such simple words, easy for everybody to understand for sure,
but yet for some people it's just so hard to
grasp the concept of like, oh, yeah, this person has
feelings too, and you know, the little saying like if
you prick me, I will bleed. I feel as though
sometimes people forget that people behind the screen, or even
(27:48):
us like on the radio, or you behind all of
you know, your social media stuff and things you have
going on, that you are very real and you have
very real feelings.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Yeah. Yeah, I mean I'm sure you've you've gotten this before,
where someone will they in their mind they're telling you
something nice, but it comes off looks not nice at
all to you, and then you sort of you just
get defensive right away.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Even though you know they didn't mean it in a
mean way.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
And so it's kind of that mental thing of like
going back and forth of like how do I react
to this in a nice way even though I really
offended by that?
Speaker 2 (28:25):
So I've I've had.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
That before in person, where it's like someone will come
up to me and they're like, you know, even though
you're not that pretty on the outside, you still have
the biggest heart and you're like Jesus.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
And I'm like, okay, it doesn't cancel out. It's not nice.
Speaker 4 (28:44):
What I am like, I know, speechless right now that
someone has come up to you and said.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
That, yeah, Lizzy, it's happened.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
I mean I instantly smiled because like, this isn't happening,
but it's happened before.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
I don't even know other than like right now, if
you're listening, don't ever say that to anybody. I feel
like though my listeners already know that, I feel like
I have pretty kind ones.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Yeah, don't start a compliment with something negative, because it
just doesn't end well, it's just.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Not work at all.
Speaker 4 (29:17):
Okay, Well, thank you for all that you do towards
educating and helping people learn and helping people unlearn. I
feel like that that's a big thing, and you know,
just reaching kids and adults on a level that you're
just really making a difference, and I love that you're
dedicated to it and I just I enjoy watching you grow.
(29:41):
So thank you for guiding us, like helping us be better.
I feel like I learned so much from following you,
which I think I said your Instagram earlier was.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Little Lizzy, but it's at little Lizzy V.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
So I wanted to correct that because in the beginning
I said little Lizzy. So I want to make sure
people go follow you and they follow the correct account.
And trust me, you will be empowered by Lizzie for sure,
because she's amazing.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
We got thirday.
Speaker 4 (30:21):
So Lizzie, We've talked about some difficult moments for sure
on the podcast today that have already happened to you.
Some I'm still gasping about. But how are you able
to kind of stay true to who you want to
be in those moments and you know, use them for
good and like see them as okay, like this is
a teaching moment, Like how are you able to stay
(30:42):
the course?
Speaker 1 (30:43):
I owe that to my parents because I have a
younger brother and sister. Well they're not they're not younger,
they're adults, but I'm the oldest, and they've raised us
exactly the same, the three of us, and I have
a rule for myself that I'm exactly the same. In
front of twenty thousand people, then I am just looking
(31:03):
at you and talking right now. I cannot pretend I'm
anyone else because it just feels uncomfortable. And any time
that I see where this is like a teaching moment
or whatever. I got that from my dad. My dad
was in education for thirty two years. He just retired,
and he was an elementary school principal at my elementary
(31:24):
the entire time I was there. And I remember there
are so many times where we would either be at
school or out in public and I would see people
staring and my automatic response was to, like, you know,
hide behind someone else or just pretend I didn't see it.
And he would always go up to the person or
whoever it was and basically just say, this is my daughter, Lizzie.
(31:47):
Do you want to meet her? Versus stop staring at
my daughter. You don't know what's wrong with her or whatever.
It was always something positive, and so I look at that,
and that's sort of how I am now where if
something's happening, if I'm with other people, my instinct is to,
you know, make it like normal and casual and introduce
(32:08):
myself or whatever. But if I'm by myself, I respond
completely differently. I don't know why but pre pandemic. I
traveled a ton by myself, and I have this sense
of confidence and I can, you know, go through an
airport and do what I need to do by myself.
But also it's like I feel like I need to
prove myself to people who I feel like are.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Staring at me.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
And I don't know if they're staring at me just
to stare or they recognize me, but in my mind,
they're staring at me to stare. And so I'm walking
and I don't feel like I have the same sense
of confidence that I do if I'm walking with someone
else that I know. So it's I want to be
very honest about that. I do try to take advantage
of a situation and you know, make things positive and
(32:53):
make it a teaching moment. But if I'm by myself,
I feel completely different.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
And so the teaching moments mostly are you saying when
you're with other people.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Because I feel more confident.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
I don't know why, because I will react the exact
same because if I need to say something when I'm
by myself, I'll react the same way. But I just
don't feel like I can do it by myself, which
is weird.
Speaker 4 (33:16):
I yeah, I kind of feel like I see you
doing it by yourself. So maybe I don't know I'm
having like a premonition or like I see it actually happening.
Like I know that it's difficult to say something, but
I see maybe you one day growing into that person
and not in a rude way, but in a very thoughtful,
kind way.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
And it's a goal, like I'm working towards it.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Do you make vision boards or anything like that.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Yes, but I just started doing them in a different way.
So I am developing a kid series right now, and
I have very big plans for this kid series. And
I had magnets made of where I'm envisioning this show
to live, and so I had them made in some magnets.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
So I see the magnets.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Every day of like my show is going to be
on this, or my show is going to be on this.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Okay. So like actually, like magnets like that go on.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Your fridge, like I had them printed.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
Yeah okay, And so is that that's where you keeop?
Do you move them around in your fridge or in
another room or like where I'm just.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Right now they're all on my fridge. But my other
thing is I know This doesn't really count as like
a vision board, but it's like list lists of like anything.
So anytime like I say this is going to happen,
or I want this to happen, or if I have
a random idea, whether it's just a word or a
phrase or whatever it is, I write it down, so
I have a list like random lists all over.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
Yeah, it's not a you know, you're not like cutting
things out of a magazine and making a vision board,
which you're actually like putting pin to paper and you're
focusing on it. I've talked about the Steve Harvey story
before on the podcast. He was on Oprah's Super Soul Conversation,
or maybe it was Oprah's MA Class. I can't remember
exactly when and where I heard it, but he's told
it multiple times.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
But his teacher told him he was never going to
be on TV.
Speaker 4 (35:08):
In fact, I think it was a homework assignment like
at school, but what do you want to do when
you grow up? And he and I'm paraphrasing the whole thing,
by the way, so going from memory here, but he
basically was like, I'm going to be on TV and
she kind of got onto him like go home and
do this homework assignment correctly.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
You can't know you're not going to be on TV.
Speaker 4 (35:26):
And so he got a bad grade for it or whatever,
and his dad sort of got onto him, was like,
oh no, you're going to be on TV. And his
dad's the one that was like, you write this down,
put it in his room and he looked at it
every day, like I'm going to be on TV. And
then once he got famous, and he went through a
lot of lows before he made it high and made
(35:49):
it big. His story is actually pretty fascinating. But every
year for Christmas, once he was rich and famous, he
sent that teacher a TV.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Oh my gosh, it's like the best thing to do.
I have a similar story to that, except it was
my mom. My mom who did it for me. I
didn't know that she did this. But when I was
a freshman in college, I went to Texas State, so Sint. Marcus,
so you know, not that far from Austin. It was
(36:18):
my first time to be on my own and away
from my parents, and like, I can do this, I
can be independent. And so I went and it was
my second semester. I came home for the weekend, you know,
had my suitcase went back to my dorm and I
was in packing, And when I was in packing, there
was a thick manila envelope and it had like two
composition books and a spiral and I didn't know what
(36:42):
it was and I opened it and they were letters
that my mom started writing me from when I was
born until middle school. Every day she wrote me a
letter in these journals of what I did that day,
if I was sick, if I was bad, you know,
any little And I was a mess, like I was
(37:02):
crying so hard reading these letters. I had like a
towel wiping my tears away. And there was one letter
that I got to that said, I don't know when
I'm going to give you these letters, but I'm going
to give them to you one day. And I hope
and I pray that when I give you these letters,
you're reading them in your college dorm room. And I
(37:24):
was at the desk in my room I get chill sleep,
and it was just like the most incredible manifesting moment.
Speaker 4 (37:33):
Yeah, oh, thanks for sharing that story, and thanks for
sharing the 's your your magnet idea. Some people might
take that and run with it. How did you figure
out a company that makes magnets.
Speaker 3 (37:43):
Did you just google it?
Speaker 1 (37:45):
So when I moved into my house like three years ago,
I really wanted magnets and googled it. And there's an
app called Social Print Studio, I think, and they do
all different sizes so you can just put your photos
and mel.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
To oh perfect.
Speaker 4 (38:02):
I think that's a great idea for adults, kids, anything
that you want, so that you have that visual every day,
and you can even move them around, rearrange them. I
worked with it was before the pandemic, so it kind
of lost some steam. But I learned that I had
been on someone's refrigerator vision board guarding an adoption project
(38:24):
that was in the works. And turns out one of
her friends ended up dating my dad for a little bit,
so then she got away to meet me. And when
I finally met with her and we had a meeting,
and I love the work that she was doing, she
later confessed to me that I had been on her.
Speaker 3 (38:41):
Refrigerator for a while, and I.
Speaker 4 (38:44):
Just thought that was interesting. I never knew I had
been on somebody's refrigerator. But all that to say not
that like, oh hey, I was on someone's vision board,
but I was on a refrigerator and she was trying
to find a way to meet me and then we met.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
So, yeah, it's a thing.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
When I was teaching myself how to be a motivational speaker,
I watched all of these videos and do you know
who Bill Ransick is?
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Yes, Juliana's husband.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Okay, so he was my speaker idol, and I like
watched all of his stuff and like studied his website
like such a nerd. And I watched this one speaker
video he did where he was standing in the like
the center of a stage and there was like thousands
of people around him, and I was like, I'm going
to do that, and I know I made it.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Why I thought that was a thing.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
I know I made it when I'm standing like Bill
in the center of the stage surrounded by people, and
I did it.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
And I was like I had that moment.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
And eventually I had lunch with him and I was like,
I have to tell you a story. I studied you,
and I told myself I'd make it. I sounded so crazy,
but it works. Tell yourself you can do these things.
Speaker 4 (39:55):
Who is the person you've been most excited to meet
on your journey with all of this all of this,
I mean your your life journey.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
I think I think the one that I've become the
closest with, like genuinely become really close friends with, that
I would say most grateful for versus most excited because
this was very random. But it is Eva Mendet. Okay, yeah,
so she is incredible. So she invited me to a
(40:25):
fashion weak thing she did a few years ago. Yet
again I thought it was a joke. I have to
stop thinking things are jokes. But I also didn't pay
attention to that one because I was like, there, Eva
Mendes is not inviting me to like a fashion show
in New York like this what?
Speaker 2 (40:42):
And it was? It was actually her.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
But anyway, my whole point is that she's just the
most genuine, down to earth, amazing, amazing person.
Speaker 4 (40:49):
Yeah, she does seem super nice. Who's she with Ryan Gosling?
Did you get to meet him?
Speaker 3 (40:54):
You did? Okay? Okay, all right, yeah I can tell
you more about that later. Okay, so we'll talk about
that offline.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
So wait, that sounds bad, but you know, I know,
I know.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
What you mean.
Speaker 4 (41:07):
I don't think you mean anything bad at all. I'm
still laughing at Bill Ransick is your speaker, idol. Not
not for any reason like I'm sure he's amazing. I
just had never I never even knew that he was
a speaker.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
It was because him and Juliana had their show at
the time, and he was an entrepreneur and doing a
lot of speeches about entrepreneur stuff. And when I googled
how to be a votivational speaker, he just was like
in all articles.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
And so he's the one that came up. So he
was the chosen one.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
I picked him because he was popular at the time,
like I want to be Bill Ransick of all people.
Speaker 3 (41:45):
I love that. I actually love where this thing went.
Speaker 4 (41:48):
I know we started off talking about, you know, teaching moments,
but I definitely can appreciate when a conversation just goes
somewhere totally random. And now anytime I see Bill Ransick,
I'm gonna kind of laugh a little and.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
Think of you, my idol.
Speaker 4 (42:06):
Things All right, Lizzie, you know we are big on
gratitude here, and I'm pretty sure you have one of
our four Things gratitude journals. I've seen you post about
it before, which is super sweet of you to do.
So we're going to wrap things up with four things
(42:27):
that you are currently thankful for today.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
So I am completely independent in all aspects of my life.
But I can't drive because I'm blind and when eye
and so the fact that I can't you know, hop
in my car and go to the grocery store to
get something or you know, do anything like that, it
really really got me for a really long time because
I was like ashamed and embarrassed by that. But now
(42:52):
I've gotten the courage to take an uber to go
do a random errand that I need to do. So
the fact that I don't have to depend on someone
to take me to do a random erin I got
to do that today, And so being able to have
that tiny sense of independence back, I'm so grateful for
so so grateful for that. I think the other thing
(43:14):
is I this is also random. I wear one contact
because I can see out of one eye, so I
have one contact, But I also have to wear reading glasses,
and I lost my reading glasses. I have no idea
where they are. But I'm grateful that I have other
humans that I can FaceTime and call and have them
read me random things that I can't see because it
(43:37):
happens so like measuring things. If I can't see that,
then I have to like FaceTime a friend and say,
I don't want to talk to you. I just need
you to know what this says.
Speaker 4 (43:47):
And that would you say I don't want to talk
to you, I just need you to read this to me.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
I don't really want to have a conversation. I just
need to know what this says. Sometimes there's some like
possible dangerous situation where I'm cooking and I say, is
this fully cooked or not, which you know I should
probably not do, but I've done. And I think the
third thing would be my house. Every day I think
I'm still surprised that I live here and that I'm
(44:15):
able to have this space.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
I'm so so grateful for it in.
Speaker 1 (44:19):
The fact that there's just so many people who aren't
in this situation, especially with this past year.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
And every day I wake.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
Up and it's like it's new and it's exciting, and
I've been here for three years, but every day it's
just like this sense of security and happiness that I have,
even though I've gone crazy being here for so long.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
And I think the fourth thing.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
The fourth thing is my dog's not many people know this,
but I got my first dog, Alie. He saved my life.
I had a documentary premiere by Southwest in twenty fifteen,
and right after we had finished filming, I absolutely hit
rock bottom, completely hit rock bottom. And it was during
(45:05):
a time where I was traveling out of the country
for the first time, I was speaking to the biggest audiences.
I was literally having the movie made about my life,
and I was having thoughts of not wanting to be here,
and despite everything in my life that's happened, I've never
had those thoughts until that time, and so I had
an overwhelming amount of guilt on me because I was
(45:29):
living my dream. But I was in the worst place
of my life mentally and emotionally, and I got dangerously
good at hiding it. And during all of that time,
I started living on my own. I had my own
apartment at the time, and I had always had a roommate.
It was my first time alone, and so I was
just not in.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
A good place.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
And I got a dog on my own for the
first time, and I didn't know how to have a
dog on my own. But he became the reason why
I had to get out of bed every morning because
he depended on me. And so now I have two
dogs and they're just my whole entire world.
Speaker 4 (46:07):
Oh well, thank you for sharing some of the backstory
of why is it Allie? Yeah, Alie saved your life.
I mean, that's definitely not an easy thing probably to
revisit and say out loud again, but thank you for
sharing that, and even you were dangerously good at hiding it,
because I think that's also just another reminder of like,
(46:28):
you never know what someone is really going through, and
you may think you know because maybe they do have
X y Z going on that are all pretty amazing,
fabulous stuff or things or opportunities like everything you would
have ever hoped for, right right, But yet you were
still at a lowe that.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
Was broken, completely broken.
Speaker 3 (46:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (46:49):
Yeah, so God gave you Allie? How did you find Allie?
How did y'all end up together?
Speaker 1 (46:54):
My mom suggested I get a dog, and everyone else
was like, no, this isn't the right time, it's going
to be too much. And I reached out to a
family at our church who had posted that they were
looking to rehome one of their dogs, and it was Allie,
and he had a different name, and I'm like, I'm
not gonna call him that name.
Speaker 2 (47:13):
It was weird.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
I don't even remember what it was, but it was
such a weird name. And it turned out he was
two years old and he had already been in three
different homes, and just that broke me. And I was like,
come here to me. I don't know how to have
a dog. You're probably stronger than me, but come here
to me. And I did everything without telling anyone I saw.
(47:34):
I had Alli come over, didn't tell anyone, and I
loved him. I had to leave to Vegas to speak,
came back and Allie came to.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
Live with me.
Speaker 4 (47:42):
Oh, and so what kind of dog is Ali? He's
a shit sue, and your other dog is I don't
want to leave the other dog out.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
She's a shit sue as well.
Speaker 1 (47:49):
So Allie's all white and Olivia is all black, and
I couldn't think of another name, so I've all of
her and Olivia h cute because I'm not creative.
Speaker 3 (47:58):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (47:59):
Well, Lizzie, thank you, thank you so much for coming
on and talking about all of this. And I hope
people go follow you if they aren't already.
Speaker 3 (48:06):
And you have written.
Speaker 4 (48:08):
Four books, yeah, which is so amazing. So I'll be
linking all four of your books on my Amazon page,
so it's an easy place for people to find them.
Just Radioamy dot com for that. But the titles of
your books, I love them, so I'm going to read them, thanks, Lizzie.
Beautiful is the first one, be Beautiful, Be You is
(48:30):
the second one, Choosing Happiness is the third, and then
Dare to Be Kind How Extraordinary Compassion can transform Our World.
And that's the latest book, and I mean that title
in itself.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
That one's my favorite.
Speaker 1 (48:45):
That's where I chose to disclose everything about hitting rock bottom,
so everything that I went through is in there. And
then also there's a chapter called how a dog named
all You saved my life, and then that's about how
I got back up again.
Speaker 4 (49:00):
I appreciate you sharing your story and even your Ted Talk.
Speaker 3 (49:04):
People should go watch that again.
Speaker 4 (49:06):
Basically twelve million views, which is insane. So I'm incredibly
proud and honored to call you a friend, and thank
you for being a safe space for me.
Speaker 2 (49:16):
Of course, thanks for having me
Feeling Things with Amy & Kat News
Host
Amy Brown
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