I’m joined by Steven Benedict, a professional track and field athlete and Olympic Trials Qualifier, to discuss his incredible story and how he’s working to create sustainable change in the foster care system.
I’m joined by Steven Benedict, a professional track and field athlete and Olympic Trials Qualifier, to discuss his unique and inspiring story. There are over 400,000 children in the foster care system, and at just a few months old, Steven became part of that statistic. At eight years old, he and his younger brother were adopted by a supportive and loving family who encouraged him to try out every sport that sparked his interest.
Though he was involved in all different after-school activities growing up, Steven felt naturally inclined and interested in track and field. Since then, he’s done consistent work to build internal confidence and become a world-class athlete. In addition to competing in the Adidas Classic Diamond League and US Nationals, he ran for Nike for 2 years and was a Penn Relays Champion.
Off the track, Steven is the founder of Empowering Movement, a coaching business that offers tailored programs to elite and up-and-coming athletes that utilizes his signature Performance Coaching Method. He’s also the founder of a non-profit organization called Fostering Success, which pairs professional athletes with foster kids to create awareness, offer mentorship, and support ongoing opportunities for fostered and adopted children nationwide.
Listen to today’s episode to learn more about Steven’s incredible story and how he’s working to create sustainable change in the foster care system.
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[00:00:00] Hey, Hey GBS. Welcome to get busy. Living a podcast that brings inspiring people together to discover what ignites them to be bigger than themselves. I'm your host Anne. O'Neil. Today we have one of the most elite athletes in the world, a track and field Olympic trials, qualifier, and a Nike athlete, Stephen Benedict, but behind every great athlete, there is a world of adversities they overcame to get to the top.
[00:00:35] And Stephen is no exception. He started his life out at four months old in the foster care system. And since that transformative experience, he has been giving back and providing resources to kids in foster care, enjoy Steven's story and the impact he is having on and off the track and field stage.[00:01:00]
[00:01:04] Well, Hey Steven, how are you?
[00:01:07] I'm good. I'm good. Thanks. Thanks very much for having me appreciate it.
[00:01:11] Oh my gosh. I'm so excited to chat with you. I mean, a superstar athlete. It's so, and where you calling I'm
[00:01:20] in Rome right now.
[00:01:22] Rome. Oh my gosh. Could you be in any cooler place? I absolutely love Italy. I've been there.
[00:01:29] Geez. A couple of times. And it's just so beautiful. How long have you been
[00:01:33] there? I've been here since June. I'll be heading back to LA in, uh, September. So I kind of split my time between LA and here.
[00:01:42] Oh, do you? Okay. And why Italy is that your background?
[00:01:46] Yeah, that's my background. So transition and transfer allegiance from us to Italy to run for the Italian national team.
[00:01:56] And it's just been a process of getting my paperwork done [00:02:00] through my lineage and stuff like that. It's. Very long it's, you know, beautiful place to visit. But once you're living here, there's a lot of bureaucracy and a lot of things behind the scenes that you wouldn't like really have to deal with, you know, so right.
[00:02:13] I'm, I'm gonna guess
[00:02:14] it's different than just doing like a week stay and, you know, checking out the Sistine chapel and everything. everything beautiful and fun. All of the great wine and cheese over there. So, right. Yeah. And you're actually training right when you were there.
[00:02:27] Yeah. I'm training full time. I mean, gosh, I mean, I've already had three sessions this week, starting on Sunday, so yeah.
[00:02:36] Oh my gosh.
[00:02:37] Well, you know what? We have a lot of listeners that love athletics. I mean, I talk to you a little bit about, you know, my basketball background. Yeah, yeah. That, and you know, so a lot of people, you know, here in the states, you know, they love professional sports. They love collegiate sports. I mean everything.
[00:02:52] So they're absolutely. Love your story. And I can't wait to get into the athletic part, but you have this incredible [00:03:00] background of resilience transformation, and so many things that you've been, you know, overcoming to become such an incredible athlete. Part of the, you know, we wanted is again, because of your really unique background of growing up as a fostered child.
[00:03:16] So let's talk about that. And then of course, the amazing family that you were adopted into, that's such an incredible.
[00:03:22] Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I'd love to, I'd love to dig into that.
[00:03:25] I know a little bit about it, but I just would love to hear, you know, especially the, the pieces of being at such a young age.
[00:03:32] Right. Because it's not a world that very many of us are familiar with, so it's kind of like a great to expose listeners into, oh my gosh. There's so many things that you might not see that are in your blind side. And then, you know, what can show up
[00:03:45] after. Yeah. You know, my story started when I was very young and, uh, I was put into foster care at the age of, uh, I was four months.
[00:03:54] The first time I was put into foster care due to, you know, us unstable [00:04:00] situations, neglect and not a lot of provision there. And then I was put back into my mother's hands, not too long after. My brother was born. So I have a younger brother, two and a half years apart. And again, we were living in and out of motel rooms at a very young age, very unstable situation.
[00:04:20] There was abuse and neglect there. Uh, we were getting beat up by my mother's boyfriend at the time I got hospitalized. So there was a lot of. Turmoil in that situation for us, my grandparents found out about it and tried to take us in for a short period of time. But as it be done is that, you know, two older, uh, elder people can't take care of such young toddlers, you know, at such a young age, um, just takes a lot.
[00:04:48] And so our next best choice was to go back into the foster care system, which we did for a prolonged period of time, which is about another six years. How many, how many places
[00:04:58] were you, you know, [00:05:00] uh, placed into, I'm gonna guess a couple of different
[00:05:02] homes. Yeah, we were placed into about three or four at that time until we, we bounced up and down the east coast.
[00:05:09] So we were all originally all, actually, all my family is still back east. Uh, So we bounced up and down around the east coast. And then we landed in a semi-permanent home for the, roughly about the last two and a half, three years of our, you know, transition from foster care to an adopted family. So we were adopted at the ages of eight and six, and we were really blessed to be adopted at that age, cuz that's kind of like.
[00:05:37] Cutoff point or that, you know, teetering the line point of what they so-called say in the foster care world is undesirable. You know, you kinda, you're not too old, but you're not too young. And people wanna really try to adopt when they're younger and when they get older. They looked at as kind of undesirable because there's a lot of [00:06:00] baggage there and a lot of, you know, hurt and a lot of cleanup, you know, so that you have the aging out youth.
[00:06:04] So we were kind of really like in that middle spot. So we were really blessed to be adopted by two great individuals. My mother was a second grade teacher and my father was a ex Vietnam Marine. And then, uh, moved on to work for Merrill Lynch on the New York stock exchange. So we've really got a huge dynamic.
[00:06:24] That transition was, it was not easy, but it wasn't, it wasn. You know, crazy, you know, you hear some crazy stories from going from, from foster care to adopted families. And yes, the transition was hard for us to kind of accept and understand that we were being accepted. So there was a lot in there, you know, getting used to what the word family meant again, and I'm understanding that this is permanent and we don't have to move again.
[00:06:53] And, uh, the trust factor being built again. So. You know, and I really think the [00:07:00] things that they incorporated that really helped us to kind of shape and shift our. Our mindsets and just our overall, you know, childhood experiences was the things they exposed us to. So things like education and art and music and sports, these were all big, big catalysts for us to kind of step in and shape and shift and cultivate the, you know, the men that we've become now.
[00:07:27] Wow.
[00:07:28] I mean, what an incredible story to be able to have. You know, such a loving family that gave you so many different opportunities and things to look at, and, you know, just like what you spoke about of being able to have education and art and sports, you know, as an outlet, instead of just thinking about, you know, the path of your, you know, you know, kind of the last eight years that you had grown up, was that kind of a tipping point for you of really just throwing yourself into whether it be sports or education, or just really kind of immersing yourself into.
[00:07:58] Worlds that weren't worried [00:08:00] about chaos or you know, where you were gonna sleep at
[00:08:02] night. Yeah. That's a great question. And you know, that is one of the biggest things, you know, you kind of backtracking a little bit through the foster care system. My childhood was very accelerated being the oldest, having to be kind of like a father figure for my brother.
[00:08:17] So things. , you know, having a hot meal at night and a warm bed and a roof over our head, those were, you know, the only things we thought about, you know, oh, right. Yes. You know, the essentials, which we all kind of, I feel a lot of times, especially this day and age, we take a, uh, granted for, um, you know, how quickly they can be taken from us.
[00:08:37] Mm-hmm . But in answering that, yes. Uh, you know, I. Always very, I wanna say I was always blessed and inclined to athletics. My mother was very adamant about kind of immersing us in everything on the sun and trying everything. So I've done pretty much. I love it. You know, the, you could possibly name my, the, the first sport we did [00:09:00] was I did judo and martial arts.
[00:09:01] So I did judo for 10 years, which I really accelerated at and was one of my favorite things. And I'll probably go back to it after I'm done running, but I mean, I played soccer. Baseball did not play basketball. No, I basketball, not on my radar. I did out of all the sports, that was the toughest for me to, although I do have a basketball story, but.
[00:09:24] It wasn't my favorite sport. I was, oh, we might,
[00:09:27] we may have to hear about that, but I dunno anything about juah, but I'm going to that's like, it is extremely disciplined, right? Like mentally, physically, you know, your tactics of things. So that probably paid off on how you train now.
[00:09:40] Right? Yes, that was the, I always say that that was the foundational aspect of all my sports and my due diligence and focus and discipline.
[00:09:49] Um, I, you know, I trained with some of the best at that time, you know, my teacher was from Japan and so I was getting very like, Orthodox ways of really building out and at a [00:10:00] very young age. So, and I competed at a very high age and, you know, I had Olympic athletes around me at that age. So it was great experience, great experience and great family.
[00:10:10] And everything was very well tight niche and the community was great, but like I said, my mother was involved in everything. So she was kind of like the driving force, uh, For us to do everything. I mean, involved in everything from the sports we did to the, you know, kind of like the communities we were involved in, she was very influential in our communities, very involved in our sports, being the heads and the presidents of clubs and everything like.
[00:10:35] We couldn't do anything without her without hand on. So it was a blessing and a thorn, so,
[00:10:41] oh yes. Right. You're right. Like you have such a big supporter, but they're always there, but oh, what, what a person that's like the, the salt of the earth and giving you so many different opportunities. I was gonna ask if you had a specific like life mentor or athletic mentor, I didn't know if it was something maybe from judo or maybe it was your [00:11:00] mom, you know, that really kind of.
[00:11:01] You wanted to emulate and see, you know, what kind of opportunities you could continue to discover
[00:11:06] for yourself out there? Yeah. As far as mentors, I think it was more of like, you know, for me, it's, it's always been kind of a life experience thing. I'm a big believer in exposure. And I think that was because my mother exposed us to so much mm-hmm and I feel kind of like that's might be one of the lacking aspects for kids nowadays is that we're with everything that's going on nowadays.
[00:11:30] Exposure aspect has become very solidified to more of a protective aspect. Mm-hmm, , mm-hmm, the way in which our kids are growing up. They don't get exposed to as much as you know, I guess for myself comparing to my own experience of things is that, um, you know, I've had some great coaches and I've had some like, not so great coaches.
[00:11:53] Mm-hmm . I've always been very self-sufficient, but I've always been able to have great filters on [00:12:00] being aware of certain aspects. And we can get into more of that in a little while the awareness pieces, but I think that's been always, some of these things have been kind of ingrained in me when I was going through the foster care system and being self aware and self efficient and UN understanding that at a very young age, which kind of cultivated.
[00:12:21] BR into the sports and things and the sports and the athletics just really heightened everything of mm-hmm. getting around some of the best in the world and getting around some of the, not so best in the world.
[00:12:34] right. It is, you know, it can be like a community or anything else, you know, there's, there's different pieces to.
[00:12:40] Every puzzle. And I, I really liked what you mentioned, just a couple sentences ago of the exposure because you and I are both, you know, you're way higher than I was that as an elite athlete, but I played one of the top levels for basketball and it was when I was a kid. Everything you had to be exposed to everything, [00:13:00] whether it was science or astrology or art, or, you know, different types of sports.
[00:13:05] And it was just so fun to be able to take pieces of that with me into basketball. You know, I felt like they all added up and expanded my skill set. You know, I played a lot of soccer back in the day. And how do you have that eye, hand coordination, you know, foot coordination that actually paid off in basketball.
[00:13:23] So I do think there's so many different aspects of life that can add. Your one sport that you might be really interested in. Have you experienced that? Like, you know, from all the different things that your mom and dad were able to, you know,
[00:13:35] get you and do. Yeah. Uh, gosh, I mean, I've played, I've played instruments, you know, I've played, you know, I've done martial arts, you know, I've ran, I've played football at a high level, you know?
[00:13:47] Um, so I think all these things, but I think none more than ever is. My running the track and field aspect of things. And the reason why for that is that it's such a soul sport. It's you [00:14:00] against the clock? Mm-hmm , there is no element in it. There's a lot of just pounding out reps and understanding phases and understanding your body and understanding how you really take to certain nutrition.
[00:14:13] And, you know, as you grow and develop, you know, there's, you know, very much technical aspects to running. It's not, you know, people just think it's running, but. We're constantly getting yelled at cues on the track. You know, whether it be being able to keep our hips forward or being able to, you know, strike into the ground correctly, or we're swinging our arms, um, not fluid enough or we're not relaxing or, you know, we're not breathing like there's a lot in there.
[00:14:40] And all those things become on demand cues. Like you're constantly getting that repetition of having your coach tell you these things. Mm-hmm . It triggers while you're running that body awareness. Like I'm, I'm very, I've become very good at adjusting in the moment. Ah, okay. [00:15:00] So like if I'm yelled at a cue, well, Hey, relax my shoulders or lift my hips or anything.
[00:15:05] I'm able to really adjust it in that moment. And the more we do it, you know, it's just like anything, you know, like with you and basketball and, you know, handling the ball and stuff like that. It's just, it's about repetition and, you know, your body gets. Understands the movements and the fluidity of it. So you go back and forth and you get better and you get sharper and you try to kind of simplify things down even more and more and more and more and more until
[00:15:31] shaking my head over here because it so much. Self awareness. And then we talk a lot in, you know, business I'm in the corporate world of people talk a lot about IQ, and then they also talk about EQ, which is emotional intelligence and what I've really been able to bring into even corporate life. And, you know, my regular day to day life is that athletic IQ because.
[00:15:54] People don't realize it. There is actually all encompassing. You know, you are [00:16:00] visualizing, you are watching film, you're studying yourself. Like you said, you're watching your hands, your hips, you know, you're training in the weight room. You're watching your nutrition. It literally is a full body experience.
[00:16:12] So by the time you're ready to perform, you're, you've already kind of practiced and, you know, seen everything already play out ahead of time. What is that like for you? At the highest elite athlete level and give everybody a little bit of context of, you know, the Olympic qualifier and that, you know, one of the things I love, um, about you is you run for 20 seconds, but you're training.
[00:16:33] Hours and hours and hours all week. So it is not like you just get to set this down and do it for a couple hours a day. And then that's it. You're never not being that athletic IQ that athlete that high performer love for you to speak a little bit about that so everyone can understand, oh my gosh. Like what it really takes to perform at that high level.
[00:16:52] And that's the same. If you're in a corporate world,
[00:16:54] you. Yeah, and then it's very true, you know, and I love speaking in corporate and I love speaking to [00:17:00] CEOs and the C C class people, and mm-hmm, , you know, how they cultivate their teams and, and run their businesses and stuff. And I think one of the biggest things for me is that I've.
[00:17:10] Kind of really tried to keep in the forefront and, and, uh, kind of check the boxes on every day is I call 'em the four awarenesses for myself. Okay. Love it. Yes. It's my mental awareness, my physical awareness, my spiritual awareness, and then also my physical awareness or situational awareness. Hmm. Great. I love.
[00:17:34] So it's just really all encompassing of, like you said, you know, it's, it's a all encompassing thing of, you know, what you're doing. So your situational awareness is what are your surroundings? Like, what's your environment? Like, are you aware of what's going on around you, you know, in certain situations, you know?
[00:17:50] Um, and I'm, uh, that's something that was in bred in me, very young, you know, understanding what's going on around me being protective, understanding like what's coming from where and whatever [00:18:00] this and that, that situation awareness, how. Keep your body interactive with your environments. Your mental awareness is obviously your, your fight with your thoughts.
[00:18:09] You know, every day, you know, it's a battle ground and that's our, one of our biggest battle grounds is our minds. Whether we're doubting ourselves our capabilities or, or whether we're trying to break through to a next level of things or how we approach situations and try to find solutions to problems.
[00:18:26] That's our mental. And then, you know, you have your physical awareness, you know, is obviously how's your body feeling, you know? And I have to always take, uh, you know, heat of that on a daily basis, you know, whether I had. You know, if I'm sore today, what did I do yesterday? Or what did I do the past two days?
[00:18:43] You know, and how long is it gonna take me to recover from that and be aware on the track? So if like my recovery is not that great and I have trackers and stuff like that, that I recover my, that I, you know, track my sleep and track my recovery, uh, rate each morning and, you know, [00:19:00] and, and allows me to adjust my workout.
[00:19:02] To be smart. Like, you know, everybody wants to get onto the track and where they want to get into the workouts and they wanna push and get to the next of like, oh, well, I hit a PR. I, you know, I ran a personal best yesterday. You know, I wanna come back and do that again today. Mm-hmm well, your body's probably not ready to do that again today.
[00:19:19] You, so you may need kind of like a flush day or something that's more technical and slow and work on, you know, some other key factors and just be aware of, you know, Like certain kinks and aches and pains and growths, like those are all growth marks. And when we try to push through that, you know, we get injury and that's not smart.
[00:19:36] Mm-hmm , you know, mm-hmm, part of being professional is understanding, you know, when you've not reached your limit, but when you need to step back in order to take two steps forward, Yes. So that's our, that's my physical. And then, you know, a spiritual, you know, a spiritual awareness, I think is a big piece, you know, with everything that that's going on nowadays and finding your center of peace, [00:20:00] understanding how to get quiet, understanding how to listen, taking that mental clarity time, understanding where you're going, understanding that, you know, you're not dictated on your past.
[00:20:10] Or you're not DIC, or you can't predict the future. All you can do is control the now. So those are kind of like my four check marks and not every day, I'm gonna check every box. Sometimes there's one box, sometimes two, but you know, it's, it's, you know, it's a kind of, a little bit of a, a check mark box, you know, to kind of.
[00:20:30] Keep yourself in the parameter of things and not get so bogged down with the existential life. Oh
[00:20:37] my gosh. And we all need that. I mean, , anyone can really take those and apply them into their regular life. So you're. Or awarenesses. And I love that word where we're aware and awake. You know, we put our attention on something, then it comes to life and you mentioned spiritual, physical, mental, and situational.
[00:20:58] And I mean, it's [00:21:00] so it's so true how it can be a part of an athletic mindset and an athletic world, I guess, in a universe that you're creating every day, but also in life, you know, to be in the moment. And how do we create a positive future, you know, from that spiritual piece. You know, mindfulness way, you're checking your body, how you're feeling mentally, what are the words you're, you know, saying to yourself all the time.
[00:21:22] And, you know, I really liked that situational one because sometimes. It occurs. Like we, you know, we care so much about ourselves, but we need to remember all of the external environments of what's somebody else showing up to this meeting, like, or this, uh, you know, event, this family event, like, or, you know, obviously an athletic event.
[00:21:40] And there's, there's so many different pieces. I think those are great foundations did this, like come from you throughout your athletics or just your life, you know, and you've kind of built on it. And this is the way that you've been able to, you know, continue to grow as an athlete and as a
[00:21:54] person. Yeah.
[00:21:57] It's, it's been a growth thing over [00:22:00] time, you know, and I. Every one of the pieces came in at a certain time. Mm-hmm , you know, like I said, I think the, uh, situational awareness thing was ingrained in me more as, as a youngster, you know, coming up through the foster care system and being aware of who's around me and where we were, and, you know, understanding where my brother was and understanding where you know, who, where we were going next.
[00:22:23] Like, those are all kind of made me very heightened in that space. The other ones kind of came along. As, you know, you go through phases of life, you know, so like, you know, through high school, it was more of kind of more of a mental awareness thing and that's, you know, an ongoing thing. And I think that's as we grow and we change, you know, our thought patterns change and our situations change and, you know, the, you know, our life experiences changed.
[00:22:50] So we have to, you know, really be aware of that. But I think as you get as a higher. Into a higher level of things. There's new kind of [00:23:00] parameters in which you need to. Kind of take heat of, so, you know, and I think you, you can attest to this as well. Like, you know, from going from an athletic base of high school, even pre-high school, you know, junior high school and then high school and then tra and then going into college and then outside of college going to pro you know, all those are different levels and you compete about against, you know, the levels keep getting high, right?
[00:23:27] And the
[00:23:27] differences are like minuscule, you know, that you have pay attention to the attention
[00:23:31] to detail. Yeah. And, and I think that's, you know, that becomes a big part of how you're showing up. Like, are you showing up confident in understanding and knowing that your training has been the best of the best?
[00:23:45] And I think that's where the mental talk and that mental piece really gets developed, like, and that's where the confidence comes, you know? And I think we're looking for confidence externally from people mm-hmm mm-hmm . instead of [00:24:00] building the conference internally and that's just from doing the consistent work.
[00:24:04] Oh yes,
[00:24:04] it is. It is so true when you can internalize and be like, oh yes, I've, I've prepared everything. There's nothing more I can prepare for this. And now it's just me and these steps that I have to take, you know, for running the race, you know, I used to think of that at the free throw line. Practice this situation, thousands and thousands of times.
[00:24:23] And I gotta say, I definitely know that you are putting in some massive work cuz you are the most fit person. like, I think I've ever met or like seen. So you guys will have to check out his Instagram and all the pictures. He like no doubt, you know, is one of the top athletes. Um, just, even from a physical appearance.
[00:24:43] So, you know, I was gonna ask you about your basketball story there's you have to be able to dunk a basketball, right? I mean, you. So athletic.
[00:24:51] So my high school year, I think it was, it was actually, so we played basketball, like, you know, pick up games and stuff. Yeah. I remember it was the [00:25:00] day of league championships and I was favored for that league and I was favored to win.
[00:25:06] I think it was, uh, I was favored to win the 200 that, that day. Oh, okay. And basketball and track and field are not hand in hand sports. We just not go together. Right. Steven, I gotta tell
[00:25:17] you, I could only run when I had a basketball in my hands. So if I was ever on the track, I was like, this is not for me.
[00:25:23] So I totally get that kind of synergy there.
[00:25:25] so we were playing ball and in the gym, and I remember it was like, it was yesterday. And I was like, I think it was like, maybe gosh, maybe the last period of the day was second to the last period of the day. And we were just playing basketball in the gym and I go up to dunk the ball and yes, I.
[00:25:45] And I come down and I twist my ankle. Oh my gosh, my ankle swells immediately. It was so bad. I was outta, I was out of the, my coach was livid, like throwing a fit. Um, I couldn't run, uh, that was pretty [00:26:00] much the end of that season because I had to, you know, stood out and let it heal. And. It was bruised and like, it was, it was pretty bad.
[00:26:07] Oh my gosh.
[00:26:08] You probably didn't wanna
[00:26:09] pick up a basketball anyway, after that, I don't think I did play basketball ever again, after that, it was just, yeah.
[00:26:17] Um, did you make the dunk or were you even able to
[00:26:19] finish it? No, I was like, I CA like the way, the way it happened, it was just, I, I think I went up and I like caught the, the corner of the, um, the backboard. Oh yeah. And came down. And when I came down, you know, I usually land very stable when I came down and I just landed wrong and just like, it was.
[00:26:40] Oh man,
[00:26:42] sprained angles there. I mean, gosh, I had so many and they do. They paralyzed you like, I, I can't even walk. I'm like this, you know, it's so much pain compared to any kind of injury, but oh, you know, I, I have so much adoration for you being a track athlete because basketball, I felt like I [00:27:00] could.
[00:27:00] Practice so many different things. And, you know, I was able to rely on teammates to do things, but man, it's just you and those hundred meters or you and those 200 meters and that's it. And it's like, oh my gosh, the amount of focus and mental, you know, toughness that you have. It's just amazing. So I'm so happy to be able to talk with you and, you know, get to learn your story.
[00:27:20] Tell everyone a little bit what you're training for right now and, and what the future holds for you after track. If, if what you're looking.
[00:27:27] Yeah. So right now I'm training my coaches here in Italy. And I have about, I put kind of a marker on it, probably about two and a half years left in my career. And then I'll hang it up.
[00:27:38] Right. Uh, right after the, the Paris games, you know, that's. Pretty much on, on the track and just really looking to make a big splash here in Italy and, uh, really to set some presidents here. My coach is great. Um, he was on the Italian national team and he's, uh, wealth of information. So, you know, looking for the year, looking forward to the [00:28:00] years coming and, but off the track, uh, a lot of things building, you know, a lot of things building rebranding of my website and offering a lot of new things from insight as.
[00:28:11] What I do as an athlete to try to bring it to the general public, to help them, you know, optimize their lifestyles and performance, whatever it may be. Mm-hmm, doing a lot of speaking engagements, you know, really speaking in, uh, several different circles, you know, whether it be corporate or nonprofit and, uh, the reformation space, uh, foster care, you know, and then also, uh, men's aspects and, uh, you know, mental capacity of things, of performance.
[00:28:37] So those things and. You know, we have a branding launch of, uh, our foundation, uh, called fostering success, which is really focused on the aging out youth and helping them, uh, with resources and sustainability and really helping them thrive in a very volatile world, you know, of having community and skill.
[00:28:59] [00:29:00] Definitely and you know, how they all, you know, correlate and connect together and also create even a brighter, bigger future that you're creating for yourself. And you touched upon the nonprofit that you created that I really wanted to share with everyone. And of course, a few maybe stories from that.
[00:29:16] And again, The nonprofit's called fostering success, and you can check it out at fostering success co and tell everyone a little bit, you know, we know your backstory, but you know, some of the stories and what's been kind of created from the partnerships with these young kids. And also a little bit of like, again, you'd spoke about that aging out because there is such a huge percentage.
[00:29:38] I think the last time I looked like almost 60, some percent of the kids in, in foster care. Don't ever actually get adopted. So, you know, at 18 they have no, no family or home and, and what you're doing to really make a huge impact
[00:29:52] in that community. Yeah, the foster care system is very vast. I mean, there's so many moving pieces in it.
[00:29:58] Our vision for this is to [00:30:00] be an authority in this space and to really move the needle in a lot of different spaces of the foster care system. You know, like I said, the foster care system is so vast where it's, you know, you have pre-intervention before they go in, you have when, uh, the initial intervention of when they go in and, and what goes on.
[00:30:20] And then, and then why they're in. The vastness of, you know, all the hands that they're passed over and who gets involved with the kids and their files and all that stuff. Mm. And then you have the, the aging out youth space. So. You know, the aging out youth is where we're gonna focus first and then maybe kind of trickle back and move the needle.
[00:30:37] In some other spaces. It's almost like these kids have, they have a ticking time bomb, you know, and it's like, they have a calendar, they know that a certain age they're gonna. They're gonna age out and the resources they're not supplied for under the foster care system anymore. Mm-hmm, , that's a lot of stress for, you know, an 18 year old to go through.
[00:30:57] And, you know, in some states now it's, you know, lucky [00:31:00] enough that they pushed it to 21. But even if that, I mean, the. The resources that they have, the skill sets that they have are not like barely enough of a co of a high school graduate, nevermind. Being able to go to college and have some type of community mentorship around them.
[00:31:17] Um, so these are all P pieces that we've looked at how we can benefit from them and, you know, really bring some change to these kids to thrive and. The whole space in that is that, you know, if we change these kids' lives, they'll grow up with that impact. And they'll want to come back to the same spaces in order to sew the seeds for the, the next generations coming up.
[00:31:40] So it becomes kind of like a washing, a washing of the hands, and hopefully that trickle effect will go all the way back. So there's less and less and less really kind of, uh, aging. If you're interested, or if any of your audience is interested in making an impact, reach out to us. You know, we are, you know, we are looking for [00:32:00] quality, you know, longevity and, and, and focused people with a vision in order that wanting to make a change.
[00:32:06] You know, it's not an easy process by any means. So, you know, and there's, there's no wrong answer. I think, you know, the best answers are, you know, the answers that, you know, we ask. So. You know,
[00:32:18] this is such a powerful conversation and it is a system and there are processes, but the impact that you can have on one, one child's life or a couple, you know, within the community is profound.
[00:32:30] And like you said, that they can come back. And also part of bridging that gap between the years of, you know, 18 to 20 to 25, you know, as you're kind of learning life on your own and really kind of, you know, building a community within that. So. Again, fostering success. And we'd like, I really want people to reach out to you because it's, again, we love to share on this, on this podcast about nonprofits and charities that we might not know about.
[00:32:58] And this was one of them that really got [00:33:00] me excited to learn a little bit more, you know, there was, I think they said over 400,000 children that are in the foster system and like Steven shared earlier. You know, you might jump around to different houses, you know, throughout those, those years. So there might not be that consistency and these kind of nonprofits like fostering success is going to help, you know, provide that consistent resources community and, you know, just outreach.
[00:33:24] So it's, that's amazing. And I'm, I'm so thankful you're here to be able to represent and also show what an incredible success you can be through. Even the system that.
[00:33:36] Yeah, I appreciate that. Thank you very much.
[00:33:39] well, let everyone know where to reach you at and follow your amazing next two and a half years on the track.
[00:33:44] I know I'll be, I'll be definitely following and watching. And so yeah, we can all kind of follow
[00:33:49] your success. Yeah, I think, um, I think the best place you can catch me is, is my, my website, the new website is being built as we speak. So it should be really, really dynamic, a lot of different things. [00:34:00] I'm putting a store up there as well with some in-depth products of things that I use personally to help.
[00:34:06] And then, uh, We're coming out with a, a specific kind of impactful clothing line it's called perfect piece. It's, it's really a motivational kind of spiritual type piece to just remember where you come from and, and understand that, you know, you know, your stories are your stories. They don't depict you.
[00:34:25] They don't tell your future. They are pieces of you, but understand that. You know, I've learned in telling my own story that, uh, people need to hear them because you know, it may help them or heal them or, you know, push them in the right direction or understand that they're not alone. And, and walking this thing out called we call life.
[00:34:43] Well, I
[00:34:43] can't end it on anything better than that. That was so inspiring. It will be following the website, fostering success, the perfect piece, new clothing line. Thank you so much for sharing your story and being so vulnerable and sharing all these incredible, you know, Tips [00:35:00] and things that you've learned throughout your career of continuing to grow and be a success and work on the inner work.
[00:35:06] And you're outta.
[00:35:08] I appreciate you having me. Thanks so much for everything.
[00:35:16] Well, thank you so much for listening to our conversation. If you have a GBL story in your life, share it with me on Instagram at get busy living underscore pod. I might just. Story on a future episode. Thank you for sharing in the good vibes and giving back and ging with us.