Eliza Stone showed up to her first fencing class in a dress and little patent leather shoes because she wanted to make a good first impression. In tow, came siblings Robert Junior and Gracie. Flash forward to today, she’s currently ranked as the #6 fencer in the world.

2019 Women’s Afrobasket MVP, Ezinne Kalu plays for the reigning African champions, Nigeria’s D’Tigress. While most know Ezinne for her talent on the court, she’s also jumped headfirst into the world of entrepreneurship; she’s launched her own cosmetics company, Kalu Kosmetics, and an organization empowering young girls who want to play basketball, the Kalu Team Heat.

At the age of 5, Farida dreamt of becoming a professional swimmer. Flash forward to 2011 and Farida was crowned World Junior Champion in the 50M butterfly in Lima, Peru, placing Egypt for the first time in history among the medaling countries. And from there, the accolades kept coming:

-3X African Female Swimmer of the Year (2013, 2015 and 2017)

-6X Arab Female Athlete of the Year (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017)

-3x Olympian

-3x World Bronze Medalist

That said, throughout it all, Farida was motivated by her desire to “be different.” She wanted to challenge what was considered possible. She shares, “what motivates me and keeps me going is being the first Egyptian to do different things.” And for younger Farida, there were no professional Egyptian swimmers before her, no sponsors or endorsements, so she built the infrastructure from the ground up while also setting records in the pool.

That is why as Farida looks to the future, she wants to support other swimmers so they can have the support she didn’t have earlier in her career.

In today’s interview we spotlight the trail Farida has blazed, her love of fashion (she’s a self described “Princess at Heart”) and hopes for women’s sports moving forward.

Giancarla wanted to be a soccer player when she was younger and got into track to stay in shape in the off season. That said, her love of soccer has stuck with her and in Tokyo 2021, she tried to hop onto the USWNT player bus to meet the players — security nixed that.

In today’s episode, Giancarla talks about intentionally building a positive mindset and surrounding herself with people who make her better. “Just focus on you. It doesn’t happen overnight but it’s you versus you.” She opens up about hormonal challenges that she faced, and developing self confidence. She shares, “it’s about confidence and believing in yourself and taking risks…”Everyone is scared. That’s normal. Do it scared.”

When Haydy Morsy won the 2019 Pentathlon African Championship, she became the first athlete worldwide to qualify for Tokyo. She now hopes to become the first Egyptian woman to compete in two different Olympic sports: she will be competing in modern pentathlon, and she’s additionally hoping to qualify in fencing.

While most know Danish Olympic Rower, Ida Jacobsen for her prowess on the water, she’s also a political science junkie and cheese expert (much to the chagrin of her boyfriend, Samir). Ida decided she was going to compete in the Olympics shortly after her first time rowing 12 years ago. Therefore, the current postponement of the Tokyo Games really made Ida question her identity and sources of motivation.