Pressing Forward Podcast

"Who Am I Outside of My Sport?", The Role of Identity, Faith & Family in Shaping Athletic Success with Talia Edmonds

• Pressing Forward • Season 3 • Episode 2

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Have you ever wondered how the children of athletes carve their own paths in the world of sports? Talia Edmonds, a volleyball star with roots at Michigan State and a flourishing journey at the University of Hawaii, joins us to unveil the pivotal role her parents, both former college athletes, played in her athletic and personal development. Our conversation traverses her competitive upbringing, the intense discipline and sacrifices demanded by her Division I endeavors, and the transformative power of parental support, which she only fully recognized in retrospect.

Athletics at the collegiate level come with a unique set of hurdles, and Talia's narrative exemplifies the quintessence of resilience. From navigating the initial shock of college competition to the struggle of reclaiming her identity post-injury, Talia's candid testimony serves as a beacon of inspiration. Her evolution from a self-doubting freshman to a commanding team captain underscores the essentiality of a nurturing support system and a shift in perspective for those grappling with the intersection of sports, self-worth, and recovery.

In a profound reflection on identity and faith, Talia opens up about the soul-searching prompted by her injury-induced hiatus. This episode extends beyond the court, delving into how athletes confront the daunting questions of life beyond their sport, the role of faith in their journey, and the importance of cultivating a support network inclusive of coaches and mental health professionals. With aspirations to champion mental health in sports through a PhD in clinical psychology, Talia's ambition signals a commitment to empowering the athlete in us all, regardless of where we find ourselves on the path to self-discovery. Join us for an episode that transcends the typical sports story, tackling the multifaceted challenges athletes face and the remarkable personal growth that can emerge from adversity.

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Nowoola Awopetu:

It's a pleasure to have you here on today's episode. I think this episode will be quite insightful. Talia Edmonds, an alum of Michigan State, played volleyball there, then transferred over to University of Hawaii, and she just talks a lot about her story, having gone through injuries, just her faith journey and just truly an insightful individual and I think you guys will learn a lot from this episode. And if you haven't already, just be sure to subscribe for today's episode. Alrighty, welcome back to another episode of the Pressing Forward podcast. On today's episode we have a special guest, Talia Edmonds.

Nowoola Awopetu:

Right, let's say you're right yeah, that's perfect um, and you were originally an athlete at Michigan and then transferred to Hawaii. So let the people know who you are, where you're from, um, and sport you play everything like that yeah, so I actually I graduated from Michigan State and's.

Talia Edmonds:

So Michigan State and Michigan are huge rivals and people, when you're not familiar with Michigan, they're like, oh, like you went to Michigan. I'm like, no, I went to Michigan State because I would? I don't know, there's a go green forever. But yeah, so I played four no, three and a half years at Michigan State.

Talia Edmonds:

I am an indoor volleyball player and then when I graduated from Michigan State in 2021, I got to transfer to the University of Hawaii and I'm currently finishing up my master's here and I played my final season this past fall. So I got to play two years here at the University of Hawaii and, yeah, now I'm just a regular student out here and I'm originally from Michigan. I'm originally from Kalamazoo, I was born and raised there and then I went to East Lansing at Michigan State and people always wonder too like my connections to Hawaii. So my mom was originally born and raised in Hawaii and so I kind of grew up. I have a bunch of family out here, I grew up coming back and forth, and so that's ultimately how I ended up transferring out here.

Nowoola Awopetu:

Okay, and just for. I guess for starters like how'd you actually like get introduced into the sport? I mean, you mentioned your mom as well too, but how'd you get introduced to it and kind of what made you kind of stick with volleyball?

Talia Edmonds:

Yeah, so both my parents were college athletes. My dad played basketball in college very small college but back in Kalamazoo and then my mom played at the University of Hawaii, hilo, which is on Big Island. So, growing up in an athletic family, I played like every sport. I think the first sport I ever did was karate when I was like three, and then I from there I went from like volleyball, basketball, softball, I ran track like all these, all these different sports, and then in high school I started to specialize. Oh, I played football for one year that's like really right.

Talia Edmonds:

When I was eight I was like dad, I want to play football and he was like are you sure? I was like, yeah, I guess, and it was the worst year of my life looking back. But, um, yeah. So I narrowed it down a little bit more when I got to high school. Um, and I played volleyball, basketball and softball in high school, lettered in those, and then I threw shot put for a year and then I played soccer for a year randomly, um, but I've always loved volleyball the most.

Talia Edmonds:

Um, I just love the team aspect of it. Uh, I was always more naturally kind of competitive in volleyball and then I love following in my mom's footsteps. She was like my coach in middle school and she was a freshman coach at my high school, so it was more. I think I always was meant to play volleyball.

Nowoola Awopetu:

Um, yeah, it was the most fun to me um, okay, so and kind of, how do you kind of see that impact on your upbringing in general? Like just being an athlete growing up in the athlete family, like what was that?

Talia Edmonds:

like it was it was super competitive. If that like kind of gives any um sort of structural idea, like everything in our family is is we spent weekends just traveling to, to AAU trips and um, we my parents would come to like every event, or they would if my brother I have a younger brother, um, who plays basketball in college now as well um, but they would like if we had events on the same weekend. They would split time or they were they always. That's one thing that my parents is they always found the time to come support my brother and I in our sport, and I think that that's also it became just a family, a family thing Like that's how we, we bonded, that's how we kind of got our lessons taught to us.

Talia Edmonds:

Our parents, especially my dad, was everything that he taught us was kind of through this lens of sport, and he himself has a nonprofit organization that essentially trains kids speed and agility and stuff like that through sport, and kind of teaching life through sport is his big motto, and I think before the organization even started, it was kind of his philosophy for parenting my brother and I, and I mean he has two d1 kids now, so I guess like and I, you know I like looking back.

Talia Edmonds:

I I used to to not like I used to be like why is this so intense? And like my dad was just super strict and, um, just growing up and knowing I wanted to be a division one athlete, like I couldn't do a lot of the stuff that other kids could do. You know, I didn't have as much free time I was. I was constantly training or focusing on school or all these things. I didn't quite understand it at the time, but I can definitely look back now and and be like wow, that I'm really grateful that my um parents cared enough but also supported my, my dreams and my goals as much as they did absolutely so.

Nowoola Awopetu:

I feel like for you, it seems like what you're saying is like hindsight, it's 2020. Like when he was going through it he was like I probably not, but now you be able to go through it, now you can kind of see like it was beneficial for you for sure, for sure um. So just your, your commitment to um Michigan State correct? Um, you decided to stay close to home. Why was that?

Talia Edmonds:

um. So actually it's really funny because I my junior senior year, like when I started to think more about recruiting um, I kind of had a less traditional path to recruiting. So for volleyball for people who don't necessarily know how recruiting for that works it's mostly through club, so through AAU and through travel volleyball, that college coaches and those big tournaments. They're usually at those big tournaments and because I played a lot of other sports, I never got a lot of the same exposure as maybe some of some of the girls who ended up committing, you know, d1 typically. So I kind of flew under the radar for a while and then when it came around to my senior year and I was trying to figure out where I wanted to go, I didn't have a lot of options.

Talia Edmonds:

Like I grew up kind of going to some camps and even though my parents played college sports they didn't, they didn't really necessarily know the route, the traditional route, to take either. So I would go to some clinics and some camps to get some college exposure, exposure to college coaches, and even then I wasn't getting a lot of looks. I guess I was also very undersized. I played all the positions in high school when I knew. When I got to college, I would have to more um as like a ds libero or like a defensive specialist, and so I got one I had one offer and turn that terminology just might go over some people, okay yeah, it went over my head a little bit, so hold on.

Nowoola Awopetu:

What do you mean by that?

Talia Edmonds:

yeah, so, um, so, like, there's typically volleyball. So you have six players on the court. You have your outside hitters, who are like your, your bigger, you know, pretty dynamic, they play all the way around, um, and then you have your middle blockers, who are typically like your taller girls, who can be more dynamic size, but they just play in the front row, and then your setters, who dish out all the balls. They're like your, your point guard, if you're trying to reference like basketball. And then you have the different colored jersey, uh, the girl in the back who, uh, is usually smaller and only plays back girls.

Talia Edmonds:

So I'm five. Yeah, you guys can't tell how tall I'm five. I tell people five, seven, I'm really like five, six, but that's relatively. You know, my teammates are like six, three, six, four, six, five, um, there's some big girls and so, yeah, I like all high school, like I was a hitter, but I wasn't going to go play at the level I wanted to play at as a hitter, and that was just reality. So I kind of had to switch my position to more of a just a defensive specialist. Does that like a little bit? Yeah?

Nowoola Awopetu:

I got it. Yeah, I got it yeah.

Talia Edmonds:

I got it. Yeah, I got it. Yeah, I got it. Yeah, like I had, I had one D2 offer outside like my senior year, and it was actually Grand Valley State I don't know if a lot of people know where that is, but that's in Michigan and I was like so stuck on, like I want to get out of Michigan. I did not want to stay home, I wanted to go somewhere else, I wanted to get like a college experience elsewhere, but I just wasn't getting any of the interest that I needed to like really be confident, to like go out you. Also, in my position as a defensive specialist, they don't give a lot of scholarships typically, which is just you know, that's just kind of how volleyball works.

Talia Edmonds:

It's changing a little bit now, but but yeah. So I had that one d2 offer and I went on a visit there and I really liked it and they basically were like, yeah, if you come here, we'll pay for it, you can play. And then, like god willing, I my this, my dad knows somebody, who knows somebody who knew the head coach at Michigan State and they came to like one of my club tournaments and I like got on a call with them and they're like yeah, we'll offer you a walk, like a preferred walk on. You won't get any money, um, but you can come play at Michigan State, which is not only D1 but it also is in the Big Ten, which is one of the best volleyball conferences in the country. Um, and they had just come off of like an elite eight year too.

Talia Edmonds:

And I was like so I had this choice to make. I was like, do I go D2 and get this paid for? Do I kind of like push my limits and pursue these dreams that I've always had a index card and I wrote go D1 on it and I put it up on my mirror and like that had been my dream for so long, and so part of that was like, okay, do I now pursue this dream? Where I'm, it's going to be a little bit harder.

Talia Edmonds:

I don't really know what to expect, and my parents were like go to Michigan State. They were like we'll pay, we'll support you. You've been dreaming of this since you were a kid. So I can only really give the credit to my parents for supporting me and then God for even giving me the opportunity to like go to a school. I could have never imagined. So I it's funny like the long roundabout answer to that question is I didn't even want to stay in Michigan, but it was like my only option and I am so, so blessed it. Like you said in hindsight, looking back, like to even have had that opportunity at at Michigan State and to stay in my near my hometown, um, in East Lansing, um, so yeah, was there any um?

Nowoola Awopetu:

so I guess, like you said, you had the opportunity to fully funded D2 scholarship and then you have a walk-on opportunity, right? Was there any discouragement in getting that walk-on opportunity? Like maybe I should have been worth a full scholarship. What was the feelings there Like when that happened?

Talia Edmonds:

Yeah, I think I was more just like it was more surreal that I had even had this door open for me, like I didn't even think I was that caliber of a player to even walk on at that level. And that came from and this is also throughout my entire career. I feel like every athlete, no matter what the level, can relate to. This is like the confidence you kind of have to develop as you go throughout your career.

Talia Edmonds:

Um, and we talk about mental health and stuff like that, but confidence was a big part of it. But I had like no confidence and I really felt like, um, yes, I was athletic, that was like one of the things that I could lean on, but I knew that I was not at anywhere near the level, just the speed of the game and like the technical skills I just had never had a chance to develop that, and so that's what made me a little nervous. But I was definitely more grateful that I had even gotten that opportunity to step into that, that that gym in that arena, kind of in that space.

Nowoola Awopetu:

And then so, even just thinking back on your journey, what was your, what would you say, was your welcome to college? Kind of moment I'm here Like it's real.

Talia Edmonds:

That's a funny question because so also how volleyball works. So we're a fall sport and so we're on campus. Basically, especially at Michigan State, we would be on campus from like June all the way up into our season. So we really didn't. We're basically a summer into fall sport and so when we commit, so I committed that spring of my senior year, which is super late compared to a lot of the other girls, like the five other girls in my class had all been committed together since sophomore year of high school, like. So I was entering into this class of girls that I they didn't even know who I was Like it was a whole different, you know kind of assimilating into the culture.

Talia Edmonds:

But we stepped foot on campus, usually as freshmen, like July 2nd maybe, and then we start having open gyms. So it's, there's no coaches, it's just strictly team ran, we're lifting and we're conditioning with the coach, but all of our practices are ran on our own. And my first open gym I like was like I do not belong here. I genuinely just felt like that it, it felt the game just felt like a whole different game, um, just in terms of the level of play that I had never even seen or been on the same court with that. You're having these girls who are fifth years in college, that had played at this level for five years, and there was me that I had felt like, wow, I barely got this opportunity. Um. So that was that first, that first day that I stepped into that gym, I was like, wow, I have a, I have a really uphill battle, yeah so what was the uh in overcoming all that?

Nowoola Awopetu:

like what was the? The journey to kind of finding your confidence, building your confidence, building your game? Like what was that for?

Talia Edmonds:

you it was. It was a journey, I can tell you that much. It was lots of ups and downs, um, I can. I'll actually I'll start at the, the end, where, so, basically, going into that year and I had talked to the coach and the head coach she was one of the only female also head coaches, um, in the Big Ten and so and she was had been there for a while and I really respected her, grew up watching Michigan State volleyball, watching her coach, and I went into her office, like one of my first days there, and she was like I'm just going to be honest with you, you'll probably never play here, like she was just very straightforward and I didn't take it personally. It was just kind of like, uh, you know, at that time I was like you could be right, like maybe I won't ever play here, but it.

Talia Edmonds:

So I went from that and then look fast forward to my senior year where I had been there for three and a half years, um, and I was the starting libero and voted team captain like unanimously by my teammates. So I went from that to this dream that I could have never imagined having happened, and in the middle was a lot of lack of confidence, like lack of self-esteem, but also moments of just like trusting the process and being in the grind. I had a red shirt in my sophomore year. I had a.

Talia Edmonds:

I redshirted my sophomore year because I had a season ending injury and I think that I can actually look back and accredit a lot of my progress and my journey to that season that I had to sit out and just watch, like I. I had to literally just sit on, the sit on the outside and observe everything and then it gave me like a little bit more of a fire of like I can play here, like I would sit on the side and I would watch them do drills and I'm like this is just the same sport that I had been playing since I was five years old, like I. It gave me a lot of perspective. I guess that's the biggest word is when I could shift my perspective.

Talia Edmonds:

My, my journey went from like extreme uphill to more of a like okay, you know, I can kind of be here and then I can go here, and then I can be here and go here and then maybe there are some downs, but it became more of a consistent uphill, I would say, and I was just more motivated and I set my. I set my goals high and my standards high and I had the support to to just go for it, and that's kind of how it ended up. So yeah, I don't know if that answered the question definitely answered the question.

Nowoola Awopetu:

I guess my follow-up to that would be like because you mentioned having a career injury, right, like talk about that. What was the journey going through mentally? Because this it's athletes that go, you know, I'm saying ACL tear, things like that so talk about how you was able to kind of overcome some of that, some of those things yeah, and I, you're right, like one of the biggest things and I I think you can probably attest to this too is um in mental health, especially for student athletes.

Talia Edmonds:

It's injury such a big, a big kind of aspect of it, because every, pretty much every athlete's going to go through injury in their career and a lot of the times it's the moment that you have to detach your identity from your sport, and I think that that was the biggest thing for me. It was like this reality checkup, so it was. I had a stress fracture in my lower back, um, just from like overuse from the sport and and the only thing you can do for a lower back injury is rest it. So, yeah, I found that out literally, maybe it was maybe like the first day of preseason practice, my sophomore year, and of double days and I that morning practice it just my back hurt really bad and I went to the doctor, got an MRI and they're just like, yeah, you can't play on this, so that even in that moment it's just like this overwhelming feeling of like, well, now what? Like I had been an athlete my entire life leading up to that point and I was I think I was 19 at this time and it was just like I remember those days following. I just I literally didn't know what to do with myself. I didn't know what that meant for my career. I didn't know just what it meant for me as a person. I didn't. It was like all these confusing things and throughout that process it was figuring out who am I outside of volleyball. Like this is one day going to end and that's like a reality check.

Talia Edmonds:

Injuries like a reality checkup, no matter if you continue to play professionally or if you just play after college. Like it will eventually come to an end. And I think a lot of athletes are kind of we're under this impression that we can keep it going and like we can kind of hold on to this thing as long as we can and like yeah, no, see so. And then it was like I, it was a reality check that that's not the case, that you really have to develop this sense of who you are and what your purpose is in this life without your sport.

Talia Edmonds:

Like your sports, not your purpose, and I truly believe that. I believe you're like sport is just a vehicle for your purpose, for you to like pursue your purpose and, honestly, when I could finally let go of that, let go of my identity and I'm not saying I was perfect in it by any means, but when I could finally let go of that, let go of my identity and I'm not saying I was perfect in it by any means, but when I could finally start to let go of my identity, I actually performed better in the sport when I was able to come back because I knew it wasn't like life or death, yeah, like I knew that it was. I could, like, keep going and that I that it wasn't my identity in my world wasn't wrapped up in this ball so, and even just listening to you speak, you talk about like a lot of purpose, like for a lot of athletes.

Nowoola Awopetu:

How do they? What's that process of finding your purpose if you don't know your purpose? What was, when you think about your journey, what was it that pushed you to find your purpose like? What was that? What was that like for you?

Talia Edmonds:

It's almost like if you're like, at any point you can be kind of forced to to find your purpose, which is that's like through injury or just through circumstances that are out of your control. Covid, that's a big thing that I think. Yeah, I think everybody, especially athletes, can look back at that time and you, we couldn't do a lot of stuff that we were used to, and that's everybody in the world. But I think there are things that externally that are going to happen, that are eventually going to force you to to find purpose outside of your sport. But then you also have this like this choice, I guess, to want to be curious about OK, what is my life going to look like when my sport's done? I think sometimes that's a scary thought, um, for athletes, because sometimes we really don't know, and that was a big thing too.

Talia Edmonds:

As athletes, we're typically also perfectionists and we're planners and we want to have an idea of where our life is going to go. And then, when we don't, it's like whoa, I was not prepared and so, honestly, purpose, I think. I think you need help to get there. I think that's a big part of it and that's also why I want to pursue the mental health direction and helping athletes in sport, because I think we need the guidance sometimes, and one of the things that I was really looking for when I had my injury was I didn't know who to go to. I didn't know that there were people, or at least I just wasn't aware of like the resources that we had, and I was less likely to even go look for them, just because, also, as athletes and I feel like we're more just self-sufficient, we feel like, you know, we can do things on our own, which is true, which is true to some extent, but I also think that it's wise to to pursue the support that we have accessible to us.

Talia Edmonds:

So I think that a big part of finding my purpose like, was rooted in my support system and the people that I had around me, my friends who were. They were so supportive and just in everything that I was going through they were there for me, even if they weren't there to give advice or even if they didn't completely understand what I was going through. They were just supporting me in whatever I was feeling, and I think that that love that I was kind of surrounded by, not only from them, but from my coaches, and from the support, like training staff, and I ended up seeing a sports psychologist during my injury that I was so reluctant to go see him and then they made me go and I was like, oh, this is actually exactly what I was looking for. So I think the support if I had to answer that question, I would think the support in pursuing your purpose is super, super important having, uh, um, I guess emotional, even not just emotional, but just having the right people around you.

Talia Edmonds:

Yes, yes.

Nowoola Awopetu:

And I know from just seeing you know faith is a big component of who you are. Kind of talk about how that ties into your identity and kind of your walk as a, as an athlete. And now who?

Talia Edmonds:

you are. It's also really funny. So did you stay at the same university for all your time or did you transfer at all? Okay, so it's it's really funny because it's almost like I've lived two lives, like completely. It's so crazy because I'm also literally on an island, on like a rock in the middle of the ocean, thousands of miles away from anybody that I know, and that's a whole different thing. Like going to university on an island really separates you from life that you're used to, like life on the mainland, as we call it.

Talia Edmonds:

But, um, so I had my time at Michigan State where I had had some success in my career. My career there still didn't end as I would have liked it to, though like I ended up not starting as the libero by the end of my career, like all these different things. I was still team captain, but I was balancing and juggling a lot and I just hadn't felt like I had fulfilled my athletic purpose at that time and I was kind of lost a little bit I would say that too. And then I was able to come to Hawaii and just start over. Like that's literally what I felt like was I get a fresh start, new people, new environment, new school, I can start my goals fresh. I don't need to be the same person that I was, and I now look back at that as a blessing as well, just the opportunity to start somewhere new and be so accepted too, cause I know that my experience is in everybody's experience in terms of when they transfer for or even when they have an injury and, like I had a lot of support not a lot of, not everybody has that and so I think that that's why I like to say I'm extremely blessed, but where I am in my faith now, like I have a podcast that is very faith based and I talk openly about my relationship with Christ and I am so confident in that.

Talia Edmonds:

But that's not who I was when I was at Michigan State.

Talia Edmonds:

Like I was still very much trying to figure it out, and I just say that to encourage people that you know I lived the college life Like I. I went out every weekend, like I did things that I just obviously I'm not very proud of now, but I know that you know, through Christ, we are in his love, we are saved from from those things and from that life that we were living, and now we're called to walk in a new life. So I truly believe that and that's, I would say, where I am with my faith now. And it's just funny because I wish people only certain people can see me in both lights, like only certain people were with me when I was at Michigan State and are still with me now, and so I try to really harp on the fact that I have not always been like this. I've done the stuff, I've done all the college stuff and I I know that I'm just grown from that and that, yeah, like I said, crisis has saved me from some of those decisions that I used to make absolutely.

Nowoola Awopetu:

I think it's another thing that's important is just letting for people to know that obviously you're not perfect, right, like everybody has has made, has their flaws and have gone through their own journey to find themselves. So and it seems like that's what you, that's what you're talking about here, um and in uh, in thinking about that, like what would be your advice to say, like younger athletes, or just even athletes in general, who might be going through a similar situation, maybe transferring from a different school, trying to find themselves, what kind of advice would you give to them?

Talia Edmonds:

I would say that quote about comparison being the thief of joy. I think that's so true. I think, especially now, in today's day and age of just social media and everyone's journey is so public, you can, like we talked about before, you can literally go up and look up anybody's accolades and their career, and people are constantly posting about it, and I think that it's easy to want to compare yourself like, oh, they're there and I'm here, and that means that I'm behind or that means that I'm not where I'm supposed to be and I don't. I don't think that that's true at all.

Talia Edmonds:

I think that everybody's journey is their own journey and I think that where you are right now is exactly where you're supposed to be, and we can get lost in the, in the comparison, sometimes, and so I would say that, just as I'm telling you right here that I'm not perfect and my journey was what it was, I had a lot of ups and downs.

Talia Edmonds:

I think that's very characteristic and it's more about how you go through it, like your resilience through it and your perseverance and just all those little things that build your character as you go. So my advice to anybody, no matter where you are, no matter if you feel like you're the most under-recruited or you feel like you know you're not. You're underappreciated and undervalued where you are. I think that you don't compare yourself and your journey to somebody else's because just make it your own, like if you look at, oh, she did it this way or he did it this way and I'm over here like doing it this way. I think that you're just losing some lessons that you could be learning through your own process.

Nowoola Awopetu:

A lot of a lot, a lot. You just said there, I think, a lot of gems that could definitely be pulled from that. So when you think about your life journey just beyond athletics kind of, what do you kind of foresee for yourself, like, what aspirations or interests do you have outside of the sport?

Talia Edmonds:

yeah, so I, um, I also this is funny that I was just speaking on my journey too because I, when I started college, I was one major and then I switched my major again and I switched my major again and I finally ended up getting a degree that I was kind of like and I still didn't know what I wanted to do. And now here I am getting my master's in social work and I honestly don't even know if I could completely tell anybody what social work exactly is, and that's I don't always. My point to that is like I don't always know what's next. And I think that that's okay too, to be in a season of just I don't really know right now, but I'm doing my best with what I have. But I now am, I feel like, with God and God's plan for my life and trying to align just my will and God's will.

Talia Edmonds:

I really think that I have a heart for just wanting to help athletes and help athletes with their mental health, because I have just seen through my own experience how, how hard it can be, and I want to be able to be there for for other athletes. So I think the best course of action for that for me will be to pursue my PhD in clinical psychology and then try to do some some research that's strictly focused around athletes, because there's a little bit of a gap in in the knowledge and education around the student athlete life and so I want to help to close some of those gaps because I've just seen, I've seen the impact, um, that mental health has on athletes.

Nowoola Awopetu:

I think that's awesome, great, great little you know goals that you got for yourself. That's amazing. Um so is there anything that you would like to share with um other student, athletes or just anybody who's listening, like, what's your message for your last message? One piece of I want.

Talia Edmonds:

I want to start my last message by just thanking you for having me on here. I think, like I don't know if everybody knows the context of like your podcast, but this is the first conversation we've ever really had and I think I felt so, just like. So I host my own podcast and it's funny being on the other side of it. I I really have just like it's cool to know that there are people out there that also have similar goals and interests to me. It's really encouraging. So one thank you for having me on here, but also the.

Talia Edmonds:

I guess the advice that I would give is surround yourself and find, find people who have similar interests to you and have similar goals and similar purposes to you, or just like, who are going to encourage you to pursue your dreams, and just that. I think that's the biggest thing is we are who we surround ourselves with, and I truly believe that as well and that's a big foundational principle of my podcast is like the relational aspect, and I just have a lot of my friends on there. We just talk about like a bunch of different stuff, but I love that. You know I can say that I've surrounded myself with people who push me to to be my best and who want the best for me and who love me and so continue. My advice would be to continue to build your network, because now I feel like you know we're, we've been connected and I love that, because now I know that we have just similar aspirations in life and, like I said, that's super, super encouraging for me.

Nowoola Awopetu:

Absolutely, and it's a pleasure to have you. I appreciate you being here. Where can the listeners connect with you? Learn more about your journey, learn more about your podcast.

Talia Edmonds:

Yes, so I have. So my podcast is called Sacred Sports Souls and it's available on YouTube. The Instagram for that is SacredSportsSouls, and then the podcast is also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and my personal Instagram as well. If you guys want to get connected with me there, I would love to get connected with anybody that's part of your community too, so you can follow me on my personal Instagram, which is WizSlefa. Made it when I was in seventh grade, but she stuck around with me, Alright cool.

Nowoola Awopetu:

I'm going to drop everything. I'm going to drop all her contact info. I'm going to drop it in the bio. You guys check her out. It's been a pleasure. She had a lot of gems and I'm hoping that if one person at all takes something from your journey, they've learned something. I've definitely learned more about yourself and just kind of what you've been through. So I appreciate you even joining me on today's show.

Talia Edmonds:

Yeah, thank you so much again. I appreciate it.

Nowoola Awopetu:

And that concludes today's episode. I hope you learned something I certainly did, and be sure to follow Talia on all her socials, and she also has a podcast too, so check her out on there and if you haven't already, like I said before you know, show some love and share this episode with somebody. You never know how it might help somebody. So, yeah, be back next week with another episode and thank you and, as always, stay blessed.