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PODCAST

Flame Bearers: Making It To Milan

Ashley Cain & Dani Aravich

Flame Bearers is a women"s sports storytelling studio. We tell stories via video production, podcasts, and live events and have supported just shy of 400 world-class athletes from 52 countries.In a landscape where 85% of coverage is dedicated to men and the remaining 15% often highlights a narrow segment of women athletes, we broaden the lens to highlight diverse voices. Why? Because we’re here to inspire the next generation of athletes, centering their stories on their terms. Our mission is to

sports personal journals

All Episodes

Alejandra Aybar (Dominican Republic): Know Your Why

Flame Bearers: Making It To Milan ·

2024/09/04

Alejandra is the Dominican Republic's first female Paralympic swimmer, a Parapan American silver medalist, engineer, dog mom, and as she shares, "a 4’3” tall girl promoting inclusion."When not swimming (which she does 4-5 hours a day), Alejandra works for the International Paralympic Committee, making sport more accessible for all. As if that's not enough, she's also writing her masters thesis. When asked how she juggles it all, she shares that she's driven by her why. She knows

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14:55

Manasi Joshi (India): Never Dim Your Light

Flame Bearers: Making It To Milan ·

2024/08/28

Manasi Joshi has won 10 gold, 9 silver and 15 bronze medals at level 1 international tournaments. She's a former World Champion (SL3), an engineer, an Arjuna award winner, Aspen Fellow, and has spoken at Harvard. As Manasi approaches the Paris Paralympics, she's feeling "stronger than ever." That said, she's pauses to flag HOW she hopes journalists and the media should talk about her, or rather how they shouldn't. She shares, "I don't want to be called inspirational because I

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14:28

Bonus Content: From Paris via The Unlocked Foundation

Flame Bearers: Making It To Milan ·

2024/08/22

Bonus Content from The Unlocked Foundation's 'Celebrate Her' event in Paris. The UNLOCKED Foundation is a women-founded, nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering women to take brave steps toward closing the wealth gap in their own lives. In honor of the 2024 Paris Olympics, Flame Bearers Founder & CEO Jamie Mittelman joined The Unlocked Foundation at the Dior Flagship store in Paris to discuss 24 “women everyone is watching” contending for medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics,

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13:31

Anastasia Pagonis (USA): Seeing the Visually Impaired

Flame Bearers: Making It To Milan ·

2024/08/21

Anastasia is a 3x World Champion and a 2X Paralympian on a mission to change how people 'see' the visually impaired. To truly see them as they are, not stereotypes. When asked to describe a blind person, Anastasia offers that "most people think of a man walking around like a zombie, big dark glasses, and a cane, but that's not how visual impairment is for me." Anastasia is a bubbly, stylish, world-class athlete who many often don't realize has a disability when briefly looking at

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17:45

Claire Taggart (UK): Leading From the Court

Flame Bearers: Making It To Milan ·

2024/08/14

Growing up, Claire was drawn to creative and artistic pursuits: piano and trumpet, drawing, reading. At 17, her life changed when she started experiencing mobility issues. Two years later she was diagnosed with dystonia, a neurological condition characterized by involuntary muscle contractions and spasms. Claire found boccia at a local club, and credits Great Britain's coaches with inviting her to a Talent Event in 2015 that served as a turning point in her career. During this

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12:48

Bryony Page (Great Britain): Fear Brings Focus

Flame Bearers: Making It To Milan ·

2024/08/07

As a young gymnast, Bryony saw kids jumping up and down on the trampoline and decided, "I want to try that! It looks like so much fun!" Three Olympic medals later, including her sparkling new gold from Paris, and she clearly hasn't stopped having fun. As World & European Trampoline Champion, Bryony has all of the accolades one could dream of, but as she shares, her journey has always been about so much more than just the hardware. Bryony's path has included countless injuries as

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12:46

Ariana Ramsey (USA): Girls Can Rough It In Rugby

Flame Bearers: Making It To Milan ·

2024/08/05

Watch the video version of this conversation on our YouTube channel ►/ @flamebearers Ariana came across rugby in high school school and at first, she "had no idea what rugby was, but it reminded [her] of capture the flag." She was looking for a sport outside of track that she could compete in throughout college, and credits the upperclass girls on her high school team for encouraging her to join the squad. She then went to Dartmouth College where she majored in Economics with a

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10:27

Taky Marie-Divine Kouamé: The French Phenom

Flame Bearers: Making It To Milan ·

2024/07/31

Taky Marie-Divine Kouamé is a World Champion and 9x French Champion track cyclist, a photographer, an entrepreneur, and so much more. As Marie-Divine shares, "doing other things keeps me sane. It's not a distraction. It makes me a better athlete." She recently worked with our co-host Maé-Bérénice Méité on an exciting documentary series following French athletes to the Games. As we head into the Paris Games in her home country, Marie-Divine has a lot of eyes on her. And she's

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16:16

Jackie Dubrovich (USA): Foiling The Competition

Flame Bearers: Making It To Milan ·

2024/07/29

Jackie first started with dance and gymnastics, but quickly found out those weren't her sports. She had a cousin who fenced, so she gave it a try... 21 years later, she's at her second Olympics. A first generation American, Jersey girl, and World # 10 in Women's Foil (fencing), Jackie is committed to being a role model for the younger athletes on the team and all girls in sport. She shares how her first Olympics (Tokyo) were disappointing because she lost her match 15-14; she

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19:00

Farida Osman (Egypt): Princess At Heart

Flame Bearers: Making It To Milan ·

2024/07/24

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

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11:30

Kokona Hiraki (Japan): The 15-Year Old World Champ

Flame Bearers: Making It To Milan ·

2024/07/22

Watch the video version of this conversation on our YouTube channel ►/ @flamebearers This interview was conducted with the help of a translator (why at times, we address the question to an interpreter). At 5 years old, Kokona's parents brought her to a local skatepark and she immediately "wanted to be like the cool skateboarders" she saw there. Flash forward to today, and she's a World champion and Olympic silver medalist. But for Kokona, it's not just about the competition

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14:12

Giancarla Trevisan (Italy): Do It Scared

Flame Bearers: Making It To Milan ·

2024/07/17

Watch the video version of this conversation on our YouTube channel ►/ @flamebearers 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

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11:35

Regina Salmons (USA): Vicious & Kind

Flame Bearers: Making It To Milan ·

2024/07/15

Regina tried "almost every other sport" growing up, and then she found rowing at age 13. "It felt like home" she shares. Besides the feeling she loved of "pushing off the oar" and gliding through the water, Regina "saw other women who looked like [her]." A World Silver Medalist in the Women's Eight and 2x Olympian who just missed a medal in Tokyo (4th place), Regina and team are chasing the podium in Paris. Her personal motto is that she's "vicious on the water but super kind out

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16:33

Chelsea Edghill: Guyana's Golden Girl

Flame Bearers: Making It To Milan ·

2024/07/10

Watch the video version of this conversation on our YouTube channel ►/ @flamebearers In Tokyo2020, Chelsea was Guyana's first-ever table tennis Olympian and her nation's flagbearer, so as she heads into her second Olympics, she's coming in with high hopes...and a lot of eyes on her. That said, her path to Paris has focused on "re-finding the joy of table tennis." After Tokyo, things changed. People started treating her differently and everyone felt entitled to weigh in on her

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16:33

Marta Pen Freitas (Portugal): Finding Her Superpower

Flame Bearers: Making It To Milan ·

2024/07/03

Marta was the "little Chinese" girl, but when she found track, she was better than everyone (including the guys), so she became "the fast girl." According to Marta, running was what made her different and special. "When you find something that you can hold onto, you're going to show off your superpower." For Marta, that was running. Marta grew up speaking Portuguese, with a Portuguese name, eating Portuguese food, living in Portuguese culture, yet her Mom spoke Chinese and was

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15:01

Marzieh Hamidi (Afghanistan): Defying the Taliban...

Flame Bearers: Making It To Milan ·

2024/06/26

Watch the video version of this conversation on our YouTube channel ►/ @flamebearers Marzieh, the daughter of two Afghan parents, grew up as a refugee in Iran. "They treated us differently" she shares, which eventually led her family to move back home to Afghanistan. In her home country, Marzieh joined the Taekwondo national team and quickly climbed the ranks, where she remained until the 2021 Taliban takeover. That's when everything changed... Women can no longer go to school,

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18:36

Marine Fatoumata Camara (Mali): The Knockout Queen

Flame Bearers: Making It To Milan ·

2024/06/19

Watch the video version of this conversation on our YouTube channel ►/ @flamebearers What does it take to be the FIRST? To dream beyond what's considered possible? Marine Fatoumata Camara is the first and only elite female boxer from Mali. As she shares, she's gone "where people didn't expect her to because they didn't know what was possible." As of the time of this recording, Marine was on her way to Olympic qualifiers in Bangkok, Thailand, seeking to become Mali's first

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16:04

Sunny Choi (USA): Breaking Barriers Through Beats

Flame Bearers: Making It To Milan ·

2024/06/12

Watch the video version of this conversation on our YouTube channel ►/ @flamebearers Sunny Choi grew up as a gymnast and first watched the 1992 Olympic gymnastics in her sparkly Little Mermaid tutu. On the drive to her first gymnastics class, 3-year-old Sunny asked Mom if she was going to win a gold medal. This summer, she finally has that chance...but in a different sport. Sunny found 'breaking' when she was a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania (note: don't call it

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11:33

Maé-Bérénice Méité (France): Meet Our Athlete Co-Host

Flame Bearers: Making It To Milan ·

2024/06/05

Maé-Bérénice Méité is a 2x Olympian and 6x National Figure Skating Champion from France who is also an entrepreneur, artist, content creator, and so much more. She's deeply passionate about sharing the behind-the-scenes realities of being a world-class athlete, including the challenges and struggles. Maé-Bérénice co-hosts our interviews in Flame Bearers: Pathways to Paris celebrating women from around the world seeking to compete in this summer's Olympics and Paralympics. So,

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13:29

Caster Semenya (South Africa): For The Future of...

Flame Bearers: Making It To Milan ·

2024/05/13

2x Olympic Gold Medalist and 3x World Champion, Caster Semenya has made headlines since winning the 800m at the 2009 World Athletics Championships at the age of 18, yet the media (and many of her fellow athletes) wouldn't gracefully acknowledge her generational talent for what it was, but rather started accusing her of being a man. This was news to Caster, someone who was born a woman and grew up a woman her whole life. Given her muscular build, speed, deep voice, and color, Caster

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165 results

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