OPTIMISM | At first Anna Gibson thought the idea of joining Team USA’s ski mountaineering training camp was a bit ridiculous. She’s a professional trail and track runner, and diverting into ski mountaineering, a sport that will make its Olympic debut in Milan-Cortina, wasn’t in her 2025 plans. But then she asked the question ‘what if?’ and had the courage to look at the positive possibilities. Instead of focusing on what if it didn’t work out, she leaned into the belief that what if it did? The result: she’s an Olympian, and will represent Team USA in skimo in Italy. This episode is for anyone who’s also wondered ‘what if’ when considering a change, a career move, a new city, a new hobby, and shows what’s possible when you choose to chase it. 

For more on the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, follow @ThePowHERful on Instagram!

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As women’s sports continue to rise, women’s surfing isn’t just riding the wave — they’re leading it. Lakey Peterson, a veteran of the World Surf League Championship Tour, represents a pivotal generation of female trailblazers. She recalls a time when winning a contest earned her $15,000, while the male winner of the same event took home $100,000. Since then, she’s witnessed the league evolve, achieving equal prize money, combined tours, and better waves.

For Peterson, embracing these changes later in her career has been both a challenge and an opportunity. On this episode of the PowHERful Podcast, she shares how she’s adapted, where she draws the perseverance to keep pushing forward, and her vision for the future of women’s surfing.

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Picking yourself back up after a fall is never easy but it’s something competitive mountain biker Jess Blewitt knows how to do all too well. When you look at her last few years it would be so easy to focus on the injuries, but that is far from what the first ever female entrant to Red Bull Hardline has done. Instead she shares a lesson about the power of presence and managing fear in a world where we're constantly told if we're not moving, not performing, we're falling behind.

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Paris 2024 marked another meaningful step forward for equality in Paralympic sport, but the work is far from over. As winter Paralympians look ahead to their own moment on the world stage in Italy, they’re also bracing for the all-too-familiar media narratives that often reduce their complex journeys to a single moment or medal.

In this episode, 2x Paralympian Dani Aravich joins us to unpack what it means to shift the lens. Through her work with Culxtred, the athlete-led storytelling platform she co-founded with fellow PowHERful guest Brenna Huckaby, Dani is challenging the way we talk about adaptive athletes.

Together, we explore how curiosity, empathy, and deeper storytelling can transform the way we see all athletes, not just as competitors, but as whole human beings.

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Hammer thrower Janeé Kassanavoid was poised to make her first Olympic team in 2024 and then, she missed her throws at the Olympic Trials in Eugene. This past weekend, she returned to the scene of one of her greatest disappointments and rewrote her Hayward Field history - making her third World Championship team. Her story is the one of overcoming disappointment, of owning what went wrong and believing you are more than your worst day. As the first Native American woman to medal at Worlds, Kassanavoid knows as well as anyone, her story is so much bigger than her results. She’s changed her goalposts, she’s adjusted her routine and she’s bet on herself again, and in this episode of The PowHERful Podcast she shares the blueprint of how we too can overcome disappointment, and always remember - your story is full of chapters and even the worst one, is only a single one. 

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As athletes, and often as women, we're frequently told we must fit ourselves into a nice neat box of what society defines our role to be. Luckily, Kristine Anigwe never subscribed to that belief. Now the former WNBA player is building her fashion empire, one she started when she was still an active player. KA Originals has been in the spotlight as both she and many stars around the W have rocked her fits. In this episode of The PowHERful Podcast, Anigwe shares how she cultivated multiple passions simultaneously, how she'd never be where she is now without Candace Parker, and how we can all embrace every side of ourselves to create the life we want to live.

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She’s a 2x Olympian, 6x World Champ and multiple X Games medalist and yet, the road has been full of struggle and perseverance few knew about for BMX freestyle rider Hannah Roberts. In this episode she shares how she manages the pressure and privilege of being a trail blazer, as well as how learning to deal with things as they come has helped her navigate the ups and downs. It’s a lesson hard-learned, but she easily shares for us to apply to our own lives 

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Trailblazer. Badass. “One of the boys.” Vicki Golden has been called all that and more, but to her, it’s simple: she’s a rider.

Raised on two wheels and fueled by the grit her late father instilled in her, Vicki has broken barriers in the world of motocross, and she’s still pushing limits today. Her story is one of resilience, determination, and a love for the ride.

This episode is a reminder that no matter how hard we fall, we all have the power to get back up.

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No. 1 Senior Pro Pickleball Player Lee Whitwell is a trail blazer and community builder who shares her journey through one of the fastest growing sports in the country. And while we talk about where we're going, we remember the importance of never forgetting who blazed the trail we walk. 

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Welcome back PowHERful Pod Squad! Season 3 is kicking off with a lovely, fierce, 2x Olympic skateboarder who’s rarely without her ukulele. Through our partnership with the X Games we’re catching 2x X Games medalist Bryce Wettstein fresh off her bronze in Salt Lake City at the X Games 30th Anniversary celebration. The San Diego native shares how she discovered her authentic self, and how serving that has served her more than chasing any of the shiny, flashy things that come with being a pro athlete so young. Her ethereal way of looking at the world reminded me what a gift it is to feel wonder at the every day, and how vital it is to being a whole human. We’re so excited to have you back!

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