Jeremy Lin’s #BeTheLight campaign

NBA Star Jeremy Lin talked to me about his #BeTheLight campaign and efforts to support workers on the front line of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Right now he’s in Beijing for basketball, playing with the Beijing Ducks, so we did the interview via Zoom. He’s pledged up to $1M and is doing great things to give back to the Bay Area and beyond!

Press play to hear the entire interview and find out what he says when I asked him if he’s ready to get back to playing basketball right now.

Warriors “Get Fit” Event

I recently got a chance to host an event with the Golden State Warriors.

The event was part of the Warriors “Back-to-School in the Bay” campaign, and in partnership with Kaiser Permanente they hosted the Get Fit Time-Out event at Willie L. Brown Jr. Middle School in San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood. The event was aimed toward promoting the importance of physical activity, mindfulness and good nutrition.

Golden State Warriors Damian Jones joined us for the fun event and did a Q&A with me to let the kids know about his fitness and eating habits, before interacting with students from the Beacon after school program. Students were then treated to an interactive education session focused on eating nutritious foods, exercising daily and training the mind to be resilient.

There were 3 activity stations, including an instructional basketball clinic, nutrition lesson and mindfulness workshop.

All in all, the events was so much fun and I can’t wait to work with the Dubs again!

WATCH the video highlights here >> https://www.nba.com/warriors/video/teams/warriors/2018/09/26/2268083/1537920777167-stuftbget-fit20180917v1-2268083

Women Sports Film Festival

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This past week I was lucky enough to host the inaugural Women Sports Film Festival in Oakland at The New Parkway theater. It was an incredibly fun vibe and I had the pleasure of introducing and moderating the post-screening Q&A sessions for 2 of the films.

The festival’s mission is this:

Using the power of documentary film we celebrate female athletes and the filmmakers who bring their stories to the screen.

Kudos to the women who put this event together and I can only see much more success in their future, now that they’ve tapped into a genre and market that’s shine is long overdue.

The opening night documentary was “TRex: Her Fight for Gold,” the story of Flint, Michigan’s Claressa Shields and her journey to an Olympic Gold medal in London 2012. She is now seeking to defend her gold in Rio. It will premiere on PBS, Tuesday, August 2, 2016 s part of the Independent Lens series by ITVS.

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The other documentary screening I hosted was “Althea,” about tennis champion Althea Gibson. She was the first African-American to play at Wimbledon and Forest Hills. Both of these documentaries are well worth the watch!

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Now, I can’t wait to do it all again next year!

My Super Bowl Week in the City

The Bay Area Super Bowl has come and gone…and the reality is we probably won’t see it again here anytime soon. Locals are glad the traffic is gone and city life will return to “normal.” I’m glad that it came through the Bay and I was lucky enough to attend some of the events and fanfare leading up to it. No, I didn’t go to the game, lots of people kept asking me if I was going, but I’m more of the mindset that if my team’s not in it, I’m better off watching from the convenience of my couch. I did however attend some of the preceding week’s pre-game soirees around town. I’ve posted some of my favorite snaps from my Super Bowl week in the City below…

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KaBoom! I Helped Build a Playground

There are so many events happening around the Bay Area this week related to Super Bowl 50, and while I will do my part to socialize and network at the various parties around town, I also took some time out to lend a hand in a KaBoom playground build in San Jose. I got involved, since ESPN invited some of the Disney (parent company) affiliates to pitch in, including ABC7 where I work part time. Also in the mix were other local community members and members of the Raiders and 49ers organizations too.

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What brought this experience even closer to home is that fact that it was happening in my hometown San Jose. To have the opportunity to construct a playground for kids that are growing up among the same streets I did, made it all the more special. Not to mention that these days as a Mom, I spend A LOT of time hanging out at neighborhood playgrounds with my kiddos. I can’t wait to bring them by this one to show off what I did! 🙂

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At any rate, I didn’t really know what to expect. I’m not particularly strong and while I was my Daddy’s little helper in construction projects growing up…my handy-ness is limited to the “basics.” Anyhow, this is how it went down, all the volunteers, showed up bright and early and we were divided into groups with a team leader. Each group was responsible for  a specific component of the playground.

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The group I was assigned to was in charge of 2 directional sign posts. We had to paint arrows and think of what we were going to write on them. We decided on one post carrying “location” tags and the other would have inspirational “directions.”

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I was fortunate not to be mixing and pouring concrete aka “getting dirty,” (although I did some, to secure our post in the ground), and other groups were assembling the play equipment, painting a mural, erecting gazebos and sitting areas, etc…

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And, I think my assignment was extra special because I got to work with some of the kids who live in the community and took the initiative to volunteer to help make it happen. I was impressed at the efforts by these young men.

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The whole playground was constructed in about 6 hours. I mean of course they will properly inspect it and make sure it is sound for youngsters to start using it, but I was truly in awe of how quickly it all came together. It was a great day of teamwork and community service.

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Adios to Arco…

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This is the final season the NBA’s Sacramento Kings will be playing at Sleep Train Arena…formerly known as Arco. Arco Arena, as so many will affectionately  refer to it, is the place where my pro sports dance team career started, just a few months removed from my college graduation at San Jose State. The team is now moving to a brand new, state of the art arena in downtown Sacramento that is currently under construction. And — since “Arco” will be no more, the Kings invited us (all the team’s Alumni dancers), to perform one last halftime.

The amazing show happened just 10-days after I hit the NFL field for a pregame Arizona Cardinals Cheerleaders Alumni Reunion… I couldn’t be more pleased with myself (and how my body held up..lol), or the dedication and commitment all the ladies put into making the halftime come together. We all learned our choreography from a video, then whoever could make it would get together for non-mandatory weekend practices, before the day of, final fixes. I never expected to continue dancing after I hung up my “poms,” years ago, but it has been an amazing blessing to not only pick up where I left off and dance alongside so many talented dancers every so often, but really embellish in the unique sisterhood and bonds formed with every team I have had the pleasure of being on.

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Below are some of the photos from our “Adios to Arco” event…yet, I’ve joked – you never know they could have us back in March or April for a final, FINAL farewell dance…hehe

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Celebrating 25 Years of Arizona Cards Cheer

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It’s been a week since I had the opportunity to perform on Monday Night Football at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Last Monday, I took the field for pregame with more than 150 Arizona Cardinals Cheerleaders Alumni to entertain the crowd before kickoff. The experience brought back the chills, some nerves and that anxious feeling you get before performing in front of tens of thousands of people! After being away from dancing on the NFL for several years now, I sort of had forgotten just how HUGE the field feels and how it feels to dance in the stadium. Plus, I had NEVER danced in a domed stadium before…during the one season I spent with the AZ Cardinals, they still played at ASU Sun Devil Stadium, so it did feel different to be in the air conditioned dome. Press play below to see video of the performance…

Anyhow, keep scrolling down to view some of the photos from my fun-filled weekend in the desert, celebrating the Arizona Cardinals Cheerleaders Anniversary.

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Buster Posey x Body Armor

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I’m not a big baseball fan, but sometimes I do interview baseball players… Today I headed into San Francisco to interview World Series Champion of the San Francisco Giants Buster Posey, at a Body Armor Super Drink event being held at Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep, for Bay Area HQ. It was pretty fun as he surprised all the high school kids by popping up at their school for the event.

He talked about sports, being their age and how important it is to stay hydrated and think about nutrition at their age, as well as be physically active. In my interview with him, he was very nice and we reminisced a little about his high school days, who he may offer one of his famous “Buster Hugs” to — specifically which of his fellow Body Armor athletes like James Harden, Klay Thompson, Kobe Bryant, Rob Gronkowski, Richard Sherman, Andrew Luck, etc… and he also revealed he may want to do some acting!! 🙂 Press play below to see my chat with Buster Posey.