Kristen Faulkner won two gold medals for cycling at the 2024 Olympics, less than eight years after starting riding competitively. That in itself is an impressive sentence, especially considering she started on the bike as a method to alleviate stress and find community after a move to New York City for a job in finance. In this week’s episode, she talks about the value of trusting your gut, how she knew her big Olympic dream was worth pursuing, and what it meant to her to finally accomplish a lifelong dream.

IN THIS EPISODE

(8:40) The two important conversations that Kristen had that helped her make the choice to leave finance to turn pro cycling

(10:30) What it was about cycling that Kristen loved from the get-go

(13:08) Kristen recalls the first time she watched the Olympics at 8 years old and how she knew she wanted to be one

(13:35) Kristen talks about swimming as a child

(14:45) How to know when a goal is worth pursuing

(15:57) Kristen admits that she was almost embarrassed to talk about her Olympic dreams for a while

(17:32) How growing up in Alaska shaped Kristen as an athlete and woman

(18:40) Kristen talks about how she’d feel if she was older and didn’t pursue this dream

(20:00) Kristen talks about how challenging it was to seek out community when she moved to New York City. “It was the first time in my life I had to build a community.”

(38:18) How Kristen felt signing her first international lease

(42:12) What it was like for Kristen to accomplish her biggest, lifelong dream.

(1:01.20) Who is Kristen off the bike?

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If it doesn't feel good, then it's up to you to make a change. And if you don't make a change? Then you only have yourself to blame. Also: Answering a listener question about what to do when you've accomplished all of your goals.

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From the age of three, Sunny Choi dreamt of going to the Olympics. She thought that it would be for gymnastics, but she made the difficult decision to forgo that in favor of more stability. At business school at Penn, she first tried break dancing, and ultimately fell in love. In 2022, after making a name for herself on the world stage, Choi made the big decision to walk away from her six-figure salary as the director of global creative operations at Estée Lauder to pursue her lifetime dream of becoming an Olympian. The rest? Well, now it's part of the history books.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

(8:38) How Sunny uses deep breathing to relax and survey what's going on in her body.

(12:50) What it was like succeeding at gymnastics from a young age

(17:50) Sunny learns what breaking is in high school from her younger brother, then tries it for the first time at Penn

(20:18) Sunny talks about the self confidence that she garnered from dancing

(33:20) Sunny talk about sharing her love for breaking with her family, and what it was like to expose them to the sport.

(36:48) What it was like to tell her employer about her break dancing, and how she was able to work full-time while traveling internationally to compete

(40:32) Sunny shares why breaking is diverse and accessible to so many people, and why it was worthy of an Olympic spot

(45:48) Why it's important for Sunny to write about her Olympic experience to process how the moment made her feel

(49:15) Sunny talks about the Olympics comedown and how she managed to pull herself out of a funk

(52:30) Sunny talks about what her life looks like these days, and why she doesn't think she'd be able to go back into corporate America

(57:12) What Sunny sees in the mirror

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