Girls Talk.

You're listening to the Girls Talk podcast, hosted by me, Adjoa-Boha and powered by our friends at Nike.

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Hi everyone. Welcome to Girls Talk. This week I'm joined by the wonderful ballet sensation that is Michaela de Prince.

Michaela is a dancer, author and War Child Ambassador. She has overcome tremendous challenges

in her journey to ballet stardom, detailed in her 2014 memoir, Taking Flight. Orphan by the Civil

War in Sierra Leone, and shunned for her vitiligo, she was adopted by an American

couple who supported her passion for dance and helped her pursue her dream.

She currently dances as a soloist for the Dutch National Ballet.

Recently, on Girls' Talk, we've talked about the power of identity and self-expression in building confidence.

We'll explore that topic more today through the lens of her discipline and beauty of ballet.

We'll also be talking more about awareness, activism and representation.

As one of few black ballet dancers, we'll be exploring how racism pervades in classical ballet

and how Michaela's story and experiences have helped to shed light on what needs to change.

Michaela, welcome to the Girls Talk podcast.

Where do we even begin? How do we even begin? How are you?

Yeah, I'm good. It has been a bit of a difficult year, I think, obviously, for everybody,

but also just a year of really trying to put myself first, I guess you could say,

because I lost my father during COVID the summer.

I'm so sorry. Yeah, it was very difficult. Thank you. But it's horrible, the fact that I couldn't go and see him.

And the government also made it very difficult. And I didn't want to go to Atlanta, Georgia, as a black woman, and being by myself in a hotel for two weeks,

...