Hi, welcome to Cheers. I'm your host, Avery Woods.

Hi, Victoria. Hi, Avery. Welcome. Thanks. Thanks for being here. And I was just telling her she

looks so cute. She coordinated her shirt with her shoes. Stop. And it's here. And I was just telling her she looks so cute. She

coordinated her shirt with her shoes. Stop. And it's everything. You know, and you don't know if it's too matchy, matchy or it's just right. I was overthinking it. But I definitely, when I pulled out this top that I haven't worn in two years, I was like this top, I feel like Avery will vibe with. I appreciate that. I'm in sweatpants. I really dressed up, but that's just how I roll, you know.

Well, I'm so glad that you're here because I think your story is so cool and so interesting

and kind of overlaps a little bit that I've done in my life and also things that really

interest me and excite me.

So for people that don't know you, maybe describe yourself what you do, what your job is

and what you use your platform for.

Definitely.

Well, I'm sure as you feel the same, you can have like the long story, the medium story,

the short story.

So cut me off if I am going for too long.

But basically, I went to college at USC and I majored in broadcast journalism. I thought I wanted to be a sports reporter one day. I had loved and played sports my whole life and I was actually at USC playing indoor volleyball. So that was my focus until I started to see a different side of sport that wasn't being talked about.

And it was really through my own struggles that my eyes began to open to this side of elite athletics that no one was talking about at the time.

And that was the mental health conversation.

I was so excited to play volleyball at USC and be in the pack 12.

Now it's the Big Ten, which is so weird.

Why did that change?

Basically, when the NIL rule flipped, so athletes could monetize their name, image, and likeness, which is essentially all we do right now.

It's crazy to think.

I mean, I had a YouTube channel in college, I, you know, it was doing really well and I couldn't monetize it because I would be monetizing my name image and likeness, which technically you can't do because you're a college athlete, which never made sense. Like it wasn't okay. So that got overturned and then athletes could make money just because they were themselves. And so then it became this whole money fest and the UCLA and USC like left the PAC 12 to join

...