Shameless Leadership 511: Mirna Valerio: The Many Identities of the Legendary Mirnavator
Mirna Valerio is a native of Brooklyn, NY, a former educator, cross-country coach, ultramarathoner, and author of the bestselling memoir, A Beautiful Work in Progress. Although she began running in high school, she recommitted to the sport after a health scare in 2008 and started her blog Fatgirlrunning—about her experiences as a larger woman in a world of thinner endurance athletes— while training for her first marathon. Mirna's athletic story has been featured in the WSJ, Runner’s World, on NBC Nightly News, CNN, and in the viral REI-produced documentary short, The Mirnavator. Her writing has been featured in Women’s Running Magazine, Self Magazine Online, Outside Online, and Runner's World Magazine. In 2018 she was chosen as one of the National Geographic Adventurers of the Year, and most recently appeared on the Kelly Clarkson Show, Access Hollywood, and the short Running Through Barriers, produced by LLBean.
Listen in to hear Mirna share:
- How she is discerning about who gets her time and energy
- Why she is participating in NANOWRIMO and how it’s been transformational to her
- What your identity truly is and how it dictates how you interact with the world
- How she’s leaning into different parts of her identity and learning new things in this year
- How she manages haters
- How she steps into fear as she steps into new partnerships, especially her new position with Lululemon
- How anxiety shows up for her and how she has learned to manage it
- How she helped Will Smith train for a half marathon
- The best lesson she learned from Will Smith
Links Mentioned:
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