Wrestle Like a Girl with 3-Time U.S. National Champion Sally Roberts

In our tenth episode, 3-time U.S. national wrestling champion Sally Roberts speaks with Ronald Blue Trust CEO, Nick Stonestreet, and Ruth Malhotra, leader of Ronald Blue Trust's Women's Initiative. Sally Roberts is an elite wrestler, U.S. special operations combat veteran, and the CEO of Wrestle Like a Girl, an organization whose mission is to empower girls and women through sports to become leaders in life. In this inspiring conversation, Sally shares her personal journey with us and explains how she overcame adversity and learned to embrace failure, achieve success, and challenge expectations by leading with humility and confidence.

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The information in these podcasts is provided for general educational purposes only.  It is not intended as specific individual advice. The clients’ experience may not be representative of the experience of other clients and they are also not indicative of future performance or success. Opinions expressed may not be those of Ronald Blue Trust.

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Transcript

Speaker 1:
Welcome to the Wisdom for Wealth for Life podcast. Let's bridge the gap between your faith and your finances. At Ronald Blue Trust we apply biblical wisdom in technical expertise to help you make wise financial decisions. Our goal is to help you leave a lasting legacy. In this podcast, you will hear inspiring stories, practical tips, and encouragement from the Ronald Blue Trust family with special guests along the way. Welcome to the Wisdom for Wealth for Life podcast.

Speaker 1:
The information in these podcasts is provided for general educational purposes only, it is not intended as specific individual advice. The client's experience may not be representative of the experience of other clients, and they're also not indicative of future performance or success. Opinions expressed may not be those of Ronald Blue Trust. In this episode, we have CEO of Ronald Blue Trust, Nick Stonestreet, and manager of strategic partnerships and chair of Women's Leadership Initiatives, Ruth Malhotra.

Speaker 1:
They speak with three-time national wrestling champion, Sally Roberts. Sally Roberts is an elite wrestler, special operations combat veteran, and the CEO of Wrestle Like A Girl. Wrestle Like A Girl is an organization whose mission is to empower girls and women using sports to become leaders in life. In this inspiring episode, Sally shares her personal story with us and explains how she learned to embrace failure and break cultural norms by learning to lead with humility. Let's listen in now.

Ruth Malhotra:
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Wisdom for Wealth for Life podcast. My name is Ruth Malhotra, and I'm privileged to be part of the team here at Ronald Blue Trust. One of the things I get to do here is lead our women's initiative, and today we get to host a remarkable woman, Sally Roberts, whose story will encourage and inspire all of us. I'm delighted to have Sally here with us. Thanks so much for joining us, Sally.

Sally Roberts:
Thank you.

Ruth Malhotra:
Also, so grateful that our CEO, Nick Stonestreet is joining us for this conversation. Nick is a leader who consistently champions women within and beyond our firm, and I'm excited to have him be part of the conversation.

Nick Stonestreet:
Thanks for having me Ruth on your podcast.

Ruth Malhotra:
Nick, I know you've known Sally for a long time and I'd love it if you could introduce her to our audience today.

Nick Stonestreet:
Yeah, I'd be glad to. So, Sally's one of my favorite people, and one of the reasons is because of the impact she's having with young women. And one of the things that Sally and I connected on, we had a friend introduce us, is both of my daughters practice Jiu-Jitsu or fight Jiu-Jitsu, played Jiu-Jitsu, it depends on how you look at it.

Nick Stonestreet:
And seeing what it's done for them, it's really amazing that we can have Sally with us who's won two bronze medals at worlds and has such an inspiring story of resilience, and now for her life, just wanting to give back to help women feel valued and inspiring women. So, I couldn't think of a better person to have for our Women's History Month and think about someone who's doing so much good for women and girls around the world. So, Sally, I'm so grateful to be with you in this time.

Sally Roberts:
Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Nick Stonestreet:
We talked about it a little bit last night at dinner with Ruth and Ryan and the crew, was just the struggles that we have in our industry, some financial services, and the statistics and financial services haven't always been great for women. So on average, there's only about 23% of the advisors are female in our industry.

Nick Stonestreet:
And then we talked a little bit about, in the year 2030, 70% of the wealth in the United States will be in the hands of women. And it's so interesting like you having to break through in wrestling and us wanting to break through and make sure that women who want to be advisors are supported in this organization and women that work in any part of the organization are supported. Do you have any thoughts about that and empowering women with finances and financial education?

Sally Roberts:
Yeah, I had an opportunity. I previously didn't have thoughts on this. However, I had an opportunity to sit down at a going-away luncheon with Christine Lagarde. She was transitioning from the International Monetary Fund to the European Central Banking system. And through that conversation, I just got to talk to her, and she said, "The language of money is the most spoken language in the world, and women are the least likely to know it and to understand it." And one of the things that we need to do is to make sure that women not only get a seat at the table, but they understand how to use their voice when they're sitting at that table.

Sally Roberts:
After she said that I got it, and I even realized that I needed to understand finances more deeply in the global space because all of those things do affect the work that we're doing. And if I want to say that we need women to be informed about finances, I needed to take a strong lead and say, "I need to become more informed more deeply." And along the way, just recognizing that there's opportunities to learn more and there's programs that are going to be able to meet you where you're at, and if you are a woman that is coming in, and this is your first exposure with finances, there's opportunities for that. And if you are a woman and you have very audacious goals and you have very brilliant and vivid dreams and knew exactly where you want to go and you need help getting there, there's opportunities for that.

Sally Roberts:
And it's really, I would say like, we don't, as in me and Ron Blue Trust, we don't really care where you're at, we just know that we want to get you to the table and we want to get you to sit so that we can continue to evolve together as we continue to perform this landscape and improve it.

Ruth Malhotra:
Yeah, that's really insightful. I'd also love to zoom out for just a second and talk more generally about cultivating leadership qualities within these male-dominated settings. Because like Nick said, there are so many parallels between the financial services industry and the athletic arena in terms of how they're often male-dominated in leadership, and you really do have to break through several ceilings to have your voice heard oftentimes or to even know how to leverage that influence. Like you said, can you talk a little bit about that or maybe advice that you would have for our women who are seeking to lead in this space?

Sally Roberts:
One of the things that I recognized, and there is evidence to back this up from psychology. We learned in ... While we were at the Olympic Training Center, we had to go and speak with sports and performance psychologists. And they said, "When you're thinking about a decision, if it takes longer than seven seconds, your brain is going to tell you no." And we had to understand the way that the brain worked in order for us to advance through situations that would normally want us to feel inhibited. In this case, it was wrestling. Right? You've got seven seconds before you hit a move and then transitioned on to another move. And if you don't do it, your brain's going to tell you it's not going to work.

Sally Roberts:
And one of the things that I've learned to adopt from my athletic space into the business space is yes, I take time to think about a decision, but then once I make it, I go in and it's okay if I fail and it's okay if I don't get the outcome that I want, because if we don't continue to push forward in advance, we're not going to understand our areas of blind, our blind spots, our areas of weakness, and for us to be strong in the spaces that we want to stand, we know that in order for a woman to feel confident and comfortable in a space, she has to have ... historically, they want to feel that they're at least 70%, if not a 100% prepared.

Sally Roberts:
And on the inverse of that is that, men feel like they just need to be 30% prepared because they can learn as they go. And so if women aren't feeling supported to feel like they're at that 70 to a 100% of knowledge gained, they're not going to put their applications forward, they're not going to put their foot forward and even more so, if they don't get the job, they're less likely to reapply. And that means that we've now closed off an opportunity because we didn't necessarily prepare our girls and women for these positions to lead.

Sally Roberts:
And if we can go through and think, "How do we want to create this pipeline, knowing that we're going to set them up for success?" Then I think that girls and women are going to continue to step into spaces that have been unconventional because they now have the skills, talents, and abilities, and they have the confidence that they need to be able to open those doors. And that's exactly what sport does. Right? Sport teaches you confidence. You're going to go out there and wrestle a match or you're going to be in a basketball tournament and you're not going to win, and you have to figure out how do you continue to advance forward? What are my weaknesses? How do I improve them, and how do I stay united as a team as the work remains.

Ruth Malhotra:
Sally, you've accomplished so much in your life thus far, and I know you're a leader in several different arenas both in athletics and beyond that, you're known as a visionary thinker, you're part of a number of innovative efforts across our country and around the world. But it didn't start out that way. I know there were a number of challenges and difficulties, especially in your early childhood and upbringing. Can you talk a little bit about that, about how you grew up, and some of the things that shaped you during the early season of your life?

Sally Roberts:
Sure. I think everyone has their own childhood, and childhood is meant to be hard on some levels, and mine wasn't unique in that aspect. So, growing up, my mom had been married five times and I really didn't like being at home and any kid that doesn't really know where they belong, they go and they find their own things to do. When more times than not, I'm finding out that young kids that don't have opportunities, they're finding that they get into trouble because that's the easiest thing to find sometimes.

Sally Roberts:
So I would go out after school and I was breaking into houses and throwing rocks at windows and I was getting into a lot of fights, and I was a shoplifter. I didn't really know how to get positive attention. And so I used shoplifting as a way to trying and getting my mom and my dad to see me. And I wasn't particularly good, and there was one instance where I would oftentimes get picked up by the store security or the local police, and on this particular occasion, as I was walking out of a little corner store, the store security had alerted the police that I was on my way out. And I remember stepping outside into the sunlight with my pockets just completely filled with candy.

Sally Roberts:
And the police officer asked to see it. So I put my hand in my pocket and I was like, "I better get the smallest piece in there." And I bring out a wrapper of bubble gum, and he was like, "What else do you have?" And I put my hands in both pockets and I just had this treasure trove of candy. And he was like, "All right, you'll back inside, we have to call your mom and we really need to solve this." And that police officer that was affiliated, he was part of the juvenile detention division. And he said, "It's really fascinating that you have a rap sheet longer than most people that are adults. If you don't find an afterschool activity, you're going to face going to juvenile detention."

Ruth Malhotra:
Wow.

Nick Stonestreet:
That was a wake-up call, Sally.

Sally Roberts:
It was a wake-up call because I didn't know that what I was doing wasn't actually congruent with living a healthy life, I was 13 years old. And when I started to see people's reactions, when I was telling them what happened, it wasn't this hilarious story of funny. It was like, "Oh my gosh, there's a 13-year-old girl that's crying for help, how can we support her?"

Nick Stonestreet:
How did you avoid lockup?

Sally Roberts:
Yeah. I avoided lockup. I didn't really know how to use my time, and I had two very dear friends and they played softball, basketball and volleyball, all team sports. And I thought, "Okay, well, if they're playing team sports and those are the girls' sports, that's what I'm going to go out for."

Sally Roberts:
So I tried out for softball, volleyball, and then basketball in that exact order. And I was getting cut from every single team, and I would go and talk to the coach afterward and say, "Hey, can you tell me why I got cut?" And he said, "Yeah, it's because you're not athletic." And I was like, "What do you mean? I'm out there fighting for every point." And he was like, "Yeah, you're fighting and we're trying to play as a team." And I thought, "Oh, okay. I need to find something else."

Sally Roberts:
And I was looking at that list of afterschool activities and I saw that wrestling was A, fighting, and B it wasn't a cut sport. So as long as you went out and wrestled and didn't quit, you were part of the team. And I was like, "Oh, that is the opening I need in my life." And so I started wrestling, and it took a lot of courage for a 13-year-old girl that was significantly rough around the edges to walk into that space. But once I did, it becomes very clear that anybody is welcome on the wrestling mat.

Nick Stonestreet:
Yeah. And so you ended up in wrestling to avoid juvenile detention?

Sally Roberts:
That's right. That's right.

Nick Stonestreet:
That's an auspicious beginning.

Sally Roberts:
That's funny.

Ruth Malhotra:
And I know wrestling is something you found after trying some other sports. Right? You had tried a number of things. Tell me how that went and what finally led you to wrestle.

Nick Stonestreet:
Yeah, when you didn't make those teams, how did you feel about that? So crazy.

Sally Roberts:
Well, so what was fascinating about it was that I had this huge monkey on my back, which was, if I didn't find an after school activity, I knew the pathway that I was on, and I was actually desperate to be included and to have a coach tell athletes that they're not good enough instead of saying, here's what you can do to get better. I mean, that really affected me quite deeply. Now, as I look at the athletic space, knowing that I did get cut from those, and it's fair to say, I didn't understand how my body worked and I didn't understand proprioception where my body was at in space. I mean, I was a 13-year-old giraffe for crying out loud.

Sally Roberts:
And to be able to recognize that those are the opportunities for inclusion when girls, their bodies are awkward and they don't know how they fit in and they want to be on teams, but they don't know how to get along with anybody, much less other girls. Those are teachable moments that we can use to support the development of our girls and women. Those shouldn't be considered opportunities for exclusion.

Nick Stonestreet:
Right. When you're finding out this part of you that you're able to be in this sport and engage, what was it like just getting on the mats? What was the acceptance like for women in wrestling at that time? There's a lot going into that. Right?

Sally Roberts:
It's fascinating. Because in that time, I was just living my life and I didn't realize that it was a bit of a barrier breaker for me to go into the sport. I just knew that ... I grew up in Seattle, Washington and it was fairly progressive in some of the ways that women were evolving in the workspace and in the sport space. But still in that timeframe, 1994 girls did not wrestle and they certainly didn't wrestle against boys. And it took a lot of courage and bravery for me to step over that threshold.

Sally Roberts:
One of the things that was helpful was that my mom was a construction worker, and when I went home and said, "Mom, I think I found the afterschool activity that's not going to cut me from sports." She said, "What is it?" And I said, "It's wrestling." And she was like, "Oh, that'll be good for you. You can learn how to fight better." And I thought, "All right, I just got my mom's blessing. This is going to be amazing."

Nick Stonestreet:
So it wasn't about self-confidence and humility, it was about fighting better? That's funny.

Sally Roberts:
It was, it started out like that. And then I had like ... But that's where my transformation began, was on that wrestling mat. I mean, for instance, I had terrible acne growing up and I had this foundation and it was COVERGIRL with Noxzema in it. And I had read the label and it said it helps to reduce acne. And I thought, "Well, that's it." I started pouring the stuff on my hand and I created this mask that I would wear to school.

Sally Roberts:
And when I had to go to wrestling practice, the room was so warm and they do that intentionally to help you with joint laxity and to keep your muscles warm and loose, except for if you're a girl that is wearing way too much makeup, it starts to slide off your face. And I did one pass on a teammate's white t-shirt and he looked at me and said, "Look at what you did." And I thought, "Oh my gosh, I was really embarrassed." So I went into the bathroom of the girl's locker room and I looked at myself in the mirror and I washed the makeup off and I looked back up and I was like, "Oh my gosh, how am I going to go back into the resting room without makeup on. They're going to make fun of me because of all my acne."

Sally Roberts:
And the most fascinating thing happened when I came back into the wrestling room, all of my teammates, 100% of them said, "I'm so glad you finally took that stuff off your face." And I realized I was the only one that had all of this incredible self-consciousness about my skin and about my acne. They were just walking around making fun of me over how much makeup I put on my face.

Ruth Malhotra:
So, it was during that time that you really weren't able to cultivate a sense of authenticity, right, and belonging, and being true to yourself while pursuing something that you loved?

Sally Roberts:
Absolutely. There is this magic that happens on a wrestling mat or in one of those combat spaces, which is, all they ask is for you to show up and be your authentic self. And if you try hard every day, whether you win or lose, no one cares, but it's always that pursuit of excellence. That's what's supported in that space. And that was something that was new, that I had never experienced before.

Nick Stonestreet:
So Sally, when you started to progress in wrestling, I mean, apparently you got very good at it. Two world bronze medals. What was that like when you started to see like, "Hey, I can do this?"

Sally Roberts:
It was a fascinating journey of self-discovery. So essentially in 2002, the United States Olympic Committee announced that women's wrestling would be a part of the Olympic program for the first time in 2004, and our head coach, Terry Steiner, he had been named to be the Olympic head coach. And I remember I was in college at a wrestling tournament, and one of my friends, her name's Sarah McMann, she points and says, "Hey, that's ..."

Nick Stonestreet:
She's a UFC fighter.

Sally Roberts:
She's a decent UFC fighter. She's really good. And she said, "Sally, if you want to get residency at the Olympic Training Center, you need to go and talk to that coach and you need to tell him that you're a candidate." And I was like, "I'm not that good." She was like, "Well, if you don't go talk to him, you're never going to get in." So if you're not good now you're going to get even worse because everyone's going to get better than you." And I am so competitive that that's what it took.

Sally Roberts:
So I go up to Terry Steiner and I stick out my hand and I say, "Hi, my name's Sally Roberts, and I'm not that good yet. But if you support my candidacy to be a resident at the Olympic Training Center, I promise that I'm going to make you proud, and just as importantly, I'm going to make me proud." And that was the end of the conversation. I got a phone call a couple of weeks later and he said, "Here's the deal, you've got six months to prove yourself. And if you can find success in those six months and you can create a case to stay, then I'll extend your residency at the Olympic Training Center."

Sally Roberts:
I moved to Colorado Springs and I met with the nutritionist and the dietician and I met with the strength and conditioning coach. I stayed before practices, I stayed after. I had completely shape-shifted to become an Olympic athlete in every sense of the word. And in those first six months, I won my first national championship and I had one made my first world team and I was getting ready to go compete in Madison Square Garden. And it really reaffirmed to me that if you live your life right, success and all the rewards that are tied to it will come, but you can't cheat the system and you certainly can't cheat yourself.

Nick Stonestreet:
No shortcuts.

Sally Roberts:
Not at all.

Nick Stonestreet:
Yeah.

Ruth Malhotra:
Wow. Well, tell us a little bit more about your Olympic journey, how things progressed. I know you had some wins, you had some losses. How were you able to respond to that?

Sally Roberts:
The Olympic journey was such a unique experience. Part of it is the wins and the losses. And part of it is, while I was getting my undergrad degree, it took me 10 years because I would take one course a semester because I was traveling internationally, and I would remember being in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, and Team USA would be going out and hanging out at the clubs and eating the pizza and just engaging in that nightlife. And I would be back in my hotel room, plunking away trying to write a thesis so that I could, as time went on, graduate.

Sally Roberts:
And so, I really recognize that it was trying to build this whole and complete person. And for the first eight years, I think I had failed at that miserably. I was so singularly devoted to being a great athlete that I had let some of those personal things slide, not recognizing how important it was in the total development of just being a good and decent human in many facets. And so I could say, well, sure, I won two world bronze medals, but that was during a time in my life that I was so selfish and I wouldn't go out and eat dinner with friends because I was counting my calories, and I could say that I did have success, but it also wasn't that fulfilling to me.

Sally Roberts:
And in 2008 I was ranked number one for the Beijing Olympics for team USA. And I ended up losing in the finals the best two out of three. So I didn't make the team. And it had devastated me to the point that I had actually fallen into a depression and I didn't know what to do with myself. I knew that if I didn't change my physical space, my mental space would never change, which is how I slowly went and found myself at an army recruiter's office so that I could figure out what is my new trajectory. And from there I joined the army.

Ruth Malhotra:
Wow.

Nick Stonestreet:
Yeah. I've heard you describe it as you were angry and depressed when you didn't get into the Olympics, even though you were ranked number one, and you did what any angry depressed woman would do is go and join the army.

Sally Roberts:
Yeah. And we joked about it, but I went to the army recruiter and I said, "I want the toughest job that a woman can have right off the street." And they said, "Oh, well, we've got two jobs for you, which one do you want?" And I said, "I want the one that leaves the soonest for training." And they said, "Oh, that's this one, sign on the dotted line." I called my mom and I said, "Mom, guess what?" And she said, "You're going for another quad?" Which is Olympic speak for going to wrestle for another four years to try and make the next Olympic team. And I said, "No, I joined the army and I'm in special operations, and I leave tomorrow for training." And her scream was so loud, it pierced my eardrum.

Nick Stonestreet:
So your options, you chose special operations?

Sally Roberts:
Yes.

Ruth Malhotra:
Yeah. Just like any typical angry depressed woman would do. Right? That's really inspiring.

Nick Stonestreet:
So, you asked for the toughest job?

Sally Roberts:
I did, I did, and I loved every second of it. Right? Because here I was, I couldn't reconcile that I was second in the nation and how great that was. I looked in the mirror and I saw first loser. And to be able to look and recognize that there wasn't congruency with how you thought of yourself and how the outside world thought of yourself, I thought, "Okay, well, how about I just take a completely different path and I reinvent myself so I can start to figure out who am I really?" And that's when I decided that I was going to take on this job because who was going to tell me that I wasn't good enough? No one, it was up for me to determine that.

Ruth Malhotra:
Sure. One of the things that struck me when we were talking earlier was you said in all of your training, up until that point, you were always prepared to win, but never prepared to lose. And so when you lost, it threw everything, threw a wrench into everything, into your plans, your hopes, your dreams, and goals. What encouragement would you have in terms of, we in our world, there's going to be wins and losses along the way, we're going to fail at things and have to start up again. What encouragement would you give to our audience about how to think rightly about losing and rebounding from that?

Sally Roberts:
This is a great question. And as I've been able to sit back and look at my life and see the journey that I've been on, the piece that has come full circle and has made my heart feel so full is that whole notion of failure. And I would rather fail and fail forward and learn something, than to not have those aspirations and not put myself out there and not be a target for criticism because I get so much out of the evolution of thought and from rolling my hands up and really working with a project and understanding all of the intricacies and facets of it, that regardless of whether I'm successful or fail, I mean, that's up for me to determine, that's up for me to decide, and no one's ever going to tell me that I'm a failure, because I won't ever fail. I will always be able to learn and I can fail forward.

Nick Stonestreet:
Yeah.

Ruth Malhotra:
I love that.

Nick Stonestreet:
Yeah. We have a friend, John Maxwell, he showed up on a podcast for us and he had a hat on that said, "Sometimes you win and sometimes you learn." But at that failure point though, it didn't feel like sometimes you win and sometimes you learn, it was sometimes you lose and then you go into the army. And what was that like to join special forces? I mean, you eventually ended up in Afghanistan. Right?

Sally Roberts:
I did, I did. So I joined the military and as soon as I was able to, I volunteered for deployment to Afghanistan. And I had a few really interesting jobs while I was over there. And the one that was really pivotal in helping to shape my development in the future was, on a particular day, we would walk the Afghan countryside. I had a female interpreter and we would walk with the pathfinders and we would go and talk to villagers and ask them questions and collect atmospherics, and my job was to find the women and we would go and have a private conversation where I would take my helmet off and put my weapon down and just engage in them with the things that they've seen in their country and some things that they want us to be aware of.

Sally Roberts:
And it was the first time that as we were walking, the troop that I was with, they said, "Man, look at that." And I looked over to my right and I saw this gaggle of girls and they were little Afghan girls. Right? So, before they go through puberty, they're running around on the streets playing stickball without shoes on, and they're wearing dirty shirts and dirty shorts. And they look like just any other kid that's outside playing. And the girls, when I turned and looked at them, I just saw a twinkle in their eye, like a mischievous twinkle. And they realized that I was a woman. As soon as I smiled, they came rushing over to us and they would put their thumb to my thumb like a little Afghan high five.

Sally Roberts:
And it hit me so hard because here was these girls that were invisible, they had never been seen before. I was a part of that troop because every time the Pathfinders went out, it would normally be a gaggle of boys following. Well, the boys didn't think I was all that cool. They went and played stickball, but the girls were like, "Hold on, we need to know that she's a real person and that maybe we can meet her."

Sally Roberts:
When I redeployed back to the US, I was talking with my friends and I was sitting in the sauna and I said, "Well, I want to do something that's going to be able to empower girls and women, and I don't really know what that looks like yet, and I don't really have a vision for it. I just know that it's possible for us to support girls in Afghanistan, it's possible for us to support girls in Georgia, it's possible to support girls all over the United States and all the nooks and crannies where invisible girls and women exist, but I'm not sure how that's going to happen."

Sally Roberts:
And I was hanging out with a really dear friend and there was this phrase that he happened to just casually drop on me. And he said, "Sally, bloom where you're planted." And I sat back in my chair and thought, "Oh, that makes all the sense in the world. I was planted in the sport of wrestling, let's bloom here." And that was when Wrestle Like A Girl started to finally get its legs because parts of that picture that were obscure in the past had started to become clear.

Nick Stonestreet:
I remember yesterday when we were talking for a minute, you talked about your life journey of selfish, selfish, selfish, selfless, and what's been born out of that, I wanted to just ask you to give us some statistics on women's wrestling in the United States and around the world, and some of the impact that Wrestle Like A Girl has been able to have.

Sally Roberts:
When Wrestle Like A Girl first got started in 2016, there was only six states in the entire nation that recognized girls wrestling as an official high school sport. And in seven short years, we have now got that number to 34 states. And that number has translated. We started out with 17,000 girls wrestling in the US, we're now at 30,000 girls in seven years. And two of those years have been put on pause because of COVID. So we know that we're realistically going to be able to get to 60,000 girls in a short time span because we've changed the policy to reduce barriers to entry and open access for these girls.

Sally Roberts:
Internationally, we have partnered and collaborated with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as they look at ways to empower girls and women using sports. And specifically, of course, this way was wrestling. We've been able to leverage and we've built relationships with Canada, Great Britain, Brazil, Australia, India. I mean, every nation in the world has been getting behind this because it has been so incredibly powerful because what we know is that girls and women, they're our future. They're the next generations. And if we can give them the tools that they need to succeed, which is leadership development, and we can use that pairing sport and leadership, we're not just building great athletes who are going to win medals, we're going to be building great humans that are going to go on and become great leaders.

Sally Roberts:
In fact, there was a landmark study from Ernst & Young, 94% of females C-suite executives have played a sport, and we can look and say, there is a direct correlation to girls playing sports while empowering them for leadership positions, and then watching them excel as they prepare to take those positions.

Nick Stonestreet:
Wow.

Ruth Malhotra:
I also think about ... I think it was C. S. Lewis who said, "Courage is the form of every virtue at its testing point." And listening to your story, there have been many testing points along the way, personally and professionally, but you've shown tremendous courage at every step, and it's so exciting now to see the rewards of that more broadly.

Nick Stonestreet:
And too, Ruth, I think to the men listening to this podcast, these lessons around resilience, I mean, we framed it in the context of women, but really it's just about people, it's not just female kind of a struggle, it isn't just women that are struggling with identity and all these things, and need to have resilience and feel valued. It's men too. And so, Sally, you're an inspiration, not just to young girls, but to even old guys like me. So thank you.

Sally Roberts:
Thank you.

Ruth Malhotra:
Yeah, thanks so much. Just in closing, here at Ronald Blue Trust, we talk a lot about stewarding your influence as well as leaving a lasting legacy. That's something we are continually talking to our clients about and encouraging them to think more broadly, not just about their resources, but also about their influence and the legacy they want to leave. What are your thoughts as you think about your journey thus far, your leadership with Wrestle Like A Girl and your wider hopes and dreams to help empower women globally, what type of legacy do you see yourself leaving and leadership traits that you're cultivating right now?

Sally Roberts:
The legacy that I'm leaving is that, well, first and foremost, I want to be known as a good ancestor. And I want people, when they go back into the history books, to be able to say, "She's done something really great for people, and it continues on even after she's passed." And in order for that to ring true in my head and in my heart, my legacy is empowering girls and women, my legacy is making sure they have financial literacy so that they can be their own brokers and their own deal makers, and they can understand how to leverage dollars so it can work for them as best it can.

Sally Roberts:
And my legacy is being a good ally to girls and women, but also the men because there's no way that I would be sitting here in a leadership position if it wasn't for men that were also standing and walking alongside me. And I look at this space that we're in and the legacy is, the irony of it is that it's what's happening when we're building our lives. And if we can be intentional about building our lives and making sure that we're sharing it with the people that we love and we're able to pass along those pieces, those elements, Amy and I refer to it as willing our wisdom. If we can will wisdom, then we can be able to pass something along to those next generations. That's going to make them stronger and more resilient and more prepared.

Ruth Malhotra:
Well, that sounds-

Nick Stonestreet:
That's great.

Ruth Malhotra:
Exactly like Wisdom For Wealth. For Life, to me.

Nick Stonestreet:
What's the name of this podcast? Wisdom For Wealth. For Life.

Ruth Malhotra:
Exactly.

Ruth Malhotra:
Thank you, Sally. You have been so generous with your time and insight today, and I know many people will be encouraged and inspired by your story. Nick and I were really grateful to be part of the conversation.

Nick Stonestreet:
We're glad to be on the journey with you.

Sally Roberts:
Thank you, thank you so much for having me and being a part of this journey. I think that the relationships that we make along the way, my friends are my greatest accolades.

Nick Stonestreet:
That's great.

Sally Roberts:
Thank you.

Nick Stonestreet:
Thanks, Sally.

Ruth Malhotra:
Thank you.

Speaker 1:
Thank you so much for listening to the Wisdom for Wealth for Life podcasting. If you're looking for financial advice, please contact us. Please visit Ronblue.com. That's Ronblue.com. Thank you for listening, and please subscribe to wherever you listen to your podcast. Trust and investment management accounts and services offered by Ronald Trust Incorporated are not insured by the FDIC or any other federal government agency, are not deposits or other obligations of, nor guaranteed by any bank or bank affiliate, and are subject to investment risk, including possible loss of the principle about invested.