Alright, Alicia, welcome to True Hope cast

really appreciate you taking the time to be with us

today. How are you? What is going well?

So much for having me today. What is going well?

I'm doing pretty well in the weather is pretty warm. So I'm

pretty happy about summer. So yeah doing good.

Wonderful. Well as an introduction as we do with most

of our guests, why don't you just give us a little bit of a background introduction

of who you are and what it is that you do.

Yes, so, my name is Alicia Aguilar. I

am originally from Nebraska. I joined

the military in 2014. I served

seven years in the Navy. I was an

aviation maintenance administrator for etgu

Hawkeyes and for Search and

Rescue helicopters. I was stationed in

Virginia for about five years and San

Diego California for about two I separated

from the service in August

of 2021. And ever

since then I decided to

create my own apparel brand. It's called awareness Athletics

awareness felt as awe are

NES and we promote

mental health awareness by wearing clothes

that

Have awareness related to Mental Health.

And that's what we're working on.

Amazing. So you're six seven

years in the service and from beginning

to end was it like it was at a pretty stressful experience or

was it not stressful like what and I've got no experience in

the military. So I don't know. So could you explain a little

bit about what your your experience was doing that time when

it comes to let your mental health?

Yes, so when I first got in.

I originally planned to do four years and then

once everything started to kick off.

I had a few different jobs because I wasn't assigned a specific

job when I first got in so I was washing aircraft

and like taking attendance for

everybody. So it was a lot of various jobs, but I

really enjoyed it when I first got in I enjoyed the community

I was brought into and

I found out that I loved learning. So it

was really cool. So about two

years once I

After I joined the more I

was learning the more responsibility kind of

increased and once once

you know different roles,

they kind of want you

to be able to play those roles and do a

lot of different things at once. So even though I was only in

for two years the amount of responsibility increased

very quickly and integrity

is like a

big thing with the military and that's just something a characteristic

I kind of went into it with two so

I mean every I wanted to help and

I I know I had things to do

but also definitely increased my anxiety

and my stress very quickly into my career.

um, so as far as like mental

health-wise, yeah, I

experienced a lot of anxiety once I first found out

that

There was a lot of roles that I had to play so.

I actually had a day where I

was so stressed out that all I

could figure out what to do was like physically run

and I was not a runner. I did not like to

do any kind of working out or like I was

kind of like

Go with the flow like exercise wasn't my

thing. So like me having to like run down the

street and I just I just ran like a mile as

fast as I could.

And so after that mile I

kind of like stopped and I looked around and I was like, wow, it

kind of feels like my world isn't crashing anymore. And

so that kind of like picked

up.

A momentum of like

me figuring out different types of working out

like continuing to run trying out different

workout routines as far as like kickboxing classes

joining yoga classes

joining run clubs eventually down the line.

I about three years down the

line. I became a fitness coordinator for

my command. So people were checking in

to the command.

And over that time I lost about 30 pounds

in people would check in. They would say wow, you're

so fit this, you know, this is so easy for

you because you've been doing this for so long and

And I was just like well that's actually not the

case and I I remember searching

online and the salt

ties into my brand but I was searching

online. I was like man. I wish there was just like a t-shirt

that said something related to mental health

and like exercise and I just

couldn't find anything and I was like

This is this is very strange. I thought

it would be something that would be common.

So I later down the line once I got to my second

command in San Diego.

I like had it on my to-do list, and eventually I didn't

make a t-shirt that said I work out for my mental

health.

And I posted it on my social media.

Instantly I had like eight people saying like this is

amazing. I can relate to this like I have

totally support this and I was like, wow, this could

actually like me something because like, I'm

not the only person that's trying to improve

My mental health my physical exercise

so through the military and

that's kind of my background story of like

how I found.

A mental or physical exercise to help my mental health

during my military career and kind

of expanded my journey through Fitness.

Amazing. So it sounds like you took on

a lot of responsibility when it comes to your

military service and obviously I suppose maybe when you

first went into what you didn't quite know.

how it was gonna go how you were gonna respond what your

responsibilities were going to be but it sounds like you you

were given a lot to take on and obviously

within the military everything being so coordinated and

kind of precise the expectations obviously really

high and when anything that comes with like a

high expectation from your from your peers and and from your

superiors,

there's going to be anxiety provoking. I'm sure because you kind

of always have to be on everything has to be precise and

I'm really well and done in a very specific way. I

can only imagine how

You know that being a new experience would have

been you know quite tough and then just to

the just to go back in regards to when you

started when you just you had no experience really

with like having an exercise routine and then things got

kind of overwhelming for you and you just

decided to just run that day. What what do you think? What was

the what do you think of the sensation was within your body whether

it was a thought or a feeling that made you

made you do that because it's kind of a kind

of a sporadic thing, especially if you don't have the experience of

like on I'm feeling really stressed out to what

I do. I'll go into a workout or go and do my thing that I like to do this my

distressor like you didn't have that at that point. So what's

why is that? What do you think that came up for you is like this new

potential behavior that you could do that could remedy the

anxiety that you were experiencing in

that moment.

Um, that's a good question. So I actually so when

I joined the Navy my twin sister,

she joined the army on Army Reserves,

so it's kind of funny. So she

we graduated like two weeks apart as far

as like the camp which is kind of funny, but I just

remember so in high school she was

very

Into fitness prior going into the military and I

like I said, I was not like she would

be running on the treadmill and I would be walking.

And I just kind of where it was, but

I was still able to like get in the military and still

pass like I barely passed my weigh-ins, but I

was able to pass like the run and all the

simple like the requirements as far

as like PRT and physical assessment. They were

different but they were all so similar so hers was

a two mile run and then

mine was a mile and a half and I remember like

Yeah for me it took me like about 15 or yeah,

about 15 to 16

minutes to do that mile a half. But I remember it it took

her about the same time to do two miles.

so she was

going a lot faster than I was obviously.

But during that time where I was very stressed out

with work.

and I know that I didn't I didn't really have a lot

of

At least in my head, like he said like Outlets of like how

to relieve my stress and things and I remember like it

was it was very beautiful outside and in Norfolk

like the weather's pretty nice.

But that thought just came up to my head like how

fast that she ran that PRT

and I was like, you know what? I think I can try that.

I think it's a beautiful day. I think like what do I have to lose and

Yeah, I just when I started like.

I just

I just let my body like one foot after

the other and that was my main focus and

with so many different tasks and so many.

You know to do list and you know everything I

have to get done for work tomorrow like your mind is

always running.

So when I was physically running with one foot

after another it was like one two, three

four, so it's slowed down

and it just like anything else. I was thinking about

it just went away and like even

though it was only a mile because I did

eventually get tired, but I was like, you know, I didn't

want to run that far anyway and

so

once I was able to finish that Mile

and you know kind of evaluate my body

of how I felt.

I just realized like how different my mind was

thinking about.

The task in front of me instead of like everything I

had to do when it came to work.

That's pretty cool. Yeah, I think this there's a few few Paces in

there. I think when

things do start to build up inside our

bodies inside our minds when our biochemistry starts changing, you

know from a kind of balanced State into a let's call

their stressed State moving our

bodies and kind of taking ourselves away from the situation. It's

quite a normal quite a normal response. Like

I know that a lot of people who have like social anxiety

issues, you know, like taking their

body completely away from what makes them anxious is

really gonna Really Gonna help them and if

you're able to and be obviously have this organic natural drive to

move our bodies and use our limbs because we've got this amazing bodies to

really start to change our biochemistry in

a really positive way to start flooding our body with different different

hormones rather than just the hormones of stress. So there's certainly

some probably some instinctual

Natural behaviors that really wanted to come up for you to just

get going and then when you told me about the

when you first started to discover where you

first started to search for like mental

health kind of apparel.

What why were you why were you looking for that because that's interesting

because a lot of people especially when it comes to mental health like putting

on a T-shirt and wearing it and you know and expressing that like

that's not a normal thing. I think it's a great thing that you know, you're people

can be open and honest and vulnerable about their insecurities

because they are very normal

everyone experiences stress anxiety depression in some some

shape or form and I think the more we

can be open and honest about

that. I think it allows other people to have some

Have some empathy for each other. I think that's only

a good thing in society, whether that's with friends or strangers

or families, whatever that might be. So tell me

about the

wanting to like have a t-shirt with

a particular statement.

On it like is that is that to support you is that to support other

people is that to stop breaking down dogmas? Like what where does

that come from?

That's funny that you just mentioned social

anxiety because that's a lot to do like why

I wanted to do the T-shirt.

and so like I said, I had a twin sister and

I mean I say that there's like two types of

like relationships between twins. They're either like

super close or they treat each other like, you

know, just brothers or sisters or brother and sister,

but my twin and I are we're very close and before

separating each other

when we both join the military, we didn't

realize like how dependent we were on

each other as far as like characteristics.

So my sister was dependent on me as far

as like organizing and like finances and things like

that, but I was dependent on my twin because

of social skills.

So I mean I could easily go up to

somebody with my twin next to me and be like Oh, yeah, this is our

twin. This is my twin and have her start speaking or

she speaks for me or like, you know, I just

refer everything to my twin so

That's kind of how I grew up, but I didn't realize like they

attachment I had to that.

and how it was always my go-to and I didn't

realize until I joined the military and

got to my first command that I just showed up

and I was like, oh

Yeah, I have to make my own friends. Now. I have

to learn how to talk to people and like start social

skills.

Which cause a lot of social anxiety?

As far like even during

my Fitness career.

and our fitness journey, I was

you know, learning a lot of things and I

was doing new workouts during new clubs, but it was like

you said like

When you can leave a situation when you're you know,

very anxious around people. So there's one

thing that I absolutely love is run clubs,

but there was a point like multiple

points were I would follow this group that was in my

community.

But I was still running on my owner. I was just like I'm not

ready. Like I'm too scared like this is too much for me and

like one day. I remember driving there was raining.

and I got there and there was probably about like 45 people

outside standing in the rain like but everybody looked like

they're having a good time and I like I got there

and then I opened my car door and I was like

no, this is I'm okay and I drove away and like

my so my social anxiety was to the point

where like I would go somewhere and drive away and like

I know for you know, there's other people that have

been in those similar situations as well.

So something that helped me because

during that time also I lived with my

my sister and then a couple other girls so there was

a lot of us.

So we would all want to go out and like, you know

be out in town, but my thing was

okay. Well, let me wear a t-shirt that

says something a little bit about me that's a conversation starter

because that that always helped me with my social anxiety.

I mean I would wear like

funny things like I even

remember getting like a swimsuit that had looked like pizza and I

was like, okay, you know, obviously somebody's

gonna comment on that because it's funny or like wearing

like my favorite band T-shirts, like if someone likes my music,

Then we already have something in common. It's a

little bit easier for me to speak.

So having a conversation starter was

huge for me in.

clothing as far as t-shirts that was

like a big like

conversation starter and opener for me to feel more relaxed

of like

People are more likely to come up to me than me

having to go up to a stranger and say hello and say Hi,

and then it wasn't even the hello and hi that scared me.

It was like the words after that like, I don't know what to say

after I say hello. So yeah, that

was like a big part of

Why I wanted why I was looking for the t-shirts and why I

created it and I was so surprised that people.

like gave me so much feedback on it right away

because

not a lot of people I talked to at least in my head had social

anxiety on the level that I did.

Super interesting. I think that I've never I've never

dealt with the social anxiety piece myself, but

it gives me an incredibly deep insight

into what a lot of people do experience,

you know not having special

at the attachment of maybe a sibling that you grew up

with that you you would have been able to know that

that person is there so I can you know,

I'm okay if that person's there, but if you take that individual away, then

you're in a you're a different personality at that

point. Right? And I think that I think the clothing and fashion thing is really fascinating

because I think we all do wear a

particular we were particular types of clothes

particular colors accessories Etc.

I mean, I suppose we just call it fashion in our

society, but I think as a culture as you know,

as we evolve to go from wearing like nothing to different

types of garments. I think it is

always telling the world a little bit

about who we are as an individuals.

Whether that is with color or design or fabric choices,

whatever that might be but actually putting you know statements on

there using words using language to communicate with

other people. I think that's brilliant because I think that's I

think we've lost with the whole fashion Society thing

what clothing represents to

the individual

Because you know a lot of people especially when we're growing up. We like

we're wearing clothes to fit into a Social

Circle. So it's not really about the individual me. It's

about how can I what can I wear to fit in with

this group rather than wearing? You know what

I want to wear.

Because it feels good for me.

and I've got my own little group here going on that but I think

I think yeah, we've lost a little bit of what with what like clothing

and culture means but bringing in actual

words that people can read and understand

is a really amazing way for

People to you know sympathize a little bit with some

people who do struggle with like social issues because I think

that some sort of level like everyone everyone does if you were

to put you know, we all have our different groups on a different cultures and

you know, we usually spend most of our time in them. So we're comfortable with

those friends that we've created. But if you throw people into a

brand new

And like University or college for

example, like when you've just let you've grown up with your friends in high school and

you go away from home and you go to this completely new setting with

100% brand new individuals. You've never met

before and never conducted the conversations with that's that's an

anxiety provoking for I want to say 99% of

people and that's why College in that period of time

is a really valuable time to start developing

those those skills and those those social interactions

and yeah fashion is a big big piece of

that. So you search for

men mental health kind of clothing with like

these words on it because you that was that was a part

of your let if I'm if I'm

saying this, right? It sounds like fashion was a way that

you use you use fashion as a way

to communicate with let's say strangers or

people you didn't know yes and like kind of

express myself to like I

so growing

In Nebraska, my favorite type of music

is like indie rock and alternative music and that's

not very like popular. It's more like country and

this definitely different than so.

I definitely felt like a outcast growing

up as far as the type

of clothes. I was wearing was always something like

colorful or my I always dyed my

hair and you know, my music was different.

so being able to

like have a band t-shirt or you know

have a t-shirt of something that I admire.

or maybe of like a movie or something like

it was special to me, but it was even more

special like imagining somebody.

wearing the same thing or

like coming up to me and saying like hey, I like this

too and they kind of just it's kind of

like reconfirmation of

You're not the only person that admires this kind

of thing because I was surrounded by so many people.

That like something so different which isn't

a bad thing, but it was uncomfortable growing up.

So like

Um liking something unique and seeing others.

Like you said strangers or individuals. I don't know liking the

same thing. It's like it's common ground. It's it's very

comforting.

And yeah to go

along what you said earlier as far as like growing up

and wearing what Society once you

wear. It's it was also like growing up and wearing hammy downs

and matching my twin and you know,

it's like different environments dress a certain

way. So like once I had the opportunity to like

buy my own clothes and wear my own

clothes it was comforting to express myself.

As far as things that I liked.

Yeah, it sounds like when you grow up you had you did have this, you know

alternative music.

That you enjoy General alternative clothes that

you wanted to wear. That wasn't like, you know in the popular culture and

I think like going out there and being an individual and and

liking and doing those things. I think that's really really Brave.

I think that's a really important thing to do. I think if everybody

Wore the same thing and listen to the same music. It could be

really really boring planet. So I think that's a really amazing

thing and you know, if you've obviously now found this business

and this brand that's that's helping you do that even further

in the world. So that's just that's just an all-rap all

out an amazing thing. Why don't you tell us a little bit about the

The process and the actual words that you have on your

on your branding because you said that you are you

know looking for something wasn't out there. So you're like, okay, there's

an opportunity here. Maybe I can create something. So and

you created this first t-shirt and you said that you put

it on your social media and like, you know, a bunch of people said they

really liked it whether they get it and obviously sparked like

of maybe like a business idea, but tell me about like

what's the actual wording that you decided to use on

on the shirts themselves that you would be

wearing?

First off. Thank you for that compliment. And so

the first

thing I was

wanting to create and did create was a t-shirt that said I

work out for my mental health. It's kind

of straight and simple to the point and

that's kind of what I was looking for. And that's

the shirt that everybody commented on.

During this time where I put that shirt out and

I was living in California. I got

introduced into the bodybuilding.

community

and which was very fun. It was very demanding

as far as like working out

and diet and everything, but I kind

of wanted to you know, go down

it just test my fitness journey and try

something new that I didn't try before.

but what I noticed is when I would go to like San

Diego bodybuilding gyms is that

you know, obviously everybody looks great, but

Everybody knows like the fitness industry as far

as like apparel.

As like sparkly incredibly in

the past like, you know eight to

10 years and it's very high right now. It's very in

like Leisure wears and

so I would see women like

looking great like matching bra like like

bras and leggings and look cute and everything, but

then I would think like okay. I have

my t-shirt but I'm like, well, this is like a

No offense, but this is kind of like a big baggy t-shirt

kind of looks for like a boy not really flattering

to a woman and also get this some if

this is something that I want to introduce.

as far as especially for women, I'm like well, why can't

I make something that is supportive for

women's bodies as far as like

like how they fit and cute

because everybody has matching sets

as far as leggings and bras and you know

jackets and such.

And but it's most importantly that it

spreads a message. It spreads a

message and it is that can still be that conversation starter.

So like our first collection that we're

creating right now, hopefully going to be launching by beginning

of next year will be

a high support adjustable sports bra and

matching leggings. So on the front, it's

gonna say awareness our brand name,

but it kind of gives an opportunity of people asking

like

Hey, what brand is that? What is it about and

my goal in what I hope for is

that people can share a little bit about the brand but they

can also share their message of like why

they support it and how

physical exercise no matter what

they're doing. I can benefit their mental health as well.

So it's kind of creating that community.

sharing their story too

and spreading the brand awareness as well.

because I think it's important to to share and

spread the message as far as no matter

where you are in your fitness journey.

You don't have to be like super outer shape

or like super in shape to like workout

for your mental health. I mean, you can

relate it to anything. You don't have to bodybuild or

train super hard like you can go for

a walk with your dog.

Or just you know spend some time playing a

sport that you like like volleyball like

any kind of like active activity.

is like that you enjoy physically is

gonna hopefully benefit you in

your mental health, and it's finding

Like your own path of your own Journey when it

comes to relating.

physical exercise to your mental health

Yeah, I think when you in like a

good gym setting well, you know, you've got all different types of people from

you know, walks of life different body shapes different

backgrounds Etc. And there's

a lot of differences in the gym, but the one thing that

connect people with mental health because we all have it

obviously and but it was interesting to me

with something like that is that you know, you could be the

let's say the the perfect you have the perfect.

Gym body or whatever wasn't even really know what that

means. But you know, I mean you could have the perfect body, but you could be

the most anxious depressed stressed out individual in the

not just the building. But in the city, then you

could also be, you know, like not in great shape,

but just be like incredibly happy.

Balanced individual so I think that's very

interesting in regards to.

wearing a t-shirt that you know opens up this this

idea that

being super fit equals happiness

and being unfit is you're gonna

be unhappy you've got to be unhappy if you're unfit and not in shape. You've got

to be unhappy person. You've got to be depressed. You've got to be anxious. You know, I think

we need to break that whole thing apart. And I think wearing clothing

that that connects us

and takes us Beyond like what we

just physically see with our eyes and what we believe Society tells us

is what's healthy and what isn't isn't healthy. I think

that's a really great instrument to start those

conversations with those people who might not necessarily ever

communicate in any setting because

they are

Visually different but at the

end of the day, we'll just human beings here and we'll just trying to get along everyone's

got their own stuff going on for them, you know

in different ways. So I think it's a really

amazing way we're able to do that. I just want to ask a question again in

like the military setting. Did you have

somewhere or some body

you could communicate to if like you

were feeling like crazily crazy stressed you're feeling

really anxious you're feeling depressed. Was it like and was it

something when you were doing you're like your initial training and then you

started working there. Was that something there are

open to to have people come and talk

about or

Was it you just it's not something you talk about like you you're

in the art, you're in the you're in the military. You're in the Navy you're in the Army you

you got a job to do you're there to serve

and that's it or is there rub is there something different going

on there? Because you know, I've got no experience with it. So, what did

you experience?

Oh, yes, so I would like to start seeing.

Basing my experience of what I knew when

I went in and then what I learned before I got out.

when I first got in there is definitely

Yes, we all know there are female and males, but

it's definitely still a male masculine environment as

far as when it comes to the community.

but there was a definitely a

stigma about

getting help or getting

what it was more about not getting help

but getting the time to

get help for yourself. So what I mean by that is

when you're in the military and

So like an example like we worked on this Search and

Rescue helicopters, so we have the people, you know,

physically working on the plane. We have the people flying the

planes and then my part was the administrative part.

So

You know, it's a full circle of like everybody working together

to get this mission accomplished.

So whether you're

well now I know it's like whether you're there or not.

You know, the mission is gonna get completed but you

know the less people that are there supporting.

You know during the day or on their shift or whatever it

is, you know, it does put more workload on

other people.

And that's something that was pretty much stressed as far as like, you

know, we need enough people. We need to get this Mission done.

And so

I wasn't really approached in a way of saying.

You know, you can't go get help but it was more of a

way of like the mission comes first. Like you can go get

help on your free time. Like you can go to Medical in your free time.

So when you're working like depending on

the day, it's like 9 12 hour shift and you

know, you got an hour of traffic after that

shift. Like are you really gonna go try and you know,

go to Medical when you know,

it's probably going to be even longer.

So that was the stigma.

What I faced when I first got

in.

so throughout

throughout every command they always give you like resources as

far as like when you check in and like maybe like

an annual like meeting as

far so there is a great Community. It's called

Fleet and Family. I know it's at least

in the Navy. So this community is very

resourceful. They have counselors they

have

Um, like really funds if you need money for

travel like they just have a lot of different resources. Like

if you're needing some help, but like

I said, it does take time like you do have to go

during their hours and you do have to

like it's not nothing's gonna happen

overnight, but

what I found out later in my career is

that

it's okay. Like if you're gone for an hour, and you need

to go set up an appointment for one of these resources.

and you know, it's

it may cause a little bit work for other people. But how

much how much work is

it gonna call cause for other people in your

command when you can't be there because you're physically

like and mentally unfit and you

need to like go get checked in like

then you're gonna be gone for a week's at a time.

So that's something that I kind of learned across myself.

And then two resources that I

really want to stress. This is resources that

I found when I first got in or sorry first checked into

San Diego.

So it was really important to me.

As far as like chain of

command like the highest chain of command was like your CEO of

your command of like who you work with so our

commanding officer actually status all

down and said, hey, there's this resource. I know

you guys are stressed. I know there's a lot

going on but I'll another stigma is

that goes in the military? He's like, I don't want

to go see get seen for mental health like that's gonna get put on

my record.

And I'm not gonna be fit to be active duty.

I'm not going to be fit to run my job. Like, you know,

this whole rabbit hole.

There is this resource called a Military One

Source.

So this Source will you call

them and they will send you up an appointment with

a counselor specific to

any need that you want whether it's like regular grieving

counselor specific types of

therapy. So you have 12 free sessions with

this military one sorts.

Set up that they have.

And it will not be on your record at all.

So this is like an outside Source like supporting

the military, but it doesn't it's not

through like

a Navy medical and everything so one

him being able to say that

as a leader saying that he recommended it

and he also used it kind of

Helps others see like wow, he is like, you know

the most busy person that you know

in the whole command and he still, you know reaching out for help

and also that it's not going

to be on your your record if if it's the stigma

of like, you know me having fear the

stuff is gonna be on your record.

So that was to really great things to see

another thing that I like to point out. There is a

Resource that I found prior to

getting out, it's I think it's new, but it's called the mood Clinic.

I think it's Mental Health.

Operations there's like two o's and

a D.

Okay, I would have to like look it up. I can send you

the link. Okay, thanks. But yeah, so

it depends on your location, but you

can either go to medical and look.

Go to this clinic or you can

call over the phone. So you get accessed by

a doctor or first a nurse.

And then the doctor will call you and this takes about like this

whole process takes about three maybe three

hours and it could take a couple phone calls.

So what they do is they give you

referral through Tricare, which is like the medical system

that they use inside and outside if you're

a veteran for the military.

And they'll pay for your any kind

of counselor that you want to use.

So this is very important because like thinking

back to like, you know when I was stressed about

my

When I first, you know started having stress

in the military, like there was a stigma that

I couldn't get help. I didn't have that three hours to call

that.

Dr. Resource or mood clinic and

I didn't know how I didn't know if someone's

not there walking you through the steps.

It can be very intimidating and

you think it's time-consuming because you're your

head is focused on the the mission.

So yeah this I think

Military One Source is amazing resource

and then

mood Clinic. I recommend that to my friends

that are still in and there are

also other resources as far as sleep flea and

family. They're normally on Shore but if you're

on ship the chaplain is always a resource

too, but it's always what you're

comfortable with.

And oh, yeah, it sounds

like there's some great resources available for people

in the military and having it not being a record. I'm not

sure if that's the newest thing, but I'm sure beforehand when

That would have gotten your record people would have just not not done

it of course because it would have you know.

potentially stunted careers, so that's that sounds like a

really positive thing and it sounds like there's there's some changes being being

made made in that Arena and

All the best all the better for you, I suppose what does

the what do you have in regards to goals for

the future and for awareness Athletics? Well, you

mentioned some new and some new designs,

but what do you see? What do you see in like

five to ten years?

Um five to ten years. Well first off I

want to focus on getting our first collection launched. I

am designing everything on my

own and working with my own pattern maker.

And as far as like learning the

basics, I mean I am in school full-time and fashion

marketing to learn some ins and

outs of to support the business of awareness Athletics.

And then pretty much once we

get this first collection out. I I

just want to start.

Spreading our message more. I want to hear more

stories about how physical exercise

and how the brand has benefited

other people and hearing their stories

and you know, putting it into blogs or blogs

or interviews and

you know just really spreading brand awareness and

information that not everybody's alone. Like

this is a community that relates physical

exercise to mental health how it

benefits your mental health, you know.

wearing trending clothes, but it can

also support a great cause and our main

mission still like I know the

the Mental Health Community has increased like

very recently as far

as beneficiary like more and more active on social

media more people are talking about their mental health,

but we still want to focus on breaking that

stigma about mental health and what

you can do to benefit yourself as far

as physical exercise nutrition your

daily habits

and everything as far

as like having a support group in.

Within yourself and within the community like awareness

Athletics is to bring, you know

self-awareness for yourself and your

own journey and your own goals and your own health and

physical health.

But it's also to build that community. So I'm very

excited to see where we'll be

in that time frame, but

I'm I'm excited to reach out to more people and

hear more stories.

That's exciting. Yeah, this this whole episode has made me think

of a show we did. I think it was episode 64 with a

lady named Nita Sweeney. She

wrote a book where a men were a mental health

Memoir called depression hates a moving Target how running

with my dog brought me back from the brink and

she had zero experience with with exercise

running and it completely transformed

her life in her like mid.

I think this might maybe mid maybe 50s or maybe 50s

or mid 40s. I'm not quite sure but it completely changed her life

in a really remarkable way. So you should check out the

episode because it's quite inspirational and and her Memoir and

her other book is coming out as well. Very very interesting help.

Yeah, we all have this wonderful.

wonderful journey, I think with with movement and exercise and

moving our bodies and how it can absolutely change our brains to

you know, get us out of the the cyclical Funk

of anxious thoughts or depressive thoughts

or even Suicidal Thoughts, you know, it can really really change our brain

chemistry in a very very quick way and then when you couple it with

Good nutrition good supplementation, you know

you can really start to create spaces in

your mind and within your body and within your routine where

you're able to really start to take care of yourself a little bit more recognize how

powerful that is. And with this kind of like new lease

of life and energy and you're not having quite the same

depressive or anxious thoughts. You can

do quite remarkable things and I'm really really happy that

you are using fashion the

cultural phenomena that

that is that that's been around forever and a really amazing way

that we represent ourselves as individuals. I

think it's really wonderful that you're

doing that and I think you are going to break a lot of barriers down

and support a lot of people who might be

Very anxious about joining a gym or even

going for a run in on their own in the High Street, you know, whatever that

might be. I think that that's really wonderful way. So if you

just want to kind of let us know how people can connect with you and

people can check out check out your check out your

brand.

Yes.

so we

Have we are mostly active?

I talk so it's at awareness Athletics.

and awareness is awe AR

NES

So these and these platforms you

can find our link to awareness athletics.com. I

encourage you to subscribe to

our email.

Subscription we do campaigns that consist of updates

on our latest launch and

discounts and mental health tips.

Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for joining us

today. I really appreciate your time great conversation

and I'm looking forward to checking out

the website myself and seeing if you've got my favorite

colors in there and I might be ordering myself a shirt to Canada, but

I'm really appreciate your time again today and I'm

going to put the

In the show notes links to your website links to

your Instagram, and that's the people can connect with you.

Thank you so much. I had such a good time and I appreciate

your time. This was amazing.

Awesome. Great. Well, thanks for listening everybody. Please

leave us a review on iTunes. If you're

listening on that. It's very very helpful. Again everything that

we kind of spoken about all the links and everything. I'm gonna

get some of the some of those resources that

we were talking about in regards to the military. I

think that's a very interesting piece and how that whole

Industry is changing. I'll make sure there's some links in there. So

people can check that out. But thank you for listening everybody. We'll

see you next week. This is true. Hope the cast the official podcaster throughout

Canada. We'll see.