I had to come to accept that ‘no, I’m actually good and I deserve to be here’
How do you come to believe you deserve the opportunities you’re presented with and the results you achieve?
That’s the question I explore with my guest on Sparta Chicks Radio this week, Yewande Adesida.
Yewande grew up in London and is a self-described “up-and-coming amateur” cyclist who is currently undertaking her PhD on wearable technology in sport.
Previously a former competitive rower, Yewande switched her focus to cycling - specifically track cycling in a velodrome - in 2016 and started racing in 2017.
Just 2 years later, in 2019, and while still a relatively unknown face on the global stage, SRAM (which is one of the biggest and most well-known brands in cycling) decided to feature Yewande as the star of one of its global marketing campaigns.
As you can imagine, in a sport where marketing imagery has traditionally involved skinny white men, SRAM’s campaign featuring Yewande both very quickly raised her profile in the sport and the discussion about the importance of the representation of people of colour in a sport and industry that desperately needs more diversity.
In this conversation, Yewande shares:
* being introduced to indoor rowing in Year 8 at High School, and then rowed outdoors at a Club at 16,
* her decision to switch from rowing to cycling and why she says she was ‘really terrible’ when she started cycling,
* why she chose to start with track cycling in a velodrome,
* how she came to star in a campaign run by SRAM in 2019, only 2 years after she started racing, and whether she felt (more) pressure to perform after the campaign was launched,
* her experience with the Imposter Complex, both in cycling, throughout her University education, and when she realised she was the star of the SRAM campaign,
* her experience as a woman of colour in cycling,
* strategies she uses when she realises she’s putting too much pressure on herself, and
* why she’s now (more) comfortable to speak up about the lack of diversity in sport.
Click here to listen on iTunes.
Notes and resources:
To find out more about Yewande or to say hello, you can find her on Instagram.
