Hi, please introduce yourself and your sport.

Well, my name is Latoya Fondren. I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, all my family’s back home, I am a competitive bodybuilder. I transitioned over from powerlifting, I powerlifted for about a year and a half, I’ve been a competitive bodybuilder for about a year and a half. I competed in two competitions in less than six months. So I got first place in both of those. Very great experience, and currently I am two weeks out from my third bodybuilding competition. My first two, I won first place, and so for this show, I’m hoping to bring home the gold, as well. I just turned 33, but a lot of people mistake me for being 23. I’ll take the compliment <laughs>. I’ve been in Dallas since late August of 2017 and started out as a news reporter, news anchor. That was my childhood dream, from there, I went on to work in corporate America. So I did, PR for Denny’s. I did PR for a real estate company in downtown Dallas, and I now do marketing for the city of DeSoto. I’ve been there for a little minute, and then I do content on the side. And so, I incorporate my fitness content and just my way of wanting to inspire people. I’ve combined the two. And that’s how I create my content, on social media. So through my own, sporting journey, if you will.

Were you involved in sports as a kid?

No. <laughs> No, no, no, funny thing. People usually think I either was into basketball or, or track. No. I was the one that was involved in poetry slams and fashion shows and hair products. I don’t come from a family with a sports background, per se. My little brother tried baseball. He really did try his best. <laughs> I’ll put it that way. I was not a big sports person, even though it’s funny because I come from Chicago. It’s like sports central, but no, I was into creating books and writing, which is probably makes sense as to how I ended up working in news. But no, 5' 8" and didn’t really use it. <laughs>

So when and how did you discover bodybuilding?

So I was always aware of bodybuilding since I was growing up in Chicago. I actually had never heard of powerlifting. So, I remember, you know, watching Arnold on TV and all the different movies and seeing a lot of his work on YouTube, and just discovering different known bodybuilders within the community. I didn’t know anyone personally that was into bodybuilding, but I remember one of my first jobs early on, in my early 20s, I worked at Starbucks in downtown Chicago. And one of my frequent customers, she was into bodybuilding. She was an older woman in her 40's. And I just remember being so fascinated because I already had an interest in bodybuilding. And every time she would come and get her coffee I would always have it made for her already. And I would just pick her brain about bodybuilding. And she was like, “You should get into it one day.” And I said, “I don’t know where to start.” I always think back to those moments, when I relocated to Dallas, I was training with my boyfriend at the time, and I just wanted to build muscle. Didn’t know how to do it. Didn’t know any of the exercises, the names, or anything like that. And I’m a very goofy person, so I was not taking my boyfriend seriously at the time. Like I’m under the bar, he’s trying to show me how to squat. And I was like, “Hey, did you see that squirrel over there?” And he’s like, “No, but you need to focus.” And so he told me that I need to, “Maybe you should do this with a trainer that you don’t know. Because at that point, you’re paying your money—I haven’t been charging you anything.” I said, “You’re right.” <laughs> , and so I remember, doing some research online. He’s actually one of my, my good friends to this day. I actually consider him as a brother, Gesus, Baby Gesus Training is his business, I found him on Instagram. I love what I saw. I love the community that he built here in the Dallas community because he’s from here. And I just remember the next thing I know I was doing a consultation with him. We did a test run of him training me, and then I began to discover powerlifting. And I was like, oh.

So then my best friend pretty much peer pressured me into doing my first powerlifting competition. She said, “I’ll do it if you do it.” And I said, “I was not an athlete growing up. I am not doing that.” Well, I did it. And here I am under the bar, you know, a couple months later and, realizing that, wow, this is great. What else can I do? So from there, I decided to give power lifting a break. And I said, “I wanna dive into something that I’ve been wanting to do since I was a teenager.” And so that’s where bodybuilding came into play. Because I said, “If I can do powerlifting, I can definitely do bodybuilding.” And so I found a coach, my coach is, Keasha, also known as her business Powerhouse Prep, had a talk with her, she gave me the full rundown and everything and then it, it pretty much took off from there.

And so, I never thought I would have become an adult athlete. That was never in my deck of cards, but I guess God had a different plan for my life. And so I would just like to say that bodybuilding has changed my life. So that’s pretty much how I came full circle with bodybuilding. It was not in the cards when I was a freshman in college and in grade school. I always told everybody I’m gonna be a poet when I grow up. They were like, “Yeah, right. Do what you want when you pay the bills in 2026.” But it was a nice, it was a nice dream. A girl can only dream, but yeah, that’s how I got into bodybuilding.

For the layperson, can you explain the difference between bodybuilding and powerlifting?

Yes, as I mentioned a little earlier, in powerlifting, you can, you can eat the taco. <laughs> In bodybuilding, not so much, in powerlifting, I would like to say it speaks for itself. You’re lifting for power. So you consume a lot of carbs, you focus on the three compound movements, which is deadlift, bench press, and squats. So those are three compound movements, and then you do accessory work. So you might do like bicep curls or you might do like lap pull downs so you can continuously strengthen and isolate those different muscle groups so that when you go back to those compound movements, you’ll only get stronger and stronger and stronger. So you’re lifting for power.

I would love to invite you guys to a powerlifting competition and bodybuilding competition in the future if you guys are interested. Powerlifting, there are just people yelling all over the place, they’re rooting you on, complete strangers, you’re under the bar, and all you hear is yelling. It’s a great, great experience. Bodybuilding I like to say is a little bit more cutesy. You’re not really getting your hands dirty, per se. I have calluses on my hands from powerlifting, but bodybuilding, you are not necessarily training for strength, you’re more so training for a physique, and so there are different divisions in bodybuilding. I compete in bikini, and you have: men’s division, men’s physique, every division has its differences and similarities, the nutrition between power lifting and bodybuilding, of course, is very, very different.

When I was in powerlifting, you know, I was able to eat a burger, and get under the bar right after. I was able to eat all of my fries. You know now, for example, on my birthday, my coach allowed me to eat a burger and fries, but I had to get fries with no salt because sodium causes you to hold onto water weight which doesn’t give your muscles the fullest potential to be able to grow. The burger couldn’t have any barbecue sauce on it, which is my favorite, or ketchup or mustard. It was just kind of like you can only eat lettuce on the burger and tomato, and that’s it. But yeah, those would be the main differences between powerlifting and bodybuilding. Powerlifting, you’re lifting for power. Bodybuilding, you’re, you’re training for a physique on stage.

In powerlifting, are you judged by all three lifts? Or can you just focus on one?

You are judged on all three lifts. In certain powerlifting competitions, you do have the option to only compete in one lift. So if you just wanna compete in a deadlift portion of the competition, you can do that, but usually people go for all three. There is a criteria when you squat, you have to squat parallel and make sure that the top of your leg reaches the crease behind your knee. You have to break parallel essentially. So if you don’t break parallel, then you get points deducted from your overall score. Deadlifts, you pretty much go when they’re ready and when you’re ready. You pick the bar up, you hold it, but you have to wait until the judges give you the down command. If you jump that command, you get points docked from your overall score. The toughest one that a lot of people struggle with in competitive powerlifting is bench press. I’m just gonna breathe on that one. <laughs> So I’m on the bench, and I have the bar in my hand. Okay, I’m getting ready. You have to hold the bar steady. And the judges are waiting for you to hold, have the bar steady before they give you the down command. And then they say down, make sure it touches across your chest, up, and then they tell you to rack. So those are three commands for that particular portion of the competition. And so that’s the toughest one, but yeah, there’s a criteria that you have to follow. You do have to wear certain clothing during a competition. Like you can’t wear certain materials that could help you cheat essentially. So they look for all that. And it’s an all-day event.

Of the three lifts, which comes most naturally to you?

Ooh, that’s a good one. I would have to say squats and deadlifts. Deadlift would be number one for me, and squat would fall into the number two category.

So have you had to fight harder on the bench press to improve that lift?

Let me backtrack here. So the deadlift was actually my biggest struggle. I always assumed because I was so tall that it was nearly impossible for a tall person to be able to deadlift because there’s mechanics behind doing a deadlift; like the form and working your way through. When I’m in competitions, the shorter competitors, they don’t have that far to go up. So they literally just reach down and, “Okay, I’m done.” And then for me, I have to bend down. Okay, make sure my butt isn’t up too high because then you could get points docked off. Same thing for squats. Oh God. I have such a long way down into a squat. And then the shorter competitors, are like, "boom." And then I’m just like, “Oh God. Can it be over already?” So I would have to say that deadlift, that was my biggest challenge in the beginning. I did not understand the mechanics behind it. No matter how many times my coach explained it to me, it was just not clicking because I was just like, “I’m too tall.” And then it’s like one minute, “Oh, your butt is up too high. That wouldn’t count during a competition. Or next minute, "oh, your butt is down too low.” And I’m like, “Well, which part is it?” You know? So I would say today it’s a lot easier for me to do a deadlift because I now understand the mechanic. And it’s just a lot of just repetition. That and squats, my coach did put squats in. She incorporated a little bit of that into this prep. And so I, I was fighting for my life because squatting for bodybuilding is different from squatting for power lifting, and so I was just like, "woof." Now, as far as bench press, the most that I’ve been able to bench is 125. I’ve tried to bench plate, but I’m not there yet. Not there yet. But I’ll get there one day.

So do categorize people based on their height or weight in these powerlifting competitions?

They categorize them according to their weight class for powerlifting competitions.

Do you remember a first number you lifted that made you think, "okay, I’m actually strong, I’m actually good at this?"

Ooh. I would have to say 290 on deadlift. Yeah, 290. I have not been able to get 300 yet. It’s so crazy because even like 2.5 pounds makes a difference. Like you would think I can get that up at 2.5 or a five pound. Oh, it makes a huge difference. And essentially just my weight increasing over time with all three of the compound movements, that’s when I realized I’m not just strong physically, but also mentally because it takes a lot of mental practice. It takes a lot of tuning out the noise, if you will. It takes a lot of: okay, life is always going to happen outside of me being an athlete. And so I had never been pushed like that in my life, until I became an athlete. So once I began to realize I was just doing 80 pounds on bench press just a couple months ago and now I’m pushing 130? I was like, wow. Now I’m pushing numbers that I never thought I’d touch or see in my life.

If you had to choose, do you identify more strongly as a bodybuilder or a powerlifter?

That’s a good question. Hmm. I would have to say a little bit of both. I think that as an athlete, once you saturate yourself in multiple sports, you’re pretty hybrid at that point. If I ever wanted to go back to power lifting I think I could. Bodybuilding kind of causes you to slow down a little bit because when it comes to the training, you’re doing so many ISO [isolated] movements. You’re working on just your biceps, or you’re working on your lats, or you’re working on your quads, hamstrings. I ever wanted to go back to powerlifting for a season, I will be way stronger now than I was when I was only doing powerlifting. And so I still have my powerlifting family that I still talk to till this day. I have my bodybuilding family, new friends that I’m still meeting, you know? And even on my Instagram, for example, it’s a combination of powerlifters and bodybuilders. And so, I would have to say a little bit of both.

You compete in the bikini category of bodybuilding. Are there any particular parts of your physique you’ve consciously worked hardest to develop?

Yes. Wow. That’s a great question, I would have to say my abs, and just for the sake of overall health, my gut. I used to have a lot of gut issues, and I will never forget, there was a family-owned nutrition shop. It was there for over 30 years, and they sold all types of, supplements, vitamins, and things of that nature. And there was a lady that worked in there. And I used to tell her, I’m always having tummy pains, and I would eat certain foods and it just didn’t feel good in my body. My tummy aches lasting for, like, two weeks long. And I was diagnosed with IBS and all these different things that came with it. She gave me this gut health book. And she said, “I want you to read this book, and I want you to educate yourself on gut health because your gut is your central core. And if your gut is thrown out of whack, then everything else is, too. That includes healthy bacteria and non-healthy bacteria. What are you putting in your body?” A lot of people don’t realize that they’re walking around with bloated stomachs, and they’re thinking, “Oh, it’s just because I ate this or that.” No, that’s not healthy. You shouldn’t have a bloated stomach 24 hours a day. Of course, after you eat, right? But not all the time. And so I had that issue where I would be out in public, and people weren’t doing it on purpose, but they would tell me congratulations. They’d be like, “How far along are you?” And I’m like. <blinks> And the final straw, I’ll never forget: I was in Wichita Falls, I just got off work, and I was at Books A Million. And this sweet little girl, she’s with her dad and they were in line. And she tapped me and said, “Congratulations.” And I was just like, oh. And, and I kind of froze. After that, I said, “I have to do something about this. This can’t be healthy.” And so I began to read that gut health book, and it taught me about yogurt gives you healthy bacteria. It feeds healthy bacteria to your gut, and then I did a food sensitivity test, and that changed the game for me.

I learned that I have a high sensitivity to egg whites. And you would think, well, what about the rest of the egg? Well, I don’t know, but I don’t eat eggs at all. And a lot of shellfish, I have a high food sensitivity to it. Not that I can’t eat it, but if I do eat it, I know that I may experience some type of stomach bloat or something. Not everything results in you breaking out in hives, per se. So once I begin to let go of all the foods that my body was sensitive to, I kid you not, within less than two weeks, I lost 10 pounds. And that was before I got into bodybuilding. That was after I left powerlifting. And I was like, wow. So this entire time, I literally just cracked a code to a year’s long mystery that I couldn’t figure out. And it was really because of foods that I was sensitive to that my body did not like. And so my gut, I can say now at the age of 33, I finally have a flat stomach now. And I’m like, wow. I never thought that I could have achieved that. And I think that was the toughest thing. I’m grateful for my coach, Keisha, because that was the first thing that she wanted to tackle first was my gut. They say that bodybuilding is not a healthy sport, and I’m here to tell you that it’s not. It’s not healthy to constantly manipulate your carbs. It’s not healthy to manipulate your water to where you’re dehydrated. That's not healthy, but it can be healthy if you do it correctly and you do it safely. And so she always says safety first and health over competing any day. You know, the stage will always be there. And if you’re not healthy, I’m not putting you up there. We’re not gonna do it. So that was the biggest hurdle for me.

That’s interesting. I think I need to do that now.

I recommend it, yes. I went to my primary care physician and I requested a food allergy test. And she was like, well, there isn't really a food allergy test. She called it a food sensitivity test. So they sent me to a, a specialist here in Dallas. And, they literally had me take my shirt off, and they put these like drops all over my back. And so yeah, they do the environmental one. I didn’t know that they were gonna do the environmental one, too. They did the environmental one and did the food one as well. And then you receive the results. For me, even something as small as cleaning up my apartment—I have to wear a mask because I’m allergic to, dust mites. And so my lungs get really, really irritated to where it feels like an elephant is sitting on top of my lungs for two days. So I forgot to wear a mask earlier this weekend. I was cleaning up on Friday and I was like, “oh, my chest feels so heavy.” So yeah, little things like that. And I’m allergic to grass. So my ex was like, “You can’t even sit on grass. You can’t even touch grass.” And I’m like, dang, so no picnics on the grass. And I always wondered why when I would sit on the grass, I would always get so itchy. And so now I know. But it, it’s, it’s good to know, and I tell people all the time: I feel the best I’ve felt in years. And I think that really helped me along my powerlifting and bodybuilding journeys. ‘Cause in power lifting, I was always bloated. I’m a very small person, but my stomach was just always protruding outwards and I was like, “Something’s not right. I need to educate myself and do something about this.” So I recommend a food sensitivity test to anybody.

Getting your health in order and just feeling stronger and more confident was important, but is there one overall reason that you would say truly changed your life in these past years?

Ooh, that’s a good question. Well, when I think of your question, I think of: “remember your why.” My “why” is myself and my mom. My mom has been battling lupus since she was in her 20's. And a lot of times she can’t get out of bed. And, you know, she battles depression and all of the above. And so I try to show her that you can do hard stuff too. And then as much as I have a voice today, there was once upon a time in my life when I didn’t have a voice. I was very timid, very afraid. I actually didn’t find my voice until I started working for Starbucks. I remember my first week on the job, and I was calling out somebody’s like hot chocolate. And I was like, “Hot chocolate?” And then my manager was like, “Oh, honey, you’re gonna have to speak a lot louder than that.” <laughs> And so from there I found, true story—I found my voice because I had no other choice. They weren’t gonna get their drinks if they couldn’t hear me at the bar. And so, me being, me showing up for that little girl that didn’t feel like anyone was showing up for her—and just showing my mom that, like, there’s beauty in the struggle.

Have you ever encountered the idea that a woman can become too muscular, or too strong?

I’ve heard that a lot. I know that’s one of those social media debates. I don’t think there’s such a thing. I don’t think there is a limitation to how strong a person can get or how strong a woman can be in this case. Everybody has a different genetic background, genetic build, mental strength, and discipline to be able to get from point A to point Z. And so I think that you are as strong as you think you are. And if you think you’re strong, you’re strong. If you don’t think you’re strong, you’re not strong. So it’s all about the mental game first. I think women can be strong, and they can be as muscular as they desire to be.

What do you wish people, especially men, understood about women who deliberately pursue muscle and strength?

I wish that men understood just how much women go through. How much we experience in life. Women are natural nurturers, and a lot of times we tend to take care of everyone else and forget about self. And me being on this athletic journey has taught me how to put myself first. Because I didn’t realize, a lot of times we don’t realize, that we’re in such a state of autopilot mode as women that we tend to forget, “okay, I’m taking care of husband, I’m taking care of kids, I’m, you know, going to school. I’m giving myself at work.” You know, we give of ourselves, and we give ,and we give, and we give—and a lot of times we’re doing it with an empty cup. And so I wish that men understood not even just that, but the science behind it.

Our hormones are always changing, you know? We’re having to work out more on our menstrual cycles. It's not the easiest. And on a given day, you may have to go to the office while you’re on your menstrual cycle. We don’t have the luxury to just stay at home and just allow our body’s nature to do its thing. And so my hope is that men can one day understand that we’re doing this because this newer version of women understands the concept of putting ourselves first. And it doesn’t mean that we’re forgetting about everything else that we do, or the responsibilities that we have, but in order for us to be able to show up for others we have to be able to fill our own cups first.

Well said. So where did curly hair gains come from? <laughs>

I remember you saying, “What do I call you?” I get that a lot. <laughs> I used to have my actual name on my Instagram, and I took it off because I didn’t want my job to find me. But I’ve always been a big fan of my big, curly hair. And so when I was in powerlifting, I actually had my powerlifting belt have Curly Hair Gainz on the back. I thought about my own strength and how I’m always looking to grow—not just as an athlete, but as a woman, And so one day I just sat and thought, “What if I combine the two?” I said, “Curly, curly, curly hair.” And then instead of putting an S at the end, I put a Z. <laughs> And so once I combined the two, I was like, “I like this.” And so I just kind of stuck with it, and it just became my signature. It’s so funny because I’ve had like people run into me at the gym and they’re just like, “Curly Hair Gainz. What’s your name? I don’t wanna just call you Curly Hair Gainz.” And I say, “My name’s Latoya.” But I mean, it doesn’t bother me whichever way. It was essentially me trying to manifest and come up with a brand for myself outside of me being a marketing professional for DeSoto. I wanted to brand myself within the athletic realm. So that’s what I came up with.

Do you have any plans for this brand? Do you see it developing into a larger personal brand for you?

You know what? I haven’t entirely thought it all the way through, but I, I have had slight thoughts here and there, you know when, in life, you kinda have a good gut feeling that something good is coming down the pipeline. You don’t know exactly what it is, but you know it’s related to what you’re doing now. That’s the feeling that I’ve been having. And so I’ve been having all these different opportunities land, like when you messaged me, and I’ve had other opportunities as well. So I’m going to see that feeling through. I wouldn’t necessarily say no to your question, but, we’ll see what happens.

So your professional background is in storytelling and communications. Do you think being a storyteller changes the way you understand or document your own athletic journey?

Oh yes. Yes, I say it’s one thing to document the journey of others. When you’re documenting your own, you learn to reach people where they are, which is the reason why and when I create my content. I like to show how I got here. I don’t wanna just show the current physique that I have because this is not the physique that I wake up with every day. Right now, because I’m two weeks out, my carbs are cut and I’m just constantly losing pounds by the day, but showing the real me, like the struggles, shows you I was once there. Like I didn’t know everything about bodybuilding. I didn’t know anything about the exercises. I remember being fired from a job and all I had was time. So I released my book. I went down to my apartment gym. The only exercise that I really knew was like a squat. I didn’t know what a deadlift was. I didn’t know what RDLs were. But I just remember recording myself on whichever iPhone I had at that time. And I said, “One day this will all make sense.” And so the fact that I’ve held on to those videos for the last five, six years, I’m able to repurpose them out into the world. And so when I’m creating content, I’m not just thinking about myself. I’m thinking, how can I inspire somebody today to push past their own limitations? Because that’s what fills my cup—being able to inspire people through my own journey and not just the wins, right? It’s so easy to post the wins when I’m doing great in life. Well, we don’t wake up every day super happy. You know, we have our ups, and we have our downs, and I’m here to show you that no matter what, if you see me doing it, and you see where I came from, then you’ll feel that as well. So giving people that feeling, you know, touching other people’s hearts is essentially why I’m here. It’s my purpose.

What has becoming physically strong given you beyond just muscle?

Hope. There was once a time when I didn’t think I could do things like I said on on my social media. I didn’t have a group of cheerleaders. I didn’t have a group of fans. I didn’t have a group of people around me saying that you could do it. And I don’t fault them for it. You forgive people for what they don’t know. And the things that I was reaching for: wanting to become a news anchor, wanting to get into bodybuilding, wanting to try the pageant life—me wanting to try all these different things. Well, my family at the time, they didn’t understand any of those things because it was not something that we saw all the time. We would only see it on TV from a distance, but we didn’t see it in our own communities, and we didn’t see people personally doing these out-of-the-ordinary things.

And so it gave me the hope. It gave me hope to keep going. Times when I’m like, I’m probably not gonna become a news anchor. I had someone tell me, you’ll never become a news anchor. And I remember thinking to myself, hmm, I don’t know about that one. But I knew that, again, that gut feeling where you knew something was gonna happen in the future. Because me working at that Starbucks location—well, the majority of my customers were from ABC 7 News Chicago and NBC 5. They were right down the street, and I built a connection with them, and they knew who I was. I was serving coffee, and I always did it with a smile.

Like those types of experiences don’t happen for no reason. It was literally setting me up to becoming a news anchor, a news reporter. Same thing for powerlifting. Like I was just looking for a trainer where I wasn’t cracking so many jokes, and it turned into me becoming a powerlifter. And then powerlifting led me to bodybuilding. So it gave me hope. And I think that’s what I strive to do so much for others. Give people the hope that they can see, and they will go far.

If you could introduce the woman who first walked into a gym to the woman sitting here today, what do you think she’d notice first?

Ooh. My anointing. I’ve been told that I have an anointing spirit, even if someone hasn’t had a conversation with me, and they just see me in passing. A lot of people, they come to me and want to have a conversation. And then they, somehow they end up telling me their life story. They feel so comfortable with telling me, you know, the things that they’ve been through. And I never judge people, and it’s always complete strangers. I always make people feel welcome. I always make them feel important because they are, and I’ve always been told that I have this light that people can feel before they even have a conversation with me. So whatever that light is, that’s shining, I want it to continue to shine because I always tell people, you know, I’m a people’s person. So that young woman walking into the gym for the first time, I remember was just so timid and at a different time in her (my) life. But the woman that I am today would give hope to that young woman coming into the gym for the first time.

Okay, now we have some quick fire, fun questions. Just first thing that pops into your head.

Favorite food?

Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Let me think about this. I’ve been eating tilapia and ground chicken since January one. <laughs> My favorite food. Hmm. I would have to say Home Run pizza in Chicago.

And it’s deep dish Chicago style?

No, it’s thin crust. Surprisingly enough, I’m not a big, deep dish pizza person like a lot of  Chicagoans. That’s usually for the tourists. We’re more thin crust. I’m a thin crust girly. Okay, and maybe pizza’s my favorite right now because I haven’t had it in a while. <laughs>

Favorite color?

My favorite color is pink, which is why I keep looking at your beautiful centerpiece behind you. All the different shades of pink and blue and purple. Yeah, it’s pink. <laughs>

Favorite movie?

Ooh, Pursuit of Happiness. And Toy Story one, the first one. <laughs> I love the Toy Story series. I actually went to the movies to see the most recent one.

Favorite musician or band?

Ooh. You know what’s so interesting about this? I don’t really have a favorite band or musician, per se, I do have favorite songs, right now, so I would have to say that a favorite song of mine is “Child of God” by Chance the Rapper. He has a video that’s connected to that song, and it pretty much talks about the way of the world, and how the world can get you down and make you think that you can’t do something. But if you continue to do your thing, child, then you can see this through. And in the video, it pretty much shows an artist painting a big portrait on the wall. And they’re literally like painting this masterpiece all the way through to the end while the world is chanting at the artist and telling the artist like, “You can’t do it, and you’re not good enough.” And then in the song Chance the Rapper talks about what are you gonna do when I reach the Olympics? Like, I can go far. So that’s currently my favorite song.

Do you think you like rap because it’s like poetry?

So interesting enough, I think Chance the Rapper’s music is different from the traditional rap. I’m not into like the current rap music, but if it is a rap song, it has to have like meaning and inspiration to it. Like all that other rap stuff, I just don’t even listen to it. I don’t even know any of the new rappers’ names <laughs> or anything like that, but I’m now in time in my life where I like listening to what I like to call “soul food” music. Music that feeds the soul because, you know, I would rather wake up in the morning and listen to like lo-fi music, which is very good to the ears.

Coffee or tea?

Definitely I’m a tea person. And I’m very crushed. I haven’t been able to drink tea all year, but I love, love, love tea so much.

Morning person or night owl?

Is it weird to say I’ve become a little bit of both? <laughs> , I’m up early in the morning because I usually do like 40 minutes of fasted cardio, but then in the evening is when I train. So I guess a little bit of both.

Beach or mountains?

Definitely the beach. I love the sounds of the water. I love the way that the sand feels. Like the sun being out, I just love it.

Dogs or cats?

<laughs> Definitely dogs. Don't get me wrong, we were just talking about cats earlier. I love cats, but it’s just something about a dog coming and cuddling with you. Kinda like full-time into you. But my cat, or at least mine, I feel like he only loves me part-time, you know? When he wants to. Cats just kinda do what they want. But I try to embrace his love whenever he decides to give it to me. I try not to get so hurt over it like I used to. <laughs>

Something you can’t live without?

Ooh. Something I can’t live without. FOOD. <laughs> Good food because when I’ve been, I mean, I’ve been living without eating the things that I wanna eat, but <laugh> I’d have to say good food. Like pizza. <laugh>

And then our last question, what is something the Respect The Game audience can do to support you or your sport or both?

Oh, that’s a good question, just interacting and engaging with me on social media, on Instagram. Like if you have any questions, or you just want to offer like words of encouragement, or you wanna meet up for coffee whenev—I am all for meeting new people. Like how I met you beautiful souls today. You guys really have made my day today. So thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Latoya.