Radical Body Confidence, Dropping 52 Pounds, and Building a Business: Stephanie Havelka, EP 309

Body Confidence Cold Open

SPEAKER_01 0:00

You know what? That body is your gift. Is it not taking you through triathlons? Did you have a baby? Let's embrace this body that we have. It's such a gift. And then to really use it, use it. Go out playing it. Go be in this body and also dress it exactly how you want. Letting go of shame. Letting go of what you think it should be.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Hello, friends. Welcome to the Champions Mojo podcast, where we bring you interviews and topics to help you live well and swim well, conversations especially meaningful for masters swimmers and anyone striving to perform better in the water or in life. We're here to champion you. And now your host, Kelly Palace.

From Swimming To Water Sports

SPEAKER_02 0:46

Hello again, friends. Thank you for being here. Today, in an after practice interview, we are sitting down with Water Woman Extraordinaire Stephanie Havelka. She is an Olympic trials kayaker, a Kona Ironman, and a champion paddler, and the founder of Sport Kini, a revolutionary swimwear company. And almost as inspiring is that at 55, in her first time wearing a tech suit or being in a swim meet in ages, she swam the number one time in the country in the 55 to 59 women's short course meter 100 free. We'll learn how Stephanie used her champion mindset to build a thriving business and lose 52 pounds all while navigating the everyday chaos of life. And we'll gain some body confidence. Who couldn't use that? So stick around and let's start with Stephanie's water woman background.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

So my waterwoman background is I grew up swimming in Massachusetts. I did grow up competitive sleigh swimming. I swam masters just a little bit. But you know, swimming and sport is amazing, right? Like water sport. I was so connected to the water that I decided to go into all the other water sports, right? I I got introduced to I did Iron Man Tirafon and I did it in Kona. And then when I went to Kona, I stayed. I didn't leave. I sold my return plane ticket. And that and that little foray led me right into outrigger canoe paddling. That's another water sport. Okay, cool. So I get into outrigger canoe paddling. Outrigger canoe paddling, I I hooked up with a bunch of women and a really good coach. And we kind of went around the globe and, you know, kicked some real butt and won some very big races. So outrigger. Okay, that's cool. Water woman. That's right it right up my lane. And then after that, that coach actually sent me back to California and he said, Hey, I think you should get ready for Olympic trials. They're coming up in a couple years in flatwater kayak. I think you'd be good at it. So I'm like, okay. So, you know, I just follow the next thing. It was interesting. So I get into flatwater kayak. I go to Olympic trials. That's cool. All right. And then that gets me into surf ski. Okay, that's another water sport, right? So the paddling sports, the water sports. Like I'm always attract, I've always been attracted to the water sports. But the thing with swimming is swimming has allowed me the skills and the mindset, right? Sport mindset. Try something new, be coached, right? Go through the ups and downs, train, right? Like all of the things that you learn from a sport. And I learned from swimming originally. I was able to transcend into all these other water sports and to take some of them to very high level, which was fantastic. It was really fun. And open water swimming, right? Open water swimming. I did it a little bit when I was a lifeguard on Cape Cod. You know, I wouldn't do this this these days because I heard that there's bigger critters in the water. Yeah, we would swim across the little lakes and the ponds as lifeguards just for warming up in the morning. And then, but you know, my love for open water swimming actually started in Kona because we would do that every single morning. We'd go out off the Kona Pier, we'd go out swimming, and it was really incredible. But like I said, swimming really just helped me move into other other water sports. So that that's where the water woman stuff comes from.

The Sport Kini Origin Story

SPEAKER_02 4:14

That is quite a history of of water of being on the water, in the water. Tell us about your two-piece bathing suits and your bathing suit company because that is really cool. And you're an entrepreneur, and you know, that's what I I love to hear about what master swimmers are doing outside of the training.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

The story starts like this. When I was 14 years old, you know, when you're 14, you start to find your little fashion feet, you start to find who you are. And so as a competitive swimmer, I was very bored with our options for swimsuits. I thought, oh my god, these things are so dowdy. You know, like they're kind of ugly. But, you know, that's what the offerings were. Athletic swimsuits are athletic swimsuits. So this whole idea started when I was 14. I wanted to make a better bathing suit that was maybe a little more savvy. I started sketching back then.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

I was a personal trainer. I used to train rock stars. I used to travel the globe. I did the outrigger stuff, or I traveled the globe. And on that whole time, I always had the idea in the back of my head, I want to make bathing suits. I want to make my own line of bathing suits. I collected lots of bathing suits from all my travels. I saved what I loved, I saved what I didn't love because I wanted to remember what not to do. Yeah. And I sketched the whole time. And on one of my trips when I was in Australia, I went, I was in, I was American. I got on the Australian national outrage canoe team. That was a great accomplishment. And but when I was down there and I was training with the girls, we would get a new bathing suit every single week for our races. And they were made custom just for us. And so I started to ask questions like, first of all, there's no labels in these things. Where'd they come from? And it's made just for me. So who's making them? So the girls on the team were like, oh, it's this lady. I'm like, well, can I meet the lady? So I asked them the next time you go pick up these bathing suits for us, can I go? I want to go. And so I went with them and we went to this area of Australia where it's called a four square mile area where Billabong, Ripcurl, all the big surf companies are making all their producing their products. And so I met a lady. They took me to her production facility. The doors open, I swear the angels sang, right? The doors open, the angels sang, because I heard sewing machines buzzing in the background, and it was exactly what I wanted to walk into. I was like, wow, this is so cool. Well, I spoke with this lady, and I was like, I I finally got the guts to ask her. I was so nervous to ask her to make a sample off my drawings because I'd been carrying this sketchbook around for years. And she said, Yeah, come back tomorrow. Well, that woman, that woman took me under her wing. See, I'm getting goosebumps talking about it. That woman took me under her wing and decided, and uh, she introduced me to her family. I would go over to her house, we would have dinner, go in the basement, we'd make patterns. Like Lee, she literally took me under her wing and taught me how to make a very good bathing suit. And she schooled me. The other thing that she did was I noticed that on her wall in her house was a wall full of trophies. They look like large Emmys. Because that's of that's because it's who she is. She was the number one swimsuit designer in the country, in the country of Australia, and had been for over 17 years. So this woman that I randomly meet is the expert. And so I worked with her and I learned from her on how to make bathing suits. That's how it all kind of started. So I took, I was like, wow, I'm gonna give this bathing suit thing a try because I have this concept, I have this idea. So I come back to the United States, I take all my savings, I go back to Australia, I go back and I meet her again, I make up as many bathing suits as I can with my savings, and I bring them all back up here. And I, for an entire summer, sold all 700 bathing suits by myself because it was my test.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

You made 700 bathing suits.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

I didn't sew them. I have a church production facility, so with them, but all my little savings made saved by 700 bathing suits so that I could test my concept, right? Because if it doesn't work, okay, I can let this idea go. But if it works, I'm gonna keep moving forward, right? And so that's when that's when the wheels on the bus really started to go. Because I started to realize that there is something in the market missing, and that's what I wanted to do was actually create a better bathing suit for athletic women.

SPEAKER_02 8:38

And and so w how what name did you come up with and what what's different about this suit?

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Sure. So the line of sport kinis. It's a bikini you can do sporty stuff in, it's a bikini rugged enough for sports, and it's all bikinis? Yes, and I do have one piece, but my primary focus are the two pieces. And what I've learned is that athletic women, we come in all shapes and sizes, and also we don't fit standard small, medium, large most of the time. Yeah, especially with broad swimmers, broad paddlers, broad shouldered, right? A little bit thicker in the ribcage and through the lats. You know, sometimes stuff just doesn't fit us well. Also, it depends on where you are in the alphabet, A, B, C, D, where are you on the top half? Yeah, right. And then the bottom half is all about women are picky about their backsides. Right? We either like it all in or we like it all covered up or we like it half in, half out, or maybe we let one a little more out. Women are just picky, but the common theme through the entire line of this swimwear is it has to work. Right. I never want to wonder where my swimsuit is or is not. I don't want to be picking at it, pulling at it. I don't want to wonder because you know what? I'm a sporty chick. I want to do what I want to do. I don't want to have my mind on the suit. I want my hands off the suit, my mind off the suit, I want to do what I want to do. And at the same time, women are also, you know what, we're beautiful. Look at us athletic women, look at the cool stuff we do. We take good care of ourselves. Why don't we deserve beautiful bathing suits too? So I wanted to take all of these concepts and put them together and really embrace what an athletic woman, a real athletic bikini would be. Not one that says it is one, one that really is. So I up-leveled everything from garment construction to what fabric to use. Oh, I don't mess around. I do not, this is not done on the cheap. I buy the highest grade fabric that I can buy because I know who we are. We're going to kick the crap out of this thing. Yeah. Right? It's going to be left rolled up damp over here. It's going to be in chlorine over there. It's going to hit a hot tub, right? It's going to be me, it's going to grow through lots of aggressive movements. I don't know about you, but I am not one to lay on a towel at the beach. That's not who I am. Right. I'm not a sunbather. You know, and turns out most of my friends and my athletic friends are not. And the other cool thing is most women who do one water sport do a few. Right. Right? We and I needed a bathing suit to transcend all of the cool things that we do and look really good. Come on.

The Case For Wearing Bikinis

SPEAKER_02 11:02

So, okay. So what would you tell? I love the name sport kini because it's it clearly tells you what it is. This is a bikini for sports. Yes. What about those of us that are confident in our bodies in a bikini?

SPEAKER_01 11:14

Isn't that amazing? This is a great topic. I spend a lot of time in a fitting room. Yeah. And I spend a lot of time at events, because I go to lots of athletic events with a changing tent. And I hear that often. What I find is this is another really big thing for me. Body confidence is a big deal. And I find that a lot of women, because they have listened to societal stuff in the background. Oh, you have a stretch mark. Oh, you have this. Oh, you have that. And I am the opposite. And I will, I I am, I am this way, and women will tell you this about me. I'm right up in your face about it. You know what? That body is your gift. Is it not taking you through triathlon? Did you have a baby? Let's embrace this body that we have. It's such a gift. And then to really use it, use it. Go out playing it. Go be in this body and also dress it exactly how you want. Letting go of shame. Letting go of what you think it should be. No, no, those curves are yours. They're yours genetically. They're yours, your DNA. They're yours. So embrace it, where it and that's body confidence to me is a really big thing. If you're shy about wearing a bikini, okay. Wear one a little bit at a time. Just try it. You'd be amazed. And stretch marks are part of your story. I have one woman who swore to me she would never wear a two-piece. She had had some real medical issues. She was like, Oh, I don't know that I can do that. I'm like, are you kidding me? That's your story. You are you are living and breathing and you made it through that. And if you're past, I think if you're past like 30, 35, you've made it past that. Hey, guess what? You can wear whatever you want. Yeah, no rules. Yeah. But this woman who had all the scars, guess what she decided to do? She decided to stop wearing one piece and embrace it. She's almost 80 now.

SPEAKER_02 13:05

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

I met her 15 years ago.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

And she's still wearing a two-piece.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

She's been wearing a two-piece. Yes, she's been wearing a sport kini the entire time. Oh, like it's little things like this that I see a woman flip the switch. And it's so cool. Yeah. So when did you start sport kini? I the very first bathing suit I ever made was in 1999. There are some things that I have learned, and I've also spent some time on the insanity wheel, which is expecting, you know, doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. That's the definition of insanity. I've spent some time there. I've had to look at myself and go, wow, if I'm not seeing results, I'm the common denominator. So what has to what do I have to do to grow, shift, or change? Move out of stuck, move out of old patterns.

Losing 52 Pounds By Shifting Life

SPEAKER_02 13:54

I want to hit on the fact that you're incredibly fit. You're wearing a sport kini. Yes. You're super ripped. You're how old? 55. 55. You lost a bunch of weight. So give us a quick scoop on how how that came about. And did you wear your sport kini when you hadn't lost weight?

SPEAKER_01 14:16

When I was fluffy. When you were fluffy. Yes, I did. I did. I wore it the whole time through. How much weight did you lose? I lost 52 pounds. How did you do it? You know what? A large part of this was if there's many components, but a large part of it, I changed my life. The level of stress, the level looks cortisol needed to come down so I could focus on myself.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

So I flipped the switch from focusing on everybody else and I decided to take myself back. And so releasing having a stressful life, getting stressed over things I didn't need to get stressed over, that was a really big one. I have an autoimmune condition that needed to be addressed on all and the autoimmune condition was constantly um rearing its head when I was stressed all the time. So by bringing the stress level down, I was able to actually calm all the systems down. Yeah. Then metabolism works better. Then I can actually swim. Right. I went there were points about seven years ago that I could not swim more than 20 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

And I was hurting. And I mean hurting. My joints hurt. My my physical hurt. Everything hurt. And I was like, wow. And I'm so I'm the move to Florida for me was a really big deal. And it was a big deal with my husband as well. His stress level came down. Our entire life shifted. And those things all play a role into what I was able to accomplish last year. And enjoy swimming again for me. That's fabulous.

Masters Training And Faster Freestyle

SPEAKER_02 15:47

So what is your training like now? Because you went 109 and the 100 meters free as your 20th event or something at Rowdy Games, which is very competitive for someone who'd never worn a tech suit. And I'm just going to say it not to embarrass you, but to say, when I saw you dive off the block, it was like, this is a brand new swimmer. It was, it was really exciting to see a 55-year-old woman go a 109-meter free when you looked like the first time you ever dove off a block. And so there's just so much potential and room in there for going much faster with a better start, better turns. What goals do you have maybe for master swimming?

SPEAKER_01 16:33

Well, that one swimming kind of opened my eyes to wow, first of all, put a highlighter on what I could work on. Yeah. Oh my God, my starts, they're hot mess. Have I done them really since college? No. Right, right. Right. So it's like it could really, it was really awesome to put a highlighter on these little nuanced things that I could do for me. I was helping other swimmers do it. So for me, so here I am in this new phase where I'm paying attention to my own swimming. So for me, I'm swimming about four times a week. I lift two times a week. And then now I get to put a, like I said, highlighter on that, on those little skills, my turns to clean them up. Right? 109 is fantastic. Can I go faster? Yes. Yes. Because if I clean up these little skills, so this is the things I'm kind of excited about. And I don't even know what swim eats are on the schedule because I never looked at them for years. So here I am. I'm like, oh, maybe this is the maybe this is where I'm gonna head down just for another goal for myself. Go to a few more swimsuit swim eats and bring that time down. Now that I know how to wear a tech suit. You know, sky's the limit. Exactly. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 17:39

Last question. Is there anything that I have not asked you that you would like to share with our listeners?

SPEAKER_01 17:46

I think that it's a fantastic just small business. I think it's fantastic to get rally behind them, become part of their tribe, whether it's me or it's somebody else. But I will tell you from a swimsuit owner, even the men who are listening, you all know a female. She might be active, she might be sporting, she might be a mom chasing kids around on the beach, doesn't want to fuss with her swimsuit. Put your finger on. I love talking to these women. I love talking to all the sporty girls, all the active girls, because we're solving a problem with the bathing suits.

SPEAKER_02 18:19

Yeah. That's great. All right. Well, thank you so much, Stephanie. I will put in the show notes, I will put your company and your Instagram feed and everything so people can find these great suits. And maybe even try one with my my little belly that I'm uncomfortable with, fish belly white and not very fit. But yeah, this has been wonderful, and I can't wait to see what you do in swimming. So thank you. Thank you so much.

Leave A Review And Closing

SPEAKER_00 18:46

Thank you for listening to the Champions Mojo podcast. Would you consider leaving us a five star review on Apple? That's like getting a best time for us. Kelly and our team would be so grateful. See you next week for another Boost of Mojo.