I am making an effort to stay physically and mentally fit, and have the knowledge and that mindset of a more seasoned person, and carry that for the next 50 years. So to me, I am like at the prime of my life, and what, what I have ahead of me, and all of us do. If we think that way, it's amazing. It's just amazing.
Welcome to RenewHer, a podcast for women over 50 ready to reignite their energy and explore what's next. I'm Genell Lemley brain fitness coach. Here you'll hear real stories from women taking on new challenges after 50, along with brain health tips to boost focus, energy, and the mindset to move forward with confidence. Let's dive into today's episode.
Welcome to RenewHer, the podcast for women over 50 who are ready to explore what's next and cultivate a mindset built for growth, resilience, and possibility. Today's guest is someone whose energy you can feel the moment she enters a room or a Zoom call, for that matter. Giselle Carson is one of those women who makes you believe expansion is always available at any age in any season. She embodies strength, discipline, curiosity, and heart in a way that's both powerful and deeply human.
So I'm gonna read her bio, and then we'll move on from there.
So here's her bio. Giselle Carson is a powerhouse US corporate immigration and compliance attorney who partners with businesses to secure visas and green cards for top global talent, keeping them competitive in a rapidly evolving marketplace.
A two-time immigrant herself, she brings unparalleled expertise, strategic insight, and a relentless drive to simplify complex immigration processes for employers. An award-winning author, Giselle wrote Beyond the H-1B: A Guide to Work Visa Options, and co-authored All-Out Impact, and recently launched her highly anticipated book, the Corporate Immigration Advantage in April of 2025, offering companies a game-changing blueprint for hiring and retaining foreign talent.
Beyond the boardroom, Giselle embodies resilience. She's a five-time Ironman triathlete, a 25-time marathon finisher, and a Leadership Florida and Leadership Jacksonville alum. Her passion for excellence extends to every facet of her life, making her the go-to expert for businesses ready to winin the global talent race. Visionary. Strategist. Trailblazer. When it comes to corporate immigration, Giselle doesn't just advise, she empowers.
One more thing I wanna add is a fun fact that she is also an award-winning ballroom dancer. Something I think would be really fun, but having taken up yet anyway. So our focus today will on the beyond boardroom aspect of her life and the impact endurance events have had on her personal and professional life.
Giselle and I met a couple of years ago in a mastermind, and I remember being instantly drawn to her energy. As part of that mastermind, we also co-authored a book together with the other members called All Out Impact, and reading her chapter gave me a deeper window into her journey, her immigration story, her reinventions, and the mindset that has shaped how she leads and lives.
Whenever there was Zoom call, she was walking, meetings, conversations, check-ins, she was always walking. And honestly, by the end of this conversation, you may feel so energized, you'll wanna sign up for a marathon or maybe at least go for a walk. Giselle, welcome to RenewHer. I'm so grateful you're here, and I have been looking forward to our conversation. I have so many questions for you.
I am thrilled to be here, and I do hope that at the end of this conversation, it will inspire those that are listening to go and do a walk. I literally, I have to tell you, I was talking to a client of mine the other day, and out of the blue he says to me, Giselle I have to tell you, you've inspired me and I've ran two 10Ks, and now I'm going to sign up for a half-marathon. I was like, wow.
See the impact you have.
Whatever. But I, I mean, to me, exercise is, it's it's key to our well-being. If we wanna, it's, it's not just the physical part of it, it's the mental strength that it gives us.
Yeah. Big piece of it. Right? So, actually I wanna start at the beginning because your story of immigration feels foundational to everything you've built. You immigrated from Cuba to Canada at 14, not speaking English, arriving with very little. But as you've said, with resilience and hope. Looking back, what did that season teach you about endurance, uncertainty ,and who you needed to become to survive and eventually to thrive?
I mean, I, as I look back in my life, and I have challenges every day, um, we forget where we've been and what we've learned through those challenges, and it's part of life.
I think life is 50/50. 50% of it is gonna be positive, and we're happy, we're joyous. We're, and then the other 50 is kind of overcoming those challenges. So, as you said, yeah, I was, my roots are in Cuba. I immigrated to Canada when I was 15. So it was the quinceañera my parents gave me as a surprise for my 15th birthday, a trip, and that trip, that plane landed in Canada.
I never said goodbye to my family or to my friends. My grandparents passed away and I never saw them again. Everything stayed in Cuba and my parents told me, well, after a few days in Canada we're here to stay. My rebellious personality said, I don't think so. You're staying here. I'm going back to Cuba.
But anyway, that passed and, but it was tough. It was tough. I didn't speak English or French. I landed in Quebec, in in Montreal, so I learned French to start going to school and literally, I say kind of reinvented myself for the first time because I learned English, French. I graduated. I left Canada as a Canadian citizen. So went through the whole immigration process there. I arrived in Canada, only speaking Spanish. I left speaking English and French. I arrived in Canada at 15, left when I was in my twenties. I'm married. So I mean in, within a few years, huge, huge changes that push, push me to keep overcoming challenges.
And then my husband and I decided with kind of my ask, I guess started with me, can we move to Florida? Climate for sure was more of what I was used to. But similarly, I came to the United States now on a work visa, which was better than [inaudible], but worked my way through to becoming a US citizen. I arrived with a bachelor's degree in physical therapy and decided to go to law school, and became a lawyer.
Was not an endurance athlete in any shape or form. I hadn't, I didn't have the interest, the knowledge, the time. And now I'm five-time Ironman finisher. Actually 29 marathons. Well, actually, I'll run my 29th ultra-marathon in two weeks from now. And that has all been myself to continue to grow. Tremendous discomfort throughout it all. But as I look back, I would do it all again because of who I'm becoming.
That's so amazing. When you were in those moments, when you were 14 to 20 and you had all these changes. Were you ever, I don't know if you want to say scared, or did you think about it, or you basically just plowed forward?
No, and that's a good question because I think that people think she just goes out and she does whatever she does because she's motivated and just I couldn't do it. Everybody can. We are all meant for this, and you're gonna hear me say this a few times because I believe that. We, we are in, in this world to grow. That is one of the things that we're here to do. And not to stay stagnant, but to continue to grow, to overcome challenges and the more discomfort we are willing to accept, the faster we're gonna move forward.
So, no, I, everything, I mean, imagine me walking into a school in Canada where I spoke. I, I didn't speak their language and I had to go to school and I had to make grades. And I, my goal was to graduate. So I, I mean, I worked my butt off, if you wanna say it. I, I worked very, very, very hard. I was very angry at my parents for various phases of this.
It's overcoming fear, overcoming those challenges. It's, it's a constant, but it just gets easier. It gets easier as you do it. Yeah, we'll talk about my most recent ultra-marathon experience and how the overcoming fears in the past helped me achieve kind of my, my flawless race in a way which wasn't flawless in any, if, if you look at the word flawless as it is.
But to me it was like the most amazing experience. But because I have overcome so much and I thought back, okay, you've done this, you've done this, you've done this. This is nothing. Go in with that mindset. And I did.
So, do you wanna talk about this, your most recent ultra-marathon, now or do you wanna wait a little bit?
So you drive the bus?
So actually, before jumping to that, I do have, 'cause you alluded to your career itself, you went from physical therapy to medical malpractice, I believe then to corporate immigration law, as you mentioned. How did you know when it was time to evolve or expand instead of maybe staying comfortable and what did those transitions teach you about yourself?
Kind of mentioned that I I, so I'm glad that you're pulling that back in. So when I went to law school, no one in my family was a lawyer. So that was another. I had so many unknowns, but I knew that that was an opportunity for me to continue to grow and to continue to contribute in areas that I felt that I had the capacity to continue, contribute and grow myself.
So, graduated from law school. I started practicing at the law firm, that I still practice today, 25 years later. I had my medical background. I started in the area of litigation, medical litigation. It just kind of it, it felt like it connected.
I was speaking, actually a few weeks ago, and somebody asked me, a young person, well, how do you know? How do you decide on what do you wanna do in life? And I said to her, you have to have passion. It. Whatever career you decide or whatever direction you take, it's gonna get hard. It's gonna get hard no matter what. So you have to have passion, you have to have determination for what you believe, and you're willing to work hard and smart to get wherever you wanna go.
So, back to your question, I started in litigation, I liked it. I, I have a phenomenal mentor, an attorney at our firm. I, I loved working with him, and to this day, he's my mentor. But litigation was just not, I mean, it's one side fighting the other in a legal sense, money exchange. And that was, I mean, it wasn't, the passion wasn't there for me.
So I decided, look back on my life. I mean, immigration has been my life. My personal life, it's a passion for me. It's a passion. I, I'm grateful to the attorneys that have helped me become a Canadian citizen, become a US citizen, you know, so I was like, this is something that I, I have a passion for and I know that I can contribute to the world in this way.
So, I, again, another huge challenge. There was no immigration practice at our firm. So I started the practice from zero. I gradually transitioned from litigation, started studying, going to courses, training. I mean, I have pictures reading at night and stack of immigration books, getting mentors, talking to people, getting first few cases in, getting my work out there, doing good work, adding value to our clients.
And gradually the practice grew and grew and grew. And I have a very established, reputable, well-regarded practice that I love, and we are helping our country thrive. And that fuels me every day. But it was, it's been a challenge. It's a challenge every day. It's how you, how do you approach it?
So I mean, through that, obviously you found your passion it sounds like In what you do.
Yeah. I mean, I, as difficult as this work is right now, immigration has always been difficult. It's a very emotional practice regardless of the environment, people are leaving families behind. So, for the employer and I, my practice is corporate immigration. So, and I wanna make this clear because I, I do get a lot of emails and calls literally before this, before talking to you, Hey, I have an immigration question.
Well, there's a lot of immigration questions that I cannot answer on purpose, because I wanna be the best at what I do. To me, that has been becoming a very niche practitioner. I am employment based immigration, so we work with employers who are hiring foreign talent. Many of those are already in the United States going to school, and they graduate from top universities in the country, and they have a job with an employer in the United States.
So my, my work is partnering with those employers so that they can obtain work visas, green cards for that talent that is very loyal. They're hard workers and they’re innovators, and they typically stay very long with their employers and adds tremendous stability to the workforce.
Now, in the environment that we're in today, where immigration is very volatile in all aspects, and again, I'm right now speaking just legal immigration, my clients are, are afraid to go out.
They're afraid to go to the work site even though they're, they have full papers. They're here legally, but they don't look American. Some of them don't, and they're just, just because of how they look, they're afraid to go out. That's not America to me, that's not the America that I, that I am, that I love and that most Americans love.
I think we've got a little bit, not a little, we've gone way far out there, and I hope that that comes back somewhere into the center because this is not sustainable for our country. It's difficult in many areas.
In respect to that and hard, yeah.
So that is that passion, it’s that knowledge, literally. And when I email my team, because they're getting the emails too, and it's like we, we were meant for this. We have overcome. You know, prior to Trump administration, for four years we survived. Our clients did well because we were here to guide them and help them. And because we remain calm and strategic rather than raising our hands up and saying, we can't do this. Or, and we talked a little bit about this before we started, you just have to step back, pause and not overreact because otherwise it is, is chaos on both sides. And that doesn't help anybody.
I'm going to shift gears a little and go back to more to the athletic aspect. 'cause endurance, athletic seemed to maybe, I don’t know if this is the right word, but just say, entered your life almost unexpectedly, or you weren't necessarily planning for it. So like you said, you went from never running a marathon to completing almost now 29 across five, six.
Is it still five continents, or Is it more now? Six. It's just so amazing to me and. Most recently, you've started on ultra marathons, and so did I miss anything in there as far as your accomplishments?
Yes. Dancing with the Stars.
Okay. So I'm curious, how old were you when you, when that first yes happened that you opened yourself up to doing an event?
It was actually in law school, so that's late twenties, early thirties, or as a lawyer, as a student, you read a lot. I was reading tremendously amounts and sitting a lot. As a physical therapist. I was very active. I mean, it's just part of the practice. You're,you're walking with your patients, you're exercising with your patients.
That was just part of my life, and I go from that to being extremely sedentary. Now, I didn't run marathons or did anything like that. I helped my clients do that to my patients, but it wasn't part of my life. Then when I started going to law school, I was like, oh my gosh, I have to do something. This is just not, this is not the way I wanna live.
I mean, I just, I knew from, literally from working with my, my patients as a physical therapist that I admire, the ones that stayed active and they retire and they climb mountains and they ran marathons and they took back road trips and bicycles and I mean, to me, and that, that's my goal. So how do I, how do I get there?
And the way to get there was I started a 5K and another 5K and another 5K. And then somebody was like, well, there's this thing, 10K, what are we doing? I was like, so there I went. And then I had a friend that ran the Boston Marathon. At that point, I had not run a marathon in my life. The most I had done was a half-marathon.
And I had no intentions of running a marathon, let alone the Boston Marathon. So she's like, Giselle, I just came back from Boston. This is right up your alley. You have to do this. The energy in the room, the people, the, I mean, you just, it's just, it's just you. Kind of like, are you kidding me? I haven't run. There's no way.
She's like, just, just start. And that's like everything. That's how everything starts. You just take that first step, make that goal. So I thought, well, I mean, the worst that could happen is I don't qualify, or I can't do it. So I started training, and I qualify for Boston on my first marathon. It was a Jacksonville marathon.
Now, granted, I couldn't walk the next day, but I, I had no idea of how to pace myself. I was learning as I was going, but I did it. And, and that just kind of started my endurance training or endurance life, I guess. After I've run, Boston is a Boston Marathon for those that are runners. It’s, it is epic. It is absolutely amazing.
Out of my 29, 28, I've run Boston now six times and it just, it, and I, I, I qualify for this year and I didn't run this year because I, I'm doing the ultras and, and Cape Town, so it just didn't fit the schedule. But it's, it's amazing. So, back to that's how I started, and that's how anybody can start. I, it wasn't, I wasn't a unicorn. I'm not a unicorn.
And then Iron Man, it was similar situation, it’s something obviously I, well not obvious, but something that I wanted to do. Never had time to train, couldn't figure out how to do it. I had done halves, and then again, I qualified for Boston, but something happened anyway. I could, I didn't. Long story. The registration closed, and I, my name wasn't, long story was like I couldn't run Boston and I was crushed because I had trained. And anyway, someone said to me, well, you said what is something else that you wanted to do, you haven't had a chance to do yet? And I was like, well, an Ironman. And they're like, okay, well, train for that.
So did you, if I understand this, so you went from marathon to Ironman?
Marathon, cycling was part of that. I had to learn how to swim to an Ironman.
Okay. But so did you do any smaller triathlon in the meantime? Okay.
No. There are some people, no, there was some, my husband, for example, went right into his first Ironman, but that's a different conversation.
I did various sprints, I did Olympics, I did haves, and then I did. Ironman, but I mean, it's a big jump even from a half to an Ironman. There, the, the volume of training that you have to put in there while working, while building a practice. It just, and again, it, it all goes back, back to how we started speaking, the mindset.
There were challenges all the way. I mean, you have to get up at five o'clock in the morning. You have to be in the pool at five 30 in the morning, and then you have to go to work when you're potentially tired. I train in the morning at five 30 and train how to run at six o'clock in the afternoon, and then start all over the next day.
But I, I had that fire in me that this is something that I wanted to do. When I finished my first one, it wasn't like checked off, I'm done. I wanted to do more, and part of it was the structure that it forced me to have. And people, some think people think sometimes, I mean, I literally, I have a little planner that I, every day I write in the things that I'm gonna do.
For some people, that's boring and you cannot, they can't handle it. That's how I, that gives me freedom. That and the structure of training for an Ironman or a marathon or an ultra, it carries into other areas of my life and it allows me to be able to manage the work that I need to do for my clients, the, all the uncertainties that come with it, because my mind is already trained, at least in that area, to calm, to adjust, to shift, to go beyond the I'm giving up and just taking that next step and saying, oh, this wasn't too bad, and keep going.
You've answered some of my questions within, within that, which is great. Let me just go back just for a moment. When you finished that first endurance event, did you know right then and there that you are gonna do more? Or sometimes people, like, I am never gonna do that again, like I did, and then the next day I am like, oh, maybe I could do.
So, for me, it has been, I'm doing this again, as tired as I was. Okay. The first Ironman I finished, I crossed the finish line with a smile, and then after that I was in the medical tent, so I was depleted.
I really, I mean at the, the adrenaline got me to the finish line, that determination, that passion that I was not giving up. And I was crossing the finish line. And I did. But I mean, and you've seen athletes cross that finish line and they then collapsed. I didn't collapse necessarily, but they did take me to the, the medical tent.
So I was like, I mean, I had put it all there, but no, I was, I, I had that feeling. I was good. Do it. So, I mean, and we've kind of touched on this ultra-marathon. So I, one that I just did was in December. December 7th. Yeah. Somewhere in there. And it's one that I had done. So my first ultra was 10 years ago, exactly 2015.
That was my only ultra. And back then, and it was the same one that I did in this December, I said to myself, I'm gonna come back, and I'm gonna do this again. I had no idea when. The timing was, had not arrived. I just knew in the back of my mind that I was gonna do that course again.
And now, and there's other things that have happened in my life. I'm in a rental, a home for various reasons. I just thought I need, I had so much challenges, so many challenges that I was looking for something that would help me ground myself again and give me hope and get me back into alignment. And I thought, this is what I'm gonna do. I'm doing that ultra marathon that I promised myself 10 years ago that I was gonna do. And I did, and after I, I finished that one
Good for you.
I said, I'm doing another one. And now the next one is two weeks from now.
Of course, there's the physical aspect, that sense of accomplishment from a physical, but then there is the mindset, the soul. I mean that when you cross that finish line, the feeling that it gives you. Can you talk a little bit about that? I mean, do you feel, did you feel that it gave you more confidence that if you've set your mind to do anything, you can do it? Can you talk a little bit about that sense of accomplishment?
I mean, to me the sense of accomplishment is not just at the finish line. It's every step of the way. So that day, this particular ultra called the Guana 50K, and it's a national preserve.
It's beautiful. There is four loops of six point something, I can't remember. Five point something, I can't remember the the length, but it's four loops. I went, I trained, I prepared. The day of the ultra. It rained all day. I checked the weather again and again in the hopes that it was gonna change.
So the event was on Sunday, Saturday. I spent the whole day looking like, come on, come on. Just stop. Nah, you want it to run Guana, run Guana. So I was like, okay, here we go. I wanted to do this, I'm gonna do it no matter what. And then so I have, and you may remember this, I ran Antarctica. That was my third marathon. I thought if you ran a marathon in Antarctica, you can handle.
And one of my Boston marathons, I wanna say it was 2016, somewhere in there, the weather was horrendous. Again, rain all day, but not just rain. We had hail, we had wind headwinds. I mean, if you look back and I, I can't remember the year, if it was 16. It was, it was the worst ever. People were going into the medical tents. There were DNFs. I mean, it was just bad. And I, so again, I thought you've done that, you've done Antarctica.
So what, it's gonna rain. Big deal. Go for it. Worst that could happen is I stop somewhere and say I'm giving up. But I, I, I knew I was gonna finish, so I went in, in the rain. I was the last person to cross the start line and I almost, I mean, it wasn't on purpose. I was trying to, I had on a bra. I had the phone on the back and I couldn't get the thing in because I had a jacket on top of it and I wasn't used to it.
So here I am, everybody, the gun goes, everybody runs. And I'm like trying to get my thing. And I was like, oh, you have to kidding me. And then the watch, I hadn't started it. I mean, this was the beginning of the thing, and everybody, it's out there making the first turn, and I'm still standing at the finish line, playing with my phone and my watch.
But I thought, that's okay. This is your race, not their race. You have a plan, you've trained, follow the plan. So I started my little run. I was the last for probably the first five, six miles. And because it's a loop, some people were coming around and flying by me. It's okay. This is your race. And to your point of that, that excitement at the end of the finish line, no, I had that excitement every the the cross.
And I literally said to the counter guy, this is my first, okay, here we go, three more. And the last one I was like, yay, this is the last one. You'll be become, you’ll be seeing me back soon. And, and that last one was hard. But as I, as I passed certain areas, I was that tree. Bye, this is the last time I'll see you today.
I mean, I just, I just, you know the curiosity too. Oh, I wonder if that puddle is getting better or worse. I mean, we had to go around the puddles. It was, yeah. It, it was, it was chaos. But I, I, again, I, after that I was like. I felt I end, I, I finished less about half an hour. So I was aiming for six and a half finish time, and I finished just under six hours.
But it was, I had a plan. I followed the plan. I didn’t get sidetracked with when, whatever anybody else is doing, I, I mean, sure I deviated here and there, but I had adjusted and the whole time, six hours, I was in a high, like in a, I wouldn't say high in a flow stay, literally taking in nature, taking in my surroundings, okay, this is the pace, I'm gonna walk, run, there's the puddle, I'm gonna go over there.
I need my Gu now. And, and just people were passing, Hey, high five, blah, blah, blah. And then eventually I started passing them. Because I had a plan, I was very, very consistent on my speed and what I was gonna do. And most of them started out way too fast. And five mile, five hours in, your body starts re reminding you that you've been doing this for five hours in the rain.
And then I had all the energy in the world, literally. I was like, I was actually, they were, they were drafting some of them drafted with me. And, and this is that camaraderie too, when you're running with other people that, that push you forward. So I finish with actually a friend that was in the race with me, and when I came in, I came up to her probably we were four miles or so from the finish line.
And I said to her, we're, we're gonna do this together, we're gonna stay together. And I just adjusted my pace. And we ran in together, across the finish line together. So the, the whole day, like I said, it was, it was a, it, it was a lift, um, not just crossing that finish line. As I look back, I'm like, this was great.
It's, I mean, part of it too, like you said, is the journey correct. The training, the discipline, everything that it took for you to, to get to that point. And there's something to be said,, too, I think, in these events about the community.
Yes.
Of other people inspiring each other. Supporting each other.
Yeah. So you remember when I was coming in as I did the laps, we, we were cheering each other. I mean, with the people that were passing me or I was passing them, it was like we've been competing against each other. Like we were competing against ourselves as to whatever we could do the best that we could do that day for us.
And yes, the community is, is amazing for anyone that that is in, in, in any sports really. Those communities are so valuable. I mean, for me, even right now with an ultra marathon, so this was my second, now I'm gonna do my third and I mean, I had to get new. I mean, I, I didn't have trail running shoes. What I used in Antarctica was not gonna work here because those were Gore-Tex, although in the rain could have worked, but they were too heavy.
It being a whole bunch of things that I'm learning that I. It's brand new, but by talking to other people, oh, how do you do this? How do you? It, it's that sharing that goes back and forth. That is, that is so good. And again, that carries into your work life. That carries into your day-to-day life. Right. The importance of supporting each other and helping each other
And not correct, necessarily competing against each other. For the
Correct, yeah,
for the good of the whole essentially
Correct.
and yourself. Yeah.
So would you say that was the event that's maybe stood out the most to you or no?
No. I mean, it stood up in a sense that, again, I'm at a, a time in my life where, and many of your listeners may be too, we may think, or may, may be told, or who, you know, we are in our fifties, sixties, whatever in life.
You've lived your best life and I'm of the mindset that no, I am literally beginning. How many times we hear, well, I would like to be where I am right now, but with at 20 years old and you want that body, that, that energy, blah, blah blah with the knowledge and the stability potentially that you have now. And I'm like, that's exactly like I am, I am making an effort to stay physically and mentally fit and have the knowledge and that mindset of, of a more seasoned person and carry that for the next 50 years. So to me, I am like at the prime of my life. And what, what I have ahead of me and all of us do if we think that way. It's amazing. It's just amazing.
I will complete my seventh marathon, my seventh content marathon this year. And then I have a whole bunch of other goals after that and goals with my own practice. I mean, I've published a book now, my second one, relating to immigration. That takes time, that takes passion.
It's time that I could have been running or could have been doing watching movies or who, whatever. But again, to me it was also tremendous learning experience, the discipline to come in here every day and write a little bit every day, do the research again, and that carries from the exercise on the endurance part of my life to other areas.
And that's why I adore doing all of this. And that's probably why when I finish one, I'm looking for the next one because I know. What it does for me, I'm so much mentally strong. It's not the physical piece so much because literally when I was training for the second one, it's funny 'cause gosh, that trail is hard.
It's very technical. The one that I'm gonna be doing in two weeks, it's designed for mountain bike, not for necessarily trail running. It's a hiking, a mountain biking trail. So people use poles to hike it, mountain bikers uhhuh it. And I was like, oh my goodness, what am I gonna do here? So the first time I literally, so I ran the trail the first time without signing up for the event.
And, and I was like, I don't think I'm gonna sign up for this. 'cause I fell, I twisted my ankle. I, the course was not clearly marked because it's not a running trail. Then I thought, okay, this is something you wanna do. Step back, come back another time. This was your first trial. You cannot just give up here.
And I came back the second, I mean little, I've been going there for last four weekends. It's an hour from my house and I go, I train. But the last few, last two weekends that I've been there, I found runners that are preparing for the race. And I stopped them and they talk to me and I ask, Hey, tell me about the race.
How do you train? I mean, I have no idea if we're going counterclockwise or this endurance events are a little like, part of the event is that they don't tell you things ahead of time. Things like the Boston Marathon, I know the course inside out. This one, I have no idea if I'm gonna be running counterclockwise or clockwise.
It makes a huge difference. That uncertainty and overcoming that uncertainty. It's powerful. So I, again, talking to, to, and then they told me, oh, we don't know and they won't tell you. So we run it one way and we run it the other way. So that's what I've been doing. Anyway, to the point that last weekend I was there, I ran 20 miles on that trail and I felt comfortable and confident enough to sign up.
So I did, but it took me a few months. So going back to the certainty of, you know, I prepare, I started to train, I talked to people, how do I feel about this? And one of those times before I had signed up, I was just mentally exhausted and I stopped, I walked, stopped, walked, stopped, walked, got to my car. I was done mentally.
And five minutes later, I was like, I could have done another loop. I knew physically I could have done another loop. There was no reason why, but my mind was exhausted. Exhausted because it was so new to me that I was overusing energy just to get to the next three or get over the next rock or over the next whatever challenge was.
And that was draining me. And I just, I was just, it wasn't physical. It was up here. Now that I've done it enough times, I'm like, oh, okay. I can deal with this.
Yeah. it is amazing how powerful do you wanna say the mind is, and how it's so integral to the event and what you're doing? I think sometimes that mindset is harder than they physical aspect.
Absolutely. It is, for sure, Genell. It is for sure. I mean, we underestimate what we can do every day. Every day.
Mm-hmm. Because you actually shared in a recent LinkedIn video that you almost didn't sign up for this third ultra-marathon, right? You asked the question, have you ever wondered what's possible beyond your fear? So I guess a combination question here in those situations, maybe whether it had been in work or now when you're taking on new challenges like you do, I mean fear I'm, I'm assuming, shows up. How do you work around that? Or what do you feel causes the fear and how do you get through it? How do you get through that? Because I think that stalls, I know it has stalled for me on occasion, but you have to learn to work through it.
One of the ways to work through it is work through it the first time. That's the hardest. So again, just like to some degree I just explained for this, for this ultra that I'm training for, just getting out there onto that trail for the first time.
It was extremely hard. So that is, to me, that's the hardest. You just to get started. And once, I mean, it's almost like, I mean, for people that are writing books, you hear all the time. You just, you actually, do you know Steven Pressfield, the author Steven Pressfield?
Yeah.
So he talks about resistance. Mm-hmm.
He has a whole book. And actually, in one of my training runs, I was listening to his book, I know, I think It's The Art of War. The Art of War. And then he, the second part of that is I think becoming a pro or something to that effect. But both books are about resistance. We all have it. All of us. So I encourage people that have this question, that literally is all of us, to listen to what he had to say because he also talks about his, his resistance to sitting down and writing his book.
He's an author. That's, that's his job. But it doesn't come that naturally to him. He has to get started and once he gets going, well, you know, oh, well I can do another 10 minutes. Oh, well I can do another. And the other is habit. Once you start creating that habit, it's like brushing your teeth the first time in kids when they're starting to learn to trust, brush your teeth or eat the vegetables like that.
And then it's like you don't think about it. You go to brush your teeth like, you know. So it's getting over the first resistance. Keep going because it will get better. Having that community also that you have, like I said, the running community, we talked about it, or the, the at work, the same thing. The immigration community. I mean, they're rallying and supporting each other. That's a huge part also of overcoming resistance and fear because you're not alone. You have all thei people that are there lifting you up and then making it a habit in, in the sense of sports or work. Once you can create that habit, the the energy that is required to get it done is so much lesser, and now you can move that extra energy onto something new.
That's how I moved from the marathon to the swimming to the Ironman. 'cause now I have a foundation to build from and that is beautiful when you can stack and stack and stack and stack and it, it helps. The next challenge is not as difficult. Yeah. And that's why I think for all of us, we're at a stage where we have overcome so much.
I mean, we talk, we're talking now about what I have, but I, everyone, everyone has overcome challenges. And my messages, literally what I look I did with this ultra is, okay, tell me what I did and I'm gonna kind of read this to you because I put it, I put Life Execution Translation Plan. So I have my one of five 50k, prepare and trustthe training.
How does that translate into life or work? Build systems, trust them. And trust myself. That's what I did for Guana. I prepared and I trusted the plan. I trusted what I had, despite the chaos around me. Reset early and consistently. Yeah, there were challenges. There were puddles. There was my glasses fell off, the, I fell the waters, whatever was in there, I reset.
I pause and I did that consistently. I work. Don't wait until depleted. We all do that. We all wait, you know, four o'clock. We keep pushing on, I’m the worst. Getting beyond the email. I cannot pull away from the emails I need to learn, but when my brain says, you've got enough, you have to walk away. 10 minutes, go outside, take a breather.vIt rejuvenates your mind.
Adjust the plan without panic, I mean. When it started raining before I left my house, I was like, okay, what do I do in the rain? I'm gonna have to pull back my speed of whatever I wanted to do. I need to have some protection from the rain. I know I'm gonna get cold very quickly,
I adjust. I work, pivot. Without self-criticism, I can't control the weather. I can't. It's beyond. So what? How can I adjust to whatever chaos is happening? Focus by a mile by mile. That's what I did. One mile at a time. I wasn't thinking about the 50k, the 31 miles, one mile at a time. Every mile was a win. Focus on the next best action at work or whatever else that you're doing.
No drama. When it got hard, it got hard. There were quite a few times in there. I was like, are you kidding, another freaking loop? No, this is what I signed up for. It's okay. I'll be stronger at the end. So calm, mindfully. Execution under pressure.
And the last one. Finish strong. I knew I wanted to finish and I wanted to finish with a smile. I, this was, I, I wanted a positive and I, and I do, and I did end the days and the weeks proud, not exhausted.
So that was like, and I read this almost every day to kind of say, okay, you do it here. That translates into life.
Yes, yes. So much so. I love that you did that comparison.
Yeah. Yeah. So I, it's all aspects and I have to remind myself 'cause it doesn't come naturally to me.
Like I said, I mean, I could be behind the computer all day long and, and it, it pains me because I know I need to walk away. I mean, my brain is telling me you're making mistakes. Just, no, no, no. Just one more. Just one more. You can't, you just.
So I can see how too, now, like you said, that you, you wanna keep doing these events because you see how much it's translated into your other parts of your life, whether it may be personal and or professional. And it just makes you a stronger person overall.
And, when you feel better, you, you are much better to the world, and that is also amazing. Very true. So it's not like self, I mean it's selfish. Yeah. I wanna feel better. I wanna do everything that I can do better for me, but when I feel comfortable and confident and have energy and I can recharge, I am so much better for everyone around me in our world. And that is so awesome.
So many women listening may be thinking, that sounds inspiring, but I just don't have the time. Right. You've built, as we've talked about, an extraordinary professional life, you do these amazing endurance events, you're doing ballroom training. I mean you have a family, all of that.
Well, we talked a little bit about the importance of having habits to help reduce that restriction or reduce the friction, I should say. What, if anything, did you have to stop doing, if you will, to make space and how do you protect that energy now? Or what? What would your message be to others?
You have, you have to decide, and what is important for me is different than what is important for others. What I give up. And maybe I. That's a very good question because I even talked to my husband now and I was like, oh my god, all those movies that we went to watch and all the restaurants that we went to and when we were physical. So my husband is a physical therapist and back then again, we were not doing any of these endurance events.
We were not doing any of this training. Our life was, we worked as physical therapists. We went to the movie. Every new release, we were there. We, that was part of our life. We were proud of watching the new releases and going to the new restaurant that opened up in town. That has gone from my life.
I, going to a movie, it's a huge treat. In fact, I think it was two years ago with my husband's birthday and I said, Jeff, what would you like to do for your birthday? We're gonna do whatever you wanna do for one day. And so we bicycled that day, we had kayaks, and we took the kayaks on the intercostal, and we went for dinner, and then we went for a movie.
That was two years ago, and that was the last time that I've been to a movie theater myself, like physically. I've watched some movies here, but, so that's a part of my life. There is restaurants here that are opening up. I have, I have no idea, and I have, I have no interest. It's just my, my interests have changed, or I have adapted to facilitate the things that I know.
Another example, I mean, I. When I was doing the, the ballroom dancing and the, the, those parties are at night. They start at eight o'clock and they finish at midnight. Well, I know that if I'm there until midnight, there's no way I'm gonna get up at five o'clock in the morning to go to train. So at 10, I was like, you know what, Cinderella, I have to go. I'm gonna turn into a pumpkin goodbye.
So I have to make my own rules and not break them and just, this is the line I, for business. I go to a lot of events that are evening events. There's beer and there is wine, and there is whole bunch of other stuff. And I excuse myself and I just go, sorry, I'm happy to be here.
I'm happy, whatever, but I, this is my other, so that's one. I mean, you just have to make, that doesn't work for everybody. But I've made it work for me because I know my bigger priorities, what they are, so that also gives me the time.
One of, because one of my favorite quotes of yours from that chapter, I think ties into this was “Growth requires us to release. Create space. And create the unknown.”
Yeah. That's, thank you for bringing that up. So that's how, that's how I create space. That's how I release things that are just, they just don't fit in into what I wanna accomplish next. And I have to be comfortable just saying, okay, I'm letting, because again, it's kind of like drinking from that full cup.
You just can't add anymore. It's gonna overflow, so you have to let go, release, allow. Create space so you can absorb something else in. So for those, and we all, we are, we are all guilty of this. Let's just add more. Let's add more. And we feel good. Yeah, we feel good.
More is better, right?
Because you know what? We're adding more. But you can't. You just can. And you have to be as hard as it is, let go of certain things. Create a space so you can bring in more.
You recently wrote that turning 58 felt like a quiet but powerful reminder that the possibilities are still endless. So, for women listening who may quietly wonder if they're too old to try something new, what do you want them to understand about this stage in life? And why do you believe midlife can be one of the most powerful and expansive chapters? Not winding down, but a beginning.
I absolutely, and I really, really hope that anyone listening to this, whether they're 50 or they're younger, I mean, we may have people, I wish I would know what I know now when I was younger.
Again, it is what it is and I take it all as it's been presented to me and I'm not changing anything. But, I so for the youngers or the olders, but particularly the olders, because it's the audience that we're listen, that we're talking to. Again, I was afraid, you don't know how afraid I was when I turned 50.
I have no idea why, but 49, I was literally, I was one of those thinking, oh my gosh, I'm just at the top of the mountain and it's, it's gonna come right down. I was so, I mean, I, hormonal changes. There's so much that was happening and I have, I look back and I'm like. I've, I've mentally and physically transformed myself to a much better person working through the eight years.
So it doesn't happen overnight. I read a ton. I read a ton on positive mindset. I try to, I mean, my mentors, virtual mentors are people that I admire. I mean, sometimes you don't have the one, the, the ability to meet in person. But I look at people that are doing things that I, I think are fascinating and just trying to say, okay, how, how can I get closer to that?
How can I adapt my life? And I keep on saying to myself, one of my favorite books too is called, I think it's called Comfort Zone, or I think it's called Comfort Zone. But anyway, the whole, the whole point is overcoming discomfort. That is what is gonna make us grow. Let me see the Comfort Crisis. By Michael Eastern.
It's not a book that I would've picked up necessarily, but I was listening to a podcast by Peter Atia, and he's one of the ones, you know, a mentor in a way, in a sense that I, I, he's overcome a lot of health challenges. He's efficient, his mindset and longevity guru. And so I listened to his podcast and he was interviewing Michael Eastern and Michael was talking about his book and da dah dah dah, dah.
And I was like, oh my gosh. So have to, I got his book and it's fascinating and it's all about overcoming comfort. We are, we are just too adjusted to, that's not. Our ancestors evolved because they had to overcome comfort. If we don't, we are not gonna evolve. We are meant to overcome discomfort, overcome fear.
Overcome anxiety so that we can be the best version of ourselves. So for those 50-year-old women, I say, if you wanna be the best version of yourself, if you wanna thrive in your fifties, sixties, seventies, overcome discomfort, that is one of the biggest things that you can do to be the best version of yourself.
And we can, we were meant for this. We were meant to grow. Yes. We were meant to evolve.
I know for me, when I get too comfortable, I get bored.
Yeah. So, but it is hard to work through that comfort zone in anything. I mean, and again, it makes, it's just how I'm saying it. It may sound for people that are listening, oh, it is so easy for her.
It's not. It's not. When I was training for Guana, one of those times on that trail, I fell six times, on my knees and I got up, took a breath and said, no, we are not giving up. We're gonna finish this loop. I could have raised my hand up and say, I'm done, and many people do, but I just know that that's not what the best version of me would do.
And if I wanna aspire to be her, I need to act like her. And eventually I will be the next, the next version of me. But if I keep holding back, oh, I fell now, I can't go. No, that's not gonna make me grow. Now, of course, if I had a broken ankle and blah, blah, blah, I just had a knee that was bleeding, uh, whatever, 10 years ago, maybe 20 years ago, that would've happened to me,
yeah, I probably would've said I'm done. I can't. So I'm not saying if that happens to you and you say I am done, that's wrong. I was there. But I have grown on purpose and that's what I think we, whatever you are today, I would challenge them to pick something. I mean out of, we talked about so much. They can work on habits, they can work on mindset.
They can work on their next endurance event like my client did. Wasn't a runner, now he’s doing a 10K. Whatever it is, pick one thing that out of this conversation, you can look back at the end of the year or even look back at the end of this month, pick a little goal that is gonna bring you to the next goal.
So, at the end of the year, so you wanna run a 5K, well start with a mile around the block and at the end of the month celebrate that and then, and then find other people that are doing the same thing. Talk to them, encourage each other. That accountability, that community, and keep building. I mean, we've given tons and tons and again, I'm not, this was not easy.
It has, it’s not not easy to learn different languages, to adopt, to adjust to living in two different countries. Go from physical therapy to becoming an attorney. Go from now exercise to endurance, to talking to you. This is all new. This is all new. I mean, this, this didn't exist five years ago that we could get into this conversations on, right on Zoom or whatever it were.
It. It is just, and now we have AI. The world is evolving so quickly that we have to, we have to work on our minds so that we can continue to evolve as quickly as the world and we can. That is my message. There is no restriction on what we can accomplish except for what we believe that we can do or not do.
Like the saying “if you think you can or if you think you can't, you’re right.”
Correct. Yes. Yes. So before we close out, I just wanna ask if there was anything else you'd like to add to our conversation?
Today’s been pretty awesome. I wanna say thank you for the opportunities. It's so great. I mean, we, we did a lot of work together. We did a book together and, and it's, so again, this is a community coming back to this, we met two years ago.
We connected, yes, you have accomplished big, big things. You have overcome a lot. And we haven't talked about any of that because I'm the guest on your show. But you have overcome tremendous, tremendous challenges and they have grown you and they have made you who you are today. So for the listeners, hopefully they'll look you up too and know your background and see how the amazing things that you're doing and now you're doing the podcast so that you can continue to expand that knowledge and that energy.
So I am just grateful. Yeah, I just, yeah, it's just,
I really want women to embrace the fact that your age is a number and you can continue to do whatever it is that you set your mind to.
And you've mentioned, you've mentioned a few times that you've seen things on LinkedIn and that you've brought in. So, yeah. I mean, I do have a very active presence on LinkedIn. Some of it is my, my immigration work. That's one of my ways to contribute to the community. I still wanna have someone that they can trust and follow that it's not gonna create noise, but tame the noise in my professional life. But also, I do believe that that other part of my life, the one that we've talked about today, the endurance, the wellness, the mindset. I do talk about that on, on my LinkedIn profile because I, it's part of who I am and I think it's also an inspiration that we all need. So if they wanna follow me, they're welcome to, and, and, and do that.
Yep. We will. I will be, I should say, putting her links like LinkedIn and any other links too, so that she can learn more about her in the show notes. So make sure to check that out. And then I think this conversation is such, if you wanna say a powerful reminder that growth doesn't require rushing, or forcing or proving, but rather it requires presence, consistency, and the courage to keep choosing forward motion.
Because your story from immigration to reinvention, to endurance shows us that expansion is always available when we're willing, again, to step into that discomfort with intention and with heart. So again, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom, your energy, and your lived experience so generously today.
And to everyone listening, and if this conversation stirred something in you, please honor it. Take one step, just go for that walk or maybe just sign up for that one thing, whatever it might be. 'cause trust that steady effort to carry you forward. So until next time, keep renewing what's possible, and again, thanks so much, Giselle.
Bye bye.
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