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About the Episode
In todayβs episode of Professional Troublemaker, weβre focusing on a Rising Troublemaker. Rising Troublemakers are teens and young adults who are absolute game changers and are out there living their audacious lives and dreams right now.
Today, Luvvie is talking to Zaila Avant-garde. Zaila is a multi-talented powerhouse, with success springing from all her endeavors – and all before the ninth grade. We got to know Zailaβs name when she won the Scripps National Spelling Bee – the first African American to win. But along with her triumph there, she holds three Guinness World Records for her basketball prowess and was named SportsKid of the year in 2021 by Sports Illustrated Kids
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Zaila is curious and driven and works hard. She knows what she wants to do and has the discipline and focus on going after it. Zaila and Luvvie talk about how she uses visualization to reach her goals, how she was able to harness the discipline she needs to reach those goals, and how she has developed confidence through doing.
About the Guest
Zaila Avant-garde
Zaila Avant-garde is a multi-talented powerhouse, with success springing from all her endeavors – and all before the ninth grade.
Hailing from New Orleans, Louisiana, she won the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee, making her the first African-American to win in almost 100 years of the competition. Avant-garde landed on her winning word, murraya βa type of tree βby associating the word with famous comedian Bill Murray, who surprised her by phoning in during her appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Avant-gardeβs spelling triumph is just one entry on a very impressive resume. Along with competing in spelling bees for two years, Avant-garde holds three Guinness World Records for her basketball prowess. She holds the records for the most bounce juggles in one minute with four basketballs, the most basketball bounces in 30 seconds with four basketballs, and ties of the record for most basketballs dribbled at once.
Her success has been celebrated by the likes of Barack and Michelle Obama, LeBron James, and Dr Jill Biden, who attended the bee. She was recently named SportsKid of the Year 2021 by Sports Illustrated Kids.
Avant-gardeβs aspirations continue to grow: she hopes to one day play basketball at Harvard before a career at NASA or in the NBA.
Transcript
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