Celebrity Interview: Professional Snowboarder Kimmy Fasani Talks Breast Cancer & Her Documentary Film

Greg Staffa 0:09

My guest this episode is professional snowboarder, entrepreneur, author, and real estate agent, as well as an ambassador to many causes, Kimi Fashani. Thank you, Kimi, for coming on today.

Kimmy Fasani 0:39

Thank you so much for having me.

Greg Staffa 0:41

So, first off, you're a professional snowboarder. You got going at an early age. What was it about snowboarding that drew you to this?

Kimmy Fasani 0:50

My mom had moved to Trekkie as a nurse and really to pursue just a lifelong passion of living in the mountains. She loved skiing. Once she had me in her early 40s, she decided to pursue that passion with me. She introduced me to skiing. And then by the time I was nine years old, she surprised me with a snowboard. And that just really made me feel like I was on a unique path that a lot of my friends started pursuing at a young age, but it was just being accepted at resorts.

Greg Staffa 1:21

And like you said, at that age, it was a very new thing. Uh, there's a lot of tension between skiers and snowboarders, but I would have to assume that being a woman, especially, was kind of a new thing. What was that like, kind of navigating that? And how does one go about learning to become a professional snowboarder?

Early Snowboarding And Being Outnumbered

Kimmy Fasani 1:41

When I was starting to compete, there was on a good day, there would be one or three women. Uh, at that time, we were teenagers that would show up to the contest. So we were always on the podium together, and it was a very small industry of women that were showing up for contests. I started realizing really early that there was opportunity in snowboarding, and I loved the feeling of being able to progress myself and being pushed by other riders, being inspired by anybody that would show up and ride the terrain park. I'm I definitely focused on more of the freestyle side of things. So being able to learn new tricks and watching my peers and other pros that had already created a career in the industry made me feel like it was something that was attainable. So I learned how to do a backflip and that helped me win nationals three years in a row. And I started seeing that there was a big opportunity for me to maybe make it a career.

Greg Staffa 2:44

And you had mentioned terrain park, and we talked off-camera about this, but this is terrain park is more of a professional setting for things as far as as opposed to doing something more independent out in the backcountry somewhere.

Kimmy Fasani 2:57

Yeah. So a terrain park is a freestyle kind of setting at resorts where they build park jumps and half pipes, and it's an area where you can learn new tricks and kind of progress from different sizes of jumps, or no, you became the first woman to land a double backflip in the terrain park.

Greg Staffa 3:20

Was that something that was a conscious thing that you were doing, or was that just the evolution? I mean, you said you'd learn how to do a backflip. Was that something that you personally, hey, I want to try this double backflip, or was was someone saying, hey, no other woman has done this before? This is something I want to shoot for, or just happened that way.

Progression Mindset And Double Backflips

Kimmy Fasani 3:40

When I learned how to do the backflip, I was influenced by so many of my peers. And learning the double backflip seemed like an equal evolution of that trick, bringing it to the terrain park. I'd landed it in the backcountry and then wanted to see if I could land it in a terrain park because it's more high consequential. You know, the park jumps have been groomed. So the way you're landing is not very forgiving because it's harder. Uh, it's kind of like if you were to watch a skateboarder land on cement, you know, a park at a mountain is hard snow. So doing a double backflip in that seemed like a really validating progression for me. And it was a challenge. It was something that I thought I could do and I wanted to apply myself in a calculated way. Snowboarding is this way of kind of taking yourself through its own college, if you will, in parentheses. You know, you have to learn so many things, so much technique, so much uh goes into every day where you're learning new tricks. So the double backflip was part of that where I wanted to see if I could push my body to learn that trick.

Greg Staffa 4:52

And so you continued on for many years, things were going great, you got married, you had your first child, and you really became an advocate for women becoming mothers in professional sports. Was that something that was was a welcoming thing? Was that a birth because like Tony Hawk, we never hear you know, Tony Hawk is a professional skateboarder, but he's a father of four, but we never hear about him having to speak on behalf of fatherhood or you know, getting your colonoscopy and stuff like that. Was that the the pregnancy and having to deal with sponsors and stuff like that? Was that an an added burden? Was it a welcome burden? Was it something that you you embraced?

Kimmy Fasani 5:36

That's a great question. So when I became pregnant with my first son, many women before me had become mothers, but not many had ever maintained their career, if any. And as somebody that had been in the industry for so long, I started questioning this idea of why can't I be a mother and an athlete? And why doesn't this sport include women who are mothers as athletes in their profession? And I was able to approach my sponsor, Burton, at the time, uh, which I'm thankfully still with. And the owner is a female, her name's Donna Carpenter, and I just explained look, I'm pregnant, my contract's gonna be up in a couple months, and I I don't want snowboarding to be over for me. I, the brand had trusted me for so many years that why wouldn't they trust me now as I'm navigating motherhood? I know that there's gonna be challenges, and mountains are so far away from my baby. So those are things I was gonna have to navigate. If I had sponsors that supported me, it was gonna make it feel a lot more manageable. And so Donna worked with me to help change the verbiage in my contract to make it an easier transition into motherhood, knowing that my career was still gonna be there when I was ready to come back. And eventually that verbiage got shared publicly by Donna so that other brands and the rest of the industries of all sports could take the bullet points that we worked so hard on to make my career feel possible, so that other women in other sports could also use that verbiage and kind of build upon it for their own career.

Greg Staffa 7:22

And what was it like to have to, I guess, put yourself out there like that? I mean, this is the first of many times that you're gonna be putting yourself out there. What was that like to kind of be the forefront of advocating for something and also opening up your own private life to say, you know, I'm a mother, but I'm also a professional snowboarder? I mean, I mentioned, you know, Tony Hawk doesn't have to deal with these kind of things in his daily life of being a professional skateboarder. Was it something that you embraced or was it something that just was the right thing to do? So you endured it.

Kimmy Fasani 7:58

I totally embraced it at that moment because I thought, you know, who, if not me in this exact moment, then who's going to speak up? And I really am a true believer that we all have a voice for a reason. We all have a way to positively impact this world and our lifetime. And I had it was on my heart that I needed to just start advocating for this change to happen because just because I'm a woman and I want to start a family shouldn't mean that my career has to be fully redirected. And especially as a woman in sports, I wanted to change this pattern so that the younger generation never even knew that there was this limitation put on us.

Greg Staffa 8:42

Now, I don't want to diminish any of the advocacy that you've done up until this point, but it almost in some ways pales in the fact of what you were about to take on in your life as far as advocacy. But do you think that going through what you went through with the pregnancy and the that kind of stuff helped for what was going to come around the corner?

Pregnancy, Sponsorships, And Contract Language

Kimmy Fasani 9:05

I believe that every challenge that I've ever had to face or speak up about has made it possible to navigate the next challenge. You know, it's kind of like mountains in my mind. You climb one mountain and it prepares you to climb the next mountain that's bigger. Or if you're a surfer, you know, it's like you're surfing in the ocean and you paddle into one set, it's big, but the next set is going to be bigger. How do you navigate all of those changes? So, yes, the next challenge for me was I was diagnosed with a stage three inflammatory breast cancer. And at that time, I had just welcomed my second baby. So I have two kids, a three-year-old and a nine-month-old. And I immediately had to start now fighting for my life. And we were already in the middle of making a documentary that was really showcasing our life behind closed doors to show a vulnerable lens of what it's like to be athletes. My husband is Chris Ben Chetler, he's a professional skier and artist. And we were both chasing the same conditions. And at that time, you know, we had so many plans and so many amazing things that we were looking forward to as a family of four now. So the cancer diagnosis was something that shocked me and him, but it didn't feel like I couldn't manage it because I was surrounded by community and I had already used my voice. I knew how to be vulnerable and ask for help.

Greg Staffa 10:30

Now, this was 2021 when you discovered it. Was and you said you were in the process of filming the documentary, which is a butterfly in a blizzard, which covers five years of your life. There's one thing of being vulnerable and open when life is relatively normal, but then when you add this stage three diagnosis, was there any concern that this might be too vulnerable?

Kimmy Fasani 10:57

A hundred percent. When I we actually were three years into making the documentary and had filmed final interviews two weeks before I was diagnosed with breast cancer. So we had to open everything back up with the film in a way because we didn't want to limit our story now. You know, we were very vulnerable in how we were telling the story. And when I was diagnosed with breast cancer, it felt like we would do a disservice by not sharing that element of vulnerability because I've lost both parents to cancer. My husband has lost his dad to cancer. You know, cancer is a really scary word, and filming through it wasn't easy, but I also hope that as people watch Butterfly and a Blizzard, they see some type of relatability and adaptability that we as humans have to navigate and typically never in front of a camera. And so the way we have filmed this movie is to show that others and we were not alone. We were not alone in the process. You know, uh, it can feel so isolating to go through these very big challenges of life and having to use your voice and having to ask for help. But when you see other people do that, it feels more comforting and less isolating.

Cancer Diagnosis Reshapes The Documentary

Greg Staffa 12:26

And you said you were wrapping up final interviews and stuff like that before the diagnosis came. The end result then it must be a dramatically different film than what you intended. Is there any regret or any looking back of like maybe we should have done this in two parts? Or was this uh a welcome? I mean, it seems like you get put upon to be an advocate uh regardless of whether you welcome it or not. Was it something that was a difficult choice to to reopen everything, or how did you approach that that mindset?

Identity, Staying Flat, And Self Acceptance

Kimmy Fasani 13:04

Yeah, it definitely was not an easy choice to reopen the film, knowing that we were going to be navigating something again that felt very raw and real, and I wasn't sure if I was gonna live, and I had to be sitting in chemo three weeks after my diagnosis. You know, there was so much change that happened within our family at that moment. And at the same time, I felt like we couldn't stop. We had to know what the ending of this film and just this story was gonna be. And in full transparency, we didn't really know what this documentary was gonna be because the story kept changing. We only intended to make a one-year documentary navigating me and my husband uh as new parents, traveling the world with our new baby, navigating those contract changes. That was our original goal. But then that didn't feel complete and it felt very surface. So we filmed another year, and there's every season for five seasons in a row, we have to face a very big challenge of life, and how we overcome that with resilience and positivity or you know, healing ended up being the story. And thankfully, we had this amazing cinematographer, Tyler Hamlet, and co-director Rose Korr, who helped with all the editing and the real storyline. And Rose was three months postpartum with her second baby watching the footage, trying to figure out what this movie was gonna be. And she put the nail in the head and said, I truly believe this is a story of motherhood, this transition of matrescence that women go through when they become mothers. And the transition, it's almost similar to adolescence and how we change mentally, but nobody's talking about it. And for us, obviously, we were navigating massive changes and challenges. But the story is really how do we transform as humans when we become parents, no matter what is put in our path. And though it was raw and vulnerable and very surreal that we are filming all these crazy experiences, we feel that we did the right thing by continuing to film the story that was happening, so that other people could see themselves in those hard moments, in those dark moments, in those joyful moments, and find peace that we can all overcome so much more than we think we can.

Greg Staffa 15:47

And when you say raw, I mean it really is raw. You had a double mastectomy, and you have not been shy about talking about it, but also revealing it. I mean, there are photographs of you topless showing, you know, what was done. And I had I did I don't want to get too deep into that, but I have to wonder, as a woman, so much of our identity is sexualized. You know, we judge women by the their hair, by their breasts, and everything like that. What was it like just as a woman? Did you feel like there's a little bit of a loss of identity, or did the the matrescence part of you, you know, make up for that?

Kimmy Fasani 16:31

I love that approach to this question because it's true, you know, we as women, our bodies are valued in so many different ways. And even how I looked at my body, I always had long hair, and not that in snow clothes you could see the rest of my body, um, but breasts are a part of us, and it's a very strange feeling to remove a very feminine part of our body that is part of our identity. And yet, when I knew, when my doctor told me the risk of my cancer coming back and the value of having a double nascectomy and staying flat, it was so hard to find visuals of what that would look like. And I chose to be very forthcoming with what it looked like to go through every stage of my cancer because I wanted other people who were going through these transitions with their body to see somebody doing it in a public way that made them feel like they could do it too. And each of us has the choice of how we're gonna navigate any type of change within our body like that, you know? But for me, I wanted it to be more open and a bigger conversation because so commonly we feel forced into reconstruction, and that wasn't an option for me because the risk of my cancer coming back. And so, how do I stay comfortable in my skin as a woman if I'm always expected to have breasts? But I'm told that that could potentially bring my cancer back quicker. I just decided to break the mold. I have an amazing husband who loves me for who I am. You know, I had already had two kids. I I had breastfed. Thankfully, you know, I wasn't the 20-year-old that was diagnosed that hadn't found a partner yet. And I just wanted there to be some type of normalcy around what it looks like to navigate a double mastectomy and staying flat so that others had the ability to prepare for what it might look like for them and to accept that other women are staying flat as well. And at the end of the day, I felt a massive transition. I had to relearn how to look at myself in the mirror. And I had a shaved head, I had no breasts, and I'm pushing a double stroller with two kids in it. Like I felt the curiosity of people looking at me. And I also felt the curiosity within my own body of who am I without these things that have always been my identity. And how beautiful is that that I get to experience this relearning of who I am and self-love and self-care and acceptance. And I'm so proud that I was able to navigate it that way because it made it feel easier, even though it was one of the most challenging times of my life.

Greg Staffa 19:34

And it should be pointed out, you are cancer free as of right now.

Kimmy Fasani 19:37

I am cancer free. I'm four years cancer free, and it feels so good. But I also just acknowledge that there's a lot of people out there that have been through cancer so many times, and I just hold space for that too. So I try to approach every day with presence as much as I can, just being grateful that I got more time to enjoy my beautiful children in this lifetime.

Greg Staffa 20:00

Yeah, not only are you kind of a self-advocate, but you started a foundation. Tell us a little bit about that and what got that started.

Kimmy Fasani 20:07

Yeah. So as we, as my husband and I are quickly navigating all of the questions of how we were going to navigate my treatment, and we had so many incredible resources coming forward. You know, as humans, we want to help each other. And I had great insurance, thankfully. You know, we had an amazing community of friends come forward to help us. Not everybody has those types of resources. And so we decided to start the Benchetler Fasani Foundation, which helps those who've been affected by hardship and loss reconnect to nature. My husband and I both losing other family members to cancer, the mountains were always our way of finding peace and, you know, tranquility during very chaotic and times of stress. So being able to bring people who have been through big challenges in their life, whether it's cancer or loss or uh whatever it is, reconnect to the beauty that nature can provide us. You know, it's not the remedy for everything, but it does create clarity in our minds to move one step at a time, one day at a time, taking baby steps so that we can overcome what we're navigating and stepping away from technology and just really plugging into the beauty that surrounds us so that we allow ourselves time to heal. And sometimes that takes stepping away from any of the distractions and just being and breathing in an open space. Uh, so that's where our foundation kind of lies.

Mountains As Escape And A Life Toolbox

Greg Staffa 21:36

Is there moments of selfishness? Because I I would have to believe that a part of me would like to go back to 2000s when you're doing you know double backflips and just enjoying snowboarding and you know, having a great relationship and stuff like that. And being able to do a double backflip was your biggest uh thought back then. And now all this stuff seems to be 'cause none of this seems to be stuff that you you know, oh, I'm gonna explore doing this or being an advocate for that 'cause this is uh an important cause to me. It seems like you were thrust into a lot of this. I how do you deal with kind and I don't mean selfish as in you know a bad word, but there has to be moments where you wish that uh this wasn't put upon you and you just go back to being the the professional snowboarder and that being your your focus. Is there moments like that or how do you deal with that?

Finding A Voice For Change

Kimmy Fasani 22:33

Life was so simple, you know, uh growing up in the in Tahoe and being surrounded by mountains with an amazing mom, but I also have to just caveat that with it's never been necessarily um a paved road. And I've had to navigate a lot of different types of challenges throughout my life. My dad was uh an aggressive alcoholic and he was a loving man, but just really struggled with that disease. And my mom was working full-time, and there was a lot in my early life that made me realize I was kind of living this duality of childhood, but I also grew up really quick. And mountains became this, I'll use the word escape. It allowed me to meet myself without any of the things that were going on at home. And it allowed me to plug into a sense of presence and being that felt so natural and so pure. And I had it was almost like the mountains were my second mother, and they taught me a lot about my truest being. You know, I could listen to what my intuition was saying and I could feel a different type of energy that was just so liberating and free. So as I navigated my career, and even when I met my husband, we were both kind of on that path of seeing how the mountains and nature could give us so much. And I noticed that as I started navigating parenthood and the challenges that we navigate through butterfly and a blizzard, you know, even into the cancer journey, I was being slowly stripped of that liberation that the mountains provided to me because the all of these challenges kept me from being able to be in the mountains. And I learned how to be with myself without the vastness of the outdoors at my beck and call. And so that ability to just be out in the mountains, that selfishness of just like, oh my gosh, this is everything. It felt like euphoria, it was like slow state in every single day. Now I was having to find that within my body through challenge. And it created so much healing to go through that stripping and that matrescence and that, you know, cancer, I would say, was like the last straw for me where I'm not one to ask for help. And I realized how desperate I was because I was scared that I was gonna die. I had two kids, I have an amazing husband, you know, I've already watched my parents die. So it allowed me actually to do the deepest amount of healing, going through that diagnosis. And I look back at the early days of my snowboarding and I actually think of it as the best building of a toolbox that I could have ever experienced in life. For me, being out in the mountains, every day is different, you know? And it could be looked at even like driving on a highway. You know, you're never gonna pass the same car twice. Uh, the speeds change all the time, the traffic flow is constantly changing. You can never per predict what is gonna happen when you're driving on the highway. And in the mountains, it's kind of like that in a capacity where every day is different. You can make a plan, but the snow changes, the weather changes, your friend group changes. So you're always having to adapt. And when I when I look at how my life has paralleled the need to adapt and the need to speak up to be a good team member, uh, it's been the greatest balance of the pendulum, you know, having all these tools from the mountains and then every challenge that came into my life, I was able to look at those challenges and be like, you know what? I know how to adapt, I know how to overcome. I can do this the same way that I chose to do it in the mountains. And it I wouldn't change anything for the world because of that.

Greg Staffa 26:44

Now, you mentioned the word metrescence, which is the transformation from being a woman to a mother. In reading about your story, I was reminded a lot about here locally in central Minnesota, we had a young child many, many years ago, back when I was a child, named Jacob Wetterling, that was uh kidnapped and killed. And it was only recently that they they found his body. But the connection is his mother, Patty, uh, went on to become an advocate for you know lost children and stuff like that. And it was really thrust upon her to become an advocate given her own personal things. And I almost wonder if you thought about a word, you have metrescence, which is woman to motherhood, but we hear more and more of women to advocate. I'm wondering if you had a word for that, other than resilience, or thought of a word.

Kimmy Fasani 27:39

I love that. Uh, you know, I have not thought of a word for that transition, but I think you know, it could be tied to vulnerability. Um, vulner vulnerability essence. It's like this way of learning who we are, what our boundaries are, and the separation of being fearful of what people think and being intentional with who we are and what we see needing to change. And as we become trusted ambassadors through our lifetime of just friend groups or employers, it's like learning that the things that I am seeing that need to be changed, I can do it constructively and I can ask for change. It might not happen immediately, but the more I speak up about what I am seeing, that's an inequality or something that I really see needs to shift, hopefully there's somebody listening that agrees and can help expedite that learning curve. And for me, as a professional snowboarder, as a mother, as an entrepreneur, I look to my peers who are leading by example, who are speaking up, who are sharing their stories. Uh, and it helps me know that I also have a place to use my voice.

Alaska Homecoming And The Film Ending

Greg Staffa 29:00

I just find it interesting that you hear about so many women from various, you know, reasons being thrust into the spotlight because of something that happened to them that they have to kind of open up their own vulnerability. And so I was just curious if there was a matrescence for that kind of aspect of it all. But yeah, I love that lens. The the film originally was supposed to wrap up and then the the diagnosis uh turned into a five-year thing. At what point did you or the production people say we got our ending? Because I can imagine there's it's hard with more and more being added on to go, well, let's just film a little bit longer. How at what point did you realize that you had Butterfly and a Blizzard done?

Kimmy Fasani 29:47

I really wanted to get back on snow. I wanted to be reconnected with my community in the mountains. I wanted to be back in the vast open mountains that had always inspired me, especially Alaska. And year after year, you watch me try, and I'm shut down by life's challenges and the universe God, all saying not yet. And I finally make a decision, as soon as I'm done with my cancer treatment, to go back to a big snowboarding competition in the backcountry that is called the natural selection tour. And it's where the best of the best backcountry riders, which that's how I would have classified myself at the time, go to show what they're capable of in the biggest mountains. And it's like taking your master's degree to a new level where you have to apply all the things that you've learned through your entire life and you're gonna be put on a face in the mountains. Or let's say, for those that are in the workforce, it's like you're gonna be on the biggest stage and you're gonna be speaking to all of your peers, and they're all listening for a two-minute run or a two-minute speech. What are you gonna say? How are you gonna show up? And so once I got that experience in the mountains and I showed myself that cancer didn't define me and that I could still be a snowboarder and a mother, that was the ending. You know, it's like pursuing passion and not giving up and overcoming challenges and finding yourself anew, but also in an environment that you've always loved, and showing up and showing your peers that we can all go through hard times and step back out into the mountains and still find ourselves again. And that moment in Alaska for me, being with all the people that I have loved so much and being in the mountains that have always taught me so much felt like the homecoming. So we decided that's where the film would kind of close.

Planning Backcountry Lines And Safety

Greg Staffa 31:54

And that is available on streaming on Apple and Amazon as well as some other platforms. It's Butterfly and a Blizzard. I just have to ask, you talk about the backcountry snowboarding. Uh, any skiing that I've done, and it's been a few years, was on paths that were carved out, and there were trees on both sides, and there's a clear path to take on. And you're doing some of the research, uh, some of the stuff that you have done, there are no paths. There are no turn left here or go this way. When you're doing a competition like that and you're doing these backcountry, you know, snowboarding events, how much planning? I mean, are there aerial shots that you're looking at going, this is the best way to do it, or is it instinct? How does just to go off the topic a little bit, how does something like that get planned? Or is it just your your skill sets?

Kimmy Fasani 32:50

I typically do get an opportunity to see the mountains either from the ground, like you're standing below them and you're taking photos. Sometimes you can have a helicopter to look above to be able to get the aerial footage of what you're about to ride and how you want to navigate it. There's also something called touring up, where you kind of hike up the mountain so you get a very firsthand experience of what you're gonna ride down. A lot of the experience that we take when we're in the backcountry is what we would like to call like a blank canvas. You're looking at a mountain and each person's gonna see that mountain differently. And if you were to go to Mammoth Mountain, which is a beautiful resort in California, it's like you have all those carved paths on the mountain that you can get a chairlift up and ride down. The backcountry, nothing is specific. Like you can't say, I'm gonna take that chairlift up that run. It's very much so from your own creation and your own mental capacity of creating an art piece on the snow. And so it's very creative, but it takes a lot and a lot of experience, avalanche courses and backcountry knowledge so that you make sure you're making calculated decisions. And it's so fun. But it's kind of like how you apply a master's degree to your profession. You have to go through all the steps of learning how to be on the resort first in order to step into the backcountry with a knowledge and a sound mind and a great community of other athletes who understand how dangerous and compelling that that train can be.

Greg Staffa 34:30

Well, you make it look easy. Thank you. Keeping off topic a little bit more, uh, if mother, professional snowboarder, cancer survivor wasn't enough, you also in 2020 became a published author of The Mountain Baker. What brought that about?

Kimmy Fasani 34:46

Yeah, that book was so fun. So my friend and I, Mimi Council, her name's Mimi Cruz now. Uh she and I were co-owners in an organic bakery. Mimi is in a phenomenal baker, and she had this idea to do a book together. I love cooking. She loves baking. I'm an adventurer. She also is a runner. We decided what is not out there and how can we provide for our mountain community? So we did a really fun book called The Mountain Baker that takes you through all types of foods, whether it's baked goods or um stews or trail mix that you can take on adventures. Everything in the book was baked at altitude because when you're up in the mountains, nothing bakes like it does at sea level. So we decided to flip how the book was made to make it so everything was baked at altitude, and then we tested all the recipes at sea level. So the book can be used anywhere, but it's really designed for active, adventure-loving people who may live in the mountains or go to the mountains frequently. And it's a it was a really fun, kind of unique experience. Both her and I loved putting it together.

Real Estate, Next Chapters, And Emmy Nod

Greg Staffa 35:58

And if that wasn't enough and raising two kids and being a wife, you also became a real estate agent in all of your free time.

unknown 36:05

Yes.

Greg Staffa 36:06

What led to that?

Kimmy Fasani 36:07

Uh, I've always loved real estate. My mom, uh, she was a single mom, but worked really hard, had a couple properties in Taho that she managed. And I saw there being a huge opportunity, just knowing more about real estate. And I actually got my license two weeks before I got diagnosed with cancer. So kind of had to put things on pause. But it's been just fun being able to show people the potential of living in the mountains. And uh it just helps me stay in tune with the market. And it's just like kind of a fun hobby that has been able to turn into a career path. And as athletes, we're always navigating injuries and backup plans. So real estate was kind of this idea: well, when my career ends, I'll be able to step into that. And having two kids, it keeps me home a little bit more and it keeps me busy, but I still can kind of fabricate my own hours. So that's been a fun outlet.

Greg Staffa 37:05

Well, wrapping things up, I appreciate you coming on. We'll put a mountain baker is available on Amazon, and the Butterfly and the Blizzard is available on streaming on Apple and Amazon. I just have one question to wrap things up. Kimmy, when we talk about you, it's usually, you know, professional snowboarder, author, real estate agent, ambassador, cancer survivor. But when you get up in the morning, you go into the bathroom, you splash a little water in your face and look in the mirror, who is it that you see?

Kimmy Fasani 37:36

I love that. I I see my mom, I see all the women that have come before me. I see somebody that's strong and capable and has a lot of opportunity to make change every day. And I I think that's where the optimism comes from is knowing that whoever we were yesterday can change today. And taking a step forward and trying to bring light to everything that's happening in the world makes everything a little bit easier to navigate. And so uh I would thank my mom, I guess, for that approach.

Greg Staffa 38:11

Nice. Well, Kimi Fashani, thank you so much for coming on. I look forward to seeing what the future has for you. Uh, you have a birthday coming up, and maybe we'll see a butterfly in uh the summer, a sequel coming out sometime. Um I know. I appreciate you coming on and wish you all success.

Final Reflections And Sign Off

Kimmy Fasani 38:28

Thank you. And I guess one thing that uh maybe your listeners will like to hear is that Butterfly and a Blizzard is nominated for two sports Emmys. So hopefully it's seen even wider and more vast come the end of May.

Greg Staffa 38:43

And it'll be the award winning Butterfly and a Blizzard.

Kimmy Fasani 38:46

I hope so.

Greg Staffa 38:47

Perfect. Thank you so much for coming on.

Kimmy Fasani 38:50

Thank you.