Empowerment in the Ring and Beyond with Desiree Wodicker

The concept of strength takes on multiple forms, and no one embodies this better than our guest, Desiree Wodicker. She is a financial planner, Pro Muay Thai fighter, Mother, and overall spicy lady and she is sharing her remarkable journey with us.

In this episode, Desiree candidly shares her experiences, intertwining the worlds of finance and fighting to craft a narrative of empowerment and resilience. She discusses how her tenacity has shaped her approach to life's battles, both in and out of the ring.

As we explore Desiree's story, we draw parallels between the discipline gained from athletic pursuits and the fortitude necessary for navigating challenges in parenthood and beyond. Through personal anecdotes of resilience, we highlight the transformative power of goal-setting, building relationships, and seeking support when needed.

But it's not all serious talk! Expect plenty of laughs as we journey through Desiree's inspiring aspirations to use her fighting platform for positive community impact. Leave this episode with a fresh perspective and newfound inspiration to take the next step toward your own goals.

More Des: https://www.instagram.com/desilu_limon/

Transcript

Muay Thai Fighter's Empowering Journey

Speaker 1 0:29

Hello and welcome to the Cameo show. I'm your host cameo Today. We are joined by my husband and co-host, greg Braun. Hi, greg.

Speaker 2 0:37

How's it going?

Speaker 1 0:39

And guys, I am totally geeking out. This may be the guest so far that I have been such a like, so nervous, such a nerd ball about. Her name is Desiree Wattaker. She is a financial planner by day. She is a professional Muay Thai fighter and I might be her biggest fan for real. Welcome to the show, Des. We are so. I am so jacked to have you. It's like I can't even can't even believe I'm exposing myself like this.

Speaker 3 1:08

So all good, that's all good. Yeah, Thanks so much. Thanks so much for the introduction and, Greg, great to meet you. And I, yeah, I'm super excited about this kind of journey that I have embarked on on the last, you know, call it eight to 10 years in general, and I'm starting to find my footing in terms of, like, the direction of my life and the impacts that I've had throughout those years and kind of sharing that journey with others, right, and it's been really receptive to the community that I built on Instagram.

Speaker 3 1:41

You know I don't share a lot about my personal life outside of fighting and so I think, you know, giving a little bit more exposure to that has been really helpful for others to just resonate with and and and apply some of the things that I've done over the years to their lives. And so, you know, we're we're all about kind of human empowerment, I'd say on my page, the message that I send mindset, health, right. All of these things kind of are incorporated in us as humans and we need, you know, three things wealth, health and relationships, and so my focus is on, you know, a lot of those things just overall in my life in general, you know yes, and you definitely showcase that on your Instagram.

Speaker 1 2:24

Everyone. Here's how I became a fan. Greg and I started doing kickboxing a couple of years ago and your Instagram feed kind of starts filling up with the things that you're searching for and all of a sudden here's Dez and she's doing the progressive combo of the week and I'm like give me a post-it note. I got to write this down. I am bringing this out this week and sparring and I'm not kidding. I would like write it down like okay, watch it over and over and over again. And there was a day that I posted a reel I had on your sweatshirt. I tagged you in it, you liked it, you followed me back and shared it and I ran in the house from the pool gumping up and down like you would have thought it was.

Speaker 1 3:04

Justin Bieber himself. Like I was like a major day so. But yes, your page is inspiring, it's motivating. You are also a mom. You share a lot of what you're doing. Like you said, not super personal, but you show what you're doing in your life, with your horse and with your son and with food. Like it is definitely a space to be, to be inspired and motivated, whether you enjoy kickboxing and fighting or not. Like this is a woman that you want to be following along with, so I'm elated to have you to dig into that a little bit more, beyond the fighting. But let's start there. How did you get into Muay Thai?

Speaker 3 3:42

Yeah, it was actually kind of ironic, you know. So I cheered, I cheered. Well, first let's start I did gymnastics competitively, very competitively, junior Olympic team type levels. My gym shut down, I stopped doing gymnastics and then, like, as high school went on, I played soccer and I cheered and I did that.

Speaker 3 4:04

I grew up in Missouri and so that was an interesting upbringing. But I never we're a big wrestling state, but I never. Like, even coming from a household where my dad was like ex-force recon Marine, like I never had combat experience, like he never exposed that kind of things to me, even though he kind of raised me like a boy. But like, when I got older, I was like you know, you know, as I transitioned into like, hey, I want to be a healthier human being, you know, I just had an open mind about, like trying new things. Like, of course, I did like what your normal person did, went to 24 hour fitness, went to just you know, regular workout kind of situations. I tried spinning, I did a bunch of the what is the Zumba? I did Zumba for a while, like dance workout yeah.

Speaker 3 4:54

And then my girlfriend at the gym was like hey, there's this gym down the street, they have CrossFit, they've got boxing, like really, really cool plays, and that's my current gym, now CSA. And I was like wow, I've never done either of those things and I was like I'd be down to go and check it out. So we went together and they are offering Saturday free classes for CrossFit, very intro level, just, you know, mostly body weight stuff like that and I got my ass kicked.

Speaker 3 5:20

I was like, oh my, God not even using weights or barbell or anything, and I was like this is fun though. I was like it's high pace, the energy in the air is good, the people are freaking awesome. And then, as time was going on, I was like I really want to pump something and like they're all fighting on the other side it's like divided, you know and I was like dude, this is fucking cool, and I'm like I've never done this before. And obviously, like you know, I started in like a very beginner boxing class and one of the coaches there, mj, he basically like held pads for me a couple times and he's like, dude, you're super athletic, like you're kind of good at this. You know, maybe he was just pumping me up, I don't know, but it was enough for me to like continue on the journey, and so, like I started to like really fall in love with that, and so I started doing the classes religiously alongside CrossFit. And then, as time went on, my coach now he's like you know, if you ever wanted to do this, you should, you could try. And I was like really, and so that's kind of how it started, like I'm going to be honest, I fell into that.

Speaker 3 6:23

I also got my son into Jiu Jitsu, right. And so he was about four I think at the time and I got him into Jiu Jitsu and it was like a great way to just like let him do what he did and like let me do my classes and keep him occupied, right. And so, yeah, it was kind of just really random girl, like that's why you know, I push like dude. You just never know where life can take you, you know, and you have to like remind yourself to keep an open mind Because if not, like you know, you never know where the path could take you, right.

Speaker 1 6:54

So we are big on that and so many different stories in our own personal journeys that we could share. I am, I knew I loved you. I just feel like we are like soul sisters. I too was a cheerleader. I feel like this dance, choreography, gymnast, gymnastics, aids and what, what we do. I mean I'm nowhere near your level of kickboxing or Muay Thai by any means, but like it aids in that balance and you know the knowing what to do and when to do it. Like sometimes I have to get a rhythm in my head to be able to pull something off. But I also like I joined a gym a decade ago and there were bodybuilders there and they were like you should do this. And I was like okay, and then I'm like full go, you know. And then my professional bodybuilder status and I'm like sounds like we're very similar in that way. How long ago was that for you when you first walked into into the gym?

Personal Growth and Parenting Reflections

Speaker 3 7:46

I think that was 2015, 16, like 15 or beginning of 16. So eight, nine years yeah, it was about eight, nine years, yeah. And you know, I think, like to contest to what you're saying before about like trying new things, like you know, my one of my partners at work, he and his wife like they dedicate themselves to like trying a new hobby every year and like testing it out and like for her, for example, she was in, she tried a calligraphy class, ended up being like super good at it and basically started a whole business for wineries because they're in Napa for calligraphy for events. And it came all from that exploration of just them as a couple doing new things, like choosing one thing. He did a like um, what did he do? Like what is it called? You know, an iron worker and they like mold iron together and stuff.

Speaker 2 8:42

Welding.

Speaker 3 8:43

Yes, welding.

Speaker 2 8:44

I don't know, why, thank you.

Speaker 1 8:45

Great the name.

Speaker 3 8:46

Thank you. Thank you, greg, but yeah, he was like I'm going to do a welding class and like this guy just went through welding Okay, it was from, it wasn't for me, but like it was cool, like I made some cool stuff. Now I can fix things around the house for my wife, which we love you know right?

Speaker 1 9:00

Yeah, you never know until you try, like you just we are. We are so conditioned to succumb to the fear of being judged or you know our own self-doubt that often we don't even take the first step. The hardest step is the one out the door, right, and as soon as you're on your way. You can then make educated decisions about what you actually like and what you don't, as opposed to just judging it from afar. So I love that so much, and we talk about that so much with all of our guests and between the two of us all the time that you don't have to know what the hell you're doing.

Speaker 2 9:33

Just start and you might love it and you might not, and that's okay too, but yeah, it's also cool that, like you would have probably never done it unless one person just innocently said hey, you can do this. And it gives you that little piece of permission to go. Yes, now opportunity. Yeah. And then you have this whole new level of belief in yourself and and that's what you do for so many people through your Instagram, Just so you know and I love that and I know.

Speaker 3 10:00

I love that and when I reflect back on my journey through things. So you know, I've been, I'm in wealth management, now I work for Morgan Stanley. You know this was never, you know so, part of my journey. Last year I was telling you guys, I did a lot of self-reflecting. I don't know if it's because I'm in my 30s now and you know I changed my birth control. I don't know All those things.

Speaker 3 10:22

No, seriously, like you know, women, hormones, everything like I started, you know, therapy intensely. You know I got into a very traumatic motorcycle accident when I was 16. My uncle died in front of me. I had reconstructed surgery on my jaw. I mean it was traumatic.

Speaker 3 10:36

A lot of things have happened in my life where I felt like I covered a lot of these things up, right, and I was like, okay, I need to go back and reflect on that. But when, when I thought about, hey, how did I get here, right, where were my decisions? Were they from an authentic place, right, that makes Desiree happy, or were they survival? And what I discovered was a lot of. It was survival because, you know, everybody's not born in the silver spoon, you know, like we don't have families where we come from very wealthy I didn't at all, you know, and a lot, and I had my son at 21 years old and it was pure survival and and, and it was survival and tenacity that you know, not quitting. That is where I am here today. It doesn't mean I'm not struggling today. I'm for sure struggling today, right.

Speaker 1 11:22

But I all are.

Speaker 3 11:23

If we're honest with ourselves in some capacity, right, but it's like, hey, in this journey of fulfillment, like am I, did I make these decisions because I I knew they were gonna make me happy on the long term, right, and so making adjustments in our life based on those kind of changes.

Speaker 3 11:38

But I will say, like you know, to go back to like the cheerleading and the gymnastics and all of these things, like the Mindset part of it, like if the daughter's out there in the world and you know it's really hard for young girls right now, you know, with social media, with everything, to have confidence, all I mean you guys know, you know you have a kid and you know I'm a sister of eight.

Speaker 3 12:00

There's eight of us and I have three, I four sisters, excuse me and you know cheerleading really helped me, gymnastics really helped me because, number one, you know, gymnastics is an independence board, right, everything kind of kind of falls on you and they're really hard on you too if you're competitive. So like that grit I think came a lot from from those foundational things for me with with sports. But cheerleading changed my life, right, because it is a place where people are always fucking happy. You know they're happy, smile on your face and even think, yeah, you know You're right a lot in the mood. You have to do that and you have to perform and you have to be a team member and, like you know, that, I think, instilled a lot of things in me in terms of my mindset and, you know, keeping up positive attitude even when things are going wrong, right. So that was huge for me as well.

Speaker 1 12:55

Yeah, you have to show up, and if you can just show up and give yourself some compassion every once in a while that maybe I'm not showing up like in the best mood, but I'm here, that's also half the battle. 1% better every day is Something that we live by one day at a time. We are both also sober for the last almost decade one day at a time. You know I don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow, but today here's how I'm showing up, and that does start at a very early age. Your mindset, your perspective, the tenacity that you learn along the way to to show up even when you don't want to, is huge. Yeah, and so you started your son in jiu-jitsu when he was really young. So I see him every once in a while in your Instagram at the gym. Tell me a little bit more about like.

Speaker 1 13:41

When you first started fighting, you probably were like I too am a young mom. We had our daughter when I was 22. Okay, there were all these things when I became a mom that I was like okay, now, what? What am I supposed to be? How am I supposed to show up as a mom? Because now I'm complete. It's not just me anymore. Like now it's totally a different world for us and so like, as you make your decisions as a young mom and as you're kind of Still figuring out your own traumas and your own things that you're working through, how was that something that impacted your life and his in a way that maybe you had to like? You know, fight through Fighting is like fighting. You know it's combat sports, it's very technical but it's fighting. So like, as a mom, what were some of those decisions that you had to face in making that choice?

Speaker 3 14:30

Yeah for sure. So my son does not practice Jujutsu right now. He's competitive in basketball and it was a transition for us just with that, because he didn't want to. I think there was some fear in there because he's a he's not a timid kid, but he's not an aggressive child, right, like he's not someone that, like he's just not. And I think we did a competition and he kind of got choked by his cousin and he was like I don't want to do this anymore, right. So it was like part of that.

Speaker 3 15:00

But I will say that, like now we are very busy, right, we are very busy. Sometimes I'm from the office to the gym, I get a quick 45 minute workout in or pads with my coach and then I have to run him to basketball and we are a team. You know His dad and I are not together. However, we do, we get along and we co-parent and things work. However, I do have a lot more of the responsibility with him and I have throughout the year.

Speaker 3 15:27

So it's been really hard to, like you know, figure things out with my own self and my own goals and, top of like, being a primary caretaker of this child, you know.

Speaker 3 15:38

And so now, as time has gone on right Like before. He didn't really understand like how much I was training and like we spent you know less time together, kind of things. But you know we've made adjustments in like a dinner time, we eat dinner time, you dinner together. You know we do certain things where we have quality time with one another because life is really busy. But now it's like I even told him like before, because he's not a lazy kid, but he's not the kid that's gonna you're gonna be like oh, he's motivated to go out there on his own, without me pushing him to do these things. And this is just the evolution of where he's at right now. But in my head I was like it doesn't matter, like I'm showing him what it's like to grind and I'm giving him this example in hopes that it sticks. You know, cause that's all we can do as parents is hope that shit sticks, like I don't want to.

Speaker 1 16:28

That's right. Our daughter's 18, our son is almost 14. And it never gets any easier, it just changes. So from the baby to the toddler phase, you're like holy shit. From toddler to teenager, you're like, oh my God. And now you know, into adulthood it's you're right.

Navigating Challenges and Self-Improvement

Speaker 1 16:43

You just hope it sticks. You hope that your example is one, one that they want to follow and that they should should be following, and I love that you went there, that you went with like I'm just showing him how to grind, and as he gets older he starts to understand, and we all I mean as parents, but specifically as moms, and I'm sure even more so as a single mom we're trying to keep all these plates in the air right and trying to figure out, like, which ones are okay to sit down for a little bit, which ones do I need? To keep going all the time and you have a lot going on. How do you find that that works best for you?

Speaker 1 17:19

I mean you alluded to it a little bit with, like, making it a team effort and making sure you eat dinner together, but what are the other ways that you keep the ship running?

Speaker 3 17:27

Yeah, yeah, and I will say, like I think you know your comment before about like showing up like last year I was having a really tough time. You know there was a lot of stuff that I was going through, financial as well. You know I'm building my book at Morgan Stanley, all of these things I'm trying to figure out. You know how to position myself properly in the fight space, right, where you know it's lucrative enough for me, right, like that I can capitalize on some of these things. I mean, I put a lot of work and, you know, sweat equity right Into this entire game and I should be able to eat off of those things. You know I've been consistent in kind of all areas of my life and so you know, you're right, it is hard. You know it's hard.

Speaker 3 18:13

Number one, like it's hard to be a provider, okay, and I think a lot of people and this goes out to a lot of the men because you know I'm a very, I'd say, masculine woman.

Speaker 3 18:23

In a way there's a lot of masculinity that I've led with and so learning how to be more in a feminine role has been like one of my goals.

Speaker 3 18:31

But there for men, as I've realized, being a single mom growing up that it's challenging being a provider, you know, when you're providing for your family, and the pressure of making it, the pressure of being successful so that you can take care of others. That is something that I feel like a lot of men hold on their shoulders and we don't talk about it enough. You know, like I was raised with my dad who raised two daughters, and like I criticized him and I, you know there were things and he wasn't perfect. You know he was an alcoholic and things like that that we had to go, but he always gave us a roof over our head, we always had some kind of food, we always had something, but I can't imagine the pressures that he was dealing with. So that's one big thing that I think is huge. As a woman, it's different, because society, that's not our role. Our role is to, you know, be a mother and be a wife or be with these Nurture.

Speaker 3 19:25

Nurture right, and so I've had to wear these hats all over, you know, and it's like almost an identity crisis, like wow, I don't feel like I can be who I want to be because I'm wearing all of these hats and I'm doing all of these things, but at the end of the day I have to figure it out.

Speaker 3 19:41

You know, like I have no other choice Either I fall, I fail or I keep going. You know, and whatever capacity that is, and when I tell you I've been at the very bottom, you know, I've been there, living on the East side in St Louis with drug dealer friends, with, you know, no heat in the house, with absolutely nothing, working, two jobs, working as a waitress in the strip club on the East side in Illinois. Like I have been there, you know, and I know what that looks like and I refuse to go to those places. You know what I mean. They're dark, dark places. Giving up is a dark, dark place, and so I think giving up is harder for someone to accept than pushing through challenges you know, yeah, especially when you've been through some of those really rock bottom moments, you've learned like I got through that.

Speaker 1 20:31

Now I can handle this and it sucks and it hurts, and I'm not happy about it and I'm struggling, but I can get through this. And that's how you continue to show up and build that confidence.

Speaker 3 20:42

Exactly.

Speaker 1 20:43

I will tell you that learning kickboxing and jujitsu like there's lessons in that in and of itself that definitely translate to everyday life, like getting smashed at 6 am by someone twice your size is like okay, well, I'm done with that today, so the rest of the day is cake. You know what I mean. But on a serious note, hitting those rock bottom moments helps you really have perspective of, like you said, giving up is harder than getting through what's in front of me.

Speaker 3 21:12

Yeah.

Speaker 1 21:13

And I appreciate that you brought that up about men too. Yeah, 100%.

Speaker 3 21:18

But like to answer your question. I'm extremely disciplined, Like my time is. My time management is impeccable, right, and I think a lot of people they can't be good with their time or be organized if they don't have a path to follow. Right, and that is the hard thing for a lot of people because they just don't know where they're at right. We have to start somewhere, and starting somewhere is understanding okay, and that's goal setting. I want to be here. How is the most efficient way that I can get here?

Speaker 3 21:50

And if you don't know the answers to those things, it's something that you have to seek out for yourself. You have to seek information, you have to be willing to go through the work of finding that, of talking to the right people to put you on the right path. Right. We are built on relationships. Everything, Everything, every single thing has to do with relationships, and I tell this to my young sisters, I tell this to my son, I tell this to these young people. That is like our relationships are going to dictate where we go in our life, and if you are not somebody that has had access to mentorship or people or coaching or all of these things, we have to figure out a way to do that right, Because I've made so many mistakes in my life that I realized if I would have just asked for help or searched a little deeper or had someone giving me a path of doing things, I wouldn't have had a lot of things that happened to me.

Speaker 3 22:52

For example, I got in that motorcycle accident when I turned 18, I got $300,000, okay, you know I'm blue, all of it. You guys, I was in a dark place, a dark place.

Speaker 3 23:06

I was traveling the world. There were lessons that I learned very young Bought a house when I was 18 years old, I did investment in a men's business clothing business lost all my money, and that it was not a healthy place. And at the time my dad was actually an advisor at Wells, or he was at Pain Webber, I think and we were not getting along okay. And if he would have recognized and I'm not blaming this, is something that I've accepted, but what I feel like during that time is I needed love and I needed support and I needed guidance and there was nobody around me to give me those things, you know, and so I wasn't strong enough to get out there and ask for help. But if I would have gone and talked to a financial advisor, talked to somebody like myself, maybe I would be in a very, very different situation than I am right now.

Speaker 1 24:00

You understand Absolutely.

Speaker 3 24:02

And it changed my whole life. And so you know, I tell these young people we have to be aware of our self-control and our decision-making, because when we make these key decisions while we are young, they'll follow us, they will haunt us. You will see it again, it will not go away, and if they're big enough, they'll really fuck up your life.

Speaker 1 24:27

That's right you know, we totally experience that as parents of teenagers.

Speaker 1 24:31

I mean you start saying, hey, you're making these adult-like decisions, they have adult-like consequences, and you know what you said about having the people around you, mentorship, like we're talking about when we were younger and we didn't have social media.

Speaker 1 24:46

What I love about having social media is that someone can find and again, this is all subjective and relative, but like find someone like you, find somebody that can provide the guidance through sharing their mistakes and being brave enough to do so, which is what I love so much about, not just you showing what you do at training, but also what you share about yourself on a personal level, and the fact that you're here today, kind of saying let me help you turn decades of learning and screw-ups into days so that you don't do the same damn thing, and the vulnerability and courage to do so. And if more people humanized their experiences and shared them. We all have so much in common when it comes to that, because we've all different, varying levels, but we've all experienced some type of trauma and turmoil that we've had to come through, and it's so relatable when we're not acting like I'm good, everything's perfect, yeah, yeah for sure, life is life, girl.

Exploring Life, Faith, and Purpose

Speaker 3 25:47

You know, life is life-ing, and I think it is getting increasingly harder for people to take care of themselves. And I think, while social media is good, there's a lot of pressures and things that are out there that force us to believe things about ourselves that are not true, whether we're not adequate enough, whether we're not pretty enough, whether we're not all of these kind of subliminal messages that we tell ourselves right. And so I have been a fighter my whole life and my eyes. I see that I'm here for a reason and I'm on that journey to kind of find that purpose, because self-fulfillment, human empowerment, self-fulfillment all of these things are what make us have fulfilling lives, leading with purpose and all of this stuff. And I'm on that journey myself, right, like I've learned.

Speaker 3 26:42

I had a conversation yesterday with a guy. It was so funny, you guys and I asked these questions. So we were talking about money and wealth and all of this stuff. Right, everybody is how do I get to retirement? And I talked to this very wealthy guy yesterday I was on site at Rivian and Paul Alta I said man, you've gone through a lot of shit, you know.

Speaker 3 27:00

I said but you're so stressed out about retiring, please tell me what are you gonna do when you retire? Do you know you guys? He stopped and he had a fucking moment. He's like I never thought about that. He's like I need to go back. He's gonna say Martin next week, okay, let's just start there.

Speaker 2 27:21

He's gonna say Martin.

Speaker 3 27:22

And I said you're talking, you know he went through divorce, he's special needs child, very really interesting story.

Speaker 3 27:27

And he's done, you know, kite sailing or kite surfing and another cool things. But you guys, his face was like shit, I don't know, and I don't know if it's because he's been a provider his whole life and he hasn't done anything else but provide, but he hasn't thought about the things that he's gonna do when he's free. Yeah, and that was terrifying to me. It was terrifying to me and it made me think okay, how are we living out our lives? You know, last week I talked to my grandpa, 70 something years old. My grandma died from Alzheimer's very young. It was shocked. You know, she had a huge impact on my life. It helped me raise me because I didn't have my mom growing up right and he's lonely.

Speaker 3 28:10

But I asked my dad, what does this guy do every day? You know what does he do? He's 75 something. He sits in his house, he does nothing. He goes to McDonald's, gets his coffee, sits there and watches TV. I said, what kind of life is that? You know, some people are okay with that, but are they really happy or they just they're just floating through? You know, and I don't believe anybody, truly, no matter how stubborn, no matter how set in their ways, how, whatever it is, I don't really think that that's how any human being wants to live.

Speaker 1 28:40

I agree with you in that way. I think we all just get so caught up in surviving and doing what we think we should be doing in whatever role we're playing. We identify so much with the labels that we attach ourselves to this. When we do have the time, we look up, like your retiree or your client who's thinking about retirement, and go, well, what the hell am I gonna do? I just knew that I needed to get to this exit ramp. But now I'm off the exit ramp. Now what? Which way do I go? Left right, do I keep going straight? And that sucks. That sucks.

Speaker 1 29:15

And Greg and I share our story and we're both writing books. Mine's almost complete. His is just beginning not to talk about ourselves. It isn't just a. I mean, it's all about us, but it's not about us. It's to say, hey, you're not alone and you don't have to have a rock bottom moment like we did. You don't have to almost get divorced, you don't have to bury yourself in credit card debt, you don't have to make those decisions because you think you should be doing something. You can start right now making small, meaningful changes in your life that are in the direction that you really wanna go, if you take the time to identify what that is Absolutely.

Speaker 1 29:51

I think that's what I love so much about you too, is that you are showcasing that in all of these ways, fearlessly. And it wasn't always that way, I'm sure, and maybe it isn't always that way now, but it definitely appears that way in all the right ways, not in a comparison way or a fake way, but in all the right ways that are very genuine and authentic to who you are, and I feel like I already know you and feel inspired by it, because it's like you don't have to do that, you don't have to share it, you could just go to work. You could go do your thing, work out and not showcase any of the things that you have but their gifts to share with everyone and inspire so many. So I just, I absolutely Love that you are, that you are doing that and that you take this knowledge that you have from working with people all day and the financial world and in real life, and then also from your community and your gym and the fight world and what you've learned there, and tie it all together and say, hey, guys, take what you need.

Speaker 1 30:50

I'm just showing you kind of what works for me and how many people you're touching in that way. So, yeah, yeah Always circles back to thank you for being you and thank you for sharing all this, because it's it's, in my opinion, one of the most important things. We have all these connection tools, but we're so disconnected and community is like the heart of what makes people go. It's what makes change in people's lives, you know, is being connected and feeling seen.

Speaker 3 31:17

So, yeah, yeah, and the other part of that too is, like you know, from from a faith standpoint right, you know I am Christian. I grew up UCC, which is kind of cat like, it's like Catholic right and you know I lost touch with that. It was never forced upon me when I was young. My dad never forced religion down my throat. He allowed me to kind of take Whatever past that I wanted and I've been to all kinds of churches. I've, I've, you know, read the Quran, which is a Muslim. I've, you know I've gone through Baptist Church, I've gone to Catholic Church, I've gone to all things.

Speaker 3 31:52

And you know, I think, in that discovery too, like after I got into that motorcycle accident, I was like, you know, I was lost. I was really lost and I'm like what am I doing here? And like what am I supposed? You know, it was really a lot for one 16 to 18 year old girl to handle, which I felt like I was very alone growing up. I felt like I had an older sister, but she was like always out doing her own thing. You know, my dad was always working. I didn't have my mom and and I was very alone and and for some you know how I just like I saw it, I saw relationships outside of that to find those connections for myself, because I I didn't get them at home right.

Speaker 3 32:30

Yeah, and you know, my my faith journey was really interesting because you know I was totally in this darkest place. And this lady, you know, tony, she, she actually was in jail. She was incarcerated for for years for tax fraud, things like that, and then she got out and she said, yeah, you really need to. You know, like, come to church with me, like let's check out. And I went to this crazy Christian Baptist Church and it was big as a syndicate church and they were hopping around and they were, you know, they were a holy spirit, was in that mug, okay, and I was, I was, you know, came from a conservative, like you know, send my Catholic background.

Speaker 2 33:05

I was like Happening, yeah, this is fucking crazy and I was like felt it, I was like whoa like this is a lot.

Speaker 3 33:13

And so I continued to go with her and I felt that, almost like that energy that I felt was when I was Cheering. You know what I mean, cuz. It was right, it was high energy transfer. It was like these people and and they're you know, you know unwavering faith and in their Christianity, it was really cool. And so I started researching and discovering, like, where do I believe in, like what do I even when does start? Like, where do I buy somebody that believes in the universe and all these things and whatever it is, it doesn't matter. You know, we have religious warfare and all that. Who cares? Right, you believe what you believe. I respect that and that's it. When we die, nobody knows what's gonna happen and if you're in the right lane, you're in the fucking right lane, right.

Speaker 3 33:51

Like right, but if it's something that you that empowers you and it gives you a foundation and it gives you something to To live off of. For me, I was like, well, you know what is God doing to me? Like, what is my path like? But every single is at the moment, I turn to my faith and I, you know I, dedicated to that relationship. Right, my decisions, whether it's my relationships with you, know a significant other, if it's about work, or my decisions Like I'm a spicy human being, okay, but for the most part I do try to live like lead, with love, you know, with women, with anybody. You know how women can be, I mean the moment they're like, you know, assholes, I'm like bitch. I don't like we're good, I'm not.

Speaker 1 34:34

I don't need not the energy in my life.

Speaker 3 34:36

Like there's like all this going on in my world and I don't need that.

Importance of Self-Work and Growth

Speaker 3 34:40

Yeah, that's right, yeah, that's right, and we shouldn't be like that and society pushes us like that. But but what I what I'm saying is is, like you know, leading with love and some of these things sometimes would solve a lot of issues and a lot of problems. And so when I'm dealt with confrontation or things like that, you know, I, instead of being this person that's like pops off or whatever and I have in the past, you know but like just leading with those intentions of like how can we serve others Right? And so for me, that serving is through sharing my story and sharing the experience, because I know that I'm not the only one out there and I know what it feels like to be lonely, not have a path, not have a direction, not understand. You know I didn't come from wealthy ways. How do I even start? You know what I mean, and so that, for me, is what I believe is like my passion and my purpose to kind of share that, you know.

Speaker 1 35:35

Yeah, just lead with love, your God, you can be your own God. You know what I'm saying. Like your relationship with yourself is so important and I don't know any of this from social media until this conversation. But like the work that you've done on yourself and in addressing some of the things that you've been through and kind of handling them with extreme ownership and knowing Having the tools then to know what to do with them, to know how to make your decisions about who to be around, what energy to accept in your life, what your self-worth is and what it is not, where it does not come from, is so huge, and so that level of like extreme ownership shows through in what you do share.

Speaker 1 36:13

But having this conversation that's more in depth, it's definitely a very easy to see that you've done a lot of work and soul searching to point you in the right direction and continuously do With an open mind. You will never stop learning right. You may try something, you may not like it, you may do it, you may fail and you'll go. What did I learn? How can I make that better next time, or myself better next time, and make sure that I honor that in me. And that's very, very cool to hear you say and articulate in the way that you are with your experiences, because you should share more of that on your social media, which I think that's the direction you're going in, but you have so much value to add to people If you only have like an extra arm and like three extra hours.

Speaker 1 36:57

Yeah, I know, I know I got it.

Speaker 3 36:59

I did just start a coaching program, that is a mentoring program that is going to help me kind of change the narrative, I think, in the story of my brand and like identifying who does is to my community of people and creating more awareness, and that takes time, that takes creativity in terms of that, but, like you know, that is a journey that I'm currently on and doing things, like I said in the beginning, like this kind of helps shape that story. So thank you for having me, because that you know, this is all part of the overall picture, right, this is part of overall everything and getting out there and building a platform and all of these things, and we've all faced adversity and we can all learn from one another, and so I think, like if you've built a platform that is large, that you should be doing something with that you know you should be doing something that's serving a higher purpose than just serving yourself.

Wealth Management and Fighting Career Transition

Speaker 3 37:51

You know, because of course I want to be successful, of course I want to make lots of money, I want to do these things, but I think my end goal is about serving others Like I want to make money and be successful so that I can serve others in the future that were like me, because I'm so passionate about that right, because of the curiosity, because of the hardship, and you have to be curious enough to want to go through self healing, go through figuring out what is the next step, curious enough to figure out what that path looks like to get to the end of that goal. You know what I'm saying and like for me, I'm a planner, I'm a financial planner. Right, this is what I plan for people's lives. I plan for the biggest things in their lives buying a home, how to pay for a kid's college.

Speaker 3 38:43

You know, I just told my client last week where she's stressed the heck out you know, she's stressed out in the tech field, main provider of her home, all of these things great mom. You know two or three kids and you know she makes high income earner. But she's stressed man and she came to me and she's like Des, I don't know, like, do we have enough? Can I retire early? Man, I went through the whole plan for her. I didn't care. I said I went through that thing 10 times, you know, to make sure that things were, and I told her she could retire this year and you know the look on her face was so, you know her face, the weight just came off of her shoulder and so there's filling parts in this. But like, to make decisions for other people is also like it is huge, you know, and heavy, yeah, it's heavy, and when you can give back in other ways.

Speaker 3 39:32

Now I don't know if I'll be in wealth management forever. You know, I don't think my core desires are in dealing with wealthy people's money and continuing to keep them wealthy, more so than it is building wealth and giving people the right tools that they need to, you know, build some kind of wealth for themselves, especially if they haven't. You know, and unfortunately, like I said, my experience is. I've been in affordable living homes. I've done these things. I've lived in, you know. I've had EBT cards and I've worked that system and like I've done, all kind of shit it was.

Speaker 3 40:05

you know not who I am today. You know I'm not proud of those things, but I will say that there are loopholes in the system and sometimes we need people to teach us those loopholes that we can change the narrative of our life, our generational curses that we have, that we want to get rid of. And so you know, in this journey, like that's what's fulfilling to me. So I want to get to a point where that makes sense, that I can build someone up like that.

Speaker 1 40:33

And you totally already are, maybe more than you even know. Who you are today is because of all those things, and so sometimes, like that was that's hard for me to accept. Sometimes Is it some of the shit that I've done that is like absolutely inexcusable, unforgivable on all levels of who I am today. I needed her to do those things to learn. I wish I didn't have to, but that's who I am today.

Speaker 1 41:00

If I can help somebody else not do that and it sounds like you're in a similar boat like let's talk about it then what I also hear you say that I just absolutely love is that you're really connected to your why. You see what this is, what this purpose is in your life and you feel it and you live it. And when you know what your why is, you can figure out how, and you are figuring out how every single day. The more that you show up in this space using your platform is so selfless of you.

Speaker 1 41:31

I bet when you first started sharing videos and progressive combos of the week and showing what you're doing, just because you loved it, you probably weren't like, oh, I'm gonna be a professional fighter someday and I'm gonna have this platform. It was just like. You just started, you loved it, you started sharing it and all of a sudden, here you are. We didn't even talk about that, but you got your professional status last year, so we can circle back as we wrap up to the fighting piece. I gotta appreciate getting to know you on such a deeper level too, by the way. But circling back to that, what did that feel like? Were you like?

Speaker 3 42:05

oh my God, I can't even believe this is happening, yeah yeah, for sure it was, because it's been eight years and I've put hours six days a week, five, I'd say four to six days a week consistently for the last eight years, outside of taking some vacations or whatever, and most of the time I'm taking vacations, I'm training while I'm taking that vacation.

Speaker 3 42:26

My loved ones hate that and that's fine. I don't really care because this is what I love to do in my life. But I will say like it was huge. It was huge moving to professional status. My coaches and I have been discussing this transition and there's some exciting things coming up on the forefront. I can't really talk about them right now but in May I think I will be fighting May 18th here locally in the Bay Area, which is I haven't fought in the Bay Area since my first amateur fight. So I'm really excited to be in the hometown kind of position on a really kind of big stage. That's about to happen and I'm really excited to kind of just turn that page.

Speaker 3 43:06

I'm 34 years old. I have only a little bit more time in this world of fighting in my body and where I wanna go with those things. But while I am doing that, I'm gonna take it to the farthest level as I can. I'm gonna be the best version of this that I can, because then again it's the equity, the sweat that I put in here to not strive to the highest level that I possibly can that God will allow me to take. So it would be a disservice to my time, which I can never give back right For what I've put into this. So I plan on taking this to the highest level. I'd love to get a monster sponsorship Once I get there. That would be really awesome.

Speaker 3 43:53

But yeah, it's all about to building the platform so I can use that to do other things. Right, and that's kind of where I'm at with the fighting. But yeah, may 18th I think it's gonna happen here in San Jose. I'm really excited. Took some fight photos as of late. We're looking for an opponent right now. The first pro fight was in Vegas at the old Hard Rock Hotel against a tough opponent. She had a lot of experience, but it was a good challenge for me to kind of like bring a little dog out right, go five rounds of that and yeah, so I'm just grinding man.

Speaker 1 44:28

I'm just grinding. I can't express how excited I am to have just had this conversation with you.

Speaker 1 44:33

Just again at the risk of exposing myself as, like, your biggest fan and a complete nerd. Thank you. Yeah, me too. I'm blushing, absolutely embarrassing myself here, but I am so grateful that you have taken the time out of your busy life to jump on here and share beyond what you share on Instagram, because I sense that's what's next. The fight space stays, you keep grinding, but the coaching space is evolving and you are born for it. You just absolutely have what it takes to help. You're already doing it, so you will help so many people by continuing to lean into that. Thank, you.

Speaker 1 45:15

No doubt in my mind. So, guys, if you're not following Desiree, you need to follow her immediately. She is fun to watch, she is spicy, she's absolutely nailed that description of herself and obviously, if you have listened to this entire episode, you know that she has so much wealth and richness to add to your mindset and to your life. So where can we find more about you and lead us directly where you want us to go?

Exchange of Dad Jokes

Speaker 3 45:43

Yeah, absolutely Well, I am on. Instagram is predominantly my main platform. Desilu underscore limon. So L-I-M-O-N. Limon, Desilu underscore limon, you know. And in terms of wealth management, I'm at Morgan Stanley in the Bay Area. You know I never really promote those things, but I think it's a huge part of who I am too, so you know, in that regard, I can help on a professional level as well. But, yeah, find me on Instagram. I will start my coaching program here soon, and so look forward to some of that content that I'll be launching and really cool things that are gonna be happening. So I appreciate the follow along.

Speaker 1 46:21

Yes, absolutely, greg. I totally geeked out at the beginning and I missed your dad joke.

Speaker 3 46:27

I'm like I mean, you just sit there quietly, doesn't say anything.

Speaker 2 46:32

He has this shining moment. This is my big moment. This is my big moment.

Speaker 1 46:35

And I stole it from you with my absolute enthusiasm. So please land us. Land this plane with a dad joke.

Speaker 2 46:43

So, desi, do you like pirates? Yes, well, that's good, because pirates. Do you know why? Pirates are great boxers?

Speaker 3 46:56

No.

Speaker 2 46:57

Because they have a great left hook.

Speaker 1 46:59

Yeah, how could we leave that one off? I love it. I love it.

Speaker 3 47:07

You know, guys that have dad jokes are awesome. I wish I was like I couldn't even. I won't remember that actually now or from now, just so you know, greg.

Speaker 2 47:14

It's all you Take it.

Speaker 3 47:16

I love it. You guys are awesome. Hey, thanks for being a good example too.

Speaker 1 47:21

Thanks so much for all that you do, all that you share, the inspiration that you provide, and I can't wait to see how this all continues to grow and what happens next.