Episode 93: Nicole Langevin

Nicole Langevin - Episode 93

Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Pretty Powerful Podcast, where powerful women are interviewed every week to share real inspiring stories and incredible insight to help women or anyone break the barriers, be a part of innovation, shatter the glass ceiling, and dominate to the top of their sport, industry, or life's mission.

Join us as we celebrate exceptional women and step into our power. And now here's your host, Angela Gennari.

Angela Gennari: Hello and thank you for joining us for another episode of the pretty powerful podcast. My name is Angela Gennari and today I'm here with Nicole Langevin. Hi, Nicole. Hello. Thanks for having me.

Absolutely. My pleasure. So Nicole Langevin is one of North America's most notable leaders in the gymnastics industry. She speaks at regional and national conventions in the U. S. Canada and as a top rated judge, Olympic choreographer and podcast host who is also active in the special Olympics [00:01:00] community.

Very cool. How exciting is this?

Well, what what, what tell me what, what peaked your interest in gymnastics? How long have you been involved with gymnastics?

Nicole Langevin: I, since I destroyed the furniture and flipped off the couch about four or five years old, and my mom found the closest gym and said, take her, please.

Angela Gennari: So, so I, I did gymnastics when I was little, but I quickly realized that I was getting too tall for it because I feel like I just kept hitting my head on everything.

I kind of sprouted up really quickly when I was a kid. So.

Nicole Langevin: That's, that's definitely hard in our sport. It doesn't, ultimately, it really doesn't matter about, body type or composition. It's, how strong and coordinated are you in relation to that? But I will say it's the, the rate of growth is definitely hard.

I mean, some of the world's best gymnasts in the world, we learn how to just swing on bars, even at their highest level [00:02:00] when they had like a two inch growth spurt. Oh wow. Well, it's all about timing. So

Angela Gennari: yeah. Yeah, make it difficult. So when you were younger and you started getting into gymnastics, did you have like a particular part of gymnastics that you were most involved with?

Like, so there are

Nicole Langevin: different types of gymnastics. There's artistic gymnastics, which I think probably most of the listeners think of when they hear gymnastics. That's what Simone Biles does. It's the most And then there's rhythmic gymnastics where they use the ribbon and the hoops and the ball and all that stuff.

Then there's also, I, I should know this better, but some of them are like newer versions of things that have existed. So there's, there's trampling and tumbling now. There's As group gymnastics and partner acro and yeah, I'm, I'm not doing it justice, but it's a lot under the umbrella of gymnastics these days.

So, but I personally work in the world of artistic gymnastics, which is vault bars, beam

Angela Gennari: and floor. Okay. Very cool. And that's what I'm most familiar with too. So [00:03:00] we, for a while we were doing security for university of Georgia and gymnastics was actually their biggest sellout sport. Oh, that's huge.

Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, it was crazy because, UGA has this, everybody knows it as a football school, it's huge football, but gymnastics. Every time was a sellout and it was just extraordinary to watch the athleticism. I mean just the core and the power and just, it was an amazing sport to watch.

Yeah, that, that

Nicole Langevin: is a dynasty. And I've had the, the head coach, Suzanne Yockelin, who is, I don't know what year you were, Working with them, but yeah, she was, she was the powerhouse coach were unbeatable forever. I've had her on my show and she was probably one of my most interesting guests and and then two of the guests who have been on have also now just taken over the co head coach positions of Georgia.

So, ah, very cool on lately. Yeah.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. So we were with, we were there 2019 through 2023.

Nicole Langevin: Oh, okay. So it's Courtney Kupecz Carter.

Angela Gennari: [00:04:00] Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, just an outstanding team and just the, the coordination and the, the strength that's, that's what was like most evident to me is the strength and the power. Yeah.

Nicole Langevin: And the funny thing is a lot of those athletes, what they're doing that you're seeing now is actually watered down versions of what they are capable of. Really? Yeah.

Angela Gennari: Wow. That's, that's really crazy. Cause these, these people are athletes, like the truest definition. That's awesome. So, so why do you think they're watering it down?

Is it just injury?

Nicole Langevin: No, a lot of it is just based on what the rules are. So Any of the gymnasts at these top tier NCAA teams, Alabama, Utah, Georgia Cal, UCLA. There are more, but a lot of them actually already competed at the elite level, which is where you select the Olympic team from. So like 4 percent of all gymnasts will ever even reach that level.

Nevermind be put on a national team or a world team or Olympic team. [00:05:00] So they're doing that and then going to college and they're able to back down a little bit on the difficulty of what they were doing, and that's why they're so consistent. Wow. Yeah, they've, they truly are masters of what they're doing.

Angela Gennari: Wow, that's really fascinating. So how, what are, what are the, you said 4 percent make it to the level of like just being able to compete at that level. So what, what does that kind of commitment look like?

Nicole Langevin: It's, it's very different now than it was Yeah, I'd say, back in the nineties, it used to be very much this mentality of, just get there as fast and hard as you can.

And so these gymnasts were being pushed at a very, very young age, as soon as they showed talent to, to get to that top level. And so there, it was almost like people just believed you had, you can't go to school if you're going to do that. You got to be homeschooled. You got to do practice as a day. And then we're talking about 10 year olds.

Angela Gennari: Wow. That's crazy.

Nicole Langevin: Yeah. And the Olympic age, [00:06:00] the minimum Olympic age used to be 14. So for some reason coaches, and a lot of times it comes down to ego with coaches, I'm just going to be real. They would hear that 14 as the minimum age as well. Then that's the age that they have to get them to that level at.

So they'd push so hard and a lot of the kids would, wouldn't make it. It's, it's too much on a young body and a young brain and emotionally and everything. And then they moved the age to 16. And you can kind of see a little bit of pulling back on, let's worry, let's actually worry about longevity and, creating humans that can function happily and successfully in the world.

Yeah. Yeah. To look good. And now, people like Chelsea Mimmel and Simone Biles and they're all showing you can do, and Oksana Chusevitne, who is late 40s at this point, doing gymnastics at a high level and succeeding. So now the story's really changed. It is not so much about you can't have anything else but [00:07:00] this.

There's a lot more balance, a lot more focus on athlete wellness. Even the National Team Training Center has vastly changed from this closed door, behind closed doors thing. And now they're actually incorporating nutritionists. and injury prevention and, the things that you probably should have for the highest level athletes in the world.

And those are the things that they have

Angela Gennari: for other athletes, for football teams and basketball teams. So it makes sense that they would incorporate. I mean, cause I mean, it is just so hard on your body and your body is your, it is your, your, what you do to create. The sport, the environment.

I mean, it's not like you, you you're a race car driver and it's all depending on the car and the driver. I mean, this is all you, right? So you have to keep your body in tip top shape and that includes nutrition, not just skills, not just skillset, but nutrition and constantly recuperating and making sure that your body is in recovery.

Proper, proper amount versus not just, get out there and perfect your skills. So that's fascinating. [00:08:00] So, I remember one of the games that, or one of the meets at Georgia, they had a there was an Olympic athlete. Was it Simone Biles? But they, one of the Olympic athletes came and when she was still competing in the sec and it was insane because she had her own security team, like legit security team.

And there's, there's

Nicole Langevin: more now than there ever was going from Jade, Carrie, Sunisa Lee, they're just Jordan Childs does not do NCAA, but these athletes that, yeah, literally Grace McCallum, they go to the Olympics and then they're, they're right. They're competing in college and it's like,

Angela Gennari: yeah, well, and I, I own a security company and so we provide security and we, we had to interact and make sure that their team was.

Was meshing with ours. And so that, we weren't getting in each other's way. So it was just fascinating, but so you took your gymnastics career and then you pivoted into starting a business. So how did that [00:09:00] how did have being an athlete for so long, how did that help you when you were starting your business?

And tell me about your businesses.

Nicole Langevin: So I remember being in fifth grade and I remember my teacher, I, I didn't, I wasn't paying attention or I, I was doing a project. I just wasn't really, putting much effort or care into it. And she said, What are you, what are you going to do when you, these, these grades follow you and with your career and this and that?

And I said, doing gymnastics. Yeah. It hurt. And I remember looking at her and I was like, I didn't necessarily mean that I was always going to be a gymnast. I was just going to do gymnastics. Like I was going, I had no idea what that meant. And at the time, the only thing I ever knew about was people doing gymnastics or coaching gymnastics.

Huh. But there was just this thing, and I think it's very similar, I don't want to compare myself to superstars, but like, these actors who are just like, I knew as a young kid, I'm gonna be on Broadway, I'm [00:10:00] gonna, and it's like this obsession and this really like no questions asked, non negotiable.

Yeah. I just, yeah, I looked at her and I was like, I'm, I'm doing gymnastics. And she said, what if you get hurt? And I said, do is still doing gymnastics. So, I went into coaching as soon as I was done and learned a lot there. And then I moved out to California where I was going to film school. I still found a gym to coach gymnastics at.

It was supposed to just be part time and I was developing or trying to develop my choreography skills in and outside of gymnastics and fast forward a few years. I ended up taking over the whole junior Olympic program there. So really just dug in and, and understood the ins and outs of developing athletes, dealing with parents, coming up with different systems, what works, what doesn't just from the business standpoint as well.

And then just had this real itching sensation that I needed to get out of those four walls. Not because there was anything wrong with it, and I, I loved the athletes that I [00:11:00] worked with dearly. It was very heartbreaking to walk away, but there was just this pull of like, okay, you, you did that. Yeah. Yeah.

There's, there's other people to reach. There's other places to step into. And so I wanted to be able to impact outside again, outside of those four walls. And the first way I was able to do that was with choreography. The athletes that I was coaching were doing very well, but they were definitely noted for their choreography and performance.

So I was having a lot of gyms asking me to come in and work on that aspect with their athletes. And then I was like, well, I should probably put a name to this. So I put a name to it. And just made that like the. The second, I don't want to say second part of my job, but you know, kind of moonlighting all while we're doing this choreography thing.

And then it was just a series of saying, yes. I remember I went into a gym in Pennsylvania. I did choreography. There was an athlete on beam, which was one of the strongest areas that I that I excel in coaching wise. And I gave some advice to the coach. [00:12:00] It was really good. And they said, well, do you, Do you do clinics on beam?

And at that time, that wasn't a phrase that I had heard of. That wasn't a, a role that I knew that people had. Yeah. I'm very much like I, I talk the talk and then I figure out how to walk later. So yeah, I love that I've got a series of seven and then I got on the plane. I was like, Oh God, I better come up with these.

And then I, yeah, just started building that. So I would go into gyms and do clinics as well as choreography. And then and then it turned into, okay, I'm really liking this. I want to impress more people. And so, I was able to break into the lecture circuit, which is essentially for USA. They say, USA Gymnastics splits up the country into eight regions.

Every region has its educational conference every year. It's like a big convention, convention center type deal. And they have speakers on different tracks throughout the day. So I was able to get myself. into those regional ones and then the national ones and then I started getting [00:13:00] invited to speak in Canada and so it just kind of a lot of saying yes and then figuring it out type stuff and then during all of that you know was like well I should probably judge too you know when you're I think especially with a sport, any athlete that's, that excels at the highest level of their sport usually eats, sleeps and breathes it.

Yeah. Even I, I was, I took my son to an archery lesson. Okay. I'm really into science. And so he was, he was pretty good at, and the guy was talking to him about technique or something. And I looked at my son and I said, Bon, it's like, it's physics. That's what you've been learning about.

And his eyes lit up and the guy said, you know what? The people that are really good at archery are constantly mapping out equations and angles and this and that. And it just reminded me of that, you don't just do a sport. You like, you encompass all of it. You want to know the history of it, the science behind it.

Yeah. That's kind of, I think Ben, my whole thing is I don't [00:14:00] accept not understanding an aspect of my sport. And I don't say it claim to say I understand every aspect of it or that I'm an expert in every aspect of it, but that's, I'm trying to do every day. There's some want to know everything about it. I want to be able to, help people in any realm of the sport possible, whether it's mental, physical, emotional, technical.

You

Angela Gennari: know, well, and that's amazing, because I mean, honestly, it just gives you a more well rounded approach. And you're better better at problem solving. If you really, truly understand the depth, it's one thing to know a little bit about everything, but you can't problem solve that way. You can only you know, you problem solve by going deep.

And so by Doing what you're doing as far as, really diving deep into the subject matter, whether it's, the nutrition or the history, the dynamics, the science behind it, that's really what it's giving you that ability to do so much. And that's why, you keep getting all these opportunities because, you, you're an expert in the field.

That's amazing.

Nicole Langevin: Yeah. So the business I have [00:15:00] is, well, we're, we're rebranding a little bit, but it started out as precision choreography, which is. Nicole choreographing floor routines. That's all it was. Yeah. And it turned into, okay, we're doing clinics and now we're doing training camps and we're doing mastermind courses and we're doing coach's education and staff training, so many things.

But the company started as Precision Choreography and that's kind of what it's known for, but it's now it's like so much more than that. That's awesome. The judging aspect of it as well. So we are rebranding it into Precision Gymnastics Services so that we don't feel so pigeonholed, but heart and soul of it all.

It really, that was the first. Passion was trying to understand, what, what really makes an artist, what makes something beautiful to watch?

Angela Gennari: I love that. So, so when you're learning choreography, where do you go to learn it? And is it specific to gymnastics or can you learn that choreography in other places?

and then bring it into gymnastics.

Nicole Langevin: Yeah. The idea [00:16:00] is that, gymnastics has a bad rep for, for not being very artistic. And some of it is just because, especially those highest levels, these girls are doing four tumbling passes. Yeah. A couple of leap passes, like they're doing so much. There's so little time to breathe and dance, but it is absolutely possible.

And but the kind of, I don't know. I guess the general stereotype is that gymnasts are kind of very stiff and they just pose, pose, pose. And so it's, it's nice to try to pull through. Give them the exposure to things outside of their sport, not what they see on TV and go, Oh, I guess that's what a floor routine looks like, but younger age, exposing them to different types of movements so that they can evolve as artists, as well as athletes at the same time.

So I talked to coaches a lot about the fact that, we, we wait until they're about 11. 10, 11, 12 to start talking about artistry because that's typically the level where [00:17:00] they start having the opportunity to have their own choreography. Until then, the federation just goes, here are the routines that everybody has to learn.

So it doesn't matter what state you're in. If you're in a level four, you have the, you have the same music and the same choreography as every other level four in the country. And those routines are, they're fine. They're not breathtaking, right, right, right, precise. So a lot of coaches will just kind of wait on the artistry thing.

And then they, these girls are 10, 11, 12 years old, and now they're asking them at the most. They're the most self conscious part of their entire lives.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Yeah.

Nicole Langevin: When I start looking sideways in the mirror, this is what they start worrying about if they look cool or not. And is this what I'm supposed to be doing?

And is that this what everybody else is doing? And that's what we're going to ask them to start doing something vulnerable, like performing and expressing themselves. Like, yeah. I just feel really passionate. You got to start when they're little. They don't care. Weird [00:18:00] is fun. Yeah. Right. And then you can kind of hone it.

By the time that they're actually needing to really use it.

Angela Gennari: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Absolutely. So when you're starting your business, when you're coming from, sports, where you've put a sport where you've put so much passion and so much drive into that, was it hard to figure out how to put the pieces of the business together?

Or did you have somebody helping out with that? Or did you study that?

Nicole Langevin: That's, that's something I always look back like, man, I wish, I, I go on a lot of instincts. I'm from an entrepreneurial family, but no, I'm, I did not get a business degree. I wish I did. That's probably my biggest regret because so much was based on, on passion and determination.

And the business model is still evolving all the time. But the one that I never let go of was, this is the thing. As many pivots had to happen along the way, but it's there's no blueprint for exactly how to do something that doesn't, isn't already [00:19:00] out there. And that's the thing, in our sport, it's, it's, there's a lot more now of.

People doing things like this, these kind of auxiliary type things in gymnastics. But, growing up there was no one to look at and go, Oh, I want to do that. It was, you knew somebody that did, your coach knew somebody that did choreography, so they came in. There wasn't a choreography business or agency that you would call and submit your request.

None of that existed. There was people owning gyms and people coaching at gyms. Yeah, about that, but there really wasn't a pathway to follow some kind of just like knocking things down and trying to figure it out as we go. But one of the, one of the things that made a big difference was I, it was just me for a while.

And then there was a gymnast who I really, really admired Alicia Sacramone. She's from Massachusetts, which is where I'm from. She was just, I mean, world champion on floor and ball. So she's a powerhouse, but she's also a great performer. And she's [00:20:00] also not your stereotypical, just like smile and nod gymnast, like we were seeing at the time.

She had a little more They used to call her the Honey Badger. I love it. I remember watching her and I'm like, I feel like we would get along. Yeah, yeah. And so I saw her one day after she had retired the first time after the 08 Olympics and I just, I just went up to her and I think it was living in LA, I just had this kind of like, here's my card, let's do a thing.

I just went up to her and was like, Hey, I know you're retired now. And I just, I really think there's some great stuff we can do together. I love to talk about if you want to go to lunch sometime. Sidebar. She was also living in LA at the time. I didn't.

Angela Gennari: Okay.

Nicole Langevin: So we went to lunch. It lasted two hours. We laughed.

Yeah, we connected. And then I brought her on kind of like a little East coast tour of doing choreography at different places. Yeah. Getting somebody at that caliber to [00:21:00] believe in what I was doing and then also be a part of what I was doing definitely elevated the business and what I was trying to do.

It got a lot more notoriety and, and like, I guess, legitimized this weird idea that I had. Yeah, she's, we still, we still do stuff together. She's actually one third of running the entire country's gymnastics system right now. So she's a little busy, but just like, realizing that these, these people that you see on TV or in that you admire, like she was still a 21 year old that she didn't just graduate college, but she graduated gymnastics.

She served her country in the Olympics. It's like coming out of the military. I feel you put everything you have into it and then you get out and it's like, well,

Both: She do,

Nicole Langevin: But from the outside, you're like, well, that's Alicia sacrimony. No, she's a 21 year old girl looking for a way. And, a lot of that throughout the years of just approaching [00:22:00] kind of these high profile people, but having the confidence enough to go, okay, if they, if they bite, yeah, I can show them.

Some really great stuff. And that's, that's the thing too. Like, I know I joked about walking the walk or talking the talk and then figuring out how to walk, but at a certain point, when you, you have that confidence to go, man, if somebody could just see what I'm doing, I know I'd be successful.

Yeah. I'm going to start tapping shoulders and go, Hey, look what I'm doing.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Yeah.

Nicole Langevin: That's it.

Angela Gennari: Yeah, absolutely. Well, and you never know, like I always say, you don't know if you don't try. So if you, if you were too, afraid or intimidated to go up and just, just have the conversation, you never know where it could lead.

So just having the courage to go up to her was this huge. I mean, you just never know. Look where it took you. So then you were able to watch your, your choreography in the Olympics. That was. Pretty cool, I bet. That was

Nicole Langevin: cool. Yeah. So, what

Angela Gennari: led to that?

Nicole Langevin: So, there is a incredible, incredible woman named Hori Gabesian, [00:23:00] and she she actually was a way younger teammate of mine, so she was just coming up when I was coming out.

Okay. I was a level 10 at the time. There was a, there was a few of us. We were, we were like the big shots of the gym doing all this hard stuff. And all of a sudden I turn around, there's this teeny tiny 10 year old facts. And I'm like, who is this kid? And, and she was strong and she was she was like positive and she worked hard.

I'm like, this kid is going places. And then I moved across the country and kind of didn't really follow. She turned out to compete in college and then make a run for competing for her, her it's her home country, but she's got dual citizenship at least with Armenia and they didn't have any gymnasts at all.

Oh, wow. national team or for vying for the Olympics or anything like that. Very, very different setup. And she tried for two quads, which is eight years. So two rounds of the [00:24:00] Olympics. She coached herself. She put together her own program all the while being a labor and delivery nurse. Wow. Yeah. And I apologize if she was a practitioner's practitioner, but I, I just view them all as incredible.

So yeah, she, she was working for full time in a hospital herself again, kind of similar, like doing something that's not something that people do and in, she She did it in for Rio. She qualified herself to Rio and she had been following what I was doing and I was following what she was doing, but we weren't really talking to each other.

And I ran into her in Boston and she said I made it and, or I, I, She was, I think, Olympic trials or, or she used world championships to, to qualify, whatever it was. She had her, her final hope of trying to make this happen and she's like, I can't think of anybody else that I'd want to do my choreography, not only [00:25:00] just because she liked what I did, but also just that connection of this being like a period.

Yeah. family type feeling. So yeah, that, that got out there. We worked our tails off and her videos are on YouTube and her performance at the Rio Olympics is one of the most joyous things you'll ever watch because she went out there as the first gymnast representing Armenia at an Olympic games. Wow.

She, she actually, after every event, Went over and kissed the equipment. Wow. I've never seen that joy from an athlete on that stage before. Like you could just tell it wasn't the traditional way and I, she wasn't supposed to be there really in a traditional sense to you. It's not a thing that happens.

So yeah, that was,

Angela Gennari: that was really rewarding. That is super cool. I love that story. That's really neat because. You just never know. I mean, tenacity can get you way more places than you could ever imagine. So good for her. That's amazing. So where is she now? [00:26:00] She

Nicole Langevin: is in Ohio. She's working in a hospital. Oh, nice.

Good for her. Motivational speaking, obviously. Yeah.

Angela Gennari: Yeah, for sure. Very cool. So in the time that you've been in LA, you did some of the LA things with Hollywood. So tell me what that was like, working in Hollywood.

Nicole Langevin: It seems like another world away now because I'm really just like, really, I did that.

That's awesome. Yeah, I think you definitely help to just be around things that are visions that are coming to life all the time. Everywhere you look like screenplays being made a deals being made a shows be a pilots being shot and actors audition like things like creative things were just awesome. It wasn't a dream.

It's like they're literally happening in front of your face all the time. So I think that just really fit well with my Kind of never satisfied, like always got to make something happen thing that I'm trying to [00:27:00] chill out on a little bit because it's exhausting. But it was, but it was also, just eye opening to go, no, I don't, I don't need to slow down too much.

Like you can make things happen. It is possible. And so, I definitely carry that back home a lot. Having, having an idea for something and then going, it can be done. Yeah, absolutely.

Both: Absolutely.

Nicole Langevin: But yeah, I did like, definitely a lot of talking the talk and then walking the walk. Yeah. I got myself.

In a choreographing opening numbers for fashion shows with members of the blue man group like, wow, that was all confidence and then like, you know what, let me figure this out. Yeah, I talked myself into a lot of things but like in my gut was like no you are going to figure this out. Not 24 hours.

Angela Gennari: That's amazing.

Cause my, my business philosophy and when people are saying, people always ask, like, how did you get where you got? And like, how did you do it? And I'm like, my business philosophy is say yes and figure it out. So there were [00:28:00] so many things through the years where I'm like, I would get off the phone after saying yes to somebody.

And I'm like, shit, what did I just do? Like, it looks like I won't be sleeping for the next few days while I figure out how to navigate this.

Nicole Langevin: Deep in your heart,

Angela Gennari: like, yeah,

Nicole Langevin: the ability to figure it out.

Angela Gennari: Right, right. Well, that's the thing. Like, everything is figureoutable. And so like, I'm a big believer in the answer is there.

We just got to uncover it. That's it. And so it's like, and I also am one of those people who I have the audacity to think that if somebody else is doing it, I can do it too. And so It's like, I'll watch, I'll watch an electrician put up a ceiling fan. I was like, done. I'm so doing that the next time and then I'll install the next ceiling fan and I'll stumble my way through it.

And half the time the switches don't work, but I'm like, it's okay. It's opposite. Just learn the opposites and it'll be fine. It'll eventually work, but yeah, so, so who inspires you?

Nicole Langevin: I have every time I get asked that question, I'm like, I feel like I'm [00:29:00] supposed to say somebody famous that people know Which I'm sure if I gave it a little more thought it would come up or if we were talking it would just naturally come up. But I will say there was a, a coach in my life who is no longer with us, who was kind of like a grandfather figure growing when I was like 14 to 18.

And then even in the 20s, we, we stayed connected. It was very much a, like a life mentor. And he was so accomplished. Books this man wrote and the people this man inspired and the, the breakthroughs that he made, the, I mean, it blows my mind because I don't think I'll ever be able to write it all down, the bullet list of things that he did.

And I'll remember something one day I'm like, Oh my God, he did that too. Yeah. Being a part of a court hearing that changed the direction literally of gymnastics in our country. But then also like he held Jimi Hendrix's blanket on the side of the stage at Woodstock. Wow. [00:30:00] That's awesome.

Psychologist, school psychologist, just everything. And with the superior knowledge and ability that he had, you would never, you just wouldn't know. Just so humble so kind, so, If he, if you sat down with him and you never met him and you had no idea what he did, you wouldn't because he, all he'd be doing is asking about you and supporting you.

Wow. And making you the most important person. And I think about that so much where, people can say, or do say, and I tell my kids this, like, if you're good at something, you don't have to brag about it, you just, you just are. Right. But it's really hard when you're trying to accomplish something, you, you want people to know, right?

Yeah. Yeah. Right. And get to that point of mastering, I almost feel like mastering life, to be that chill about it and just let things come out as they may. And I really, really admire that. It seems like such a peaceful place to be. [00:31:00] And just having that ability to make everybody that comes around you feel like the most important person in the room.

It's something I hope to

Angela Gennari: try to be able to do. That's really cool. I love that. So, a lot of times as women, we give our power away. And so this is something I always bring up on our podcast is, it's called the pretty powerful podcast and we interview very powerful women, but at some points, we typically will give our power away.

And I know in gymnastics, there's been a ton of controversy with like, the potential sexual abuse and like how women are treated. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, and, and like how women are treated. And so can you tell me about any time and, and, don't have to be specific, but. That you've given your power away, whether somebody else got credit for your work or somebody else, was able to criticize you and you didn't stand up for yourself.

Can you tell me about a time that you gave your power away? And then another time where you stepped into your power?

Nicole Langevin: I mean, I definitely gave my power away, not necessarily to the [00:32:00] opposite sex, but to to multiple times people who I viewed as It's more worthy or more powerful than me.

Angela Gennari: Oh, interesting.

Okay.

Nicole Langevin: And so that's been something I've been working on a lot the last few years is, I told you that story about Alicia, right? And so for me, it was like, I miss nobody. Even though I'm doing all the stuff back here, I like, she brought some spotlight into what I was doing. But at this point. I'm really struggling and people tell me that I'm crazy to say this, but like, I still kind of feel that.

Yeah. that who am I to whatever I need something else attached to me to be like, look, and I've, I've had a lot of people. And Alicia and I have a wonderful relationship, so I'm not talking about her. Chelsea Memel as well, like just still such a wonderful relationship, but there were a few others in the past where I just, I kind of let them [00:33:00] take the credit for the work I was doing behind the scenes.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. I felt like

Nicole Langevin: people would be more satisfied with that result than knowing that I was actually doing the work and they are just along for the ride.

Angela Gennari: Oh, that's interesting. Yeah. Well, and I think that happens a lot in, in situations where you're young, like if you're in the corporate world and you're young and you just kind of assume other people will continue to get credit.

And so it's harder to rise when you're doing that, right? Because you're not giving yourself the credit that you deserve. And and so you, it's that imposter syndrome, I think that people deal with all the time. So, well, and it's interesting, there's, there's even a there's a CEO of a multi billion dollar company.

And one of the, one of the ways that I was able to get over imposter syndrome is he was talking about imposter syndrome and how it affected, like, the editor of entrepreneur magazine was like, yeah, I'm having imposter syndrome because I just took over this time. I'm interviewing all these like powerful CEOs and I'm wondering like, what am I [00:34:00] doing here?

And the CEO goes. I struggle with imposter syndrome. He is the CEO of a multi billion dollar company. Exactly. It doesn't even matter what level you're at, you're dealing with it. It's just, it's interesting.

Nicole Langevin: Sometimes it's like stepping back and you had mentioned something about, your younger self, what would you say?

And I think some of that is like you, you kind of like revert back and step aside and go and look at what you're doing from that standpoint. And that's it. When it happens for me, I last within the last couple years, I started working with the Switzerland national team and I got brought out there to do a training camp with the junior national team.

This is my why right here. Oh, hello.

I'll, I'll introduce you in a second. Okay. Okay. But yeah, remember on that, on that plane ride, it was like, what, they are going to be so disappointed. And then you go in and just do what you do. And it's like, Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm out here. I'm making a difference. I know what I'm talking about.

Okay. That's

Angela Gennari: [00:35:00] right. Yeah. And with your level of understanding and depth and passion with the industry, I would have a hard time believing anyone could doubt you. So what advice would you give to your 18 year old self?

Nicole Langevin: To don't, don't second guess, walk, talk in the talk and then walk in the walk.

Mm hmm. It's the, that is that it works. It does work. It really does. But that, that is what's going to work for me in that I'll know when to say no. Yeah. Yeah. And then the other thing is yeah, just. realizing that you are enough and not needing to have somebody else, share that spotlight that you can just have the spotlight on yourself.

And it's not in a sense of like, trust me, I'm not shy. I'm the first one on the karaoke mic, the, like I have no issues with feeling like I can't have the spotlight in the, in the performance sense, but I think In the accomplishing sense, just that like, I, I can be a legitimate [00:36:00] figure on my own.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. And you are. Yeah, absolutely. So what obstacles have, what's the biggest obstacle you've had to overcome in terms of like, either getting to the peak of your gymnastics career, getting to, you run three businesses and you have two children. I mean, this is, you are doing so much and you're working at such a high elite level with such highly athletes.

The pressure must be intense, but what obstacles what, what would you say your biggest obstacles have, have been? Not

Nicole Langevin: knowing when to stop something. I actually just kind of started figuring it out. Yeah. The three businesses that you mentioned have now melded into one. Good. Yeah. I was, yeah, I was sharing too much.

But the other thing is like, so the podcast that I, I have a podcast called what makes you think, and it's interviewing high level figures in gymnastics, whether they're world [00:37:00] team coaches or anything like that. And I was doing it because. Somebody that does marketing said, you have the personality, you have the connections, you know what you're talking about, you should do it.

So I did it. And as and I don't know if what support you have with post and all of that, but I was doing all of it on my own. The, the scheduling of the guests, the research for the guests, the actual interviews, and then trying to acquire sponsors and putting together the ads. It was a hundred hours for Fifty minute episodes, just so much, but it was that thing of like, but I said, I'm going to do it.

I'm going to do it. I'm really going to do it. Yeah. It got to, I just had this huge realization kind of recently of, you know what, I think the show did what it was going to do. It elevated where I am and what I'm doing. It built a lot of connections, it entertained a lot of people and a lot of [00:38:00] really interesting and important conversations.

Actually had Judge Aquilina on, Judge Rosemary Aquilina, who was the, the former doctor tried that case, so really, yeah, she was on twice actually. And now I was starting to feel like I'm like digging to, well, who can I get on next? And then I just had to realize, I don't think I need to keep doing this.

I think I did it. And maybe there'll be an opportunity to come do a special episode here, here and there, but nobody ever said you have to do this every single week in and out. Yeah. Yeah. Nobody ever said you have to take time away from your kids to edit a 60 second promo reel. You, that was self imposed.

Yeah. It's done, possibly. And now, now what else? So once things start feeling forced and unjustified, the dollars aren't rolling in from it. Yeah, yeah. It's not easy. It's not fruitful. And then it's okay to go, okay, I did that thing. [00:39:00] Yeah. That's not failure. That's like just.

Both: Yeah. And

Nicole Langevin: I think that is my biggest obstacle, is just holding onto things for way longer.

Because I thought stopping things is failing at them. Like

Angela Gennari: you just, oh gosh. Yeah. And it's not true. Yeah. That's brilliant. Because you're right, I mean, I think that's also the overachiever mentality, right? Like, you wanna do it, but you wanna be the best at it, and you're gonna keep going because you're not a quitter.

And, but you're right. I mean there's, I, I put so much pressure on my. Self and like my to-do list will start with, 17 things. By the end of the day I've crossed out one and I've added seven. Yeah. . And so it's like this, but it's the pressure on myself and half of the things that are on my to-do list aren't even things that I'm doing for other people, it's pressure and added things that I've added to my plate that nobody else, they don't even know about it.

And so it just pressure, pressure, pressure. And so yeah, I can, I can a hundred percent relate to [00:40:00] that. And you're right. I mean, I started my podcast and, I still have my full time job. And when I first started it, I wasn't quite as busy. And, now we've expanded into six more States and, we've taken on all these other, more management and the management is like, it's not like it.

It doesn't lessen the amount of work that you have. It adds to it because you just have more people to manage. But so yeah, that's been the struggle is okay. At what point do I just say enough is enough? I'm not, I ha I can't be accountable to everybody for everything, and still be accountable to myself.

So balance. So I really enjoyed this podcast. Thank you so much, Nicole. But what, what is the last question I have is what do you wish more people know? Or what do you wish more people knew?

Nicole Langevin: Just in general about anything?

Angela Gennari: About anything.

Nicole Langevin: Because we, my daughter is sitting down here as you guys. One [00:41:00] thing that comes up in our house all the time and that I really wish that people truly, truly believed and didn't just say is that, Rosanna, when people are mean, they're really what?

They're really sad. And it goes along with that whole, like, you don't know what anybody else is going through. You don't know what their story is. Don't judge. But the other side of that too is, can you really truly believe that? And I really do. If somebody is being mean, feel bad. Don't feel hurt by them.

Feel bad. That they have hurt. And I think that would really change the way that we deal with each other. Yeah.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. I love that. And you're right because I, when, when I've dealt with, things in the past, and I have a son too, and bullying has come up, I've always said like, honey, hurt people, hurt people.

And so, [00:42:00] Be so grateful that you don't know what's going on in their house. And so, you get to come home to a family who loves you and, a bed you can sleep in at night and you have no idea what's going on in the four walls of their house. So just know that hurt people, hurt people.

And. You could not be more right about that. Well, thank you so much, Nicole. I've really enjoyed our conversation. You have been very inspiring. And I just love that you're continuing to live your passion for gymnastics and influencing so many others. So congratulations on all your success.

Nicole Langevin: Thank you.

Angela Gennari: And how can people find you?

Nicole Langevin: So, you can find me and Dr. Shira Lewis, who is my new partner with Precision, which is very exciting. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, and whatever they're doing with Twitter at Precision Choreo. The website is precisionchoreo. com. And then I do stuff with anything that's related to the podcast [00:43:00] content that we've done, things that are more my personal lane professionally and personally.

It is Nicole Langevin Consultant on Facebook and Instagram.

Angela Gennari: Very cool. And if you're looking for the spelling of her name, it's a J and not a G. No, it's a G. Sorry. I was like, I know I'm going to mess this up, but yes. So you can also find her on pretty powerful podcast. com. We will make sure all of her links are also on there, but thank you everyone for joining us for another podcast.

And we look forward to seeing you next week. Have a great

Intro: day. Thank you for joining our guests on the pretty powerful podcast. And we hope you've gained new insight and learned from exceptional women. Remember to subscribe or check out this and all episodes on prettypowerfulpodcast. com. Visit us next time, and until then, step into your own power.