Episode Transcript
Femininity is powerful in all its forms, exceptional women, rare girls must be appreciated in every
way for their perspectives, actions, thoughts, and their unique ways of being.
Such rare girls are inspiring and this is what this podcast is all about.
Hello, my name is Aziz and my guest today is Emilia Colzi.
Emilia is a swimmer, a national champion in Romania, a Balkan medalist, and an all-American
student athlete in the United States.
Emilia is from Ploiesti, Romania, and currently studying criminal justice at the University
of Indianapolis in the U.S.
In the future, Emilia is interested in working in the fields of crime scene investigation
or criminalistics.
Emilia, how are you today?
I'm good, thank you, a little bit tired, I had a hard week, but pretty good right now.
How are you?
I'm feeling happy, positive, lucky to be part of this wonderful existence we call life and
very curious about you.
So I'll begin with this nice question which is, if your friends could describe you, what
would they say about you and would it be a bit different in Romania compared to the new
friends you're making in the U.S.?
My friends can describe me as ambitious, as friendly, I'm pretty open-minded, sometimes
a little bit crazy, but crazy in a good way.
And here in the U.S., I think it's almost the same.
They also describe me as ambitious because I'm really ambitious and a lot of friends
I have here in the U.S. from the swimming team because it's where I spend the most time.
That's wonderful.
And let's explore it a bit more.
What drives you to be ambitious?
What motivates you to be an ambitious girl?
And do you feel most people your age in 2022 have the same level of ambition?
I think if we are thinking about the athletes, yes, they have this ambition, but if you think
about a normal person that is not doing any sport, I don't think they all have that.
What made me to feel to be that ambitious?
I think it was swimming, of course.
And for example, when I was like a child, I think I was like 10 years old and I wasn't
that good at swimming.
I was just a little kid.
I was just competing, but not that good.
I was 10, I can say, in my club.
So after that, it was like a point where I said, okay, stop.
From this point, I'm going to push myself harder, I'm going to swim faster, I'm going
to practice better and stuff like that.
So during that time, I just learned to be more ambitious than yesterday, for example.
And of course, I lost a lot of things if I'm thinking on the swimming part.
So that made me really, really ambitious because I don't like to lose.
That's so interesting.
Do you feel it's something that is unique to your personality?
Like you're born that way or you got it from your parents?
Or would you describe the culture of Romania and Romanian women and Romanian people as
people who don't like to lose and they're very ambitious or they're okay and easy going?
Or how does this relate to your cultural background?
To be honest, lately, I realized that I'm like my mom.
My mom is really ambitious.
I didn't know that when I was a child, of course, I didn't see that.
But when I grew up, I saw everything.
And with Romanian people, I can say, yes, they are really ambitious.
Romanian don't like to lose and they like to compete a lot and they like to win.
They like to be on the top.
I don't know if you know about David Popovic that is the new world recorder on swimming
this summer.
He is really ambitious and I think a lot of Romanians are.
Thank you.
That's wonderful.
And to begin to explore the other parts and sides of you, you work very hard.
You're very ambitious.
How do you deal with the possibility of burnout?
How do you take care of your mental health?
How do you keep yourself okay in the face of so much practice, so much necessity for
stress and competition and pushing yourself?
Sometimes to be honest, it's really hard for me.
But for example, when I was in high school, I had like two practices, I had classes, I
had classes out of school to get ready for the final exam, like in the end of the high
school.
So I started to deal with that pressure and that burnout with me and everything like three
years ago.
It wasn't that bad before.
And then when I came to US, it was a way harder because here you have practice at six AM in
the morning and then you have classes and then you have maybe lift and you have practice
again.
So I'm just trying to eat well, to sleep well and don't go to sleep at midnight or so.
I learned to take care of myself because I had no choice here.
I'm alone.
I'm studying and I just need to take care of myself because nobody can do it instead
of me.
That's very interesting and yes, self-care as well as independence is something that
is essential and you learn a lot about that when you're way away from your family and
your country and in a different place.
How was the story of you becoming a student athlete at your university?
How did the opportunity present itself?
Was it a choice?
And what would you recommend to maybe any other Romanian or people who do sports when
they're in high school and they have excellent results to follow your footsteps?
What did you learn and what is your advice?
So everything started when I was in high school.
America for me was like a dream, like an American dream.
I had a great result in Romania with swimming and at some point I wanted to go to UK, not
USA, because it was closer to Romania.
It was in Europe.
But then I had a friend that was in USA here when I'm now and he came to a competition
in Romania.
He was also a swimmer.
So he came in Romania and I was talking with him, hey, how is there in USA?
And I was just trying to find out more about it.
So he told me a lot of cool stuff as they are giving here like scholarship if you're
really good in swimming.
America is really nice, to be honest, and it's like a different continent.
It's not Europe.
So you can see more outside the Europe.
So that was the first step that I took.
I was talking with him.
He was giving me like advices.
He was telling me about swimming team, about the university, about how is here.
So he came back in USA and he talked with the coach.
The coach is one that made makes the decisions.
So he the coach then contacted me.
He sent me a message and that was just keeping in touch with him.
I was talking with him.
He was asking me about myself, about my results, about my swimming and everything.
And then I started to take the English exams that I need here.
And I took them and now I'm here.
And for example, for people that are doing something like sport or whatever, for people
that have a dream, my advice is to follow their dreams and to do what they want to do
and what they like to.
Thank you.
That's wonderful.
And to ask you even more about swimming, how do you feel or what's your perspective or
even metaphor on water, on the when you're swimming because you spend so much time there?
Is it like a second home?
Is it another planet?
Is it a distress where time stops and you're swimming and nothing else exists except the
flow or what is?
Is it like a source of opportunities and maybe that makes it exciting?
How do you view the swimming pool or the water or wherever you're going to practice or to
compete that elevates it from just mere movement into something that is special?
At the beginning, it wasn't anything special with swimming.
I was afraid of water.
So my parents took me to learn to swim and then I became a national champion and everything
that I'm doing right now.
But swimming pool for me, it's you are right, my second home.
When I'm going into the swimming pool, I just leave everything outside.
I'm not thinking about anything, just swimming.
I'm trying to be the best version of me every day and I'm just trying to be the best.
For example, this year I want to break the school record that we have here in one of
my events and it's really hard.
I'm just trying to don't think about bad stuff and bad events during the swimming.
I'm just being positive.
I think that's the word, being positive.
That's a wonderful word.
And to know even more about your experience moving from Romania to the US, how was it
meeting new people, making new friends when you are in a totally different environment
and country?
Did you find it easy to do?
Do you find it difficult or maybe only the people who are swimming with you because you
have commonalities, it's easy to connect?
How was that experience of being in a totally new place and making new friendships?
It was really hard.
For me, I'm homesick, I have a really strong connection with my parents, so it was really
hard for me to stay here alone that far away from them.
To make friends, it wasn't that hard.
In the team, we are really connected.
We are supporting each other and we are making friends easily in the swimming team.
Inside the swimming team, it was a little bit harder, I can say, but for two years here,
my first two years were so, so hard because I came here in 2019 and then in March 2020,
so after like three months, COVID started, so I had to go back home.
So how many connections can you make in three months?
And then I came back here in December, so from March to December, I was in Romania.
And again, I came here in December and I went back home in April and same, it was so hard.
I was so confused, everything was confusing me, I didn't understand too much.
And then it was better because I came here in August and I was here for like 10 months.
So I think that was my best year where I can say that, oh, I saw America, I made friends,
I made connections, I lived there.
I wasn't just thinking about, oh, I want to be back home.
I miss my friends, I miss my parents, I miss Romania.
But it was hard at the beginning and now it's good.
It's pretty good.
I'm happy for you that things are better there and I'm curious, why did you choose to study
in a way where you can and your dream job will be to be in crime scene investigation?
Did you watch a lot of CSI when you were a little girl and that inspired you or are you
one of the girls who relaxes by watching murder documentaries or what's the story?
When I was like, I don't know, 15 years old, 16 years old, I started watching horror movies
and movies were like murder and stuff like that and I wasn't scared.
I wasn't scared at all.
And I was like, it's not a thing that I really like when the people murder other people,
but it's just the thing that it doesn't affect me too much is just, I like to see what happened.
I like to investigate even in real life when something happens, not something bad, but
I'm just saying normal things that are happening during the life.
I just like to see what's going on, what happened there.
I'm making connections in my mind.
I'm not telling anybody.
If you lie to me, I can't say that you lie, but I'm not telling you lie to me.
I'm just trying to find the evidence and then I'm coming back and I show you, look, you
lied to me and this is the evidence, this, this, this and this.
And that's the thing.
I just found out that I like the CSI and the criminalistics.
I think I can say that I like more the CSI because I like to investigate more than the
lab that we do in the criminalistics.
And that's the story, horror movies.
Thank you.
That sounds really, really interesting.
And to explore more about your personality, are you more extroverted or introverted?
Are you more emotional or logical kind of person?
How is your personality from your perspective in a way that it compares to any other person
outside of ambition and all that?
I can say that I'm extroverted.
I'm not introverted at all.
Maybe sometimes, but every day I'm extroverted.
I'm not the person that is thinking with heart, I can say.
I'm logical.
I'm trying to think about things before doing what I feel sometimes.
Sometimes I do and after that I see that I did wrong.
So I am trying to think more about things.
I can say that I'm a strong female.
I'm not a weak one.
I like to be independent.
I don't like to depend on anybody.
What else?
Thank you.
You mentioned that you're a strong person.
Imagine there is someone who is young and listening to this podcast and they have issues
with self-esteem.
Social media has made them feel ugly and weak and not successful and all that.
And they want to become a strong person.
How do you recommend they go about becoming strong in that way?
Is it like, yes, you have to suffer and go through a lot of pain and that will strengthen
you?
Is it that you should compete and do sports and therefore the will to win will make you
not look at what other people say and do and be independent?
Or is it genetic, you're born that way or tell them go back in time and choose better
parents or what would be your advice?
I don't think they really need to do sports to be a strong person.
But the first step that I think they should take is to don't look on what everybody's
saying.
If someone is coming and saying, oh, you are ugly, you can say, okay, that's your opinion.
Everybody is beautiful in his or her way.
I think some people are just thinking too much and they consider too much others' opinion
above their opinion.
I'm not.
I'm always putting myself first.
It's my opinion.
It's what I think.
It's not about what they think about me.
It's what I think about me.
And if I think a good thing about me, it's good.
If I see myself a good person, if I see myself a strong person, I don't care about everybody
saying.
I just care about what I feel and what I see in myself.
Another thing is that let them talk and show them the opposite.
Like if they tell you, oh, you cannot do that, you cannot go there, you cannot make that
or whatever, just show them the opposite.
Show them you did that.
Show them you can do that and things like that.
Thank you.
And I'm curious about this.
If you could live anywhere other than the U.S. and Romania, that will be perfect for
your mood, your desires.
And imagine there, there is like elite swimming training available no matter where it is.
So that is not the excuse.
Where would you love to live?
Would it be like in Asia somewhere or in a forest in nature or in a big, huge city with
20 million people or what kind of environment will be the place where you feel happy that
you belong and that it suits your personality?
So the paradise for me, it's anywhere.
What is a beach?
Where is a seaside?
Where is an ocean?
A sea?
Anything.
I just like to hear the waves.
I like to feel the sand.
It's not necessary to be the hottest place in the world.
I just like to be somewhere with any kind of water.
I don't care if they have any swimming club or stuff.
I just like to hear the waves.
For example, when I go to sleep, I play on my phone every night, waves, sounds.
That's a great tip for insomniacs as well.
And to ask you too, a lot of people your age or younger, they're like, I don't know what
I want in this life.
I don't know what I should dedicate my time to.
Maybe it's a mistake.
Maybe if I focus on this and then I find that I'm wrong in the end, then I regret it.
And they hesitate, which leads to paralysis of analysis and not doing much.
For you, how do you know if a choice is for you the right decision?
Is it like a voice inside you that tells you and you're like, okay, if that voice says
it, then it's true.
Do you logically and since you said you collect evidence, you will collect pros and cons and
see which one is longer list before you choose?
Or how would you help someone who thinks, oh my God, there is so many possibilities
in this world.
I don't want to make a mistake, so I won't do anything or whatever is happening nowadays.
How do you go about that?
The first mistake is to think about it.
To think, oh, what can I do if it's a mistake or whatever?
Don't think about it.
Just go for it.
If you want to do something, just go for it.
If you have more options, you should take small steps and think about what do you want
to do?
And if you want to do, for example, I don't know, physical therapy and CSI as me, right?
Just think about it.
What do you want to do?
What do you like to do?
Collect evidence or maybe you don't like it.
So you have a plus to the physical therapy, right?
What else?
I want to help people.
Oh, you can help people in both ways, but another plus for both and just add plus and
minus to the options that you have.
But the better thing is just to follow your dream and just don't think about the thing
that it's, oh, maybe it's a mistake or whatever.
Just don't think about it because that's a mistake to think about it.
For me, it was just, oh, I want to do that.
So I'm going for it.
For example, I was, I had the, I'm in a criminal justice major, but I have concentrations in
law enforcement and CSI.
But at the beginning I had law enforcement and cybersecurity.
So when I took cybersecurity courses, I saw it's not for me because I'm not, I'm not good
in programming and all of this stuff.
So I just cancel it.
So and I choose CSI after.
So it wasn't a good option for me at the beginning, but I tried and I saw that it's not good,
but I didn't think at the beginning, oh, this is not good or maybe this is not good or maybe
I don't like it.
Just try it first.
And if you don't like it, just move on.
I like that.
It's very decisive.
And therefore I'll ask you when you meet new people, what characteristics or traits are
you looking for, for someone to be someone important in your life, like a friend or that
you consider your kind of person?
Should they be similar to you, therefore decisive and ambitious and all those traits that you
embody so that you're like flocks of the same feather who that will fly together?
Or are you looking for opposites that opposites attract and you want to be the determined
ambitious one and maybe you inspire them if they're not that way?
I try to have around me people kind of like me.
I can say that none of them are exactly the same as me because we are unique and we cannot
be the same.
But yeah, I can say that not all of my friends are ambitious, like really, really ambitious.
But I try to keep around me people ambitious, people with a view, like with a good view
in the future, like people that want something in their lives, not people that are lazy,
they're not doing anything with their lives.
I like people to be honest, because you asked me about how I like to be a friend.
The best thing is to be honest with me.
If you are not honest with me, then you are not my friend anymore.
We don't know each other.
And I think that's it.
I just like people to be somehow like me, not all of them, but a big part of them are.
Thank you so much, Emilia.
This was such a wonderful way to understand you as a person, to explore your life and
your mindset.
I wish you success in breaking those records that you desire to break.
I wish you to keep going, to not feel so homesick and to be in constant connection with your
parents.
And thank you again for participating in this project.
It was my privilege.
Thank you so much for inviting me to participate here.
It was a great opportunity for me.
