Many of us dream of becoming Olympians. Most of us content ourselves with watching them on television. But despite having her right leg amputated at age five due to a birth defect, Bonnie St. John lived her Olympic dream - and was the first African American to win Winter Olympic medals. She took home a silver and two bronze at the 1984 Winter Paralympics in Innsbruck, Austria.
"I think it's almost more moving because you're watching people that don't have perfect bodies and perfect genetics who are doing excellent and world class," says St. John. "And I think that's a great example for our children, for everyone, to say don't wait for things to be right before you go out and achieve excellence."
Today, St. John has not only Olympian on her resume, but also Fortune 500 Business Consultant, Rhodes Scholar, Former White House Official and leadership expert. She has written seven books including her latest, Micro-Resilience: Minor Shifts for Major Boosts in Focus, Drive, and Energy.
St. John admits that her story of a "one-legged black girl from San Diego becomes Olympic ski racer" is a crazy one. But, she says, all of her experiences as an athlete taught her valuable lessons that directly translated into her careers after the Olympics.
"As a one-legged athlete, I had to find my own coaches, I had to raise money, I had to organize airline tickets, and I got a scholarship to a ski training school, but I did a lot of the initiative for that so I had to organize it," she explains. "Which I think gave me a lot of strength to be in my own business. I've been at my own business now for twenty years."
St. John first learned how to ski when a high school friend invited her to go skiing with her family. Once she had that first skiing lesson, St. John was determined to stay in the sport. She says she learned more about herself with each new challenge, and that sense of resilience is remains a focus in the talks St. John gives today.
"The resilience that I had to show to learn how to walk again after my leg was amputated to then become an athlete when nobody would even have me on high school teams. So taking that resilience and turning it around and saying how can I give that resilience to other people?" says St. John.
Her mission brought St. John to Milwaukee last month to speak at the annual Girls on the Run of Greater Milwaukee fundraising event. GOTR teaches grade school girls to be healthy and confident through group lessons and 5k race training. St. John says she truly enjoys speaking to young girls, encouraging them to show their inner strength and their athleticism.
"It’s great to learn that at an early age, that what happens to you doesn’t have to - you know it can make you feel a certain way but then you have the power to turn that around," she says. "And some adults have never learned that, right?"
St. John also wrote a book with her daughter, called How Great Women Lead, and met with leaders who are women - such as a fighter pilot, the president of Liberia, Condoleezza Rice and many others, to learn how women lead in their own manner.
"By going through meeting these amazing women who were in these high roles in so many places...they brought their own personality, their femininity, their personality, their quirks to the way they led," says St. John. "And (my daughter) saw, 'Oh wait a minute, so I don't have to become like the men that I see. I should bring my own personality and leadership.' And I think that's one the most important lessons we need to give to the next generation of girls."
Above all else, St. John believes that everyone can harness the tools needed to achieve their peak performance in all aspects of their life.
"The power of who you are and who you're going to become is really dependent on something inside. It's your vision, your self-esteem, your confidence, and your ability to set goals and communicate and connect with other people," she explains. "So I want to affirm what Girls on the Run is doing and really encourage the community to get behind this because we need the power of girls. We need the power of women, as well as men, but we all need to be leading side-by-side to solve the complex problems we're dealing with in the world today."
