 Without a Bounce with Jamie and Abby, we have today Ms. Mallory Irvin, our very first guest on our podcast, and we couldn't be more excited. I'm so excited to be here. Yes. And we talked about so many juicy things. You guys are going to love the first episode. Mallory, we're so honored to have you as our first official guest on Out of Bounce. So excited. And for those that don't follow you, which I'm sure they're few and far between, because you have 750,000 Instagram followers currently and 140,000 YouTube subscribers, which is crazy. So tell everyone your background just a little bit and get us up to speed on your journey. Okay. So I arrived at the place that I'm now, which what do you call this place? I don't know. People are always like, what is your title? And now I just, I guess I'm a lifestyle entrepreneur because I like to do a lot of different things like you and like you, I'm sure. So I grew up in Western Kentucky in the country. Country girl, like singing country music, always thought that I would sing forever. Loved the stage and entertaining. I was the oldest of 24 first cousins that grew up on this farm together. That's a big family. It's a big wow. I'm trying to like recreate it here in Nashville, but it's a lot harder. Wow. So I kind of always thought that I would do something on stage or in the public eye, whatever. So I went to school. I was at theater major at Swanee, University of the South, close to Nashville. Love Swanee. You do, you know Swanee. Oh, yes. Monnie Eagle. Yes. Love it. I really would have this connection. Yes. Okay. So do you have, you've stayed, I'm assuming. Yes. I have a girlfriend who has a cabin in the assembly. The assembly. Yes. So we go on girlfriend weekends. So I went, you know, obviously like during, I stay there all the time, like parents weekend and stuff like that. But I've yet to really go back and experience the assembly since post college. So it's amazing. It's amazing. Sorry to interrupt you. No, I like that a lot of weird connections already off camera. So there's another one. So I go to Swanee, which is a beautiful place, Jamie and I agree. And I was a theater major, still thought like that's the direction that I would go in. And then just like life kind of throws a weird thing in there. My dad one time in the car was like, you should be Miss Kentucky. Oh my gosh. I'm not that pretty. Isn't it like a beauty? Oh my gosh. Stop it. I'm only five feet tall. I don't know if like my qualifications, but then I found out it's 35% of the score is talent. So, you know, saying that I'd been a singer and I was like, okay, I'll give it a run. So I started doing the Miss Kentucky system and three years later, I won got to do Miss America. I was a runner for Miss America in 2010. By that time I had graduated college and here I am. I like almost won Miss America, which I'd never done a pageant in my life. I'm like, what? Okay. Yeah. Wait, so you jumped in. How many years did you do it before you? Three. Took me three times to win. Don't most people start when they're like five and do honey boo boo? I was not a honey boo boo. You just jumped in. That's impressive. I just jumped in and it's something that really opened up a lot of new territory in my life and revealed a lot of new passions to me. So a lot of people think of pageants in the way that I thought of pageants before I did them and you kind of like laugh at them and you kind of like, oh yeah, my sister did one of those. She was Miss Strawberry Festival or whatever. But in the state of Kentucky, you work for the Department of Agriculture and you travel the state and I spoke to like over 300 schools and I started this big like the speaking tour. I got to speak on the Senate and House floor on like reform bills for like all of these amazing things that I cared about. I got to really do these amazing things and it made me realize like I like to do more than just sing and be on the stage. Right after Miss America, I was cast for a reality TV show for The Amazing Race. I can't wait to hear about this. I did the show. I ended up doing three seasons. Wow. And my dad was my partner for the first two seasons. Wow. And it was, you know, I'm the oldest of four children in my family and my dad, he built a big business. He always worked during the week. My mom raised it. So this one-on-one time with my dad was so fun. I'm very close to my dad and it was just the experience of a lifetime. That's amazing. So then it was like, well, shoot, now I like to do TV. Oh, no. So, you know, I had done all of these things and then I started filming some travel show pilots, different things. And then I went through this period of my life, which I know we'll probably talk about where I want to do more and more and more. I felt like I had to keep topping things. I'm from this really small town and people just see me do Miss America and The Amazing Race and felt a lot of pressure really unraveled. Had this full, like full circle moment where I left a lot of things behind in my life and it was about five years ago. So I feel like five years ago, here I am with this clean slate being like, I've done all of these things, but how do I now take all the things that I love to do and make them a career? And people were doing blogs, YouTube channels and all of these things. So I said, I'll start a blog. So I started a blog and six weeks later, so I started a YouTube channel and it exploded. And now I have a podcast, a merchandise line, a book coming out with random house, one of two books in February and it's just rocking and rolling. So that was only five years ago that you started YouTube and all that. So what is, what do you talk about on your YouTube channel? So it, like the other things that evolved, I started with like beauty and fashion doing makeup tutorials. It would take me like eight hours to do a video. I would film for four. I would do these videos. I had a piece of sequined fabric from Joanne's fabric that I would throw over a hanging rack. That was my backdrop, an old camera. And I would do makeup tutorials and like fashion videos. And then as my life evolved, my YouTube channel evolved. And now we do less YouTube. Now that gosh, right in this book, it was a lot of time and effort and energy and doing a podcast, as you guys know, is a lot of work. But now when we do YouTube videos, they're vlogs, which are just video. Oh my daughter's in love. She does vlogs herself. Oh my gosh. Yes. I'm going to have to watch her vlogs to put them on YouTube or are they? So last year during COVID, because of the draft, you weren't able to go, my husband wasn't able to go to the office with all the scouts and everything, you know, for the actual draft. So we had to make a makeshift draft room in our media room. And Nate, who's in charge of all social media, contacted Taylor because she had done some little vlogs here and there during COVID just about what we're doing to stay safe and also to kill time, you know, and it kind of took off. So that's really cool. It was, it was. So he contacted her and he was like, Hey, you want to be the face of the draft or the Titans? So she did. So she did her and my youngest too. So they're 15 and 12 at the time, 14 and 11. Um, they did. So whenever John would make a pic, she was there with her phone and really, yeah, it was really cool. Back and watch those. I love, I love it. Like keeping it in your family. I love just a family. Anything. Yeah. Yeah. That is really cool. Okay. So where are those? I need to go back and watch. She did put them on YouTube. Okay. She did. Nate has, um, the ones of her for the draft, but, um, she started, it was a spring break that summer actually. It was March 2020. She did it with her girlfriend. They went to Florida and they couldn't do anything but like out. Yeah. Couldn't go eat or anything. Yeah. And so she vlogged to the whole trip and we were like, wow, it's pretty good. You know, right thing about vlogs. And I don't know what she filmed. I'm going to watch them like as soon as I go home. Oh, I love it. But it's such a time capsule. It's a memory. You know, our home videos, like our parents, they filmed front ways. They, they never, they were never on camera. My mom's hardly ever on camera on my dad. It was filming us like in our everyday life. I love the vlog style where it's sharing your thoughts and what you're thinking about. What's going on? And what's your, cause you have to narrate it. It's really, it's really cute and what they're wearing during the day. Yeah. It's awesome. How red they are after the sun. It's really cute. It's really cute. That's awesome. That's really cool. Yeah. But vlogs are something that I cherish now because like having two, every, we all have two, two to two. Yes. So, you know, tell us about your kids before, because a lot of your video blogging is around your children. Yeah. Just so sweet. And you're so genuine and real. I think that's one thing. If people don't follow you yet, which they will after this. That's sweet. You're like genuine real. You never, I don't know. When I'm looking at your stories, I just feel like that's actually you, you know, every day. Well, thank you. I think a lot of people in this space, they, I think it's an easy word to say that you're authentic and real. And I think it's a best word right now. And a lot of people want to call themselves authentic and real. But I truly, I do not plan my stories out. I don't edit, I don't look back at them, which you said off camera. You've told me that. Like, you know, so I'll be at like an event with other people that are doing, and I can tell it's, it's very thought out. And I'm like, man, how great to take it that seriously. But then also like I, I don't have the time. Right. Right. People like seeing real life. Yeah. And if it's so curated, it loses the people love real. That's why people like vlogs. Right. Right. People would like to watch other people living. And then here comes reality. Vlogs are just like reality TV in our own hands. Yeah. So I have a one and a three year old shepherd is one and Ford is three. They're 17 months apart. And so you're two girls. I'm two boys. You're going to go in a girl. So I know we all three come from different perspectives. Yes. Two boys is like we are the GMs of the WWE. I don't know if there's a competition there. But they are wild and they're funny and they're basically the same age. Hello. And I'm so glad we had them so close. We'd love to have more, but we need a little bit of a break between those two in the next set. I cannot imagine that. And I can't imagine girls and I hope to have my mom has I'm there's two girls in our family than two boys. And my mom's always like, if I could go back and have all boys, I love having boys. Thanks mom. But I think I would love to have a girl. But if I had all boys, it'd be fun. It's weird because in my family, I have two girls. My sister has two girls. My sister in law has two girls. Really? Yeah. Every everywhere. We don't have one boy in this family. Really? How many grandkids in that that you just, we just have four. Well, both sides. There's four girls, green kids on John's side as well as my side. Yeah. We have 24, like I said, five girls and 19 boys. So we're very, oh my gosh. But all girls, that's although I laugh all the time saying that my 12 year old, she, she is, she's my boy. But at the same time, she will be the first one to dress up with you, you know, like it's a good mix with her. But her older sister is scared to death of her. She runs. If she comes after her, she's like, that's my WWE right there. Oh my gosh. So you got the same thing. Oh, Larry does. Yeah. Yeah. How did you feel, Mallory, at first, about sharing the boys' lives? Did that ever come up? You know, as everything, and I just explained a little bit in the intro, I try not to overthink the direction that life takes me at. Life will roll one thing into another. I don't pre-plan a lot. I really welcome in opportunities that I may not have thought about before. So when I started in this space and I just started showing my boys, I thought about it, but then I didn't see any negatives to it really. And I just kind of rolled with it. I didn't see any changes in their behavior. People found joy in seeing the way I raised my family and like that we just let our kids be kids. Our kids are dirty and messy and they're wild. And we don't take it as seriously as a lot of people. And I think that the lightheartedness was a positive thing. Now, the second that my children say, I don't want to be on video. They won't be on video. But right now, we're rolling with it and it's fine. And we've got several opportunities that have presented themselves that I do think twice about because it would be on a larger scale. But right now, I'm just, it seems fun. What do they think about it? Like seeing themselves on video? Are they still too young to understand? Just like I'm sure your girls like watching their vlogs back. I think that right now they love seeing themselves. So if they see me rewatching a story and they hear themselves in the background, they run to the phone and like over my shoulder, they want to see themselves. So at this point, they really like it. And like I mentioned earlier, I love capturing these moments. And I think that for all of the cons of having a phone in our hands all the time, the pro is that like we capture our lives. And if you can make it to where you don't overrun your life by showing it to other people, it can really be a really cool thing where you're capturing these moments and you're sharing, you know, just enough with people, which is my constant struggle is finding the balance between those two things. But right now they, they love it. And I love it. And it's, that seems to be fine. I love it. I will show my age a little bit right now, but you are going to love it specifically because we got married young, had kids young. So digital cameras were not a thing yet. So when Taylor was born, I was still doing pictures, you know, having to get them developed. And I have a big video camera that I would have to download into the computer. It's not as easy to go in. And I'm not tech savvy. No way. Like I know they're sitting there probably right now. And my poor Taylor has not seen herself as a baby in a video. I'm like, I don't know how to get it out. But then I can pull out and then Bailey rolls around and that's when the video on the camera started coming. But it's so grainy that it's like, I'm so sorry kids. I did love y'all a lot. Isn't it? It's the truth though between the first and the last child too, because my mom's always like, I feel so bad going through all these pictures. I have so much of you and then so little of my youngest brother. But I think, you know, that first child, you've just got a lot extra time on your hands. Did y'all do baby books? I didn't mean either. I don't. I didn't have time for that. People ask me all the time has time for that first tooth. And I'm like, I know I go back in my Instagram archives. I know that's watch stories of stories. I did for Jessa. But that was before stories. And so I felt like I needed to capture it now. I just video Juda all the time and he's only six months. So I don't think he's going to get a baby book because I don't have time. Oh, I love it when you post about him. He is so precious. That's such a cute name too. I love the name Juda. I have not heard of another Juda. It's so hard to have a unique name. It is. I thought shepherd was the only shepherd that I knew besides like one person I'd ever seen on TV. And now people are like, Oh, I named my baby shepherd. And I'm like, Oh, I love how you always bring the accent in there. Like someone else is thicker than my it's never. I talk like when I repeat myself, I repeat myself in a stronger accent. Just making myself a character all the time. I love it. I love it. Let's talk about the amazing race. I'm dying to know because I used to watch it all the time. And I'll be completely honest. So going back to what you were saying about being authentic and not doing research and just going with the flow, that's exactly who I am. So going in today, I knew tidbits. And one of the things I knew about you is amazing race. But as far as watching, I have not seen anything. So tell us where you went and did you and your father fight it all? And you know, all that good juicy stuff. The thing that a lot of people don't know, which who knows if I'm supposed to say this or not, but is that they kind of reach out. A lot of people apply. So I think they say they get like 40,000 applications per season. That was what they told us years and years ago. They pick 11 teams out of those 40,000. That's what we heard. Wow. Okay, but sometimes they cast people to come into the process where you're getting chosen. So it doesn't mean I pick you. You're in. It means I pick you. Would you like to apply for the show and go through the casting process? Yeah. So after Miss America, someone reached out to me from casting and first asked about survivor and I was like, Lord, Oh my gosh, I've been starving to death for this pageant. I cannot. Like I've got to eat and drink for a few months. So I graciously declined and like 30 minutes later, they called back and we're like, have you seen the show? The amazing race? And I said, my dad has been sitting on our couch every Sunday night for like 10 years watching that show. Could I apply with my dad? They said, sure. So we start the application process. My dad is not like me, not an extrovert speaks his mind. He is, doesn't speak a lot is very intelligent, salt to the earth, kind of like just different. Not, hey, put him on TV. Not that kind of person. So we start going through the process and the head casting person said, so she is the casting director's dream and my dad said, so what am I? And she said, you're my worst night. So they said, if we can get about 75% less of her and about 75% more of you, we can, we can probably get you guys on the show. Long story short, we made it on the show and this whole show, you do the whole world. So you start in America. If a listener hasn't heard of the show, you're racing 10 other teams for a million dollar prize and you go around the world. So say you start in Boston, Massachusetts, which is where we did the first season and you open this clue and it says fly to somewhere in England, find this castle and this night will hand you the clue. And then this night tells you like, you have to learn jousting and like do this thing to your next clue. Then you have to build a boat and go across this moat and learn to juggle with it. Oh my gosh. And all this crazy stuff. But your dad's perfect for that. Oh, he's perfect. He is, he is a prepper. He is a thinker. He's a packer. He knows to the ounce with the backpack ways because prepping really matters on a show like that. Cause you're carrying everything that you need for the top of the Matterhorn and the 110 degree heat of Ghana in your backpack. You've got to have the right socks that you can run 15 miles in through a jungle and that you can literally be in below zero temperatures in. And that was my dad's specialty. Because did he, I think your followers all know that your dad climbs huge, huge mountains. Huge mountains. Yes. And like Everest and like all those. Oh my goodness. But did he, he started that before. No, he started after Amazing Race. He always was an adventure, I would say in business and he built a big business and took some big risks. They were that type of people, his family, but he didn't start the mountain climbing until after the Amazing Race. Oh wow. Okay. So, so we did this first season of the Amazing Race. We made it like fourth team from the end. So we made it pretty far and we got lost. There was a natural disaster. Washed this road over that we couldn't have known. It wasn't meant to be. We were so upset because we knew like we were some of the best racers and we should have made it further. And we got a call like two weeks after we got home asking us if we wanted to do the All Star season, which was coming up the next season. Wow. And we, and our season hadn't even aired yet. It was just like, I mean it gives me chills. It was just the, it was such a surprise and just to do two seasons back. So within 2010, I had done Miss America, almost one done an Amazing Race, almost one. And then we did another Amazing Race all within this year. It was such a huge year for me. And we almost won that All Star season. We lost by a minute and 30 seconds. What? In a bad taxi. We got lost for an hour and a half. So this is like shows my Kentucky roots. So some people are like cut throat on this show. They're like, there's a million dollar prize at stake. I will do anything to win this million dollars. I will leave people behind. I'll break alliances. I will cut in front of people. I'll be rude. We weren't like that. So we get off the final plane after we've done the whole entire world in Miami, Florida. We run jumping this taxi with a GPS. You see that the taxi driver speaks perfect English. And we say, go, go, go to this place. And this lady standing there and she says, I've been waiting for that taxi. You guys stole my taxi. So instead of us being like, we're on a show and we're almost to the million dollars. Is there any way you can get this, this next taxi? Like, we can give you a little bit of money after we win. We get out of the taxi and get the next taxi. The guy has a flip phone. Can't speak English. No GPS. And we get lost for an hour and a half. And that's all. That's that. But you know what? I think, you know, who Garth Brooks says it, it unanswered prayers. People say it in like all these different ways, not winning the amazing race that season was the best thing that happened to me. I was, I was spinning a little bit from all of these successes. Here I am, like in my mid-20s. And I had done all of these things, very public things. I'm this tiny small town girl. And I think I was in such like ultra achievement mode. I'll do anything to do more and more and more that I don't think went in the show and having a million dollars at my disposal would have been the best thing for me. I think it could have halted a lot of the things that have brought me to success that I've found later in life that came with a lot of hard work and a lot of like scraping and struggling and hustling and looking back on that. And I write about that in my book. It was amazing grace, I guess, for better word on the amazing grace and me not winning that season. Yeah, yeah. That's such a good way to look at it. Yeah, what's meant to be, yeah, what's meant to be will be, then you lost another one. But you talk about spiraling. I know you've given up drinking and you haven't drank in how many years. I think it's like seven. As we're staring at all of your display of all of the alcohol that you have here. The Gibson Garage. Well, Tommy, before we start that, how old are you? If you don't mind me asking. 35. 35. Okay. I would not have guessed 35. Would you have guessed younger or older? Definitely younger. I will tell you that. It's definitely younger. Okay. Are we the 7? We are. Yeah, I turned 35 in June. So I'm turning 42 in October. I wouldn't know. October what? First. Okay, 26. No way. No way. October. I knew it. Oh my gosh. But yeah, I just find that impressive because I think you saw that it was an issue and gave it up. And that's a young age to give it up to in my twenties. And you know what's funny? So I've had a bit of a round about journey with removing this from my life. I think a lot of people in quote unquote recovery, they do it a little bit of a different way than I did. I didn't drink my whole life. I didn't drink until the very end of college. I was always the person that didn't really have to drink. I never showed an interest. I was always like the good girl. I didn't, I just didn't. And then I was like, there was nothing I had against it. All my friends did, like all my friends partied to the maximum. And I was just like, whatever, okay. So at the end of college, I started drinking and my whole like span of, of drinking probably only lasted like five or six years. But as a young person, I could already see how this was steering my life in the wrong direction, how I was numbing out things I was supposed to feel, how I was feeling things that I don't think I really meant to feel like they were just imposed by like what I was feeling when I was drinking. And I think because I started drinking so late, I could see such a drastic difference. The person that I was before I started numbing things out and blending things together with all these substances. You were probably like dieting for Miss Kentucky and doing all that. And we all know that alcohol and dieting don't go together. And, you know, I was in ultra achievement mode. My schedule when I was Miss Kentucky, I would wake up at like sometimes four in the morning. I would exercise and then I would have to travel to my first school by myself. So sometimes I'll leave at five something. I would go downstairs to Dunkin Donuts and like I would eat at the beginning of my reign, like before as I got closer to Miss America, I would slowly weed out the Dunkin Donuts munchkins that I could eat. So I started, I could eat like eight in the beginning of my reign. Then I'll go down like six, then like four, then like two. And it's funny. Coach Calipari from UK, he used to eat at that Dunkin Donuts too. So like we would see each other and it was just this, if this funny thing. So anyways, I would go down there, I would get my coffee, my donuts, and then I'll drive to the school. And I would sometimes speak at like seven schools, one school, I would leave the school, speak at another school for an hour, leave, speak at another school for an hour, leave. And it was just this like go, go, go, go schedule. So I was starting to get burned out. Ah, was not a person that got burned out. Just like I'm sure a lot of people listening to this podcast, like when you start to feel tired, you don't decide to rest. You decide to be like, well, what can I take to like keep going? Cause I can't really stop. So I had doctors prescribing me on top of drinking medication that I probably didn't need to keep going in that period of time. And I didn't really have much of an issue with it then, but it did develop into an issue that also compounded this. And I just think looking back, thank the Lord that I went through what I went through, because it brought me to this deeper way of living, having to go through that. And don't let me paint it lightly. Like it was definitely an issue for me. Everybody says one day at a time, but like I truly know that I won't pick it up again, but it made my life so much brighter again. And I wonder if a lot of people, whether they're like me and they have an issue or whether they like, they're like I was in the beginning where I didn't really have an issue, but I was just bringing on heaviness and darkness and in numbing out all of the hard stuff and the bad stuff and I'm doing too much and I can't rest stuff. I was also numbing out all of the vibrance that I'd always felt in my life. And so I kind of made a roundabout journey to where I'm at now. And sometimes like when my children are insane and when I have 100 work deadlines and when my husband can like unwind, sometimes you look and you're like, man, that must be nice. But I also like look at the way that I am. And I know that I have a deeper existence for the harder ways that it takes me to get to places sometimes than I used to. And I'm grateful for that. That's very impressive. Yeah, all of that being said, I know we started talking about the amazing race with all that, but just like we started talking about in the beginning of this podcast, it's like things in my life kind of flowed. And I learned so many lessons through so many random different things. Yeah. And I definitely didn't walk a straight line. Yeah. And I'm really glad for that. I'm still not walking a straight line. I really, whoever does, I didn't expect. Yeah, whoever does that. Did you expect to be like in this spot? Did you expect to be the wife of a GM? Absolutely not. I thought it's interesting. It is. It so is. When we started dating, he told me he was like, you know, this is, this is my life. This is my career. At the time he was a coach. And he was, he said, we'll probably move around a lot. And before meeting him, I thought I'd always stay in home of Louisiana. You know, so it was exciting. And we never expect it to be in the seats that we are now. So there's a purpose. There's a reason why you get put in the seat the way you were. That's my belief. Yes. And so, I mean, it's insane to me that you are in your twenties. And I have a girlfriend who is diehard wildcat, went to UK, was in a sorority, and she's like, Jamie, these people can party. So that's why I'm like, just living in that area. And you know, it's, it's like me going to LSU having to try to do that. You know, it's still such a big part of culture too. So that's extra impressive. I just feel like it's, you know, I write about events for living and attend them. And it's at every event. It's, you know, so I can imagine it's hard. Yeah, for sure. Even like, you know, you've endured pregnancies. So I guess that's the closest thing where you just all of a sudden have to stop. And it's a big change. I think in a lot of people in, you know, me in very early, like, I stopped cold turkey one day. I'm doing everything 100%. And one day I'm not, and that was seven years ago. And here we are. And I think that the first thing people notice are all the emotions that you have to sit with. Yeah, you're like, oh, shoot. Gotta live in it. You can't just, yeah. What am I going to do? I'm guilty of that. After a long day with two kids, I open a beer and chill. And it's probably not the best. No, but it's definitely not always the best thing to do, you know? You know, I think there's, there can be a balance. If you have an issue like me, like, no, I think you, you can live a better life the way that I live. But if you're like you, where you can find balance in it, I think that as long as you can find a way to find balance, I think it's great. But I do notice during pregnancy that I am so much more even a little bit. Like I, I don't know. I just, you wake up every day and you feel the same thing. And you're in the same thing. And you're, you know, and then it's, it's a little less, I don't know. Up and down. Yeah. Yeah. Rollercoastery. Yeah. Yeah. I remember when the kids were that young. And I would, I mean, there were, there were days I could not wait to just sit, have a glass of wine, have my book. But it's true that you, you can get dependent on it. And now, like, I don't feel like that. I don't feel like that. My, my kids drive me crazy when they were younger. But the other difference now is now I have the time. They do their stuff. John comes home and we, we do. It's easy to have a glass of wine, bourbon, whatever you like, you know, and, and like alcohol can be replaced with anything, I think, like we're, we're using drinking because that's my personal story. But I think that a lot of people escape their lives with a lot of different things, like social media, or like Netflix. Like if you are looking forward to, and I, I know something needs to change when I am lusting for nighttime, for quiet, for sitting on my couch and like, I'm gonna leave me alone. And I'm like, okay, I gotta, maybe I need to take a step back or like, I need some time during the day. But people do it with like Netflix shows, like people that hate their career or their job, maybe Monday through Friday, they're, they're too scared to make a change. And they're looking forward to Saturday and that's when they feel like the only time they feel like they can live. And they can, they can numb out with a hundred different things. And if you're watching a Netflix show for the two days that you're supposed to rest and restore, that can be the same thing. Right. Totally. Yeah. Just kind of an addictive thing or just avoiding, I guess. But that brings us to your whole brand, which we were kind of talking about is living fully. When did that launch officially? Because were you kind of just under a Mallory Irvin and then living fully launched at a certain point? Yeah, you know, just kind of like probably with yours, it's like you start, you start something and people ask you when you started and it's like, when did I start it? And then when did I, when did this happen? You know about brands exploding the best of anyone. But I, I started thinking, I've never been a person that wanted to, it's fine that some influencers do it like this. You're never going to see a brand that's called like the Mallory Irvin Cups. Yeah. Oh Lord. Or the Mallory Irvin shirts. Well, we would wear them. Well, that's very But like, I want my brand to be about community and for people to feel like it's as much their brand as it is not living fully is the life. I found a really full life. I feel like I'm living fully when I'm not like numbing out. I feel like I'm living fully in my life now where I'm just like riding all of these waves where I'm taking on all these things that maybe I didn't think that I would ever do in my life and I'm trying them. I always seek for a full, full life in the least like cliche way to seek it, which is why I wrote a whole book on it because as I started my brand, what I noticed was people sent me the same message over and over like, I wish I wish I had this or I wish I could be as positive. I wish I could wake up and smile and I wish I could have these things that I could tell they were only seeing on the outside. And I was like, whoa, wait. So I went through like this big thing in my life and like I robbed here and I definitely have hard times. I'm just not going to crawl out of bed onto Instagram. And be like, yeah, it's terrible. You put in the work though. You put in, I feel like daily and monthly and you put in work every day to be positive and who you are. I do. But like, you don't show I'm not going to show my therapy session on my Instagram stories. Yeah. So I realized like there was a piece of the brand that was missing. So I would send messages all the time. And that was the message I would always respond to. And I would be like, no, no, no, like, let me tell you a little bit of my story because I truly believe you can achieve this too. It wasn't, this still wasn't automatic thing. Everybody thinks you're automatically one way or the other. And so I said, I've got to birth another part of my brand that is this part of it, where maybe I do a podcast, maybe I do a merchandise line, maybe one day I write a book, maybe one day we do speaking tours. And that's where the living fully kind of thing. I did this rebrand and I said, what does my whole brand mean? It's to live fully. And now you're doing all of that. And now I love it. It's a little too full. You know, it's awesome though is seeing you on your Instagram and seeing the pictures and you just look like you're larger than life. And thank you. But sitting here talking to you, that's your personality. That really is you're not hiding behind a camera. That's actually you. And I'm highly impressed about that because I mean, it's a lot coming from you. Thank you. I've seen a lot to where, you know, it's, that's the persona that everybody wants, but it's not really true. It's not a true self. And you work hard. You know, I think that's a lot of people think influencers or even national guru, it's like, are you going to drink or you just film your daily life. You're not doing that much. And it's like, I remember the first time I met you because I went to college with Mallory's husband, Kyle. And so I ran into him, I think it was Pilgrimage Festival, if I'm not mistaken. And this was like a brand new baby, right? I think Ford was that three or four years ago? I don't know. Or you were pregnant or something like that. I can't remember exactly. I don't sleep enough for that. But I ran in and I saw Kyle and I had never met you and you were like doing the selfie stick and you were working. I mean, I know she was working because she takes her job extremely seriously. And I just remember thinking like, gosh, and you were so kind and sweet to me, but also you were working. You were there to work. You had a mission and I just remember that. Well, that's probably where we connected. And while we decided to go to Bar Taco shortly there, where we talked about, if I can remember correctly, like, Abby, I think you're probably like me and that like, and you probably are too. I want to do so much, so much, so much, so much. I don't want to leave anything on the table. I want to do it all. I want to do it all now. And then I get it all and I do it all. And then I'm like, I want to do less. I want to go off the grid. I don't have time for this. Where's my family? Like my children and my husband matter the most. Then you scale back and then you start taking it all back. And so I think that day at Bar Taco, we're talking about all these ideas. And you know what's funny? And I was thinking about this on the way here. You were talking about a podcast. I don't know if you remember that, but you were talking about a podcast and you were talking about how you would like to do it with another person. Stop it. Yes. Really? And we were talking about manifesting things also like, because remember, she was talking about how she wanted to do a podcast. She wanted to be lifestyle, kind of about business, kind of about lifestyle, but like an extension of what you were doing with. And here we are. And like, you didn't even know probably each other at that point in time. And I hadn't started my podcast yet either. So it's just, it's really funny. I think, you know, as I've gotten older and I've been, you know, doing this career and raising young children, like I've learned to be very patient with things. You know, I used to kind of push and make things happen because that's my personality. And now I've learned like, if you sit back and you're just work hard and put yourself in the way of luck, like you're going to do it. It's going to come your way and it has. Like this podcast is amazing. I love that so much. When we met, it was like true love. It truly was. We never knew each other. We never, I mean, I knew natural guru. Everybody knows natural guru, but it's very natural. But you know what it, what you both feel like to me. I, I do other people's podcasts and a lot of these podcasts, they're fast talking, they're high pace. It's very like entertainment. You, I feel like I'm sitting and talking to two friends that like, I would just go to bar talk. You feel like, like home, you feel like Nashville, you feel like it feels much more real, really real and authentic. The real authentic, real and authentic. Oh my gosh. That's such a compliment. I love it. I'm actually tearing up because that's been the whole goal. It's, um, you've nailed, you've hit the nail on the head for sure. And I don't know a ton about football. We are big Titans fans as, as everyone in national, we are seasoned ticket holders. You know what's so funny? I don't think it was, no, it's not, it wasn't Nate, but it was another guy that worked within the Titans. And this was really cool. What they, what they let us do. And so I bought Kyle season tickets, like when I could a few years back and this is what's something cool about the Titans. Cause you feel like they're like down home. They're not some big untouchable NFL team. They have this like face and this cool spirit about them, which is what I really feel from you. But this, so I reached out to this guy and said, how do you get season tickets? Like I'm interested in buying them. And he said, okay, like here's for what you're looking for in the price here are the two spots. And I was like, gosh, I want to surprise him, but I wish he could see them to pick. And he said, well, would you like to come tomorrow and he can look? And I was like, are you serious? Oh, that's awesome. So he, I was able to, you know, drive to the stadium. And he didn't know who I was that I was an influencer or anything. And he didn't even ask me those questions. And I said, Kyle, I've got your birthday present. I drove him to the Titans stadium. We go into the Titans stadium. And I said, he sit in these seats. And then we walked to the side with, with the representative, of course, sitting in the other seats. And then he got to pick. And Kyle was like, I feel like Kanye. Oh my gosh, that's hilarious. But it was just really cool. And I will always remember that. And I feel that from the Titans. And of course we've got some friends that play for the Titans. And of course, going to Swanee to the Adams family. So Kenneth Adams, I was with them. So I've got a lot of connections, but meeting you, gosh, you couldn't go with this brand any better. And it's funny, I didn't know that what your husband had told you he was going to do back in the day. But I think one of the most special cons of women are coaches wives. I think they're very selfless and they're kind and they have this cool sense of family. And when you said that, you remind me of that only you have this big scale job and position, but you still are that exact same person. That's really cool. And I'm really happy that like we got to meet in this really public place. You just don't know because it's, I mean, we've been married 20 years. We've been together for 22 and coming from a small town, you know, I never, I never expected anything like this. So when he started scouting for the Patriots, I mean, we jumped from, we went, we had to move a lot. He was with them 14 years, I want to say, but when we were with them, we lived in Atlanta. We lived in Dallas. And then we lived in Boston our last five years. Scouting was never on his list. And so he just kept going up and up and up. And then I'll never forget. So my dad, four years ago, passed away. I'm sorry to hear that. And he, John got the job with the Titans the year before, maybe six to eight months before my dad passed away. No, I take that back because we've been here for six seasons. That doesn't add up, right? This is where my daughter would come in and say, Mom, seriously, get it right. But anyway, my dad was able, he actually was able to come to, it was two seasons because he came to a couple of games before he got really sick. And the one thing I told him when John got the job was, dad, if ever you see me change from that by you girl, you better smack me upside the head and tell me to come back down to life and back to reality. I don't want to change. And I try my hardest to do that. And it's so important to me because I see these wives, the staff and I've been there. I've done that. I've, you know, and it just, it, it means the world to me to be able to be with them and go through the journey with them. I may not be able to be there all the time, but they know they can call me. And so the fact that you said that without even meeting you until today, it means the world. And that's why I'll bald like a baby. That is so special though. That embodies what I want to be in this. You just said it perfectly. When you rise to a place that there's a lot of eyes on you or people value that position. Unfortunately, so many people, they change as their position changes. And I can feel, I can feel that promise that you made from your dad in like two hours of knowing you that you, you will keep that promise. And what a, or we'll smack you upside the head. But that really is like it. I know everyone that was successful or could just hold that if every influencer, if every wife of a person in a position like a GM, if every person that owns a business the size of national goods, could just remember that we're just all just real people. Exactly. The world would be so much different. And kids wouldn't aspire to be the way that people are when they get like a little bit rotten inside when they get like big. You know, it would just be so much, it would be so much better. It's funny. Like whenever you said, you were like, we don't want to waste your time. We can do all the intro and stuff after. And I was like, I'm not Beyonce. My time is not bad. Well, it's when you, when you get to where you can be like us to be able to do this, this podcast and having, and you having the platform that you have, you have to use it. You have to use it for good. And you have to use it the way it's supposed to be used. Like we have, we have our daughter, she has multiple autoimmune issues type one diabetes rheumatoid arthritis. She has alopecia. She's so cute. She's bald. She's so cute. She's beautiful. But it's, it's one of our things when she was diagnosed at six years old, we lived in Boston and I've always said, if you ever get a GM job, you know, this is my goal. My goal is to use your platform to be able to talk about it, to be able to bring awareness, not necessarily, we do raise a lot of money for it, but not necessarily about that. It's about raising awareness. It's about Taylor being able to raise awareness for these kids to say, Hey, look at me. I'm normal. Everything is fine. So that has been our goal with all this, you know, when it's just, you got to use your platform and good. And if you're snotty, you can't do that, you know, people don't want to listen to you that way. And that's so true. I didn't know that you're, I didn't know that about your daughter. And I would love to meet your daughter. That's really, I bet she is quite the kid and will be quite the adults because to go through adversity like that, especially as a young person that crafts, I think the best people among us. Yeah. She's pretty spectacular. Yeah. That's, but to have a mom too that like believes in her and that, Hey, we're going to use this to make a difference. That makes it even more special. I had gestational diabetes with both of my pregnancies. I was on a lot of insulin, like my second one. And I was just diagnosed as pre-diabetic a few months ago. And I only had one cousin that I knew as a young person with diabetes, but that I cannot imagine managing something like that as a child. Like what just knowing as an adult, like with a pregnancy that I was trying to keep viable and mine wasn't like a light case. Mine was really threatening a case. Like I just really admire kids who are able to, to do that and parents that support them in doing that. So anything you guys do in that walk of life, please let me know what I can, what light I can shine on it to. You let me know. You let me know. Well, we, we want to talk about your book and we've mentioned it several times. Can you tell us a little bit more? Cause it's one of two. So what can people expect? And when can they, we have to know like pre-order. We're going to be first on the list. Well, that's really sweet of you. So this book almost killed me, right? I'm a huge book lover, by the way. So what are like, tell me some of your favorite books to read? Oh my goodness. Or that you've ever read. I love fiction, historical fiction, things like that. Okay. Where the crawl dad saying, y'all, they just filmed it in my hometown. Oh, yeah. And ironically, one of my very best friends, her husband's aunt is the one that wrote it. And we like, it was weird. We were talking in conversation one day and I was talking to her son and he was named his middle name. I was like, Oh, one of the authors that I just love it has that name. And he goes, this Jamie, that's my aunt. Jamie reads like 10 books a week or something. Though that you take the time to do that. I commend you. Oh, I love it. I love it. I just love it. I don't do so talking about the Netflix bend. I don't do that. I read. And so it's totally, that's not nummy. I don't think that reading is checking out like Netflix. That is awesome. Yeah, actually, she's, she's, her book's gonna have to be on Jamie's books. I can't wait. Yes. So I did my own little Instagram because all my friends are always asking me, what are you reading? What, you know, and so I finally, after years, my sister had been begging me to do this forever. And so I did Jamie's books on Instagram. And so it really just makes me feel bad because I never have time to read. No, I listened to probably three books a week. So I listened to books when I work out and I listened to over and over and over and over and also like doing a podcast. I read every book of any author. I have a lot of authors on my podcast and I read the book cover to cover. I do not let an assistant read and skim. I really try to read everything. I love it. Before we get back to your book, your podcast is in how many seasons now? Or is it just ongoing? And then I was like, I cannot sustain this. I don't have a huge crew. You know, we're really doing it. I do have a team that edits it that that's off site and stuff. But I could not write the book with two tiny babies and the podcast and all of my brand deals and the YouTube channel, social media and no, like I wanted to do everything myself. I should have hired four employees like four years ago. Like everybody else. How many do you have? I only have one full time right now. And then I have a merchandise team, a podcast team. Different teams that I hire out to do different things, but I have one like full time all the time. Well, and then one that does like half family stuff, like half other stuff. So I guess two. Yeah. So, but that was recent. So I did everything by myself. And then you hear from someone online. It's me. Like it's not. I love that. That's awesome. I love when Kyle answers an email. I send you that's my favorite KD. Very professionally. And I'm like, I love it. Kyle, that is not on brand. He'll be like, um, very cut to the chase. And he's like, well, after having it, because he owned a parking company here for a long time. Okay. And he's like, people don't want all that fluff. And I'm like, yeah, yeah. But people also don't thanks KD. Kyle, thanks so much. That's the difference between me and my husband. I'm very fluffy and he is. Yes. No, there is room for the fluff. Yes. So Kyle responds, but I have someone else now that responds more responsibly than how I got a little wax with it. And I was like, I gotta get an employee to do this. But anyway, so the book process, this is my big debut. I had a lot of deals on the table that I could choose for. Thankfully, with a lot of different publishers, I went with random house and I had a full color lifestyle option on the table. I had my part memoir, part prescription self-help. I had all these different books I could have written and I said, I need to write this part. It's not a memoir, but it starts with a story. I'm a big storyteller. My family's always been like very rich with storytelling. We still stand around my grandparents to this day and they tell their story over and over and over again of like how they built their businesses, how they, all of these failures and all of these things. And we have this slide show and we're just, it's big. It's a rich thing in my family. So I said, I want this book to be steered by stories. So it starts with a story and then it's like a self-help kind of a lesson that I learned. But I'm not Brené Brown. I'm not, I don't have a PhD. I've been through a lot of things though and I've come to a lot of realizations at a young age that I would hate for someone to miss out on 30 years of life and not come to. And I was forced into a lot of the realizations that I came to. I was almost pushed in the direction of whenever I stopped drinking and all of that out of necessity. I lost things that guided me in a certain direction. Opportunities fell into my lap. I think a lot of these things like happened upon me, but I also think later in my life with my head screwed on pretty straight, I have to choose to re-steer my ship with the things that I already know because I think that you can just live your life. Just, it just happens to you and you can kind of fall into cruise control and your life becomes something that you didn't mean for it to become. Totally. And then you think it's too late to change. And that is what like I constantly rage against because I just want to live this rich, full life. And a lot of times I turn the tables up like on the real housewives in my life. Not like actually, like I don't throw fits in my house, but I try. I'll have this breakdown of things and then I'll just put it all back together or I make the choice to change something. And so in my book, I'm speaking to the people who maybe need to make a change, but I'm speaking to the people who maybe don't know that they need to make a change and who say like my life is fine or say the absence of bad is the qualifier for good, right? Like just because nothing's going wrong, like they don't know they're settling, but maybe they are. Yeah. Yes. And had I not gone through what I went through, I would have lived my life like that and not known to change. I would have settled. It would have been good, but it would have been on the surface. All these things happened to me and I realized what it was like to need to change and make a change that way. And now here I am in this third chapter of my life, sometimes being forced to make changes, but sometimes choosing to make changes that some people think it might be a little bit easier not to make, but I just won't live my life like that. What an inspiration you are. Ways it all out. She is. She's so wise. Thanks. You're so wise. I can't wait to read it. I know. When did it come out? So February 8th, 2022. There we go. It was supposed to come out in September, but it will when this podcast comes out. You can pre-order it and that would be just so amazing because I am, I'm a first time author who signed with Random House, which the largest publisher in the world. This was a big dream of mine. Then it almost killed me writing it, but I think that I love talking about what I wrote about because it is, I think, I think it's what I'm meant to do. I do believe that speaking on, I think that all the things that happened to me and then speaking on these things is, is part of what I'm meant to do. I think being a mom is the other thing that I'm meant to do. That's your path. Your path in life. I cannot wait to read it. What's the title? Living Fully and we're still working on the subtitle right now. So whichever one is printed on the, whenever they click the pre-order link. But I just want everybody to kind of defy that just getting by mindset and just live a bigger life than just on the surface because there's so much more than an easy life, I think. I agree. And there's so much more than what people assume your life is like. Yes. You know, and it has to be frustrating for you too because I'm, I'm assuming that other people just look at you and say, Oh, well, she must have X, Y and Z and, you know, that happens to me a lot. Yes. And it's like, no, that's, that's not right. I know. And it makes you, it upsets, it used to upset me because I knew it was just so opposite of true and how hard I worked. And just now feeling like I know you, I'm sure that it deeply upset you as well because you see, you're so salt of the earth as are you. So when people say, Oh, you just eat and drink, you're like, do you even know like what time I went to bed last night after I feel like my kids sound like hyping for you to read? So you could go to the right place to eat with your one weekend. And then you, I mean, you know, moving and uprooting your life and having children now knowing that you've, you've had a journey with one of your children too. It's like, man, if you, if you knew and you want them to know, and it's okay that they don't know. Yeah. But I will continue to tell them. I love it. I will continue to tell them. And if they, if they don't want to believe it, I'm not going to chase them down the rabbit hole. I used to want to chase them down the rabbit hole because I just couldn't stand it. I was like, no, I'm like way different than all the other people that do this. I'm really not like that. And like, please don't tell other people. Because I'm not. That's the thing. But it's, um, it's a blessing and a curse to be a public person. And I think the more and more exposure that you get, the more people might get it wrong. But we have to continue to keep getting it right and keep smiling and keep smiling because it's, it's really who I know. I know you off camera. And I know this is exactly how you are. And I know you're like a really kind person. And even Kyle tells me about how you were in college. And he said, you've always been like, go get her and smart and everything that you are now. So I know, like that's kind of, and, and I know already, like that that's who you are through and through. So it's like, if we can just, we will, well, you're such a light, you really are. I just feel like getting to talk to you and you taking time is like an honor really. What an honor. It's so fun. I was about to say, have champagne to toast. Apple cider. Oh my gosh. And we didn't even get to the merch launch or merch launches that blow it out of the water. But so I brought you guys, those are the only two I love it existence. Oh my gosh. So I started this merchandise line and it has blown up so it sells out and just knowing you just for it, just that you, I showed up and I'm looking at you and your leopard and I said, I took off my leopard pajamas, put on my leopard workout outfit. So cute. So you needed this one. I know. And then you needed this one too. So I, um, yeah, we just started this living fully as a community and it's just kind of, but they sell out Jamie, like literally she'll be like, okay, I'm launching it today. I'm, or whatever it is, I'll go on cause I'm whatever at 10, 15 gone. You can't go on. It's like gone. Really unreal. All I have to say is it's my, it's the community. It is nothing that I have done. It is just mind boggling and blown our mind the size that this merchandise line has grown to because people believe in you. So if they believe in you, they want to support you. I appreciate that. But, um, this job runs on, it's like a car runs on gasoline. My job runs on a community of people like believing in what I do, buying my shirts, buying my books, doing all these things. And once they don't, then it's not, it's not a thing anymore. And I just, I'm so grateful that I'm able to just do these things, put these products out in the world. And you work so hard. Seriously, you are amazing. So tell people where they can, the best place to find you. Is it Instagram or is it your website? So like your website does everything you do, which I like, but they have to do your stories too. Cause Instagram stories are, um, are big for me. I, like I said, I'm a storyteller. I love stories and I, Mallory Irvin is my, um, Instagram and then Mallory Irvin.com. You can find everything from my podcast to my book, to our YouTube channel and the merchandise, everything. But yeah, Instagram stories. I remember like Snapchat was a thing. And I was so excited about Snapchat. And when Instagram did it and I was so mad and I was like, well, they're taking away from Snapchat and like everybody watching and Instagram, everything all being under one roof. I have not been able to veer off and I know I need to do TikTok and I tried to do it, but I just can, I just cannot. I'm like, no, I don't know. I just can't get it quite right. But I love Instagram stories and we've got a lot of people watching over on Instagram stories. We really just show her everyday life. They are not curated. You're not going to see a lot of cool graphics or a lot of branded text. You will see in the morning. I don't even know how to put music on this. I don't know how to use memes or like GIFs or like all those things. I don't know how to swipe up. And if you dare to follow her husband, he's pretty hilarious. He is, I think so on Instagram, you get strikes if you do things that violate the community guidelines. Like, and he doesn't even do anything that bad, but he violates the guidelines. He says things and does things. You know, we are also not super filtered in the way. So peace in the wild card. And we'll have to do a Valerie Irvin part too. So we can learn all about this. I know. Yes. Oh my gosh. I'm sure that you guys are going to have a million great guests and as your first guest, first off, thank you. I feel extremely honored, but I think this podcast is going to be really amazing. So you are salt of the earth and you are like gasoline and fire in an engine, which would make it blow up. So I don't think that's the actual combo. And I think you're just like the perfect combination and not very grateful. I agree. I agree. She's going to keep me in line. That's for sure. You're going to keep each other in line. Well, thank you for being on Out of Bounds with Jamie and Abby.