'Apprentice' and Olympic Mom Summer Sanders
Mom, TV host and Olympic gold medalist Summer Sanders shares her parenting and "Celebrity Apprentice" boardroom-survival techniques!
She might enjoy such genteel activities as chaperoning her kids' field trips, but make no mistake: Summer Sanders is a serious competitor -- be it in the pool, behind the mic or in the boardroom. Having scored herself one bronze and two gold medals in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, Sanders eventually transitioned to a career as "sports hostess with the mostest," taking the mic on shows like "NBA Inside Stuff," "Figure It Out" and "Skating with Celebrities," as well as serving as an Olympic correspondent for NBC. Today, this "Celebrity Apprentice" contestant lives with her husband, three-time Olympic skier Erik Schlopy, and their two kids, daughter Skye, 4, and son Spider, 2, in Utah, and she is heavily involved with organizations like her "Celebrity Apprentice" charity, Right To Play.
We caught up with Summer and got the scoop on how she balances work with motherhood, and what "The Donald" is REALLY like in the boardroom ....
momlogic: Thanks for squeezing me in before your daughter's school trip! How do you balance work with the demands of motherhood?
Summer Sanders: You know, it's a constant "working in the cracks." If the kids have a little downtime, we try to work. If they're napping, we try to work. You get a babysitter for a couple of hours and you try to work. My schedule is so unpredictable -- it's not like I have a 9 to 5 job. I don't know exactly when I'm going to be gone, and that's when it gets to be hard. But I absolutely love my job, so I think I'm a better mom when I have something else in my life to concentrate on.
ml: Of course! You need to talk about something other than "The Wonder Pets" once in a while.
SS: I need the stimulation! But I still feel like I have the part of me that worked so hard for so many years.
ml: You're an amazing Olympic athlete, and so is your husband! I'm sure your kids already know how to swim and ski ....
SS: It was just this year that I decided to give them swimming lessons in the winter every week, so by the time summer rolls around they'll really be into it and be safe in the pool. My daughter is just like me. I was so timid in the water. I was actually kind of frightened of it. She wasn't as bad as me, but she wouldn't put her face in. But she just turned a corner last week, and now she's a fish!
ml: I love it when something like that clicks in their heads!
SS: My mom tells a story about when I was three and I was watching my older brother playing in the pool with his friends. I had one of those float-rings around me, and my hands were kind of hanging over it. She was watching me and I was watching them, and all of a sudden I put my arms up and just sunk down below. But I'd been paying attention to all the lessons I was so frightened of and just started swimming.
ml: It's funny how kids listen more than we think they do!
SS: They totally do! It's so funny. The things that my daughter says .... I have to be careful talking about "Celebrity Apprentice"!
ml: How was "Celebrity Apprentice"?
SS: I actually enjoyed the experience! I really did. If I had to do it all over again, I probably would. It was really tough for me to decide to do it. I was a bit nervous about what happened last season -- the name-calling and the cattiness. I was also worried about the schedule and being away from my kids for so long. But my mom and my kids came with me to New York, and we all lived in a one-bedroom, 600-square-foot little hotel room. As the show started to cruise along, I'd take them down to the makeup room and they'd hang out with everyone, then we'd have this little ritual where they'd wave goodbye to me at the elevator. They got great "Grandma time," which was unbelievable. Then we had days off, and we'd play in New York. But I knew I was going to be away from them for six out of the seven days a week. It all came down to my charity -- I wanted to make sure that I got it out there. It's a smaller charity called Right To Play. We bring sports to developing countries and children who have been affected by war. We give kids the tools to be a positive influence in their community and teach them about inclusion, conflict-resolution and leadership, nutrition and health.
ml: It defuses the violence ingrained in them if you give them a positive outlet for their energy, I assume? Like sports? And maybe work through trauma in a constructive way?
SS: Anyone who has played sports -- even on a high-school level -- has learned so many wonderful aspects of who they are, like working as a team and how to deal with failure and success. But that's why I did ["Celebrity Apprentice"]. The experience was awesome. I kept thinking, "This is a reality show." As Cyndi [Lauper] would say, "It's just a TV show! It's a game show!"
ml: Who did you bond with the most when you were there? Are you still in touch with anyone from that experience?
SS: Yes! Holly [Robinson Peete] and I became "Celebrity Apprentice" BFFs. We immediately bonded because we're moms and share a passion for our charities. And we weren't there to be outrageous. A lot of it was our similar work ethic and attitude. And she taught me how to tweet! [@summersanders_ ]. I love momlogic! You guys are so good on your Twitter page!
ml: Thanks! We try to keep it real.
SS: I feel like any mom out there is a part of this club. We're all in this imperfectly perfect world together. The funny thing about this generation of moms is that we celebrate the fact that we're not perfect and find comfort in talking to other moms about how we've messed up, lost our patience or dealt with tantrums.
ml: There's a lot of solidarity. It goes against the '60s "Betty Draper" mentality. You can let your guard down and celebrate yourself as a person, not just a mom.
SS: My girlfriend relationships have really blossomed since becoming a mom. We get away from our kids and don't talk about our kids at all!
ml: That's healthy! If all you do is talk about your kids, then maybe it's time for a break.
SS: [Laughs] As my husband and I woke up this morning, we were like, "How are we exhausted? We just woke up! It's not fair. I feel like a Mack truck just hit me!"
ml: You forget all the stages kids go through and that your sleep gets messed up, even when they're two.
SS: Up until my son was fourteen months, I got no sleep whatsoever. Then all of a sudden I got three solid months of sleep. Then my older one started getting up, and it was so much worse. It's like I got a taste, and then couldn't sleep through the night again.
ml: Your kids are four and two -- little big people!
SS: It's fun and eye-opening! I swear I can envision my daughter when she's fourteen, telling me that I don't know what I'm doing and that she doesn't like me anymore. She's got it in her to be independent and strong-willed. I like a lot of that, but might need to read some books.
ml: Were you like that, too? I always live in fear of my mother's curse: "You'll have a daughter JUST like you!"
SS: I was brutal to my parents at fourteen. That's why I have that vision. I'm going to be so sad. But my son is getting so much more of a vocabulary. He's gotten really chatty, and it makes me giggle! He thinks my daughter is the coolest thing on earth. To see their interaction -- they really bonded during "Celebrity Apprentice" because they shared a room. They would chitchat and became really good buds.
ml: What was the most important thing you took away from being on "Celebrity Apprentice"? Was there something you learned about yourself as an individual and as a mom that still helps you?
SS: I went into the show wanting to stay true to myself. I wanted to be respectful, and I definitely wanted my family to be proud of me. I walked away from the show feeling empowered, in part because of how Holly taught me to be a fundraiser. I'm not good at asking people for money or favors or help. It was amazing how influential you can be with your words, and if you don't back down, how people will help a cause you truly believe in. And that's something Holly taught me. I realized I could make even more of a difference. She's an inspiration. She started and runs a foundation, so she's constantly pulling at people's wallets. It's never easy, but she is living it. She knows what it's like every single day, because her son is autistic. Anyway, I love being a mom. But going from changing poopy diapers to putting together commercials and advertorials ....
ml: Being a host is very creative because you have to engage and ad-lib, but this was a different kind of creative, right?
SS: It was such a rewarding experience because we'd get done at the end of the day and feel so good about ourselves. We really did work as a team. You don't get that often in life.
ml: As an Olympic sportswoman, did being on the show bring back those competitive feelings?
SS: I'm a truly competitive person. Usually, it's just in sports. If I'm at the starting line, I have to race. But this was different. I didn't feel I was competing against the people on my team, but I did want to beat the other team. Whatever skills you had, you laid out there. And then you became vulnerable. I'm not as comfortable with the creative stuff as Cyndi Lauper or Bret Michaels, who are creative for a living. So when you put your creative ideas out there, you realize people could ridicule you. But I found the challenge of it very fun. You're going to be judged, and all you can do is cross your fingers and hope you got it right. It's pretty funny that a 37-year-old woman is vulnerable in putting her ideas out there. This next episode, you're going to see creativity at its absolute best!
ml: But in Donald's world, somebody has to go home!
SS: It's brutal. That boardroom ....
ml: Tell me about that boardroom!
SS: They turn the air conditioner off! It's hot in there. I don't know if they do it on purpose just to agitate us. I started wearing sleeveless shirts. I vowed not to pass out in front of "The Donald," and held tight to that chair. You walk in and just want to smile at Ivanka and Donald Jr., but everyone's all serious, which is not me. You can only sit there and hope that you don't say something that opens the door for "The Donald" to attack. He's so good at that! You just try to be as concise and to-the-point as possible. If you want to call somebody out, you call somebody out. But if you don't, you can't leave an opening for that.
ml: That's a lot of strategic thinking on demand!
SS: Honestly Viv, I'd walk in there with no plan. We had a weak link the first episode that needed to be cleared up. I tried to do it in a really constructive way. But Donald is so darn good at what he does. He was super entertaining. The stuff he would say was so outrageous, I couldn't believe half the stuff he said. But he's still a dad. There were full-on dad/kid moments where Ivanka and Donald Jr. would just look at him and roll their eyes.
ml: They all do that, don't they?
SS: They all do.