I received this card in the mail at work
address to KETV channel 7 and me
reporter Michelle bandur and I thought
what a nice gesture so I opened it up
and inside there’s a dollar bill this is
getting good
so I read the message and it says
Michelle please accept this gift and use
it wisely
ok who doesn’t like getting money in the
mail there’s more 50 Cent’s for those
bags under your eyes and 50 cents for
your big fat nose you need the help of
viewer I mean as television journalists
we get all kinds of feedback from
viewers they like to tell us how to do
our hair what we should wear how to
report the news but it’s usually in
person or through email or social media
and we know who it is who’s criticizing
us but this was different somebody took
the time to put a stamp on the envelope
address it drop it in the mail all to
tell me to fix my big fat nose who does
that suddenly I was back in sixth grade
when I would hear these hurtful words to
my face when the kids would make fun of
me for how I looked I was ashamed of my
nose I hated my nose I couldn’t wait to
grow up get a job save my money and fix
it I would dream of the time when I
would have this beautiful perfect skinny
nose instead of this ugly blob on my
face but my plans for plastic surgery
quickly changed when I landed that first
television reporter job because if you
know anything about journalists we don’t
it’s true but you could say I had a nose
working at more than a dozen television
stations across the country Here I am
decades later still on television still
with my big fat nose so why was I in my
boss’s office in tears over this bully’s
note why did I let this take me back to
a time when I wanted to change who I was
do you ever do that give someone all the
power let their words affect you I did
but I grew up and I learned to love my
nose and love everything about myself
because this stranger they not only
insulted me they insulted my heritage
and when I look in the mirror I see my
father my polish father World War two
Navy vet hard-working family man who has
a daddy’s little girl who loves him
deeply so again why was i letting this
stranger take me back to a time when I
wanted to change things about me when I
was ashamed of who I was I mean I’m
crying over this note and I’m an Iron
Man does anybody here know what an Iron
raise both hands if you’ve done one well
okay so if you don’t know what an
Ironman is it’s the mother of all
triathlons you swim 2.4 miles and then
you ride your bike 112 miles and then
you after that you run a marathon 26.2
miles all in one day for my journalist
friends who can’t add that’s 140 point 6
miles
so I’m crying over this bully’s note
when I’ve done that not only once but
so back to the time when I was dreaming
about these nose jobs when I was 12 or
13 me and my you know what we’re
watching television and I saw something
that blew my mind it was so incredible
turns out I was watching the Ironman
World Championships in Kona Hawaii and I
was mesmerised and I thought I’m gonna
do that one day I was never really a
stellar athlete didn’t make the school
team but I thought I’m gonna do that and
to be honest I really don’t like running
it really hurts so why do I do it
well because I can I don’t have to I
want to because of all those months of
training and the sacrifices that you
make by missing out on family time or
time with friends special occasions just
life in general when you’re out there
struggling in the 90 degree heat or the
wind or the rain and the cold and you’re
struggling physically mentally
emotionally and your body says just quit
the pain will go away but you don’t you
find that inner strength to keep going
there’s no place on earth like an
Ironman finish line when you get there I
feel alive completely and totally alive
it’s the best high in the world big fat
nose and all and those challenges that
you face all day struggling during an
Ironman race are the same challenges
that we face every day in life the
question is how do you react so I mean
if I can do an Ironman I can face
whatever challenges life hands me like a
bully’s note back to the newsroom and in
my bosses office her advice was take
that dollar bill go to church light a
true story so I went back to my desk and
I still had that pit in my stomach that
that 12 year old Michelle used to get
when she would be called those those
names and be made fun of her nose and I
wiped away the tears and I looked at
this and I thought this is an
opportunity I could have taken that
dollar in bought a soda 50 cents for eye
cream though and a new nose seriously
what were they thinking what would you
well this cowards intention was to hurt
me but I wanted to take all that hurt
and turn it into something good so I
thought well why not share my passion
for triathlon with girls empower girls
the sport of triathlon girls who may be
struggling to because they hate their
nose or their hair their smile or their
skin or their body girls who at who are
at an age where a large percentage of
them actually drop out of any physical
activity because they’re not good enough
for the school team either or their
parents can’t afford all those club
sports so you know what I did
I asked people for more dollars and this
mean-spirited note turned into thousands
of generous dollars all to help girls
believe in themselves
[Applause]
we invited girls who didn’t know how to
swim
or girls who were too embarrassed
because at the age of 10 they didn’t
know how to ride a bike or girls who
really didn’t like running so much like
me we asked them to show up every
Thursday night for practice to challenge
themselves to achieve their dreams and
each and every one of those 200 girls
who showed up set a goal and made a
promise to cross a finish line and do a
triathlon by the end of the summer and
all those dollar bills were there to
provide the equipment for them to
succeed we gave them bicycles bike
helmets water bottles running shoes swim
caps goggles swimsuits food to fuel them
all for free and over the summer we
noticed something so incredible
happening these girls with no prompting
from any grownups showed up to practice
with t-shirts wearing positive messages
t-shirts that said warrior princess
believe in yourself
knowledge is my superpower kind is cool
and these girls they didn’t know each
other at the beginning of the summer
ages 8 to 14 from different parts of
town every part of town different
socioeconomic backgrounds different
races different ethnicities we’re all
there to cheer each other on and lift
each other up so that they could achieve
their dreams together and they did it
there are other Iron Man’s and members
of the community who showed up to
because they believed in these girls
they wanted to help them as well to give
them that little push across the finish
line but you know what they didn’t
really need any help
these brave girls they set out to do
something they never thought they could
do something that really many of us have
never done and they know by crossing
that finish line when they’re faced with
challenges in life too that they now
have the confidence to overcome and
master those fears one day at practice I
got another note and a card and this one
had a personal
message two it says Michelle thank you
for everything the number for you have
brightened my summer from one watt to
eight zero zero zero zero zero zero zero
zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero
zero 35 watts you have great ideas and
you will go places with them
and she signed it Rebecca with a heart
so to the bully who sent me this note me
Rebecca and my big fat nose thank you [Applause]
address to KETV channel 7 and me
reporter Michelle bandur and I thought
what a nice gesture so I opened it up
and inside there’s a dollar bill this is
getting good
so I read the message and it says
Michelle please accept this gift and use
it wisely
ok who doesn’t like getting money in the
mail there’s more 50 Cent’s for those
bags under your eyes and 50 cents for
your big fat nose you need the help of
viewer I mean as television journalists
we get all kinds of feedback from
viewers they like to tell us how to do
our hair what we should wear how to
report the news but it’s usually in
person or through email or social media
and we know who it is who’s criticizing
us but this was different somebody took
the time to put a stamp on the envelope
address it drop it in the mail all to
tell me to fix my big fat nose who does
that suddenly I was back in sixth grade
when I would hear these hurtful words to
my face when the kids would make fun of
me for how I looked I was ashamed of my
nose I hated my nose I couldn’t wait to
grow up get a job save my money and fix
it I would dream of the time when I
would have this beautiful perfect skinny
nose instead of this ugly blob on my
face but my plans for plastic surgery
quickly changed when I landed that first
television reporter job because if you
know anything about journalists we don’t
it’s true but you could say I had a nose
working at more than a dozen television
stations across the country Here I am
decades later still on television still
with my big fat nose so why was I in my
boss’s office in tears over this bully’s
note why did I let this take me back to
a time when I wanted to change who I was
do you ever do that give someone all the
power let their words affect you I did
but I grew up and I learned to love my
nose and love everything about myself
because this stranger they not only
insulted me they insulted my heritage
and when I look in the mirror I see my
father my polish father World War two
Navy vet hard-working family man who has
a daddy’s little girl who loves him
deeply so again why was i letting this
stranger take me back to a time when I
wanted to change things about me when I
was ashamed of who I was I mean I’m
crying over this note and I’m an Iron
Man does anybody here know what an Iron
raise both hands if you’ve done one well
okay so if you don’t know what an
Ironman is it’s the mother of all
triathlons you swim 2.4 miles and then
you ride your bike 112 miles and then
you after that you run a marathon 26.2
miles all in one day for my journalist
friends who can’t add that’s 140 point 6
miles
so I’m crying over this bully’s note
when I’ve done that not only once but
so back to the time when I was dreaming
about these nose jobs when I was 12 or
13 me and my you know what we’re
watching television and I saw something
that blew my mind it was so incredible
turns out I was watching the Ironman
World Championships in Kona Hawaii and I
was mesmerised and I thought I’m gonna
do that one day I was never really a
stellar athlete didn’t make the school
team but I thought I’m gonna do that and
to be honest I really don’t like running
it really hurts so why do I do it
well because I can I don’t have to I
want to because of all those months of
training and the sacrifices that you
make by missing out on family time or
time with friends special occasions just
life in general when you’re out there
struggling in the 90 degree heat or the
wind or the rain and the cold and you’re
struggling physically mentally
emotionally and your body says just quit
the pain will go away but you don’t you
find that inner strength to keep going
there’s no place on earth like an
Ironman finish line when you get there I
feel alive completely and totally alive
it’s the best high in the world big fat
nose and all and those challenges that
you face all day struggling during an
Ironman race are the same challenges
that we face every day in life the
question is how do you react so I mean
if I can do an Ironman I can face
whatever challenges life hands me like a
bully’s note back to the newsroom and in
my bosses office her advice was take
that dollar bill go to church light a
true story so I went back to my desk and
I still had that pit in my stomach that
that 12 year old Michelle used to get
when she would be called those those
names and be made fun of her nose and I
wiped away the tears and I looked at
this and I thought this is an
opportunity I could have taken that
dollar in bought a soda 50 cents for eye
cream though and a new nose seriously
what were they thinking what would you
well this cowards intention was to hurt
me but I wanted to take all that hurt
and turn it into something good so I
thought well why not share my passion
for triathlon with girls empower girls
the sport of triathlon girls who may be
struggling to because they hate their
nose or their hair their smile or their
skin or their body girls who at who are
at an age where a large percentage of
them actually drop out of any physical
activity because they’re not good enough
for the school team either or their
parents can’t afford all those club
sports so you know what I did
I asked people for more dollars and this
mean-spirited note turned into thousands
of generous dollars all to help girls
believe in themselves
[Applause]
we invited girls who didn’t know how to
swim
or girls who were too embarrassed
because at the age of 10 they didn’t
know how to ride a bike or girls who
really didn’t like running so much like
me we asked them to show up every
Thursday night for practice to challenge
themselves to achieve their dreams and
each and every one of those 200 girls
who showed up set a goal and made a
promise to cross a finish line and do a
triathlon by the end of the summer and
all those dollar bills were there to
provide the equipment for them to
succeed we gave them bicycles bike
helmets water bottles running shoes swim
caps goggles swimsuits food to fuel them
all for free and over the summer we
noticed something so incredible
happening these girls with no prompting
from any grownups showed up to practice
with t-shirts wearing positive messages
t-shirts that said warrior princess
believe in yourself
knowledge is my superpower kind is cool
and these girls they didn’t know each
other at the beginning of the summer
ages 8 to 14 from different parts of
town every part of town different
socioeconomic backgrounds different
races different ethnicities we’re all
there to cheer each other on and lift
each other up so that they could achieve
their dreams together and they did it
there are other Iron Man’s and members
of the community who showed up to
because they believed in these girls
they wanted to help them as well to give
them that little push across the finish
line but you know what they didn’t
really need any help
these brave girls they set out to do
something they never thought they could
do something that really many of us have
never done and they know by crossing
that finish line when they’re faced with
challenges in life too that they now
have the confidence to overcome and
master those fears one day at practice I
got another note and a card and this one
had a personal
message two it says Michelle thank you
for everything the number for you have
brightened my summer from one watt to
eight zero zero zero zero zero zero zero
zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero
zero 35 watts you have great ideas and
you will go places with them
and she signed it Rebecca with a heart
so to the bully who sent me this note me
Rebecca and my big fat nose thank you [Applause]
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