Living With Dwarfism, And Defining Purpose, Dream In Sports Management

Grabbed a quick seat at the Abilities Expo in Chicago to talk with Maleena, a high schooler who lives with dwarfism and aims to break into sports management. What follows is a brisk, open conversation about scouting, communication, and the small, intentional choices that make teams work better—on the field and behind the scenes.

Maleena lights up when she talks football and basketball, but she’s not chasing highlight reels. She’s studying patterns, learning to read tempo, and thinking about how to support athletes and coaches with clear, timely communication. 

We also spend time on identity and purpose. Maleena’s explanation of dwarfism is direct and grounded, and it leads to a bigger theme: your body informs your methods, not your limits.

Tap play, share it with someone who needs a nudge, and tell us: what purposeful step are you taking this week? Subscribe for more candid conversations from the road, and leave a review to help others find the show.

Transcript

Live From Chicago Expo

SPEAKER_01 0:00

What's up guys? As you can see, we're not in the studio at home. We're actually at the abillies expo in Chicago, and this podcast is gonna be a little different. It's gonna be like a speedcast. The sound is not gonna be as great because of how wide open this space is, but I hope you guys enjoy it. Please enjoy this life to the max speedcast. Today I am here with uh Molina. Tell me something about yourself.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Um Well, I was born and raised in Chicago. And let's go. I'm Puerto Rican. I'm a dwarf.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Dwarf?

SPEAKER_02 0:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

I heard you're uh interested in football and uh basketball. You play basketball or anything?

SPEAKER_02 1:04

Oh, um, I'm interested in like managing because I want to be a sports scout in the future. Okay. So I want to go and scout for you know good players.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

What got you into that?

SPEAKER_02 1:15

Um, I don't know. I think just enjoying sports in general and then not being able to play. Hell yeah.

Communication And Team Support

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Hell yeah. When I watch like football, I'm like, alright, well, this is great because I can like relive it. That that's how I feel when I watch football. And I I watch football religiously, and I uh I used to play hockey. So and uh I know that the NBA finals are coming to the net. Who do you think's gonna win? Oh, I don't know. Do you have a favorite player? No. No? Do you? You're a sports manager. Do you want to be a sports manager? You don't know your favorite players? It's okay. It's alright. So why so why uh why do you want to be a sports manager?

SPEAKER_02 2:01

Um, because well, I feel like I could help in a lot of ways. And I have good c communication skills. So I feel like I could help like, you know, with the team's communication and like supporting them in ways.

Adaptive Workarounds And Pride

SPEAKER_01 2:16

A hundred percent Yeah. So uh how could you help? What would you say?

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Um Well, like for football, they have a lot of equipment that they have to bring like a lot in and out of the field.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

So I mean, I could be able to like grab stuff and help them carry it. Cause of course I can also use my other arm, you know? But um, yeah, or they could put things on the back of my chair because they be doing it all the time.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

That's the best. That's literally what I I call myself a table. Literally because people put stuff on me on time when I'm okay with it. I've learned to live with it.

SPEAKER_02 2:55

Yeah, for real, me too.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

What's something you would uh like to say to your friends out there in high school listening?

SPEAKER_02 3:01

Um, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Get turned.

SPEAKER_02 3:05

I hope y'all are doing good. And um get me famous, you know?

Dwarfism Explained

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Get you famous. Let's get her just let's get her famous. What's what's your Instagram handle? Um, it's Trapstart Mill, but Okay, we'll make sure to put that below. Well, that is that's some uh nice stuff. I uh I hope like you are able to succeed uh in life with this because I'm happy that you're not letting uh your I don't even know. Is dwarfism is any uh disability?

SPEAKER_02 3:40

Yeah, yeah, it's basically like have you ever watched Snow White?

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Snow White?

SPEAKER_02 3:46

Snow White, yeah. Well basically like it's basically when you're born with smaller features than everyone else. So like my arms are smaller, my my whole body's small basically.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

Right.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

Yeah, but I feel like it doesn't stop me from doing anything that I want to do in life.

Perseverance, Purpose, And Grit

Closing Thanks

SPEAKER_01 4:00

So yeah, and I try always per always persevere. That's my model. I was in a car accident about uh almost 10 years ago. And like, and I almost died, and I uh went through a lot of struggles and I found my voice, and that was my purpose. So find your purpose, you know, and your purpose is gonna be sports management, and you're gonna get there. Do you know why? Because she got grit.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Okay. Thank you. Yeah, grit. Thank you so much for being uh the shortcut. Okay, thank you for interviewing me.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

I hope your channel gets successful.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Thank you. Yeah, take a breath for me, please.

unknown 4:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Thank you.