The Business of Life with Dr King
Dr Ariel Rosita King brings on a variety of International guests from various countries, cultures, organisations, and businesses to talk about turning
problem into possibilities! Let's turn our challenges in opportunities together!
The Business of Life with Dr King
Turning Trauma into Triumph: Summer Willis's Marathon Journey
What happens when a woman transforms her deepest trauma into a global movement for healing? Summer Willis answers this question with breathtaking courage and clarity in our conversation, sharing her extraordinary journey from silent survivor to powerful advocate.
Ten years after becoming a rape survivor during her sophomore year at university, Willis found herself at breaking point – grieving multiple family losses while caring for a newborn. Looking into her son's eyes, she made a decision that would change everything: she would run 29 marathons beginning when she turned 29, despite being unable to run even a mile at the time.
This bold challenge wasn't merely about physical endurance but about reclaiming her narrative. "I was giving myself new titles," Willis explains. "I became a survivor, an endurance athlete, an advocate." Her journey included carrying a mattress through an entire marathon in Central Park (setting a world record) and crawling through half a marathon to symbolise the struggle survivors face. Yet the most profound healing came not from these physical feats but from finally breaking her silence and sharing her story.
Willis founded Strength Through Strides, a non-profit with three pillars: advocacy, policy change, and community building. Now she's testifying before the Texas legislature, fighting for consent laws while organizing a worldwide Denim Day 5K to unite survivors and allies. The statistics she shares are sobering – of 100 reported sexual assaults in America, only one results in conviction – but her message remains hopeful: ordinary people can create extraordinary change.
What resonates most powerfully throughout our conversation is Willis's transformation from victim to warrior. By confronting her trauma head-on and inviting others into her healing journey, she's created a blueprint for turning personal pain into collective purpose. Her testimony reminds us that our deepest wounds, when acknowledged and addressed, can become our greatest sources of strength.
Visit summerswillis.com or strengththroughstrides.org to learn how you can support this vital movement and stand with survivors in your community.
Music, lyrics, guitar and singing by Dr Ariel Rosita King
Teach me to live one day at a time
with courage love and a sense of pride.
Giving me the ability to love and accept myself
so I can go and give it to someone else.
Teach me to live one day at a time.....
The Business of Life
Dr Ariella (Ariel) Rosita King
Original Song, "Teach Me to Live one Day At A Time"
written, guitar and vocals by Dr. Ariel Rosita King
Dr King Solutions (USA Office)
1629 K St, NW #300,
Washington, DC 20006, USA,
+1-202-827-9762
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DrKingSolutions.com
Yeah, Hi, and welcome to the Business of Life. Today we have a very special guest, Miss Lady Summer Willis Welcome.
Summer Willis:Thank you for having me Excited to be here.
Dr Ariel King:As you can hear, I'm very excited to have you here. Could you please tell us, our audience, a bit about you?
Summer Willis:Yeah, I'd love to, and I usually like to start 10 years ago, because that was a defining moment for me. I was a sophomore at the University of Texas when I got a title I never wanted to have. I became a victim of rape and so I spent the next 10 years. I volunteered for Peace Corps, met my husband as a fellow volunteer, I did Teach for America, had two beautiful boys and I was happy. But there is always that shadow of the trauma of 10 years ago.
Summer Willis:And you know, I hit kind of a rock bottom a year and a half ago. I was crying a lot. I just lost six relatives. I had a four-month-old, wasn't sleeping through the night and I was looking into my son's eyes like crying, and it was just like you know. I believe that I was going to be someone who did good things, who was strong and resilient. I'm going to try to do that. And so I signed up for 29 marathons and it was going to start in three months when I turned 29. So my thing was giving myself new titles. I became a survivor, I became a endurance athlete and an advocate and a founder of a non-profit, and so those races ended in October and since then I've been working on testifying in front of the Texas legislature, so that's been really fun. So that's the short version of it.
Dr Ariel King:Wow, that's amazing to me. What I really love is that it was a crisis moment and you're saying like, especially when you can't sleep, I've had enough. And all of these emotions are coming up, and I love that. You say you looked into your son's eyes and decided who are you and who are you going to be? That, yes, this happened to you. You didn't push it aside, but you said okay, now what am I going to do with these experiences? That is absolutely amazing, but you went past it. So tell me, how did you decide, at 29 years old, to sign up for 29 marathons? Were you already a marathon runner?
Summer Willis:No, I couldn't run a mile at the time. I was overweight, I was depressed and it was the heat of Texas summer, so I kind of set myself up for failure. But my husband jokes that most people say they're going to run one marathon and I was like 29, you're 29, we're going to do this. You're 29, we're gonna do this. So I knew that I needed experience and I needed people who are qualified to make sure I could succeed. So I got a running a professional runner to tell me, uh, how to achieve this, and we started adding on the miles. I got a nutritionist how do I need to eat differently? And so it's like by focusing on this goal, I was able to elevate myself out of that slump and feel happy because I felt like I was building up to something great.
Dr Ariel King:That's really fantastic. So you were able to find all of these people to support you with your goal, including your husband, nutritionist, and so on and so forth. How long did it actually take for you to start to do that first marathon?
Summer Willis:Three months. I did. Yeah, I gave myself three months and then I started with three marathons in three days and it was terrible. It took me seven and a half hours to finish each day, which is so, but I wasn't accounting for the elevation, the altitude. I kind of thought Lake Tahoe was going to be flat. It was not flat at all, but each day I would cry when I would finish because I didn't think that I could do these things and I would do them and it. So every race was like a bucket of like casting a vote for myself, adding confidence to the person I wanted to be that's just so exciting.
Dr Ariel King:I'm spending my time to see that this is really amazing. So um would you like to tell us more about, I guess, that whole year of the, the 29 marathons?
Summer Willis:yeah, I something. A lesson that I took away from the 29 is I thought that I would found find strength in the endurance aspect, the I ended up carrying a mattress for a whole marathon in Central Park on Women's Day, which was a world record. I crawled half a marathon because I thought that was the ultimate metaphor of what survivors have to go through. But I think what made me strongest was finally telling my story to people and forming these relationships on the road with fellow runners or moms at the playground telling my story. It gave me the confidence to reclaim my story and find strength and to find that purpose from the pain. And so I I feel strong by by having that new community that I'm able to go to, that I never had because it was a secret for 10 years.
Dr Ariel King:Right, your secret that wasn't being met for you to keep, but the secret that the person who perpetrated it wanted you to keep. That's really amazing. And can I ask them when you tell your story, how do people usually take it on? Are they able to process it, and how do you process trying to help people understand and process the story? Because most people are like well, just tell me about good things, right, most people don't want to hear about things that are not good. So I'm just curious about the dynamic.
Summer Willis:Yeah, I was speaking at the Capitol the other day and someone said survivors are the people that you, or people who want to talk about this. You don't want them at your parties, but you want them in your times of need. And I laughed really hard because it's like, yeah, it is something hard to talk about, but honestly, I felt like everyone either said me, me too, or that happened to my mom, that happened to my sister, that happened to my best friend, like everyone, because it happens to one in five women and one in 16 men. We all know survivors and everyone has a personal connection, and so I can't think of really anyone who steered away from the conversation or couldn't talk about it in a personal way, which set fuel to my fire, because it's like, why am I hearing the exact same thing happen to you and to you and to you? Which is why I've started testifying in front of the yeah, the Texas House of I think, I think that's so important.
Dr Ariel King:I think that reclaiming what's happened to you, something that's a trauma, and making it into a triumph is is absolutely, absolutely amazing. Um, wow, so can you tell us more about the foundation you set up and all? I mean? You've done so much, so I'll just let you say whatever you want to talk about, but there's so much there and I'm so curious about all the things that you've done as a um, a thriver. You're not just a survivor. Survivor is you know, you just made it out.
Summer Willis:No, you grow, you develop and then you bring people along with you, and that makes all the difference in the world yeah, and I I actually am happy you said that because that's a huge part of the nonprofit that I started, which is Strength Through Strides. It's really building a community and almost every one that I meet it's like, hey, if you're passionate about it, like come along for this ride. And so we have three pillars. One is, oh, it's called Strength Through Strides, which is how I found my healing, but one pillar is policy.
Summer Willis:So I wanted to create the narrative around strength and resilience and the warriors that are survivors. And finally, we have a community component where we're creating a Denim Day 5K that will go across the world, and I'm pulling in organizations like Safe Bay, like RAINN, like local nonprofits. I completely think that we find power in community, and so all of these organizations, all of these ambassadors coming together to do something next, sexual assault awareness month in April that will reframe that narrative. We're all coming together, stand with survivors, run and denim. I hope you join us and that everyone does, just because I think it will be a worldwide movement. So excited about that, I love that, stan, with survivors.
Dr Ariel King:And you know, even when I think about this, it's violence, isn't it? I mean, when many people don't want to talk about, quote unquote, sexual assault or rape, oh, they molest you. No, no, they raped you. It's violence, because there's more power and control and violence in the action than it actually has to do with some kind of sexual gratification, if I may say. Um, and I think, even when you talk about how many the numbers the one in one, in five, is just how many we know and I think that if we look at various peoples that have various depressions or so on and so forth, or look at people that are in various types of institutions, including our penal system or the justice system, you'll find that there are, I would say, literally 80, 90% of women and a large number of men who have experienced this type of violence, because this is a violent act.
Summer Willis:Yeah, absolutely, and it was really frustrating. I testified for the first time last Tuesday and you just hear these myths coming out of people's mouths like false reporting is a huge one. They're like, well, what if the rapist didn't really rape them? And it's like, well, we don't talk about this with any other violent crime, you don't worry about false reporting with homicide or robberies, like stuff like this.
Dr Ariel King:Imagine, suppose the person really didn't rob them, suppose you just wanted to ask for it and you didn't know to say yeah, here you go, you can borrow it. You know they're defensive. Have you noticed that it's a defense, isn't it?
Summer Willis:yeah, and so I'm invited to testify this Tuesday, and so I've written down all the things that I heard said last week and it's like, okay, let's clarify these things. The other one is like, well, what if both parties are intoxicated? And so I'm going into the fact that it's like, yeah, two parties can be intoxicated, but that doesn't mean you get to take someone's pants off or their underwear off or claim them, like there's a difference between being intoxicated.
Dr Ariel King:It's violence. I mean, violence is violence, violence is violence. And it doesn't matter what they're wearing, what, what you know, what she had to drink or what he had to drink, or what they consumed or where they were, or it doesn't matter. I mean, the truth is, it doesn't matter. Yes is yes and no is no. And when it happens against, there's no explicit yes. It's rape. It's clear. There's no. There's no explicit yes. It's rape. It's clear, there's no.
Summer Willis:There's no gray area and you need to come testify with me on tuesday because texas doesn't have a consent law, so my rape's not considered rape in texas and that's why I'm fighting so hard, because almost all intoxication cases just get thrown out. Uh, in texas yeah, especially in the universities especially in universities.
Dr Ariel King:I mean, I had the privilege of going to the university of texas health science center for one of my degrees. Oh, and what's really interesting to me is that, um, alcohol in general is part of the experience in america for colleges. And not only is it a part of it, but you know, usually it's there they have beer there. It's part of lots of social encounters. So the fact that there's no consent law, which means that somebody doesn't have to say yes, is pretty bizarre, because you have to say yes to everything else.
Dr Ariel King:I mean, we sign forms to say yes. We sign forms to say, yes, you can give my information. We sign forms to say, yes, you can donate my organs. We sign forms to say yes, we could take your child to the doctor if they get ill while they're on campus. We sign lots of yes, consent forms. So then the real question is, I think, what's going on with the legislature and it's not just Texas, so I mean it's all over the world what's going on with our government in general that it's difficult for them to deal with this particular subject and, more importantly, it's difficult for them to protect their daughters, their nieces, their cousins.
Summer Willis:Well, yes, I mean, it's sons too, their daughters their nieces, their cousins?
Dr Ariel King:Well, yes, I mean it's sons too, but unfortunately many people don't even look at that. I mean, we could go there too, because, you're right, it's women, men, children, they're all kinds, but we don't even look at the men. So you know, if we're not even starting with basics, I think that you know it's difficult. It's difficult. Why do you think they have a problem with admitting that this violence, let's call it sexual violence, sexual violence can happen to someone without their consent. And what exactly is consent? Is it a groan? What exactly is consent? Is it a? Oh yeah, let's do it. What exactly does that mean?
Summer Willis:What does consent look like? That's a great question that I actually haven't been asked, even though I'm arguing for the consent bill. I think consent saying yes, I want this in my right mind you can't be coerced, you can't be intoxicated among like, you can't be, and this, this has to be defined, doesn't it what the this has to be defined.
Dr Ariel King:Yes, I want whatever. It has to be specific, it has to be measurable and has to be understood and known by both parties. Right, yes, yes, otherwise not. Consent is no. No, I'm, I'm, I'm learning from you. I had.
Summer Willis:Yeah, otherwise it can't be consent, and they they need to be having these conversations like what do we want this to look like? Because the prosecutor that came in to testify was like my purse has more rights than I do right now as a survivor, and so it's like why can we protect a purse and not protect a body? Why can we protect a house and not a body?
Dr Ariel King:Exactly, and it's not just the body, it's the soul, isn't it? Because what happened to you is more than what happened to your body, is what he's done to your soul and your mind and your emotions and, even more importantly, it had an effect on your husband and your children, because you were still feeling the effects of it.
Summer Willis:It did, and my, my mom, when people would cut, when I finally announced, and people in the grocery store would be like, oh, we're sorry about Summer, and she felt the guilt, my grown father cried. My grandfather got a book about it. Like it affects so many people other than just me, and it affects your whole family. Yeah, yeah it does.
Dr Ariel King:I bet they're so proud of you, though I know that I am Bravo. You don't need all the answers and you don't need to know exactly what, and you're I'm sure you're not the first person to testify. This is 2025. Right so, and I'm sure that they understand the word no, and I'm sure that if more males that they know went through the same thing you did, this would not be an issue whether or not there was consent or not, because usually, when the male says no, he means no and there's not a question. Was well, was that a no? No, was that a hard no? Was that a stop no, or did the person understand that you said no, but the truth is it's not a no. Consent is a yes, with specifics of what that?
Summer Willis:yes is.
Summer Willis:It doesn't have to be a no, I think that's why do you know Terry Crews? Huge, muscular man, he's a celebrity. He is a great advocate for survivors, because a lot of times people are like why didn't you fight, why did you just freeze? And so to see this old like famous athlete superstar, who's this happened to? I think 10 years ago, just freeze. Uh, I think 10 years ago, just freeze. I think that adds to the point and adds like another view. Yeah, man, I've heard so many stories and at first it weighed me down and I think that's why I did the mattress run, because I just felt like I was carrying the burden of these stories. And it's been speaking out and testifying and trying to change the way things are. That's really given me a lot of hope. So if any.
Summer Willis:Texans are listening. Please call your representatives and say that you want to pass HB 324.
Dr Ariel King:Right, and if people are listening from other states and, of course, other countries, this is so important. It makes all the difference in the world. You know, I just realized you said to me that so many people are telling you their stories. But that's so important because I remember you also saying that you started to heal yourself when you were able to. I won't say just own, but say, okay, this is my story and it's mine, and now I'm going to carry that story forth and do these things to add to my story. And I'm wondering whether or not, when people are telling you the stories, if they would consent and if you would put them in some kind of book or something, even if they don't want to put their name anonymous, because that gives them a way to do the outlet and then to start building upon their story. Another part of the story I love that, which is just I shouldn't say just- but, the violence of the story, another part of the story.
Dr Ariel King:I love that, which is just I shouldn't say just but the violence of the story, because it's violence.
Summer Willis:It is absolutely positively violence. Yeah, we had that idea because we're doing a short film called Letters to my Younger Self with Hisko Holsing, who's one of my favorite directors, and we wanted to have have at the 5K like a wall for people to write letters to their younger selves and share their stories and create something with it. I'm not sure what, but I think you're right that people need to hear about these stories and feel what's happening, because it's not a bi or it's not a left or a right issue. It's bipartisan. This is just.
Dr Ariel King:this is just violence, as you said oh yeah, left you're left, right up down, blue pink. You know it's people. It's people, it's, and nobody none of us, wants to feel someone do something violent against us. I think, and I think perhaps some of the worst parts of the violence is that it's not recognized. So when someone hits us or when someone does something violent, it doesn't just hurt our bodies and our psyches, it actually hurts our soul. But when someone says I see you and what happened to you is wrong, you can start to mend that. But when there's no recognition of it oh, did that happen? Pardon, what do you mean? Did it happen?
Summer Willis:Yeah. Or you tell the prosecutor you did everything right. She says that in her testimony. She said this example she, the person, did everything right. Because we don't have a definition of consent, she has to say I can't help you, and that was my big thing. Justice system, do not let us be betrayed twice, once by our rapist and once by the system like.
Dr Ariel King:Help us stand with survivors so are you telling me that in general, that basically, um and, by the way, this in other countries too. So we're international I've lived in 13 countries, but are you telling me that currently in texas very few violent crimes violent sexual crimes are actually prosecuted because of the word quote-unquote consent or lack of consent.
Summer Willis:In the united states, out of 100 reported rapes, only one gets convicted One. There's some serious issues all over the country, but there's hope because I when I was thinking of business advice for this, it's like I don't feel like I've ever been qualified to do anything. I've done and I didn't realize that normal people like you, like me, like anyone listening, can go and testify, can go and make a difference, and so I encourage anyone like they have a voice and they can create changes in their community voice and they can create changes in their community.
Dr Ariel King:And to use it one in a hundred. That also tells me that this complicity, compliance, that means that there are people around who know that it's happening, who have family that it's happened to, but the truth is they don't want to admit that it's happening. And so these myths that you talked about in your testimony, I would advise, in my humble opinion, don't go there. Use the time for those who have experienced this type of violence and make it clear that they have a right to not just be represented but to actually have people brought to justice. People brought to justice, right? I can't imagine somebody doing other violence to, maybe hitting you or beating you up or robbing you and they said well, you know, we're just going to ask one out of a hundred whether or not you know, for them to be accountable, because you're just asking for accountability, right, you're not asking for the violence to happen to them, you're just asking for accountability. And the truth is you have a right to that accountability.
Dr Ariel King:Those who have had violence against them have a right to that accountability. And it's complicity. They understand it's happening, but many people don't want to admit it. But you know that's okay. You, yeah, you don't have to want to admit it, but but it's. You can't trample on the rights of those that it's happened to, and I think that's why it continues to happen, because people that do it know that it's not likely they're going to be prosecuted.
Summer Willis:Yeah, that's true, and I think when we're looking at violent crimes, I think my numbers are right, but I think 73% of robberies are reported. It's like 21% of rapes are reported, and I think that's because there's shame in it and you lose your self-worth and you don't know what's going to happen. You don't know if the system's there. And so I think, even though it's a little different, my hope with this 5k series is we're making people talk about it and we're celebrating survivors and we're trying to get rid of some of that shame and saying, derek, what you did was hard and you're strong and you're resilient and the community is surrounding you and we're here. And so, even though the 5K, the runs, are a little different than the work with the legislator, it's important that it's out there in the community and people are having fun and, yeah, that's my hope for that series.
Dr Ariel King:It's going to be that way. That's just really fantastic, right? Having these people who are survivors and thrivers being together and understanding that it's okay, and it's okay for them to feel what they feel, and it's okay for them to ask for justice and to continue on. I honor you. You're just an amazing person. I'm just so proud and you're just doing so many amazing things. Our time has gone by so quickly. Are there some things that you'd like to tell our audience we have about a minute or two more about what you're doing and how they can possibly get in touch with you or how they can somehow contribute to the work that you're doing.
Summer Willis:Yeah, well, I would love them to visit. I have a personal website, summerwilliscom. You can email me, you can share your story or get involved. The charity is also strengththroughtstridesorg and we have a bunch of different projects at companies that individuals can all get behind, including the movie project with Hisco Holsing and the 5K runs, and you can follow my story on Summer Willis on Instagram. So yeah, thank you so much dr king, thank you so much.
Dr Ariel King:I'm going to be following you. I'm looking forward to us talking again. I would love for us to talk again once you've actually um, done this.
Dr Ariel King:This uh next runs with people and see how that goes so it would be so delightful to figure out how things are going and thank you for going out there and being the voice of those who don't have a voice of sexual violence against them. And don't worry about the myths, because they'll come up with more. You set your own path and you walk on it and let them try to figure out how to join you.
Summer Willis:Thank you, Dr King.