Maya Tesla, Age 6: On Fear, Decisions, and Doing Hard Things Anyway | Chief Milestones

Maya is six years old. She practices Bharatanatyam daily, set a goal to post four videos this year, and negotiates school attendance on her own terms.

She also has a dance performance coming up on Saturday - a brand-new song - and when asked about it, she said: "I feel kind of scared. But I'm going to do it."

That's the episode.

In this conversation, Reshma Vadlamudi (host and founder of Chief Milestones) sits down with her daughter Maya for an honest, unscripted look at what it sounds like when someone tells the truth about fear, goals, and doing hard things - before they've learned to dress it up.

What you'll hear:

→ How Maya thinks about bravery (one word, no hedging)

→ Why she chose her answer on school vs. homeschool - and changed it twice

→ The goal she set for herself this year, and her progress toward it

→ What she says she loves most about her mom and her dad

→ What she's most proud of - and why it lands harder than you'd expect

→ What daily practice looks like for a six-year-old building real habits

This is the Next Generation series on Chief Milestones - conversations with the kids inside founder and operator families. They see things differently. They say it straight.

If you're a founder, operator, or parent building something while raising someone - this one is for you.

Chief Milestones drops every Tuesday and Friday.

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Chief Milestones is a video podcast featuring honest conversations with founders, parents, and investors about building real businesses, staying healthy, and raising families.

New episodes release Tuesdays and Fridays.

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Transcript

Meet Maya Tesla

Reshma Vadlamudi 0:00

Yeah, what do you want to do? Do you want to go to your school or do you want to go you want to go to school or you don't want to do the homeschool? Do you have to fight with your mom to not go to school?

Maya Tesla 0:12

Yeah.

Reshma Vadlamudi 0:14

You sure? What are some habits you are working on?

Maya Tesla 0:20

Tele fono.

Reshma Vadlamudi 0:23

Yeah.

Maya Tesla 0:26

Gracias.

Reshma Vadlamudi 0:27

Yeah. What are you afraid of?

Maya Tesla 0:33

Tigers and lions. And mommy, angry mommy.

Reshma Vadlamudi 0:38

An angry mommy? Angry mommy scares you?

Maya Tesla 0:42

Yeah. An angry daddy.

Reshma Vadlamudi 0:45

Do you like everything Telugu?

Maya Tesla 0:47

Yes.

Reshma Vadlamudi 0:48

How many times do you have to ask me that you don't have to go to school?

Maya Tesla 0:52

180 Hundred.

Reshma Vadlamudi 0:55

You Sure?

Maya Tesla 0:56

Yeah.

Reshma Vadlamudi 0:57

Okay.

Maya Tesla 0:58

I mean one million.

Reshma Vadlamudi 1:00

Ooh.

School, Homeschool, And Fighting With Mom

Maya Tesla 1:01

Thousand.

Reshma Vadlamudi 1:10

Hi Maya.

Maya Tesla 1:12

Hi.

Reshma Vadlamudi 1:13

How old are you?

Maya Tesla 1:15

Six.

Reshma Vadlamudi 1:16

Can you tell us your full name?

Maya Tesla 1:19

Maya Irene Tesla.

Reshma Vadlamudi 1:21

Uh-huh. What day is today?

Maya Tesla 1:28

Wednesday.

Reshma Vadlamudi 1:29

Why are you home? On Wednesday?

Maya Tesla 1:37

I just don't want to go to school.

Reshma Vadlamudi 1:41

You don't want to go to school and

Maya Tesla 1:46

it's also my sister's birthday week. And I want to spend more time with her.

Reshma Vadlamudi 1:53

Uh-huh. Do you get to choose if you want to go to school or not?

Maya Tesla 1:58

Yes.

Reshma Vadlamudi 2:01

Okay. Do you think all other g all other kids get to choose that?

Maya Tesla 2:06

No.

Reshma Vadlamudi 2:09

Okay. What's your reason for not going to school? What did your mom say?

Maya Tesla 2:16

Go to school, but I don't want to go to school.

Reshma Vadlamudi 2:21

Why did she ask you to go when you said you don't want to go? Because at first you wanted to you wanted to go. And then you didn't want to go?

Maya Tesla 2:31

No. I wanted to get my nails painted, so I don't want to go.

What She's Afraid Of?

Reshma Vadlamudi 2:39

You're too excited to go to school.

Maya Tesla 2:42

So I can't go.

Reshma Vadlamudi 2:44

What is homeschool?

Maya Tesla 2:46

We do our school things at home.

Reshma Vadlamudi 2:49

Are you going to school for first grade? Are you going to homeschool? What? What's happening for your first grade? Do you know? No?

Maya Tesla 3:00

No.

Reshma Vadlamudi 3:01

Okay. Do you want to go to school or do you want to be homeschooled for your first grade?

Maya Tesla 3:08

First grader.

Reshma Vadlamudi 3:09

Yeah, what do you want to do? Do you want to go to your school or you want to

Maya Tesla 3:12

School.

Reshma Vadlamudi 3:13

Oh, you want to go to school? You don't want to stay home. You don't want to do the homeschool?

Maya Tesla 3:18

Homeschool.

Reshma Vadlamudi 3:19

haahaa. Okay. Why do you like staying at home?

Maya Tesla 3:24

Uh I I like to stay at home when it's like when we do exciting things. And when when it's like someone's birthday.

Reshma Vadlamudi 3:38

Mm-hmm. Is that the only time you did not go to school?

Maya Tesla 3:43

No.

Reshma Vadlamudi 3:44

Hmm. What what's the other times you did not go to school?

Maya Tesla 3:48

When I don't want to.

Reshma Vadlamudi 3:51

What did your mom say?

Maya Tesla 3:53

Go.

Reshma Vadlamudi 3:54

Did I ask you to go? You sure? Okay. Do you have to fight with your mom to not go to school?

Maya Tesla 4:06

Yes.

Reshma Vadlamudi 4:07

You sure? Yes. Okay. You feel like you're fighting with mommy? When you How many times do you have to ask me that you don't have to go to school?

Maya Tesla 4:24

180 hundred.

Reshma Vadlamudi 4:27

You sure?

Maya Tesla 4:28

Yeah.

Reshma Vadlamudi 4:28

Okay. Hmm. Okay. What are you a f

Maya Tesla 4:33

I mean One Million?

Reshma Vadlamudi 4:35

Ooooo.

Maya Tesla 4:36

Thousand.

Reshma Vadlamudi 4:39

Okay. What are you afraid of?

Maya Tesla 4:43

Tigers and lions. And Mommy. Angry Mommy.

Reshma Vadlamudi 4:48

And angry Mommy? Angry Mommy scares you?

Maya Tesla 4:52

Yeah. An angry Daddy.

Reshma Vadlamudi 4:56

An angry Daddy? Yeah.

Maya Tesla 5:00

An angry Pooja.

Reshma Vadlamudi 5:02

An angry Pooja?

Maya Tesla 5:03

Yeah.

Reshma Vadlamudi 5:05

Okay. What do you want to be when you grow up?

Maya Tesla 5:09

Dancer.

Reshma Vadlamudi 5:11

You want to be a dancer?

Maya Tesla 5:12

I like dancing.

Reshma Vadlamudi 5:14

Mm-hmm. Are you learning how to dance?

Maya Tesla 5:18

Yes.

Reshma Vadlamudi 5:19

Okay. What kind of dance are you learning?

Maya Tesla 5:22

Bharatanatyam.

Reshma Vadlamudi 5:24

Did you do any stage performances?

Maya Tesla 5:27

Yes.

Reshma Vadlamudi 5:28

How many?

Maya Tesla 5:30

Five.

Reshma Vadlamudi 5:31

Okay, when is your next performance?

Maya Tesla 5:36

This Saturday.

Reshma Vadlamudi 5:39

Mm-hmm.

"I Feel Kind Of Scared. But I'm Going To Do It."

Maya Tesla 5:40

And I'm doing a new song. And I feel kind of scared, but I'm going to do it.

Reshma Vadlamudi 5:47

Mm-hmm. You're going to do it anyways?

Maya Tesla 5:50

Yeah.

Reshma Vadlamudi 5:50

Even if you're scared?

Maya Tesla 5:52

Yeah.

Reshma Vadlamudi 5:53

That's called being

Maya Tesla 5:55

BRAVE.

Reshma Vadlamudi 5:56

You're brave? Yeah. Courageous. Yeah, I'm scared of doing things and I still do it. Yeah? You still you have to be scared and still do it. You can be scared and still do it. What do you love most about your mom?

Maya Tesla 6:13

Only spending time with me.

Reshma Vadlamudi 6:17

What do you love the most about your dad?

Maya Tesla 6:21

Only spending time with me.

Reshma Vadlamudi 6:24

Okay. If you could go anywhere, where do you want to go?

Maya Tesla 6:30

Khyati's house.

Reshma Vadlamudi 6:34

Okay. What are you proud of yourself for?

Maya Tesla 6:36

Being brave.

Reshma Vadlamudi 6:38

Mommy is proud of you too for that. Yeah?

Maya Tesla 6:42

Are you proud for my performance?

Reshma Vadlamudi 6:45

Do you know the answer for it?

Maya Tesla 6:47

Yeah.

Reshma Vadlamudi 6:48

Mm-hmm. Mommy is always so proud of you.

Maya Tesla 6:52

Should I tell it?

Reshma Vadlamudi 6:54

Yeah.

Maya Tesla 6:56

Yes.

Reshma Vadlamudi 6:57

Yeah. And Mommy, mommy always cries after your performances.

Maya Tesla 7:02

Yeah, happy tears.

Reshma Vadlamudi 7:04

Yes. Mommy is super proud of you. Yeah?

Maya Tesla 7:10

What about Daddy and Pooja? Do they have happy tears?

Reshma Vadlamudi 7:15

You need to ask them.

Maya Tesla 7:17

Okay.

Reshma Vadlamudi 7:18

What do you dream about?

Maya Tesla 7:25

Mermaids?

Reshma Vadlamudi 7:26

You dream about mermaids? Okay.

Maya Tesla 7:30

And the Uni- corns That jump over your head.

Reshma Vadlamudi 7:36

You sure?

Maya Tesla 7:36

Yeah.

Reshma Vadlamudi 7:40

Okay. You said you're going to post four videos this year. Are you working on it?

Maya Tesla 7:47

Yeah. Dance videos.

Reshma Vadlamudi 7:50

Mm-hmm.

Maya Tesla 7:50

And mommy's trying to take a video.

Reshma Vadlamudi 7:53

Mm-hmm.

Maya Tesla 7:54

And my friend's mom took a video and put it on Instagram and YouTube.

Reshma Vadlamudi 8:01

Yes. That's your first video already.

Maya Tesla 8:05

Yeah. And this is my second one.

Reshma Vadlamudi 8:08

Yeah.

Maya Tesla 8:09

And I only have two more to go. Yeah.

Reshma Vadlamudi 8:14

And you'll meet all your goals?

Maya Tesla 8:16

Yeah.

Habits She's Building: Dance, Reading, Math, Music

Reshma Vadlamudi 8:18

What's your favorite animal?

Maya Tesla 8:20

Giraffe.

Reshma Vadlamudi 8:21

Giraffes?

Maya Tesla 8:22

Yeah, and elephants. That's my sister's.

Reshma Vadlamudi 8:26

What do you like to eat?

Maya Tesla 8:28

Boba.

Reshma Vadlamudi 8:31

You like chewing on boba? Mm-hmm.

Maya Tesla 8:35

And and they like to eat cheese quesadilla? I mean chicken and rice.

Reshma Vadlamudi 8:41

Oh.

Maya Tesla 8:42

Not cheese quesadilla, only chicken and rice.

Reshma Vadlamudi 8:44

Oh, now chicken and rice?

Maya Tesla 8:46

Y eah.

Reshma Vadlamudi 8:47

Wow, okay. What's your favorite toy?

Maya Tesla 8:50

My Barbie book.

Reshma Vadlamudi 8:52

Ooh. Okay. What's your favorite song?

Maya Tesla 8:57

Enti Enti.

Reshma Vadlamudi 8:59

Okay. What's your favorite book?

Maya Tesla 9:01

Uh Libby.

Reshma Vadlamudi 9:06

Ooh. Libby loves science?

Maya Tesla 9:09

Yeah.

Reshma Vadlamudi 9:09

Okay.

Maya Tesla 9:10

I mean I like dance books.

Reshma Vadlamudi 9:15

And what's your favorite TV show? Paw Patrol?

Maya Tesla 9:20

Yeah. Okay.

Reshma Vadlamudi 9:21

What does your lunch look like?

Food, Favorites, And Water Chestnuts

Maya Tesla 9:24

Uh I eat uh meatballs, yogurt, and for fruit, cherries.

Reshma Vadlamudi 9:38

And what's your favorite vegetable?

Maya Tesla 9:43

Celery if it's not too like that it's not that celery I don't like because it's so hard and so like Baledu (Bad).

Reshma Vadlamudi 9:55

Yeah,

Maya Tesla 9:56

So I like celery.

Reshma Vadlamudi 9:58

Okay, but the celery has to be crunchy and yummy.

Maya Tesla 10:05

No, actually I like broccoli. What is it? Broccoli and celery and corn.

Reshma Vadlamudi 10:14

Okay.

Maya Tesla 10:14

I like every vegetable.

Reshma Vadlamudi 10:16

U h what about carrots?

Maya Tesla 10:18

Yeah?

Reshma Vadlamudi 10:19

You like carrots too? Yeah. And water chestnuts?

Maya Tesla 10:24

And cucumber.

Reshma Vadlamudi 10:25

Yeah, those are all your favorite?

Maya Tesla 10:27

Yeah.

Reshma Vadlamudi 10:28

Mm-hmm.

Maya Tesla 10:29

I wish you could get water chestnuts.

Reshma Vadlamudi 10:32

You want me to get water chestnuts? Just the water chestnuts by themselves?

Maya Tesla 10:37

Yeah.

Reshma Vadlamudi 10:38

Okay.

Maya Tesla 10:39

I love them.

Reshma Vadlamudi 10:40

Okay, let me get those next time.

Maya Tesla 10:42

Yayyy.

Reshma Vadlamudi 10:45

Okay. Um, okay, so what's your favorite protein?

Maya Tesla 10:50

Chicken.

Reshma Vadlamudi 10:51

What can you tell me the protein that you usually eat? Um what are some proteins that you eat?

Maya Tesla 10:59

Lunch and dinner? meatballs, chicken, beef, liver. I guess that's it.

Reshma Vadlamudi 11:14

What about eggs?

Maya Tesla 11:15

Oh yeah, eggs.

Reshma Vadlamudi 11:17

Mm-hmm. What about pulled pork?

Maya Tesla 11:20

Yeah.

Reshma Vadlamudi 11:21

And ribs?

Maya Tesla 11:23

Yeah.

Reshma Vadlamudi 11:24

Uh-huh. Okay. Then what about dairy? What do you guys eat for dairy usually?

Maya Tesla 11:33

Uh string cheese, yogurt, mozzarella cheese, and red cheese.

Reshma Vadlamudi 11:46

Mm-hmm. And what's that thing that you drink?

Maya Tesla 11:50

Kefir.

Reshma Vadlamudi 11:52

Mm-hmm. Okay. Okay. Then what do you what's your favorite carb?

Maya Tesla 12:00

Chapati (Tortilla) by itself.

Reshma Vadlamudi 12:03

Okay. What do you guys eat for carb? What all do you get to eat for carb?

Maya Tesla 12:08

Uh we don't usually eat cheese pizza. I mean, not we don't usually eat uh cheese quesadilla anymore because we eat it on Sundays. So we usually a Otti (By Itself in Telugu) Chapati (Tortilla in Telugu), Perugu (Yogurt in Telugu) and rice. Butter and Naan. Cheese pizza. We could eat. And I guess that's it.

Reshma Vadlamudi 12:41

Okay. And fruit. I know you guys eat a lot of fruit. What's your favorite fruit?

Maya Tesla 12:51

Watermelon. All melons.

Why Practice Has To Happen Even On Hard Days

Reshma Vadlamudi 12:54

All melons? Yeah, the three of them. And cherries. What are some habits you are working on?

Maya Tesla 13:02

Uh dance, reading.

Reshma Vadlamudi 13:06

Yeah, dance and reading.

Maya Tesla 13:09

Math.

Reshma Vadlamudi 13:10

Mm-hmm.

Maya Tesla 13:11

Sometimes music.

Reshma Vadlamudi 13:15

Okay.

Maya Tesla 13:15

That's it for me.

Reshma Vadlamudi 13:18

So do you practice them every day?

Maya Tesla 13:21

I don't usually do math and music because I'm done with those. I do dance and reading every day. Ivvala (Today in Telugu) dance and reading odda? (No? in Telugu)

Reshma Vadlamudi 13:34

Yeah.

Maya Tesla 13:34

Yay! I don't need. Because

Reshma Vadlamudi 13:40

Okay, because we have to go for the nails. Yeah. How about we uh get done with the dance a little earlier when Ivy takes a nap? Yeah? Because we have a performance coming up.

Maya Tesla 13:54

Yes, it has to practice every day even if we're going out.

Reshma Vadlamudi 14:00

Yeah. If you want to be a grad great dancer, how can you become a great dancer?

Telugu, Spanish, And Dora

Maya Tesla 14:06

Practice.

Reshma Vadlamudi 14:08

Do you speak in Telugu? Yes. Do you like speaking Telugu? Yes. Do you like anything Telugu?

Maya Tesla 14:16

Yes.

Reshma Vadlamudi 14:17

Do you like everything Telugu?

Maya Tesla 14:18

Yes.

Reshma Vadlamudi 14:24

What do you tell people when they say Telugu is boring?

Maya Tesla 14:29

Fun.

Reshma Vadlamudi 14:30

Telugu is fun.

Maya Tesla 14:32

Yeah. Telugu is not boring. Spanish is boring.

Reshma Vadlamudi 14:41

No, nothing is boring. Like you enjoy Telugu. There are people that enjoy Spanish.

Maya Tesla 14:46

Like Esparanza?

Reshma Vadlamudi 14:48

Yeah. So people

Maya Tesla 14:50

telefono?

Reshma Vadlamudi 14:52

Yeah.

Maya Tesla 14:54

Gracias.

Reshma Vadlamudi 14:55

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Maya Tesla 14:58

Denada. I heard this to in Dora. She speaks Spanish.

Reshma Vadlamudi 15:03

Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's nice to learn different languages. Nothing is boring. You need languages.

Maya Tesla 15:08

Telefono de nada. Mm-hmm. I said de nada, telefono. That means stay you're welcome for the phone.

Reshma Vadlamudi 15:20

Oh, okay. Okay, that's it?

Maya Tesla 15:26

No.

Bye, Cameras

Reshma Vadlamudi 15:26

Mm-hmm. What else are we talking about?

Maya Tesla 15:30

Podcast.

Reshma Vadlamudi 15:30

We talked about most of the stuff. We'll talk again next time. If there is something else that we did not talk about. Do you want to say bye to the cameras?

Maya Tesla 15:43

Bye bye.

Reshma Vadlamudi 15:44

Bye bye, cameras.