Donald Miralle/Sports Illustrated
In honor of Black History Month, Sports Illustrated is passing the pen to prominent Black voices across sports to reflect, re-examine legacies and share their stories and viewpoints on what lies ahead for the next generation of trailblazers.
I started swimming at 6 years old, taking lessons because my friends in the first grade were as well. Their parents urged my mom to have me join them, so I did lessons for two years before starting to swim competitively and signed up for a team at 8. I was lucky to be born and raised in New York; my club team was—and to this day is—probably one of the most diverse teams that I've ever seen, so race was never really on the top of my mind.