Chief Change Officer
#158 Nina Sossamon-Pogue from U.S. Gymnastics Team: When Life Cuts Your Routine Short - Part One
Sun, 2 Feb 2025
Part One. If resilience were a sport, Nina Sossamon-Pogue would be an all-around champion. She started her gymnastics journey at four, made it all the way to the U.S. Gymnastics Team, and learned early that falling wasn’t failure—it was part of the process. But life threw her some unexpected dismounts: missing the Olympic team, an injury that ended her career, and getting let go from a 17-year journalism job she loved. Most people might have stayed down. Not Nina. She launched herself into the tech world, proving reinvention is just another skill to master. Today, in part one, we dive into Nina’s journey—her highs, her wipeouts, and how she kept pushing forward. Tomorrow, in part two, we’ll explore the unique tools she’s developed to help others bounce back from setbacks. Because let’s be real—life has no safety mats. Key Highlights of Our Interview: The Personal Toll of Public Life “While doing three live shows a day, I went through a divorce, an accident, and some of the darkest moments of my life. I wondered if I’d ever feel happy again.” Finding Your Sweet Spot: Skills, Opportunities, and Trends “When making a career pivot, ask yourself three key questions: What am I good at? Where’s the money? And what’s the trajectory of the industry I’m entering? Aligning these answers sets the foundation for a successful transition.” Coffee, Conversations, and Clarity: Gaining Insight From Your Network “To discover where I could make an impact, I turned to trusted colleagues and asked: If you had to hire me, what would you hire me for? Their answers revealed skills I hadn’t fully recognized and pointed me toward opportunities I hadn’t considered.” Your Skills, Seen Through Fresh Eyes “What others find valuable in you might surprise you. It’s a reminder to seek outside perspectives—they could reveal your next big opportunity.” Connect with us: Host: Vince Chan | Guest: Nina Sossamon-Pogue --Chief Change Officer-- Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself. Open a World of Deep Human Intelligence for Growth Progressives, Visionary Underdogs, Transformation Gurus & Bold Hearts. 6 Million+ All-Time Downloads. Reaching 80+ Countries Daily. Global Top 3% Podcast. Top 10 US Business. Top 1 US Careers. >>>100,000+ subscribers are outgrowing. Act Today.<<< --Chief Change Officer--Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself.Open a World of Expansive Human Intelligencefor Transformation Gurus, Black Sheep,Unsung Visionaries & Bold Hearts.EdTech Leadership Awards 2025 Finalist.18 Million+ All-Time Downloads.80+ Countries Reached Daily.Global Top 1.5% Podcast.Top 10 US Business.Top 1 US Careers.>>>170,000+ are outgrowing. Act Today.<<<
Chapter 1: What does resilience mean in gymnastics?
Hi, everyone. Welcome to our show, Chief Change Officer. I'm Vince Chan, your ambitious human host. Our show is a modernist community for change progressives in organizational and human transformation from around the world. These days, we talk a lot about resilience. We can discuss the psychology of it all day long. But who actually walks the walk and talks the talk when it comes to resilience?
Professional athletes. Today, I'm sitting down with Nina Sossaman Polk, a former professional gymnast who started her journey at about four years old and went on to join the US gymnastic team. In her own words, gymnastics is a perfect example of resilience. You literally fall down and get back up all day every day as you learn new skills.
That mindset became part of Nina's DNA, and it carried her through some incredible twists and turns. From the heartbreak of not making the Olympic team to leaving the sport for good after an injury, she faced one identity crisis after another. But she didn't stop there. Nina built a successful journalism career that spent 17 years only to be let go despite being a beloved news anchor.
And instead of staying down, she jumped into technology, starting from scratch, and reinvented herself yet again. Today, in part one of our conversation, we are diving into Nina's journey, her training, her trials, and her setbacks. Then tomorrow in part two, we'll explore the tools Nina has developed over the years to help others rise above their challenges.
Tools like the reverse resume and successful timeline. We are not talking about your typical resume or conventional ideas of success. We are going beyond that. So let's begin this incredible journey with Nina. Thank you so much for having me on, Vince. It's a pleasure. Nina, you've had such an interesting and meaningful journey.
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Chapter 2: How did Nina Sossamon-Pogue transition from gymnastics to journalism?
Early on, you were a professionally trained gymnast, but eventually you had to say goodbye to that world and transition into TV and journalism. Then you pivoted again, moving into tech, and now you are a speaker, coach, and consultant. A lot of changes. In my eyes, you truly embody the role of a Chief Change Officer at heart.
We're going to dive into these transitions, the trends you've seen, and everything in between. But first, let's start with a quick intro. Tell us about your background and journey, and then we'll dig deeper into different aspects of your experience.
Excellent. Thanks, Vince. Yeah, I feel like I could steal your name and I could be the chief change officer with all the changes in my own life. I was, as you said, I was a young gymnast and that was from childhood back when I was four or five years old all the way until I was almost 20. So my big bulk of my childhood was gymnastics and I was on the U.S. team, traveled all over the world.
And then I didn't make the Olympics. Very crushing blow and very sad time for me to regroup and figure out what's next. And then I became a collegiate athlete back on top of my game, happy again, doing my thing. And then I got injured and another big change in my life. I had to figure out who I was without gymnastics. And then I found television and I loved that.
And I had big success in television and became a reporter and then a news anchor and won some awards. And then I had another big change in my life. And had actually a very difficult time at 37 in those years.
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Chapter 3: What challenges did Nina face after leaving gymnastics?
And then when I was 40, I changed again and I went from television to tech and then jumped into that space and did that for a dozen years and then changed once again and became an author and a speaker. And now... I'm out here talking about just that. How does someone change something that very much is part of their life and they identify with?
How do you go from one thing to another and not just survive some of the big changes in our lives, but to thrive through them and really find bigger success on the other side?
People often associate change with resilience because, let's be honest, You need a resilient mindset to get through a transition, to survive before you thrive. And Nina, the reason I invited you to the show is because the kind of resilience you've developed is something truly unique. Unlike most people, you were in professional sports.
You spent about 15 years in gymnastics in the early part of your life. And you know that any professional sport requires intense training, like a form of military training in my eyes. It demands focus, resilience, constant competition, and the ability to bounce back from failure quickly. Can you share more about your experience in gymnastics? How did you get into it?
Why did you choose gymnastics? And how did that experience shape your resilience? I imagine it was a crucial foundation for the resilience you've carried forward into the rest of your life.
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Chapter 4: How did Nina reinvent herself in the tech industry?
Absolutely. It's very much what defined my early resilience. And I think gymnastics is a great example of resilience. You literally fall down and have to get back up all day, every day as you're learning new skills. And I was very young and active when I was little and the youngest of four kids. And my parents put me in gymnastics class.
as an outlet for all of that energy that i had and then i just got really good at it really fast i was competing at six or seven and then i moved away from home at 13 into an olympic training center near washington dc here in the states and i made the us team and i have to travel all over the world japan hungary germany australia so i'm out there doing it and that resilience that being coachable
came in and being coachable and being told, change this, do that. When you fall, get up, keep going. That's early, those early seeds of resilience and how to adapt and keep getting better. That's what gymnastics is. You just keep adapting and getting better. You try a skill, you adapt, you get it better, you adapt some more. Arms higher, twist sooner, whatever the coaching is.
you are continually adapting to get better at the sport. And so that adaptation honestly helped me very much when it came time to do all the other things in my life. And when I didn't make the Olympic team, I had to adapt once again to figure out what was next. So yes, that resilience definitely was born into me at a very young age.
I remember telling you about my first impression of gymnastics. It actually came from watching the 1984 Olympics in LA. I was just a kid living in Hong Kong, and it was summer vacation, so I was allowed to watch TV every day, which was rare during school days. I watched those morning broadcasts, which were live from LA in the afternoon, their time. I was so captivated by the US gymnastic teams.
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Chapter 5: What unique tools did Nina develop for personal growth?
They were amazing, incredible, winning all round medals. Wow, that looks intense. That looks magical. When you told me gymnastics was your day-to-day life back then, I was seriously impressed. But as you also shared, there came a point when you had to leave the sport, not because of the Olympics but for other reasons. Could you tell us more about what led you to step away from gymnastics?
Yeah, I love it that you love the 84 games. Those are the ones I was training with Mary Lou Retton and Bart Conner. That whole group was who I traveled all over the world with. So I blew up. So I first I didn't make the games simply because I was not the best. I bombed the competition going into it. Only a handful of girls make it. The U.S.
team probably has 20 girls on it, had about 20 girls on it back then. And then six make it to the Olympics. Now only four. So it was not that I injured myself or anything. I just wasn't the top. But then when I got to college and competed, I actually did injure myself. I bombed the meet not to make the Olympics, happened to be a balance beam routine.
And then in college, I did a beam dismount off the balance beam and I blew out my knee. So lost my sport altogether at that point. And It was a very difficult time for me because I had to figure out who I was without gymnastics. Because as you said, I mean, you watched it on TV. We all did. It was such a big sport in the U.S. and around the world.
And to be a part of that was such a cool thing to be a part of. And even when I went to college, it was still part of me. But when I could no longer do the sport, I had to figure out who I was without gymnastics. One of the biggest changes in my life. Who is little Nina? I was only 19 at the time. Who is Nina without gymnastics? What was I going to change into, to use your word change?
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Chapter 6: How does one thrive through life's transitions?
What was I going to change into? What was the next version of me going to be? And it was very difficult for me to, one, accept that I could no longer have that identifier as a gymnast, and two, figure out what was going to be next for me.
You studied communication in college, then went into TV. So why communication? What drew you to it? And what made it compelling enough for you to turn it into a career?
Yeah, so when I blew out my knee in college, in order to keep my scholarship, and my family didn't have a lot of money, so I had to have a scholarship to go to college. So in order to keep my scholarship for gymnastics without being a gymnast, I had to work for the university.
And so I ended up working in the laundry room, like not washing cute little leotards, but in an athletic laundry room washing like... men's football and basketball uniforms. Like, it was not a fun job. And I would sit outside that room. I'd switch out the laundry and I would sit outside in the sunshine while the laundry was going.
One day, a person walked by and I was always unhappy and grumpy and I was on crutches and I was still in a very bad spot because I hadn't figured out what was next for me, not being a gymnast. And one day, an athletic advisor who was an academic advisor, not a light coach or a mental health coach, they didn't have any of that back then.
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Chapter 7: What lessons can we learn from Nina's journey?
But this young guy came by and he plopped down and he said, hey, how are you? And I probably said something weird. snarky. Great, can't you tell? But over time, he would stop and he would flop down next to me and talk to me. And he is the one who finally said, hey, what do you want to do after this? And no one had ever asked.
And I had never thought about what I wanted to be after this thing, after gymnastics. And so he got me thinking about it. And I found journalism. I ended up working. I moved from the laundry room to work for the sports information department for the college. And then I got an internship in a TV station. And the first time, Vince, that I walked into that TV station, I was hooked.
I loved the energy and the excitement. I loved it. Like, you had to get the story done that day. It was fast. It was challenging. No two days were ever the same. I just fell in love with that concept of journalism. And so I switched my mic. my schooling and went down through the journalism program and graduated and started my journey into that.
First as a reporter at different small TV stations, and then I got an anchor job and really loved being a news anchor and being part of a community.
So TV was what really sparked your interest, made you think, this is it. That's why you started your career there. Then once again, you went through another transition and eventually moved into technology. How did that come about? And by the way, how long were you in the TV industry before making that switch? And what actually triggered it?
Yeah, so I was in television for 17 years. It was a long stretch of my life as a reporter and then a news anchor. And during those years, I had some big changes too. So in my 30s, when I was on television, I did three shows a day, live TV, three shows a day, every single day, Monday through Friday. And... During those years, I went through some of my own changes.
At one point during that time, I was let go from a TV station and big nationwide layoffs, budget cuts. They let me go and I had to figure out. And I had just won favorite news anchor. I was just voted favorite news anchor for the seventh year in a row. But they let me go and I had to figure out. They just pulled me into the office and said, we're releasing you from your contract.
And so I had to find a new way forward and I went to another TV station. So that was one really difficult time. And I also went through a divorce during that time. So that was a big change in my life. So I had a lot of changes there. And I was involved in an accident during my time on television.
And I won't go into all the details for your viewers because you guys don't want to hear all the sad stuff. But it was really sad. And it wasn't at fault or anything. It was just a sad thing to be a part of. And I had a hard time figuring out Like how I was going to be happy again on the other side of it because I was so sad.
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