The PowHERful Podcast with AJ McCord

CURIOSITY | Para-snowboarder Brenna Huckaby describes her journey from Louisiana to professional snowboarding as a bit of a “Jamaican Bobsled” story. After losing her leg to cancer, she was introduced to the mountains through a hospital program designed to help recent amputees rebuild confidence — the idea being that if they could conquer a physical mountain, the metaphorical ones ahead might feel a little less daunting.

For Brenna, it was love at first sight. Racing down the mountain reignited a spark cancer had tried to extinguish.

From learning to live with a prosthetic leg, to becoming a mother at 19, to chasing Paralympic history, Brenna has carried a contagious curiosity — about how to show up fully for herself, her family, and those who look up to her, all with authenticity and heart.

This conversation is for anyone who has ever felt like their hardest day might break them and wondered where strength and hope could possibly come from. Brenna shares the hard-earned roadmap she’s traveled — one that guides us toward a more courageous, curious, and joyful existence.

For more on the Winter Paralympics in Milan-Cortina, follow @ThePowHERful on Instagram!

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RESILIENCE | When Oyuna Uranchimeg visited the US in 2002 from Mongolia, she had no idea how her life would change. A car accident left her paralyzed, in a foreign country, with a six-year old son at home who needed her. As she prepares for her 2nd Paralympics representing Team USA in wheelchair curling, Oyuna shares how she showed up for herself, despite days when she wasn’t sure she could. This is a story about resilience, about self-belief, and the ways we can all do it until our own Team USA moment arrives.
For more on the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, follow @ThePowHERful on Instagram!

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INTUITION | Natalie Allport appears to be absolutely fearless. A former member of the national snowboarding team in slopestyle, former competitive Crossfiter and current member of the Freeride World Tour where she snowboards off cliffs on raw mountain faces around the world, she takes on everything that comes her way without faltering. However, in this episode, Allport shares how developing a relationship with her intuition has helped her overcome fears that once crippled her. It’s a skill she’s honed as much as her technical snowboarding skills and the best part is, we can all tap into it the same way.

Check out Nat on the 2026 Freeride World Tour and on TikTok

For more on the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, follow @ThePowHERful on Instagram!

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SELF-BELIEF | Biathlete Deedra Irwin is chasing history in Milan-Cortina, trying to earn Team USA their first ever Olympic medal in Biathlon. With a military background, there was plenty of crossover for Irwin into a sport that involves multiples laps of cross country skiing and shooting. Her fight for a medal comes as she, along with her teammates, also fought to overhaul a culture within the sport that allowed sexual harassment to be far too prevalent. Irwin details the emotions felt all too often by those fighting for change and shares her why in the fight and where things stand now with the 2026 Games upon us.

For more on the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, follow @ThePowHERful on Instagram!

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FIGHT | Annika Malacinski competes in the exact same sport, at the exact same level as her brother but he’s going to the Olympics and she’s not. The Steamboat Springs, Colorado native takes us inside the fight to get women’s nordic combined into the Olympics as the only sport in the entire Games that does not have a women’s division. This episode is for equality and the big and small things each of us women’s sports fans can do to join Annika and the women of nordic combined in their fight.

Support the fight by tuning in to the Men’s Nordic Combined at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games on February 11, 17, and 19, and to this year’s Women’s Nordic Combined World Cups on March 6, 7, 14, and 15.

For more on the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, follow @ThePowHERful on Instagram!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.