[MUSIC PLAYING]
KEVIN BELK: Hello, everyone.
Welcome to Talks at Google.
I'm Kevin Belk.
SAVVI NEWTON: I'm Savii Newton.
And I would like to introduce
my role model, Bethany Hamilton.
[APPLAUSE]
KEVIN BELK: How are you?
SAVVI NEWTON: Aloha, everyone!
KEVIN BELK: Aloha.
I should have-- dang it.
You beat me to it.
So welcome, welcome.
And congrats on being a new mom!
BETHANY HAMILTON: Thank you!
KEVIN BELK: So--
[APPLAUSE]
How has that been?
BETHANY HAMILTON:
It's been a whirlwind.
My husband, Adam, and
I, we have a little guy.
His name's Tobias.
And he's about four and
a half months old now.
And I would say the
first two months
was like the most challenging
time of our lives ever.
But now it's going awesome.
I love being a mom.
It's just the best thing ever.
KEVIN BELK: How have you been
able to balance that and work
and surfing and everything?
BETHANY HAMILTON: Yeah, I guess
we have a really unique life.
And we kind of dabble in a
bunch of different areas,
from surfing to a lot of travel.
And right now I'm on
the start of a speaking
tour around America.
So it's definitely a big balance
bringing our little guy along.
But thankfully, we can do
it together as a family.
And yeah, we just make
it work and bring Tobias
into our lives and our world.
KEVIN BELK: And you started
surfing at a really young age.
So can you talk
about what got you
into surfing and any kind of
family influences or friend
influences?
BETHANY HAMILTON: Yeah.
So I probably was on a
surfboard before I could walk.
And I know that my
passion began very young.
And I'm still incredibly
passionate about surfing today.
But I guess growing
up in Hawaii,
it's kind of the perfect
spot to take on surfing.
And everyone in
my family surfed.
Both my mom and dad moved out
to Hawaii in the early 70s, kind
of nomad hippies
chasing their dream
to live a simple life
in Hawaii and spend
as much time in the
ocean as they could.
So eventually they taught
my two older brothers and I
how to sew.
And at a young
age, they could see
that I had a natural passion
and talent for surfing.
And I just kind of stuck to it.
And that was the
start of something
that I knew I'd do forever.
KEVIN BELK: It's amazing.
And so what other passions
do you have, besides surfing?
BETHANY HAMILTON: Yeah, I have
so many different passions.
But I'm definitely a
healthy-living sort of girl.
And I love just eating healthy.
So we'll cook a lot
of our own food.
And it's awesome, in Hawaii
there's a lot of local produce
available and a lot of
organic produce at reach
that is just amazing.
And what else.
I love just staying active.
I have lot of different hobbies.
It's hard to get
to them, but I love
just playing tennis and hanging
at the beach with family
and friends.
And I like reading.
KEVIN BELK: And you're
just like everyone else.
Look at that.
And you surf awesomely, too.
BETHANY HAMILTON: I surf a lot.
When we get home from
this trip in November,
it's the start of Hawaii's
winter season, which
is the best time for surfing.
So I'll be in the water a lot.
And I also enjoy
public speaking.
It's a huge passion
of mine now, and I
have such an awesome
audience of young people.
And I love being able
to influence them
in good directions, to just
think about their decisions.
So that's another area
of passion of mine.
KEVIN BELK: And
you have your book
from last year, "Body and Soul."
Can you talk about what inspired
that and just the development
process of that?
BETHANY HAMILTON: Yeah.
So I had the pleasure of
writing another book called
"Body and Soul."
And my hope with
"Body and Soul" is
to encourage,
especially young girls
because I end up
talking and hanging out
with young girls a lot.
So I wanted to encourage
girls in their health
and their overall journey
through those teenage years,
which can be really tough.
So with the book, I was
kind of encouraging girls
to think about what they
eat, how they move their body
in healthy ways-- talking
from not just working
out, but posture
and finding things
that they like to
do to stay active.
And then, from there,
also encouraging them
in their faith in God and just
their mental approach on a day
to day basis.
Just live thankfully.
And I found so much.
I meet a lot of girls
in everything that I do.
And a lot of girls struggle
with their body image.
So I really wanted
to encourage them
to focus on being healthy
rather than getting caught up
in eating disorders or just
different struggles of the way
they view themselves and where
they place their identity.
And it's not so much their
physical, outer look but just
everything that they
are-- the different things
that they're passionate about
and that they're talented.
And yeah.
So it's been a lot of fun to
have a book in that area, which
there's not a lot of information
for girls in the teenage years
that is very accessible
and user friendly.
KEVIN BELK: Yeah.
I love when you said "posture"
everyone in this room
just went-- you know?
Even me.
I'm like, all right,
stuck in the gut.
BETHANY HAMILTON:
Posture is so important!
It affects your overall health.
And people don't realize that.
You think of it as more of like,
oh, my mom told me to sit up,
so I'm going to set up.
But then like 15
minutes later you're
hanging over the
side of your chair.
KEVIN BELK: So
after your incident,
what was the toughest
thing to realize?
OK, I'm going to
keep doing this.
So what was the toughest
thing to get right and find
that better balance to
get back on the board?
BETHANY HAMILTON: Yeah.
After losing my arm--
I was 13 years old when
I lost my arm to a shark.
And I think, at the time,
when it initially happened,
I thought I had lost much
more than just my arm.
I thought I had lost surfing.
And I didn't know what my
future was going to hold.
And everything felt really
unknown and kind of scary.
I just didn't know
what was possible.
Thankfully, I had
an amazing community
of people there to
support and encourage me.
First of all, I had
my faith in God.
It reminded me that, hey, God
has a future for your life.
And He has a plan for you.
And He's going to help
you get through this.
And He certainly did.
And also I got to talk to
another fellow amputee, which
was huge for me.
And he had lost
his leg to a shark.
And then he continued
surfing-- or he actually
learned how to
surf with one leg.
And that was my first light
bulbs switch, like, wow,
maybe I can surf with one arm.
So before I even got out of
the hospital, which was less
than a week, I was
already planning
to try surfing with
one arm and basically
just waiting for the
doctor to allow me back
in the ocean after healing.
And so my journey kind of
began less than a month later.
I got back on my board.
And I remember my first time
paddling out with one arm.
It just felt so
awkward and weird.
And my dad's right there.
I kind of fell on my
first wave, and he's like,
here, let me help you.
And I was little
miss independent.
I'm like, no, Dad!
Stay away!
But he did help me verbally.
KEVIN BELK: Typical
13-year-old girl, yeah.
BETHANY HAMILTON: Yeah,
verbally he helped me.
He was like, try to put your
hand in the center of the board
because normally, with two arms,
you put both hands on the side
when you pop up to ride waves.
So instead, putting my one hand
in the middle of the board.
So my third try,
I popped right up
and rode the wave all the
way to the beach and just
had tears of joy, and
was so excited to be
doing what I love to do.
And long story short, today
I'm a professional surfer.
And it's what I love to do.
[APPLAUSE]
KEVIN BELK: And then
you had "Soul Surfer,"
which is a book that you had
written pretty much a year
right after.
It was 2004.
And then it was
turned to a movie.
So what was your involvement
with not only the book,
but turning it into the movie
and the process of that?
Because that came out-- I think
the movie came out in 2011,
right?
BETHANY HAMILTON: Yeah.
So "Soul Surfer," the
book, released in 2004.
And I was involved.
I was also a very
distracted teenager.
So the ghost writer had
to work with me a lot.
I would go surf and
then talk with him
and then go do something and
then talk with him some more.
And I know it was a
long process for him,
but thank goodness
we got through it.
And, eventually, "Soul
Surfer" the movie
started coming together.
It was a long process, probably
about four or five years.
And my whole family and
I were very involved.
My brother and sister-in-law
were co-producers.
And we all had some say
in the script writing,
just trying to make
it our own voice
and make it more true
to us as a family.
And I guess, growing
up in Hawaii,
we really didn't know
what we were doing.
But at the same time,
we did our best.
And I love the
director, Sean McNamara.
He was very open to my feedback.
So anytime I could
go and talk to him.
So one day I was on set and they
were filming a church scene.
My family and I grew
up going to church.
And they were filming
this church scene.
It literally looked like
everyone was at a funeral.
So I go on set.
I'm like, hey, everyone.
If you could just do
me a favor, pretend
you're not at a funeral.
You're at church.
And I personally am really
stoked when I'm at church.
So at least pretend
you are while you're
doing your job of acting.
And so I had a lot of fun just
bouncing to and from on set.
And I even got to go
into the editing room
and have a say here and
there on different scenes,
like the shark attack.
I remember they initially
made it like a "Jaws" scene.
And I was like, no.
This Is way too scary.
Parents are not going to allow
their kids to watch this.
And in actuality,
it was really quick.
And I didn't even see the shark.
So let's keep it quick,
short and-- not so sweet,
but short and sweet.
[LAUGHTER]
KEVIN BELK: And, I mean,
you've done everything.
You've done, obviously, a book,
a movie, surfing, and stuff.
But you also were in
"The Amazing Race"
with your husband, Adam.
And so can you talk about that?
You guys finished third.
And just that
incredible, I mean--
BETHANY HAMILTON: You just
spoiled it for everyone.
KEVIN BELK: Oh, no!
Wikipedia spoiled it for me.
Watch your TV shows.
Come on, people!
No, but you did that with Adam.
So can you talk
about just-- I mean,
that must have been an
incredible experience.
BETHANY HAMILTON: Yeah.
"The Amazing Race"
was kind of our second
honeymoon, in a sense.
We got married the August
before we did the race.
And we raced that next June.
And it was a lot of fun.
It was not easy, but we
went into the first leg
just planning not to get lost.
Just make it through
the first leg.
And lo and behold, we slowly
made it through each leg.
And some of our favorite
legs-- the second leg,
we went to England.
And we got to run around a race
track in less than a minute
and 15 seconds while
flipping pancakes
and keeping up your speed.
And we nailed it
in our first shot
and then went on
and ended up winning
the leg, which was awesome.
So that kind of
built our confidence
early on in the race.
Though anything can
happen at any moment,
like a bad taxi driver.
Or you just really screw
up on your directions
without your iPhone.
Everyone here, I
am sure you rely
on your iPhone for your
directions-- or whatever phone.
KEVIN BELK: Android.
Android.
Android.
BETHANY HAMILTON:
Sorry, the Android!
[LAUGHTER]
Yeah, your Androids
are very important.
KEVIN BELK: Just be
like, iPhone, Android.
We'll edit that part.
BETHANY HAMILTON: So we
rely on our brains and a map
to get us around.
And there was a lot of lost
moments throughout the race.
But we ended up racing on to
the finals, which was awesome.
And it came down to
the last challenge.
I had to do it, no
matter what, because Adam
had done the challenge before.
And we're basically running
around this maze of shipping
containers, looking
for different cities
that we had been to.
And each city came
with a number.
And you're trying
to memorize it.
And then you have to
put it all in order.
And I got to that challenge
15 minutes through.
And I was like, OK, my goal
is just to finish this.
I want to finish this whole
entire race on a positive note.
It's not necessarily about
winning at this point
because I am not
good with memory.
So I did finish.
And we finished third and
we were really stoked.
KEVIN BELK: That's so cool.
And so what was the most
difficult challenge in all
of that, other than not
relying on technology,
and the variables and stuff?
BETHANY HAMILTON: Yeah.
I don't know about
the most difficult.
But one of my most
memorable challenges,
where I got really
dirty, I was in Morocco.
And each leg either Adam or I
have to do a different task.
And then sometimes we're
together doing tasks.
So we're in Morocco
and I decided
to do skinning the goat
hair off the goat skin.
And we walk into this big area
about the size of this room
and there's just goat
skins everywhere.
And I had to skin the
hair off the goat skin.
And it stank.
And I'm wearing special gloves
and just getting really dirty.
And I'm trying to skin the
goat hair off the skin.
And then we had to take
the dried goat skin
and bike it around
through the tiny streets
and navigate your way to
wherever it needed to go.
It was chaos.
But it was really
fun, crazy memories
that you wouldn't do on a
normal, day-to-day basis.
KEVIN BELK: Like flipping
pancakes while running.
BETHANY HAMILTON: Yeah,
flipping pancakes.
KEVIN BELK: I clearly
do that all the time.
So what advice do you
have for younger people,
but even adults too?
BETHANY HAMILTON: Yeah.
There's so many
times in life-- we
all go through different
challenges and struggles.
And I found, in my life, I've
hugely relied on the things
that I'm passionate about
to overcome and give me
motivation and hope
that there's a future
beyond this momentary
struggle and this pain
that we're going through.
And for me it's been my
faith in God and surfing.
And these two things I'm
so incredibly grateful for.
First, knowing how much God
loves me and the grace He
has in my life.
And just being able
to be in the ocean
and do what I love and work
towards that has helped
me overcome so much.
And it just leaves us to be
thankful for what we do have
rather than what we don't have.
And also just clinging
to your community
of people that are
going to help you get
through your hard times, too.
KEVIN BELK: So you have
Friends of Bethany.
Can you talk a little
bit about that as well?
BETHANY HAMILTON: Yeah.
Friends of Bethany is my
nonprofit organization.
I have an awesome team of
people that help me with it.
And, actually, I just came
from one of my favorite events
that I get to be a
part of all year.
It's a retreat
for amputee girls.
And we basically hang out
for the weekend in Southern
California, take
the girls surfing,
encourage them through
their struggles.
And all these girls have
their own different stories
and different ways of
how they have overcome.
And we, basically, leave them
with a life-changing weekend
to remind them that they can
overcome different struggles
in their lives.
And it's really cool.
We just kind of hang out at
some point in the weekend
and talk about, how do you
put your hair up with one arm,
and just simple things
like that that most of us
wouldn't think about.
So I love what I
get to be a part of.
And we're also doing a lot of
youth events and teenage girl
events and reaching out
to amputees as a whole.
And it's a lot of fun.
KEVIN BELK: And how can
people get involved?
BETHANY HAMILTON: Yeah, just
check out friendsofbethany.com.
And you'll get the
inside scoop there.
KEVIN BELK: And so what's been
some of your favorite moments
over the years?
I mean, you have the book.
You have the movie
and stuff like that,
but over just the
past 12, 15 years?
BETHANY HAMILTON: Well, I'd say
getting married was up there.
I have an amazing husband.
I'm so thankful
for him in my life.
And then, now, having
our little guy Tobias
is even-- it's so amazing.
I'm just loving being a
mom and parents together.
It's a very special thing that
I feel really grateful for.
KEVIN BELK: Well, family seems
to be really important to you,
as well.
So do you have any
mentors or anyone
who influenced you, even
before that incident
and then just now?
BETHANY HAMILTON: Yeah.
I mean, my parents were
very involved in my life,
which I'm very grateful
for because I know,
as parents nowadays,
you can kind of
get distracted
with your work life
and neglect your
kids in a sense.
Sorry to pull it out on parents.
But my parents have been
so amazing in my life
and so supportive in many
different ways-- my dad,
cheering me on with surfing,
and my mom encouraging me
so much in my faith in God.
I also had some
really good friends,
a solid group of
core girlfriends
that made really healthy
decisions as teenagers
and kind of kept
us on a good track.
KEVIN BELK: How do
you set your goals?
So is there anything
that you haven't done
that you're like, I want to do?
BETHANY HAMILTON: Yeah.
Well I'm working on a film
project right now called
"Surfs Like a Girl."
And I have a lot of lofty
goals within that project
because, in the action sports
world, you can kind of either
be very focused on
competition or filmmaking.
So I'm kind of veering
more towards filmmaking.
So this is a film
I'm working on,
highlighting a lot
of my surfing ability
while encouraging
girls in their sport.
But a lot of people know I
continued surfing with one arm,
but they don't understand the
level of surfing that I have.
And so I'm going to
just be surfing some
of the best waves in the world.
And I have some goals just
to perform really high.
So when I'm home--
and on the road--
I work, do different
things throughout the day,
just keeping my body
in shape and watching
other surfers who I appreciate
their way of approaching
surfing.
And also I got a trampoline
to elevate my surfing
and get repetition on the
trampoline, which you can't
get in the ocean, necessarily.
So I think when you're reaching
towards different goals
in your life, take little steps
towards the ultimate goal.
Because I think, if you
think about the ultimate goal
all the time, you
can get overwhelmed
with how challenging it may
be and how daunting of a task
it is.
Just one little step at a time.
KEVIN BELK: Where's your
favorite place to surf?
BETHANY HAMILTON:
My favorite place
to surf-- besides Hawaii,
I'm a Hawaii girl at heart.
I love Tahiti, which is
very similar to Hawaii.
Tahiti is like Hawaii
back in the days.
And it's so gorgeous, and
the waves are amazing.
KEVIN BELK: Well, thank you
so much for coming today.
We really appreciate that.
BETHANY HAMILTON:
Awesome, glad to be here!
[APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
