We get three women together at the beginning of the summer, when all the plans seem perfect, to talk about theirs. One of them is about to compete in a world athletics championship, another can't wait to stop and spend more time with her 11-month-old daughter, and the third has finished filming a globally successful television show. There are no big or small plans before the freest season of the year.
This week Desirée Vila competes in the Paralympic Athletics World Championships. She holds the Spanish record for the long jump and 100 meters. At the age of 15, during a training session, she suffered a fracture of the tibia and fibula, medical negligence forced her right leg to be amputated above the knee. Her dream of competing as an elite gymnast was fading, but Desirée turned things around, she grew up and today she is one of the 39 athletes who will represent Spain at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. Her attitude and her female references saved her . “I am Galician and I love the sea”, she introduces herself. Her ideal summer is beach and sports, "on vacation I do anyone except mine", she warns. This year she can be seen surfing or paddle surfing.
“I plan everything I want to do. I like to use the time to travel, visit places, see friends, and go hiking and barbecue. He has many books waiting on the nightstand this season. The latest from his favorite author, Albert Espinosa, and the biographies of various athletes. What he likes most about his hair in summer is the color. “I am a natural blonde and it always clears up in the sun. I love the contrast of brown and blonde skin. Summer is the time to wear my hair down because I train all year long with my hair up”, she adds.
When she's not training or competing, Desirée gives talks to business people about inclusion of people with disabilities. The first sentence of her lectures is: "Hi, I'm Desirée and I'm missing a foot." She likes to give a positive message. “We need to focus more on people's capabilities than limitations,” she says. A visit from Irene Villa when she was still in the hospital made him regain her confidence. Together with the athlete Almudena Cid, she is her great reference in her life.
Paula Echevarría is going to stop until September. She just finished auditioning for the ninth season of the Got talent television contest. "It opens in the fall and all my time will be dedicated to that." This show has taught him to get on the other side. “I was always among those who had to do castings and prove things, now I am the one who judges. I am usually empathetic, but I have learned to say 'no'. I thought I never could. I would not like to take away anyone's dream of her, but I do consider that there are people who still have a lap to go, ”she reflects.
Paula loves summer: "It's my time, I was born in August." She is preparing to live a big one, in the south. She usually has everything organized. “When you have family you have to do it. I take the opportunity to go back to study, visit the family. We are more of the sea and we have a little house in Marbella”. She confesses that her ideal vacation is still the one from the mythical Blue Summer series. “That feeling of freedom, of being in a town and that your parents are not so on top of it. I am living it now with my daughter, when she is in Madrid we have the fence made more of her, but in summer, both in her father's town and in mine, she gains a new freedom for her ”.
The third guest is Violeta Mangriñán, an internet creator who began her career as a tronista in the program Mujeres y hombres, and vice versa, and then in the reality show Survivientes 2019. Now the networks are her territory. She is delighted to share a photo with one of her inspirations: "Paula is a reference for everyone," she says. She confesses that she likes summer, but she doesn't take it well. “It's getting hotter and hotter,” she says.
This session was held during a heat wave that hit Madrid and it was above 40 degrees on the street. Inside, even with air conditioning, the fans beat. Violeta will spend the summer at home. "I'm not going to Monte Carlo or Saint-Tropez, but to Valencia," she jokes. She has an 11-month-old baby and has just announced that she is expecting her second. The content creator comes from a matriarchy that claims: “My references are my mother and my grandmother who separated when women did not and raised five children. My mother raised my sister and me by herself. I have no better inspiration than them."
