Mikaela Shiffrin expands brand, launches podcast that explores driving forces behind success

Mikaela Shiffrin has a new title to go with all-time winningest World Cup ski racer and two-time Olympic champion – podcast host.

The 30-year-old from Colorado will launch “What’s the Point with Mikaela Shiffrin,” on Oct. 29. It’s all part of her expanding brand leading into the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in February.

She just unveiled a personal logo, too, featuring her initials, MS, shaped like a mountain with a skier in a tuck position.

Her podcast is a way to share the twists and turns that come with skiing, along with telling stories about what drives athletes – maybe even celebrities – toward success.

It’s a daunting venture, Shiffrin said, to slide into the interviewer’s seat after years of being the one interviewed.

“I’ve got big, big dreams (with the podcast), but at the same time this is in the infancy stage,” Shiffrin said in an interview with The Associated Press as she gets ready to start the World Cup season with a giant slalom race Saturday in Austria.

“I want to get insights and perspectives from other people about why they do what they do, why they love what they love, what drives their pursuit of excellence or improvement. If it’s records, if it’s results, if it’s passion – just to understand more about what values people have and what drives them.”

This is her spin on the “New Heights” podcast, which is hosted by Travis Kelce – the Kansas City Chiefs tight end and Taylor Swift’s fiancé – along with his brother, Jason Kelce, the former Philadelphia Eagles center. They’ve built quite a following through their easy-going conversations.

“I wish I had a sister, because the way they play off of each other is so incredible,” said Shiffrin, who is expected to release 8-to-10 podcasts in her first season.

Shiffrin plans to have a wide range of guests, too. It may be teammates, rivals, business executives, stars from other sports, celebrities or just people that are important in her life.

Her ideal guest would be actor/comedian/talk show host Stephen Colbert to discuss the topic of handling grief. He lost his father and two brothers in a plane crash when he was a kid.

“It’s a loss that I could never even imagine, but how he’s worked through that and a lot of what I’ve heard him talk about is something that I can relate to,” said Shiffrin, who’s won an Alpine record 101 World Cup races.

“He’s developed such an articulate way to talk about grief and connection and just a beautiful way to help understand some kind of perspective on that.”

Shiffrin lost her father, Jeff, in February 2020, in an accident at the family home in Colorado. He was 65.

“Since my dad passed, I’ve talked about struggling,” Shiffrin said. “I spent a long time in this phase of apathy and not understanding what the point of doing any of this – life, living, skiing, caring about winning, any of those things. What’s the point of doing it when you can’t share it with all the people that you love the most?

“Since then, I’ve certainly moved through that apathetic feeling, but it’s been an underlying question for me of, ‘What is the point?'”

Hence, the title of her podcast.

“The top question I get from others is, ‘Why are you still doing this? You’ve won everything. Why do you care?'” said Shiffrin, whose podcast is presented by Stifel, the title sponsor of the U.S. ski team.

“I’m like, ‘I don’t know. I just do.’ I still love training. I still love skiing and improving and feeling like I’m getting better or faster. I think gaining perspective from others will help me gain perspective for myself, and hopefully for people listening it will help them as well.”

In addition to working on her podcast, she played a role in her new brand logo, which was created by the design firm Wunder Werkz in collaboration with the marketing agency Skylark.

Her schedule is full these days with podcasting and training as she gears up for the Olympics. She won the slalom at the 2014 Sochi Games and the giant slalom four years later in South Korea.

“I want to be able to dive in 100%, while balancing it with something else that I’m diving into 100%,” Shiffrin said. “I’m not totally sure how it’s going to go. But I’m really excited. It’s going to just be a work in progress over the season.”