The Making of America’s Most Famous Cheerleaders

Happy Thanksgiving, Honestly listeners! If you’re anything like the rest of America, you’ll be spending the day with family, cooking turkey, eating sweet potatoes, and. . . watching football.

Whether or not you’re from Texas, the game on most American TVs on Thanksgiving Day will be the Dallas Cowboys. But just behind the players are the real stars of the show: blue and white pom-poms accenting sparkly white cowboy boots dancing to the sound of “Thunderstruck” for 41.8 million viewers at home.

We’re talking, of course, about the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders—who you may have seen in the viral Netflix documentary, America’s Sweethearts—which is what today’s episode is all about.

Why, you might ask, would we talk about cheerleading on Honestly? Because as we watched the documentary, we realized that the show is about a lot more than cheerleading, football, faith, patriotism, and quintessential American culture. Yes, it’s about those things—and yes, it’s a reality show about making a very competitive dance team—but really, it’s a master class in leadership and excellence.

So today, we’re talking with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders’ director, Kelli Finglass. We ask her how she became the master operator she is today, leading an organization just as well as—or perhaps better than—a Fortune 500 company, how she created a culture of dedication and precision, and most importantly, what it takes today to build a phenomenal team. 

It’s a different kind of episode than you’re used to these days—no talk about Matt Gaetz or Elon Musk—but it’s an all-American conversation for an all-American day. And it couldn’t be more fitting and fun. We hope you enjoy it.

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