Keeping Up With The Chaldeans - Lily Alattar [5:02-10:08]

thank you for being to go. So I started doing that and then once I got a little bit comfortable, I'm like I need to take the next step because if I just keep doing this, I'm still a little nervous, I still have my anxiety. I can't get over this. So I did have a mutual connection who I work with, who hosts at Jimmy John's Field for the USPBL and I asked her and I said, you know what, you need any national anthem singers? I would love to start getting on that and she kind of gave me the contact and I sent her some videos of me singing and she loved them and so I had my first very first national anthem at Jimmy John's Field back in June of 2024. It was a baseball game, it was a baseball game. Yes, it's a professional independent baseball league. So I started singing there and they loved me and they kept bringing me on for more. Kind of be like on call, kind of like a doctor or something like that, but not really to sing. Yes, exactly. I know, to sing the national anthem. Why did you, why did you, why did you pick the national anthem as your, I guess, your springboard? So I love sports. I have three older brothers. Yes, and one of them's here, Kyle. Hi, Kyle. Yes, we all used to watch sports and stuff when we were younger and I used to watch Karen Newman on the TV singing the national anthem and the Red Wings was like my, I mean, still is my absolute favorite. So I just thought that that might be a good way to sing in front of a lot of people and kind of work up or work out the anxiety because I mean, you have one shot to sing the national anthem and it's acapella. It shows a lot of range. Exactly. It's a hard song to sing and I just, I'm always that person that tries to go for like the toughest thing possible. Even if I fail, I'm always like convinced. I'm like, yeah, I can do it. Most of the time I can't but I knew that was going to help me tremendously and I knew no matter what, no matter how nervous that I was, I had to just get out there and do it because I knew the more that I would do it, the more I would get used to it and overcome and have more confidence in myself. And did you get a lot of this confidence from beating Kyle in one-on-one basketball all these years? Yes, I did. I did, exactly. Actually, it's super Smash Bros. Yeah, yeah. There is a real story behind this. I'm always yellow Kirby. He can play with any character which is very obnoxious. I can't, I can only play with Kirby and he gets mad at me. He's like, all you do is down B. I was like, yeah, but I beat you. But yeah, no, I just, I mean, I've done a lot of inner confidence work since high school. Like I said, I was bullied kind of for the way that I look. But yeah, it was just, I kind of, I went to a predominantly white school, if you will, so I just looked different than everyone and you know, I had these big borshi eyebrows and I just didn't grow into my face. Yeah, I always say, so you are 100% killed in the end. Yeah, exactly. I always say there's a, there's a Middle Eastern girl glow up. Yeah, yeah. I swear, we're not like 12. We're hideous. And then we get older and we just like grow into our faces perfectly. Well, it's the, it's the, the journey, but the, the end result that matters, right? Yes, yes. Very, very good. So, so Jimmy John's field and then what happened? So, I was able then from Jimmy John's field to seeing at Oakland University, women's volleyball. And then from there, everything just kind of spiraled at once. I started getting these connections. I got a preseason game with the Detroit Red Wings, which by the way, it was my all-time goal to seeing the national anthem for the Red Wings. So, when you were standing in Karen Newman's spot, you're a hero. What was going through your mind? I don't even know. Like, I think when I walk out there, I kind of just black out because I get so in the zone and I'm like, no matter how cool this is, I have to sit here and I have to sing. And once I'm done singing, then I can run to the back-sambony pit and start crying because of how happy I am. That's what happens every time. I've seen them twice. And I just walk out and I just start crying. In the best way, in the best way. But no, Karen Newman, such an inspiration. I'm seriously so inspired by her. And all the national anthem singers too at the Red Wings and pistons and everywhere are seriously so amazing and I'll always give them support no matter what. So, Red Wings preseason you said. Yes. And then what? So, funny story actually. So, it was the preseason game against the penguins. And never in my eight years of being with the team has this ever happened. But the penguins bus didn't make it. There were travel issues. And so, they actually actually got cancelled. Oh, no. I was so sad. But like, I knew I'm like, it's okay. Like, whatever thing is going to happen.