Want to know the secret to living your best life, bettering your daily routines, and being your own Superstar? That’s what Steven Benedict is here for! Benedict is an athlete of merit, having elite-level status as a Track and Field athlete. Now, he’s turning to coach individuals in the gym and people (like us) at home through his new book Good Morning Superstar. While we are all about self-care and self-betterment through strengthening our bodies and minds, what we love most about Steven’s work he consistently gives back through being an all-star foster care advocate. As a former foster child, Benedict wanted to provide support for the foster care system through starting his own foundation, “Fostering Success.” The organization works to restore hope, encourage growth, and oppose the abandonment mindset of foster children by providing genuine guidance, opportunities for sports and arts, and a strong voice for advocacy and systemic reform. For our exclusive interview with this superstar, please continue reading below:

Where are you based?
I am currently based in Los Angeles.

Have you always been a runner?
Running has always been a bit of the many sports I have been blessed to partake in from martial arts, baseball, soccer, football, and what has become my staple sport, track and field.

As a high-level athlete, you must have some serious training regiments. What is your daily routine like if you are training to run a race?
We have several different phases during our season in order to be ready for race day. Each plays a very big part in our preparation with our main priority to stay healthy and injury-free. During our base phase, a week could consist of up to 8 training sessions whereas our race phase of our season could only consist of three training sessions before race day to be as fresh as possible. So, we could agree that it's not just running, but a lot goes into our preparation.

Besides being an athlete, we also hear that you are a professional of “Human Optimization.” This is an intriguing title! What is human optimization?
I believe that each of us has the human potential to unlock and bring forth our greatest capabilities to do those things that we love and make us thrive. Like for me, one of them is running. Exploring those aspects in people's lives has directly extended from my own journey as an athlete and it is very fulfilling to see someone else's life become enhanced by something I have helped them gain a better understanding of how they could operate at a higher level. This is "Human Optimization" taking one's current level of performance and raising it whether it be cognitive, physical, spiritual, or emotional awareness. It is the knowledge of oneself on a more intimate level without the comparison of another's a journey, but solely focused on themselves.

What about coaching is challenging for you? What part of coaching is rewarding?
The challenging part for coaches is trying to break people out of their old learned behaviors and replacing them with new more effective behaviors. The most rewarding part of coaching for me is seeing when their programming changes internally which brings them great breakthroughs externally.

You recently released a new book: “Good Morning SuperStar: Where Intentions Set the Tone but Habits Align You to Shine.” Can you tell us more about what this book is about and what inspired you to write it?
This book was my first book and I really wanted to make it very practical and reader-friendly. That being said, it is a 90-day journey in understanding how asking better questions brings us better results. The first 20 minutes and the last 20 minutes of our days are the most absorbent and mind-melding times and are the best times to have this book incorporated. Through the 90 days, the reader will be presented with a quote by some of the sharpest minds, followed by a parable written by myself in how that quote impacted my thoughts and then to take action questions because execution is everything in the end. The best part is that all the proceeds are going to impact foster families and aging out youth for a more sustainable lifestyle.

Foster care is a very personal topic for you. Will you share your experience with foster care with our readers?
Yes, the foster care system was a very large part of my upbringing and shaped a lot of my attributes at a very early age. My younger brother and I lived in and out of motel rooms with my biological mother. Due to unhealthy circumstances, my brother and I were put into foster care for six years. I was stripped of a childhood having to be a father figure for my brother, but also emotionally impacting which would play a part in many broken relationships to come. My story is very vast and full of abandonment, loss, love, and victory, and to really cover it all would be lengthy. My story is to encourage all the readers to dive into the full story on my podcast, “What’s Your Armor?”.

You are an avid advocate for foster care, and perhaps more specifically, foster care reform. What are some of the issues in foster care that you address in your advocacy work?
Great question! First, to try to attack the foster care system as a whole is a failing battle and in which I feel many organizations are taking that approach thus having little to no impact. I am really passionate about the aging out youth simply because I feel it is vastly overlooked or looked at as a lost cause. Some very serious statistics are that 40% of aged out youth are either incarcerated, sexually trafficked, homeless or dead within the first three months out of the system. If this is a very real reality for these kids, why are we not starting earlier with them to blanket them with community, resources and the essentials to thrive knowing they are exiting the system while they are covered in the system. Helping a handful to start will bring those very same adults to give back to impact the next generation and it will vastly lower the percentage of destructive alternative realities.

What is something special and positive that you hope can come out of foster experiences for children and parents?
We are built for two really powerful aspects in life and they are Love and Relationship. This does not only hold true for experiences within the foster care system, adoption or any other hardship experience. It is who we are as humans and how we thrive. So, in answering your question I hope and pray we find our ways back to those foundations in a very volatile world.

Jejune loves that you are helping others on their foster care journeys. We hear that next year you are launching a new National Program for Foster Care and Adoption called “Fostering Success.” What is your mission with this program? What goals do you have?
My non-profit organization “Fostering Success” is a near and dear piece. It will reshape how non-profits are developed, what they stand for, and how they conduct themselves. Fostering Success will act as a board of advisors and alliance for change in selected organizations. Thus, addressing a key element every year really provides tangible change and builds partnerships to impact the core of family and children to thrive outside of the foster care system. The less time spent in the system the less damage is done.

The pandemic lockdown has shown increases in abuse in the homes. How is this impacting the foster system?
Reverting back to a previous answer about Love and relationship, these core elements have surely taken a massive hit within our homes. If the foster care system was broken on several levels before the pandemic and all of its chaos has surely put it on steroids. Isolation causes anxiety and anxiety lead to destructive behaviors especially if our normal routines are severely impacted and we find ourselves without breathing room to make mistakes. That is how the kids in the foster care system have been impacted. The only outlet they had was finding community as we all do. It was stripped and left them in environments of solely feeling lost in a very big world.

With so many people interested in adoption, do you think it makes sense for them to foster instead?
It makes sense to be educated before you step into any situation. Every child is different and has a very different experience, process, and threshold that comes with them. I highly recommend getting around fostering families, seeing the diverse family interaction, and getting your feet wet in trying to foster. In the end, you will take ownership of a child's life that may need years of walking closely before they understand what the word "Family" means again. Being prepared for anything is key.

Do you have any upcoming projects or events that we should keep an eye out for?
There are always things developing. I'm on several boards as an advisor within the foster care space. I host a podcast show that airs every week called "What's Your Armor?". I’m planning on writing at least two more books. Developments in my athletics are at high right now. Me and my team are really planning on focusing on a lot of speaking engagements for the upcoming year. Anyone interested in inviting me to an event, please connect with my PR team as we love to bring the greatest value possible to each event.

What is your life motto?
Trust steadily in God.
Hope unswervingly.
Love extravagantly.

To learn more about Steven, please follow him via the links below:
Instagram: @steviey_b
Podcast: What's Your Armor?
Book on Amazon: Good Morning Superstar
Website: www.stevieyb.com

Photos supplied by Steven Benedict.

Superstar Athlete Steven Benedict Is Helping Foster Care Thrive