By Tom Orsborn, Staff writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-03-29 13:24:19
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
马刺体育娱乐公司企业传播总监 Liberty Swift 在 2025 年 3 月 22 日星期六 García 家中的家庭晚宴上，帮助她的母亲 María Del Refugio Garcia（中）和她的姐姐 Sandra Arriola 准备食物
María Del Refugio Garcia 在墨西哥长大，小学二年级就辍学了。但在她的八个孩子中排行第七的 Liberty Swift 看来，她是这个星球上最智慧的人。
马刺体育娱乐公司（Spurs Sports & Entertainment）企业传播总监 Liberty Swift 在圣安东尼奥独立学区的 Whittier 中学读六年级时，一些同学开始嘲笑她，因为她说她的家庭“没有”一些东西，比如时髦的鞋子和名牌服装。
在位于 W. Hermosa Dr. 1202 号的温馨家中，年轻的 Liberty 向 Garcia 寻求安慰和指导。
“我妈妈会用西班牙语告诉我，因为我们家说西班牙语，‘你告诉他们你有上帝站在你这边，他们的言语伤害不了你’，”Swift 回忆道。“她总是这样告诉我。她还会说，‘你不应该为你是谁而感到尴尬。’”
为了纪念女性历史月，Liberty 和她的两位同事与《圣安东尼奥快报》分享了她们对女性榜样的看法。
Liberty 指向了她的家人，尤其是现在 76 岁的 Garcia。Garcia 在 20 世纪 60 年代与她的丈夫 Raul Garcia 移民到美国。Raul Garcia 在 Zachry 公司担任建筑工人多年，为家庭提供经济来源，于 2019 年去世。
马刺体育娱乐公司转型领导力总监 Morgan Jones 列出了她的母亲 Shelia Jones、其他家庭成员、教育家 Mary McLeod Bethune 和 Beyoncé。
马刺队运动表现治疗总监 Marilyn Adams 特别提到了亿万富翁女商人兼慈善家 Sara Blakely 和前马刺队开拓性的助理教练贝基·哈蒙(Becky Hammon)，她现在是 WNBA 拉斯维加斯王牌队的主教练，这已经是她的第四个赛季了。
以下是经过编辑，使其更精简和清晰的访谈节选：
马刺体育娱乐公司企业传播总监 Liberty Swift 在 2025 年 3 月 22 日星期六 García 家中的家庭晚宴上，品尝着她的母亲 María Del Refugio Garcia 提供的自制玉米饼。最左边是她的姐姐 Sandra Arriola。
LIBERTY SWIFT
马刺体育娱乐公司企业传播总监
“我的妈妈是一位全职家庭主妇。能够回到家看到父母双全，看到妈妈努力养家糊口，照顾你，洗衣服，做这些事情，是一种祝福和荣幸。我想到了我的妈妈对我们隐瞒的事情。我们不知道（关于家庭财务状况）发生了什么，所以我对她充满了同情，因为她用如此少的资源为我们实现了梦想。如果没有她的力量，她对我们的愿景，我们就不会拥有今天的生活。她完全相信我们能做到什么，即使我们周围的人——作为移民的孩子——认为我们一事无成。但她知道我们可以。
“我现在想：当食物有限时，她是如何养活我们的？我的妈妈过去常常在凌晨四五点起床开始做饭，会做自制玉米饼，因为在预算有限的情况下，他们不会购买预制食品。为一个有 10 个人的家庭做到这一点需要坚定的决心。但我放学回家，就会有食物，我们的衣服会被洗干净，房子会很干净。而且她非常有艺术性和创造力。我们所有的衣服都是我妈妈做的。她甚至还缝制了我们的毯子。她还鼓励我们学习和做作业。我记得她鼓励我爸爸给我们买百科全书。她知道我们需要那个。小时候，我会在夏天花很多时间阅读百科全书，以至于书页都会掉出来。
“西班牙语有句谚语——El que no sabe de dónde viene, no sabe dónde va——我总是与我指导的孩子们，或者我的侄子和侄女们分享，意思是，不知道自己来自哪里的人，就不知道自己要去哪里。我总是与他人谈论我的家庭和我的历史。无论你的旅程如何，我们都应该为我们的经历和我们的故事感到自豪，因为它们塑造了我们。对我来说，我的经历非常特别，因为我的人生旅程指引我回到了圣安东尼奥。我高中毕业（在 Edison 高中）后就离开了，直到我得到这份在马刺队的工作才回来。但我一直被拉回到圣安东尼奥。我的家庭和我的家庭的故事对我来说一直非常特别。我还必须提到我的四个姐姐。她们的足迹是我旅程中非常重要的一部分。她们勇敢地尝试了我家人以前从未做过的新事物。她们为我打开了门，否则这是不可能的。”
马刺体育娱乐公司转型领导力总监 Morgan Jones 将她的母亲 Shelia Jones、其他家庭成员、教育家 Mary McLeod Bethune 和 Beyoncé 列为她的灵感来源。
MORGAN JONES
马刺体育娱乐公司转型领导力总监
“我在亚特兰大的外婆（Dorothy McCaslin）有一颗金子般的心，非常 caring。我每年夏天都会飞到那里和她在一起。我会非常兴奋。但她也是一位寄养妈妈，所以总有几个孩子和她住在一起。我当时还小，我想要和外婆一对一的时间。有一天，一些孩子们彼此发生了争吵，而我当时年纪小，不太明白发生了什么，我变得非常沮丧。但她让我坐下来说，‘Morgan，这些孩子最需要我们。’那是我就第一次了解到这并不总是关于你。总有人需要我们，需要爱，需要关心，需要关注。我的外婆激励了我们家里的每一位女性。她与上帝的关系，并将其作为我们的基础，传播到我们家里的所有女性。
“我还记得和我的阿姨（Natalie Ingram）在一起的时光。我们会开车经过高速公路立交桥下，她会放下车窗，为（无家可归者）提供食物或金钱，他们都叫她的名字。他们会说，‘Natalie，很高兴见到你。’我记得我说，‘他们怎么认识你？’那是因为她把他们看作是人，看作是人类，而不是他们的处境，并能够帮助和支持他们。
“我的妈妈（Shelia Jones）也是如此。我记得每天（在洛杉矶长大）看着她为上班做准备，看着她穿上西装。她在公司（作为信用社的副总裁）工作，她努力工作。想到她所做的牺牲，我几乎要哭了。她教会了我无论你拥有什么都要有远大的梦想。她曾经给我讲过一个故事，关于她从亚特兰大搬到洛杉矶的时候。她没有车，只能坐公交车。每天她都会看到一辆奔驰车在行驶，她会想，‘有一天我也想拥有一辆奔驰车。’她每天都朝着这个目标努力。你猜怎么着？她得到了她的奔驰车。我从她那里学到，当你努力工作，当你对别人好，当你对自己好，好事就会回到你身边。”
“对于一个历史人物，我会说是 Mary McLeod Bethune（伯休恩-库克曼大学的创始人，也是 20 世纪最重要的黑人教育家以及民权和女权运动领袖之一）。她非常关注教育，并希望为所有人创造接受教育的机会。在我成长过程中了解她，真的影响了我对教育的热情。
“如果你和我的家人和朋友谈谈，他们也会告诉你，‘Morgan 喜欢 Beyoncé。’这是真的。她的音乐非常重要，但对我来说，她教会了我爱自己的肤色，为自己感到非常自豪，并走出去，拥有远大的梦想和目标。”
2023 年 10 月 4 日星期三，在德克萨斯州圣安东尼奥的 Victory Capital Performance Center 举行的训练营期间，圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋杰里米·索汉(Jeremy Sochan)与圣安东尼奥马刺队投篮教练 Jimmy Baron 和圣安东尼奥马刺队康复总监 Marilyn Adams 交谈。
MARILYN ADAMS
马刺队运动表现治疗总监
“因为她的成功以及她做事的方式，我一直非常着迷的一个人是 Sara Blakely（Spanx 的亿万富翁创始人，这是一个革命性的瘦身内衣品牌，于 2000 年推出）。当她提出了一个让女性生活更轻松、更舒适的想法时，她基本上颠覆了一个由男性主导的行业。而且她以一种真正以客户至上的方式来处理它。我认为我总是试图从‘好吧，什么对面前与我合作的人最好？’的角度来处理我的世界。
“她基本上是一位开拓者。她不想与其他公司开战。她说她以女性领导风格做自己的事情。这真的打动了我。她上了一门我一直关注并学习的 MasterClass 课程，这门课完全是关于她的创业模式的。她讲述了一个故事，关于她如何等待灵感来袭。她有一群男性商业同事，他们都是创业公司，他们每周聚在一起，谈论他们的挑战，并互相获得解决方案。她总是说，‘好吧，我只是要等待来自宇宙的迹象。’他们都嘲笑她。然后她越成功，他们每个人都独立地来找她说，‘所以，告诉我更多关于那个宇宙的事情，以及等待迹象的事情。’她相信她的直觉，不走寻常路。而且她有一个家庭，她积极参与社区活动，她做了很多慈善事业。她只是一个似乎真的以一种积极的方式存在于这个世界上的人。”
“我还想说的是贝基·哈蒙。在 2014 年我被马刺队聘用的同一年，贝基被聘为教练。贝基的存在方式真的帮助指导了我。它教会我做真实的自己，拥有自己的声音，忠于自己，不要试图模仿另一个男性同行。在我开始的同时，她是一位强大的女性影响者，并且影响巨大。”
Spurs corporate communications director Liberty Swift, left, watches as her niece Isabella Arriola hugs Liberty’s mother, María Del Refugio Garcia, at a family dinner at Garcia’s home on Saturday, March 22, 2025
Spurs corporate communications director Liberty Swift, fourth from left, joined by her mother, María Del Refugio Garcia, fifth from left, at a family dinner at Garcia’s home on Saturday, March 22,2025
Spurs corporate communications director Liberty Swift (far left) helps her mother María Del Refugio Garcia (third from left) and Liberty’s sister Cookie Davidson (far right) prepare a meal for a family dinner at Garcia’s home as her brother Reji Garcia watches on Saturday, March 22, 2025
Spurs corporate communications director Liberty Swift interacts with her mother, María Del Refugio Garcia, at a family dinner at Garcia’s home on Saturday, March 22, 2025
Spurs corporate communications director Liberty Swift (left) helps her mother, María Del Refugio Garcia (center), at a family dinner at Garcia’s home on Saturday, March 22,2025. On far right is sister Cookie Davidson.
November 6, 2024, Houston, TX: San Antonio Spurs guard Chris Paul stretches with San Antonio Spurs guard Chris Paul during shootaround before the game against the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas Wednesday, November 6, 2024.
Morgan Jones, the SS&E director of transformative leadership, listed her mother, Shelia Jones, other family members, educator Mary McLeod Bethune and Beyoncé as an inspiration to her.
San Antonio Spurs Director of Rehabilitation Marilyn Adams poses for a photo as she works with San Antonio Spurs center Jakob Poeltl in the training room before the game against the Memphis Grizzlies at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee Monday, January 9, 2023.
October 21, 2024, San Antonio, TX: San Antonio Spurs Director of Rehabilitation Marilyn Adams works on San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama in the training room during practice at the Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Texas Monday, October 21, 2024.
点击查看原文：Spurs trio discusses role models during Women's History Month
Spurs trio discusses role models during Women’s History Month
Spurs corporate communications director Liberty Swift helps her mother, María Del Refugio Garcia, center, and her sister Sandra Arriola prepare the food for their family dinner at Garcia’s home on Saturday, March 22, 2025
María Del Refugio Garcia never made it past the second grade growing up in Mexico. But to the seventh of her eight children is concerned, she is the wisest person on the planet.
Spurs Sports & Entertainment director of corporate communications Liberty Swift was in the sixth grade at Whittier Middle School in the San Antonio Independent School District when some classmates started picking on her for the things she said her family “didn’t have,” items like trendy shoes and designer clothing.
Inside the safety of her family’s modest home at 1202 W. Hermosa Dr., young Liberty turned to Garcia for comfort and guidance.
"My mom would tell me in Spanish, because our household was a Spanish-speaking household, ‘You tell them you have God on your side and their words cannot hurt you,’ " Swift recalled. “She told me that all the time. She would also say, ‘You should never be embarrassed about who you are.’”
In recognition of Women’s History Month, Swift and two of her colleagues shared their thoughts with the San Antonio Express-News about their female role models.
Swift pointed to family members, especially Garcia, now 76. Garcia immigrated to the U.S. in the 1960s with her husband, Raul Garcia, who died in 2019 after years of providing for his family as a construction worker for Zachry.
SS&E director of transformative leadership Morgan Jones listed her mother, Shelia Jones, other family members, educator Mary McLeod Bethune and Beyoncé.
Spurs director of performance therapy Marilyn Adams singled out billionaire businesswoman and philanthropist Sara Blakely and former pioneering Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon, now in her fourth season as coach of the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces.
Here are excerpts of their interviews that have been edited for length and clarity:
Spurs corporate communications director Liberty Swift takes a bite of their home tortillas offered to her by her mother María Del Refugio Garcia, at a family dinner at Garcia’s home on Saturday, March 22, 2025. On far left is her sister Sandra Arriola.
LIBERTY SWIFT
SS&E director of corporate communications
"My mom was a stay-at-home mom. It’s a blessing and privilege to come home to two parents and a mom who is trying to put food on the table, who is taking care of you, washing your clothes and doing those things. And I think about what my mom hid from us. We didn’t know what was going on (regarding the family’s finances), so I have a lot of compassion for her, knowing the dreams she made possible for us with such little resources. We would not have the life we enjoy today without her strength, her vision for us. She had complete faith in what she thought we could do, even when others around us - with us being children of immigrants - thought we could go nowhere. But she knew we could.
"I think about this now: How did she feed us when food was limited? My mom used to get up at four or five in the morning to start cooking and would make homemade tortillas because, on a limited budget, they weren’t buying pre-made food. It took fierce determination to do that for a family of 10. But I would come home from school and there would be food, our clothes would be washed, the house would be clean. And she was very artistic and creative. All of our clothes were made by our mom. She even quilted our blankets. She also encouraged us to study and do our homework. I remember she encouraged my dad to buy us encyclopedias. She knew we needed that. As a child, I would spend my summers reading the encyclopedia so much the pages would fall out.
“There’s a saying in Spanish – El que no sabe de dónde viene, no sabe dónde va – I always share with kids I mentor, or my nieces and nephews, that means, he who does not know where he comes from, does not know where he is going. I talk about my family and my history so much with others. Regardless of your journey, we should all be proud of our experiences and our stories because they shape us into who we are. For me, mine is so special because my journey in life is what pointed me back home to San Antonio. I left when I graduated high school (at Edison) and I was gone until I got this job with the Spurs. But I was always being pulled back home to San Antonio. My family and my family’s story have always been so special to me. I also have to mention my four older sisters. Their footsteps were such a big part of my journey. They were courageous in attempting new things my family had never done before. They opened the door for me that would not have been possible otherwise.”
Morgan Jones, the SS&E director of transformative leadership, listed her mother, Shelia Jones, other family members, educator Mary McLeod Bethune and Beyoncé as an inspiration to her.
MORGAN JONES
SS&E director of transformative leadership
"My maternal grandmother (Dorothy McCaslin) in Atlanta had a heart of gold, was very caring. I would fly there every summer to be with her. I would be so excited. But she was also a foster mom, so there was always a couple of children staying with her. I was young and I wanted that one-on-one time with my grandma. One day some of the kids got into an argument with each other, and me being very young and not really understanding of what was going on, I became very frustrated. But she sat me down and said, ‘Morgan, these kids need us the most.’ And that was the first time I learned it’s not always about you. There are people out there who need us, need love, need care, need the attention. My grandmother inspired every single woman in our family. Her relationship with God, and making that our foundation, spread through all the women in our family.
"I also remember spending time with my aunt (Natalie Ingram). We would be driving under a freeway overpass and she would lower the window to either provide food or money (to the homeless), and they all knew her by her first name. They would say, ‘Natalie, it’s good to see you.’ I remember saying, ‘How do they know you?’ And it’s because she saw them as people, as humans, not their conditions, and was able to help and support them.
“That’s the same with my mom (Shelia Jones). I remember watching her every single day (growing up in Los Angeles), watching her get ready for work, watching her put her suit on. She works in corporate (as a vice president of a credit union), and she works hard. It almost makes me emotional thinking about the sacrifices she made. She taught me how to dream big no matter what you have. She told me a story one time about when she moved to LA from Atlanta. She did not have a car and would ride the bus. Every day she would see a Mercedes-Benz driving around and would think, ‘One day I would love to have a Mercedes-Benz.’ She worked toward that every day. And guess what? She got her Mercedes. I learned from her that when you work hard, when you’re good to people, when you’re good to yourself, good comes back to you.”
"For a historical figure that was a role model, I would say Mary McLeod Bethune (found of Bethune-Cookman University and one of the most important Black educators and civil and women’s rights leaders of the 20th century). She was very focused on education and wanting to create access to education for all. Learning about her as I was growing up really impacted my passion for education.
“If you were to talk to my family and friends, they would also tell you, ‘Morgan loves Beyoncé.’ And it’s true. Her music is very important, but for me she has taught me what it means to love the skin I’m in, to feel very proud of who I am and to go out and dream big and have big goals.”
San Antonio Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan talks to San Antonio Spurs shooting coach Jimmy Baron and San Antonio Spurs Director of Rehabilitation Marilyn Adams during training camp at the Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Texas Wednesday, October 4, 2023.
MARILYN ADAMS
Spurs director of performance therapy
"One person I’ve really been obsessed about because of her success and the way she does things is Sara Blakely (billionaire founder of Spanx, a revolutionary brand of slimming undergarments launched in 2000). She basically disrupted an industry run by men when she came up with an idea that made women’s lives easier, more comfortable. And she approached it from a way that was really about what was best for the customer. And I think I always try to approach my world from, ‘OK, what’s best for the person in front of me I’m working with?’
“She basically was a trailblazer. She didn’t want to go to war with other companies. She speaks about doing things her way, with a feminine-leadership style. That really spoke to me. She did a master class I followed along with and learned from that was all about her entrepreneurship model. She tells a story about how she sort of would wait for inspiration to strike her. And she had a group of men as business colleagues that were sort of all startups, and they would get together once a week and talk about their challenges and get solutions from each other. And she would just keep saying, ‘Well, I’m just going to wait for a sign from the universe.’ And they all kind of laughed at her and poo-poohed her. And then the more successful she got, each one of them independently came to her and said, ‘So, tell me a little bit more about that universe thing and waiting for the signs.’ She’s about trusting her intuition, not taking the beaten path. And she has a family, she is active in the community, she does a lot of philanthropy. She’s just someone who seems to really have a positive way of being in the world.”
“I’d also say Becky Hammon. The same year (2014) I was hired by the Spurs, Becky was hired as a coach. Becky’s way of being really helped guide me. It taught me to just be authentic, have a voice and be true to myself and not try to mirror another male counterpart necessarily. She was a strong female influence at the same time I started and was hugely impactful.”
By Tom Orsborn, Staff writer, via San Antonio Express-News