Editor’s note: This edition of 20Q with Liz Cambage was written by Anita Little and originally appeared on Playboy.com in October 2020.

Q1: You celebrated your 29th birthday recently, so happy belated. With everything that has been happening in the world, this maybe isn’t how you thought you would spend the last year of your 20s. What are you most proud of from this decade?

Surviving. Still being here. The older I get the more testing and trialing I receive. So I’m just proud that I’m still here, pushing on, chasing goals, checking things off my bucket list and just living. Even in the hardest years, I have so many blessings coming my way, so I’m grateful for life every day.

Q2: What do you hope to accomplish in the last year of your 20s?

I was trying to chase an Olympic gold medal and a WNBA championship, but God’s plan was a little bit different this year. So I’m just focusing on staying the strongest and healthiest I can because we all have no idea what next year will look like.

Q3: Speaking of special dates, you did the ESPN the Magazine Body Issue—which features top athletes in the nude—a year ago. How has your relationship with nudity changed since that photo shoot?

My relationship with nudity hasn’t changed at all. It’s interesting how people perceive nudity as a sexual thing, whereas I’ve grown up in a country [where nudity is normalized] and been raised in locker rooms. I’m very comfortable going to the lake or going to the beach and swimming naked with friends and it not being looked at as a sexual thing. But here in America I feel like the human body is just so over-sexualized.

The feedback I got when I did the Body Issue was very interesting. People saw it as a very sexual thing, but to me, my body is powerful. We bring life into this world with our bodies. Yet we cover them up, when we’re such powerful beings. I’m so proud of my skin. I’m so proud of my six-foot-eight body and everything I can do with it. Nudity has never really been a sexual thing to me. It’s always just been who I am and the skin I was in. Q4: You’ve talked a lot about being teased for your height and how you’re much more confident now. What was the “aha” moment for you? When did you truly fall in love with yourself?

It was when I was 19. I got drafted to the WNBA when I was 19 years old. I had spent my whole life in Australia, and Australia is a very whitewashed country. I was actually having this conversation recently with one of my best friends, who I’ve known since I was 12 or 13. We talked about how people literally buy the bodies we grew up being made to hate.

Both being black girls raised in Australia, we wore colored eye contacts, we bleached our hair, we straightened our hair. We wouldn’t tan. We would do everything to shrink ourselves and make us more white. It wasn’t until I moved to America that I started to really embrace my body and my skin color and who I really am.

Q5: You’re currently in Los Angeles, and you just did your shoot with Playboy. Do you feel this project will be a coming out moment for you in terms of embracing your sexuality?

I’ve never embraced my sexuality in public. Me doing Playboy is me celebrating my sexuality like, “Yeah, I am a straight six-foot-eight woman who likes to have sex.” I’m a human; it’s what we do. As a female athlete, I feel like I’m not allowed to be sexy and I’m not allowed to be that person. All society wants from me is to sit down, shut up, go to training and play my sport. Also being a female and in sports, I felt a lot of pressure on my [sexual identification] as well. I’ve spent a lot of years confused. Am I straight? Am I bi? Is there something wrong with me that I’m not attracted to girls? Everyone’s always expecting me to be gay. I’m like, “No, I love men.” I remember when I shaved half my head at 18 or 19 and my mom sat me down. She thought that was me coming out. I was like, “No, I just look good with a shaved head.”

Q6: How do you think your fans will react to this shoot?

People will be surprised. I wanted it to be super girly and feminine, which I think I am but never really get to portray as an athlete. We don’t really get a platform to portray the other sides of ourselves. My whole life, I have been told to focus on my sport. But at the end of the day, I’m a human and I’m fighting for things bigger than just my sport.Q7: On your social media, people seem to react to you in a sexualized way. Do you feel being perceived as an internet sex symbol helps or hinders your message of body acceptance?

People are attracted to me, and I know the social media game. You show a bit of skin and it gets people’s eye. What some people might see as sexual, I just see as comfortable. I’m comfortable hanging out in a sports bra and short shorts. But some people will be like, “She’s flaunting her sexuality.” No, I’m sitting here sweating, like chilling.If that’s what catches your eye and you start watching the WNBA because you thought I was cute, that’s something I’m going to use. But I work my ass off every day. I’m not just here because I’m a pretty girl. At the end of the day, my looks are not going to save me. They’re not real. I’m milking it while I’m young, because I’m not going to look like this forever.

Q8: How do you define pleasure?

Pleasure can come from a lot of things. It’s not just sexual. Pleasure is finding the good in what you want; getting what you want is pleasure. Pleasure can come from finishing my workout and having my endorphins—the pleasure of being done. It can be the pleasure of eating your favorite food or the pleasure of making love. At the end of the day, it’s all those things that make you feel good.

Q9: You received a medical exemption for this season with the Las Vegas Aces, and you’ve spent quarantine alone at your house in Melbourne. How was it being home after being constantly on the move for so long? Did you feel rejuvenated or stifled?

It was the longest I had been stuck in Melbourne for years. I have never spent that much time in my own house. It was nice at the start, and then it got to a point where I’m like, “Wow, there’s just really nothing for me.” If I’m not seeing my family, if I’m not training hard every day, I actually can’t be there. But I did learn a lot about myself. I’m very independent. I love living alone. I need space from people. I don’t really function well otherwise. I would have lost my mind in a house full of people during this time. Q10: You spent a lot of the offseason raising money for first responders after the brush fires in Australia. What personal effect did the fires have on you, and what has been the aftermath?

I’m lucky that my family wasn’t directly affected by the fires. But seeing the devastation—our country was literally on fire and covered in smoke and out of control for months. It went on until March. The start of Covid is when everything stopped burning.

I just can’t believe this year has gone from my country on fire and people losing housing, losing entire cities—we lost firefighters, we lost wildlife—to being hit with this pandemic. It’s been such a hard year for Australia.

Q11: You were in a viral video recently leading a Black Lives Matter chant with activists in Melbourne. How has your activism changed?

I’ve been going to protests. I’ve been out in these streets. I’ve been on TV. I’ve been in your newspapers. I’ve been talking about this for years in Australia, so I’m not new to this.

I was born a fighter. My mother raised a fighter and I am a product of my mother. Without my mom, without my grandmother, there is no me. They are my whole life. But I was raised white by my mom and my nana in a very whitewashed country. It was difficult for me to grow up. I’ve been bullied and teased ever since I can remember, and I’ve always been an easy target. So I’m resilient to it. Say what you want; it’s not going to affect me. Q12: The WNBA has played a large role in pushing the greater sports community to be more vocal in the Black Lives Matter movement. Do you feel the work the WNBA has done has been overshadowed by the NBA?

The NBA is always going to be on a much bigger platform than the WNBA, but what the women are doing—and what the men are doing—is amazing. We’re all using our platform for good right now. It comes from years and years of athletes being told to shut up and just play their sport and be grateful for what they have.

But what’s the point of being happy with what you have when it’s not good enough? We need to keep pushing for change. We need more diversity. We need to be making more money. You shouldn’t stop and be happy with what you have. That’s how people get lazy. To have a platform like we do and do nothing is a crime in itself. There are so many things in this world that need light shed on them, so I’m proud of every athlete using that platform right now for good.

Q13: It sounds like you had a long journey to fully accepting your mixed heritage. What do you love most about your blackness now?

I love that I never had to pay for a fake tan. I love that I’ve been kissed by the gods to have this beautiful skin. Meanwhile people spend thousands of dollars on tans and injections and things like that. I’m happy that I’m blessed to be born the way I am.Q14: You believe you experienced Covid while playing in China last year. Much of the narrative in the United States is that the virus only impacts the elderly or the immunocompromised. What would you say to people spouting those beliefs?

Whatever I was sick with in December in China, it literally nearly killed me. I was on the phone to my mom screaming, “You’re going to have to come get me in a body bag for Christmas. That’s going to be your Christmas.” I was in a wheelchair. I couldn’t walk for three days. I had never been so weak and in so much pain. It took until the end of January for me to get the phlegm out of my lungs—over a month. Whatever I had, the thought of my grandma having it—it would be game over. That’s why I’ve been so good during this and stayed away from my family. I just stay training with close friends, trying to stay fit, trying to stay an elite athlete the safest way I can.

Q15: If you weren’t an elite athlete or you decided to quit the game tomorrow, what career would you be doing?

I guess I’m lucky. I already deejay, and I own a vitamin company and a gym. When I go back to Australia, I’ll be getting my personal training certificate. Something with health and fitness is my immediate future, but I’m also creative when it comes to music and design. I have too many choices for what I want to do after basketball. I don’t have to stress about it right now. I’m in a very good position.Q16: How do you stay grounded? What keeps you humble?

I have a lot of great people around me, and I was raised very well. I see every life exactly the same. It doesn’t matter if you work at Walmart or you’re banking my check. It doesn’t matter if you’re my teammate. It doesn’t matter if you’re on the other team. At the end of the day, we are all blood and bone. We are all the same, and everyone needs the same love and respect.

Q17: Is dating a big part of this chapter of your life or is your focus elsewhere?

I’m sick of all the in-betweens. I’ve spent my 20s working out what I’d like, and I know what I want in a relationship. When I’m ready it will come my way. Right now I’m focused on me. I’m focused on being the best I can be. Having someone else in my life to worry about when I’m heading into what could be the biggest year of my life with the Olympics and WNBA next year and playing back in Australia, I honestly don’t have time for it. I’m willing and I’m open and I’m ready for it. But it will happen when it happens.

Q18: What’s your happy place? If you could blink and go to any place in the world right now, where would you go?

Bali. Me on the beach, coconut oil, nasi goreng, the sound of the waves, a good book, a couple of friends. That it’s for me. It’s just being in the sunshine and being surrounded by good energy. That’s all I need to be happy. That’s real love. When this is over, that is my first stop.Q19: How do you take care of yourself when you need to recharge?

My self-care mantra comes from the inside out. If I’m working out, I know that’s going to have my body looking good and in charge. If I’m eating like shit and not doing much, that affects me mentally. As long as I’m doing the right things and treating my body like the temple it is—treating it with love and care—I’m glowing and looking good on the outside.

Q20: How are you most misunderstood?

People see me on the court and on social media as big and loud and aggressive, but I’m really shy when you first meet me. I’m not going to give you all my energy straight up. A lot of my life, on the court day to day, I have to be such an alpha female. So when I’m at home or in a relationship, I’m pretty submissive. People get confused by that or think I’m standoffish or a bitch, and I’m like, “No, I’m just getting to know you before I give you all of me.” Because I’m a lot.