DCC Alumni Spotlight – Malia Morales

Malia was born on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, on an US Air Force Base. Her parents, who served in the Air Force, relocated a few times before settling in Bedford, Texas. Malia attended school in the Bedford area before making the move to the west coast to attend Stanford University. While at Stanford, she danced as a member of the Dollies, traveling and performing at all types of sporting events. Malia was also a member of various performance arts groups while in school, training in hip hop, jazz, and other styles.  

After graduating from Stanford, Malia auditioned to be a Houston Texans Cheerleader and was a member of their squad for two seasons. She then went through the rigorous DCC audition process and became a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader in 2009. Malia made the decision to retire after one season with the DCC so she could live in the same city as her husband, who was residing in Houston.  

While she cheered for the Cowboys, Malia had the opportunity to appear on the shows Oprah and American Idol, meeting stars Oprah and Ryan Seacrest. She also travelled with a select group to Tokyo and Beijing on behalf of Cowboys’ sponsor, American Airlines. While there, the DCC were featured in a Chinese magazine, and starred on a live national TV broadcast. Malia says she’ll never forget being tasked with saying a couple of lines in Mandarin Chinese on behalf of the DCC. She studied and practiced, and when the time came, she spoke the line perfectly! While cheering for the Cowboys, Malia also worked full time for Merrill Lynch.  

She continued to work at Merrill Lynch after relocating to Houston, and has been named to the Forbes “Top Women Wealth Advisors” 2020 list and Forbes/SHOOK “Top Next-Generation Wealth Advisors” 2020 list. Malia was also recently featured on the cover of Houston Business Women Magazine. In addition to being a successful businesswoman, Malia is a mom to a three and five year old. When asked about applying DCC lessons to life, she said it is hard to find a program that forces you outside your comfort zone and challenges you mentally and physically the way the DCC process does. She said learning to expect the unexpected and to thrive outside of your comfort zone is great preparation for life, motherhood, and business.  

Malia is currently using her impactful network of friends and professionals to help raise awareness for children in abusive homes through the creation of a short, informative film. The short film is in production, and Malia is looking forward to getting the word out to people about organizations they can support to make a difference. 

DCC Rachel W