Full Transcript for Finding Her Voice: Dr. Bruny Kenou

goal is the clinical trials of novel therapeutics. 00:04:53.920 --> 00:05:01.439 So a very lengthy introduction in your very how can I put this uh early life. 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:04.560 What did I skip of of all of those things? 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:05.839 What do you want to highlight? 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:09.360 Tell me uh catch me up from our last discussion, please. 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:12.800 Wow, yeah, that's that's quite a quite a lot. 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:14.959 Um thank you for that introduction. 00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:30.240 Um I have been uh involved in so many things, um, and I think early because I think I got one of the greatest awards, I feel like, in in life is when you find your purpose, why you're put on this earth. 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:45.439 And for me, I felt like I was put on this earth to push where we are in terms of our behavioral health and where we are in terms of our ability to make sure human beings have a good quality of life. 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:52.959 Um uh in terms of things I'd like to emphasize, I would say right now I am currently a psychiatry resident. 00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:56.959 Um I have spent much of my life honestly being on the patient side. 00:05:57.199 --> 00:06:00.160 Um, I have lived experience with mental illness. 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:02.639 Um I have family members who dealt with this. 00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:17.600 And you know, in my last episode, in the last episode, we talked about, you know, my my brother dealing with mental health issues and kind of the struggles in my family, which, you know, coming from my backgrounds being of African descent, being an immigrant, it wasn't really taken seriously. 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:23.279 Um but now, fast forward multiple years, um now with medication, right? 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:29.680 My brother's able to go to college and be work in the field that he's always wanted to work in, which is computers. 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:38.319 Um, and I even see you know my parents kind of like embracing mental health themselves when they at first were very against it. 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:46.319 Um and so now being on the physician side of it, I'm really seeing like a whole 360 of the system. 00:06:46.800 --> 00:07:05.120 Um, and it's really showing how, you know, one of the programs that I I have founded is the Lay Mental Health Advocates Program, which is a patient navigation um program where we get young people to help those who have mental illness kind of stay on top of their medications and help them find resources in the community. 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:13.120 Um, because we know how hard it is just taking care of your health when you are when you have no diagnosis and you're just getting your checkups. 00:07:13.199 --> 00:07:22.959 Now imagine you put a mental illness on top of that and you know you're just a 16-year-old who is, you know, in high school dealing with all these things. 00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:29.360 So I think this is kind

of my way to really turn this compassion that has been in my heart into action. 00:07:29.680 --> 00:07:35.759 And, you know, now that I'm I am a psychiatrist, I am seeing how important it is to make sure people stay connected. 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:36.240 Yeah. 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:38.079 Yeah, and we're gonna we're gonna talk about that. 00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:41.439 You know what you said to me in the episode I've thought about for a long time. 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:46.000 You and I want to quote you on the last episode we did on the podcast a number of years ago. 00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:48.879 You said, I never thought I would make it this far. 00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:53.120 And that was before you even achieved where you are right now as a as a physician. 00:07:53.279 --> 00:07:54.319 Why why did you say that? 00:07:54.399 --> 00:07:57.600 And how do you feel about those comments that you said three, four years ago? 00:07:57.920 --> 00:07:58.560 Yeah. 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:06.399 You know, it's interesting when I think about me saying like I didn't think I'd ever make it this far. 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:11.519 I I really did kind of grow up like in a matriarchy, right? 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:17.120 Like it was my mom, my grandma who were really the powerhouses in the house, right? 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:28.720 I like I saw my mom single-handedly start her own business, like give us a way to um support our lives, and I saw my grandma kind of like supporting us in the house and and teaching me kindness. 00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:37.919 And but along the way, right, we I also grew up low income and had all these like financial struggles on top of at a certain point I was undocumented. 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:41.120 And so, really, I had I had a lot of things stacked against me. 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:53.519 Um, and I think the history of race in this country as well, being in the kind of environment I was, I really didn't feel like I deserved certain things, right? 00:08:53.679 --> 00:09:13.840 And I think for a lot of people who maybe are listening and have ever experienced being in an environment where you feel like your voice doesn't matter, or um your life doesn't matter just because of how you look like, or you know, because your parents don't have enough money, um, that really does affect your self-esteem and affect how you move through the world. 00:09:13.919 --> 00:09:35.919 Um, and so the fact that I was able to be in school and like find that I had these gifts in um math and science, and I I was always curious and I loved reading, um, and then to then be able to get a full ride to Duke University, which I never in a million years would have expected, and then be in a point where now I'm a physician. 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:50.639 Like, I I don't think a lot of young black immigrant women who you know are undocumented have the abilities to do the things that I've been able to do. 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:56.799 Um, even people who have everything set in place for them haven't been able to do some of the things that I have been blessed to do. 00:09:56.879 --> 00:10:00.559 And I think it's also kind of the people who have been in my life too. 00:10:00.720 --> 00:10:03.039 So, yeah, I never thought I'd get this far. 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:05.600 But there's there's the other side of it, right? 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:07.600 I never thought I would get this far. 00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:14.320 And so I am going to move as if, you know, I don't want to make any regrets. 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:16.799 And so that really affects the way I move. 00:10:16.879 --> 00:10:25.200 It affects the way I present in certain spaces, and I do speak up when I am in spaces that maybe people like me shouldn't be, right? 00:10:25.279 --> 00:10:34.879 I've been in rooms with senators, I've been in rooms with CEOs, I've been in rooms with funders, people who have access to millions of dollars that they can just give away to any cause. 00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:40.799 Um and I think in those environments, someone like me um might want to shrink down. 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:47.200 Um, but I have learned that it is, you know, there there is no amount of small that I can shrink where I will disappear. 00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:48.720 So I might as well be big. 00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:56.480 And so I do speak up and I do speak about my experiences, and I do, you know, kind of encourage people to think about the invisible people. 00:10:56.639 --> 00:10:58.240 And so I think that's the other side of it. 00:10:58.559 --> 00:10:58.720 Yeah. 00:10:58.879 --> 00:11:03.200 Do you does that thought ever cross your mind, or do you feel completely untethered now? 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:08.240 And nothing's gonna stop you, or do you sometimes think, wow, you know, I don't know. 00:11:08.720 --> 00:11:14.159 Yeah, I honestly I am gonna go as far as I can get. 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:15.919 So you're untethered, you're free. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:16.320 Yeah, I do. 00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:17.279 You're gonna fly, you're flying. 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:18.720 I'm gonna fly, yeah. 00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:30.879 And it's so funny because I got this this like feedback um from one of my supervising doctors a couple days ago, or he was like, You are very confident, you know, and I I was talking to you know, people about it. 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:33.360 I was like, was that was that a compliment? 00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:36.960 And my friend was like, you know, whether it's a compliment or not, it's true. 00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:43.120 We're gonna come we're gonna come back to the Bruni uh in middle school, and you've been very open. 00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:53.120 This is one of the reasons uh I love speaking with you, you've been very open about your lived experiences around mental health, and we're gonna talk about the Bruni in in elementary school and and middle school. 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:56.320 Um, you mentioned earlier that you speak

up, and boy, do you speak up. 00:11:56.480 --> 00:12:00.639 I I wanna I want to share something with you, and you're gonna think I have completely lost it. 00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:06.399 But take a look at this first slide and tell me why you think I'm even showing this slide. 00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:27.759 Ah, because uh I wrote an op ed about Megan Stallion, who is honestly one of one of like the role models I would say in in my life, and some of them that I really look up to, and her now ex um partner, um Clay Thompson. 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:29.039 Clay Thompson, yeah. 00:12:29.360 --> 00:12:29.759 Yeah. 00:12:29.919 --> 00:12:33.759 And uh I r that piece that you wrote was just fascinating. 00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:42.720 And for listeners, what we have here is a slide of of Megan uh the or Megan the Stallion and Clay Thompson, a famous basketball player. 00:12:42.960 --> 00:12:51.600 I saw a piece on um Megan Stallion years ago where uh she's from Houston and she's a very accomplished woman. 00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:55.519 People think, oh, she's this she no, she's a very accomplished person. 00:12:56.080 --> 00:13:00.480 And uh not only is she a wonderful musician, she's an actress. 00:13:00.639 --> 00:13:05.279 She also went back to school and got her bachelor's degree after all the fame. 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:07.440 Her mother played a huge role in her life. 00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:10.559 She she's also I believe it or not, I'm one of her fans as well. 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:11.759 Her story is beautiful. 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:12.720 She really is. 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:20.240 And um Clay Thompson, of course, he won four four rings, four national champions, four uh NBA championships. 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:23.360 Uh very there's about less than twenty people won four. 00:13:23.440 --> 00:13:26.639 So he's he's also I'm a big fan of him, and I did like the Warriors. 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:28.080 I do like the Warriors. 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:33.360 So they were a power couple, and as you alluded to, they did they did break up recently. 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:45.279 And what caught my attention, what caught your attention as well, and the piece you wrote was uh called When Cheating Earns Applause, would Megan Thee Stallion and Clay Thompson reveal about loneliness epidemic. 00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:52.960 And um this is a very interesting and you wrote this in a a place called the Opinion Pages, which is a great uh great outlet. 00:13:53.120 --> 00:14:01.279 I did some research about that, run by two folks, Gary Meltz, Democrat-leaning, and another gentleman, Ike Brann, who's Republican leaning. 00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:04.799 And so their their whole thing is we're apolitical. 00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:06.080 We don't push either way. 00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:08.000 In fact, they're one of each, and I like that. 00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:09.120 This show is not political. 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:12.720 And so I love the outlet that you wrote this piece in. 00:14:12.879 --> 00:14:25.600 And you talk about the lone loneliness epidemic, and what really got you I don't want to use the re word angry unless you want to, but the public's response to this breakup, and so a lot of weird things came out of it. 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:30.480 Um and and so tell me, there were memes, there were all kinds of things I had to look up. 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:32.960 They were calling her a 304. 00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:33.519 Yeah, yeah. 00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:36.879 And I had to look that I had to look that up. 00:14:36.960 --> 00:14:37.039 Yeah. 00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:42.879 And it's a derogatory term for a woman, and there was all this press that went on that was really bad. 00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:48.720 So tell me what lit you up and and what made you so emotional about this, about this breakup. 00:14:49.039 --> 00:15:14.879 Yeah, um, I think, you know, part of it is just like being being a woman in this current era where, you know, I think I I call myself a lover girl, like trying to find connection, community, um, love, stability is something that, you know, I think we're always like working towards, even as we're also working towards our careers. 00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:27.440 And we I feel like seeing this play out, like this relationship was kind of like a pinnacle for a lot of girls who kind of can feel um that they relate to Magda Stallion in a way, right? 00:15:27.519 --> 00:16:11.360 Either it's um the fact that they too are black women, or they too started at one place and then are persevering to get to um where they want to be, or they just see the the fact that like, you know, and we've seen throughout the time Meg Distallion having kind of this like hard um hard trajectory with different relationships, and then have finally getting this relationship where we felt like, you know, this was this is like two people who are supporting each other, they're in the public eye um and have different careers, but they find this way to come together and then it kind of exploding in what it was kind of pointed to kind of where the state of relationships are, I feel, right now. 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:31.440 Um, particularly the fact that like after the breakup is when a lot of people who at first saw Clay Thompson as what people call a quote unquote simp, um, where it's like another word I had to look up, by the way, a simp, which is a man that um he does everything he can for a woman's attention, even though she put him in the friend box, right? 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:54.399 Is that is that exactly um and we all know Clay Thompson was not in the friend box, but you know the the black male community or other just like males in general calling him a simp until this happened, and it seemed like then it was like, oh, exactly, we knew it, like exactly Meg the Stallion should be cheated on, and him kind of getting this applause for it. 00:16:54.559 --> 00:17:06.400 Um, and then seeing the reaction in the comments where

women are like, oh, like if Meg the Stallion can't even um, you know, have someone who d is faithful to them, who am I? 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:11.680 This like average Joe, like to be able to find someone who is faithful for for them. 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:16.480 And you see this movement, people being like, Well, I'll just not have a man or I'll just not have a partner. 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:17.440 All the time. 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:17.759 Yeah. 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:19.039 I hear that all the time. 00:17:19.519 --> 00:17:28.079 And you kind of see on the other side too, like men being like, Oh, well, I'll I'll also not have a partner because there is no good women out here, and like all these things. 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:37.039 Um, and so the the leads to this like isolation and this like like divide instead of this community that we're we're trying to build it, particularly in the black community. 00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:37.519 Yeah. 00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:49.119 I I do have to ask you, you know, you've been very transparent on your life, and this situation, the article, you referenced a very specific incident in your life at five years old. 00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:52.799 And if you'd like, uh I I want to talk to you about that. 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:56.240 This triggered something in you, and it felt like it hit a nerve to you. 00:17:56.400 --> 00:18:00.480 Can you describe what you felt at what this triggered? 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:01.359 And yeah. 00:18:01.599 --> 00:18:20.960 Yeah, so I again like growing up with a single mother, you know, at a certain point my mom was married to my father, and you know, there was a similar instance where there was this infidelity that was then brought up, and kind of like um a choice that was like made, right? 00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:32.799 Where my mom basically said, you know, I'm willing to forgive this infidelity, um, but you have to stay here, take accountability for your actions, um, and raise your kids with me. 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:43.920 Because at the time, you know, my father was um in Africa and going back and forth, and I think my mom really wanted him to stay in America and really like take care of his kids here. 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:47.599 Um, and he decided that he didn't want to do that, right? 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:49.839 And you were right in the middle of that, from what I understand. 00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:52.880 You were there was a scene where you were right in the middle of that decision, yes? 00:18:53.200 --> 00:18:59.519 Yeah, where I I kind of like, and and not that I knew everything going on, I just have this this feeling, and I remember he was. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:01.039 Well, you're five years old, right? 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:01.680 Yeah. 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:05.920 And I say, You you know, like, dad, I think you should stay. 00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:09.519 And and he tells me, Oh, you're a kid, you don't know what you're talking about. 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:14.079 And did not see him again for a very, very long time. 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:15.119 Fifteen years. 00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:15.519 Yeah. 00:19:15.839 --> 00:19:17.359 So what happened 15 years later? 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:20.319 You reached out to him 15 years, so you're 20 years old now, right? 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:21.599 Uh yeah. 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:23.519 I'm I'm 20 years old. 00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:31.839 I'm, you know, I think I was like a junior at Duke, and I I realized like I was I had only heard one side of the story, right? 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:37.200 I had only heard my mom's side of the story, which was, you know, your your father wanted to leave you. 00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:49.279 And I think for some people who might experience this where their parent, their mom maybe becomes a single mother, they might relate to this feeling that, you know, it's the narrative is, oh, they chose to leave. 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:59.599 And so me just being a curious person, um, I was able to like reach out to my half-sister, who we also hadn't talked in a long time, because you know, that whole side of the family was kind of cut off. 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:01.279 The half-sister's in Africa still? 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:03.279 Uh no, the half-sister is in the US. 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:03.759 Okay. 00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:06.880 Um was he in the US when you reached out to him? 00:20:07.599 --> 00:20:08.799 She was he was not in the US. 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:09.759 Okay, so no. 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:17.680 But um, she was a lot closer to him, and she was able to connect us, and I was able actually able to visit him while he came to Africa. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:21.759 No, no, he came to the visit him, you're 20 years old. 00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:22.640 Do you confront him? 00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:26.079 Yeah, it's it's not necessarily a confrontation though. 00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:29.440 Um, it's more so like, you know, dad, like I miss you. 00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:30.799 How have you been? 00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:34.960 Um, you know, I'm in college, um, I'm helping people. 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:39.440 Um, how have you, you know, what has life been for you? 00:20:39.599 --> 00:20:45.279 And I think at first it was very happy to see me, right? 00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:53.839 Um, but then it became a whole like, oh, if only your mom hadn't XYZ and oh, she's this horrible person. 00:20:54.000 --> 00:21:05.039 Um, and I had spent 15 years hearing my mom's side of like he's this horrible person, and now hearing this side when all I wanted to do was just like grow this relationship that I hadn't had. 00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:09.039 Um and he was just so fixated on this pain, right? 00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:11.119 That no one had ever um addressed. 00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:13.039 And I knew my mom was also fixated. 00:21:13.119 --> 00:21:16.559 But then I kind of asked, you know, what what is your side of this? 00:21:16.640 --> 00:21:17.440 You

know, what we're doing. 00:21:20.319 --> 00:21:24.799 Well, at this point, I'm just a neuroscience major in college, you know. 00:21:24.960 --> 00:21:28.640 But but you minored in psychology, so you knew something about psychology, right? 00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:29.359 For sure, yeah. 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:30.319 Okay, so go ahead. 00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:33.279 So you're are you trying to analyze him or what what goes through your mind? 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:40.720 Yeah, not necessarily analyze him, but I think I think often when like people are, you know, this word perseverating. 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:41.839 Um I'm sorry, what's that? 00:21:42.079 --> 00:21:42.799 Perseverating. 00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:48.960 You know, they're they continue to come back to the same thing over and over again when you're trying to change a question. 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:55.599 Um it's it's one thing you do where you try to like, all right, let let's change the way you're thinking about things. 00:21:55.680 --> 00:21:56.319 Maybe there's something too. 00:21:56.799 --> 00:21:57.599 You try that on your dad. 00:21:57.920 --> 00:21:58.319 Yeah, yeah. 00:21:58.480 --> 00:21:59.759 And so the question is, okay. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:03.039 What part do you think you played in this, right? 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:09.279 Um, because it takes multiple people to have a cause and effect, right? 00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:14.160 And um, I think at that point he was very much like, oh, like, what do you mean? 00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:15.200 What part did I play? 00:22:15.279 --> 00:22:16.720 Like, I'm the victim here, right? 00:22:16.799 --> 00:22:21.759 She kept me away from you for all these years, and I don't think he knew that I knew the whole story. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:26.559 Um, and so when I brought it up, like, hey, like, I know you cheated on mom. 00:22:27.119 --> 00:22:28.240 You actually said that to him. 00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:28.720 Yeah. 00:22:29.839 --> 00:22:34.079 Did he know that you knew, or was that the first time he knew that you knew? 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:40.000 I think that's the first time he I think he was taken aback that I knew. 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:52.160 Um But also, you know, it's it's the truth, and it I don't think he was expecting for him to be in the himself to be in the spotlight. 00:22:53.039 --> 00:23:05.279 Wow, so what happens next is Yeah, and so from there it that is kind of where it explodes, and it's like, oh, how dare you! You are my child, you shouldn't talk to me like that. 00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:11.359 Oh, you're on her side, and suddenly, and it's this full-on like lack of responsibility. 00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:13.599 You know, it's this whole scene. 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:21.119 Um, and then it's kind of like, you know, like I I feel like if I all I just want to do is build this relationship, right? 00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:27.519 And in order to move past things, you have to, I think accountability set it's sets us free, right? 00:23:27.680 --> 00:23:38.799 It means that we understand that place that we play in our actions, and so that we are less likely to repeat these actions to cause the same reactions. 00:23:38.960 --> 00:23:44.400 But when you don't take responsibility, when you don't take accountability, things continue in a cycle. 00:23:44.559 --> 00:23:53.920 And so from there, he kind of was like, you know, you're on her side, X, Y, Z, and then the conversation ended. 00:23:54.160 --> 00:24:07.279 You know, and so thinking back to this like Clay, Clay Thompson, Medestallion kind of drama, it kind of triggered this in me because it was the idea of the lack of accountability, right? 00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:08.640 On the male's part. 00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:18.000 On on the male's part, of like, you know, and I think what was put in on the Instagram was kind of like he didn't feel like monogamy was for him. 00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:31.119 Um and so I think the accountability would have been like understanding monogamy isn't for you, being open about that, and then not be in a monogamous relationship instead of you know breaking someone's trust. 00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:33.599 And um that was the trigger for you. 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:34.400 Yeah, okay. 00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:36.400 Um interesting. 00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:40.400 And and then you go on to say that this is an issue you're seeing everywhere. 00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:45.519 And um I I do have to ask you, um I've been looking for the source of your your fire. 00:24:46.240 --> 00:25:01.599 And uh we've spoken quite a few times, and um I have to ask you, uh this scene that you just and this whole surrounding setup is this what may have motivated you all these years? 00:25:01.839 --> 00:25:14.640 In other words, had had you used this for positive energy to maybe prove something to yourself or maybe even to him to say, you know, well, I know what put words in your mouth, but has that been a source of your power? 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:19.279 Like um you mean when you say this, what do you mean? 00:25:19.359 --> 00:25:20.240 Like kind of like the call. 00:25:28.559 --> 00:25:30.799 Well, you do say you did say how you felt. 00:25:31.599 --> 00:25:39.359 Was that something that you used to motivate you to say, you know, I'm gonna show him and I'm gonna show everybody what I can do? 00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:40.160 Wow. 00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:49.680 You know, now that now I think about it, it is it has interestingly not been like, oh, let me show him. 00:25:50.000 --> 00:26:03.759 Because I think throughout my life I have been I think more focused on this idea, and don't get me wrong, like I have been told so many times that I couldn't do something. 00:26:03.920 --> 00:26:10.640 Oh, you'll never make it to college, oh you'll never be a doctor, oh you'll never go to the NIH, oh you'll never do this. 00:26:10.799 --> 00:26:17.440 And every single time someone has told me that I can't do something, I remember someone

once told me I couldn't even get into Duke. 00:26:17.839 --> 00:26:24.480 Every time someone has told me I couldn't do something and I put my mind to it and I believe I can, I do. 00:26:24.799 --> 00:26:31.119 But I don't think my dad has necessarily or trying to prove something to him has been motivation. 00:26:31.279 --> 00:26:41.119 I think it has been more so proving something to myself and also the idea of trying to lessen suffering. 00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:50.240 Because I feel like I have done a lot of suffering in my life, and everyone suffers in some way, shape, or form. 00:26:50.400 --> 00:26:56.000 Even people with the best life has some form of suffering, even if it's the smallest thing. 00:26:56.240 --> 00:27:09.119 But I I feel like my my unique experience of suffering has in combination with what I feel like is my empathy, has pushed me into the directions that I have gone into, right? 00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:12.720 Like even majoring in neuroscience, right? 00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:30.160 Part of that has been my my experience suffering with my depression, and then finding that there is actually a way to treat myself through medicine, through psychotherapy, and doing that research and realizing that, hey, like I got all these gifts to not suffer. 00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:32.400 How can I translate that to other people? 00:27:32.640 --> 00:27:36.559 Let me be in a research lab where I can learn more so I can help other people. 00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:41.680 Um, how can I make it so that people can actually get help and they don't end up dropping out of college? 00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:49.039 Oh, let me team up with a mentor, let me create this program so that people can get their foot in the door and get help quicker, right? 00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:59.839 Um, and so like all of this has been, in my opinion, like trying to reduce suffering because I know what that feels like. 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.000 I know what it feels like to wish that someone believed in you. 00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:09.759 I know what it feels like to wish that someone saw what you were going through. 00:28:09.920 --> 00:28:15.119 And I think that has been part of my motivation, that has been part of my fire. 00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:23.359 Um, and I think the more that I find my voice, the more I remember the times where I didn't have a voice or where I feel like I was worth nothing. 00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:45.200 And when I see people who I feel like may be worth nothing, like I I've volunteered in jails for years, and I have seen how much people forget that the people we have sitting in jails are our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, neighbors, friends, like to somebody, right? 00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:51.680 And and those people are not nothing, even if they have done horrible things, right? 00:28:51.920 --> 00:28:57.920 I'm sure with throughout their lives they have done something, and there's something good, right? 00:28:58.000 --> 00:28:59.839 And there's space

to redeem themselves. 00:28:59.920 --> 00:29:21.359 And so I think that is my motivation, not to prove to my dad, oh, here I mean, there is a level of like proven to people who say I can't do something that I am someone who can do whatever they put their mind to, but also because I I know what it feels like to feel like you are nothing when the truth is that you have everything in you. 00:29:21.839 --> 00:29:32.720 You mentioned to me that um I think it was middle school, correct me if I'm wrong, middle school or early high school, and you felt it was pretty bad, and you didn't know who to talk to. 00:29:32.880 --> 00:29:34.240 You didn't even know what was going on. 00:29:34.319 --> 00:29:36.640 You described to me something that didn't feel right. 00:29:36.799 --> 00:29:36.960 Yeah. 00:29:37.279 --> 00:29:38.319 And you didn't know what it was. 00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:39.279 You didn't have a name for it. 00:29:39.359 --> 00:29:41.279 You said I didn't have a term to it. 00:29:41.519 --> 00:29:45.039 And there was uh an institution that saved your life. 00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:50.720 And could you take our viewers and listeners through what you said saved your life at this? 00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:51.839 Was it middle school? 00:29:51.920 --> 00:29:53.039 Where did it be? 00:29:53.200 --> 00:30:10.000 Yeah, I would say I would say things kind of started in middle school and transition into high school, like this feeling of just like deep hopelessness, like and sorrow and feeling as if like you weren't meant to be in this world. 00:30:10.160 --> 00:30:11.519 Maybe it was a mistake. 00:30:11.759 --> 00:30:24.240 Um and it's something that kind of like carried itself into high school where you know, even though I was like interacting, um I just, you know, I felt like I was in this hole. 00:30:24.720 --> 00:30:26.079 This hole of the way you were feeling. 00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:26.319 Yeah. 00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:27.839 Did you talk to anybody about it? 00:30:27.920 --> 00:30:31.440 I mean, did you who did you speak to when you were feeling this way? 00:30:31.759 --> 00:30:32.079 Yeah. 00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:40.000 Um I think as we know, like teachers in our schools are also first-line therapists for our kids. 00:30:40.160 --> 00:30:46.400 Um, but I was one of the I one of the lucky people to actually have guidance counselors in my high school. 00:30:46.480 --> 00:30:52.640 Um, and really like my guidance counselors really were the people who were like, hey, like you are worth something. 00:30:52.799 --> 00:30:58.880 And what you're going through, um, you know, we wish you weren't going through it, um, and really talk to me. 00:30:58.960 --> 00:31:06.400 Um, and it wasn't really until I was taking my psychology class, um, just a regular level psychology class that I was able to put a name to it. 00:31:06.480 --> 00:31:13.200 You know, when they're going through the checklist of, oh, if you have this, if you have that, and I was like, oh, this this sounds kind of like me, right? 00:31:13.279 --> 00:31:19.519 And if this is a disease, right, maybe there's a way to get help about it. 00:31:19.680 --> 00:31:26.000 Um and so like going and talking to like my parents about it is what do they say is like the first thing. 00:31:26.319 --> 00:31:30.240 Yeah, when when you came to them and said, This is what I think I'm I read about this in school. 00:31:30.319 --> 00:31:32.799 I think I'm what did what was your parents' reaction to that? 00:31:33.200 --> 00:31:48.559 Yeah, you know, and looking back now, I see how my parents, like my mom particularly, was going through her own thing, but she was she was very much like, oh, like you're a kid, you don't know what suffering is, you don't know what sad depression is, right? 00:31:48.640 --> 00:31:51.359 If if you feel so depressed, right, go kill yourself. 00:31:52.000 --> 00:31:54.079 Your mom actually Yeah. 00:31:54.240 --> 00:32:08.880 Um and I I think I think you know, again, like looking back now and seeing how much she was going through and being a single mom, an immigrant in the US, she she was in her own depressive episode too. 00:32:09.039 --> 00:32:13.920 Um and we all know how when you're hurt, you know, you can hurt people. 00:32:14.160 --> 00:32:25.200 Um and even even now, like as I grow up and she's more in a better place, she can recognize her own depression, recognize, like, hey, like I I needed help back then. 00:32:25.440 --> 00:32:27.440 Um and she can say it now. 00:32:27.519 --> 00:32:30.000 Like I she even says she needs help now. 00:32:30.160 --> 00:32:37.200 Um and so like he being at that age and hearing that really just really hits you hard, right? 00:32:37.279 --> 00:32:42.720 When you go and you ask your person, the person who you is supposed to keep you safe for help. 00:32:42.960 --> 00:32:46.160 Um luckily I did not kill myself. 00:32:46.400 --> 00:32:50.400 Um and I instead was like, you know what? 00:32:51.359 --> 00:32:53.519 Maybe I just need a new environment. 00:32:53.759 --> 00:32:59.039 That was that was a way called like I cannot be here for the rest of my life. 00:32:59.519 --> 00:33:00.240 You mean your family? 00:33:00.400 --> 00:33:00.880 Your family? 00:33:01.200 --> 00:33:01.839 So what did you do? 00:33:01.920 --> 00:33:04.240 Did you leave the Yeah? 00:33:04.400 --> 00:33:13.519 So I mean, um at that time I was what I was 16 years old, um, and I I realized like I needed to get out of there. 00:33:13.599 --> 00:33:21.039 But again, I was low income, like there were times we didn't even have water in our house, um, undocumented at that time. 00:33:21.200 --> 00:33:24.880 Like, how was I going to get out of that environment? 00:33:25.039 --> 00:33:33.759 Um, and so I set my mind to that I was going to graduate and I was going to go to college, and that was going to be the thing that changed things, right? 00:33:33.920 --> 00:33:38.400 Um, and so when I was applying for colleges, I applied to 40 schools.

00:33:38.559 --> 00:33:43.920 And, you know, of course, I I took all the AP classes I could, all the college courses I could. 00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:50.720 Um, even when I was like working in my mom's braiding shop, two in the morning, still had all this homework to do. 00:33:50.880 --> 00:33:51.440 I I didn't. 00:33:51.599 --> 00:33:52.400 I woke up at 6 a.m. 00:33:52.559 --> 00:33:53.119 and I went to school. 00:33:53.359 --> 00:33:54.000 Because you wanted out. 00:33:54.319 --> 00:33:58.559 Because I knew that education was going to be my way out. 00:33:58.720 --> 00:34:00.799 And education was is very important. 00:34:00.880 --> 00:34:11.679 Um, and I think a lot of like, you know, immigrant families and people who are immigrants in the US might like um resonate with that, that education was the way out. 00:34:11.760 --> 00:34:17.199 Um, and luckily for me, that is how I was able to go and into a new environment. 00:34:17.360 --> 00:34:23.199 Um but things did not change all that much in this new environment. 00:34:23.280 --> 00:34:24.960 Um I think the way it's college. 00:34:25.199 --> 00:34:31.280 You're speaking of so now you're at college and you're are you saying you still have some of these feelings of being uncomfortable? 00:34:31.679 --> 00:34:36.719 Yeah, these feelings of I would say, you know, the depression. 00:34:36.880 --> 00:34:45.199 Like I I feel like even going to college, no longer being in the environment, I was put in a new environment now where I was in this very wealthy environment. 00:34:45.280 --> 00:34:46.480 Like everyone was intelligent. 00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:49.039 Duke is top notch, I can imagine. 00:34:49.679 --> 00:34:50.960 Which is which is great, right? 00:34:51.039 --> 00:35:03.280 It was like this intellectual, like um basically like steampot where you would just like go down the go down the street, you could talk about anything, you you know, um you could bounce ideas off each other. 00:35:03.360 --> 00:35:07.199 There was so much access um that I had never experienced before. 00:35:07.280 --> 00:35:10.480 Um, but on top of that was the imposter syndrome was overwhelming. 00:35:10.880 --> 00:35:12.320 Meaning you felt like I didn't belong here. 00:35:12.400 --> 00:35:13.119 Is that what you're feeling? 00:35:13.599 --> 00:35:13.920 Yeah. 00:35:14.239 --> 00:35:27.519 You know, um, and being first generation, um being in a predominantly white institution and being low income, where I had like classmates who were going to like their second homes in Mexico, you know, for vacation. 00:35:27.599 --> 00:35:36.559 Um, and people were traveling abroad to study, and again, like being an undocumented student, I didn't have access to those things. 00:35:36.719 --> 00:35:45.039 Um and also during that time is when, you know, the administration at that time was even more like dangerous for someone who was undocumented. 00:35:45.199 --> 00:35:48.000 And so there was always a fear, you know, what could happen. 00:35:48.159 --> 00:35:53.679 I could end up being shipped off to a country that I have I don't remember because I left there when I was so young. 00:35:53.840 --> 00:35:58.800 So there is all these things that were still on top that contributed. 00:35:58.960 --> 00:36:03.199 So I was naive to think a different environment would just magically solve things. 00:36:03.280 --> 00:36:16.880 Um, but I was lucky in that I was able to find people who saw me and saw that I was still struggling and really opened the doors to say, hey, what you're going through is real and there is treatment. 00:36:17.039 --> 00:36:21.039 And not only is there treatment, but we'll we're willing to pay for it. 00:36:21.119 --> 00:36:24.000 We're willing to make sure you're connected to it. 00:36:24.239 --> 00:36:26.480 Um, and that completely changed my life. 00:36:27.039 --> 00:36:29.840 Which motivates you to start your own organizations for people. 00:36:30.079 --> 00:36:33.599 So it's interesting with you when when there's pain, you do something about it. 00:36:33.840 --> 00:36:34.000 Yeah. 00:36:34.400 --> 00:36:38.159 You don't seem the kind of to be the person that sits around feeling sorry for herself. 00:36:38.239 --> 00:36:41.360 You you you're motivated, okay, I'm gonna do something about this. 00:36:41.679 --> 00:36:43.199 That's your superpower, right? 00:36:43.440 --> 00:36:48.719 Yeah, and I think that's that's like the distinguishing thing about like I see myself as this empath, right? 00:36:48.880 --> 00:36:55.679 This person who can put themselves in other people's shoes and feel it, feel what other people might be feeling. 00:36:55.760 --> 00:37:09.679 But I I think when you're an empath who's not in their power, right, you are this like people pleaser who's willing to bend and fold and drain themselves dry for other people, not realizing that in the process, you are actually doing a disservice to other people. 00:37:09.920 --> 00:37:18.559 And so I think as I'm going and becoming this empath in her power, is when I'm like, oh, like I can both protect myself and make sure my cup is full. 00:37:18.639 --> 00:37:22.960 And when it is full, I can even pour more into other people's cup. 00:37:23.039 --> 00:37:25.920 And and what I'm pouring is not diluted, it's rich. 00:37:26.159 --> 00:37:30.239 And those things can then cause other people to pour into other people's cups. 00:37:30.400 --> 00:37:44.719 And so I think I have been walking more into being uh an empath in her power, who can really um protect themselves simultaneously as moving with compassion and putting um that empathy into action. 00:37:45.440 --> 00:37:54.239 I I can just imagine that college interview, which by the way, you were advised, as I recall, don't talk about your struggles and avoid all that. 00:37:54.320 --> 00:37:58.480 And you said, Well, what what did you say when you were advised not to even talk about it? 00:37:58.559 --> 00:37:59.519 What was your response to that?

00:37:59.840 --> 00:38:03.119 Yeah, I told I told them that this was part of my story. 00:38:03.280 --> 00:38:06.000 This is part of who I am and what motivates me. 00:38:06.159 --> 00:38:20.000 And if someone reads that and sees thinks that maybe I am not good enough for their institution and where they're where they are, then then I probably am not good enough for them. 00:38:20.159 --> 00:38:23.119 Um, but maybe they're not good enough for me, right? 00:38:23.199 --> 00:38:32.320 And maybe I I shouldn't be there because I have seen how you know being open, talking about what you've gone through has impacted people. 00:38:32.400 --> 00:38:41.519 Uh, you know, for me, right, I have other people have influenced and inspired me to be able to sit and talk about these things um without shame. 00:38:41.760 --> 00:38:58.320 And so, yeah, if someone sees that and is like, oh, she is a liability, then they are not fully seeing the asset that comes with being able to speak about what you're going through and being able to inspire people and be that catalyst for for change, right? 00:38:58.559 --> 00:39:05.760 Um, what what is that saying about like good girls rarely get things done or something along those lines? 00:39:06.159 --> 00:39:07.519 It's not a Billy Joel song, is it? 00:39:07.840 --> 00:39:09.519 No, it's not a Billy Joel song. 00:39:09.840 --> 00:39:21.199 But yeah, it's just like if if you sit and if you're quiet, right, like you can get things done quietly, but I I think where I'm trying to go and with the things I'm trying to do, I I need to be a bit more vocal. 00:39:21.760 --> 00:39:26.079 You said earlier in this in this discussion that you found your meaning in life. 00:39:26.239 --> 00:39:33.360 And and uh we usually spend an hour to get there with people, and I sometimes have to point blank ask them. 00:39:33.599 --> 00:39:33.760 No. 00:39:34.159 --> 00:39:35.679 But yet you volunteered that. 00:39:35.840 --> 00:39:37.760 You said that you have found your meaning in life. 00:39:37.920 --> 00:39:44.719 When when did you know what was the moment, what was the instance that you said, you know something, this is it? 00:39:45.039 --> 00:39:45.679 Hmm. 00:39:46.400 --> 00:39:47.199 Um it's funny. 00:39:47.280 --> 00:39:53.039 I was I was looking through my my camera yesterday, um, and I found this this photo. 00:39:53.119 --> 00:39:59.679 So this was basically the first time I was asked to speak um in front of legislators. 00:39:59.760 --> 00:40:13.199 Um I was invited to the Council of State governments to, as this like um um expert in youth mental health, to talk about my experience and my lived experience with mental illness and also the work I've done in policy. 00:40:13.440 --> 00:40:25.679 Um and I started the talk basically giving a trigger warning, letting people know that what I'm about to talk about, you know, has some things that might be harmful or triggering to other people, right? 00:40:25.840 --> 00:40:31.519 Talking about suicidality and mental health and poverty and all those things. 00:40:31.679 --> 00:40:38.800 But on top of this, we talk about um resilience and perseverance and um and really love. 00:40:38.960 --> 00:40:49.760 And, you know, throughout my time, I I tell the story, my lived experience, um, from growing up and being an immigrant to then um going to college to then becoming a mental health advocate. 00:40:49.920 --> 00:40:57.119 Um, and I remember at the end of it, I just like leave some time for silence. 00:40:57.440 --> 00:41:00.159 And instead of silence during my talk, right? 00:41:00.320 --> 00:41:06.480 Um, and instead of silence, every single one of those legislators gets up and get gives me a standing ovation. 00:41:06.719 --> 00:41:08.719 Oh my goodness, you're giving me goosebumps. 00:41:08.960 --> 00:41:12.960 And I never would have expected that ever. 00:41:13.360 --> 00:41:19.599 Um and you know, and and I tell this pretty like intense like story about my life. 00:41:19.760 --> 00:41:25.360 Um and it was like the I felt like so seen, right? 00:41:25.440 --> 00:41:37.920 And I was like, oh my goodness, these people who have powers to like use their pen and use their voice to change the way we operate as citizens, see me and hear my story and felt something. 00:41:38.239 --> 00:41:38.800 That was the moment. 00:41:38.960 --> 00:41:40.000 Yeah, is that what you're saying? 00:41:40.159 --> 00:41:50.400 That was a moment, and I was like, this in finding my voice, in going away from being afraid to talk about these things. 00:41:51.360 --> 00:41:58.880 I was able to, even if it was just one person who heard my story and went back to their state that day and was like There was a room full of people, you know, yeah. 00:41:59.039 --> 00:41:59.360 Right? 00:41:59.599 --> 00:42:23.280 It was a room full of people who might put maybe 10,000 extra dollars into funding mental health, or might make a law that allows people to have quicker access to someone who will evaluate them and get them into healthcare, or make it so that even people who don't go to college can find a way to get access to mental health how I could, they were impacted by how I spoke. 00:42:23.360 --> 00:42:28.000 And I think it it was that moment where I was like, oh my goodness, like this is it, this is what I'm gonna do. 00:42:28.239 --> 00:42:31.280 Yeah, like doing something, you know? 00:42:31.360 --> 00:42:35.679 Like Bruni, what do you tell people that have yet to have that moment? 00:42:35.840 --> 00:42:44.719 They don't have an opportunity like yourself in front of a bunch of legislatures where they can have this aha moment and they're just wandering and they're they're trying to figure it out. 00:42:44.800 --> 00:42:47.119 What do you tell people to find their moment? 00:42:47.360 --> 00:42:47.840 Hmm. 00:42:48.239 --> 00:42:51.119 I say be brave. 00:42:51.440 --> 00:42:53.199 Put yourself out there. 00:42:53.440 --> 00:42:59.840 Um go and do something that you maybe

wouldn't imagine yourself doing. 00:43:00.159 --> 00:43:09.440 Go into a space that maybe you don't think you deserve to be in, but if you can find your way in, even just sitting there will ignite something. 00:43:09.840 --> 00:43:12.159 So physically place yourself in that environment. 00:43:12.480 --> 00:43:12.719 Yes. 00:43:12.880 --> 00:43:24.000 Physically physically place yourself in that environment, find the things that maybe um spark something in you, and also follow the things that make you angry, make you sad, right? 00:43:24.159 --> 00:43:30.800 Like I I would tell myself, and you know, when we first start medical school, we all write ourselves letters when we you're at George Washington. 00:43:30.960 --> 00:43:40.719 You write yourself a letter to yourself in the future that you don't open until the day you do your match, where you find out where you're going to be a physician for the next few years. 00:43:40.880 --> 00:43:48.000 Um, and in my letter, I wrote myself like if you ever find that you are losing your light, go and volunteer. 00:43:48.239 --> 00:43:52.239 Go and watch a vice video that makes you cry or makes you angry. 00:43:52.400 --> 00:43:59.199 And whatever that topic is, research and put yourself yourself in that space where you are around other people who can ignite you. 00:43:59.360 --> 00:43:59.760 Like it is. 00:44:00.480 --> 00:44:02.159 I did not get here alone. 00:44:02.320 --> 00:44:12.480 There is a bunch of people, mentors, teachers, just like people I found on the streets who I talked to and was like, hey, like, I really like what you're doing. 00:44:12.559 --> 00:44:13.440 I want to be a part of that. 00:44:13.519 --> 00:44:14.800 How can we do it together? 00:44:15.360 --> 00:44:27.519 Even the nonprofit that I've been running, it was fellow NIH postbacks that were like, oh, like I really love that idea, and I want to help you, Bruni, who are my co-founders who helped me do this. 00:44:27.840 --> 00:44:36.079 And actually, one of my co-founders actually was in George Washington medical school and followed behind me in being a medical student. 00:44:36.239 --> 00:44:41.280 So like it is you don't and you can't do this alone, right? 00:44:41.519 --> 00:44:43.519 Can one person change the world? 00:44:44.000 --> 00:44:48.320 Yes, but they can't change the world isolated, right? 00:44:48.400 --> 00:44:51.440 They have to ripple across other people. 00:44:51.679 --> 00:44:54.559 And so that's kind of the the advice I I give. 00:44:54.880 --> 00:44:56.480 So the message is get out of the house. 00:44:56.639 --> 00:44:56.800 Yeah. 00:44:57.119 --> 00:44:57.599 Do something. 00:44:57.840 --> 00:44:58.079 Do something. 00:44:58.320 --> 00:45:03.679 And coming back to the piece you wrote uh earlier that we talked about, you talk about the loneliness epidemic. 00:45:03.840 --> 00:45:04.000 Yeah. 00:45:04.239 --> 00:45:08.320 And the Surgeon General came out and said, what it's like smoking 16 cigarettes a day. 00:45:08.400 --> 00:45:11.440 So we're coming back to this issue of loneliness. 00:45:11.760 --> 00:45:13.920 So get out of the house, you're saying volunteer. 00:45:14.159 --> 00:45:15.360 Yeah, find your community. 00:45:15.599 --> 00:45:16.880 Find your community. 00:45:17.119 --> 00:45:20.800 And that's the secret, you think, to finding finding the meaning. 00:45:21.199 --> 00:45:22.239 Build your connections, right? 00:45:22.559 --> 00:45:23.039 Build your connections. 00:45:23.519 --> 00:45:24.960 That's how you keep the fire, the fire. 00:45:25.280 --> 00:45:26.719 Because sometimes the fire goes down. 00:45:27.119 --> 00:45:28.320 Yeah, I want to ask you about that. 00:45:28.639 --> 00:45:30.719 You know, you you you give me energy. 00:45:30.880 --> 00:45:33.039 I mean you you've got quite a bit of energy. 00:45:33.199 --> 00:45:37.599 Um, when you were going through medical school and and and through all this, it's not a straight uphill path. 00:45:37.679 --> 00:45:46.639 So what did you do for yourself when, or maybe you just answered the question, but did you ever feel like you were hitting against hit up against a wall and said, Oh, I'm never gonna get through this. 00:45:47.039 --> 00:45:48.159 Yeah, yeah. 00:45:48.320 --> 00:45:53.519 And you know, with every big transition in our lives, we're always trying to scramble to get back. 00:45:53.679 --> 00:46:00.320 And I I remember when I first started medical school, I was just like, you know, at first I think, oh, I'm I'm doing it. 00:46:01.599 --> 00:46:02.320 Yeah, I've made it. 00:46:02.400 --> 00:46:05.920 Like, oh, I'm about to about to change the world, about to be a doctor. 00:46:06.159 --> 00:46:14.159 And really, like what we do and how the structure of medical school is, is that in the first two years, you're it's your non-clinical year. 00:46:14.239 --> 00:46:19.679 So you're spending a majority of your time reading the textbooks, learning the materials, right? 00:46:19.760 --> 00:46:24.960 And I was in front of the computer, I was doing my Anki, reading, and I was just like, I was finding myself so burnt out. 00:46:25.039 --> 00:46:27.599 I was like, man, like where are the patients? 00:46:27.760 --> 00:46:29.280 Like, I came here for patients. 00:46:29.519 --> 00:46:34.239 I came here to connect to people, and I'm and I'm reading the textbooks, and which is great, right? 00:46:34.320 --> 00:46:39.440 I was getting so much medical knowledge, but I wasn't practicing like I wasn't applying it, right? 00:46:39.519 --> 00:46:45.920 And we we all know, like for me, like it's one thing for me to absorb the information, another thing for me to do it, right? 00:46:46.239 --> 00:47:08.480 And so I I didn't really find um where I was supposed to be until I started volunteering in the student-run clinic, um, actually as a patient navigator, where there's these student-run clinics where like medical students would be able to give health care to people who are undocumented or couldn't

afford to go to a regular doctor. 00:47:08.639 --> 00:47:12.880 Um, and so I found that like through this connection, I was able to do all these things. 00:47:12.960 --> 00:47:23.679 Um I joined the Social Mission Alliance, which is an organization that basically is trying to get healthcare institutions to uphold their promise of health equity, right? 00:47:23.840 --> 00:47:30.559 And so they they even made a whole like social mission metric that you know how US News has like, oh, 10 best med schools. 00:47:30.800 --> 00:47:42.000 They changed the criteria from it being like, oh, how much money these schools are able to bring into, you know, how much of their medical students go on and actually become primary care physicians? 00:47:42.079 --> 00:47:50.800 Um, how much of their curriculum is focused on health equity so that their students are actually learning how to, you know, be physicians for the people. 00:47:50.880 --> 00:47:56.719 Um, and so in joining all these things, I started volunteering at jails, teaching about medicine and teaching about mental health. 00:47:56.880 --> 00:47:59.599 And that is where I really got the the fire back in me. 00:47:59.679 --> 00:48:07.760 I was like, okay, I can do these textbook stuff if I also can do these things and I can be in these environments and learn from people. 00:48:07.920 --> 00:48:14.559 And then we start our third year, our clinical years, just to find out the the patients don't even read the textbook. 00:48:14.719 --> 00:48:19.760 So I was reading the textbooks this whole time just for them to be like, okay, you remember all these things you learned those two years? 00:48:20.159 --> 00:48:25.119 Keep them, but forget them, because the patient didn't read the textbook and it'll be completely different. 00:48:25.440 --> 00:48:40.559 Um, and of course, it wasn't completely different, but again, like the words the patient doesn't read the textbook means that the treatment that you think or the presentation that you read about in the textbook might be actually completely different from what the patient does, because everyone is different, right? 00:48:40.719 --> 00:48:49.679 Like people might have their heart in the opposite place where it's supposed to be, and that is right too, because sometimes that happens, right? 00:48:49.840 --> 00:48:51.119 Um, and you need to be ready. 00:48:51.280 --> 00:48:56.000 And that is why it's called the art of medicine, because it is an art, right? 00:48:56.159 --> 00:49:00.880 People come with different things, and you you can't just do exactly what the book says. 00:49:00.960 --> 00:49:04.480 You need to think outside the box sometimes to solve people's issues. 00:49:04.800 --> 00:49:06.639 And so back to my question about the wall. 00:49:06.719 --> 00:49:11.039 So there you are again, you hit this wall in the second year, and what do you do? 00:49:11.199 --> 00:49:15.920 You go out there and you volunteer, you go in the if they're not gonna bring the clinic to me, right? 00:49:16.159 --> 00:49:18.000 I'm I'm going to the clinic and that's what you do. 00:49:18.800 --> 00:49:20.880 So that's that's what you do when you hit the wall. 00:49:21.199 --> 00:49:21.920 Yeah, yeah. 00:49:22.000 --> 00:49:31.199 And you know, you're you're told a lot, like, oh, like you you you should focus on the medicine, you should you should focus on the textbook and reading and all those things. 00:49:31.360 --> 00:49:41.679 And I I was like, I actually felt like I was doing better when I found myself like finding taking some time to do this, this like advocacy and other work. 00:49:41.840 --> 00:49:46.159 Um it kind of kind of fueled me and gave me fuel to continue doing the other things. 00:49:46.239 --> 00:49:55.679 Like some people can just spend the four years doing exactly that, two years focused completely on the books, and then two years doing the clinical things, and then they go to the residency. 00:49:55.760 --> 00:49:58.239 Um, but that just isn't my story. 00:49:58.880 --> 00:49:59.840 Your story's action. 00:50:00.079 --> 00:50:01.199 Yeah, my story is action. 00:50:01.360 --> 00:50:01.440 Yeah. 00:50:01.840 --> 00:50:07.119 Bruni, what is going on with the state of um finding a therapist and counselors? 00:50:07.280 --> 00:50:09.440 What what do we tell these these kids? 00:50:09.840 --> 00:50:11.360 It presents early in life. 00:50:11.679 --> 00:50:15.920 For some most people, middle school, early high school, as it did with you. 00:50:16.079 --> 00:50:21.440 And you were you used the word lucky, but I don't when I think of you, I don't think of that word. 00:50:21.519 --> 00:50:22.559 I think of action. 00:50:23.119 --> 00:50:23.360 Right? 00:50:23.440 --> 00:50:26.960 Luck comes to people that that do things and have action. 00:50:27.199 --> 00:50:33.920 So um what do we tell these kids that have they're in that place and they don't know what to do? 00:50:34.079 --> 00:50:42.159 Uh the student counselor situation that you referred to, uh the research indicates over the last 30 years it hasn't gotten any better. 00:50:42.400 --> 00:50:42.559 Yeah. 00:50:42.960 --> 00:50:49.039 You know, there's about uh what uh 400 to 1 ratio, yeah, 372 to 1. 00:50:49.280 --> 00:50:50.559 They're not in the schools. 00:50:51.360 --> 00:50:53.360 It hasn't changed over the last 30 years. 00:50:53.440 --> 00:50:58.480 The recommendations are 250 at once, so we're going to it's getting a little bit better. 00:50:58.559 --> 00:51:01.760 It's improved about 25 percent in in the last 30 years. 00:51:01.920 --> 00:51:03.280 But what do we tell these kids? 00:51:03.440 --> 00:51:04.480 How do they get the help? 00:51:04.559 --> 00:51:06.480 And maybe their parents aren't so open to it. 00:51:06.639 --> 00:51:07.360 What do they do? 00:51:07.679 --> 00:51:14.800 Yeah, and it's like sometimes some school districts have more police officers than even counselors in their school, right? 00:51:15.039 --> 00:51:26.719 And so, like, you

know, ki kids, young people are going through these like environments more than ever before where it feels like they're trying to catch up, right? 00:51:26.800 --> 00:51:33.119 They're trying to catch up with where they're they feel like they're supposed to be or where their internet is telling them they're supposed to be at. 00:51:33.360 --> 00:51:42.320 Um and I think I think the these days, because we have the information and it's so available, it's like a double-edged sword, right? 00:51:42.400 --> 00:51:53.039 And so the the downside to it is that kids are being inundated by all this information and maybe um their brain hasn't fully gotten to the place it's supposed to to be able to fully process it. 00:51:53.199 --> 00:52:01.119 Um or they also don't have the tools to be able to process it emotionally, psychologically, um, spiritually. 00:52:01.280 --> 00:52:07.360 And so they're looking for help, they're looking for um a way to process all these things. 00:52:07.440 --> 00:52:16.159 Um, and that's kind of where people are kind of falling into these like things like the manosphere, where they're finding things like the red pill and their Let's talk about that. 00:52:16.239 --> 00:52:17.920 You you said the manosphere. 00:52:18.159 --> 00:52:18.320 Yeah. 00:52:18.719 --> 00:52:20.800 Okay, talk about that and talk about the red pill. 00:52:21.119 --> 00:52:21.519 Yeah. 00:52:21.760 --> 00:52:49.679 Um, and so like the manosphere is basically um this like space where men go to talk about what they're going through um in as a male gender and kind of the struggles that they go through, but it also kind of has become more of a space to um also talk about kind of the the bad things that men are experiencing as as a result of women. 00:52:49.760 --> 00:52:51.599 And they're blaming it on women, you're saying. 00:52:51.920 --> 00:52:53.280 Some some parts of it, right? 00:52:53.360 --> 00:53:06.559 Like what it means to be a man and like hypermasculinity and you know how what it means to be a woman and how like women aren't being the quote unquote the pinnacle of women these days, and all of this talk. 00:53:06.719 --> 00:53:17.519 And I think it's really distracting from this idea that, you know, men just like every other people are just trying to find a place to belong and feel like they matter, right? 00:53:17.599 --> 00:53:31.519 And I feel like some places and some platforms are kind of like taking advantage of that and kind of um perverting that and causing people to believe that they're not man enough if they don't do a certain thing or a different thing. 00:53:33.360 --> 00:53:37.039 They teased him about being soft and calling him a simp. 00:53:37.119 --> 00:53:39.039 Is that what you're oh my goodness, yes. 00:53:39.199 --> 00:53:52.639 And you you would not believe how many times I talk to patients who are just like in tears and they're like, I feel so trapped because I can't express sorrow. 00:53:53.119 --> 00:53:54.400 I can't express

anger. 00:53:54.800 --> 00:54:00.480 These are men, yeah, because I'm told, like, oh, I just need a man up, or I'm a man, I'll be okay. 00:54:00.639 --> 00:54:05.119 And I feel like, you know, they're in this like like prison, right? 00:54:05.280 --> 00:54:08.400 And is the society that put them in that prison? 00:54:08.719 --> 00:54:09.679 Maybe, right? 00:54:09.760 --> 00:54:31.360 And how we like socialize men, but I think um starting this movement where we are encouraging our young men to have this emotional intelligence, to feel emotions, but also to learn how to process those emotions well and in a healthy way that allows them to have good relationships, not only with the women, but also amongst each other, right? 00:54:31.760 --> 00:54:37.840 Yeah, let's talk about that each other part, yeah, representing the male species, um male gender. 00:54:38.239 --> 00:54:39.920 Uh it it is hard. 00:54:40.079 --> 00:54:44.559 And uh you and I grew up in different generations, but uh it doesn't seem like much has changed. 00:54:45.119 --> 00:54:45.760 Unfortunately, yeah. 00:54:46.159 --> 00:54:48.079 Yeah, so we we just weren't given the tools. 00:54:48.239 --> 00:54:52.159 I'm not making excuses, I'm just representing uh it it's hard. 00:54:52.400 --> 00:54:52.960 It's hard. 00:54:53.119 --> 00:55:05.119 You write about African American American men having even more of a challenge in talking to each other, and um uh you used some words that I didn't quite understand how to look up. 00:55:05.199 --> 00:55:11.360 One has a French ending to it that describe what African American men why is it unique in that community? 00:55:11.760 --> 00:55:37.760 Yeah, um I think whenever you add additional like isms or additional identities to it, like being a male, right, being a black male, and adding the history in our country of um racism and all that brings, right, and what it means to be black in this country, on top of what it means to be a male, um there is that like again, like this double-edged sword of like, oh, I need to be like this textbook man, right? 00:55:37.840 --> 00:55:43.760 But also I need to prove myself and that I am the right kind of black man, right? 00:55:43.920 --> 00:56:05.199 And I think that puts so much pressure on men, and that you know, it puts pressure on black men to again be this right kind of black men when on top of that they are dealing with the traumas that come with the isms in our country and not being able to fully process that because again, the socialization, you're a man, toughen up, you can't feel sorrow, you can't feel these certain things. 00:56:05.360 --> 00:56:11.519 All you're allowed to feel is maybe anger, and even that, don't you dare be an angry black man, right? 00:56:11.679 --> 00:56:17.119 Um, it's it's scary and it's it feels like there's this like imprisonment. 00:56:17.280 --> 00:56:26.400 And I really feel like especially our black males um are even more vulnerable to falling into these like manospheres

and and that word you're talking about, right? 00:56:26.559 --> 00:56:52.960 Massage noir, which is this like um sexism towards black women, um, where it's especially when it's perpet perpetuated by our own black men, it's even more painful because black men are the first men we look to to protect us um when we're dealing with um sexism, when we're dealing with racism, because I feel like they know more than other people what we're going through, being the other side of our um race. 00:56:53.119 --> 00:57:18.559 Um and so it's kind of like, you know, this like cycle where we're trying to strengthen a community and have good relationships within each other, um, falling into these pitfalls of these like, again, this like red pill, massage noir, this like manosphere of like, oh, you're not a man if you treat a woman um nice right, nice nice, you know, which is so crazy. 00:57:18.800 --> 00:57:32.719 Um because who who doesn't want to be in a loving relationship that isn't abusive, that is full of um cooperation, it's full of, you know, just like doing things together um and making decisions that feel healthy. 00:57:32.960 --> 00:57:47.760 Instead, we have this like in order to prove you're a man, you need to be, you know, um, you need to kind of show your power in a certain way, or not allow your woman to make more money than you, or not allow your woman to speak to you or uh do these things. 00:57:47.840 --> 00:57:50.960 It's just like it feels so backwards from where we were going. 00:57:51.599 --> 00:58:01.840 You know, it occurs to me, you know, if if I'm a man in that environment and all the men are acting this way, if I act the opposite way, I would be able to date anybody I wanted to. 00:58:02.320 --> 00:58:02.559 Right? 00:58:02.960 --> 00:58:05.360 I mean they're doing the opposite. 00:58:05.440 --> 00:58:05.519 Yeah. 00:58:05.760 --> 00:58:12.400 Instead of getting involved with this negativity, be a positive force and their problems will go away. 00:58:12.639 --> 00:58:13.039 Right? 00:58:13.440 --> 00:58:15.280 Well, maybe maybe not completely. 00:58:15.440 --> 00:58:16.639 There but it will help. 00:58:16.800 --> 00:58:17.280 It will help. 00:58:17.760 --> 00:58:24.480 We'll have more dates, certainly than sitting home online posting this evilness. 00:58:26.400 --> 00:58:38.559 Because like I think nowadays, especially as women are getting more access to capital, now women can have their own bank accounts, and now you know there are women in the C-suite, and there are women doctors, and how can that be bad? 00:58:38.719 --> 00:58:40.559 I just can't figure out how can that be bad? 00:58:40.880 --> 00:58:42.159 Well, well, that's what I'm saying. 00:58:42.320 --> 00:58:53.920 It's it's like now that the criteria for being a man who gets a woman and is in a relationship, it goes more than financial, right? 00:58:54.000 --> 00:58:59.760 Like I feel like back when women couldn't have bank accounts, like you needed a man to be able to live,

right? 00:58:59.920 --> 00:59:03.119 Because how else were you going to be able to pay for things? 00:59:03.360 --> 00:59:06.239 And you know, when you you are a single person, it's harder. 00:59:06.320 --> 00:59:17.920 But now that women can have access to capital, can have access to um um a better career trajectory, that means that men need to bring more to the table than just finances, right? 00:59:18.079 --> 00:59:28.079 They they have to have character, they have to have emotional intelligence because in terms of the finances, like a woman can now like buy a house by herself, right? 00:59:28.239 --> 00:59:31.519 They don't need a man to like co-sign it like it used to be back in the day. 00:59:31.599 --> 00:59:42.960 And so that means that partnership, now there is more criteria where it's like, okay, like you need to also come with the ability to communicate and to talk and compromise. 00:59:43.119 --> 00:59:52.960 Um, and so um I think that puts men in a very particular spot because it doesn't money is not what makes a quote unquote high value man, at least at least to me. 00:59:53.360 --> 00:59:54.320 But this is how we were brought up. 00:59:54.400 --> 00:59:56.079 I gotta tell you, this is how we were brought up. 00:59:56.239 --> 00:59:57.119 That's what the women want. 00:59:57.280 --> 00:59:57.440 Yeah. 00:59:57.679 --> 01:00:00.159 Get a get a nice car, get a bunch of money. 01:00:00.320 --> 01:00:03.519 But here you are saying bad advice. 01:00:04.079 --> 01:00:07.280 I mean, yeah, I mean, it it's not just money. 01:00:07.440 --> 01:00:09.920 Like, who doesn't want to be financially stable, right? 01:00:10.079 --> 01:00:34.000 But there are men who are middle income, are making fifty thousand dollars a year that have um character, that have loyalty, that have um, you know, um discipline, that have more character, and I feel like that is more high value than the man who is making a million dollars but lacks discipline, lacks the ability to have their words mean something, right? 01:00:34.159 --> 01:00:40.400 Where if they say they're gonna do things, they're going to do it because to them, right, their words means something. 01:00:40.559 --> 01:00:49.280 Um, and so this like kind of thing from that, where now there's just even like looks maxing, where like men are like hitting themselves in the let's back up here. 01:00:49.760 --> 01:00:50.639 So say this. 01:00:50.800 --> 01:00:51.440 What is this? 01:00:51.760 --> 01:00:53.760 Looks um looks maxing. 01:00:53.840 --> 01:00:55.519 Um looks masking, okay. 01:00:55.760 --> 01:00:56.320 Describe that. 01:00:56.559 --> 01:01:06.079 It's like it's basically this this idea that like um in order to see yourself as valuable, you need to do everything you can to be as tr as attractive as possible. 01:01:06.400 --> 01:01:07.360 This is what men are doing? 01:01:07.679 --> 01:01:09.280 It's like one of those like trends. 01:01:10.239 --> 01:01:12.719 Let me do a quick public service announcement if you don't mind. 01:01:13.039 --> 01:01:18.880 Guys, listen, get off the computer, get out of the house, and learn how to talk to a woman properly. 01:01:18.960 --> 01:01:19.119 Yeah. 01:01:19.360 --> 01:01:24.239 You don't have to pay a lot of money to do an online dating service and the secrets to getting all the dates you want. 01:01:24.400 --> 01:01:25.519 I just gave it to you. 01:01:26.000 --> 01:01:27.599 Learn how to be nice to a woman. 01:01:27.920 --> 01:01:28.400 That's it. 01:01:28.639 --> 01:01:28.800 Yeah. 01:01:29.039 --> 01:01:33.760 Sorry, go back to the way trying to do the opposite. 01:01:34.159 --> 01:01:36.719 Yeah, how do I look the best, right? 01:01:36.960 --> 01:01:38.639 And you know, command a room. 01:01:38.719 --> 01:01:44.159 And I'm like, who is focusing on how to be a good human being? 01:01:44.320 --> 01:01:46.320 How to learn kindness, right? 01:01:46.719 --> 01:01:47.440 That's what they should be doing. 01:01:47.679 --> 01:01:52.400 And because there's that whole thing of like, good men, you know, good guys always finish last. 01:01:52.559 --> 01:01:57.440 And I'm like, no, I feel like And the guys that are finishing last are saying that. 01:01:57.599 --> 01:01:57.920 Yeah. 01:01:58.159 --> 01:01:59.760 Not the guys that are finishing first. 01:02:00.079 --> 01:02:02.159 I feel like the ones finishing first are quiet. 01:02:02.559 --> 01:02:03.760 Where do we go from here, Bruni? 01:02:03.920 --> 01:02:04.639 What are we gonna do? 01:02:04.800 --> 01:02:10.079 What's what are these what are we to do in in this particular situation? 01:02:10.320 --> 01:02:13.280 What's the call to action here for folks listening and watching? 01:02:13.440 --> 01:02:14.719 What can we do collectively? 01:02:15.039 --> 01:02:15.360 Collectively. 01:02:15.599 --> 01:02:16.320 Or individually, even. 01:02:16.639 --> 01:02:16.880 Yeah. 01:02:17.039 --> 01:02:24.320 Um, I think individually we can one understands that men's mental health matter, right? 01:02:24.480 --> 01:02:31.760 And that the things that men are going through, especially all the pressures, this like pressure cooker of, oh, you have to be this certain way. 01:02:31.920 --> 01:02:33.039 It it is real. 01:02:33.360 --> 01:02:38.639 And and women are going through a similar thing where it's like, hey, you have to be a certain way, right? 01:02:38.719 --> 01:02:59.920 We we are all going through this thing, but I think there is freedom and understanding that when we acknowledge that there is more we can do to be better humans for ourselves, and there is more we can do for our communities instead of kind of sitting down and just waiting for things to magically fix themselves, that is where we actually have the power. 01:03:00.159 --> 01:03:13.119 So, like if you are um a man who has ever gone to therapy, speaking about it and being brave and being open about it will go such a long way, especially if you're amongst other men and just like dropping in a

conversation. 01:03:13.199 --> 01:03:17.119 And I know it it's scary, like, oh, you won't believe what my therapist said the other day. 01:03:17.280 --> 01:03:19.440 You know, someone's like, oh, you have a therapist? 01:03:19.599 --> 01:03:31.920 And maybe they might be like at first, like, oh, this guy, but the way that you speak about it and it's open, and you know, being non-judgmental, that might spark in someone their ability to be like, oh, maybe I should talk to someone. 01:03:32.400 --> 01:03:35.039 Going to a therapist is not weakness, it's strength. 01:03:35.280 --> 01:03:35.519 Yeah. 01:03:35.760 --> 01:03:36.320 I've been. 01:03:36.480 --> 01:03:37.840 It's scary, it's hard. 01:03:38.079 --> 01:03:38.239 Yeah. 01:03:38.480 --> 01:03:43.599 It takes a bold man to go sit in front of a complete stranger and open yourself up. 01:03:43.760 --> 01:03:46.719 So we need to change the whole the look of that. 01:03:46.960 --> 01:03:47.519 Absolutely. 01:03:47.760 --> 01:03:52.719 I'm gonna put you on the spot, as if I haven't already for the last hour, but I want to put you on the spot. 01:03:52.880 --> 01:03:54.480 Tell me, where do you go from here? 01:03:54.559 --> 01:03:55.599 What are some of the goals? 01:03:55.760 --> 01:03:57.840 What are the some of your aspirations? 01:03:58.000 --> 01:04:00.239 You've accomplished so much at such an early point. 01:04:00.960 --> 01:04:01.920 What what are you thinking about? 01:04:02.320 --> 01:04:03.679 Well, what kind of practice do you want to have? 01:04:03.760 --> 01:04:04.880 Do you want to stay in the hospital? 01:04:05.039 --> 01:04:07.599 Do you want to hang up a shingle that we used to say? 01:04:07.840 --> 01:04:08.639 What would you like to do? 01:04:09.039 --> 01:04:11.039 Yeah, super, super huge question. 01:04:11.280 --> 01:04:16.880 Well, I think I'm just in the beginning of this psychiatry doctorship. 01:04:16.960 --> 01:04:22.239 Um, and so where where I go, there's like so many different places I would go. 01:04:22.559 --> 01:04:29.199 Um right now I'm I'm really interested in child and adolescent um psychiatry and seeing and exploring that. 01:04:29.280 --> 01:04:35.119 Um, because right now you get trained in adult psychiatry before you can go and do fellowship and do the sub-specialties. 01:04:35.440 --> 01:04:39.599 So as far as I know, that's that's been my um my look. 01:04:39.679 --> 01:04:45.679 But honestly, um I'm really focused on learning how to be a great doctor, learning the system. 01:04:46.000 --> 01:04:48.079 Turns out, like, it's not just being a doctor. 01:04:48.480 --> 01:04:49.599 But the system, you gotta look at the system. 01:04:50.159 --> 01:04:52.719 You gotta learn about insurance, um, prior authorization. 01:04:53.199 --> 01:04:54.639 It's not fair for me to ask you that question. 01:04:55.119 --> 01:04:55.599 It's too early. 01:04:55.760 --> 01:04:56.239 Is it too early? 01:04:56.639 --> 01:05:00.239 It's too early, but I do have some sense of where I'm going, right? 01:05:00.320 --> 01:05:10.320 I'm understanding more as I am learning that there is all the system, how much more important like all this advocacy skills I've developed, how it's important, right? 01:05:10.400 --> 01:05:19.920 And even more how policy is impacting what I can do and how I can practice, and really how much of you know, um, a barrier certain things can be. 01:05:20.079 --> 01:05:31.280 So I I want to continue building and growing my skills and advocacy and policy while I'm doing this like training and learning how to be a good doctor and learning how the systems work. 01:05:31.360 --> 01:05:48.400 Um and I also want to continue like growing my nonprofit, being able to connect people to advocates that will help them navigate the system so that when I am a full-fledged board certified physician, um, I have this program that you know can support my patients as I'm doing the doctoring. 01:05:48.559 --> 01:05:59.119 Um when I send them out with my treatment plan, I feel like there is a safety net in place for them that if they do need help, um, they can get that help and so that I can be a support. 01:05:59.440 --> 01:06:02.079 We will have all the details in the show notes, everything. 01:06:02.239 --> 01:06:05.360 We want to help you on the show, we want to help you in any way we can. 01:06:05.840 --> 01:06:08.480 So I appreciate you coming on the show. 01:06:09.280 --> 01:06:17.679 And uh I hope that we can get an update and all the organizations you talked about today and where folks can go to get some help will be very clear in the show notes. 01:06:17.760 --> 01:06:20.239 And you know, you you motivate me. 01:06:20.400 --> 01:06:33.440 Uh you really do, even at this later stage of my life to see somebody with so much energy and and to talk to somebody that just you know has her meaning at such an early point in her life, it's just it's extremely touching. 01:06:33.519 --> 01:06:37.599 And I want to do everything I can to share you with the world. 01:06:37.840 --> 01:06:45.840 And so if you ever feel like there's something you want to be talking about, you think there's some initiative, reach out to us and would like to have you back on. 01:06:45.920 --> 01:06:47.039 So I want to thank you again. 01:06:47.119 --> 01:06:55.599 Uh hopefully it won't be another two or three years that we that we talk again, but uh keep up the great work and folks, all the information will be in the show notes, as I mentioned. 01:06:55.760 --> 01:06:59.519 All the organizations that Bruni's a part of, that she's starting, will all be there. 01:06:59.599 --> 01:07:05.119 So I want to thank uh our listeners and viewers for uh for contributing to the show. 01:07:05.440 --> 01:07:07.360 Folks, it's very easy to support the show. 01:07:07.519 --> 01:07:09.519 Thank you very much for listening and viewing. 01:07:09.599 --> 01:07:15.840 Uh, we are not sponsors uh supported right now, so anything you can do to help the show will be appreciated. 01:07:15.920 --> 01:07:23.599 Everything's in the uh webpage that you can donate to the show, you can make a contribution, uh, you can become a member of the show. 01:07:23.840 --> 01:07:26.719 You can get on YouTube and just simply subscribe to the show. 01:07:26.880 --> 01:07:28.880 Anything you do to help us helps Bruni. 01:07:29.119 --> 01:07:30.800 And and that's our mission here at the show. 01:07:30.880 --> 01:07:34.480 So until next time, thank you very much for listening and watching. 01:07:35.119 --> 01:07:36.559 We've reached the end of our show. 01:07:36.719 --> 01:07:39.039 Thank you for tuning in or watching. 01:07:39.280 --> 01:07:41.039 I'd like to leave you with three things. 01:07:41.199 --> 01:07:48.559 Number one, if you found the show empathical, subscribe, like, or share this show with a friend or a colleague. 01:07:48.719 --> 01:07:56.559 Number two, if you'd like to contribute to the show to help us keep moving forward, head over to our website, sit downforthis.com. 01:07:56.880 --> 01:08:03.519 And thirdly, if you'd like to tell your story or know somebody that would, let us know at SitDownForthis.com. 01:08:03.679 --> 01:08:05.199 Until next time, don't give up. 01:08:05.519 --> 01:08:08.639 Success and meaning it's never a straight up hill path. 01:08:09.119 --> 01:08:12.079 See you next time at StickDownForthis.com.