The Real Reason So Many Women Get Diagnosed With Breast Cancer Too Late w/ Deb Belfatto

[SPEAKER_00]: It's hard to be patient sometimes when you realize some work that needs to be done. [SPEAKER_00]: I've been asked, how did you find your purpose? [SPEAKER_00]: My purpose found me. [SPEAKER_00]: I was 33-year-old living a great life and whack. [SPEAKER_00]: I found a love. [SPEAKER_00]: I kind of knew then that I wanted to reach other women. [SPEAKER_01]: Think about your diagnosis decades ago, and women are still in crisis even now. [SPEAKER_00]: And still being told, you're too young. [SPEAKER_00]: You don't have a family history. [SPEAKER_00]: They're being dismissed and misled. [SPEAKER_00]: And we have to fix that. [SPEAKER_01]: You have five pillars. [SPEAKER_01]: We do. [SPEAKER_01]: Which one do you think is most important

of the five? [SPEAKER_01]: in human connection. [SPEAKER_01]: People need people. [SPEAKER_01]: To a woman still putting herself in the back burner, give her one action item. [SPEAKER_00]: One thing she needs to do for herself is [SPEAKER_01]: She raised $20 million to fight breast cancer, then breast cancer came for her a second time. [SPEAKER_01]: She called it WTF, breast cancer number two. [SPEAKER_01]: Got off the sofa and built a stage for a thousand women. [SPEAKER_01]: If founder who refuses to let her diagnosis be the headline, [SPEAKER_01]: Deb Belthato founder of Let's Talk Women's Health and Wellness, the New Jersey Symposium that now draws over a thousand women to end a pack every spring, before let's talk

raising more than 20 million for breast cancer research and community grants. [SPEAKER_01]: diagnosed with breast cancer at 33 in 1988. [SPEAKER_01]: Her 2021 diagnosis, which she calls WTF breast cancer number two, was in a recurrence but a brand new primary. [SPEAKER_01]: I followed her work for years, we finally connected, and I knew immediately, I wanted her on this mic. [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much sincerely for being here with me today. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm so excited to have this combo. [SPEAKER_00]: me, I'm like overjoyed, honestly. [SPEAKER_00]: It's really an honor and a privilege to be sitting here with you. [SPEAKER_01]: I feel the same way you walk into a room and it's like you bring this energy

and this light and this love I you're like a warm hug incarnate like that's how I feel about you. [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you. [SPEAKER_00]: So now the tears will start to swell because I just am doing what I think I was born to do [SPEAKER_01]: It's kind of amazing how that happens in life. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: It does, and again, it can, but you got it dressed at, oh, you got dressed the process. [SPEAKER_01]: you do have to trust the process and along the journey I've had those moments too I'm like am I on the right path am I really doing what I should be doing to help people am I utilizing my gifts to

the best of my ability you know because it's one thing to have the events and to to do the stuff but then there's that internal voice right the talks to you and says am I doing what I was supposed to be doing? [SPEAKER_00]: Can I affirm that for you? [SPEAKER_00]: You are doing. [SPEAKER_00]: You are supposed to be doing. [SPEAKER_01]: And then some coming from you, friend. [SPEAKER_01]: I will take that. [SPEAKER_01]: So you have been advocating for women's health for more than 30 years now. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that did it go by pretty quickly. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, it honestly has been like faster than the speed of life, like how could it be that I'm

turning 73 next month? [SPEAKER_00]: And I still keep doing what I do best. [SPEAKER_01]: You have the energy of like a 25-year-old? [SPEAKER_00]: you know, thank you. [SPEAKER_00]: And I am grateful. [SPEAKER_00]: I am so grateful for that because isn't life about living as best you can do when you aren't lucky enough to get out of bed every day? [SPEAKER_01]: I think I heard someone say you know you're doing the right thing when you are excited about your feet touching the floor in the morning and you're getting up and you're going to do something that you love. [SPEAKER_00]: I have often said I literally have bounced out of bed just about all of my life

and the [SPEAKER_00]: Best part about that is I have a partner and a husband that does the same thing, balances out a bed and can't wait to take on another day. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, so that's a great relationship. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: People ask me sometimes what was your biggest flex in life? [SPEAKER_01]: Honestly, and I think it doesn't warn Buffet. [SPEAKER_01]: One of the big great billionaires said that it's your partner, it's who you choose in life to stand alongside you and support you through that journey. [SPEAKER_01]: Yep. [SPEAKER_01]: So [SPEAKER_01]: What did you know at 33, that you couldn't have known now at 65 and vice versa? [SPEAKER_01]: So what is 33-year-old? [SPEAKER_01]:

Deb say to 65-year-old and 65-year-old say to 33-year-old. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, so 33-year-old was just living a great life. [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I had a great, I have a great husband. [SPEAKER_00]: I had a three-year-olds, Lindsay, that my one and only love of my life, I had kit stores because my previous professional life had been in fashion. [SPEAKER_00]: And not wanting to go back to work in the city after she was born. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, I know I'm going to open kids stores and I did because I have been that person that tries her good, better best when you say it, you do it. [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, yeah, kids stores, that sounds like a lot

more fun than women's fashion. [SPEAKER_00]: because everybody walks in happy, joyful, so that's what I was doing. [SPEAKER_00]: And our life was lovely. [SPEAKER_00]: My parents were alive, great friends, you know, it was lovely and whack. [SPEAKER_00]: I found a lump. [SPEAKER_00]: And I was, this won't surprise you. [SPEAKER_00]: I was dismissed by my doctor. [SPEAKER_00]: I was dismissed and they tell you you were too young to have cancer. [SPEAKER_00]: Of course you did in the most cavalier way. [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, that just doesn't feel right to me. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm good with my gut. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm really good with my gut. [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, nah, not having it, not hearing it. [SPEAKER_01]: I

want women to hear that because I always teach them that no one knows your body better than you do. [SPEAKER_01]: Even with the doctor's knowledge of anatomy and physiology, you know when something is wrong. [SPEAKER_01]: So I want women to listen to listen to that feeling that you had. [SPEAKER_01]: So what did you do [SPEAKER_01]: right? [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I'm like, so what do you suggest? [SPEAKER_00]: He said, maybe you want to see a surgeon. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, okay, let me just take my show on the road here. [SPEAKER_00]: The last conversation I had with him, and I did say anyone you suggest? [SPEAKER_00]: And he suggested someone that remarkably, his wife was a customer and

my kid's daughter. [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, oh, I kind of know him. [SPEAKER_00]: Sure. [SPEAKER_00]: Reach out to this surgeon who was a general surgeon because there weren't a lot of breast specialist in the late 80s. [SPEAKER_00]: It was coming of age. [SPEAKER_00]: But the shift was just beginning to happen and then women were like we are going to take over this space and that's what happened. [SPEAKER_00]: But when I had the biopsy, he right then and there, I knew where this was going, my instincts, my gut told me that something was wrong. [SPEAKER_00]: I had had a premonition. [SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, it was, it was malignant, and I'm like, okay, now what, I'm, I'm

gonna die, I have a three-year old, I have a really lovely life. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god, I mean, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it [SPEAKER_01]: you know, your life flashes in front of you, and were you offered any at

that time emotional support or any services or did they just go through the data, the studies, the, uh, treatment, absinement, but think about all that you were managing at that point. [SPEAKER_00]: And so none of that was offered. [SPEAKER_00]: not so much. [SPEAKER_00]: My husband was on Wall Street and Wall Street is that place where it's like, I know this one. [SPEAKER_00]: I got a connection to that one and I'm like, what is happening to me? [SPEAKER_00]: Like it was just whirling and twirling. [SPEAKER_00]: But we did have a family friend and I did have two consults before I eventually, and my mom said to me, enough is enough. [SPEAKER_00]: We're going down to university

at Pennsylvania. [SPEAKER_00]: The minute I walked into that institution, I knew that I was in the right place at the right time and there was a [SPEAKER_00]: Good shot at them saving my life. [SPEAKER_00]: I just knew it. [SPEAKER_00]: And the treatment team, they had a treatment team. [SPEAKER_00]: They had a multi-disciplinary, that was kind of a new buzzword. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: And that was the team. [SPEAKER_00]: And I looked at that team, and they looked at me. [SPEAKER_00]: And the radiologist, Dr. Falbal, said to me, [SPEAKER_00]: I don't like the way this report reads we're gonna like start all over again. [SPEAKER_00]: You good with that and I'm like just sign me up. [SPEAKER_00]:

I know I belong here and that saved my life. [SPEAKER_00]: And then [SPEAKER_00]: So, now my life is saved. [SPEAKER_00]: I had a lump back to me, which people were like, what, whispering, what do you mean? [SPEAKER_00]: They're not taking your breast off. [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, I don't know. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm trusting this team. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going with what they're recommending. [SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, chemotherapy was kind of gray then did. [SPEAKER_00]: was I a candidate and I'm like, give me whatever you got. [SPEAKER_00]: All I want to do is live, raise my daughter, and I kind of knew then that I wanted to reach other women. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I kind of knew then, and

I, I didn't know a lot, but I wanted to know more. [SPEAKER_01]: So you're managing your daughter, your marriage, your businesses, and your own cancer diagnosis. [SPEAKER_01]: And a lot of people say, once they heard hear the C word, life stops. [SPEAKER_01]: And in that moment, your constitution is still built to think of others. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, what? [SPEAKER_00]: when you have a lot of blessings in my life, so you don't just count your blessings, you share your blessings. [SPEAKER_00]: That's, I don't know, that's a mantra for me. [SPEAKER_00]: So at 33, you knew that. [SPEAKER_00]: I pretty much did. [SPEAKER_00]: My mother had drilled it into my brain, as did my dad, but my

mom was unique in the 50s and 60s as a mother. [SPEAKER_00]: She was [SPEAKER_00]: pretty much a powerhouse. [SPEAKER_00]: She was, she was in her own way, a badass. [SPEAKER_00]: She really was. [SPEAKER_00]: I love that. [SPEAKER_00]: And you know, she always encouraged me to just take the leap. [SPEAKER_01]: All right, so let's talk about your four P's. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: Passion, persistence, patience, perseverance. [SPEAKER_01]: Which one's been the hardest for you to hold this year? [SPEAKER_00]: Whoa, so I wear them every day. [SPEAKER_00]: I wear my message. [SPEAKER_00]: Clearly, I wear my messages. [SPEAKER_00]: Yes. [SPEAKER_00]: Um, this year. [SPEAKER_00]: you know, it's hard to be patient sometimes when you realize the work

that needs to be done and the people that you need to reach and that the world is wonky right now. [SPEAKER_01]: That's one way to kind of leave. [SPEAKER_00]: at that kind description, right? [SPEAKER_00]: So it's like the races on. [SPEAKER_00]: Like let's gather the best of the best. [SPEAKER_00]: Let's join together. [SPEAKER_00]: Let's collaborate because, as I say, to my almost six-year-old grandson, [SPEAKER_00]: teamwork, it's all about the teamwork, and let's work together, and we can't be patient. [SPEAKER_00]: Like we can't be patient, we just have to, we've got to like power through. [SPEAKER_01]: I think I agree with you on that because the patience is really hard when you have so much passion.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, when you're so passionate about it, you want everything done yesterday, especially when you're trying to [SPEAKER_01]: help people right yeah like wait what it's going to take three times as long and cost five times as much as what I thought it was going to be um so you brought this up you're wearing your messaging and now I know and now I know where some of it has come from from the uh experience in obviously being in fashion um [SPEAKER_01]: But I want to know two things. [SPEAKER_01]: I want to know what people get wrong about you when they meet you in one of those signature headbands that I adore. [SPEAKER_01]: Last time you

had this fabulous, but jeweled one. [SPEAKER_01]: But what do you think people get wrong about you when they see your signature headbands? [SPEAKER_00]: Um, you know, sometimes the misperception is, oh, look at her, she's dripping in fashion and, um, [SPEAKER_00]: she must be one of those ladies that just sees a Broadway show every other week and is lunching at the country club. [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for saying that. [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, ah, yes, ladies who lunch, they get a bad rap. [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, they do, but you know, those lunches lead to [SPEAKER_00]: amazing community connection. [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, yes. [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you know, we're not talking about the small stuff. [SPEAKER_00]: We're talking about

the big stuff. [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, I do. [SPEAKER_00]: I get to do that too, but I get to do so much more than that. [SPEAKER_00]: So you're more than the headband. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm a, yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, a lot more. [SPEAKER_01]: But you can find me in a room easily. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, exactly. [SPEAKER_01]: When I was trying to find you in that room of a thousand women, I was like, there she is. [SPEAKER_01]: So along with the headband is a sweater, right, that you unveil every year. [SPEAKER_01]: And the sweaters have messaging on them. [SPEAKER_01]: Correct? [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's correct. [SPEAKER_01]: So what's this? [SPEAKER_00]: Let's hear the story. [SPEAKER_00]: So I love fashion brands. [SPEAKER_00]:

I mean, you know, it's just in my veins. [SPEAKER_00]: So I channel it. [SPEAKER_00]: And so I love this [SPEAKER_00]: And you're one, I wore, let's talk, and I did the signature boobs on the sweater, because people are realizing more and more and noticing more and more are signature boobs. [SPEAKER_01]: And that'll get people talking, right? [SPEAKER_01]: Want to go? [SPEAKER_01]: Right. [SPEAKER_00]: And she's in a complex chat. [SPEAKER_00]: And I love good swag because it sends great messages. [SPEAKER_00]: So the first year was, oh, that was first year. [SPEAKER_00]: Second year was path to purpose. [SPEAKER_00]: channels me, directs me, helps me with my, with my road map. [SPEAKER_00]: And I've been asked, well,

how did you find your purpose? [SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, [SPEAKER_00]: kind of my purpose found me in so many ways. [SPEAKER_00]: I was on a panel permission to pivot. [SPEAKER_00]: And they were like, well, so what about your pivot? [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, my pivot found me. [SPEAKER_00]: My diagnosis found me, which then led me to my path to purpose. [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe a book someday. [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know. [SPEAKER_00]: I'll tell you about that. [SPEAKER_01]: Do it. [SPEAKER_01]: What did it teach you about women, money, and what it takes to actually move that needle? [SPEAKER_00]: Well, women and money, what lives in my head every day is why is it that not every woman has

the access to quality health care that I did and I do every single day. [SPEAKER_00]: It really just makes me cook go, makes me cook go. [SPEAKER_01]: And you say that and as a doctor who's been in the exam rooms and operating rooms and fighting with insurance companies, I look at you and I'm like, why are there not more depths around? [SPEAKER_01]: because you're a dumb, because I don't think people can realize what the power of community and education and the power of a check, even if you don't have time, but you're lucky enough, write a check and help another woman get access to care. [SPEAKER_00]: Yep. [SPEAKER_00]: And I think my message this year

on this year sweater be the ripple. [SPEAKER_00]: You can be the ripple. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, absolutely. [SPEAKER_00]: You can write that check. [SPEAKER_00]: You can show up. [SPEAKER_00]: You can come in stuff the swag bags, whatever it might be. [SPEAKER_00]: a doctor like you can show up because the way that room looks at let's talk really speaks to you. [SPEAKER_00]: And when you said that to me, like that's one of the things I'm proudest of is the composition of the room at let's talk. [SPEAKER_01]: I love the room. [SPEAKER_01]: Now you've given me goosebumps and we're going to have we're going to both of us are going to have to save the tears for the end,

but why I told you last year, I spoke at I don't know, 60 some events, but the reason your community speaks to me and I love being in that room, it's women of every walk of life. [SPEAKER_01]: And I know a lot of these individuals don't have access to this education, this information, and you have given that to them with who you're putting in the stages and who you're putting in that room. [SPEAKER_01]: And you can feel the, you walk in and it feels like you. [SPEAKER_01]: It feels like a warm hug, it's comfortable, and it's not stuffy, and women aren't afraid to ask questions. [SPEAKER_01]: It is unbelievable what you've built, and what did

you have this year over a thousand? [SPEAKER_00]: Almost, just like the registrations were at 968 or something, but then people show up, so yeah, okay, we had over a thousand. [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, we did. [SPEAKER_01]: It was amazing. [SPEAKER_01]: Crazy, right? [SPEAKER_01]: It speaks to the need of how the community you have built, number one, how comfortable and accessible you've made this, but also it speaks to the need. [SPEAKER_01]: Think about your diagnosis, how many decades ago and women are still in crisis, needing this information, access to care, data, all of it, even now. [SPEAKER_00]: Sure are, and they're still being told that you're too young, that, you know, you don't have a family history. [SPEAKER_00]:

They're being dismissed and misled. [SPEAKER_00]: And we have to fix that. [SPEAKER_00]: We have to fix that. [SPEAKER_01]: Less than 5% of OBGYNs are doing adequate screening for breast cancer, as far as offering, you know, women, tyracusic testing, the myrisc genetic testing, less than 5%. [SPEAKER_01]: And I [SPEAKER_01]: time. [SPEAKER_01]: Most doctors I know, most healthcare professionals, they go in, you know, wanting to do really, really good things and to take care of their patients. [SPEAKER_01]: But when you have a five to seven minute appointment, how are you going to adequately counsel, get the information and do it? [SPEAKER_01]: There should be a separate appointment where you can talk about all of your cancer risk

and all of the femme tech now that is available and testing that is covered by insurance. [SPEAKER_01]: It's a quick questionnaire that women can fill out and it gives you two pieces of information. [SPEAKER_01]: What is my lifetime risk of developing breast cancer? [SPEAKER_01]: And M.I.A. [SPEAKER_01]: candidate for additional screening, whether it is a screening MRI, a diagnostic MRI, [SPEAKER_01]: Like my tire-cusic, for example, doesn't meet the criteria for insurance of 20% to get an MRI covered. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm at 16 or 17%. [SPEAKER_01]: So above the average 11, 12% of women, so I get a screening MRI every year, which is about $350 on a pocket, but FSA covers it. [SPEAKER_01]: So, but there's doctors

aren't having these conversations. [SPEAKER_00]: Let me don't know that. [SPEAKER_01]: And so, like, yeah, less than 5% of doctors are sharing this. [SPEAKER_01]: And so, that's why our conversations that we're having at these events are women with this information. [SPEAKER_01]: They're like, oh, wait, I need to find out what my Teracusic score is. [SPEAKER_01]: I need to ask my doctor about us screening MRI. [SPEAKER_01]: I need to ask some about other imaging options, but one of my saddest stories that I had was a young woman who came to me, very strong family history of breast cancers. [SPEAKER_01]: Ask her OBGYN for genetic testing, or at least the screener to see is my insurance going to

cover it. [SPEAKER_01]: He was like, do you have a lump? [SPEAKER_01]: Do you have symptoms? [SPEAKER_01]: She was like, no, but I would like to know before I get the cancer and he's like, sorry, there's nothing I can offer you. [SPEAKER_00]: and she was being proactive. [SPEAKER_00]: She was being proactive. [SPEAKER_00]: And she was trying to get ahead of it before it was going to get ahead of her. [SPEAKER_01]: Right. [SPEAKER_01]: So we gave her the My Risk Screener, which she took in a few minutes. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, told her she was, it told her she was a candidate in Trends, Covered Genetic Testing. [SPEAKER_01]: Low and behold, she had a mutation that was going to

increase her lifetime risk, not only of breast cancer, but also of a variant. [SPEAKER_01]: And then she was crying. [SPEAKER_01]: And I thought she was crying because she was sad about the fact that she had an increased risk. [SPEAKER_01]: And she's like, no, you listen to me. [SPEAKER_01]: And now I can do something about it. [SPEAKER_01]: I can make my family planning around this. [SPEAKER_01]: I can make a decision about mastectomy. [SPEAKER_01]: I can make it, you know, she had choice. [SPEAKER_01]: She had bodily autonomy, but all I had to do was listen to her. [SPEAKER_00]: It shouldn't be that hard to be heard. [SPEAKER_01]: should not. [SPEAKER_01]: It takes just as long to dismiss

someone as it does to listen to them. [SPEAKER_01]: So why are we opting for the dismissal? [SPEAKER_01]: And this is what I teach providers. [SPEAKER_01]: If you don't know, it's okay to say I don't know, but I will get you to someone who does specialize in this. [SPEAKER_01]: But to tell someone or to make a woman feel like they're crazy, this is why we're killing, we are literally killing women when we do that. [SPEAKER_01]: And so you got a WTF or what the fuck breast cancer number two. [SPEAKER_01]: Can you imagine? [SPEAKER_01]: Right? [SPEAKER_01]: After what you first went through? [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, no. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm telling you. [SPEAKER_01]: But you let some humor, I think

laughter is the best medicine. [SPEAKER_01]: Without a doubt. [SPEAKER_01]: I, and my husband who's a cancer doctor agrees that people who bring [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's hard to, but humor and levity did the situation they tend to have better outcomes, because that's what we can control. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: So what does that let you do that grief wouldn't? [SPEAKER_01]: What does the humor do that grief doesn't work? [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so yes, WTF number two, 2021, and I'm like, well, look at this, we don't know what the world is doing right now. [SPEAKER_00]: Is it ending? [SPEAKER_00]: Like, what is happening to us? [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, well, just to distract from the madness of the

world, I go down from my annual, and [SPEAKER_00]: got one of those weird calls. [SPEAKER_00]: My husband's working from home. [SPEAKER_00]: And I never, probably in all of his years, I am not that wife. [SPEAKER_00]: That's like, oh, you know, I need to check it on this. [SPEAKER_00]: No. [SPEAKER_00]: He's busy on busy, catch a later. [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, can you come down and listen to this message? [SPEAKER_00]: Cause it's just making me uncomfortable. [SPEAKER_00]: And we listen to it together and I'm like, whoa, take a breath. [SPEAKER_00]: And I knew again, and I'm like, how could this be? [SPEAKER_00]: A reoccurrence, 35 years later, no, no, no, no, no. [SPEAKER_00]: And I knew

enough, I lived and breathed in that space. [SPEAKER_00]: for so long, and I'm like, can't be a recurrence. [SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, I mean, I birthed two more tours. [SPEAKER_00]: And it was crazy, because one was hiding behind the other. [SPEAKER_00]: Now, the big decision was, [SPEAKER_00]: What doctor to I pick because I was so lucky to know and a abundance of mostly female surgeons now in the space because they had pretty much taken ownership of the space and I'm like, who do I pick and my daughter and my husband are like, will you stop it? [SPEAKER_00]: you have got to focus on you now and you know the doctor that you should pick. [SPEAKER_00]: You

know the doctor who you've become friends with, like your your pals. [SPEAKER_00]: and you think she's the be all in the end all. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, okay, but I don't want to offend anybody. [SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, made my decision new at that point that it was time to get rid of these boobs once and for all, they let me down once. [SPEAKER_00]: Now they were letting me down again and I'm like, okay, [SPEAKER_00]: That said, Tudaloo, I love it. [SPEAKER_00]: Went to dinner, one of my favorite New York restaurants, two nights before my surgery was scheduled, and the toast was Tudaloo to my Tata's love it. [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, but I was set up for success.

[SPEAKER_00]: Once again, I had the best doctors. [SPEAKER_00]: Once again, I had a beyond supportive family and friends. [SPEAKER_00]: Once again, I was living in breathing in this space. [SPEAKER_00]: Did that increase my chances of getting through this successfully? [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, absolutely, hugely. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, hugely. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: Support system, having family, having friends, having a positive outlook. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: And then obviously having access to access to really, what good quality care. [SPEAKER_00]: That's it. [SPEAKER_00]: to change everything for you. [SPEAKER_00]: So it didn't feel as scary. [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, and did I really care at that point about losing my boobs? [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely not. [SPEAKER_00]: They were all lopsided anyway, so I had

had a little impact to me. [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, okay, here's a chance to balance things out, right? [SPEAKER_00]: And that's essentially what happened. [SPEAKER_01]: Did you feel, because I'm sure at 33, being in that room, because that's young, to get breast cancer. [SPEAKER_01]: Did you feel less isolated with your second diagnosis when you were in those waiting rooms? [SPEAKER_00]: Totally. [SPEAKER_01]: And so what do you think that health care professionals and the health care system needs to learn so that we don't feel isolated in those rooms? [SPEAKER_01]: How can we make those individuals as patients? [SPEAKER_01]: Not feel so alone. [SPEAKER_00]: I think just being tuned in and mindful and taking that extra moment

to say, this is a loss. [SPEAKER_00]: You can grieve if you need to grieve, but take charge, advocate for yourself, demand if it doesn't feel right, demand that it does. [SPEAKER_00]: And if that first console doesn't feel like it's a good fit for you, [SPEAKER_00]: Take your show on the road. [SPEAKER_00]: There are so many good doctors now, but you want a doctor that understands you and your needs. [SPEAKER_00]: No harm size for you. [SPEAKER_00]: And partners is your partner. [SPEAKER_01]: I like that line. [SPEAKER_01]: Take your show on the road. [SPEAKER_01]: because you shouldn't have to negotiate for your own health care. [SPEAKER_01]: So, I love that. [SPEAKER_01]: And I honestly think it's a

very, very good idea when women get a second or even a third opinion, especially when it's something so serious, like cancer, because even very good doctors may have very different approaches that are supported by data, [SPEAKER_01]: But you have to pick what's right for you, because side effects, outcomes, everything can be different. [SPEAKER_01]: And so like you said, it is definitely not one size fits all. [SPEAKER_01]: No, but in 1988, [SPEAKER_00]: It kind of was because they didn't know a whole lot about young women with breast cancer and sadly, there is just this explosion of younger women being diagnosed with breast cancer these days. [SPEAKER_00]: complicated like advanced and what the heck is going on.

[SPEAKER_00]: But lucky for me that, you know, I can bring who I consider to be some of the smartest [SPEAKER_00]: docks into a space that can say to a woman, use your voice, advocate for yourself. [SPEAKER_00]: In 1988, I was told to walk my fingers up the wall because I had had a note [SPEAKER_00]: yeah for your in that state and i'm like and you know i was i was i've always been someone that listens hard and i'm like okay i'll do the finger walking i like but good too [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't seem like enough, but now we have the ability to prepare a woman and to help her avoid such scary moments along the

way. [SPEAKER_00]: why is my arm blowing up that you know I'm I'm flying and my arm is blowing up and yet likely to be lymphedema and there are so many really good solutions to address all of the aftermath of this very traumatic. [SPEAKER_00]: not just breast cancer, any traumatic diagnosis. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and side effects from whether it's the chemo or the radiation or the surgery, you know, whether it's the menopause or the sexual side, there are so many things. [SPEAKER_01]: And the thing that I've heard uniformly from women who've gone through this is number one, they just don't want to survive. [SPEAKER_01]: They want to thrive. [SPEAKER_01]: But number two, if they had just known,

like if someone had just told them, they wouldn't have been felt like they were hit with a [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we want to be large and in charge, don't we? [SPEAKER_00]: Don't we? [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, she's our own body. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yes. [SPEAKER_00]: And I tell my daughter that all the time, you want to be large and in charge. [SPEAKER_00]: You want to advocate for yourself every single woman that shows up at Let's Talk when they pour through those doors. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, a lot of them show up. [SPEAKER_00]: with trepidation. [SPEAKER_00]: What did I get myself into? [SPEAKER_00]: What am I not doing that I should have been doing? [SPEAKER_00]: And we want to

immediately. [SPEAKER_00]: have them just breathe easier. [SPEAKER_01]: And I think we do that, right? [SPEAKER_01]: Definitely, by the end of the day, like a lot of them will have questions ready and they're prepared and they're like, we're gonna use our time to our advantage. [SPEAKER_01]: We showed up and we're gonna get the information we need to help ourselves and I love that. [SPEAKER_01]: But no, I did a sex talk and the room was standing room only and then you moved me to a bigger room and we had the same thing. [SPEAKER_01]: It was like, it'll be a bigger room. [SPEAKER_01]: It'll be even bigger. [SPEAKER_01]: Right? [SPEAKER_01]: Right! [SPEAKER_01]: Bigger events more money, so you

and I are both raised money. [SPEAKER_01]: You raised 20 million, at Comin? [SPEAKER_00]: Oh please, yeah, how about it? [SPEAKER_01]: 16 years of running that organization. [SPEAKER_01]: What did it teach you about how women choose to give their dollars? [SPEAKER_01]: So when do they open their wallets or when do they, I feel like no one writes checks anymore, right? [SPEAKER_01]: It digital. [SPEAKER_01]: But when do they choose to deploy funds like what versus they don't? [SPEAKER_00]: I think a lot of times when it's personal for them, and, you know, let's face it, breast cancer was really having a moment during that time frame, and no matter who I came into contact with, whether, you know,

it was senior leadership at one of our sponsors. [SPEAKER_00]: Nine out of ten times, it would be like, well, my mother died when I was 16. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, my sister, [SPEAKER_00]: So people used to say to me, how did you raise that amount of money? [SPEAKER_00]: And it was hard, but it wasn't that hard because it just was personal over and over and over again. [SPEAKER_00]: And so when I decided to come back into this space and said to my husband, I want to build a symposium. [SPEAKER_00]: His finance brain said to me, [SPEAKER_00]: Do you know how much money you're going to have to raise? [SPEAKER_00]: And I said, uh, take a pause. [SPEAKER_00]:

We're a partnership. [SPEAKER_00]: Do you know how much money we're going to raise together? [SPEAKER_00]: I love the way you said that. [SPEAKER_00]: A team. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: And we are that. [SPEAKER_00]: And he is that person. [SPEAKER_00]: But as we want to get bigger, better and bolder, we've got to spread a wider net. [SPEAKER_00]: And we've got big plans for the future of let's talk. [SPEAKER_01]: I love that, and I say the same thing, as a minority woman who has given less than a half percent shot, raising 40 million, it was storytelling combined with data. [SPEAKER_01]: And when you can get them to lock on, because all of them, as most of the investors

that I was pitching to were men, had a mother, a sister, a daughter, a friend, and [SPEAKER_01]: someone who had been wronged by our current medical system. [SPEAKER_01]: So when you combine that with their ROI, right, return on investment, and with the data, and all the financial terminology that I had to learn, it was pretty powerful. [SPEAKER_01]: And that's how I was able to raise. [SPEAKER_01]: And so, [SPEAKER_01]: Let's go back to the symposium and talking about let's talk. [SPEAKER_01]: You have five pillars, correct? [SPEAKER_00]: We do. [SPEAKER_01]: Human connection, physical, spiritual, financial, and mental. [SPEAKER_01]: And so, number one, I want to ask you why these five. [SPEAKER_01]: And then number two, you have

referred to the state of the world. [SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of stuff going on. [SPEAKER_01]: It feels chaotic. [SPEAKER_01]: It feels unstable. [SPEAKER_01]: It feels scary. [SPEAKER_01]: And particularly for women and women's health, it's even scarier. [SPEAKER_01]: So why those five, and which one do you think is most important of the five now? [SPEAKER_01]: You have to pick one. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, [SPEAKER_00]: I think human connection. [SPEAKER_00]: I think people need people. [SPEAKER_00]: Warba Streisand was right. [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, people that need people are the luckiest people in the world. [SPEAKER_00]: Right. [SPEAKER_00]: And we need to realize that being together and trusting each other is [SPEAKER_00]: is everything. [SPEAKER_00]: It's really everything. [SPEAKER_00]: And

you know, we lived in a world that was like isolating us by no choice of our own, but now it's time to join forces, show up for each other, be in a space that we know there's an opportunity to learn and to love and to just live better lives. [SPEAKER_00]: So, I love the human connection part of this. [SPEAKER_00]: I love people, I love community, I love meat, and you know what I love so much that has been so much a part of the success of Let's Talk is the merging of the ages. [SPEAKER_00]: knowledge and their super smart and putting them in a room with with with with women that have great wisdom I

consider myself to have a lot of lived wisdom and I want to share it and that exchange of wisdom is Everything that's what drives let's talk [SPEAKER_01]: So do you think that that's the magic? [SPEAKER_01]: That's what makes because in this day and age of social media and we're all in our phones, you know, which can lead to isolation and an Instagram and podcasting, which, you know, I do sometimes in my home by myself, do you think that that's the magic maker and the differentiator with let's talk that community in person? [SPEAKER_00]: I do, because you're showing up, you're being present, you're showing up for yourself, and you're showing up for a woman that by

the end of the day, you may have said to her, let's meet for Mocha, and you didn't even know her when you walked in that morning. [SPEAKER_00]: So what's better than that? [SPEAKER_01]: What to take away? [SPEAKER_01]: It's amazing. [SPEAKER_01]: That's why I show up to in-person events because it always leads to something else. [SPEAKER_01]: A new friendship, a new opportunity, somewhere where I can help someone, you know, and so I love that piece of fabric. [SPEAKER_00]: So many, you make yourself so available. [SPEAKER_00]: You make yourself so accessible. [SPEAKER_00]: You're so present. [SPEAKER_00]: You're not that person that's running out the door. [SPEAKER_00]: you're there and you're fully present and people know that. [SPEAKER_00]:

People get that about it. [SPEAKER_01]: I love teaching. [SPEAKER_01]: These are things that you realize later in life like the things that you love to do and that lights me up when I can give someone a piece that's like transfer of capital, right? [SPEAKER_01]: I'm giving you [SPEAKER_01]: and the language to talk to your healthcare professional so that you can get what you want. [SPEAKER_01]: Like that's my goal when I get on stage. [SPEAKER_01]: And so what's a favorite moment for you from a past symposium that you were like, yes. [SPEAKER_01]: this work matters. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so at this board retreat last night, which was remarkable. [SPEAKER_00]: It really, I can see the future more

clearly for let's talk after last evening. [SPEAKER_00]: And I was asked [SPEAKER_00]: And my answer was the view from the bridge. [SPEAKER_00]: So anybody that knows the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, okay. [SPEAKER_00]: And I have this connection to North, nose and J. [SPEAKER_00]: Pack, and it's a beautiful performing arts center. [SPEAKER_00]: It's gorgeous, stunning. [SPEAKER_00]: And it changed the trajectory of North in the mid-90s. [SPEAKER_00]: and that view from the bridge on March 14th was astonishing. [SPEAKER_00]: Take my breath away. [SPEAKER_00]: So like more towards the end of the day, we gather on the bridge. [SPEAKER_00]: and I was surrounded by my family, my two love bugs, those are my grand babies, and I'm

like, does it get better than this? [SPEAKER_00]: Then I looked out over the lobby, and I saw almost a thousand women. [SPEAKER_00]: and pouring in like it was crazy and you know sometimes like it was a sample sale in New York City or I don't know it's a people lining up not it was nuts and there was such energy this year the energy elevated this year it elevates every year [SPEAKER_00]: but the content was off the charts. [SPEAKER_00]: We're so good and that's because you've got a good team. [SPEAKER_00]: You've got an advisory board that is remarkable, committed, smart, passionate. [SPEAKER_00]: And now we have a board of trustees because this year we became a

501. [SPEAKER_00]: And [SPEAKER_00]: People have wishlist and on my wishlist was to one day, someday, have a 501 that we could be calling the shots that we could be autonomous and making what we believed were the best decisions for women and their health and wellness. [SPEAKER_01]: I want to give you a big congratulations on that one. [SPEAKER_01]: Good job. [SPEAKER_01]: Amazing. [SPEAKER_01]: Dream, bigger. [SPEAKER_01]: Dream. [SPEAKER_01]: So you're talking about content and you're talking about the event getting bigger and bigger and all these professionals you're bringing in. [SPEAKER_01]: I know there's still things that we are whispering about that we should not be whispering about that we should be openly talking about. [SPEAKER_01]: What do

you think we're still whispering about in women's health that we shouldn't be whispering about? [SPEAKER_00]: Hmm, I mean, we're whispered, well, I mean, thanks to you, we're saying sex out there. [SPEAKER_00]: Now we're realizing that we shouldn't be and don't have to be uncomfortable, especially with menopause, just like, it's everywhere now, right? [SPEAKER_00]: But it wasn't, and how it is. [SPEAKER_00]: So, but there's, [SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of misconceptions still. [SPEAKER_00]: Andometrial symptoms, there's a lot of misconceptions about that. [SPEAKER_00]: Do they just announced that PCOS is now becoming PC? [SPEAKER_00]: I think they changed the experience. [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, it's PMOS, I think. [SPEAKER_01]: I think so. [SPEAKER_01]: Yes. [SPEAKER_01]: But basically what they're describing,

it is a understood now, [SPEAKER_01]: And it's not just about your menstrual cycle or trying to get pregnant, but it increases your risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes and makes you insulin resistant and also affects your mental health. [SPEAKER_00]: Hurray. [SPEAKER_00]: Hurray. [SPEAKER_00]: Hurray. [SPEAKER_00]: Hurray. [SPEAKER_01]: But how many decades did that take? [SPEAKER_00]: That's something. [SPEAKER_00]: So we need to bring these things out into the open. [SPEAKER_00]: And that's what let's talk is doing. [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I we we're already talking about the environmental effects of cancer because I do believe that my early diagnosis. [SPEAKER_00]: in 1988 was likely caused by something in the environment, right? [SPEAKER_00]: I do believe that.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we're going to push that out next year. [SPEAKER_00]: I do feel and have concern. [SPEAKER_00]: GLPs are like, you like, you, you, you, [SPEAKER_00]: Everybody, anybody, we have to be mindful and thoughtful, and we need to proceed with caution, because I lived with my beautiful daughter who is beyond healthy now with an eating disorder that I really thought was going to take her life. [SPEAKER_00]: I really thought it was. [SPEAKER_00]: And that's a very misunderstood mental illness. [SPEAKER_00]: And now I'm like, hmm, does G, do GLP's now add to that bag of tricks because when somebody is suffering with a needing disorder and they're in that dark zone, [SPEAKER_00]: They're cleverly coming up

with any way to sabotage themselves. [SPEAKER_00]: They just don't. [SPEAKER_01]: And JLP ones do eradicate that food noise. [SPEAKER_01]: So I think it depends on what type of eating disorder you have. [SPEAKER_01]: But there's more and more data coming out because as we're learning about them, right? [SPEAKER_01]: And their anti-inflammatory capabilities and their abilities to act on cancer cells and it looks like slow down the growth. [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, there needs to be so much more data and understanding of this. [SPEAKER_00]: But we can't look at it as the magic bullet, right? [SPEAKER_01]: No, we can't, because it's not, and it's not going to work for everybody, and there people who are actually genetically resistant

to them. [SPEAKER_01]: So it is a whole body, whole life approach when it comes to healthcare. [SPEAKER_01]: You have to pay attention to your mental health, you have to pay attention to what you're eating, you have to move, you have to have community. [SPEAKER_01]: If you look at what the blue zones all have in common, [SPEAKER_01]: There are so many factors other than, you know, a singular medication. [SPEAKER_01]: So you're right. [SPEAKER_01]: There's no magic bullet. [SPEAKER_01]: So a woman listening right now at home, who is still putting herself on the back burner, give her one sentence, give her one action item that she needs to do. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, first of all, can we make

a blue zone together? [SPEAKER_01]: You know, you can make, you know, you can make them and they didn't experiment. [SPEAKER_00]: Can we do that? [SPEAKER_00]: I'm obsessed. [SPEAKER_00]: Let's do it. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay. [SPEAKER_00]: So one thing that she needs to do for herself is be true to herself. [SPEAKER_00]: Be true. [SPEAKER_00]: Don't think you have to. [SPEAKER_00]: Don't think you have to just do it because you're pleasing someone. [SPEAKER_00]: Please yourself because you matter so much. [SPEAKER_00]: So realize how much you matter. [SPEAKER_01]: I love that. [SPEAKER_01]: Do it for yourself. [SPEAKER_01]: So two more questions. [SPEAKER_01]: It's 2036. [SPEAKER_01]: Let's talk now. [SPEAKER_01]: It's 10 years from now. [SPEAKER_01]: What does it look like?

[SPEAKER_01]: What's new? [SPEAKER_01]: How is it evolved? [SPEAKER_00]: Oh my God, and I'm in a whole new decade, and I just want to have the same level of energy. [SPEAKER_00]: How is it evolved? [SPEAKER_00]: We're just going to... [SPEAKER_00]: keep reaching women, women that are harder to reach to because that's part of my heart and soul. [SPEAKER_00]: The sister program at Let's Talk gets bigger, better, and bolder, and richer every year. [SPEAKER_00]: And that means when you purchase a ticket, you give a ticket and you get a ticket. [SPEAKER_00]: So we're just going to blow that out of the water. [SPEAKER_00]: In that next period in time, we're not going to have to say that

so many women can't be reached, that they're under-insured, that they're just not looked upon as the amazing [SPEAKER_00]: full body individual that they deserve to be respected as. [SPEAKER_01]: So who's your dream speaker to eventually get? [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, there's a few, but do I have to say one? [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I'm going to make you pick one. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, can we extend this invitation to Oprah right now? [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yes, Oprah, are you listening? [SPEAKER_01]: Because I want to be out. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, Oprah Winfrey, hello. [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, why wouldn't you want to be there? [SPEAKER_00]: I know you were in Newark a few years ago because I saw you there. [SPEAKER_01]: So please come, yes,

hi Oprah, if you're listening, we would love for you to come, it would be amazing and you would help so many women, right? [SPEAKER_01]: And you're already doing that. [SPEAKER_01]: So where can listeners find you? [SPEAKER_01]: Get a ticket and support you. [SPEAKER_00]: So we have a beautiful website, let's talk, well-women, we're all over social, we manage our social, our team is so good at it. [SPEAKER_00]: There's so good at so many things, we're all over social, and you can just call me, [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for being here with me today. [SPEAKER_01]: This was amazing, and you are just doing incredible work. [SPEAKER_01]: So thank you, and we can cry together now. [SPEAKER_01]:

We can cry together now. [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you. [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you. [SPEAKER_01]: This is more than a conversation. [SPEAKER_01]: It's a call, a call to build something better. [SPEAKER_01]: Subscribe, share, and bring more disruptors into this room. [SPEAKER_01]: For unfiltered insights and bold ideas, go to DrSomeet.com to sign up for the monthly disruptor newsletter and follow us on social at DrSomeet. [SPEAKER_01]: We're not waiting for a seat at the table. [SPEAKER_01]: We're building our own table.