As part of Women’s Health Month, we share a special recording from our monthly professional development series featuring Kimberlee Di Fede Sullivan, Pepperdine, past Fraternity President and physical therapist focusing on the comprehensive care of individuals grappling with pelvic floor dysfunction, and Sara Hirsh Bordo, Texas Christian, a 15x award-winning filmmaker, named as an “Architect of Change” by Maria Shriver and founder/CEO of Women Rising®.
In this must-listen episode, Kimberlee and Sara share how they are empowering and advocating for all women in the quest to improve women’s health. They share their journeys from Tri Delta, through their early start of their careers to the pivotal moments that sparked their current missions and the intersection where a film producer and health professional find their work overlapping in the most surprising of ways.
We delve into the “good girl revolution” and the current societal conditioning that often silences women and discourages them from advocating for their health—as they offer insights on how to change these patterns.
This inspiring and eye-opening session will empower you to prioritize your well-being and embrace your inner strength to become your own best advocate!
Both Kimberlee and Sara are open to connecting and answering your questions. Reach out to us at communications@trideltaeo.org for their contact information.
This transcript was created using automated technologies and may contain errors.
Welcome, everyone. Welcome, welcome, welcome. So glad to see everybody's faces here for our May LEADDD Network session. I am Mindy Tucker. I'm Tri Delta's interim CEO, and I have the distinct pleasure of getting to interview such amazing women here and on our podcast. It's so much fun. I am a member from our Theta Kappa Chapter at SMU.
Thrilled that you are all here today, we are going to talk about Women's Health Month, which officially kicked off. on this weekend, I guess, with Mother's Day over the weekend,
which is a perfect time to kick this month off. It's really a great reminder for all of us to take care of our overall health and make it a priority and also think about the challenges,
I think, that we have as women in managing our health. And so the conversation today is going to be very, very relevant to that, and I'm so excited. about it partly because I already had a chance to talk to these two and you guys are going to be blown away after this conversation,
not to set the bar too high, but really phenomenal women. Two powerhouse Tri Deltas, our past Fraternity President, Kimberlee Di Fede Sullivan, who is a women's health practitioner, we're going to talk more about that, an award -winning filmmaker and founder of Women Rising, Sara Hirsh Bordo. These two women have some connections.
They've done things on their own. You guys are going to be so impressed with just what they talk about and what they bring to the table. Kimberlee is a women's physical therapist who manages, has managed her own practice and now is part of Origin Physical Therapy,
which is the first national provider of women's health physical therapy specializing in pelvic health. [BLANK _AUDIO] lot to unpack there. And then Sara is just releasing the findings of her autoimmunity and the Good Girls study,
which is the first sociological survey exploring the intersection of empowerment and autoimmunity in American women. There's a lot to unpack there too. You guys are gonna just be blown away by what we find there.
So you're probably gonna be blown away. physical therapist and a filmmaker have in common and how do their lives intersect beyond Tri Delta and we're going to get into all of that today and I'm so looking forward to the conversation.
Kimberlee and Sara welcome we're so glad to have you both here. Thank you. Thank you I'm so happy to be here. So I want you two to start talking a little bit about your Tri Delta story and how you join Tri Delta on your campuses and what that experience was like for you.
Kimberlee, you joined us at Pepperdine. You wanna talk a little bit about that? - Yes, I joined a local organization at Pepperdine 'cause there was not any national organizations at the time. I was the first Greek member in my family.
So very new, my mother actually pushed me into it because I hadn't found my community. at Pepperdine and my mom said,
"Go and try it." And of course, I listened to my mom because that's what you do. And I joined a local organization. And then my sophomore year, we changed to Tri Delta. And it was honestly one of the best things that ever happened to me. And my mother to this day will say that it's the best thing that that shaped me to who I am today.
I was a collegiate chapter president my senior year, and then I had the wonderful opportunity to travel for a Tri Delta the year after and went all across the country and Canada.
- Sara, you joined us at TCU in Fort Worth. Tell us about yours. - Yes, I did. I think the pieces, and I have a feeling that our sisters on the call,
you know, might relate to this. I was the only daughter in my family and the oldest grandchild in a very large Lebanese family.
And I think I always was sort of secretly pining and yearning to belong amongst other women. My age,
that wasn't something that I was blessed with as a little girl. And the second that I joined Tri Delt at TCU, it was this powerful grounding into myself,
into really that kind of tactile experience of sisterhood, that almost emotion. of knowing that you belong to them and they belong to you and absolutely set me up with certain belief systems about how women should be treating other women.
Interesting. And two, it sounds like you came from two, you know, with so many members that have heard about this their whole life and, you know, sort of raised. I'm going to be a Tri Delta.
Kimberlee's daughter would help us all if she doesn't turn into a Tri Delta. So many of us get that,
and then so many of us don't. And so it's interesting to hear how you sort of came to this differently, both of you, not necessarily from something that had been part of your childhood, but you both ended up with such great experiences out of it.
I love that. So you finished college, you head into the real world. Let's talk about your early careers. Sara, how did your career start after college? Well,
I loved the opportunity to experience far more than I loved the experience of studying. That's where my sister Kimberlee and I differ a good bit.
Bye. the time I graduated college, I had nine internships and I loved working. Like I just loved the experience of that kind of hands -on growth,
if you like. And so I actually started my full -time career at the Estee Lauder Companies in New York City. I kind of clawed back a little bit.
didn't historically ever hire recent college graduates. But after interview, after interview, after interview, I, when they told me to kind of leave and go work,
you know, in publishing and different things for a couple years and come back, but I just knew I was supposed to be there. I just knew it. And so I actually offered to join the janitorial staff.
thinking that at least if I could just get in and like work my way up, they'd see that I was like, you know, hopefully worthy.
And I guess it was comic relief enough that they were like, all right, we're just going to start you for like a month. And if it doesn't work,
like go and come back. But if it does, you can stay. And so I became the youngest full -time employee of the Estee Lauder company's history. And from there,
I went and got into advertising, and then from advertising, I was, you know, in marketing and ending up in Hollywood. But I never really, I've always been mentoring,
always, always, always. I think tried out to probably help shape that also. being the oldest in my family and kind of being that, you know,
wise, crone at the ripe age of like 12, you know, where all of the, you know, cousins would kind of look to me for guidance. But so by the time I ended up in Hollywood and was running digital marketing at Paramount Pictures and MGM and had a startup,
I'd mentored, you know, a couple hundred women. at different stages of their careers. And I just felt like women, championing women was very much,
I guess, part of my sole mission. - I love that. - It's a through line. Kimberlee, what did your first few years out of college look like?
- So I traveled for Tri Delta and then I went to... to physical therapy school. My dad was a college football coach so my whole entire upbringing was around athletes and injuries and I was very much new that I wanted to do something with medicine and something that would help other people.
When I was in PT school there was a new part of physical therapy called women's health that was coming out and I really understood it nobody really knew what it was but during our clinical rotations they this was a long time ago they do it much more sophisticated now but during the rotation selection they would flip a coin between you and somebody else and that's where you went on your rotation and I got my coin
flipped to women's health and I'm such a firm believer, I like doors open for a reason, you walk through them, you see whatever that challenge that experience gives you, because that's where you're meant to be.
And I cannot imagine my life if I had not done that, because I would have gone on and done sports, but I would never have found this amazing career where I could give back to women,
invest in women, and I think that try to help me in that. they, you know, Tri Delta taught me how to empower others while you're empowering yourself to help other people.
And that has allowed me in my job to do that too. And so I went on to women's health and found this amazing world of how you can help people.
Most of my job is with people who are suffering in silence and are not outwardly saying what's going on. with them, and that is very difficult as a woman and lead in their life.
So I have a wonderful job in helping people live their lives. All right, so we set the stage here. Sara's passion about women, passion about storytelling,
and filmmaking. Kimberlee has found this, by the flip of a coin, found this career path, and you start your own practice in Austin,
Texas. How did you two meet? So our first meeting, Sara, do you want me to take this and then you can go?
I can add some colorful commentary. Okay, sounds good. I will set the stage. So one of, in my practice, one of our patients decided to tell her story.
She her name is Shelby and she decided that it was very important that she does not continue to suffer in silence and then also have other people suffer in silence.
So Shelby suffered for a long time with pelvic pain and inability to wear tampons and ability to have intercourse and this dictated a great deal of her life.
So she decided to decide it. film. And she, it's a beautiful film called tightly wound. And, and she will showcase my clinic.
And I was a part of that. So then I showed up to her film, what is it called? It's like we're screening, see this wine, Sara, I showed up to the screening, and I met this wonderful woman who has been a great gift in my life.
and you can color code it now. I think that's a wrap, friends. I think that's as nice and nice of ending as I could dream to get.
My production company is called Women Rising and I founded it in 2013 when I was invited to move from LA to Austin to direct and produce the first Ted women in Austin.
And being born and raised in Austin, it was such a precious homecoming. And I got to not only reconnect with old Austin, but I got to connect with all of these amazing women and male allies that were moving.
And one of them was Shelby Haddon. Shelby, and I got to introduce her to you. got introduced to her as someone that I could,
that needed my advice on filmmaking. By this time, I think I had made two and things were going really well. And so at the back of this screening,
Kimberlee and I, I don't exactly, I guess it was Shelby, or I might have come up and said hi. But there. was this beautiful moment of both of us helping the same woman.
We were completely from different sides. I was on the side of helping her produce this movie, help tell the story and help bring it to life and help sell it. Kimberlee has basically held her hand as godmother through her own health,
getting to this powerful moment where she was able to share a story actually that had a happy ending. And so together as these sort of godmothers,
we became friends and sisters in lots of ways. - And then later realized after you became friends that you were both Tri Deltas,
right? - Yes, we were at the awards ceremony where we were both at. for the same award. You were my nemesis until you became my good friend.
No, I say that because I had rightfully so. Kimberlee won the award, but we were sitting right next to each other and it was just this Eureka. Because when they announced each person,
they said what they were involved in and at that time I was fraternity. president so I had mentioned Tri Delta and then Sara I was like here I Tri Delta and I was like yes I am. So um Sara when it comes to your health journey sort of where you are now why don't you talk a little bit about that um because we're really not and the filmmaking has has brought you to where you are and I think you have this huge
passion around women but this this new direction around your own personal health and the journey that you've been on I think is so fascinating so I'd love for you to give a little bit of that background and where you've found yourself today.
Well I know I'm not alone and I welcome any and all questions I say this on behalf of both of us I think you know for all of all of the women who are with us you know I'm going to be sharing you know vulnerable things about my health journey.
And please take that as permission to either ask something vulnerably here during our Q &A or after the fact. All of us is welcome,
is kind of one of my ethoses. I was first diagnosed with autoimmune condition called Hashimoto's,
which recently I've learned that it's more than 10 % of us that tend to have Hashimoto's, which is thyroid disease,
and it's an underactive thyroid, and I was having lots and lots of symptoms. I was running a big marketing team at MGM Studios at the time.
I was having to take naps on my desk. And two years before I was divorced and then within about 60 days of moving to LA,
I was actually the victim of sexual assault. So I was holding a tremendous amount inside. And as now I feel like I'm on a mission,
I was, raised to perfection as this good girl. I had like a PhD in self -silencing and deprioritizing my own needs and neglecting my intuition and I was so focused on my output.
goodness for others more than I was focused on my internal goodness to Sara. And sometimes the biggest catalysts of life are the most uncomfortable.
You know, the invitations that we are presented with to change or have a reckoning or rebirth.
rebirth tend to hurt the most because for someone like me it had to almost be really really loud in order for it to get my attention.
So I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's, put on medication, I also had heavy metals poisoning and I got all of that cured in about eight months and I was back to the races.
in my overachieving lifestyle. And it wasn't until 2019, where I was diagnosed with active Epstein bar melanoma,
multiple breast tumors, multiple ovarian cysts, toxic mold in my gut, and a huge relapse of posh emotives. And talk about it needing to be loud.
It was really, it was, it almost makes me sad thinking just how loud it had to be. Sometimes things come at us in a whisper and if we don't pay attention,
we get tapped on the shoulder. And then if we're not paying attention to the tap on the shoulder, we get kicked in the ass. Sometimes if we don't fall down. when we're kicked in the ass and we can still stand up,
then we're actually thrown to the ground. And this was what was happening to me. I am not an expert in any way,
but I do have a very profound understanding of the stories we tell ourselves. And one of the pieces that I found really,
I found very, I needed to be responsible was to try to understand what was going on. And a lot of Western doctors and a lot of guidance and answers that I found were very much bandaid solutions,
which there's no issue and embrace, I embrace all sides of the medical system. but I think for me what it was an invitation was that I was living all wrong.
And it was my job, no one could do this, it was my job to fix it. And here I was directing the Women's March and on stages with Kimberlee and on stages with Shelby in DC and receiving awards.
as a representation of what female empowerment looked like. And it was a complete reckoning that maybe I had been a fraud all along until I started to untangle it all and I started to read,
I started to listen to anybody and everything who could educate me on this. And I went to a global wellness summit and the keynote was a gentleman by the name of Dr.
Richard Carmona, who was one of our former US Surgeon Generals. And he stood at the stage and he said, "Raise your hand, how many of you know "that I don't know about you?" your immune system?
And I swear to God, a shot of electricity just came from the heavens, threw my body into the ground.
And I completely understood that there were elements of the way I was living and the way I was disempowered and the way I had been raised. and the way I had suppressed my whole life that was affecting my immune system,
which was affecting my capacity and receptivity for dis -ease, and it completely activated a change in my life.
It's now been three years of living completely differently, and all the diagnoses are either disappeared or in remission. all of them. And I just want to say that you would have never and could never be a fraud to women's empowerment.
And the difference is, is you are telling everybody else's story of women empowerment. And this was giving you the opportunity to tell yours. So that's one.
Just remind you of that. Thank you. How important it is to dig into this and understand what we put on ourselves and what we bring on ourselves,
not to heat more negativity on us, but to really understand where that comes from, which we're going to come back to in a second. Kimberlee,
what are you seeing in women's health? in general? Like, what are the stigmas you're seeing? What are the roadblocks you're seeing? Because you're seeing this from a whole other perspective as a provider that's seeing the other end of it,
trying to help. And in a field that's not necessarily traditional, in any way, shape or form, you know, it takes a while for people to even realize there's someone out there that does what you do.
What are you seeing, and how does it fold into what Sara's talking about? Sure. I think as women, we take care of everybody else first, and we take care of ourselves when we have time.
So if we get to it, we will take care of ourselves, but we don't necessarily prioritize ourselves first. And I see that a lot with patients. and then when it's time to prioritize themselves,
they go to the doctor and they ask questions. And usually what we're finding is that people have to go to five to seven different practitioners before they actually get an answer. So if you put that on top of somebody who's procrastinate or I shouldn't say procrastinate or prioritize themselves down,
this delays help and it gets more complicated. And then they add more. diagnosis, more immune compromising dysfunctions and it just adds and adds to the situation and then they feel hopeless and so I see it then impacting their mental health in addition to their physical health and I find that when I first see somebody a patient majority of it is just building rapport and getting them to being able to trust and believe
in themselves that they need to listen to themselves and they are actually their best healers because they have that ability to know what's going on and be able to ask.
So I would say at the end of that would be that women are also their best advocates for themselves and you have to advocate for your health and you have to um aside time to focus on yourself because if you don't take care of yourself then you can't take care of others either.
- And being an advocate in this day and age for yourself looks, it can be daunting. You have shared with you guys the story of when I was going through my fertility issues. I had,
I went to one of the top fertility doctors in the country here in San Diego who maybe spent the most time with me. which point he informed me that there was no way I had endometriosis because I just was not in enough pain.
Having no idea really asking me about the pain I'm in or you know and turns out years later when I finally I had already adopted children and gone down another road and had fibroids that had to be removed they found all kinds of endometriosis in my body.
So that we're so often in spaces where we feel like we don't know enough because the people around us are supposed to be so smart and so intelligent and so equipped and they're telling us a different story.
How do we best advocate for ourselves in those situations? How do we empower ourselves in those situations? I think that you surround yourself with people that will listen to you,
whether it's your friends, it's your family, or if it's other healthcare providers. I think as health, we think healthcare providers, we go to them, they give information to us. We are a service industry.
If you do not believe with what we say is what's going on with you, you have the right and the autonomy to go to somebody else and get their opinion.
And then you listen to that, and truly it is an opinion because, as we know, science changes on a database. to day basis. You listen to the opinion and then with that support system that you have,
you evaluate which one you want to listen to. Do you want to listen to a part of it? Do you want to listen to full amount? You have that authority and you have that autonomy as an individual and as a human being.
So Sara, knowing what you know, you started, you completed this survey or study around some of this data that's been released.
What have you learned and where are you taking it from here? - So I had all of these hunches and I started to do focus groups when I was still living in Austin.
Full disclosure, I live in Austin. Fe, New Mexico now. So any sister coming to town, I know that probably a few of you are headed this way, please reach out. So I kept seeing these synchronicities,
I kept seeing how many friends that were also the oldest or the only daughter were diagnosed. with an autoimmune disease or with cancer.
I started asking about birth order with anyone that I would meet about a chronic diagnosis.
I called Kimberlee and I said, "Do you think that I have lost my mind? Like, do you think that there could be something to this?" You know, and what's difficult is you know the census the U .S.
Census has never asked about birth order so we've got all of this federal data but you know it's it's hard to kind of find a control group for. I found how many women like me that were diagnosed with something were also raised in a family that they felt they were most loved when they were also being good.
And I just, all of these matches just started to glow for me. And so I had a feeling that in my heart,
I was going to do a documentary about this at some point. And I sort of wanted to make sure that my hunches weren't totally off the rails,
even though they were deeply, deeply true for me. So I funded this survey, which I didn't have a name at the time,
but it ended up being, I ended up calling it autoimmunity and the good girls. So a few elements. So my research says that one in four women are diagnosed with at least one autoimmune cancer.
I also came away with over 63 % of women diagnosed with an autoimmune are either the oldest or the only daughter.
So check, check, so far. Then I also started peeling back the layers of some of the truths that other women with autoimmune conditions across the country,
this was amongst one. ,000 women who don't know me and I don't know them, even though I would love to have them for dinner. These truths about,
were you caretaking at a young age? Do you even know what your needs and wants are? Now as an adult, is it hard for you to be a patient? Is it hard for you to self -advocate in Kimberley?
office? Is it hard for you to disagree with her if she said something that you don't feel is right? How is your relationship with authority?
Are you afraid that you're gonna disappoint them? And if you're afraid that you're gonna disappoint them, then you've already lost in that argument because you're prioritizing your fear.
of not being liked by them in a doctor's office over your true knowing of how you feel on the inside. So all of a sudden I wanted you know what this research has kind of become is almost this how our girlhoods are affecting the way that we receive care,
take care of ourselves, understand ourselves, can advocate for ourselves in our womanhood. And I think that what I am seeing after the results which are available for free by the way,
everybody can download them for free, you and your loved ones on autoimmunesurvey .com. Please share and subscribe. the link. Whoever, I made all of the results available now because if it's going to take me a few years to make this doc and I would feel guilty every mother loving day if keeping this data that could help empower other women or their male allies or their loved ones if I hadn't made it available now.
So I do believe coming back to what I have learned, I believe to my soul that empowerment is the missing modality in women's health. I think that that's,
I agree with you. I had a patient yesterday went to, was actually very interested in a surgical procedure and went to three.
different doctors. And her decision was based off of which one was the nicest. And I challenged her because we are not shopping for friends when we're going into healthcare.
We're not shopping to go out to dinner with these people. We are looking for somebody who is going to take the best care and provide the best service and aftercare for you to get.
better. And it is a very, it's a different mindset because we are trying this like always this pleasing, always always getting that also back as a good girl to your credit on that.
Well, and I would also just like to say for all of us, this is not our fault. It is not our fault that we have these tendencies where that they are hardwired into our sensitive female operating systems.
It's not my mom's fault. She was raised by a good girl. It's not my grandmother's fault. She was raised by a good girl. But what I think that we are presented with,
and now I'm just really on a mission, I'm obsessed with creating with, you know, creating and starting a good girl revolution is that I believe that it is possible and it's our mystery and our holy grail to present.
We can be good to others and take care of ourselves at the same time. We haven't seen a lot of that, but if is possible.
And as I also say to my clients who I'm coaching now to help through some of these tricky, tricky, tricky times, is that it's absolutely going to be clumsy before you get clear on how to do this.
I'm saying clumsy all the time with it. And then it's like, oh, yikes. I think I exerted myself in sort of a way that I'm like a do -over about that.
I'm still finding my sea legs. But it's just one step at a time towards a direction that's you being real and true instead of you just being good.
No. There's-- love the grace that you're giving yourself and everybody else as part of this because it is a journey and change is hard.
Doing something differently doesn't just happen overnight. I also, as you talk, we talked about this a little bit, like I feel like so much is resonating with me.
It's like, oh, yeah, I do that. I do that. that. I, I actually have Hashimoto's, so we have that in common. So I, oh, yep, firstborn daughter, you know, all the things that starts to click and you start to see yourself and everything that you're saying.
And so I know there are people on our group here today that are probably thinking, oh, this, this is me, or I could, I do this, or I have a question about this.
So I know we talked about the importance of kind of opening this chat up to the group. There's a million more. questions I want to ask you and I can ask some of those at the end, but I really do want to make some time and space for our group here to step in and ask questions.
So if you have a chat and want to put that in, or if you have a question and want to put that in the chat, I would love to kind of open the conversation up here to some more people and share and get some advice.
I, you know, I'm now... full board have to figure out how to sort of manage this like Sara does I just want to know so much and figure out so much about what you've learned and how to implement it in my own life.
Well I'm working on a book so hopefully you'll have me back. We have some, some people coming into the chat here, Hashimoto's and the youngest,
but younger by so much as to be raised. as an only. I think I'm getting that right Sharon as I'm reading that An only oldest daughter with I'm gonna say that's rheumatoid arthritis at RA Can you speak to the talk since we're regularly loading in our bodies,
that's a great question for Mary who wants to jump in on that - We both can. Do you want to go first? - I'll let you go first.
- No, you go first. - No, no. - No, you. - So I think that, and this is, I'm so sorry, I would really love to be able to answer your question with your name.
Mary, hi, Mary. For me, oh golly. For me, some of the things that I was,
hypersensitive to that really activated a lot of my relapses were mold and heavy metals. So as far as consuming toxins,
those were very, very tricky for me. They were very deep in my bloodstream and in my liver, and I really had to kind of detox from all of that.
And I will also say, if I may get a little, you know, Eastern for a moment, is that the stories we tell ourselves can cause just as much harm as what we're consuming by mouth.
- I would add to that in the sense that I could eat the same exact thing as Sara and Mindy. I could live in the same exact house as Sara and Mindy.
I could have the same environmental as Sara and Mindy, but my body is different than Sara and Mindy. So the levels that are toxicity for me are going to be different than Sara or Mindy or any of us on this call.
So even if you feel like, well, nobrious as is. this symptoms, you do. And so you need to go down that path. Also, if you do specifically have like a test that's taken and they're like,
oh, well, yes, it's showing up, but that's within the normal range. It might not be normal for you. And so I want you to think of that as like my normal levels for my,
for instance, I was heading down toward an autoimmune and the only daughter first born. I was heading down that and I had all the symptoms and I went to the doctor and they said,
"Oh, all your levels were normal." But they weren't normal for me and they were waiting until it was not normal in their range, which is a range that has a lot of studies to it,
but it isn't specific to you. So that would be my challenges. is even if you're getting a lot of toxicity or if you have somebody else in your house that is not having the same symptoms,
you go and challenge that and find out what would make you healthy specifically to your body. Yes, and I feel like no matter what the toxin is,
if your operating system doesn't feel right to you, if there's inflammation or there's malaise or there's sluggishness or there are,
you know, the symptoms of everything, of every diagnosis can look different from one body to the next. 100%. Yeah.
It is really understanding yourself so much. as part of the process and that helps you out for yourself. When you say that might be your normal number,
but my normal number is X. And so we're going to talk about this in terms of me. I also, in my own health journey, there would be days where I would feel so good. And so I would write in detail how I was feeling that day,
what I was able to do. So this is what I'm going to talk about today. North Star that I knew was possible in my body. I knew what I'd eaten that day.
I knew what the weather was like. I knew what I was capable of. And to the knowing yourself, it's being able to know the polarity.
- So healthcare worker, Sara, I would say, to know on the days that you felt good like you felt like you could do the stuff that you want I would want to know what your blood work was on those days so if you could pair yourself with a practitioner that says go get your blood work done this day and then on the days that you don't feel the best you you go again and there's where you start comparing what is
happening on this day and that's where you start to problem solve. - Beautiful. I was stuck in quarantine during those two years of getting well, so I didn't have that capacity.
- Well, you don't have to do that again. - But our sisters here can. - Yeah, for sure. - That's so smart, so smart. I found the best doctors along the way are the ones that say,
I'm gonna look at your labs, but I also wanna know how you're feeling. I wanna treat both of those at the same time. I wanna hold both of those pieces together for you. you. But another question in the chat,
and this is, I think this is a whole body of a discussion that's so unique to women and that's around menopause. We're all getting bombarded by this ad or that ad about take this,
that your memory will help your memory, this will help that, that pooch around your belly, this will do that, like all kinds of things that are targeted sort of around menopause. And so we have a question from Dolly who's asking, if you have an opinion on the difference between menopause and womenopause.
sold to help quote with menopause symptoms. Well menopause is a great moneymaker because we all go through it and with the focus on women's health they figured out oh wow this might make some money so I wonder all the stages that women go through.
So let's capitalize on that. I don't have a specific recommendation on things mostly because it is very unique to you. I would stay out of,
especially with all the stuff that we know with toxins, is as true of ingredients as you can get the least amount of side effects that you would most likely have,
because a lot of our side effects come from the other things that are thrown into supplements or medicine. So I would work with somebody that would work with you on different things.
Also, a lot of times we try five things at once, which throws any body into this cycle of... or like doesn't know how to respond.
So I always recommend one at a time because you don't know what is working or what's hurting you if you're trying three or five things at a time and I know that a lot of times doctors will say like do these three things and then you just don't know and then also it's expensive.
Anything to add Sara? She's just nodding her head. Yes. Yes. Um, I'm not a physician and and I won't pretend But I will the thing that is coming forward and hopefully this isn't you know crossing a medical line is you know Vitamin D for me is such a massive component to how I feel day to day.
And I think that that is the one supplement I cannot live without right now in perimenopause. So we have another question from Mary in the chat around why so many use blood tests to identify I toxin levels when apparently that's not the way to determine our toxin levels.
I think I'm understanding that question correctly there. - Yeah. - She said they're not reliable. So why are they relied on when they're not so reliable? - I will give you the answer to that,
Mary. So it's what's, to be honest, it's what's reimbursed by insurance. I mean, that's a lot of our medicine is dictated by what insurance will and will not pay.
And so unfortunately, we have a lot of our medicine is dictated by what it will be or will not be reimbursed.
So I have, if blood work told you nothing. and you still have symptoms, you have symptoms and something is going on. So don't let blood work tell you that you're perfect.
You listen to yourself. Then the next step would be to do like hair samples, skin swab, like additional things. Those are most likely not reimbursed,
but there are doctors who will work with certain companies to be able for you to have like a decrease. in price. But that is the honest reason is because blood work is reimbursed by insurance and the others are not.
I hate to say that, but that is the truth. I think that brings up, don't we agree also how just how wildly expensive it is to just stay well.
I mean, I put so many tests on my credit card. from multiple years because for me,
I had, you know, I didn't get the clarity from the doctors that I was looking for. So I kind of, you know, worked with different doctors who would diagnose other,
you know, who would prescribe other tests, but, you know, those were people, you know, those were stool, you know, tests and urine samples. and all kinds of non -blood test options are out there,
but it does depend on the physicians and their preference and sort of their school of thought on what they prioritize over others.
And if that's a path that you can afford to go down, what a blessing. - That's it. the unfortunate is that they're the gatekeepers. And so if you don't advocate for yourself and you don't go beyond the gatekeeper and you just hear what the gatekeeper says,
that's where you get stuck. - Yeah. We did talk a little bit about this and coming up a lot in the chat, people are relating to this. Like, when I ran into my issues,
I had the ability to see. out and find different doctors and I've done that over time and some of them are on my insurance but some of them are not and so I choose to fly to Houston to see the doctor that I want to see for XYZ but I have the I have the privilege to be able to do that and not everybody does and just the access to to some of this care is such a barrier for some who don't have the means don't
have the ability to to sort of even know where start to go find these kinds of solutions or providers. It is, I was talking about in the chat that it's, you know, it's really sad that that is such a barrier here,
in terms of access and expense. Here being the operative word. Yes. Yes. So. Okay,
I have another question here from Mary. It's regular for. a good indicator of troubles in your body? - I mean,
is it regular fatigue or have you, are you assuming it's regular fatigue? I think you need to, like, did you do something that would create you to be fatigued or are you on the hamster wheel?
You wake up, you get on the hamster wheel and it's, just regular fatigue 'cause you never give yourself a break and then you get off and you go to sleep maybe and then you get back on.
I think you have to really distinguish fatigue. Like if I go and I run five miles and I'm fatigued, there's a cause and effect and I understand that.
But if there's no like general reason why, then I would, you would need to look deep. into what's going on. And from a storytelling standpoint,
I would say that energetically when we are on that wheel of activity that maybe is for the good of other instead of the good for yourself,
your energy depletes. faster when you're in a compromised state than when you're in a state of truth and joy. Okay.
This is a question in the chat, and I'm also going to use it to wrap us here. What do you see? I guess my first question is to Kimberlee. Where do you see this headed? We've had a lot of like,
oh, this is really sad and terrible about the current state of where we are, but we've also learned a lot and we can be empowered for more. Where do you see the positives, Kimberlee? Where do you see this going?
And if you look to the future, where do you see some bright spots for women's health? - Well, women's health has, like I said, has all of a sudden just kind of blown up a little bit in the last couple of years and also,
been focused. It's in a debate right now in lots of different states. There's lots of different things and people are talking about it. I do think that as women start to advocate more for themselves and we will see more and more change because we have a tendency to kind of push push push and so I think that that's good.
One thing I was going to say like going into the future, Mindy, is, as Tri Delta women and as women in our households and women leaders,
I think it's very important to role model this in the sense that you do need to pay attention to yourself. You need to pay attention to others. I told you earlier when we talked,
I am raising an only daughter who is an extreme high achiever. I have no idea where she gets it from, but I am very,
very, she's going to walk through the door at any minute too, so I got to be careful. But I am very keenly aware of making sure she's an advocate for herself,
being able to speak about her physical health, her mental health, her balance. her ability to advocate when she needs something and she's not, and also to say like,
"This is not for me." I really try to focus on that even more since reading all of Sara's information because it's real.
I see it in patients and so if I can do that for my daughter, I think we can all do that that. our friends, for our love ones,
and for our trade altitude. And Sara, you're on the front end of this research and another version of mentoring and supporting women in your life.
Where's this going for you next? Where's the all upside? because I think that knowledge is an invitation.
I think that you've never had this many women innovating on behalf of their own experience in the history of womanhood,
the amount of female entrepreneurs that are innovating for menopause, that's the amount of... that are fighting for answers for menopause and women's health, the amount of documentary filmmakers like me and truth tellers like me that are out here waving flags as fast as we can recognize them.
And I think that we're also in a time where this level of candor is not only allowed, permitted,
encouraged, and championed. I think that we are in the most powerful place we've ever been to make positive change.
And so I would like to, yes, some of this research might be a little tough to swallow, but it doesn't mean that it has to freeze us in a place of disempowerment.
I want to use this for the opposite. I want to use this for the look what we get to do because, you know, Sara learned that let's see what we can do because of it.
And all of a sudden, you know, rewiring this inner good girl who is so dedicated to care taking over receiving. second we change the way that women feel comfortable receiving will change the face of women's healthcare,
I believe. - Well, we adore you too. You are empowering and smart and just so terrific to come and share today with us.
We're so proud to have you in our sisterhood. Thank you for joining us. I know both of you are open to people following up with you and asking questions and starting conversations. So Beth is going to put your emails in the chat for everybody.
So if you have additional questions or we didn't get to one of your questions, definitely feel free to drop them an email or a note. And they are happy to have the conversation with you.
Thank you both so much for joining us today. - Thank you, sister. - Thank you so much. - Love, loved this conversation so much. And thank you all for joining us.
I hope you'll be here next month on June 18th at 2 /30 central time. We're gonna all get together for more informal, just coffee chat for anybody who wants to join for that and get to know each other a little more. I really hope you're all planning to join us this summer at convention in Orlando from July 11th.
to the 14th. You can head to the website under the events tab. You'll find all the information about that if you haven't registered yet. And from there, I hope you all have a great day.
It was great to see you and Delta Love until next time. Bye -bye.