Daughter's Against Alzheimer's Battle For The Brain Recap

In today's Season Finale, we recap our experience at Battle for the Brain 2026! 

We pulled up at the Coca-Cola Roxy for Battle for the Brain—Daughters Against Alzheimer's lip sync showdown, where corporate teams, cheerleaders, and neighbors channel pure joy into serious funding for Alzheimer’s research at Emory. 

We walk you through the night: teams that rehearse like Broadway hopefuls, a set list that jumps from the 50s to the 2000s, and a crowd that refuses to leave their seats. You’ll hear from Atlanta Falcons cheerleaders Ava and Caitlin on why dancing for a cause hits different, a guest who came to support his wife’s team and stayed for the mission, and an auctioneer who can sell anything while honoring his grandmother’s memory. 

Underneath the glitter sits the engine: Daughters Against Alzheimer’s and Emory’s world-class research teams. We dig into why steady, annual funding matters—grants are planned years ahead, early bets need breathing room, and breakthroughs often come from calculated risks that don’t fit tidy boxes. 

Come for the music, stay for the mission, and leave with a clearer sense of how joy, science, and community can move mountains. If this episode moves you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people find the fight. What song would your crew lip-sync to for a cure?

Visit BattlefortheBrain.org for more information and to attend next year. 

Executive Producer/Host: J Smiles

Producer: Mia Hall 

Editor: Annelise Udoye

Transcript

Setting The Scene At The Roxy

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Battle for the brain. These teams that are doing the lip syncing, you can't tell them this isn't the Grammys or the Tony's or they're not on Broadway. Co-founder. I'm gonna let her go because a lot of people want to talk to her. But she is the reason why we're about to beat Alzheimer's. What's up, fam? It's the season six finale, and I am at the Battle of the Brain. It is a fanatical, fun, funny lip sync bout between 10 or 12 major teams. The Atlanta South is cheerleaders, Morgan Stanley. Ray. The bank people are about to do lip syncing to raise money for Alzheimer's. All of this was started by Daughters Against Alzheimer's. DAA. Anyway, I can't wait to see how they pull all this thing together. This thing is less than 10 years old, yet they raise millions of dollars per year, and they give it specifically to Alzheimer's Research at Emory in Atlanta. I got this fast advanced, it's gonna glink. The last time I had one of these, I was with Oprah. And there's a solid live auction. I can smell the fries, I can smell the beer. It's about to be a good time. Parenting up caregiving adventures with comedian Jay Smiles is the intense journey of unexpectedly being fully responsible for my mama. For over a decade, I've been chipping away at the unknown, advocating for her, and pushing Alzheimer's awareness on anyone in anything with a heartbeat. That's why don't be ready, don't go. Caregiver newbies, OGs, and village members just willing to prop up a caregiver. You are in the right place.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Hi, this is ready. I hope you enjoy my daughter's podcast.

Why This Mission Matters

The Venue, Energy, And Sponsors

SPEAKER_03 2:12

Today's supporter shout out is from YouTube, Walter Miller215. I absolutely agree with your message 100%. As a former co-caregiver for both of my parents, they made sure that my siblings and I knew what their wishes were for them well in advance before any confusion or conflict within the family. Amen. What a blessing you guys won the parent sibling lottery. The fact that y'all had it squared away before the confusion started. Thank you for sharing that. Now, if you would like to receive a support, a shout out, please, please, please, write a review on YouTube or Apple Podcast. Today's episode, Battle for the Brain. However, they made a belief out of me. Battle for the brain. These teams that are doing the lip syncing, you can't tell them this isn't the Grammys or the Tony's or they're not on Broadway. It is so amazing. These are adults who have jobs that don't involve uh healthcare or brain activity or research. I don't know how long they practice, how they find all these costumes, but they have gone all in. Like American Idol don't have shit on battle for the brain. And these teams and how competitive they are. Last year they raised 1.8 billion. Tonight we're about to go over the$2 billion range. It is so phenomenal just to be a part of it. The energy is crazy. We're at the Roxy. So if anybody's been to Atlanta, Tourist Park is where the Braves play. It's a beautiful complex that has food and restaurants and bars and shops. And there's also a venue called the Coca-Cola Roxy. It is a phenomenal venue. I actually have seen Kevin Hart perform here. So this shit is serious. It's sold out. Shake Fillet gave away all the sandwiches you could eat. Shake Shack gave away burgers. There were these delicious wedge fries. I don't remember the wedge fries, people, but we're gonna find the name and put it up under the bottom. There were drinks, the bar was open. Now they did encourage us not to go too far with it, but to watch the founders come out. The researchers actually showed up from Emory University. So we got to see and hear from real scientists. A lot of this was the fun of cheering for a team that you may know, or just music you love. They did stuff from the 50s, from the 80s, from the 2000s. The music was all over the place. Blacks, whites, Asians, people that are 30 years old, people 75 years old. It was such a melting pot of cultures, of religions, of races, of genders, because Alzheimer's doesn't discriminate. There's a lot of shit that does, but Alzheimer's does not. Watching the people sick here in the middle of the week. It's a Thursday night, y'all. These people gotta go to work. They got kids, they got jobs, it's cold outside, but everyone is still 10 toes down. This place is still packed. Nobody has left. Do you hear me? Like nobody has left their seats. I got choked up more than one time because they even showed videos of people saying why they chose to compete with a team. Like uh Tootsies, I remember that one, which is a uh women's boutique in Atlanta, then Ryder, they had some very moving thoughts. Um and Julie's groove crew, they had some very moving thoughts. It feels um elevating to be in a room of people who are not just suffering because of this disease, but are actually doing something, actively doing something every day, every moment, every year to bring this disease to an end. And you might hear right now, maybe you can't hear, there's a live auction. They even auctioned off like a 15,000 square foot mansion on the coast in Costa Rica for a week with butlers and cooks. You know what I mean? They are also um a private jet for two hours anywhere you want to go. Now, listen, you gotta go. If you go the whole way to two hours, you're gonna have to get your ass back on somebody else's plane or a bus or a train or a bicycle, or you just go one hour and turn around and come back. Either way, NetJets did that. Coca-Cola is a major sponsor. That also really touched me to know which corporations decided to still go hard for Alzheimer's. Money is tight right now for everybody, for corporations, for individuals, but the fact that large groups like Borgan Stanley and Coca-Cola decided to connect with something so personal and so local, meet the world. Emery is based right here in Atlanta, and their Alzheimer's Research Center has been voted number one for multiple years in a row. So let's go. Let's go, bottom butter brain. Let's go. Hey y'all, we're still here at the battle of the brain, and we had two of the flyest, hottest participants, and I can say it because I saw everybody. Atlanta Falcons cheerleaders, Ava and Caitlin. Oh, this is Ava, and that's Caitlyn. What made you all say yes? Because I mean, it's a Thursday night.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

You could probably not be cheering and dancing. Yeah, I think the most important thing for us is that we're able to dance and do something that we love, but for a much bigger cause. I mean, usually we are how cheering on our football team and cheering on the city of Italy. And now we can do it in a much more meaningful way on waiting full night. So it's been super, super fun, and we just get to bond as a team as well and showcase our talent for everyone here, which is super boo.

The Melting Pot Of Supporters

SPEAKER_03 9:30

Which is like, and I just want to say, I they did way more than pop fall shaking. Like, I would like maybe for like maybe half of the third quarter, we just watched the cheerleaders, you know what I mean? And we can just hear in our earbuds if the team is winning or not. That's my vote. They were awesome. Thankfully, they don't want to get an idea. So we are here at the Battle of the Brain 2026. We just met sitting in the audience, cheering for a lot of the lip sync bands. Yes. Did you enjoy yourself tonight?

SPEAKER_05 10:03

Yes, I did. My name is James Johnson Solution Architect. And one thing that I noticed, that little cute camera you had just. And I kept she kept looking at it on my wife said, What is she asking? I don't know, but I'm gonna ask her. Yeah, and uh, it was very intriguing, but I'm glad I found out about your organization. I'm gonna take a look at your podcast because I think podcasts is interesting. It's a coming norm these days, and I think it's a way of the future, and it's so nice to meet you two ladies. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

Thank you so much. What why are you here tonight? Do you know someone that's been impacted by a disease?

SPEAKER_05 10:35

No, I'm here because my wife performed with Ryder every year. We're coming now. Yeah, yeah. Plus, it's like me since uh that I have known a lot of people through my mother's a hair power, and it is truly a uh dressful disease. So I'm so glad to have some more people here. I wish we could uh make sure that uh our flags of African America is more in tune to it as well. Because it is truthful, yeah. But thank you, ladies and friends.

SPEAKER_03 11:02

Thank you, thank you so much. We're still here, battle for the brain, killing it. If you want to sell something that may or may not be worth the money that you are asking, get this guy. Tim's gonna kill.

SPEAKER_04 11:14

Yeah, Tom. But Tim! Not mad. Tim Tom, Tim Tom, just send me Tom? Yeah, Tom. Just send your stuff to my house. I'll give you my address. And a purple tie. Just mail the stuff to my house and I'll sell it.

SPEAKER_03 11:26

Alright, Tom, how did you get involved?

SPEAKER_04 11:30

Well, first of all, my my Graham, Nawny, as we called her. Okay. Often versus my mom's mom, and God bless her, and we love her. And you know, at the end she was telling me, you're both short and you're tall. You know, you know, and you gotta get the laughs out, right? You gotta enjoy, yeah. But she's the greatest, and then uh it's in our family, and yeah, it's in everyone's family, right? Yeah, yeah. That's why I'm honored to work here, because we're fine, we're gonna cure this day. That's what we're doing. That's what we're gonna do.

SPEAKER_03 11:57

Yeah, me, Tim, and Tom. Tim Tom. Alright, because Tim Tom gives twice the flavor here, bro. Can you get his shoes? Yeah, everyone can't do that. You know what I mean? Every auctioneer can give you business up top.

SPEAKER_04 12:14

Can I tell you something else? Not every podcast host can do this. Yeah, not everyone can do that. I know a lot of podcast hosts that can't do that.

SPEAKER_03 12:23

Jay and Tim Tom, we're going on the road. Yeah, all right.

SPEAKER_04 12:27

Thank you for supporting. All right. Absolutely.

Stories Behind The Teams

SPEAKER_03 12:29

Co-founder, I'm gonna let her go because a lot of people want to talk to her. But she is the reason why we're about to beat Alzheimer's ass. Amen. Battle for the brain, baby. Yes. Okay. The snuggle of. Because remember, you've got to sign up for a grant two, three, four, five years in advance. But if we are raising money annually, that means every year we are giving them more and more chances to take calculated, passionate risks. Go give some money, y'all. Thank you for tuning in. I mean, really, really, really thank you so very much for tuning in. Whether you're watching this on YouTube or if you're listening on your favorite podcast audio platform. Either way, wherever you are, subscribe. Come back. That's the way you're gonna know when we do something next. Y'all know how it is. I'm Jay Smiles. I might just drop something hot in the middle of the night.