Fatu Badiane-Markey 0:24
What can you do with your love of science we'll tell you
Shekerah Primus 0:49
Hi, everyone, welcome back to another episode of We love science, the podcast where we tell you all the things that you can do with your love of science. We are your hosts. My name is Shakira.
Fatu Badiane-Markey 1:03
And I am fatu and today's show, we've got science and a little bit of clowning, but we always have a little bit of clowning don't we Shekerah, we always have a good time.
Shekerah Primus 1:12
Yes, we do. We always have a little bit of clowning. So our special guest today is Dr. Cari Skrdla, who is a neuroscientist and entrepreneur. Cari we are so so excited to have you on the show. Welcome. Welcome.
Cari Skrdla 1:29
Thank you so much. I'm so glad to be here with both of you, and hello to all of your listeners.
Shekerah Primus 1:35
Great. So we're really looking forward to hearing more about your work and your career journey. But before we jump in, we like to warm up by talking about one of our favorite topics. Of All Time, which is food.
Cari Skrdla 1:51
I love food.
Shekerah Primus 1:56
Today's topic is favorite foods. So the question is our listeners already know this one. Describe one of your favorite dishes or desserts. fatu Would you like to get us started?
Fatu Badiane-Markey 2:09
Sure. I will start with I guess a favorite dessert that I had yesterday is just in general like a good chocolate like I wanna say like candy but like something a little bit more luxurious than that. Like if you can go to you to like a European style like chocolate store unit where they have like everything like laid out I need to set the scene for you guys. You know the pouring the chocolate in the back they have like the like little individual ones that are all the different flavors. That kind of chocolate experience. And so I ran into a new chocolate shop that I haven't seen before when I first arrived in DC where I am right now, and I could not resist I literally walked by like two times and I was like I'm just going in these like individual they're almost like truffles but not really. And they're just like I can't even describe it but it's just absolutely amazing melts in your mouth deliciousness. So a good chocolate like Bon bon. I think that's gonna be my favorite dessert right now that and a cup of tea just hits the spot I'm hungry all right, I'm sorry, guys. All right.
Shekerah Primus 3:22
It sounds like an all immersive chocolate experience right.
Cari Skrdla 3:29
And the listeners can't see her face but it's lit up
Fatu Badiane-Markey 3:35
I'm like reminiscing like literally Yes, you have to store you know where they have the chocolate on display. Like it has to be the whole experience, you know, the whole experience. So what about you?
Cari Skrdla 3:47
Well, my favorite meal is an Egyptian dish. Because my mother is Egyptian and it's called Galaba. You know, she would say Cuhlaba right? And it's kind of an African goulash and yeah, oh, it's so delicious and she would always make this big bed of rice and pour it over and typically, it would have shrimp as the protein. But you can put any protein in there that you want. It's so good. There's like a red sauce and spices and oh my gosh, my mouth is starting to water. Like I you know, I know how to make it of course it's never as good as mom or gramma's.And there is one restaurant, I mean, because today you know you look at Middle Eastern restaurants it's like it's more Greek than you Egyptian or, or any Arab nation. And there's one called the Phoenician cafe right here in Gilbert, Arizona where I live. Okay, they make it perfectly oh my gosh, it's so good is really good. So that's my absolute favorite dish. And my favorite dessert is any cake, so long as it's fresh, you know, moist. We had. I don't like I like frosting but just a very thin layer. Yeah, my husband can really pile it on no I want cake
Shekerah Primus 5:33
Yeah.
Fatu Badiane-Markey 5:34
That's right Cari, we're team cake over Here Yeah,
Cari Skrdla 5:39
I like that hashtag any cake
Shekerah Primus 5:49
Well, mine is not nearly as exciting as both of those I'm like hungry again. I just ate and I had butternut squash soup, which is one of my favorites. And I actually haven't made it in a really really long time. So I just bought it I was just like, thinking about it. But it's so good. I love the butternut squash that like nutty flavor and it was really good. It was just it was perfect. So that you know it hit a spot for me today. Especially since I haven't had it in so long
Cari Skrdla 6:19
You guys have hit my spot both of you I'm thankful that I had a snack before I joined Yeah.
Shekerah Primus 6:30
Okay, ladies, that was excellent food talk. Of course it's always excellent food science talk. So, so why don't we jump in? Okay, so, our guest today is Dr. Cari Skrdla, who is a neuroscientist and self described neuroscience nerd so we look forward to hearing all about your work. I know that you've done some work with COVID-19. And you've got some really interesting science to share with us today. But you're also a businesswoman. You've started multiple businesses in your career. You're currently the founder and CEO of LifeBack investing club and life back consulting. So we'll talk a bit about that about about your businesses as well. On the flip side of all the serious career stuff, I was very interested to find out that you are a graduate of clown University.
Cari Skrdla 7:37
It's a source of pride out of all my achievements, like truly.
Shekerah Primus 7:42
So I'm really curious about that. We're definitely going to have to talk about that during our life lights section
And lastly, you are a fellow podcaster Cari. So your podcast is called Everything and Jack. Yes. I feel like we have so much in common with you. We're really looking forward to hearing all about your journey and wehave a lot to talk about. So let's jump in. Alright, so how about let's start with the science of it all. So can you please give us a brief background of your field of study and the major questions that your research addresses?
Cari Skrdla 8:25
Okay, so I really am a neural science nerd. So if you have to pull me back, pull me back say ok Dr. Cari, slown down. My fascination I think with people in general is what led ultimately to that as an academic commitment. But I think it started in childhood. I was always observing people. I had a front row seat because my father was a civil rights activist and a minister. And there were so many opportunities to just see humanity suffering, and then see how they dealt with tough situations, seeing the times that they would laugh, and and experience joy. And later, you know, I was just I was bullied. A great deal. I know you met me in person, and I'm six feet tall. My height came very, very, very, very rapidly. So by the time I was 11 years old, I was already I think, five, two or so very tall and kids thought that was something to make fun of. And it's interesting. In the midst of that being my experience at the time in life, I was observing the children and having thoughts like, why are you so unhappy? Why are you doing that to me? So there were always questions. So I had all the time just observing humanity. Even when I was at the I don't know, when I was was forced to defend myself or something like that. It was always out there with them and observation. So that I think was the beginning. Of course at that time, but when I hit middle school, Sigmund Freud was still the authority in psychology. And I remember the very first book, I checked out trying to understand people and reading that and, of course, back then I'm like, maybe they all have mommy issues, you know. With Freud everything was your mother's fault, right? And so I went through a very specific program in high school called Early identification college program. When I graduated, they paid for my undergrad studies, and I became a psych major. And in my senior year, I was recruited full time and went to work in human resources. That was the beginning of me making the decision for neuroscience, because I would look at an employee that was so excited coming to work for us. And they had all of these dreams and then just three, four months later, I would pass them in the hallway and they would barely look at me and they seem so unhappy. So I went into neuroscience because I wanted to know how we're manufactured what's happening between our two ears. I knew that the exterior was not the human being, but only what the human being was represented. What's really going on in there and how do we understand it? So today I work with employers I work with talent managers, people who are trying to understand what I call the state of human existence hence life back consulting and as a neuroscientist, I'm looking at the hardware of a human being, so many people say Okay, so what is that? That is the brain, but the mind is a function of the brain, and that is what I call the software of a human being. So, my research will look at environmental, ontological and other contributors to the shaping of the neurons and the pathways that are created in a human being right that contributes to software output, the mind, because you have identity you have reactions, responses, determinations, your will, is a function of the mind, but everyone's output is going to be altered in some way. If the hardware the brain is is wired either for medical reasons incorrectly, or because of maybe excessive use of alcohol or drugs or being in an environment of survival, where people were hard wired and you've heard that before - Hard Wired a particular way. But what I like to do with research and my communication out into the world is to inform human beings, guess what you're malleable. You can alter and shift those pathways. into any empowering way or disempowering way. But I, I really encourage the first be empowered right, that you see fit. So the research that I've done in the past has allowed me to write articles contribute to books, lectures, presentations, to give insight to leaders and people who manage others in the workforce specifically, in order to support them with managing what I call their state of existence.
Shekerah Primus 14:22
Hmm, wow, that's a very big picture stuff right there.
Cari Skrdla 14:27
I'm getting excited. I love this conversation
Shekerah Primus 14:34
Wonderful, wonderful. We love it too. So can you talk to us a little bit about? So you've done some research surrounding COVID-19? Is that correct?
Cari Skrdla 14:46
Yes. Yeah
Shekerah Primus 14:47
Can you talk to us a little bit about what you did there and any major discoveries or like the most exciting discovery that you had through that research?
Cari Skrdla 14:58
Yeah, well, and you know, a lot of the research that I did surrounding the pandemic ties into this ongoing research that I have looking and examining generation. So if you look at the workforce, right now, and most of my work supports development, business development, workforce development, and currently, in the United States, we have five generations in the workforce. That is just mind blowing to me, as a baby boomer, right to look at. There are still some older boomers there. I'm at the end of the boom, there's even some veterans that are still there. And that tied ties into you know, just inadequate succession planning, or people not wanting to let go. And then you have Gen X, a large population in the workforce right now, and they're a silent generation latchkey. Kids, is often what they're called. And they're interesting to me. Because if you look at the research, surrounding them, that was the first generation that had mothers in mass numbers go into the workforce. So that generation is very quiet because they were told you know, come home from school, let yourself in. Snack watch television to like get home. And don't tell anyone you're home alone. So they're, they sit in your cubicles or in their office in their spaces. They won't talk about politics, they don't share themselves very much. And so that's the kind of thing that I'm examining now with Gen Z, and the next generation that's following them - the pandemic how is it impacting them? Now, that's the behavioral part, but the hard wiring that we're looking at, you can see it in the physicalness. My granddaughter is a good example of that generation. Her pupils are larger. Her eye color she was she was born with kind of like hazel eyes and now there's some interesting amber color because they're taking in more blu ray. They were watching more videos they were Look, they're looking at the internet more looking at screens. So for me, whenever I'm one I have to wear these filters, right for my eyes. But our children that are currently 18 and younger, have adapted and we're seeing their eyes with very interesting colors. Well, you know, dark eyes, three of us we all have dark eyes, because of the continent of origin. Right? They protect us from sunlight. These children are actually being born wired, right preemptively wired to protect them from blu ray
Shekerah Primus 18:21
Interesting.
Cari Skrdla 18:22
That is fascinating to me. Every time I've been out and I see - there's a kid over at Fry's, he's always kind of grouchy I find Gen Z really grouchy I love you GenZ I gave birth to you right - a little edgy, and, and his eyes I just remember the first time I looked in his eyes they're bigger he's got the larger pupils and that amber color tone. So those are some of the things that we're finding. Also, socially, we're looking at that generation and how they interact digitally, even when they're in the same room with each other. So there's this virtual world that they that they're pushed into in being that young and the developmental years they would have adapted a lot faster. Right. And then it took root neurons created new pathways. And then created the adaptations in their physicalness for that environment. And and it's so funny, I don't know why. It still intrigues me so much when I look historic historically at Sapiens period, always adapting to our environment. I guess, for me and other scientists. We live in such a modern world. You kind of think, what other adaptations do we need?
Shekerah Primus 19:56
Yeah.
Cari Skrdla 19:57
we're ever evolving and tech technology is really leading the way in that evolution and how we're adapting.
Shekerah Primus 20:06
Yeah, that is so interesting
Cari Skrdla 20:07
I'm just trying to keep up, tick tock. Okay.
Keep up right. Yeah. And so because I also have millennial children that grew up in the 90s, when our economy was thriving, oh my gosh, it was like the party of the century. And they had everything. I mean, everything and not just from me and their father, but grandparents you know, I mean, just money was good and plenty. And so you look at millennials that came along in that time starting in 1981. That's my oldest son. And then I think the cut off is 1996. So they grew up, an up economy. And it took them longer for that reason to really get out into life and be independent as a collective. But also there was this. This generation was the first generation that was truly allowed to speak their minds. So there was a cultural shift that took place there and an adaptation in the brain occurred along with it, that fires in a particular way saying, I want to be free. I want to be self expressed. I don't want to work that way. I see you smiling. They're more right brained right. So we started to see the world shift with the generations before who had lived in the left hemisphere of the brain, you know, going all the way back to the early 20th century with the industrial boom Millennials ushered in like, No, I want more creativity. I want more freedom, and the world can thank them for that. Now, baby boomers really struggled a lot with that generation, you know, cuz it's like, what do you think you're doing? Trying to come in and tell us what to do? And why are you always on the computer? And I know that because I've hosted panels ladies where arguments jumped out and it was interesting. There was this panel where we had veteran, baby boomers, we had Gen X, we have millennials uh Gen Z had not entered the workforce at the time I did this. And I identified each generation with like a cutout icon of the music, or the device that they listened to music on so vinyl, cassette, right? It was so much fun guys. It really was. All the sudden the boomers started attacking the millennials and this was a thing that was so I was so glad I videotaped it, because Gen X was just sitting there not saying a word. Not getting into the argument. Like, yeah, I'm just gonna sit here. And then the vet veterans started defending the millennials because that would be their grandchildren. So we're seeing kind of the same thing. And there was a Nielsen report that backed up a lot of this about the shaping of generations, specifically looking at Gen Z. Right. And so, it's going to be interesting to see as more things roll out post pandemic, but we have a generation Gen Z that is all too comfortable living in a virtual world has adapted to being in a virtual world and has no interest in entering the workforce. And that is the older and the younger. It's true. And the impact is so significant on our economy, that there are a lot of thought leaders scrambling to figure out what's going to happen to the older people if they're refusing to enter the workforce and there's no security coming from those individuals, right. They worked to pay that bill to the to the older generations and it's not happening. Another impact that my research provides information for is the skills gap. And there's a huge skills gap 77% of America's workforce has retired took their skills with them and you've got Millennials going nope, I'm not going to be here for 40 years. You have got to be kidding me. And then you get Gen Z coming along saying and I don't want it at all. So and the frustration for people like me, research teams, is that this is something we predicted years ago, and minimum 20 years ago. And we have run around with our findings to academic institutions, K through 12. Like just trying to say this is how we're going to have to morph education for the way they want to engage. And now they're still doing it the same old way. And and so there's so much pushback now. It's going to be interesting to see what happens
Shekerah Primus 25:44
yeah, very very interesting work Cari and so relevant. So so incredibly relevant, right? So I'm sure that you know everything that you know and that you've learned about humans us humans and like what drives us and like the generational differences sort of plays into your work in your consulting firm. So you're a business owner, you've got a consulting firm. Can you tell us a little bit about about that about your work as a business owner?
Cari Skrdla 26:18
Yeah. So with everything I just shared, like the experience either on the academic side or in the workforce. You know, it's interesting at my age to see that the more things have changed, the more they've stayed the same. So my consulting today is to bring the human experience to the forefront in the workforce, hence life back consulting, and I work primarily with employers that have at minimum 50 employees and the situation or the problem that we're addressing is turnover. turnover is like ongoing and is expensive. And when I've worked in human resources, and you know, I'm spending time looking for someone, then that someone is there and now we've got to take time to train and develop that someone and there are so many costs that are associated with it. We used to call it CPU cost per unit, that unit being a human being, even shadowing someone or having people away from their desk spending times. Time in in onboarding to train and develop, that person is not on their job. So those funds are being allocated now over here to training and then they come in and they're unhappy, and they leave boom. turnover. Yeah. So I work within employers to really look at where we have missed so much. And here's what I mean by that. When I first started. You interviewed someone they literally filled out a paper application. They brought you a resume, you review that you had an interview, and then you invited that person to come in. Great. Then we find found out okay, we didn't know enough about that person. Let's do background checks that showed up later. And then we went from there into personality tests. I remember when they came out. Oh my gosh, that was so annoyed. Everybody going around with their reports Oh it says this. This is amazing. And they just sort of existed. And not really used as a tool, right? To help people develop in areas that they were not as strong. And still that would not tell us enough here. Here's here's what i i see working with employers. Okay, so someone has the background. They can interview well, you can see their personality test, and they should mix well with the team. But life isn't like that life is in a constant state of movement right? It's, it's like a pendulum swinging. So how do we capture the state of a human being? And I think I was probably my own test subject. It happens a lot. But I remember I had back to back losses I lost two sisters in within a year and a half. Yeah, both my younger sisters. Really close.
And then I had a physical change. I went into menopause. And, you know, lots of things were happening. And it's like, why is my hair thinning, you know, and yet I can interview well, I've got the credentials, I've got the background, I've got the experience, but my state that I'm covering that I'm hiding is trending downwards, right down from a normal state of every day normal existence. And normal at best is someone that's going to come to work every day do their work, they're not going to gossip. They're not going to start trouble in the workforce. They're really committed and the company's values align with our values. Right? You know, with with the, with the individuals values, right? So that makes them happy. But one and I usually call that person Bob. What happens if Bob's wife leaves him and all of a sudden, you know, he's coming to work every day or you know, he had a death in the family. Oh, well, we gave them five bereavement days. And Yeah, great. My sisters passed away in 2019. One and 2020 and I was crying yesterday thinking about that. Right? So five days is not enough to really mend the broken heart of a person, right? And then they're coming to work every day, trying not to make other people uncomfortable. Trying not to display that. And all of a sudden we see them trend downward in their performance. Right I don't know what's going on with Bob. He used to be a great employee. He used to do this. Now all of a sudden, this person is not human. They're just someone that letting everyone down. So we've seen employers implement things like you know, quiet rooms or mental health days. There's a stigma with that. We have some employee employees like no, I better not take time off work. I can't tell anyone about that. So with my consulting what I do is work with talent acquisition. I have in partnership with Leslie Householder, developed a mindset quotient test, and it is the only one of its kind. It anyone can go to mindset quotient. test.com and take it and it'll completely identify where you are in the state of your existence. If you're on the lower end of thinking. Then just imagine the impact that the ways that you're impacting yourself and the people around you know, it'll push you into survival thoughts, which then trigger the amygdala and this is why so many people are walking around in a constant state of like Angst or because fight or flight has been alerted. And in one of my recent podcasts, talking with my cohost, Jeanne Marie Eayrs and Amy Sullivan Ryan, we were exploring modern day fight or flight today what it looks like is I'm on the couch watching Netflix with gelato. Or, you know, I'm I'm fighting not against maybe another human being but I'm arguing with reality. Yeah. Right. And so those are some of the things that I go in and and offer tests and then review the reports with the employers and make recommendations based on their goals and what they want to accomplish in order to help them navigate the waters of humanity. What has happened in the past is either people leave, and they go someplace else with their heartbreak, or they're terminated and they go somewhere else. And there is no time for that human being to recover from whatever they're dealing with. And, and that's unfortunate, because you've got brokenhearted leaving A and going over to B. But how long are they going to be there? Right right. And and, and they can't stop in order to take care of themselves because they have to pay their bills. They have mouths to feed. So we haven't done the best job in the workforce, to make sure that we're taking care of the humanity of an individual and giving them the space that they need to recover from Horrible Bosses, from spouses leaving them from, from loss from grief, that sort of thing. Yeah. So that's the work I'm doing. And you can probably hear I'm pretty excited about it
Shekerah Primus 34:27
It sounds very, very challenging the work that you're doing. I'm almost afraid to ask you what you find most challenging in your role because it sounds like you sort of your your emotions are always going to have to be engaged right in order to do this work, so I'm going to ask it anyway. What do you find most challenging?
Cari Skrdla 34:46
I think what's most challenging and and probably scientists across all scientific bodies would agree with this is that we do research, we defend our findings, and yet they never make it out into the world. Not in a significant kind of way to cause the people that we want to serve to live a better life. All of our researches is just have you ever heard Ph. D stands for piled high and deep. Yeah. You know, I relate that to the research that we do. Scientists are not white coats. So typically, no one is listening to us, but we're the ones that all of our research is used in curriculum and a lot of that information is not disseminated in in a way that really serves the educators and and definitely not people out in the world. And then you get some one that will read a book, declare themselves an expert, or Guru. And now you know, they're part of Oprah's book club. And they're out there charging people money and people are paying, trying to be well trying to be whole and not understanding that the pathway to being hold is understanding one simple thing, how am I manufactured? And then what are the influences of that manufacturing my culture, inherited conversations, my ethnicity, my present environment, and more than anything, how do I keep my heart open to sync with my mind in the most effective way that I get to live the life that I dream about?
Shekerah Primus 36:58
Yeah isn't that what, we all want
Cari Skrdla 36:61
it that's what everyone wants and, and the way to do it has been researched. It's been proven. And I think that's frustrating for me for sure. And I think I could speak speak for other scientists. During the pandemic, for example, I looked at one Senate hearing where there was a scientist that was there and she just seemed so perplexed as to know why no one will really look to not the medical field but the science body to to talk about the effects and the long term effects, and also understanding more about vaccines. And she was speaking and talking about that, especially the impact on African Americans. And the reasons why. And and I'm watching and I just have one thought like, you know, her heart is breaking. You could hear it she had lost a family member and there she is still standing for humanity. Having the knowledge that's needed. So yeah, yeah, it's kind of a frustration. And still, no one wants to hear from the geeks in the background.
Shekerah Primus 38:22
The geeks have the answer but no one's listening.
Cari Skrdla 38:26
No, no,
Shekerah Primus 38:27
All right. Well, hopefully it gets better. Right? We got to all work towards that. And you know get that to change somehow. Very interesting. Okay. So final question in the segment. Cari, can you talk a bit about your experience as a black woman in this space? And any advice that you would give to women and in minority groups interested in following a similar path as yours?
Cari Skrdla 38:55
Absolutely. Um, you know, I can tell you that I had a great academic experience. Right. You know, it's it's a space where you're so engaged in the studies and your passion within the studies that the things that make us all different um just seem to disappear? Yeah, I still remember my colleagues and, and people that started with me, we were delusional too. And it's like, yeah, I'm doing my track in three years and three years later, years later, we're all still there. Right? You know, and, you know, because it's a tough field and it was on the other side of that, that I started to experience, a lot of pushback that I think that pushback was coming from me being black and being female. If you look at the most prominent, a neuroscientist today, and I'm not even talking celebrity neuroscientists, I'm talking like the ones that really have been able to establish a career in the field. It's still white males. So that was tough and and what I ultimately had to choose between was either settling just in academic career working for a university, either teaching being a part of research teams, and being okay, that everything I shared with you ladies that would support the growth and the well-being and happiness of the world would never make its way out there. Or I could give up any idea of ever being tenured, or you know, or retiring or something like that, and say, No, I'm gonna get my work out there. And, and that led to more heartbreak with more doors being shut in my face. I don't wake up in in this dark skin body every day with, you know, some sort of mood that there all time and I've met people in the culture like that, that someone's out to do something to me or they're holding me back. I tend to not think like that at all. And, and yet, I can say there are at minimum three times that I could look and say, oh my gosh, is that it? Is this happening? Because I'm black. Yeah, right. And it's a it's a feeling. It's an experience that I'm sure you can relate to. Where when you can clearly get and me I'm bold, I'll ask questions. Like okay, so I'm trying to understand we spoke on the phone, or when I emailed you everything you were excited. What's changed now that I'm here in front of you, right? Now that you can see me right what's what's different, right. So I've had those experiences and and then understanding that there are in this, I've seen it in research in labs, that I don't believe that, that people are racist in large numbers the way that the young people claim today today, everybody's out there racist, they're racist. I don't believe that. But I do know, from looking at test subjects, that people are bias. And it's unconscious.
Shekerah Primus 42:53
Yeah, yeah. Yep. Unconscious bias it gets us all
Cari Skrdla 42:57
It gets us all right, but through introspection, if you really want to be a good person, then take inventory around that and listen to what you're saying to yourself. Right? I know my biases, and I know who they're against. Right? And so, when I'm with certain individuals, I bring it to the forefront so that I can set it aside and just be with that person. Be with that individual, not things that were planted in the back of my head by my grandfather. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And yeah, and those are the kinds of things. I've got a really good girlfriend, who, through introspection discovered, oh my gosh, I have biases. And they got planted there by my father. And I used to hate when he would say mean things about other people. And somehow it's there. So that earlier programming, or maybe some heartbreak that happened with someone from another ethnicity or culture or something like that. Man, if we're not careful, they'll be there forever. You look at wars around the world and how long they've lasted because of this generational or inherited conversations that create our unconscious bias, but yet the things that are coming out of our mouths are not a match for it right? Oh, no, I I love black people. Okay. But that's not what's using you. Your love for black people is not using you your biases are right, because you literally cannot see me a black woman executing what I just offered you. Right, right, right, putting me in that position. You just cannot see it because it's restricting you and won't let you Yeah. So that is why I decided to go off on my own with the encouragement of my husband, who ironically is a white male, right, right. Yeah. He was like, come on, sister. Get out there and do it. Right. Do your thing. I got your back. Right. Yeah. Right. It was surprising, I think, for him. Not to hear that I dealt with things like that, but he's actually seen it. Yeah. We were at a college event where I had just been dismissed in what I was saying and someone was talking to him and made a statement, and had no idea he was my husband. Interesting, isn't it? Yeah, wow. Yeah. And this is probably a whole other topic, but as a black female, what I was told as a child is that I should never marry a white man. Because I would be disgracing myself. Right. And I speak to so many black girls, black women who got that same talk, right? You know, the males, they get one talk, black girls, we get another talk and that was one of them. And the reason being that, you know, our entrance into the United States and, and white men using us to produce children, rape, that sort of thing, and I'm like, I'm like Mike Skrdla didn't rape anybody. You know what I'm saying? And just to meet a human being like him, literally looking at him saying he had nothing about us, not just me. But us as a people. He literally had nothing because he was not raised like that. Right? So no inherited conversation. So that triggered in my research, looking at people in the workforce example who come to work every day just lonely. They don't have anybody to go home to and so I did an entire document on unconscious bias and, and how that's keeping people away from love, and relationships, right? And make you walk right past that person because they're because of their skin color. Right? So and all the myths that come with it, so yeah
Shekerah Primus 47:37
okay, wow, Cari, thank you so much for talking to us about your work. This was a powerful conversation for me. Just hearing everything that you have to say. How about you Fatu and do you have any additional questions for Cari?
Fatu Badiane-Markey 47:53
I loved it. yeah, no, I really just like the concept of like, the humanity of people. You know, I think that's something where you're totally correct. Cari that it's just so overlooked, especially when you look at work. And how you're treated as like an employee right? And not as kind of like a human being right, that comes with a lot of other things. And I think just having that like holistic view could really change our relationship to work and what that means right and you know, thinking about all these generational challenges we're undergoing now, you know, maybe that's also what we need to kind of, I guess, you know, Shekerah and I are millennials, so yeah, definitely, I feel a little bit a part of the problem, like, yeah, maybe that can help bring about like new solutions for how it is that we interact with, with work and you know, like careers and what that really means Yeah.
Cari Skrdla 48:50
When I come back and let's get deeper down the rabbit hole, ladies, let's go all the way.
Shekerah Primus 48:57
Yeah. Absolutely. We look forward to it. We look forward to a second conversation with you. Before we do our sign off. Can you tell us how people can reach you and your team anything that you're willing to have us put out there to the world to reach you Cari?
Cari Skrdla 48:70
Yeah, absolutely. So you can you can reach me and my colleagues at questions@everythingandJack, and then anything you're interested in, concerning my research, I do have a lot of ebooks and things like that to support a lot of them or at least shape a lot of the research that's done in a way that anybody can read it right. I call it my a library of neural science for Dummies collection. And me being the dummy. How can I dumb this down? And so for that you can email me at cari@lifeback.life. Gotcha. It's just all one word life back dot life.
Shekerah Primus 49:66
Perfect. Perfect. All right. Thank you again So much Cari. It was such a pleasure.
Cari Skrdla 49:71
It was great being with you. I loved it. I love you guys. Right. And thank you for this opportunity to be here with you.
Fatu Badiane-Markey 50:18
Great, Thank you, Cari.
Shekerah Primus 50:19
Okay, so we'd like to say thank you to our listeners for supporting the podcast. If you enjoyed this episode. Please subscribe, like and share. To learn more about our guest's journey. Be sure to listen to the next journey episode. And you can reach out to us by email at lovesciencepodcast@gmail.com. Please send any questions comments about the show, or suggestions for guests that you'd like to hear on the show. We'd love to hear from you. Until next time, bye everybody.
Cari Skrdla 50.52
Have you ever heard Ph D stands for Piled High & Deep