I Feel You, A Fortify Wellness Production
Bettina Mahoney the Founder/CEO of @atfortifywellness is a rape survivor who started her brand after struggling to not only find a therapist, but multiple mediums to heal through her trauma. Fortify Wellness is a 360 holistic platform offering therapy, coaching, fitness, and meditation on one subscription platform. We dive deep with our trailblazing guests about overcoming adversity.
I Feel You, A Fortify Wellness Production
Gen Z Is Right. The System Is Broken—And Chronic Illness Proves It.
Jillian Miranda shares how her personal experience with chronic illness shaped her career as an ecosystem builder and thought leader in digital health, driving her passion for leveraging technology to transform care and champion health equity.
• Living with seizures and how her service dog can predict episodes before they happen
• How chronic illness provides unique problem-solving abilities and critical thinking skills that translate to entrepreneurship
• Digital health resources that help manage chronic conditions, including wearables, telemedicine, and AI
• The broken healthcare system's focus on reactive "sick care" rather than preventative health maintenance
• Female founders taking less capital to build better companies, yet receiving only 2% of venture funding
• Learning from Gen Z's refusal to accept exploitative work cultures and their questioning of broken systems
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More about Jillian:
Jillian is an ecosystem builder, master connector, and thought leader in digital health + women's health/femtech. Her career is defined by a steadfast commitment to health equity and a knack for understanding how to best leverage technology to transform care and spark innovation. Her expertise spans the spectrum of startup operations, from strategic planning and execution to fundraising and investor relations. She excels in developing go-to-market strategies, leveraging strategic partnerships, and building high performing teams. She resolutely believes in the power of female founders to reshape the world, given the right support and resources.
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**This information is not to be misconstrued as medical or psychological advice. Please contact your medical team if you have questions or concerns pertaining to your medical or psychological well-being. All of the linked products are independently selected, and curated by the fab Fortify team. If you love and buy something we link to, we may earn a commission.**
You're listening to the Fortify Wellness Podcast. I'm Bettina, founder and survivor, and this season we're not holding back. This is for anyone who's been through the fire, sat in the dark, questioned everything and still chose to get up. We talk healing that hits mind, body and soul raw stories, expert gems and the real stuff that helps you rebuild. Just so you know, this podcast isn't therapy or medical advice. It's real talk, lived experience and tools to help you find your way back. Season eight starts now. Subscribe, lock in and let's get fortified. I am so excited to welcome today's guest, jillian Miranda. An ecosystem builder, master connector and thought leader in digital and women's health. She spent her career driving health equity and leveraging tech to transform care. With deep expertise across startups, fundraising and go-to-market strategy, she's a champion for female founders and a catalyst for innovation in the femtech space. Let's welcome Jillian Miranda. Thank you, jill, for joining me on the podcast today. How are you? I'm doing well. How about you? I'm doing really well. We were just talking about how incredible the weather is today.
Speaker 2:There is wind and no sun, which, like after the week we've had, is really what we need.
Speaker 1:I know Like I, as we just talked about, I felt like yesterday and the day before I was walking outside into a sauna in New York city. So today we get to breathe and feel the air and the wind and it feels amazing. It does.
Speaker 2:Fun fact did you know that New York was just reclassified? No, yeah, get this. We're now a subtropical climate. Ooh yeah, fancy mangoes in the backyard. That's like what I think of but yeah, it's so. It's gotten so hot, even in our winters, that they had to reclassify our climate zone. It's gotten so hot even in our winters that they had to reclassify our climate zone.
Speaker 1:That feels really on brand right Definitely does. So I'm really interested with you and your story and I. What I love about this podcast is we get to strip away all the really cool titles and get to the core of who we are. So I'm curious for you when you're alone no makeup, hair, undone, just you in your most natural state what brings you the most comfort and can you define yourself without all the titles?
Speaker 2:Yeah, what brings me my most comfort, like 11 out of 10, are my dogs. Um, one in particular, uh, it is very easy to classify myself outside of the professional world, cause it's just the dog, mom, um, which it might be cliche, but it is what it is. Uh, but, yeah, as someone, I mean talk about chronic illness. Uh, my, for my oldest dog is my service animal. He learned he knows what I'm going to have bad days before I know when I'm going to have a bad days. Animals are just incredible. They have EQ in ways that humans never could, um, and they can pick up on things in ways that we can't, and so I can always depend on him and he definitely brings me joy, even on the not so great days.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's so incredible. I always think about getting a therapy dog for my epilepsy. What was that like for you finding a rescue animal and building that?
Speaker 2:relationship. Yeah, so I have two. One is a rescue and he's from Mexico. We were on vacation crazy story but my service animal I got him before I was bottle feeding him. I got him really, really young and we lived alone at the time for the first three years of his life. It was just us, so a deeply codependent bond and relationship. And I also have seizures and some episodes just neuro issues, and so I do pass out and like hit my head and it can be tough. And so he's been incredible at like being able to tell the day that I'm going to drop and when I don't even know yet Right. And I noticed after like a lot of it happening that I was like, oh shit, like he's always at like he's pawing at my left knee. That's so weird. I did not train him at all. And then, slowly but surely, you see the patterns and I was like, holy shit, he knows that I'm not okay. He's trying to let me know. Yeah, it's incredible. 10 out of 10 recommend Dogs are just like beyond your wildest dreams, amazing.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah, I haven't had a seizure in five years.
Speaker 2:How have you been with your seizures? Yeah, actually much better. It got to the point, and not this company, but the last company I was building where, um, I was having about one a week. Uh, and yeah, it was not pleasant.
Speaker 2:I actually had a seizure while pitching an investor so many it was a thank god, it was a woman, right, and it was an angel. So she was like super chill about it. Here's my check. Take it, just leave my house. I don't want to get sued, no, but yeah, I mean, the stress of like being a founder and an entrepreneur is really tough and it ended up being the reason that I had to leave that company. The CEO asked me to. It was just like you're too sick, you can't do this. It was a yeah, it was a really really tough situation, but I ended up leaving and kind of really focusing on myself and my joy. I created a new company and I haven't had a seizure in like six or seven months now.
Speaker 1:Like pretty good. I don't think people understand how terrifying it is to have a seizure and how your brain quite literally fries like an egg. I had my first seizure at 14 and I hit my head on the desk next to me, had a febrile seizure and I got out of the math test of course, but you know, it was like progressively worse. Then, when I had my rape, I had a seizure so often that EMTs like recognized me. It was so bad and I understood, kind of like, how it really changed my brain chemistry. I decided, you know, to not talk about it much because people are prejudiced about it, about disabilities. I don't know if you've experienced that it sounds like you have, but it can be really tough, right yeah?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it definitely is, Especially in the work culture that we have, and this is true everywhere, but I think it's especially true in, like the venture, startup side of things.
Speaker 2:Just like that hustle culture of like it's normal to be killing yourself, right, it's normal to not eat, it's normal to not sleep, it's normal to be sick, because you have to extract every piece of value you can, because your humanity, your worth, is in how much value you create for, like a capitalist system, right, um and when that is true, then, having a body that forces you to stop in ways that others don't write, like a seizure, like for me, I get like really bad pain and like mobility issues, it's my body being like bitch stop, like it's too much, like this is not okay, right, and it forces me in a way that it wouldn't force other people, which in some ways, is a weird type of blessing, right, but having to stop at any point, having to take a breath for a moment or a day, is not okay in this culture, right, and it does signal that you're weak and that you're less valuable as a person, and it's really tough, I'd say the people that understand it really understand it, and the people that don't don't, and I think sometimes the intentions aren't even necessarily something negative, it's just able-bodiedness, right Like.
Speaker 2:It's a very difficult thing to imagine if you haven't been through the lived experience of it.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and I think that now it's interesting, now I can tell when I'm about to have a seizure or if I'm feeling the fogginess I know. Okay, I get it, sit down. You know I can't operate on two to three hours of sleep, I just can't, and I have to accept that. I have to work around that and I've learned how to cope and live in a very like hustle, like culture, especially in New York city. But I like to really accept it. As you're saying, it's kind of a gift in a sense, because our bodies are so aware and our bodies are sending us signals and those we have to listen to those signals or our body will react accordingly you know, yeah, no, a hundred percent.
Speaker 2:I mean I don't know about you, but like I have an aura ring and it's and you know, like the whole, well, I work in digital health, right, that's been my entire career in femtech and women's health, so, like a lot of wellness, um, know about all of the apps, all of the like consumer health stuff, um, and it definitely helps to be able to track, right, like I found my aura ring to be extremely helpful in that.
Speaker 2:Um and like trying to find patterns of things that I might not necessarily have seen as patterns, but um, but I, like I am one of those people where I need like seven to eight hours of sleep. If I get less, like my spot, like my nervous system, just starts to go out of control, right, and so, like seizures, really bad pain, I'm not able to lift my arms Like it can get really bad. So if I have like two, three days of a bad sleep score in a row, it's taking me down, right, like I don't have a choice. There's no way to get through that the yeah, yeah, I don't, yeah, I at least like now we have resources, I guess, to help track and learn that we didn't have before, so that's something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what resources are helping you through your journey? As you know, a trailblazer in the digital healthcare space, healthcare space.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, again, dog's always going to be number one. I haven't quite got. I have a Nick. I like, have a good understanding of most of it, but the seizures I haven't quite cracked what, how to see it, and he has. So there's that.
Speaker 2:As I said, aura like is a huge thing for me. Um, as far as like, and they have, uh, they've really gone ham on women's health. They know that they're, I know their scientific team and their women's health team are great. And so, like tracking sleep, like your heart rate variability, your like all of the biometrics, when you start to understand what they mean and what they do, that's a resource that I think is really incredible. And I will also say, like telemedicine in general, right, being able, when it's really difficult to travel or to get around, it makes a huge difference to be able to sit in your living room and talk to a doctor.
Speaker 2:I will also say, like AI, right, there are so many things that would have taken hours for us to Google.
Speaker 2:Right and go through all of these tests and try and find like, because in our society, unfortunately, like, it's on the individual to diagnose themselves.
Speaker 2:Right, like doctors aren't incentivized and they're also not really taught that that's their purpose anymore. So when you're not chronically ill and you don't understand that, that can be really difficult, right, because you go to your doctor expecting answers and that's not necessarily how our healthcare system works at all. And so for those of us who have always known that, we've always known that it's on us to do the research, to really try and figure out what possible answers could be right, and so now having the power of AI to do that has also been very helpful for me, and I've been able to be like, oh hey, there was this like 1997 study they did and the exact type of seizure and like what happens before and after they described, and so like it just gives you the power to really dig in ways that you couldn't have dug before to help find some answers that you then, right, are hopefully able to take to a doctor and say, hey, I think X, y, z, can we do some tests to confirm? And so that's like a huge, huge resource as well.
Speaker 1:I think that's interesting. Your background and the work that you do are they intersect? Like did you decide to go into digital health because of your experience with chronic illness?
Speaker 2:because of your experience with chronic illness, or did it overlap just naturally? Yeah, I think kind of both. I started working in digital health really young. I was still in college, I was still an undergrad when I started working in the startup space, and part of it was my first startup was actually a women's health company, uh, and so part of it was holy shit, there's a female founder and CEO.
Speaker 2:How, how does that happen? That's insane, right? Yeah? Um, and then, uh, I really did fall in love with healthcare and again it's like those personal experiences, right, um. Yeah, I think it gives you like a very, very, very helpful perspective on the business side of it to have been on the patient side of it. Right, because, like when you're trying to create a product, when you're trying to understand how, like, providers are going to use it, having had all of those years of research, sitting in a waiting room and talking to neurologists like for the first 10 years of your life, right, it actually does. Kind of it helps because you understand the cogs of the machine, the inner workings, in a way that a lot of people, particularly able-bodied people, really don't, and so I'd say, in some ways, it definitely does that lived experience gives you, for sure, an edge. I agree.
Speaker 1:I feel the same way when it comes to building a talk therapy digital wellness app, where I remember being at rock bottom, really needing the help and feeling misunderstood, feeling that there was a lot of complacency in the medical space whether not all, but for most and I wanted to change that and I found that understanding the consumer on such a deep level gave me kind of an edge as well to go okay, this is what needs to change and this is like the white space here. How has your experience sort of approaching to entrepreneurship giving you that edge? Can you articulate your edge in bringing your background and your lived experience to the space?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, first of all, I will say I was also on a podcast yesterday, oddly enough, and we were talking about like the total market and like the total addressable market, like TAMS, right, and your ideal, like your customer persona, and really understanding that, or having the conversation around like saying, for women's health companies women, right, like that's not a homogeneous group. You really need to know your customer, right, you need to know the audience, and that's true across all of health, that's true across every industry, especially healthcare, right. So, again, having that very specific lived experience gives you a way to know your target audience and your customer incredibly, incredibly well, right, and that's why so many women's health companies, by the way, start as consumer businesses and move to be B2B in order to become venture backable and to scale and grow. But a lot of women's health companies are coming at it inherently, whether it's B2B or not, thinking of the patient at the end, because we've been the patient, right, we understand the problem from that perspective and that's why we always have the patient in mind, and that is true. If we're creating a telemedicine platform or if we're creating, like an EHR API, right, it doesn't matter, we're still thinking of that person and I don't think that perspective is something that everyone shares and that's an edge. So, like that lived experience, I will also say having lived with adversity however you want to define adversity, right, like makes you a tougher human, like studies have shown that it makes you more adaptable, it makes you more creative. It actually, like, makes you more intelligent, right. So, um, using those to your benefit and learning from those mistakes in order to see those patterns and think really creatively about things is an edge, um.
Speaker 2:And when you have not been able to do the world the way everyone has been able to do the world, you have to find ways around it. And those creative problem solving skills and critical thinking are fucking huge, right. Like. When the world is easy for you, that's one thing. When you can't get into a building because what? There's no ramp, there's not, you know what I mean. And you have to figure out ways to get around these physical barriers, whether they be like more emotional barriers, it gives you a very, very different perspective on how the on the world, right, and as a founder, that's gold, right. Being able to problem solve. In the moment when things are moving so fast, like lightning speed pace, being able to have that problem solving skill. That's there and that's the first place your brain goes right, like you don't have to spend time trying to get there. Your brain is automatically seeing the problems and then thinking about how to solve them before other people are seeing the problems, and I think that gives you an incredible edge as an entrepreneur.
Speaker 1:Do you think VCs are starting to recognize that edge, incredible edge as an entrepreneur, do you?
Speaker 2:think VCs are starting to recognize that edge. Oh, I know, I wish they were, that'd be great. No, I don't think so, and I think venture is, I don't know, like investment banking, like there are a lot of areas that I think will always be able-bodied, the same way that they're always going to depend on white supremacy, the same way they're going to depend on patriarchy, right, because the structures were built to keep certain people out. It's not an accident that that happened. It's intentional within the infrastructure. So, that said, there are plenty of really incredible mission-based VC firms that are trying to kind of change the way we define a good founder or a successful founder, right.
Speaker 2:And I will say I was having a conversation yesterday with someone who managed an extremely large venture arm of one of the biggest payers in the country, and she was talking about the fact that she's like the entire approach to venture in digital health is wrong. We're making assumptions based on like an Uber when in reality, like that's not the way healthcare works. This is a very specific market segment and we need to like adjust for that market segment, which I mean, and the way she was talking like whether that be like longer returns or like less intense growth and more slow and steady growth. It needs to change. And so I say that to say that there are powerful, brilliant folks that are leaders in the space that are saying, hey, shit's not working the way we're doing it and we need to do it differently. And there's a lot of hope and opportunity in that and finding those people, even though it might be hard.
Speaker 1:It's so interesting because I got I've been asked a lot about my approach, which is more sustainable. Care is, you know, mind, body, soul care, learning tools in sessions to apply into your everyday life. Why doesn't that exist elsewhere? And I think I think, if you take a step back, the viewpoint on building a business from Tam Sam Sam, right, it's like how do I reach as many people as possible? Right, and I'm looking at as, yes, let's reach a lot of people and let's actually like, help people. There's a wild thought. Let's like let's help people and let's teach people skillsets that they can use in their in their life and live a better life, especially the next generation.
Speaker 1:Right, I don't think we're solving the problem. Right, and that's why there's like 50 million Americans that are struggling with mental health problems. Right, we're not solving the problem. It has yet to be solved and it can be solved if you have the right people on the case. And so my mission is really for people you know, like VCs or PEs that are that are investing in these companies, is is change the outlook of how you're looking at these companies that you want to invest in. Like, how are they going to solve the problem? Right, because it is solvable and I think that shift really needs to change in the thinking you know, yep.
Speaker 2:Um, no, for sure I'm work. I'm advising a company now that's focused on, uh, rural mental health solutions right, and of course, I utilizing AI, um, but creating, uh, more community support, um, for folks that don't have access to care in other ways Right. So it that thought of let's prevent before it gets really, really bad? Right, like let's, let's be there before this person, like God forbid the police are called for like a mental health disorder, right, like, or like end up in the ER or end up having a nervous breakdown or whatever it be. Um, and it's, it's not necessarily. It's not necessarily an easy, um, an easy sell all the time. Everybody recognizes that it's a problem, but don't necessarily want to fund the solutions, or, um, yeah, it's a tough one. Mental health is a tough one and it was a big buzzword for a while and there was so much money going into it which kind of like saturated the market a bit and also made people feel like, okay, there's already everything there, we don't need to, we don't need anything else, like what exists exists.
Speaker 1:So I think, yeah, it's a very specific market issue within mental health that you're that you're talking about very specific market issue within mental health that you're talking about, yes, and I think it's little things along the way that lead up to the big breaking point.
Speaker 1:For example, when I was assaulted, I had a total mental breakdown. I'm convinced that even if that still happened, if I had those preventable skills that you're talking about, I wouldn't have gotten that deep and felt that alone and was in that type of a rut, right, and so I I agree with you in the sense of like let's create some like preventative tools, let's create platforms for people that can teach them, especially at a younger age, like how can we prevent, notice signs and utilize our emotions as data points and learn how to break them down and know what to do about them? Feeling tired, what do I do right? Or I'm feeling stressed and I need to go for a walk, or I can talk to someone. So I think those things are so important, and something that I really hope you know starts the conversation. You know there are conversations that have been. You know that people have been having, and I'm ready for some action to take place across the board.
Speaker 2:I think I feel like there's definitely, definitely conversations, and the other part of that is, like there has been action, right, like it's people have tried I'm not they not necessarily solved Like it's people have tried I'm not they not necessarily solved it, but plenty of people have tried, plenty of people have thought of this before. We've thought of this decades before we're posting. Right, I think the point is the system in which it's taking place, which we're talking about, the healthcare system. Right, it's, it's reactive, it's sick care. Right, like we treat people when they are sick and when there is something acute we solve. That it's not. We try and keep healthy people healthy and prevent sickness. Right, so like there's a huge difference between, like reactive sick care and preventative care and as much as buzz or like attention or public education there's been around preventative care and preventative medicine. It's still not working. Right, like the problems aren't being solved. And that's not because there aren't solutions that exist. That's because the system was not set up for that. It was not created for that type of care. It was not created for those type of interventions. So, trying to assimilate any type of solution into that larger system, the infrastructure can't hold it right and so it ends up being really, really difficult and until we see, like some systemic change towards that and there has been some right Like, value-based care is an example of a way of trying to like, really reform the system.
Speaker 2:So there have been attempts, but I and it gives me maybe just like a little bit of completely demolished. It gives us the ability to build something new in its place, right? So I just hope that founders continue to have these conversations and all of the stakeholders clinicians and administration to really think better about what we would build in its place. Okay, like it's not enough to just diagnose the problem and say this is the way the system works and it's really screwed up. Oh well, like, it's completely different to be like, okay, well then, what would we build in its place? Right, like, if this wasn't here, what would we do? And those are the conversations that we really need to move towards having more often.
Speaker 1:And what do you think that today's systems should prioritize in healthcare mostly for, especially for the next generation?
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, preventative medicine is huge, right Like we want to stop. We don't just want to treat diabetes, we want to stop people from getting diabetes in the first place, or cancer, heart disease, whatever you want to say, right Like, trying to focus on, like maintaining health as opposed to just like treating sickness would really it's a huge perspective change that would really, really really change things. So I think that's one I would also say if you say that you're building something D to C in the healthcare space, a venture firm will, like immediately hang up right Like. It's not, like that is not a model that is seen as like sustainable CACS 5 or whatever it is right.
Speaker 2:That being said, I do think we're seeing this huge move towards consumer medicine, towards personalized healthcare, precision medicine and longevity and a lot of these are buzzwords and like'll see what tactical things get built for this to happen, but these are all movements that could bring us to that preventative care model as opposed to a sick care model, and there's a lot of, just so much opportunity in viewing it from a consumer perspective. Right Like, again, with that patient in mind at all times, through every part of the process, regardless of what you're building, and making sure it works for them. That changes the way that you build and structure products and processes and just what's being built in the first place right, and I think that's a huge opportunity and way that we can kind of save the next generation is by implementing the buzzwords that we're talking about.
Speaker 1:I agree. So I know you've said female founders, if they were given the chance to change the world, if they could get like real access, again real access, whether that's financial or educational. What does the world actually look like in your head and what's one thing that you're actually doing to help build that?
Speaker 2:Um, I will not say who and when, but at a past podcast interview with a male interviewer, um, I had the question continuous be levy asked like why aren't women ceos? Like if women make better companies, why aren't they made? Like why? And it's just that that thought of yeah, uh, and you always get it right, like I do a lot of keynotes on like women fundraising. There's always that one dude in the audience that's like well, if women have better metrics, and like why aren't they getting funds in the first place? And it's just like I don't know. Patriarchy, you dumb fuck.
Speaker 1:So, keeping in mind, I had someone during tech week that was like, oh, are you like an assistant? I was like some Chad or Brad or whoever, and you know what. I used to get so annoyed and offended, but doing so much work on myself, I don't even rage against the machine anymore. I go like that's projection Chad wishes he was like managing partners somewhere and he's some associate Right.
Speaker 2:So um, I, I bring it up to say that this question is always uh, this question is always asked in venture. One of the things that like gets hyper fixated on, with good fucking reason, is, like the stat that two percent of all venture capital goes to women, right, um, and at a certain point in 2024, by the way, it was less than two percent. Um, like, so it's not necessarily getting better. We like to think that, like life and the world moves on like a four progressive trajectory, right, and it's regressive, and we're going through a point, I think, of major, major regression, and the only thing you need to do is, like, think about the fact that we just made a dead body give birth in Alabama, right, to see that we have very much regressed when it comes to women and women's health.
Speaker 2:Women build better companies. They take a fraction of the capital to get to the same place that a male founder would. They, they are. Statistics show and there are plenty them that they are more successful when they're building, right, it's a question of giving them the ability to do so and getting the funding and the money, because that's what this is right, getting the money moving into their hands to be able to do what they've always fucking done, which is change the world when given the opportunity, right, I will also say that, like, there are environments where you grow up knowing you're a founder, right Like, or that's possible, right Like onto the thought of like entrepreneurial or venture or investor, like that's in your ecosystem as a child and you see, and you grow thinking I can do that.
Speaker 2:And then there is there's the vast majority of people where that's never brought up, they don't know it. You get through college you still don't know, never heard of venture, right, never thought that you could like be a founder, never thought that you could like build your company, like just build your own thing, just build your own thing. And so starting those conversations young is key for sure. And trying to get access to little girls and grown ass women that did not have access to these spaces, do not have a background in it but really want to change the world. The ability to come in and say, yeah, I believe in you here, let's find an opportunity for you to get involved as well. Um, it's really important and I genuinely do believe that we would change like given the opportunity. Every, almost every single woman has it in herself to change the world.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I I agree with that. I grew up with parents that told me if you work hard enough, you can do whatever you want. And I was like a three-year-old that had no hair, that would wear leopard pants in my head, and my parents would be like go do it, be yourself. Right, and I think it's partly genetic. My parents are just super resilient people and I also was just this like and this fire within me to just never give up, no matter what happened in my life. And I dealt with so much in my life and I just am like you know what? I don't care what anyone says, I don't care about all the doubt, all the health problems, I'm going to get it done. And when I moved to New York from Massachusetts, I had this plan in mind and I'm like, if I don't get invited to the table with the seat, I'm going to find a way to get there, I'm going to network, I'm going to make it happen. And so for part of me is like I had incredible parents I think that's part of it for a lot of people too that just give someone that light within them to just never give up that confidence, that belief.
Speaker 1:And then the other part is, I think, innate, something that is just living within you, that just refuses to give up, and I see that in so many different women constantly just their, their fortitude, their will to just never give up and the strength that I've had throughout all of my adversities to really heal from within and to unveil the mask, to step into the arena, to be who I am meant to be my whole life. There are things whether it was epilepsy, um, struggles in school, um experiencing a lot of death at a very young age and dealing with a rape, like I've shown myself that I can overcome every single one of those moments. So why can't I build a startup? Men can do it, boys can do it. Why can't I? So I think it's a combination of all those things, but having the audacity to go, I can do this and I can make it happen.
Speaker 1:And so my mission, especially as I have these incredible young women in college that are interning for me this summer. I'm like I'm just so proud of them. You know, I feel like a mom. I'm like I'm so proud of you. They're so smart. It's so exciting to see this next generation because they're going to change the world. They are just so much braver than I was at that age and it gives me a lot of hope for women and for women in VC. I've met so many like bad-ass women in VC that give me so much hope Shout out to Derek enters that give me so much hope that we're going to see more investments in female led companies and I'm really really excited for that.
Speaker 2:I could not agree with you more. There's so many ads, yeah, so many people working on the problem, and we're going to get there, we're going to, we're going to like we don't have another choice, right, we're going to make it as you said. We're going to make it happen, we're going to get there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's go, you know. So what would you say to young people, especially Gen Z or, you know, gen Alpha, you know, who are navigating adversity, whether it be just navigating their industry, chronic illness, et cetera, while trying to chase their dream and their careers in their life? What are some of like tangible and practical tips that you can give to them?
Speaker 2:What are some of tangible and practical tips that you can give to them? So, to be perfectly honest, I and this is definitely not a popular opinion among fellow millennials, but I think we need to be taking notes from them. Right, and I see this happening and I'm sure you've heard it too the amount of times a week someone, usually Gen X or Boomer, that's like Gen Z doesn't want to work. They don't want to work hard, they don't want to apply themselves Like we. Right, and it's just and it makes me giggle. Right, because I'm just like no, they don't want to be exploited. Right, like they recognize what they're, what you're angry at, what them not working is. They don't want to be exploited. Right, like they recognize what you're angry at, what them not working is they don't want to work 100 hours a week. They don't want to give up food and sleep for years just so they can be seen as successful or good at what they do. Right, they're working, but they're also taking rests and they're taking moments for themselves and they're recognizing that there's more to fucking humanity in life than work. Right, and that's what they're doing, and them doing that terrifies the fuck out of you, because it dangers the whole system, because the system is built on that wholesale culture.
Speaker 2:Again, going back to what we said at the very beginning of the episode of your value is in how much capital you can produce. Right, and I think this generation, they didn't have the same luxuries that earlier ones did, right, like. One example of this is like the GI Bill. Right, like our grandparents, if you were born in this country, all got a house, essentially right, there were plenty of public subsidies and ways for them to buy a house. And now older generations look and they're like there's, like nobody has home ownership. Well, because the things that got you your house don't exist for us anymore. Right, so like we have less tying us down because we didn't get anything from the system in the way that past generations did. And so that allows us to question the system. Right, because if the system has given you what you have, you can't really question it, because then you are afraid of losing what you have.
Speaker 2:And I think what's happening and what we're seeing with Gen Z is they've been given a world that's literally on fire. They've been given a government that's crumbling before our very eyes on a daily basis. And yes, it's intense to this administration, but was starting far before this administration came right. They lived through a pandemic. They did not have what other generations had, and that caused them to be like, hey, the fact that we have the fact that the world works this way, like fuck, that it doesn't have to work that way, why are we all sitting by and letting it work this way? Why are we holding on to a system that's hurting so many of us?
Speaker 2:And so I feel like I learn every single day from Gen Z, honestly and truly, and I think that our generations have far more to learn from them than they have to learn from us. So what I would say to them is don't doubt yourself, stay true. If something feels wrong in your gut, even if that's the way the world works, question it, question everything, question authority, question what you're told Really, genuinely, think through it, and if it does not feel right for you, if it does not feel like it should be that way, then be the change right. I think that's that's what I.
Speaker 2:If we want to build a workforce that like is completely that is workable for disabled people, right, like this is the generation that can do it. This is the generation that can say the way that we've thought about these things is not okay, and I'm not going to work this way, knowing that the person next to me who is disabled can't work the way that I'm. That's not fair, and I've seen that happen in the workplace. I've seen solidarity in a way that past generations just don't have. So, yeah, I think that's. I think that's what I would tell them.
Speaker 1:I love that. Yeah, and it's they. They're so motivated and I said to one of my interns last night I said enjoy the journey, take it in the turbulence, the stress, the excitement. You know having graduation events and it's like, enjoy it. It's going to be gone and you'll have the rest of your life to work, but just have the best time. You know life goes so fast. So, on that note, thank you for joining me, jill. This was incredible.
Speaker 2:So much, this was so much fun. Um, I can't wait for it to come out. You too, thank you.
Speaker 1:Bye for it to come out. You, too, Thank you, Bye. Thank you for listening to the fortify wellness pod, where we empower mind, body and soul to reach new heights. Your wellbeing is your greatest strength. Nurture it, honor it and watch yourself thrive. If today's episode inspired you, subscribe, share your thoughts in the comments and come back next week for more insights to elevate your journey. Stay empowered, stay true and remember you're not alone. This is a fortify wellness production. All rights reserved 2025.