Founders' Forum

The Power of Spirituality and Mental Conditioning for Success with Dr. Brandi Baldwin

• Marc Bernstein / Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD • Episode 84

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Discover the journey of Dr. Brandi Baldwin, a former Wharton lecturer and founder of Millennial Ventures Holdings, as we explore her transformative insights on mental conditioning for success. Dr. Brandi opens up about her personal battle with the fear of singing publicly and how she used a faith-based music project to conquer this challenge. Alongside Dennis Gehman, a musician considering new artistic directions in retirement, we ponder the powerful influence of our thoughts and how they shape our perceptions and experiences.

Embark on an enlightening exploration of spirituality and mental wellness. We unravel the profound impact of spiritual practices, from prayer and affirmations to scripture reading, on both mental and physical healing. Dr. Brandi shares her techniques for crafting personalized affirmations that build mental resilience, offering insights grounded in her extensive experience. We also delve into the universal quest for spiritual solace, highlighting how various religious perspectives contribute to personal well-being and resilience.

Dive into Dr. Brandi's entrepreneurial journey, where cultural heritage and a resilient upbringing paved the way for her remarkable success. With roots in Jamaican entrepreneurship and the challenges of adulthood during a recession, she founded Millennial Ventures, revolutionizing professional and leadership development. The episode concludes with a focus on the need for resets in life and work, spotlighting Dr. Brandi's expertise in guiding individuals and organizations toward transformative change. Join us as we glean invaluable lessons from Dr. Baldwin, with a promise of more captivating conversations in future episodes.

About Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:
Former Wharton Business Lecturer, 15 year Startup Founder and Entrepreneur, her work surrounds transforming professionals into future-ready leaders for the next era of work.

Connect:
millennialventures.co
linkedin.com/in/thedoctorbrandi
instagram.com/thedoctorbrandi

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Announcer:

Entrepreneur, author and financial consultant, Marc Bernstein helps high-performing entrepreneurial business owners create a vision for the future and follow through on their goals and intentions. Ang Onorato is a business growth strategist who blends psychology and business together to create conscious leaders and business owners who impact the world. Founders Forum is a radio show podcast sharing the real stories behind entrepreneurship as founders discover more about themselves, while providing valuable lessons and some fun and entertainment for you. Now here's Marc and Ang.

Marc Bernstein:

Good morning America. Good morning Arlo. Good morning Ang. Although Ang is not on the show today, she still has her hall pass and welcome to Founders Forum. Good morning Dr Brandi Baldwin. And good morning to Dennis Gehman, who was our guest last week and who was hanging around to be on our panel and add to the discussion a little bit today.

Marc Bernstein:

And a couple things enter my mind as we're doing our pre-show prep. I didn't know, so at the beginning of the show we play a little bit of my music, um, that I wrote and from the album by Fretz, bridges and Skins, our pandemic album, and the name of the song is called Should I? The name of the album is called Like Herding Cats, and since we're recording a little differently today, we're recording without the music being on, so I played it for everybody and I found out that Brandi Dr Brandi, as you'll meet her in a minute is preparing an album and Dennis Gehman, who I didn't know, who already did a show, is also a musician, a singer, and had recorded years ago and also plays a 12-string guitar. So we didn't talk about Dennis, that now that you're going to be retired, will you be playing more guitar and will you be doing more singing and recording perhaps.

Dennis D. Gehman, MCR, MCKBR, CLC, CRPM:

Playing more. Yes, I hadn't thought about recording. Okay, I get to sing fairly regularly in our church on a worship team.

Marc Bernstein:

Okay, Well, that's great. And Dr Brandi, how about you? You've reached a certain age I won't say what it is unless you want to and you're doing your bucket list things. Tell us about the music you're going to record. You're doing your bucket list things.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

And tell us about the music you're going to record. You know what? I turned 40 this year. I'll say it because I don't think I look my age. You definitely don't. So I really have been wanting to sing in front of people. That's a fear of mine, although I've spoken in front of thousands, but I'm a shower singer and I'm going to do it and it is going to be faith-based and fun and very millennial and of the time. So I'm looking forward to it. I actually reached out. I have a producer, everything. I have a team to help me pull this off.

Marc Bernstein:

So if you need a 12 string guitar player, dennis.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

I'm sure I know where I can get one.

Marc Bernstein:

And I'm be happy to come play bass if you need it, because I can play that kind of music as well.

Marc Bernstein:

So now that we're all together, I have another topic that we kind of started on the show with Dennis, and that was the fact of like how you know, I've mentioned this book several times called Don't Believe Everything you Think it's been a big influence on me in recent months by a guy named Joseph Wynn, and the idea is that the thoughts that we have are thoughts that enter our mind that really aren't ours, and it's the thoughts that we have about our thoughts, it's the thinking we do about our thoughts that starts causing things to go in the wrong direction, causes suffering.

Marc Bernstein:

It's the thinking we do about our thoughts that starts causing things to go in the wrong direction, causes suffering, and it's kind of like Eastern philosophy, spirituality, but I found it to be true and I've been working a lot on that, and I shared my experience of recently, though, not feeling good health-wise, physically and how that now kind of makes it harder. It makes it harder to control those thoughts. And instead of rehashing that subject, I did want to talk about what you both do for and I'll start with Dr Brandi, because Dennis has talked about this a little bit but what do you do for your mental conditioning. You know we all do physical conditioning, but what do you do for your mental and or spiritual and emotional conditioning?

Announcer:

And you are, you are a psychologist by background as well.

Marc Bernstein:

Right, and we're going to talk about that in a minute. I'll formally introduce you. But given all that, what does Dr Brandi do?

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

So you know what. It's so funny that you kind of mentioned the spirituality piece, because for me and I'm Christian, you know, faith is very important. So I'm always recognizing that a lot of the things that happen to us naturally, that we are experiencing with our five senses, and things of that nature, you know that in a way, some of the tools that we can use to sort of combat what's happening, you know, in the natural, maybe could be spiritual tools. You know, and prayer is one of those things that I go to and I understand that sometimes, you know, our the battle is in our mind, it's our mindset. You know the things that we are thinking, you know when we are, when our mindset is off. And even you mentioned, you know, my background in psychology it always goes back to that cognitive and mental health. And so anytime that you're feeling that stress, you're feeling fear, you're feeling anxiety, even depressed for an extended period of time, because some things happen that you just feel depressed right Temporarily, but anytime you're doing that, you know it's, it is stemming from, you know, your mindset. And so for me, I spend a lot of time meditating not maybe in the Eastern, maybe what we know as kind of meditation, and people may think that that aligns, maybe, with yoga and that sort of thing. I'm not really into those practices, but really in prayer, and so that's something that really helps me. And I know, Marc, that you do affirmations, things of that nature. I do the same thing, but I do it with scripture, so I will you know if I'm feeling sick.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

I actually got sick in 2023. I was in the hospital four times in a two week period and they discharged me the last time saying they could not help me. They didn't know what was going on. I was couldn't eat. My body just started shutting down. I stopped, you know, getting the urge to eat like everything, little by little, my eyesight was going down, like it was the worst kind of attack on my body that I've ever experienced, worst kind of attack on my body that I've ever experienced. And once I got to that point of okay, well, the doctors can't figure this out, but I'm deteriorating pretty quickly in about two, a two week period, two, three week period, I went to those kind of affirmations. In my case, it actually was. You know scripture, so that's what I do and you know, to each his own, but I definitely love that you're bringing up this topic of kind of you know what are we doing and being self-aware of our mental wellness.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

you know, at all times, all ages, all generations, it's important because we cannot do our best if we just, you know, don't have our mental faculties all together.

Marc Bernstein:

So yeah, so very interesting. So I know Dennis is going to have similar thoughts.

Dennis D. Gehman, MCR, MCKBR, CLC, CRPM:

So let's share yours, please.

Marc Bernstein:

Yeah.

Dennis D. Gehman, MCR, MCKBR, CLC, CRPM:

So I too am Christian and I start each day. Actually, I'm an early riser, I love to just wake up and I spend my time praying while I'm laying there in bed, and I always pray the Lord's Prayer.

Announcer:

Me too.

Dennis D. Gehman, MCR, MCKBR, CLC, CRPM:

And then also a verse out of Psalm 19,. Verse 14, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Marc Bernstein:

I don't know if you know so I am Jewish, which is important because you wouldn't.

Announcer:

And by the way.

Marc Bernstein:

I never talk about religion on the show or politics.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

Those are our rules. Well, look what Dennis and I have done.

Marc Bernstein:

You've opened it up, so here we go. So it's okay, and I'm Jewish, but I'm sort of a spiritual seeker as well. And those words end every Jewish service in the synagogue.

Dennis D. Gehman, MCR, MCKBR, CLC, CRPM:

I don't know if you knew that I did not.

Marc Bernstein:

That's usually recited by the rabbi, but Dennis has inspired me. I've always wanted to read the Bible all the way through over the course of some period of time a year or whatever and I haven't done that. So Dennis inspired me about getting an app to do that. So I'm actually speaking. He gave me an idea and I have another idea. I'm going to speak to my rabbi about it today because I happen to be seeing him in preparation for the high holidays and I do pray. I'm a prayer also when things like that happen and I also do affirmations, but I've now changed my affirmations to I am statements, and I'll just mention a couple of those. I pulled it out because I've used it on another show, but I do things like whatever it is I need, like I have one, that's, I am non-judgment, you know, which is very important, I think, and I am loved and I am loved. I am perfect as I am. I am an intentional listener, which is important for what I do here and in my financial planning practice and life.

Marc Bernstein:

You know I'm vibrantly healthy in body, mind and spirit. You know, especially when I'm not feeling well, I do that and it does. I do think it accelerates, you know, healing. So it's interesting. So everybody needs something and everybody finds their own way, as Dr Brandi said. So with that, let's go on to talking about Dr Brandi and her story.

Marc Bernstein:

So this is Dr Brandi Baldwin, phd. She's founder and CEO of Millennial Ventures Holdings and you can reach her at CEO at MillennialVenturesco. And she is a former Wharton business lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania, a 15-year startup founder and entrepreneur, and her work surrounds transforming professionals into future-ready leaders for the next era of work. She's doing very stuff and I can tell you that we interviewed together about this show maybe six months ago and I was so intrigued that I invited her almost immediately to speak to a group I have called the Manufacturers Forward Focus Forum and she was really well received and, in fact, one of the people you've been in touch with.

Marc Bernstein:

We were supposed to have lunch today and we were going to like zoom you in at lunch when we found out you weren't going to be in town because he really wanted to share more time with you. So, anyway, high recommendation from a guy who's your story, Dr Brandi, your upbringing, how you got to be where you are, where you were educated, because we're going to get a little plug for your university, because I went there as well, and let's talk about it.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

Awesome. So I actually always share that. I grew up in a single parent household, super hardworking mom. My mom actually was a teenage mother and so it was a little rough in those early days. I didn't know, because you don't know what you don't know. I was well taken care of and you know great experiences. But as I got a little bit older I understood that you know, maybe for her the experience of being a young mom and things of that nature were challenging.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

But I grew up in a household where I was told I can do absolutely anything. That education is the great equalizer that you know. Do well in school, do your ultimate best at everything. I was very encouraged. I was in jazz and ballet and I played the violin and track team. I'm not sure if I said that already. I was the president of the student government. I was this overachiever. You didn't sing though you, but still hung out with the cool kids. But one of the things that I realized as I continued, you know, through school and graduation, going into college I went to Temple University for all of my degrees it's like they had a contract degrees it's like they had a contract.

Marc Bernstein:

And you could have gone anywhere, but you went to Temple.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

But I love it. And you know what? The reason why I selected Temple University and this is back in 2002, was because I got full ride scholarship to Loyola, which I think is in Baltimore, some other you know great opportunities for college. But that was the first time I heard the word diversity. They called it Diversity University and when we went to the student orientation I saw a little bit of everybody. I saw all you know different socioeconomic statuses, different backgrounds. You know students that were flying from other countries to come to America, to come to Temple, to that huge school, 40,000 students at the time at least. And so I was like, yes, you know, I can kind of start over, start fresh.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

And so, however, that being said, you know I took this overachiever mentality into my studies, did psychology, undergrad, organizational development, master's, phd in educational leadership and policy before the age of 30. And I kind of graduated with these credentials. I graduated with what other people were very impressed by my friends would introduce me. You know, my friend's getting her PhD, or my friend has her PhD, they would introduce me with that, and but I graduated with all of those things and degrees feeling pretty empty, feeling like I don't know. Mom, is education really the great equalizer like, is that the thing that really helps? And so, with me being, as you all know, you know, part of the millennial generation, we graduated from college in the midst of a recession. At the time, we played by the rules, we did all of those things, and life really wasn't exactly how we thought it would be, and so that is what sparked me into kind of where I am today.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

Long story short, in my PhD program I gave birth to my oldest child, who is now 16. And I asked my employer at the time if I could have some adjusted leave, because my daughter was born with some physical needs that needed to get taken care of. You know, she needed some surgery. No daycare center would take her, so I needed some adjustment. They said no, I was a great employee. They said it was love, they gave me gifts and signed a card, and they said no, we cannot make that adjustment in your schedule. We cannot make that adjustment in your schedule. And so I panicked.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

I went to my academic advisor at the time and I said I have to figure out how to make money on my own because I have a newborn and I can't put them in daycare. And that was the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey. My advisor said you're too young to be an organizational development consultant. You don't even have enough experience and no one's going to take you seriously. But you're a great communicator. You do some of the best workshops and presentations I've ever seen. Start there and that was my entree into entrepreneurship, starting off doing professional development trainings for teachers, for educators, because they were mandated to get continuing ed credits every year year, so they were forced to come and hear me speak. I started off speaking to four, five, six people in a room and now you know, many years later, we are working with corporations and organizations that want us to train their entire workforces and I'm so blessed and grateful that that has been a journey, a little bit of a faith risk, that I took but that spawned what we now know as Millennial Ventures.

Marc Bernstein:

So I take this story as really. It started with your mother, who was telling you you could do anything that encouraged you to do this, and we're going to take a break. But I just want to ask you real quickly did you have any entrepreneurial mentors or models in addition to that, or it was just your inbred belief that you could do anything?

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

My entire family and I'm Jamaican. So let me tell you, I give you guys some cultural competence. You know the joke is that Jamaicans always have a job, they always have a side hustle, they always have something they're doing. So my family on both sides even my grandfather that doesn't even have a sixth grade education he's 80 years old right now left South Carolina, rural South Carolina, went to New York and build a business from the ground up owned property in Brooklyn that's worth millions right now with minimal education.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

So absolutely everyone in my family, including my mom, has had legitimate businesses, or even what we would call, maybe a side hustles, over the years, so I definitely had those models.

Marc Bernstein:

And I think everyone in Jamaica almost has a side hustle. That's my experience.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

Everyone. Okay, it's mandatory, right.

Marc Bernstein:

So I gotcha. That's a great place. Thanks for sharing that, and I didn't know that that's not but I, but I guessed it and I'm and I'm glad I was proven right on that. We're going to take a.

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Marc Bernstein:

Okay, we're back on Founders Forum with our guest today, Dr Brandi Baldwin, and we have Dennis Gehman from Gehman Remodeling, design and Remodeling in the studio, and we were talking about Dr Brandi Baldwin's background and I just found out that she's of Jamaican descent, which is very interesting. By the way, I was just on a plane and watch One Love, the Bob Marley story.

Marc Bernstein:

I don't know if you've seen that of course but I am a huge Bob Marley fan and a lot of people didn't like the movie. I thought it was was great. I thought it was fantastic. It was, you know, his family put it together. I thought it was good.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

It was a very good depiction for something that was designed for the masses. People from you know the world saw that movie. So, outside of maybe an in-depth documentary on Bob Marley, I thought they did a great job of kind of synthesizing that into two hours.

Marc Bernstein:

Well, and especially since it was focused on that one particular time in his life when he did those two concerts, you know, which tells a lot of the story, and they immersed his background into it. But I agree, if you really want to know his whole story, that's not the one to watch. But I thought it was well done. I thought the music was well done. I thought the way they weaved it in the story and the concerts was all well done.

Announcer:

Yeah.

Marc Bernstein:

And because I was expecting less. Maybe that's what it was too, because the reviews weren't that great, so anyway. So tell us about your business today, what you do today, and I know it's called Millennial Ventures Holdings, so that's a hint at what you do, and I already talked a little bit. But tell us a little more in depth about what you're doing.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

Sure. So what I realized early on, as I was engaging with bigger opportunities, bigger companies, they would ask for more. And me, being the entrepreneur that I am, I say yes first and I figure it out later and go oh my gosh, we need to create this thing, this program or whatever they're asking for. And I think I learned as being now a mother of two, you know, over the years, that's. You know, scalability was important. How can we maintain our impact with, you know, the demand that's out there, but without it having to only be me? And so we created kind of Millennial Ventures as a parent company to really launch brands that are focused on a variety of different areas of professional development and workforce development, leadership development, and it helped us to kind of create a package. You know a specific vertical for the different services that were being requested. So now you know a specific vertical for the different services that were being requested. So now you know, post-pandemic, we've kind of envisioned all of the brands of millennial ventures being focused on transforming professionals into future ready leaders. We really had a great run in the diversity, equity and inclusion space, primarily because we were able to help corporations ignite workplace unity. That was our tagline amidst an era that really was really getting divisive and focused on what differences were and focused on, I think, some pretty toxic concepts and, under the guise of diversity, equity and inclusion, we got some pretty huge contracts and worked with some amazing companies, even in Europe and Ireland, everywhere, that were saying hey, you know, we see that you all are doing workplace development and workforce development in a way that's bringing people together, that's not going woke, so to speak, that's not focused on maybe a political spin on DEI. So that's been great. Leadership development is important right now, and so we have launched the Futures Leadership Network, which is the latest fund project, and it's really focused on the fact that baby boomers are reaching retirement age every day over 10,000. So we're talking about over 3 million baby boomers are really aging out annually and there's a huge leadership gap that is getting worse in corporations because there aren't enough Gen Xers to fill that gap. So we are laser focused on empowering and equipping Gen Xers millennials, for sure, and also the Gen Zs that are coming behind to run companies of the future, so that baby boomers can feel like all that they've built and they've worked for can be transitioned to some, you know, some leaders that really can take the helm, and so that's the work that we do.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

We are B2B primarily and we have one kind of something that's on tap for, you know, direct to consumer, and it's about branding, and we are going to be targeting baby boomers to say, hey, you're at that point in your career where you have enough experience. How are you packaging your brand so that you can be a speaker, so that you can increase your income without working 40, 50, 60 hours a week, just by packaging your knowledge and getting it out into the marketplace? So we're having so much fun with the projects we're working on. We're staying nimble, we're staying agile. We're staying nimble, we're staying agile. You know, we have really adjusted the structure of our workforce from being heavy on employees to really scaling all the way down using AI.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

Unfortunately, it does replace roles, but you know you still need more when you're growing. So in our case, it's been great, so great journey, and my role has been, of course, as CEO, but really as the front person trying to drive the message that we have. And so what started off as me trying to just find a way to make money for my newborn child and, you know, to keep my salary has turned into me speaking 30 to 40 times a year. I just was in New York. Last week I was in Seven Springs, pennsylvania. I mean every other week I'm going somewhere to kind of share a message and bring folks back to what we're doing at Millennial Ventures. So it's been a great ride. What stage are we? In Infancy.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

I honestly just getting out of that, like you know, 15 years as an entrepreneur and we are babies, um, and so just really keeping, keeping um focused on our mission and grateful to be able to collaborate with folks like yourself, meet others like Dennis, you know, and things of that nature that are helping to inspire us to keep going.

Marc Bernstein:

Listen, um, my business. I'm, I've been in my business 40 years and I feel like we're babies. I still feel like we're just getting going, so so I understand that. Um, I, you, you said a lot and you covered a lot and you answered a lot of my questions. I do want to point out that you're from Philadelphia, or you grew up in Philadelphia, went to Temple university, but you, you live in Charlotte now, right?

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

Well, actually plot twist, I grew up in the DMV area, the DC, maryland Virginia area.

Marc Bernstein:

Ah, okay, yes.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

And at 18, I went off to college, to Philly, to Temple University, to Philly, to Temple University. So I spent 18 years in the DMV area and I spent 18 years in Philadelphia so equal amount of my years and I just recently moved down south. Now come on, Marc. We know that in this day and age with cybersecurity, I don't want everybody listening to your show to know that I'm in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Marc Bernstein:

But I am in Charlotte, North Carolina. Oh, I'm sorry, but why'd you repeat? It the cat is out the bag. I'm so sorry. I didn't realize that she lives in a nondescript place somewhere.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

Undisclosed.

Marc Bernstein:

Undisclosed.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

But I travel so much. I'm in Philly all the time. New York, of course, is another big base. I'm everywhere, but I am turning into a homesteader.

Marc Bernstein:

I want.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

you know that lifestyle, so that brought me down south.

Marc Bernstein:

Well, and the Undisclosed Place is a very great, great place to do that. I know from experience. But my point in bringing up Philadelphia was that, not before you left, not too long ago, you did something pretty heroic um, and you mentioned before talking about divisiveness and um and um, uh, you know, and uh was the other word I was thinking of, but anyway, there were, there was an incident and you brought it to light and you really became a hero. You want to talk about that for a minute? And and we're almost out of time, by the way, which is unbelievable, wow, it went by so fast, I know.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

So, you know, I always kind of get a little giggle when I hear people say that. You know, I'm still reading inbox messages on LinkedIn of people saying the same thing. You inspire me, you're a hero. But at the end of the day, you know, I think what happened which is ironic because I am the workplace unity person you know, and what I do in my day job but I actually was the board chair of a national organization in the hospitality industry we're talking about think of any big hotel name, think of cruise lines that you know I'm not going to mention them. Their executives are on this board and I'm the chair, which, first of all, I'm not even qualified.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

But you know, sometimes you, you're appointed to certain places for certain reasons and I really wholeheartedly, in retrospect, believe that that's why I was able to get. Even when they asked me to become the board chair, I thought out of everybody's credentials and all of these people. I'm not even positioned in hospitality. How did I get this role? And now I know how, because I spent a year in the role, doing organizational development, doing assessments on this organization, inside and out their organization. I can never take anything away from their work in terms of their clients and their customers. But internally there were some inconsistencies, particularly in some leadership. Their behavior was very divisive, workplace bullying, some things that really, from a mental health perspective even, were shocking for me, not only to find out but to experience firsthand, and so I went through this process of saying, hey, I've seen some behavior from one of the senior leaders that is very problematic, especially if allegedly this organization is supposed to be focused on inclusion and equity and diversity, honoring different people's backgrounds and thoughts and things of that nature. Long story short, this was swept under the rug for months. Continue as board chair for a second year, and I had to let them know. Quite frankly, I cannot continue because this issue that I brought up and have documented of me being yelled at in meetings, of being demeaned, just a variety of different things, has not been appropriately addressed. So we have to get our house in, but if we're going to be doing this kind of work, I can't stay here if this is out of alignment.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

I was planning on bowing out, gracefully, quietly and just knowing, some things that no one would know except for the folks who knew them, and kind of keeping it quiet until I spoke to one of the other female employees there and I said, hey, just so you know I'm not going to renew as board chair. I didn't tell her why, but I just asked her. Something said ask her how her experience has been. She spent 30 minutes on the phone telling me the identical behavior that I had received from this individual and she said she knew two other women who had experienced the exact same thing. And then I thought, okay, I asked her. I said have them contact me if they feel comfortable. I would love to just learn a little bit more.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

Long story short in a seven day period it went from me thinking I was the only individual experiencing this to 10 women that I knew that had the exact same experience with this individual. I did a letter to the board at large saying I've been trying to speak with leaders about this individual. It's been being swept under the rug. But just really, for our insurance like you all know, the organization that you're representing I cannot in good conscience leave and not tell you all what's happening. They launched an investigation, which was a sham anyway. They'd stretch it out for maybe four or five, six weeks, pretending like they were doing investigation on the matter, but what they were doing was information gathering so they can protect themselves, because I think they knew maybe a lawsuit was coming. I had upwards of 15 women by now that had reached out to me, dating back 10 years, and so, unfortunately, the news picked it up.

Marc Bernstein:

They picked the story up because philadelphia is only this big right and it was not your intention to do that I know no, no, and for us, we were just, we thought it was a win.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

They were like you are a hero. You wrote a letter to the board and you outed it to the board and that was my last hurrah. Like the board knows it's out. I'm done, you know, but unfortunately Philadelphia is very small. The community is very tight knit and I did one last ditch effort and I said any update on the investigation. This is a Tuesday. I sent an email. I said can you guys let me know what the investigation is? I spoke to you all, I spent my time. They said we don't know when the investigation is going to be over, Dr Brandi. So quite frankly, you know you can just wait. This is an email I got said okay, the news. This is how you know. I'm going to say this is how God works.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

The story hit the news 24 hours later the person was gone 24 hours after that and the CEO stepped down and the entire board was reorganized, you know as such. And so what I? What I want to say about that? I don't feel that I'm. I don't feel I'm a hero.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

I did a post on LinkedIn about. It got over a hundred thousand views, 10,000 comments. It was overwhelming and I was actually shocked because I wasn't trying to, like, take an organization down. But what I realized was to the beginning of the conversation today, to bring it full circle, is our mental health and well-being is very important right now, in this day and age, we have to work on being self-aware so that we are not being toxic around others, and we have to create environments where people are psychologically safe. And so for me, it wasn't anything heroic, it just was in alignment with my values. If you see something, say something. You know I don't like bullies in any shape or form. So thank you for allowing me the platform to be able to share a little bit of that, which I think encompasses the work that we're trying to do at Millennial Ventures as well.

Marc Bernstein:

Well, it does. It's all about leadership and it's really clear to me why they wanted you to be the board chair because they saw you were a leader. They didn't understand it would be their undoing, of course, but they, but they, but you know, I can say that the irony, the irony, literally the same.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

The conversation that I had when they said this is why we know we need you was the exact same reason why that turned into kind of the demise. And you know what it was. It was a, it was just a reset. It was a reset, it was a setback or all organizations this is not to judge anyone, but sometimes you get warnings and you get another warning. You get another warning and sometimes you know it's a little bit of a train wreck and I think all organizations can bounce back and they're doing the work to do it the right way. So I want to give them kudos for that.

Marc Bernstein:

Well and on some level, some person knew on some level that they needed a reset and that's why they called you in and that's what they got. So you did your job. So I won't say heroic again, but you did it on a grand scale in terms of really rooting out the real problem. So I hate to say this, and we're going to have to do part two. We're going to have you back on the show at some time because we are out of time, but it was. It's a great story of how you've become Dr Brandi Baldwin and what, and the work that you're doing, and there's a lot more to that story and we'll have you back at some point. So thanks for being here, dennis, thanks for being here again, and everybody, have a great day and look forward to seeing you next week, or hearing you next week, or hearing us next week on Founders.

Dr. Brandi Baldwin, PhD:

Forum. Thank you.

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