#1466 Type One in Corporate America
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Returning guest Alex, 42 returns to discuss navigating corporate America as a T1D.
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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
Scott Benner 0:00
Welcome back, friends. You are listening to the Juicebox Podcast.
Alex 0:14
Hi, I am Alex. I am 42 years old. Can't believe that I'm saying that. And I live in Dallas, Texas, I feel like I'm 30. I think I probably will always feel like I'm 30.
Scott Benner 0:26
Nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan. I know this is gonna sound crazy, but blue circle health is a non profit that's offering a totally free virtual type one diabetes clinical care, education and support program for adults 18 and up. You heard me right, free. No strings attached, just free. Currently, if you live in Florida, Maine Vermont, New Hampshire, Ohio, Delaware, Missouri, Alabama or Mississippi. You're eligible for blue circle health right now, but they are adding states quickly in 2025 so make sure to follow them at Blue circle health on social media and make yourself familiar with blue circle health.org. Blue circle health is free. It is without cost. There are no strings attached. I am not hiding anything from you. Blue circle, health.org, you know why they had to buy an ad. No one believes it's free. The episode you're about to enjoy was brought to you by Dexcom, the Dexcom g7 the same CGM that my daughter wears. You can learn more and get started today at my link, dexcom.com/juicebox, this episode is sponsored by the tandem Moby system, which is powered by tandems newest algorithm control iq plus technology. Tandem mobi has a predictive algorithm that helps prevent highs and lows, and is now available for ages two and up. Learn more and get started today at tandem diabetes.com/juicebox
Alex 2:05
Hi, I am Alex. I am 42 years old. Can't believe I'm saying that. And I live in Dallas, Texas. Why can't you believe you're 42 I feel like I'm 30. I think I will always feel like I'm 30.
Scott Benner 2:18
I'm looking here because you said it was okay. We if we talked about it. You were on the podcast in the past.
Alex 2:24
Yes, I was on the podcast about four years ago, and it was a very cool moment, because I was on an after dark episode talking about mostly relationships, but sex and relationships from a female perspective. And when I was on I was dating my now husband, and so it's a really cool time capsule, capsule to go back and listen to it, because, you know, it was right before COVID, like a couple of weeks before COVID, is when we we recorded it right after we reported it. My husband and I quarantined together for, you know, we were living in Chicago, so, you know, I don't know. We ended up very quickly, getting engaged, getting pregnant, getting married, and doing all those things. And so to listen to the podcast now, you know, it's such a gift, because I was in such a different state, and then the state of the world was so different. Then too, I was dating and relationships, and then I was dating my husband, and, you know, now we're married and have this beautiful a beautiful son and beautiful life together. So
Scott Benner 3:24
cool. I sometimes think that the like, if I can figure out when the last year of my life is, I'm gonna go back and just listen to the podcast straight through. Yeah, might become the easiest way for me to remember things. It would take you a while for sure. So Well, yeah, you were on Episode 319, and yeah, this morning, I put up episode 1344,
Alex 3:47
so a life that happened in there? Yeah? Well,
Scott Benner 3:49
it's just a ton of conversations, but it's funny. The um, the description of your episode, it says, Alex discusses with clear and frank language, having sex with type one diabetes, not for children. That's correct. Yeah, funny. I don't remember it at all. I might have to put it on my short To Do List of going back and listening to most of
Alex 4:07
my family doesn't even know I did that. So now you know, now everybody will know. Coming up now, yeah, it was a different it was definitely a different lifetime ago.
Scott Benner 4:15
It's interesting. It's short, short time, but feels like a long time. Yep, yeah, how about that? So when you're trapped in a box with somebody for a year and nobody murders each other, you figure, might as well get married.
Alex 4:26
Yeah, it was. Our relationship was kind of a definitely, like lots of you know, everything was expedited, I would just say, so we were, you know, quarantined in Chicago. We lived in on this in the South Loop at the time. So a lot of the George Floyd stuff was happening at the same time, and it was just a, it was a, truly a pressure box, because we, you know, we lived about a block away from a police station. There was so much happening just in the city, around around in that moment. And we, we kind of just went through a lot emotionally, I think, together. And definitely everything was expedited. We got engaged pretty quickly. We were only together. I mean, we were dating, not even maybe six months. And then we decided to get pregnant, kind of all at the same time, and then we got married. And but it was, you know, it's been, it was a magical experience. I would, I actually wouldn't trade that quarantine experience for anything in the world. It was a really cool that's interesting. That's what I had.
Scott Benner 5:24
Yeah, it's also, it's also really interesting to hear that you met somebody you liked them enough that when the quarantine happened, you were like, I guess we'll do this together, because if we don't like we lose this thing. We're starting to build right? It
Alex 5:36
was the perfect we had been together for three months, and I feel like that's like the make or break it time in most relationships, it's like, are you gonna commit or are you gonna not commit? And we were just all in at that point. So, like I said, it's fun to go back and listen to what you sound like when you were dating your husband or your spouse for you know, at that kind of mark. Yeah,
Scott Benner 5:58
it was a cool experience. Cool. So tell people one more time you have type one,
Alex 6:01
I have type one. I've been a type one diabetic, or person with diabetes, I should say, since I was 26 and I'm 42 now, 3640
Scott Benner 6:10
okay, I don't want to get off the subject too quickly, but I always do wonder, like, when you say I've been a type one diabetic, and you realize, like, oh, I don't want to say that I'm a diabetic. Like, is that a thing that you care about personally, or a thing that you think other people care about? Using that word?
Alex 6:24
I think other people care about it more than I do, probably, but I definitely don't feel like diabetes defines my life in any way, and especially, you know, I wanted to talk about kind of diabetes and working in corporate America and career wise, and that kind of thing. You never I've never, you know, felt like I wanted to be perceived as different in any way. No,
Scott Benner 6:46
I heard I just didn't know. Like, some people find the word off putting, and I'm not. I've heard my daughter use it not use it, like, you know what I mean? Like she actually thinks she probably says I'm diabetic more than I have type one diabetes. I don't think it matters. It just matters, you know, to the person it matters to. You know
Alex 7:05
what I think about when I say I'm diabetic is, like, what was that guy's name? Wilford Brimley, who used to do the commercials the you've got diabetes? Yes, that's what I think about. When I say, like, Oh, I'm diabetic. Like, an old person. I don't know why. I have no idea why. Interesting.
Scott Benner 7:21
Just somebody from the South who said diabetes, yeah, yeah. Actually, I'll tell you. Today's episode I told you went up, is with this doctor that I've had on a number of times. He's awesome, like, really great, knowledgeable guy, but he's from Texas, and he says diabetes. I learned to, like, listen through it when he says it, because at first I had the same thing. I was like, Oh my God, this sounds like the wolf or Brimley thing. But then I just sort I just sort of let it go, because this information is and the way he thinks about it is, is so good. Can I ask, like, professional like, can we, like, I don't want to exactly say what you do, obviously, but like, can you give me the idea of the industry or the kind of work? This episode is sponsored by tandem Diabetes Care, and today I'm going to tell you about tandems, newest pump and algorithm, the tandem mobi system with control iq plus technology features auto Bolus, which can cover missed meal boluses and help prevent hyperglycemia. It has a dedicated sleep activity setting and is controlled from your personal iPhone. Tandem will help you to check your benefits today through my link, tandem diabetes.com/juicebox, this is going to help you to get started with tandem, smallest pump yet that's powered by its best algorithm ever control IQ. Plus technology helps to keep blood sugars in range by predicting glucose levels 30 minutes ahead, and it adjusts insulin accordingly. You can wear the tandem Moby in a number of ways. Wear it on body with a patch like adhesive sleeve that is sold separately. Clip it discreetly to your clothing or slip it into your pocket head. Now to my link, tandem diabetes.com/juicebox, to check out your benefits and get started today, you can manage diabetes confidently with the powerfully simple Dexcom g7 dexcom.com/juicebox the Dexcom g7 is the CGM that my daughter is wearing. The g7 is a simple CGM system that delivers real time glucose numbers to your smartphone or smart watch. The g7 is made for all types of diabetes, type one and type two, but also people experiencing gestational diabetes. The Dexcom g7 can help you spend more time in range, which is proven to lower a 1c The more time you spend in range, the better and healthier you feel. And with the Dexcom clarity app, you can track your glucose trends, and the app will also provide you with a projected a 1c in as little as two weeks. If you're looking for clarity around your diabetes, you're looking for Dexcom. Dexcom.com/juicebox when you use my link, you're supporting the podcast. Dexcom.com/ Juicebox. Head over there now,
Alex 10:03
totally, yeah, I'm a marketer. I've been a marketer my whole career. I'm 42 so I would say the point in my career I'm at right now, which has sort of taken an interesting path lately. But, you know, it's, it's kind of that director, senior, Director, VP, type of level of marketing is what I've been doing the last couple of years. And I worked in advertising for a great majority of my career. I worked for an ad agency, worked on very large brands, large insurance brand, everybody knows the commercials are on the TV constantly, large tech brand that you probably take to and from places, you know, I've worked on these really big brands, and mostly in non tangible products, I would say is what I've specialized in, so services and for large brands. And right now I work for I had a career shift about a year ago, actually, which was a pretty, pretty big shock to the system. I had been hired away from the ad agency, from another, again, a large, large brand, worked in global marketing. For them, was working with people all over the world. It was a retail brand, and retail is not doing well, and so I was hired and then let go within like, seven months of working there. So I switched, which was a huge shock to the system, because I'm a very high performer, and I was hired away from the company, etc, but that's it ended up being, which, I think everybody says this after they get laid off. It ended up being the best thing in the entire world for my career. I now work for a small insurance startup. I would say is the best. It's tech startup, and I work, I lead their brand marketing right now. So all really been been in the deep of the corporate to now more of a smaller startup, entrepreneurial type of experience, which I actually much prefer. Had no idea how frustrated I was in corporate America until I got a job with startup where I could kind of just do what I think needs to be done, and they sort of let me just do it, which is great. It's interesting.
Scott Benner 12:02
Like, I don't think of myself as a marketer. I mean, there's no doubt, like, I have, like, a dual purpose, right? Like, I make a podcast, you guys can listen to it, and the only way I can put my whole effort into it is if people buy ads on it. And so it has to be popular. And at the same time, like, a lot of my day is often spent, like, no lie, you and I are gonna get off this call and I'm gonna jump right on a call. Right on a call with one of the advertisers. And so they have desires, too. You know what? I mean? They have things that they need and they want, and it's, you know, they want the ads to sound a certain way. They want me to read them. They want them to be on episode. You know, they have, you know, this one's not working as well as that one is, like, that kind of stuff. The part about it, what you made me just think about is that sometimes I just work with a person, you know what I mean, and sometimes I work with like, sometimes people come on calls, and I think, why are there so many of you here? Oh, for sure, yeah. Like, I'm like, those four haven't said anything. They're not even taking notes. Like, like, I don't know what's happening. Exactly like, you try to, like, address them, and they look off camera, like Someone save me. I don't know what to say, and those are the ones that often seem the most mired down. People will ask me all the time, like, how is the podcast so successful? I mean, because I've been it's been going for a decade, like, the truth is, is, like, I say this all the time, but like, one of the things I think I should be most proud of is longevity, turning out a quality thing over and over again for years and years without people, you know, in this day and age, getting sick of you and walking away or like that. You're not, you know, not being able to continue to grow that kind of stuff. I think I'm mostly successful because I can pivot, like I can start something and say I don't like how that went, or that didn't do what I thought it was going to do, or I shouldn't have done that series, and just, you know, go right to something else, and no one stops me or has 1000 questions. It's not like I'm shutting down someone's gig if I turn something off. I think that flexibility is incredibly important.
Alex 13:52
Yeah, it's the iteration. And I think corporate America in general thinks they do this. And, like, I've been part of plenty of like all day seminars around at, you know, what's called agile marketing and continuous um improvement and working in sprints so that you're doing things faster and putting them out and testing and learning. Very few companies actually do it well, yeah, and I think you just have to be small and scrappy and not have a lot of head count in order to actually do that right? Because you cannot afford, if you're at a small company, to do to put something out that doesn't work. It's just, it's too important. Everything's too important. I
Scott Benner 14:30
think if you have a division with 10 people and a million dollars worth of salary going out the door, and those people are the ones telling you that we're flexible, you're not seeing the forest for the trees. They do that stuff all the time. Like, we'll build a we'll build a group around this idea. Oh, okay, now nothing's gonna happen. Yeah, yeah. So anyway, so that's awesome. So you it sucks that you got pulled away and then unceremoniously, like, Oh, but I guess what happened is you took the experience from the first place, which was six. Significant you went to this next place, which kind of probably changed your CV a little bit, and then that allowed you to look like a thought leader enough to go into a small place to run. The thing is that about what happened,
Alex 15:11
pretty much, I mean, it's my company. Now, I've never felt so appreciated. Honestly, it's, you know, they really like again, if you come with a lot of experience, and it's like, all of a sudden I woke up, and I'm 42 and I'm, I'm the one that people listen to. And I was like, I don't know how this happened. One day, it just sort of started to happen, but I started to actually know what I was doing, and people really listen. You know, which is, which is a cool experience, and people respect my opinion and advice and just let me kind of run with it, which is a completely different experience. When I was working in global marketing for the retail brand, I had all the same experience, and the company was not doing well, and it's like, you know, I go into meetings and I've got three ideas that I'm like, all of these things I think could be, you know, could improve this process. And they all get shut down because somebody in the sea level sort of smiles weird, you know, in the meeting it like it was, it was a little bit like that movie The Devil Wears Prada, like, where it was just nothing was strategically thought out, you know, more than just like, well, this person doesn't really like that, so I don't think we're going to do that. It was just very frustrating experience, you know, working in that type of environment, but that's that kind of is a lot of marketing, you know, at that level, that's
Scott Benner 16:28
just, it's what it is sometimes, right? Yeah, yeah, no, it's, it's an it's an interesting space. I often feel bad for the people, because they're graded like you're selling a thing, Oh, yeah. The way you talk about it is only going to take it so far. It so far. It still is what it is, you know. So, like, they're out there getting their ass handed to them by their boss because they're like, we're not hitting certain, you know, benchmarks, or the clicks aren't happening, or whatever. Or a lot of this stuff is medical stuff. Like, people don't really buy it online. They ask their doctor for it, yeah. So you're, you're busy tracking links and trying to measure clicks, and I don't know time on page and click through and all this. By the way, I hate all these words. I sit in these meetings. I'm like, Oh my God. Like, I can't say but I work with some people who like they buzz word the meeting so much I don't actually think they know what they're talking about.
Alex 17:16
Well, medical for sure, not to get this until a total marketing conversation, but medical, for sure, what you just said to me, the only strategy you should have for medical is brand awareness, because you want to be the first brand that you mentioned to your doctor. That should be the only goal. And I mean, this podcast does it? I use a Dexcom. I use an Omnipod because of this podcast, and it's the only thing that I remember, because it's the only thing I've heard about on this podcast. So when I went to my doctor, that those are the two things I asked about, and that's to me, in medical should really be the most important, like the click through rate and some of the lower funnel metrics. I'm speaking about something I don't really I'm not educated on.
Scott Benner 17:57
That's funny, though, because you said funnel, and I almost banged my head against the desk
Alex 18:02
marketing talk. But yeah, the I don't, you know, I don't know who goes through the internet and is just like, What? What insulin pump should I use? You know? No, you're, you've probably poured over it in forums and listen to it and talk to your doctor like it's, it's as a high touch experience that you probably already had, or a multiple touch, I should say, experience before you actually go to the doctor and ask for something like that. So anyway, that's my perspective on Pharma. I have no education there. So, yeah, no.
Scott Benner 18:33
I mean, I appreciate hearing about it from you, because you said earlier, like, I can't believe I'm the one people are listening to. Like, remember that I worked in a sheet metal shop, and then, you know, became debt collection, then I became a stay at home dad, and then I wrote a blog, and then I started a podcast. And now I'm a person where we sit in meetings, the people who have degrees look across at me and go, What do you think we should do? And I'm like,
Alex 18:58
because you're the talent, yeah, you're the creative, because you're the creative, though, and there's a lot of power in that. And you know, so don't cut. You didn't work on shoe metal. You were always a creative, is what I would think. Well,
Scott Benner 19:09
trust me, I appreciate that very much. But there is still that moment in the conversation where you're asking me, like, okay, is this what it's come to? All right, I'll tell you what I think. And then, you know, what's funny is that a lot of times I say what I think, and they go now, and then they come back a year later and want to do it. That's always a funny thing. I love it when that happens. Yeah,
Alex 19:27
that happens. There's just a lot, I mean, just corporate, there's just a lot of waste, and that's, you know, just sort of the way it goes and that. And just as I don't know, yeah,
Scott Benner 19:36
whatever, whatever the machine is, that's the machine. So I guess then let's just real quickly talk about how you manage your diabetes, because I want people to have a picture of what you're doing at work. So you just said you have a Dexcom and an Omnipod is an Omnipod five or dash. I
Alex 19:51
have an Omnipod five and I have a Dexcom g6 not the seven. I'm waiting for the app and all that stuff any day now, I guess. Yes, maybe it came out.
Scott Benner 20:00
I mean, as we're recording now, like, it has to be happening any any day, like, literally, yeah,
Alex 20:06
so, so, I mean, my endocrinologist, who, you know, has dust all over his office, like, I think I'll probably talk to him about it in a couple months, and maybe he'll have, you know, be able to get me on it at that point. But, but yes, that's what I've got. And when I last time I was on the podcast, I was I did MDI for really long time, and I was so scared of having devices on my body, and so that was part of my you know, the first podcast I was on was just talking about that, but now I'm very used to it. I got on the Omnipod when I was about to get pregnant, and thank goodness I did. There's absolutely no way I could have managed my pregnancy with an omnipotent every single woman that has diabetes that has had a baby needs a massive high five because it was one of it was, again, one of the most challenging things I've ever done in my entire life was managing my diabetes while
Speaker 1 20:53
I was pregnant. Really, really tough. Yeah. How? So tell people a little bit. So there's
Alex 20:57
a mental aspect to it, which I was not expecting. Which is, you constantly feel like you're hurting your child or hurting your baby if your blood sugar goes above 120 so the tightness of your numbers, that's what gender call. Endocrinologist talks to you about. But the mental aspect of it, you know, which right, wrong or indifferent. It's not necessarily true, is, you know you think that something is going to happen to the baby if your numbers are going above 120 so that tightness is really tough, because I really wasn't used to managing, like, my a one, Cs were always around. Not bad. But, like, 6.5 6.6 but like, you know you're you're really trying to get into, like, the high fives at that point.
Scott Benner 21:39
And a six. Six is some 180 some, 220, sometimes they stay up for a couple hours, that kind of thing, right? Yeah,
Alex 21:47
100% I would let it stay, you know, kind of lazy about it, yes. So getting, getting during pregnancy, you really have to maintain that layer in feeling nauseous all the time. And, you know, I sort of had this low level of knowledge at my entire pregnancy where you just sort of don't feel like eating all that much, and then you definitely only want to eat cereal, which was the thing that cereal, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and fruit was like,
Scott Benner 22:17
Baby, here comes the Lucky Charms. You're going to be
Alex 22:21
like, I've never eaten Lucky Charms. But it was like, you know, like, how do you bunches of boats? Like, you know, things like that, where you're like, really, like, there's absolutely no way to manage that and and be pregnant, and then, hold on.
Scott Benner 22:33
I'm always so interested where people want to make sure other people understand. Like, you're like, Listen, I've not eaten Lucky Charms. Just let's, yeah, I don't,
Alex 22:41
like, I actually don't want my a half year old eat cereal, period. The kid has
Scott Benner 22:46
problems later. You don't want them listening back to this and go, Oh, this is what happened. Those fake marshmallows got me Sorry. So you're nauseous and you only want to eat odd things that push up your blood sugar.
Alex 22:55
Yeah, so that. And then every single week I had, I went, I was, gosh, man, if you have to be die have diabetes, and live in Chicago, Northwestern, like the the women, you know, the diabetes Division I went to, like the special doctor, you know, women that are pregnant with diabetes, basically saw there, and it was like, very good care. And so I saw the special, like, special endocrinologist, or special diabetes educator. I should say that only met with type one moms like, that was there it was like, she was amazing, and I met with her every other week. And so we adjusted my insulin every other week. And so I was like, learning to use the pod and pregnant and like, I mean, just all of that, and then you have the baby, and then the breast feeding is like, then it's like, Okay, I'm gonna eat two full bagels and not take any insulin. Like it was just so different once you actually have that baby, wow, because your body's burning so many calories from from pumping or breastfeeding or whatever you're doing, yeah. So it was, it was just such a wild ride at being pregnant. And I know you've had several episodes about it, but I'm like, there are not like Jenny's book. Actually, I would highly recommend that to everybody. That was my saving grace that she wrote. And I didn't realize it was her who wrote it,
Scott Benner 24:09
but it's her and a woman named Ginger, they wrote it together. Very, very
Alex 24:13
helpful. I don't know how anybody's pregnant without that book, so it was very, very helpful. That
Scott Benner 24:18
awesome, that it was like, such a valuable thing for you. I'll make sure she knows. She'll be happy. Yeah, of course, baby comes out like insulin needs. Go back down again. Do you go back to 6568, or do you say, Well, I can do this. I'll keep doing it.
Alex 24:34
It changed my perspective on it, so it was more of a I can do this. I'm gonna keep doing it. It's probably slipped up a little bit since then. It's been three and a half years, but it completely changed my perspective on like, oh, I can do this if I just paid attention a little bit more. And I learned, I think through the Pro, through that process and through just losing your podcast too, I learned a lot more about how insulin works, basically with my body. So, yeah, that's great. The baby's held now. He's three, and. Half. His name is Vaughn. Vaughn. Oh,
Scott Benner 25:01
congratulations, lovely. Are we going to do it again? Or was that too much for one time? He
Alex 25:07
he was a one and done. And I've always wanted just one. I decided, you know, much like with things with my husband, like we're very happy with the way things are, like, I don't in my life right now, which is like, a wonderful thing to say. I don't want for anything. So I think, like adding a second child, like, there's no more happiness that I want or need. Like, I feel very fulfilled by like my husband and my child right now, which is great. Oh, it's interesting. Do you have pets? No, we had a we had a horrible cat that ran away.
Scott Benner 25:40
I'm sorry, did it run away? Or Did it run
Alex 25:42
away? It did? It did? It was like, sort of a cat that liked to go outside and then he just sort of didn't come back one day. And we're like, he loves
Scott Benner 25:49
it outside. It's awesome. Bye. Bye. I didn't think you had pets because that collecting mentality, like what you said about I'm I have as much happiness as I need, like, adding another person couldn't possibly give me more like, that feeling. And like, you know, like, all that, I think is awesome, yeah. But a lot of, not most people, but people who feel like, Oh, I got a, I don't know, I got a fish tank, and I set it up, and it's really cool when I put the fish in it that I want, that's really great for 321, I'm gonna get another fish tank. And, like, like that, that thing that people, I think, either have that or they don't. Okay, does that make sense? Yeah,
Alex 26:25
it does. I am. I'm more of a minimalist, just in general, like, we live below our means. We I don't like having extra things in the house, like 100% like, I just am very content with like, a certain amount of things. And that's it.
Scott Benner 26:38
You live below your means. Is it partially because you like that there's a little bit of money in the bank that you don't spend every month. Yeah, I
Alex 26:45
mean that that totally that allows us. We actually just bought a rental property, which we're turning into a short term rental, which is another part of, kind of like the story of, after I got laid off and working for this new company, I work with a lot of real estate investors, and I it kind of caught the bug. And so I'm so happy that we had money in the bank because it allowed me to do the things I want to do. And that, to me, that's like power, that's power, and that's real, that's real wealth is when you have the freedom of choice to do what you want to do with your life or your time or your money. And so, like, I always like having money in the bank to be able to do the things that are important to us when they become important to us. The way I try to think
Scott Benner 27:25
about it is, like, I don't imagine I'm gonna have, like, a pile so big that I'm Scrooge mcducking into it, you know what I mean? But like that there's a little more there than you need every month. Yeah, to think that if something goes wrong, like, I don't want to, like, be sound so basic. But if something goes wrong, you don't start running around going, like, oh God. Like, how do I lay my hands on $1,000 yeah, you know, I mean, like that, that kind of feeling. I mean, I'm trying so hard to tell my kids about this while they're young. Don't get into debt when you're young and just put money aside, even if it's a little bit, because you'll see, like, what a big difference it makes throughout your entire life, just not struggling and worrying is such a an uplifting thing. You know, there's a whole
Alex 28:06
and you probably made me know this, but there's a whole mentality called the Fire method, which is financial independence. Retire early, and it's, you know, it's a movement, basically, to take control, back to yourself and live below your means, save money, retire early, like we don't. You don't have to retire at 65 you can actually retire much earlier than that, if you have, you know, wealth, building assets like real estate or something else that is going to actually make you money that you invest. You have to sacrifice early. You sacrifice a lot, but Right? And I'm not, we're not. We don't subscribe to that whole thing, like, we, like, vacations and stuff like that. But my husband did, actually, right before I got laid off, my husband quit his job without another job, because we could, you know, because he hated his job and he could, which is, was, which was incredibly powerful, you know, and I never want to feel like I have to do something, you know, like, I, like, I am, you know, chain and we all have, we have bills, and obviously, that kind of thing we definitely do. But like, it's, it's incredibly motivating that, like, he was able to quit his job and he went and got his real estate license and was going to do that for a second, and then I lost my job, he ended up just getting another job. But anyway, that was nice. It was,
Scott Benner 29:19
that was nice that was nice, that you felt like you could do that, but now go back to work very quickly, right? Yeah,
Alex 29:25
that's kind of what happened. But it was okay, no, but
Scott Benner 29:28
I, I mean, your point about that, I think is really awesome because you can work. What you're telling me is that I can work in a more corporate situation, but I don't have to be a tied to my desk, person who's going to work till the like, literally, till my heart stops. Yes, yes,
Alex 29:43
exactly, and especially like. And just bringing you back to diabetes, like, I've been in situations in corporate jobs that I didn't feel comfortable, you know, and I didn't feel like, accepted or like, this was, like, a great environment for me. You. Know. You can either kick your legs and start screaming and trying to push back, you know, or you can leave, you know, or you can try to change it and make it work, you know. But like having all three of those choices, like, choices are a big deal to me. Like having choice about everything is really important to me, and being able to actively choose where I work, who I work for when I work, is incredibly important. It's probably because my mother, my mother is 80 years old. She is our nanny, and still has to work, you know, like she always was working, and always was working for companies that were probably underpaying her. And it really the amount I saw her work, and then I still, you know, I'm still seeing her work for us, which is wonderful and a gift, but, you know, it's, it's very motivating. I don't, I don't want to be like
Scott Benner 30:45
that. Yeah, yeah, no, that's awesome. Do people work under you? Are you managing people
Alex 30:50
currently? No, just because I work for the startup, but I always have had a pretty large team. You know, when I was at the ad agency, I had a team of, you know, seven or eight at one point, I had like, five when I was at the retail company. So always have managed people. I've always tried to be an empathetic leader, I guess, like there's nothing I would ask my team to do that I wouldn't be willing to do myself and try to put people first and try to understand what motivates them, which I think is a really, you know, it's, it's a motivating thing to work for a manager who wants to make sure you're motivated.
Scott Benner 31:25
Yeah, my wife is over the years, managed a few people to a lot of people, and no matter how big or small the group is, when she starts up with something, I watch her spend the first six months making sure that the people are empowered and happy and have tools to do their job. Yeah, and then she starts putting the pieces in place. Yep, people love working for my wife. Oh, that's awesome. It's interesting, because you like that about the small startup idea. And so I was wondering when you, were managing people if you were doing similar things. But I think that's how she gets how the apartments run. Well, they do a good job. People don't leave. You end up promoting people their lives get better. You know, you get cards at the holiday that's like, look, here's my family. I was able to do this because of you like, that kind of stuff. Like, I never would have moved up here without this. And I guess my point is, there's a way to do corporate and not make it horrible for people
Alex 32:28
totally. And I think, I think my diabetes has 100% humanized like me as a manager, and made me more empathetic to people's situations. Also, because you really don't know, like, nobody knows what's going on. And people love to, you know, the movies, I should say, love to portray, oh, you know, working, you know, it's just business. It's not personal, whatever. I don't believe that there's actually a book I read early on in my career. It's called, like, this is wrong, but, you know, it's always personal. And because you are managing people. So diabetes wise, I've always been very open with, you know, I wear my Dexcom or my OmniPods, like on my arms sometimes, so people see it. And I've always been very open about, you know, it with my team, a just from a safety perspective, of just like, hey, if you ever see, you know, you know something awry. I might be low
Scott Benner 33:24
talking about the colors on the floor. Could you help her? Yeah,
Alex 33:27
like, you know, I always, you know, this is where I keep candy in my desk. Like, I've always, I've always been very open about it in the in the corporate environment. And this is just my again, my perspective. I think a lot of people have different perspectives on this, and this is why I kind of wanted to come on the podcast. I just don't think just don't think people talk about, like, what they do at work as much, especially in a if you're working in a physical environment, like, if you're a nurse on your feet, like, that is a totally different ball game. So I'm not talking about that, but like you're just sitting at a desk, like day to day, most people probably wouldn't even know that you have diabetes. But I've been in jobs where, like, I've been in the role for months, actually, the role I'm in right now, most people probably don't know I work from home right now. So most people probably don't know that I've got diabetes. But whenever I do go in the office, which is every now and then, or if I go, I travel around to events quite a bit. Events have always been part of what I do. And so event work is very physical, and, you know, it always sort of surprises people, makes people continue, you know. Can sometimes makes people a little uncomfortable, because they don't really, if I am going low, they don't really know what that means if they're supposed to do something, you know. So there's just, like, a whole set of sort of these norms that there's no rule book for in corporate America other than just like the American was, you know, Americans with Disabilities Act you need to make sure that, and you don't want
Scott Benner 34:49
to be yelling about that on your first day of work, right?
Alex 34:51
Yeah, you're not doing that. But anyway, there's like to kind of finish that point like, I've always been very open with people about my diabetes, but. Not at first, I guess I should say so it's like, it's, I don't want to people to know me as somebody with diabetes, only they get to know me first as a manager or whatever, and then at some point I will tell them that, you know, hey, this is after a couple weeks or whatever it is. Like this, I've got diabetes, and this is what it is, and I keep candy here, and I may sometimes have to step out of a meeting because my blood sugar is low, right? And that's usually how I how I handle it.
Scott Benner 35:24
It's important too, because in the beginning, whether we know it or not, people are looking for reasons not to like you when they first meet you like Right? They're trying to make sure you're safe or good for this space or whatever, and you don't want to give them something that they don't understand, that they potentially could be frightened of on day one.
Alex 35:41
Yes, in corporate America, people, especially at my level, people are sniffing you out when they first meet you, especially when you start a first job. They don't know why you got that job. They want to know why you got the job over somebody else that maybe they met or interviewed, and they want to see what you're made of. Basically, yeah, so I don't, I'm very cautious about just coming out with a, you know, quickly when I start a new job, but I eventually, you know, after a few weeks, or whatever, you know, definitely share it and talk about it with people. And some people, people react differently to it. I had a client I worked with your this is years ago, and the the role was when I was at the ad agency, and I was doing a lot of event work then. So I was traveling to New York for the New York Auto Show, you're on the go. And at the time, I wasn't on a pump. I was doing MDI, and I don't even think I had a Dexcom actually. Then I think I still was pricking my finger. And I, of course, had to prick my finger in front of this client, or like a J, you know, adjacent to this client, like we would be together for three days straight, non stop working at this event. So, you know, she was made it very uncomfortable for me, because she made it very, very clear that she doesn't like needles, and she didn't want me, you know, doing my shots in front of her, and I she thought I should go to the bathroom and do that like it was so frustrating, because she's a client, so you're trying to cater to her needs and be nice about it, and be accommodating in some ways. But that wasn't working for me. You know, it especially when you're on the go and you just need to take care of something. It was very, very frustrating. And I ended up, I talked to my my manager at the time, and I was, like, earlier in my career at this point. So I talked to my manager about it. My manager asked me, like, what the big deal was about going to the bathroom and doing a shot or, you know, like not doing it in front of her. And I was like, very, again, very frustrated by that response, like, that was the response, but I understood, you know, you're trying to accommodate somebody that is also uncomfortable. But I ended up writing her a note, like an email, and just saying, like, this is what I'm comfortable with. Like, a more kind of sat on it for a couple days, and it's like, you know, this is what I'm comfortable This is my health, and this is what I you know, when I'm when we're traveling together, it was really a traveling specific thing when we're traveling together. Like, I'm gonna need to test my blood sugar, and it's potentially could be in front of you. So, like, if you could just look away, that would be really helpful. And the problem ended up resolving itself. But it was a really weird moment to navigate, especially, like I said, like it was probably I was in my late 20s, you know, so I didn't have a whole lot of power, quote, unquote, at the company. And I'm, you know, with this client, that was a somewhat of an important client, also a lot. So
Scott Benner 38:36
did the client ever try to jam you up with work, or did they not go that far with it. No,
Alex 38:41
no, no. I mean, she just sort of was a an interesting personality, I'll just say, but yeah, it was nothing work related. It was really more of just this, like, interpersonal type of situation where my work required me to, you know, to be at a location, like at a third party location in the middle of a city, and so you're just having to, like, eat and manage your diabetes, like, in place that you're on the go. And I was like, this is still my work environment. Like, that was kind of my point of, like, I need a reasonable accommodation for my work environment. And it is what's interesting with my shots. You
Scott Benner 39:18
brought up the location too, because, I mean, you're at the Javits Center, right? Yeah, yeah. Okay, so I don't, if people haven't been in Manhattan before, you know, there's some places where you can just walk out on the street and walk into a CVS, or walk into a, you know, a pizza joint or something like that, but there are some places where you're not near anything, no, yeah, not near anything. So it's you in that moment and the things you have with you and and you're not like you said. You're not wearing a CGM, so you're checking your blood sugar, you're being active. You're lifting and moving and probably stacking boxes and hustling and talking to people constantly. By the way, if people don't know this, when you go to those shows where people are like behind a table, the ones who are successful are in front of the. Table Totally, yeah, yeah. So people who stand behind the table and wait for you to come to them, they don't know what they're doing, and they're not gonna have to talk to anybody. They're gonna think, Oh, the thing I'm selling is not it's not it. I, I figured early on, I wrote that book, like such a long time ago, but I got invited to this, like, authors, I don't know it was almost like, the best way to describe as it felt like a yard sale for books, like where people just set up endless tables, they put their books there, and the authors were there. And I stood there for 15 minutes, and I was like, no one's stopping at any of these tables. It's not me, it's not it's just people are walking around like you're not there. It's almost like you're window dressing, right? And I grabbed a handful of those books, and I got out from behind the table. I stood in front of the table, and everyone that walked past me, I said, Hey, how are you? This is a book I wrote. It's about this. And I started talking to them. And about two hours into it, I packed up my table and I left, and the guy next to me goes, where are you going? I said, I'm out of books, and that was it. Like, I brought cases of books and sold them all, and those people couldn't get, like, they couldn't get the guy next to him to buy their book. And I actually started seeing that happen. They were starting to talk to each other. I'm like, Oh, you guys are missing the point of this thing. Since then, even if I go to, like, touch by type one, they give me a nice they give me a nice table. And I'm very lucky, I should say out loud, I'm very lucky that there are people who are local in Florida. When I go to touch by type one, Emily and her daughter, like, they'll man my table for me and give out handouts while I'm speaking and stuff like that. But I go back to the table whenever I'm not speaking, I never stand behind it. Yeah, that's just not how that works. So you're active as hell. Your blood sugar was probably all over the place I would imagine, oh,
Alex 41:40
yeah, it's like, well, you're eating, you know, whatever you can find at an event, and then you're walking these very large convention halls. And so, yeah, working in events, in this, like, it's been an interesting part of, quote, unquote, working in corporate America, also, because it is, it can be a very physical job. Everybody I work with, yes, has to know that I've got type one, and I keep things with me, and they check I mean, some, some clients I've had have been wonderful. They check on me, and they're interested and invested in it, and they want to know about it, and some just don't, you know. And recently, I had another situation with a company I'm in now where we were going to a very expensive so I do, I still do events, but we were going to a very expensive resort for a trade show. This sort of happened after the fact. But they were sort of, you know, asking questions about the cost of the hotel, and they're like, Well, why couldn't you share room with one of the the other people that were working, and I had to just be very clear about, like, I'm not comfortable sharing a room. My Dexcom goes off, like, the alarms, like, I don't know, I think it's because I put it, like, on my back, above my butt, basically. But like, especially if it's a new one that night, it's, it's got the pressure, you know, the whatever, compression, low, the compression low, oh my gosh. It's like, every time, you know it is going off at two, 3am and I was like, I cannot share a room with somebody in good conscious like, with my alarms going off all the time,
Scott Benner 43:13
beep, beep, beep, like, Oh my God, what's happening? Yeah. And I it was such an
Alex 43:17
uncomfortable conversation. First of all, I really don't want to share a room. Nobody wants to
Scott Benner 43:21
share a room at work. This isn't summer camp. That's not a friend of mine. It's a co worker. Nobody
Alex 43:25
wants to do that, yeah, you know, but I understand that there's cost savings, you know, there's cost savings, and it's a startup, etc. But like, it was very, like, uncomfortable conversation for me, because, again, I don't I really try not to make my diabetes a big deal, but like, there are accommodations and that are necessary. And I, I think some people, especially, you know, I don't know if like, Gen Z, like, they kind of act differently than maybe the millennial generation of my generation, but like I do not come guns blazing. Of like you need to accommodate me. I think that's a really good way for people to like, not promote you and not not trust you and make it about your diabetes at work, I think I try to just always say, like, I can do this job, whether I have diabetes or not. How can I do it? Is there anything I need to ask for? Yeah, differently, and that was something I need. I was like, I have to ask for. Like, I was like, I will never share a room with somebody. Like, it will be incredibly anxiety ridden for me to share a room with somebody and like me just waiting for my alarms to go off and wake somebody else out. It was like, that's just not something I'm comfortable with at all. So I would, I would personally rather pay for my own room than share a room with a co worker.
Scott Benner 44:33
Yeah, no. I mean, it's funny, because not funny, but it's interesting. I agree with you about a lot of the stuff you're saying. Like, for instance, I wouldn't ask my daughter to go into the bathroom to give herself insulin or something like that. I see why you would be upset by that. And at the same time, I see when people say, I don't want to tell people about my diabetes, when I do want to tell them, like because you know you're you're telling a story about working in a fairly professional environment. I don't know if you were stock and shelves. A, you know, at a big box store, and, you know, you might have a different experience totally. You know what I mean, you'd be different. You'd be working with different people with different ways of thinking, you know, and that's going to be at every place you go. So it is a very personal decision based, I think, a lot, on where you are and the expectations of where you are, Yep, yeah, and I'm sorry, I'm just gonna keep going for a second, because I also agree with you about the other part. I like people knowing, but I also think people are people, and in a survivor situation, which is what the working world is, everyone's trying to figure out how to get to the top. And you, you're a stepping stone for everybody who wants to go up. They're looking for a way around you. They are, they are a lot. I mean, everybody doesn't do this, but a lot of people do, and you don't know who's who. And you show up on the day one and you go, Hey, I get dizzy. Sometimes they're like, I got this one. I'll knock her right over. Like, you know what I mean? Like, you got to give yourself a chance too. That's correct.
Alex 45:59
And I, as I get older and as I move my way up, I don't think I ever saw that when I was younger, in my 20s, I just sort of and I worked for an ad agency, so everything was fun, and we're all friends and we're whatever, but people are ruthless, because their number one priority are them, is themselves. And I'm a little bit more cynical about that as I move up, and I because I've just seen more things, and the decision about who gets a raise and who gets a promotion I've done, I've made those decisions, and they're small biases included in those decisions, you know, and again, right, wrong or different. It happens like so you have to just sort of be aware that this happens, yep, and you're
Scott Benner 46:44
working in a place where there's a pie for a bonus structure, and you have to give a certain percentage of the pie to each person, and find a reason why one person gets less than another, because you only have one pie to give out. And that's exactly correct, exactly. And you could be looking at two people and thinking, these people, and thinking, These people both did an exemplary job this year, but I'm going to give one of them less money than the other one, yes. And those people know that's how that happens. And so listen those those meetings where at the end somebody just dings somebody else. You're like, what was that for? And you're like, oh, they just wanted to put it out there. They're just laying bread crumbs around. Then the people who are good at it, you don't even see it happening.
Alex 47:26
Oh, I now have people who are really high up at really big convert like companies that I, you know, worked with earlier on in my career, that I'm like, that was the to your exactly what you just said. That was the guy who just sort of always added something at the end of the meeting that was a very general statement that didn't really mean anything, but sounded a little bit insightful. And that's the guy who is now the CMO of a major restaurant company that, like I was peers with, you know. And it happens all the time, all the time you
Scott Benner 48:00
realize five years into something, you've been manipulated by somebody for for years, and you didn't know about it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you've seen that happen, right? People do work, someone else takes credit for it, and then they move up on your ass, and then you're back there, and then the last thing they do when they go out the door is discredit you, because they don't want anybody to know
Alex 48:17
what happened. It's a rough, I don't know. Corporate America is a rough it's a rough place sometimes. And I want to, I always want to believe that people want to do good and want to be, you know, want like, that's not their intention, but it happens. Yeah, no, there's
Scott Benner 48:32
a lot of lovely people. But, you know, you don't, I don't know, but all my point is, is you don't know which one's which on day one, week, one month, one, going in the door saying things like, hey, my pancreas doesn't work and I might pass out, and if I need help, could you, like, you just you're putting yourself at a disadvantage. And at the same time, you need people need to know that for your own personal safety. So right tough line to walk as well.
Alex 48:54
The other thing I have to do presentations somewhat sometimes somewhat regularly. I guess I used to do a lot more where I was, like, presenting to really large groups, and that is very nerve I mean, I'm not afraid to talk in front of people, but like, it's nerve wracking if your blood sugar is low and you're like, up, you know. So that's another one that I really try to really pay attention and like, those are the moments where I really am focusing on my diabetes, if I have to present something, and I'm checking and I'm making sure I'm fresh for it. But it's happened several times where I'm, I mean, even small meetings where I'm going in and I'm maybe meeting some new clients, and I'm really trying to, like, be impressive, and I'm, like, sweating, you know, and my blood sugar is so low, and like, in those situations, I just have come out and just said, like, I'm meeting you for the first time, and I am a type one diabetic, and my blood sugar is low, and I'm gonna need five minutes. And it's a like, you always get this like, shocked look on their face, you know, because they're like, Oh, are you okay or whatever. But I do feel like I've had positive experiences of. Out of that, if I'm again, just sort of vulnerable, I'll call it vulnerable or truthful about the situation. It humanizes you a little bit. So like those meetings, where are, it's an important meeting, and I had to pause before I started the meeting. They ended up being good meetings because people almost people at ease a little bit so that's a sort of a different experience, Alex, because
Scott Benner 50:23
everyone's hiding something, right? Yeah, and so you let your thing out, and they were like, oh my god, I probably literally someone sitting there thinking, I have Crohn's, I hope I don't myself during this thing. Yeah. Everyone's got something going on. There's somebody sitting there who is thinking, I think my husband's cheating on me, and there's someone sitting there who's thinking, I can't pay for my car, like everyone has something going on. And when you give away your thing, you're like, Hey, I got a thing too. Everybody's like, Oh, good. We're not all trying to be perfect here.
Alex 50:53
That's a that's a good way to think about it. I've really, actually, a
Scott Benner 50:57
lot of people are pretending is what I'm saying. Yes, yeah, yeah. That's why. When, whenever I meet a new client, my wife will remind me, before I go up to the meeting, she'll go, don't curse. I'm like, what? She goes, You have no ability not to be yourself. She's like, Don't curse. You're meeting them for the first time. And I said, I'm like, okay, but I don't know Alex. Like, it happens I'm not good at that. I'm not a professional person like I'm just not. But I think also, and you'd have to pull the people who work with me, but I think, generally speaking, the companies that work with me, those people like working with me, because there's no pretense. They I'm not lying to them, and they know it. And so it things go easier.
Alex 51:38
You're the you're the creative, you're the talent. So you should have a little bit of edge to you. Is that what
Scott Benner 51:43
I should have? Because I say meeting, sometimes people are like, you
Alex 51:47
know, like the creatives I used to work with at the, especially at the ad agency, you know, some of we had to, we always had to, like, sort of pick and choose, because we did have some more conservative clients every now and then that would get very offended by all language, but, but, but, that was, again, that was sort of part of our pre, oh, where the We're the cool ad agency coming in to present you some really cool ideas that are going to break through, you know? So we would put sometimes people more raw, yeah, raw people. If you're trying to sell something that was a little bit more edgy. I can
Scott Benner 52:16
act my age. What I always think is, if we're going to be working together, I feel like you should know, like, this is me, and this is what's gonna happen when you have a meeting with me on a Tuesday at 10 o'clock. This is how I'm gonna be. And if that's good with you, then that's great, because the worst thing could happen is that I slip up during a meeting and I'm, you know, I say something that I would say, they get offended, and we're in the middle of a contract together, or something like that. So I'm just like, look, this is who I am, and by the way, everyone's okay with it. Yeah, I've never had one person be like, No, forget it. I was meeting a potential client one time, and we were talking, and we're face to face, but over camera, and I stopped myself. I said, oh geez. I got so excited I almost cursed. And she goes, she just says, I live in New York. You can curse if you want. And I went, Well, I'm not going to be the first. To be the first one to do it. And she goes, you say, whatever the you want. I was like, here we go again. We had this great conversation where, by the way, no one cursed after that. Super, super interesting. So, I mean, I don't know, I'm just not a My wife always tells me, she's like, if you had a job where I worked, you would get fired in 30 days. And I always respond, I go, I think I'd be the favorite person. So she's like, Yeah, we'll sing. And I'm like, All right, it's a lot about how you manage your diabetes at work, which is incredibly helpful. How do you manage it with your husband? I mean, you guys were trapped together, so he must know every ounce about diabetes. Is that right or no? To
Alex 53:36
think so. I hope so, especially during well, he, he actually, like, joined the call when I got on with the Omnipod rep, when I first got my my Omnipod to help get trained on it, because I wanted him to know about it all. So that was something I talked about in my our, our first episode, was that the one of the reasons I knew he was the one was he was so actively wanting to understand my diabetes, and he was, you know, became like my follow person was following my my Dexcom, when we first were, you know, became boyfriend girlfriend. He wanted to follow it and see my diabetes too, which is a level of intimacy that most people without diabetes would never know. And it's a really cool experience to be able to establish intimacy with a partner, because they know exactly what's going on at you know, we're now in our almost fifth year of marriage, like he pays attention a bit less. You know, he still has it on his phone. But I didn't know how the in the in the hospital. I didn't I've heard, like, all kinds of stories about letting the nurses manage your diabetes, which I'll talk about in a second, because it was, it was an interesting process, but I wanted to make sure he knew exactly what to do if they had any issues. So he knows how to you know, he knows what I do and he knows how to manage it. My son, three and a half, also knows everything about my diabetes, which is very cute and very fun. Um. He loves helping me change my Omnipod we've got. We bought all kinds of books for him about, you know, it's one of them's called mommy. Beeps like, which is a great little children spoke up exactly about your mom having diabetes. And so we wanted him to understand that what's, what's going on in my body. And I tell him, I use, you know, full words, this is my this is the insulin. And, you know, this is the my pod. And you know, I'm my blood sugar is low. Like, we explain everything exactly as it is, so he understands what's going on, which is really cool, too.
Scott Benner 55:30
That's awesome. That's a great idea. And I take your point to the longer you're married, the more you just sort of like, it's interesting. I find been married a very long time, and there are things that I've just like when I when we were younger, I've been like, there's something I'm very interested in. I'd like to share it with her, and she's not interested in it. Like, she just doesn't have any interest in and vice versa. They're things that my wife loves, that I'm like, I don't, I don't care about this, like, at all. Like, I care about you and everything, but not this. And it felt weird when we were younger, but as we got older, I was like, It's okay if I go do this thing by myself. Yeah, she doesn't need to be drugged through this. I'm having a great time looking at her being like, she does not want to do this. And vice vice versa, although I still get taken to movies I don't want to go to. But that, I think, is a boyfriend thing, which I have to do. I'm just like, who is Ryan Gosling? Why are we here? But I think it's healthy to some degree, 100%
Alex 56:22
I think, yes, I this is our by the way, my husband and I are both on our second marriage. We both were married before, and that is a lesson I learned. You know about you should have lines in the sand and maintain this human that was formed before I met my husband, like I have to have things that are just my, just my own. I don't consider, I think my diabetes is a is a family, a family affair in general, because everybody needs to be aware of what's going on in our household. I wish he so. I do say this. I wish he
Scott Benner 56:54
was not doing Alex well. I do wish sometimes
Alex 56:58
I get very over stimulated, you know, especially if my blood sugar is is either is high and I get very, you know, like, ornery about things. And I do wish sometimes, like, instead of him getting up, you know, he's every right to get upset if I'm being ornery. So I'm not saying that he's being every right, but I do sometimes he's just like, let me check her blood sugar. Maybe I just need to give her 20 minutes and come back to this. You know, that would be really helpful, but that's I'm that's a little over ambitious. I think I agree
Scott Benner 57:28
with you, like, it's weird to say, it's weird to say that, basically, your your husband should be like, you test your blood sugar, and if you're not high, we can have this argument. And, you know, like, but I agree with you, like you're having, it sucks, but you're having a medical situation, yeah. And then in the middle of that, you're talking like you're being your best selves, which is not true, yeah, yeah. And it's a knowable thing, which, by the way, I think this happens to people throughout their days constantly. I think people's blood sugars, people don't have diabetes, can have lower blood sugars, higher blood sugars, and it changes who they are. You could have lack of sleep different my daughter and I just got done speaking this weekend about before I understood that my iron was getting low, and, you know, like this moment that sent me to the doctor originally, is like we were in our car sitting at a traffic light, and I don't remember what was happening, but it was something about the radio, and I had a reaction, as If everyone in the car was trying to murder me with the radio and like I was yelling and just out of my mind. And my wife was like, what's wrong? And then, you know, it's funny, when she said it, I looked at her, in the 30 some years I've known her, and I was like, this one just once, like I had a weird reaction to the fact that she was wondering what the hell was going on to me. And then it was hearing my daughter's voice from the back seat. She's like, Dad, you're acting weird. And I was like, okay, like, I told Arden. I was like, that, you really saved me. Because I was like, Oh, I'm something's not okay. I don't know what it is. And then we went to the doctor, found out, you know, brought my iron back up, but my iron would also drift back down again. So boring enough that doesn't happen to me anymore because I use a GLP medication. I think because my I think because my inflammation is less and because my my digestion is slower, I'm now picking up my nutrients easier. That's super interesting. Oh, it's crazy. My iron has not gotten low since I've been on a GLP medication, almost. It's a year
Alex 59:17
and a half. Now, these geo I mean, I'm not on one, but these glps, yeah, I can't wait to see what else happens. I know. I mean, people are getting pregnant when they couldn't get pregnant. I mean, there's just a lot of interesting stuff with it. I mean,
Scott Benner 59:29
if I grow a cape and fly away one day, I'm gonna be like, I know that was that, that Manjaro, or whatever the hell I'm taking no seriously. I there's a lot that happens for people, especially people with autoimmune issues, when you bring down their inflammation and like, so what else is going on? Who knows? You hear people talking about, like, my wrists don't hurt anymore. Like, a lot of my joint pain is gone, like, you know, and not people who lost a bunch of weight and then lost their joint pain. So anyway, not the point. The point is, is that I was ebbing and flowing, and I can look back on. It now and tell you that from a third party perspective, I was being an asshole, but I wasn't being an asshole. I just like my body wasn't working correctly, like my brain wasn't functioning right. And but it doesn't stop your spouse or your children or whoever you're talking to, they're still evaluating you as a person, not as a person with a medical issue, yeah, yeah. And so that's what you're talking about. Like, let's not evaluate me while my blood sugar's 280 and I feel cloudy and I'm easily riled up. For example, Yep, yeah. But how do you do that in the moment?
Alex 1:00:36
Don't Yeah? You just try to, you know, maybe you're revisiting it later on, and
Scott Benner 1:00:42
it still doesn't matter, though, Alex, like, it's still it sticks to you after it happens, like every one of those moments. And that's, that's an example of an unfair thing that type one is going to do to somebody's life. It's
Alex 1:00:54
probably, I'm minimizing it, but it is probably one of the things I get the most frustrated about. Is sometimes I, especially I don't, I feel like I need to go back to the doctor, but, but this is also just a life thing. But, like, I get as a mom, I get very over stimulated by sounds, and I didn't, it's something I didn't use to happen before I had my son. But if, like, the TV's on and he's trying to talk to me, maybe my husband comes in and talks to me, and then you add a blood sugar element, it feels like someone's murdering me, like I feel like I'm dying on the inside, and it I get very overwhelmed very quickly and then, but you know, it would be solved if someone was just like, maybe we should check mom's blood sugar and see if she's okay.
Scott Benner 1:01:38
Yeah. Well, there's a lot that goes into people talking about mom guilt, and it's interesting, because you felt it pregnant. That was because you mentioned that earlier, right? Like, oh yeah, your blood sugar was higher before you were pregnant. You're like, I don't do a very good job of taking on it. I'll figure it out. And like, and then it happens, you're like, I'm murdering the baby. And like, so, like, That's mom guilt, right? But there's also this thing that happens, if my wife is any indication, if there is a, like, a maternal spidey sense that exists for women, you have a baby, and it gets ratcheted up to, like, a million, that's exactly correct, yeah. Like, something bangs. What's wrong are the kids alive? Like, right? Like, yeah, it's
Alex 1:02:15
the thing I was not expecting the most. And it like, I thought it would last for, like, you know, a couple months? No, no, it never goes away. Oh,
Scott Benner 1:02:23
it's gonna torture you right to the end. Arden's alarm goes off at 2am Kelly's like, what's going on? What's wrong is hard and okay, I'm like, holy, the thing beep. Hold on, a second. Like, it's not set it. It's not set at 40, like, we have a minute, that kind of thing. And then I go to sleep, and I open my eyes back. I'm like, are you awake? She's Yeah, my adrenaline's, like, pumping now. I'm like from a 70 blood sugar. I actually took her phone from her the other day, and I took away her high alarm on Arden's Dexcom follow. I was like, you don't actually help her with this anyway. There's no reason for this thing to be beaming in your ear when she goes over 130 I think it's gonna make her a healthier person, shutting it off, actually. But yeah, she has that mom that also, by the way, she's a terrific mom. Harden, had a problem at school the other day. She sat on a FaceTime call with Arden for five hours the other day, wow, and talked her through things. They tried ideas. They did all stuff. They sat quiet maybe for 90 minutes together while they were working each one. And I was like, I knocked up the right lady, like, she is really a good mom. But I also don't know if she's a good mom or if she's just being motivated by chemicals to change their body I have no idea. But maybe that's what that is, even, who knows. You know, I
Alex 1:03:31
think it's the way we've evolved. You know, I when I that's another thing. When I had my son, I was like, there's things that I now want to do, and like, I'm wanting to do this, because this is the way that we evolved, because the caveman, you know, our cave ladies, like, were afraid that a tiger was going to come get their baby. And so this is why I have anxiety that my son, you know, or my son's going to stop breathing all of a sudden for for no reason. Yeah. Um,
Scott Benner 1:03:57
that sucks. Yeah, yeah. I don't want to be a lady for a number of reasons. Also, bras are very expensive. That seems like another reason. I don't want to do it. What happened to Kelly, and what happened to you, and what happens to a lot of people when they have kids like it does seem unfair, honestly. I mean, let's be honest. Are you in a dangerous situation where you live? No, no, your kids fine. Everything's fine. Everything's fine. At all times you're acting like you're the you know, you're at the 28th parallel in the middle of the Vietnam the Vietnam War, like this kid is not going to be okay. Like, you know, he's alright. Now I don't know how to get rid of that. That sucks. Do you ever think, can you look back? Did you see any anxiety before the baby?
Alex 1:04:34
I mean, I had, everybody hates anxiety. I would say that my anxiety was normal and but I definitely had postpartum anxiety, where I was getting so overwhelmed by, like, unstacking the dishwasher. I had that for probably, you know, six, six months or so after he was born, where I would just get very overwhelmed by small things, which is, you know, a lot of people have wasn't hormonal.
Scott Benner 1:04:58
Do you think? As well? Did you could you notice it like ebbing and flowing at all? Or no, it's
Alex 1:05:02
just really intense, for sure. And actually, until you know what it was, until I went, this is the opposite of probably what everybody else says, until I went back to work, I think I'm just so used. I'm a really high performer at work, and I'm so used to having a lot of asks and demands and balancing, like a lot of plates at the same time, and I think only focusing on the child, which, while wonderful and good for I'm so lucky that I had three and a half months, but mentally, I don't know how great that was, because I think I just was focusing on, like, making really big deals of small stuff. So until I went back to work, then I started to, like, realize that, like, un the dishwasher does not have to happen this moment in time. Like, I can actually just, like, do something else,
Scott Benner 1:05:50
yeah, right, and your energy is taken up a little more, so it's spread out a little better. I
Alex 1:05:54
think that is a completely me thing, though, like most, most women you know, are begging to have that much time off of work and and I was happy to have it. So I don't want to sound ungrateful, I was so happy to have it, but the mental aspect of just and it was also during COVID, so that probably something to do. You also, you like having things to do. And you like I had mental stimulation, like I had, you know, very, very little mental stimulation other than, like I would watch below deck while I was breastfeeding, and I was exclusively breastfeeding, and I was breastfeeding all the time, like always, so that probably had a lot to do with it. And yes, it was definitely hormonal, but it was like, I need something. I need somebody to ask me a hard question, and me to strategically be able to figure it out, like I was really yearning for something like that. Yeah,
Scott Benner 1:06:39
some problem solving. We also might have to call your episode below deck. But that's neither here nor there. It's just another thing to track. Like, guys who pay attention to like, I pay attention to my wife, okay? Like, I know, like, she doesn't like it. She hates that I know about her. Like, I don't know if that makes sense or not, but like, there's a day it used to happen when I was younger. I couldn't stop. Like, I'd say it out loud, I don't do it anymore, but I would say, like, why are you being so nice today? And then I'd go, Oh, wait. I'm like, Oh, hey, heads up, you're gonna get your period in 48 hours. And, you know? And she's like, No, you don't know me. No, I'm not blah blah. Two days later, it happens she she was pissed that I could tell, but I realize now, in hindsight, what she's mad about is that feeling that you are not being the person you mean to be. You're being a version of yourself based on, you know, a hormone level, or how much you feel like, I don't know, protective of your kid, or like, you know, for me, like, what, where my iron was like, I now know that feeling of like, No, I am me, damn it. And people around you are like, not really, not today. You know, it's, it's, it kind of sucks. It's being human. But yeah, yeah, I take your point. It would be nice if there was like a warning light, like there were people could go, Oh, I'm not gonna bring this up now, because her blood sugar is unfairly high at this moment, or low or something. But yes, yeah, agreed anything we haven't talked about that we should have. I have too good of a time talking to you. I'm realizing, and I have my calls in like 10 minutes, so Oh
Alex 1:08:12
no, I think we got everything I really wanted just to kind of share my perspective on on corporate America and managing diabetes, and the way you talk about it, you know, at work, and being cautiously open about it, I guess, is the way I take it. And I'm curious just what other people do, you know? I think it would be interesting, because I know you've had a lot of guests that, you know they like. I feel like most of your guests like work in, you know, they're nurses, or like, you know, I don't know they're working in, like, the medical field, or they don't. They don't do what I do, like, I guess, like, they don't work in, like, corporate marketing, where your perception of your of yourself means a lot, you know, and you're trying to dazzle clients, and you're trying to be this, this hero in the room while you're managing diabetes. And it's, it's an interesting dynamic. I've just always felt like, of like, how do I bring this up, and how do I address this? And like, you're sort of, you know, always trying to be strategic, business wise about it.
Scott Benner 1:09:11
Have you ever been in charge of selling something that's just a stinker? It's garbage. And you have to tell the person like, look, it's this isn't what we're doing. Like, this thing just sucks. Yes, I
Alex 1:09:21
project I was, we get a lot of those. Like, when I was working at the ad agency, and I was working on, I was completely dedicated to a very large brand for a very long time, and they were so this was just sort of this, like answer. They had this, like, was called, like, red labs, you know. And it was sort of this, like, we're, we're going to be a startup within this big company, and they came out with a It was basically a service that you would someone would pay for, which I would never pay for this to help, like your aging parents, organize their medical appointments on an Amazon Alexa, but it was basically just like an app. And I was like, There's got to be a free. Version of this. Like, why would somebody pay for this to organize their medical appointments? It was not something I felt like there was a whole lot of value to but they felt like, you know, they wanted to work with Amazon and whatever we had to basically, yeah, do basically a, you know, a SWOT analysis of student strengths, weaknesses, opportunities. I forgot what the T is. But anyway, I Swa, SWOT analysis on, you know, how we would talk about this product, or what's the what's the consumer benefit, and basically show them that there was no value to a consumer that we could justly talk about. And it took weeks to, like put this presentation together and like reviews, because we didn't want to offend anybody, and I don't really think, I don't think they took our advice even with it. I think somebody at the top just squashed the whole thing eventually, but, and
Scott Benner 1:10:49
that thing did not fly away and do great. No, it like, well, I just,
Alex 1:10:53
I think it's squashed before they even rolled it out. But, and God knows how many weeks or months, you know, had been put into this project to begin with. Unfortunately, the key is threats, by the way. Oh, there you go. Threats. That's what it was. Thank you. Well,
Scott Benner 1:11:07
no, I really appreciate your time. Are you able to hold on for a moment? Yeah, okay, cool. Thank you for doing this again. I appreciate it. Of course,
Dexcom sponsored this episode of The Juicebox Podcast. Learn more about the Dexcom g7 at my link. Dexcom.com/juice box. Today's episode of the juice box podcast was sponsored by the new tandem Moby system and control iq plus technology. Learn more and get started today at tandem diabetes.com/juicebox check it out. Earlier you heard me talking about blue circle health, the free virtual type one diabetes care, education and support program for adults. And I know it sounds too good to be true, but I swear it's free thanks to funding from a big T 1d philanthropy group, blue circle health doesn't bill your insurance or charge you a cent. In other words, it's free. They can help you with things like carb counting, insurance navigation, diabetes technology, insulin adjustments, peer support, Prescription Assistance and much more. So if you're tired of waiting nine months to get in with your endo or your educator, you can get an appointment with their team within one to two weeks, this program is showing what T 1d care can and should look like currently, if you live in Florida, Maine Vermont, New Hampshire, Ohio, Delaware, Missouri, Alabama or Mississippi, if you live in one of those states, go to blue circle health.org to sign up today. The link is in the show notes, and please help me to spread the word blue circle health had to buy an ad because people don't believe that it's free, but it is. They're trying to give you free care if you live in Florida, Maine, Vermont, Ohio, Delaware, Alabama and Missouri. It's ready to go right now. And like I said, they're adding states so quickly in 2025 that you want to follow them on social media at Blue circle health, and you can also keep checking bluecirclehealth.org to see when your free care is available to you. Hey, thanks for listening all the way to the end. I really appreciate your loyalty and listenership. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast, the diabetes variables series from the Juicebox Podcast goes over all the little things that affect your diabetes that you might not think about, travel and exercise to hydration and even trampolines. Juicebox podcast.com go up in the menu and click on diabetes variables. The episode you just heard was professionally edited by wrong way. Recording, wrong way recording.com, you.
Scott Benner 0:00
Welcome back, friends. You are listening to the Juicebox Podcast.
Alex 0:14
Hi, I am Alex. I am 42 years old. Can't believe that I'm saying that. And I live in Dallas, Texas, I feel like I'm 30. I think I probably will always feel like I'm 30.
Scott Benner 0:26
Nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan. I know this is gonna sound crazy, but blue circle health is a non profit that's offering a totally free virtual type one diabetes clinical care, education and support program for adults 18 and up. You heard me right, free. No strings attached, just free. Currently, if you live in Florida, Maine Vermont, New Hampshire, Ohio, Delaware, Missouri, Alabama or Mississippi. You're eligible for blue circle health right now, but they are adding states quickly in 2025 so make sure to follow them at Blue circle health on social media and make yourself familiar with blue circle health.org. Blue circle health is free. It is without cost. There are no strings attached. I am not hiding anything from you. Blue circle, health.org, you know why they had to buy an ad. No one believes it's free. The episode you're about to enjoy was brought to you by Dexcom, the Dexcom g7 the same CGM that my daughter wears. You can learn more and get started today at my link, dexcom.com/juicebox, this episode is sponsored by the tandem Moby system, which is powered by tandems newest algorithm control iq plus technology. Tandem mobi has a predictive algorithm that helps prevent highs and lows, and is now available for ages two and up. Learn more and get started today at tandem diabetes.com/juicebox
Alex 2:05
Hi, I am Alex. I am 42 years old. Can't believe I'm saying that. And I live in Dallas, Texas. Why can't you believe you're 42 I feel like I'm 30. I think I will always feel like I'm 30.
Scott Benner 2:18
I'm looking here because you said it was okay. We if we talked about it. You were on the podcast in the past.
Alex 2:24
Yes, I was on the podcast about four years ago, and it was a very cool moment, because I was on an after dark episode talking about mostly relationships, but sex and relationships from a female perspective. And when I was on I was dating my now husband, and so it's a really cool time capsule, capsule to go back and listen to it, because, you know, it was right before COVID, like a couple of weeks before COVID, is when we we recorded it right after we reported it. My husband and I quarantined together for, you know, we were living in Chicago, so, you know, I don't know. We ended up very quickly, getting engaged, getting pregnant, getting married, and doing all those things. And so to listen to the podcast now, you know, it's such a gift, because I was in such a different state, and then the state of the world was so different. Then too, I was dating and relationships, and then I was dating my husband, and, you know, now we're married and have this beautiful a beautiful son and beautiful life together. So
Scott Benner 3:24
cool. I sometimes think that the like, if I can figure out when the last year of my life is, I'm gonna go back and just listen to the podcast straight through. Yeah, might become the easiest way for me to remember things. It would take you a while for sure. So Well, yeah, you were on Episode 319, and yeah, this morning, I put up episode 1344,
Alex 3:47
so a life that happened in there? Yeah? Well,
Scott Benner 3:49
it's just a ton of conversations, but it's funny. The um, the description of your episode, it says, Alex discusses with clear and frank language, having sex with type one diabetes, not for children. That's correct. Yeah, funny. I don't remember it at all. I might have to put it on my short To Do List of going back and listening to most of
Alex 4:07
my family doesn't even know I did that. So now you know, now everybody will know. Coming up now, yeah, it was a different it was definitely a different lifetime ago.
Scott Benner 4:15
It's interesting. It's short, short time, but feels like a long time. Yep, yeah, how about that? So when you're trapped in a box with somebody for a year and nobody murders each other, you figure, might as well get married.
Alex 4:26
Yeah, it was. Our relationship was kind of a definitely, like lots of you know, everything was expedited, I would just say, so we were, you know, quarantined in Chicago. We lived in on this in the South Loop at the time. So a lot of the George Floyd stuff was happening at the same time, and it was just a, it was a, truly a pressure box, because we, you know, we lived about a block away from a police station. There was so much happening just in the city, around around in that moment. And we, we kind of just went through a lot emotionally, I think, together. And definitely everything was expedited. We got engaged pretty quickly. We were only together. I mean, we were dating, not even maybe six months. And then we decided to get pregnant, kind of all at the same time, and then we got married. And but it was, you know, it's been, it was a magical experience. I would, I actually wouldn't trade that quarantine experience for anything in the world. It was a really cool that's interesting. That's what I had.
Scott Benner 5:24
Yeah, it's also, it's also really interesting to hear that you met somebody you liked them enough that when the quarantine happened, you were like, I guess we'll do this together, because if we don't like we lose this thing. We're starting to build right? It
Alex 5:36
was the perfect we had been together for three months, and I feel like that's like the make or break it time in most relationships, it's like, are you gonna commit or are you gonna not commit? And we were just all in at that point. So, like I said, it's fun to go back and listen to what you sound like when you were dating your husband or your spouse for you know, at that kind of mark. Yeah,
Scott Benner 5:58
it was a cool experience. Cool. So tell people one more time you have type one,
Alex 6:01
I have type one. I've been a type one diabetic, or person with diabetes, I should say, since I was 26 and I'm 42 now, 3640
Scott Benner 6:10
okay, I don't want to get off the subject too quickly, but I always do wonder, like, when you say I've been a type one diabetic, and you realize, like, oh, I don't want to say that I'm a diabetic. Like, is that a thing that you care about personally, or a thing that you think other people care about? Using that word?
Alex 6:24
I think other people care about it more than I do, probably, but I definitely don't feel like diabetes defines my life in any way, and especially, you know, I wanted to talk about kind of diabetes and working in corporate America and career wise, and that kind of thing. You never I've never, you know, felt like I wanted to be perceived as different in any way. No,
Scott Benner 6:46
I heard I just didn't know. Like, some people find the word off putting, and I'm not. I've heard my daughter use it not use it, like, you know what I mean? Like she actually thinks she probably says I'm diabetic more than I have type one diabetes. I don't think it matters. It just matters, you know, to the person it matters to. You know
Alex 7:05
what I think about when I say I'm diabetic is, like, what was that guy's name? Wilford Brimley, who used to do the commercials the you've got diabetes? Yes, that's what I think about. When I say, like, Oh, I'm diabetic. Like, an old person. I don't know why. I have no idea why. Interesting.
Scott Benner 7:21
Just somebody from the South who said diabetes, yeah, yeah. Actually, I'll tell you. Today's episode I told you went up, is with this doctor that I've had on a number of times. He's awesome, like, really great, knowledgeable guy, but he's from Texas, and he says diabetes. I learned to, like, listen through it when he says it, because at first I had the same thing. I was like, Oh my God, this sounds like the wolf or Brimley thing. But then I just sort I just sort of let it go, because this information is and the way he thinks about it is, is so good. Can I ask, like, professional like, can we, like, I don't want to exactly say what you do, obviously, but like, can you give me the idea of the industry or the kind of work? This episode is sponsored by tandem Diabetes Care, and today I'm going to tell you about tandems, newest pump and algorithm, the tandem mobi system with control iq plus technology features auto Bolus, which can cover missed meal boluses and help prevent hyperglycemia. It has a dedicated sleep activity setting and is controlled from your personal iPhone. Tandem will help you to check your benefits today through my link, tandem diabetes.com/juicebox, this is going to help you to get started with tandem, smallest pump yet that's powered by its best algorithm ever control IQ. Plus technology helps to keep blood sugars in range by predicting glucose levels 30 minutes ahead, and it adjusts insulin accordingly. You can wear the tandem Moby in a number of ways. Wear it on body with a patch like adhesive sleeve that is sold separately. Clip it discreetly to your clothing or slip it into your pocket head. Now to my link, tandem diabetes.com/juicebox, to check out your benefits and get started today, you can manage diabetes confidently with the powerfully simple Dexcom g7 dexcom.com/juicebox the Dexcom g7 is the CGM that my daughter is wearing. The g7 is a simple CGM system that delivers real time glucose numbers to your smartphone or smart watch. The g7 is made for all types of diabetes, type one and type two, but also people experiencing gestational diabetes. The Dexcom g7 can help you spend more time in range, which is proven to lower a 1c The more time you spend in range, the better and healthier you feel. And with the Dexcom clarity app, you can track your glucose trends, and the app will also provide you with a projected a 1c in as little as two weeks. If you're looking for clarity around your diabetes, you're looking for Dexcom. Dexcom.com/juicebox when you use my link, you're supporting the podcast. Dexcom.com/ Juicebox. Head over there now,
Alex 10:03
totally, yeah, I'm a marketer. I've been a marketer my whole career. I'm 42 so I would say the point in my career I'm at right now, which has sort of taken an interesting path lately. But, you know, it's, it's kind of that director, senior, Director, VP, type of level of marketing is what I've been doing the last couple of years. And I worked in advertising for a great majority of my career. I worked for an ad agency, worked on very large brands, large insurance brand, everybody knows the commercials are on the TV constantly, large tech brand that you probably take to and from places, you know, I've worked on these really big brands, and mostly in non tangible products, I would say is what I've specialized in, so services and for large brands. And right now I work for I had a career shift about a year ago, actually, which was a pretty, pretty big shock to the system. I had been hired away from the ad agency, from another, again, a large, large brand, worked in global marketing. For them, was working with people all over the world. It was a retail brand, and retail is not doing well, and so I was hired and then let go within like, seven months of working there. So I switched, which was a huge shock to the system, because I'm a very high performer, and I was hired away from the company, etc, but that's it ended up being, which, I think everybody says this after they get laid off. It ended up being the best thing in the entire world for my career. I now work for a small insurance startup. I would say is the best. It's tech startup, and I work, I lead their brand marketing right now. So all really been been in the deep of the corporate to now more of a smaller startup, entrepreneurial type of experience, which I actually much prefer. Had no idea how frustrated I was in corporate America until I got a job with startup where I could kind of just do what I think needs to be done, and they sort of let me just do it, which is great. It's interesting.
Scott Benner 12:02
Like, I don't think of myself as a marketer. I mean, there's no doubt, like, I have, like, a dual purpose, right? Like, I make a podcast, you guys can listen to it, and the only way I can put my whole effort into it is if people buy ads on it. And so it has to be popular. And at the same time, like, a lot of my day is often spent, like, no lie, you and I are gonna get off this call and I'm gonna jump right on a call. Right on a call with one of the advertisers. And so they have desires, too. You know what? I mean? They have things that they need and they want, and it's, you know, they want the ads to sound a certain way. They want me to read them. They want them to be on episode. You know, they have, you know, this one's not working as well as that one is, like, that kind of stuff. The part about it, what you made me just think about is that sometimes I just work with a person, you know what I mean, and sometimes I work with like, sometimes people come on calls, and I think, why are there so many of you here? Oh, for sure, yeah. Like, I'm like, those four haven't said anything. They're not even taking notes. Like, like, I don't know what's happening. Exactly like, you try to, like, address them, and they look off camera, like Someone save me. I don't know what to say, and those are the ones that often seem the most mired down. People will ask me all the time, like, how is the podcast so successful? I mean, because I've been it's been going for a decade, like, the truth is, is, like, I say this all the time, but like, one of the things I think I should be most proud of is longevity, turning out a quality thing over and over again for years and years without people, you know, in this day and age, getting sick of you and walking away or like that. You're not, you know, not being able to continue to grow that kind of stuff. I think I'm mostly successful because I can pivot, like I can start something and say I don't like how that went, or that didn't do what I thought it was going to do, or I shouldn't have done that series, and just, you know, go right to something else, and no one stops me or has 1000 questions. It's not like I'm shutting down someone's gig if I turn something off. I think that flexibility is incredibly important.
Alex 13:52
Yeah, it's the iteration. And I think corporate America in general thinks they do this. And, like, I've been part of plenty of like all day seminars around at, you know, what's called agile marketing and continuous um improvement and working in sprints so that you're doing things faster and putting them out and testing and learning. Very few companies actually do it well, yeah, and I think you just have to be small and scrappy and not have a lot of head count in order to actually do that right? Because you cannot afford, if you're at a small company, to do to put something out that doesn't work. It's just, it's too important. Everything's too important. I
Scott Benner 14:30
think if you have a division with 10 people and a million dollars worth of salary going out the door, and those people are the ones telling you that we're flexible, you're not seeing the forest for the trees. They do that stuff all the time. Like, we'll build a we'll build a group around this idea. Oh, okay, now nothing's gonna happen. Yeah, yeah. So anyway, so that's awesome. So you it sucks that you got pulled away and then unceremoniously, like, Oh, but I guess what happened is you took the experience from the first place, which was six. Significant you went to this next place, which kind of probably changed your CV a little bit, and then that allowed you to look like a thought leader enough to go into a small place to run. The thing is that about what happened,
Alex 15:11
pretty much, I mean, it's my company. Now, I've never felt so appreciated. Honestly, it's, you know, they really like again, if you come with a lot of experience, and it's like, all of a sudden I woke up, and I'm 42 and I'm, I'm the one that people listen to. And I was like, I don't know how this happened. One day, it just sort of started to happen, but I started to actually know what I was doing, and people really listen. You know, which is, which is a cool experience, and people respect my opinion and advice and just let me kind of run with it, which is a completely different experience. When I was working in global marketing for the retail brand, I had all the same experience, and the company was not doing well, and it's like, you know, I go into meetings and I've got three ideas that I'm like, all of these things I think could be, you know, could improve this process. And they all get shut down because somebody in the sea level sort of smiles weird, you know, in the meeting it like it was, it was a little bit like that movie The Devil Wears Prada, like, where it was just nothing was strategically thought out, you know, more than just like, well, this person doesn't really like that, so I don't think we're going to do that. It was just very frustrating experience, you know, working in that type of environment, but that's that kind of is a lot of marketing, you know, at that level, that's
Scott Benner 16:28
just, it's what it is sometimes, right? Yeah, yeah, no, it's, it's an it's an interesting space. I often feel bad for the people, because they're graded like you're selling a thing, Oh, yeah. The way you talk about it is only going to take it so far. It so far. It still is what it is, you know. So, like, they're out there getting their ass handed to them by their boss because they're like, we're not hitting certain, you know, benchmarks, or the clicks aren't happening, or whatever. Or a lot of this stuff is medical stuff. Like, people don't really buy it online. They ask their doctor for it, yeah. So you're, you're busy tracking links and trying to measure clicks, and I don't know time on page and click through and all this. By the way, I hate all these words. I sit in these meetings. I'm like, Oh my God. Like, I can't say but I work with some people who like they buzz word the meeting so much I don't actually think they know what they're talking about.
Alex 17:16
Well, medical for sure, not to get this until a total marketing conversation, but medical, for sure, what you just said to me, the only strategy you should have for medical is brand awareness, because you want to be the first brand that you mentioned to your doctor. That should be the only goal. And I mean, this podcast does it? I use a Dexcom. I use an Omnipod because of this podcast, and it's the only thing that I remember, because it's the only thing I've heard about on this podcast. So when I went to my doctor, that those are the two things I asked about, and that's to me, in medical should really be the most important, like the click through rate and some of the lower funnel metrics. I'm speaking about something I don't really I'm not educated on.
Scott Benner 17:57
That's funny, though, because you said funnel, and I almost banged my head against the desk
Alex 18:02
marketing talk. But yeah, the I don't, you know, I don't know who goes through the internet and is just like, What? What insulin pump should I use? You know? No, you're, you've probably poured over it in forums and listen to it and talk to your doctor like it's, it's as a high touch experience that you probably already had, or a multiple touch, I should say, experience before you actually go to the doctor and ask for something like that. So anyway, that's my perspective on Pharma. I have no education there. So, yeah, no.
Scott Benner 18:33
I mean, I appreciate hearing about it from you, because you said earlier, like, I can't believe I'm the one people are listening to. Like, remember that I worked in a sheet metal shop, and then, you know, became debt collection, then I became a stay at home dad, and then I wrote a blog, and then I started a podcast. And now I'm a person where we sit in meetings, the people who have degrees look across at me and go, What do you think we should do? And I'm like,
Alex 18:58
because you're the talent, yeah, you're the creative, because you're the creative, though, and there's a lot of power in that. And you know, so don't cut. You didn't work on shoe metal. You were always a creative, is what I would think. Well,
Scott Benner 19:09
trust me, I appreciate that very much. But there is still that moment in the conversation where you're asking me, like, okay, is this what it's come to? All right, I'll tell you what I think. And then, you know, what's funny is that a lot of times I say what I think, and they go now, and then they come back a year later and want to do it. That's always a funny thing. I love it when that happens. Yeah,
Alex 19:27
that happens. There's just a lot, I mean, just corporate, there's just a lot of waste, and that's, you know, just sort of the way it goes and that. And just as I don't know, yeah,
Scott Benner 19:36
whatever, whatever the machine is, that's the machine. So I guess then let's just real quickly talk about how you manage your diabetes, because I want people to have a picture of what you're doing at work. So you just said you have a Dexcom and an Omnipod is an Omnipod five or dash. I
Alex 19:51
have an Omnipod five and I have a Dexcom g6 not the seven. I'm waiting for the app and all that stuff any day now, I guess. Yes, maybe it came out.
Scott Benner 20:00
I mean, as we're recording now, like, it has to be happening any any day, like, literally, yeah,
Alex 20:06
so, so, I mean, my endocrinologist, who, you know, has dust all over his office, like, I think I'll probably talk to him about it in a couple months, and maybe he'll have, you know, be able to get me on it at that point. But, but yes, that's what I've got. And when I last time I was on the podcast, I was I did MDI for really long time, and I was so scared of having devices on my body, and so that was part of my you know, the first podcast I was on was just talking about that, but now I'm very used to it. I got on the Omnipod when I was about to get pregnant, and thank goodness I did. There's absolutely no way I could have managed my pregnancy with an omnipotent every single woman that has diabetes that has had a baby needs a massive high five because it was one of it was, again, one of the most challenging things I've ever done in my entire life was managing my diabetes while
Speaker 1 20:53
I was pregnant. Really, really tough. Yeah. How? So tell people a little bit. So there's
Alex 20:57
a mental aspect to it, which I was not expecting. Which is, you constantly feel like you're hurting your child or hurting your baby if your blood sugar goes above 120 so the tightness of your numbers, that's what gender call. Endocrinologist talks to you about. But the mental aspect of it, you know, which right, wrong or indifferent. It's not necessarily true, is, you know you think that something is going to happen to the baby if your numbers are going above 120 so that tightness is really tough, because I really wasn't used to managing, like, my a one, Cs were always around. Not bad. But, like, 6.5 6.6 but like, you know you're you're really trying to get into, like, the high fives at that point.
Scott Benner 21:39
And a six. Six is some 180 some, 220, sometimes they stay up for a couple hours, that kind of thing, right? Yeah,
Alex 21:47
100% I would let it stay, you know, kind of lazy about it, yes. So getting, getting during pregnancy, you really have to maintain that layer in feeling nauseous all the time. And, you know, I sort of had this low level of knowledge at my entire pregnancy where you just sort of don't feel like eating all that much, and then you definitely only want to eat cereal, which was the thing that cereal, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and fruit was like,
Scott Benner 22:17
Baby, here comes the Lucky Charms. You're going to be
Alex 22:21
like, I've never eaten Lucky Charms. But it was like, you know, like, how do you bunches of boats? Like, you know, things like that, where you're like, really, like, there's absolutely no way to manage that and and be pregnant, and then, hold on.
Scott Benner 22:33
I'm always so interested where people want to make sure other people understand. Like, you're like, Listen, I've not eaten Lucky Charms. Just let's, yeah, I don't,
Alex 22:41
like, I actually don't want my a half year old eat cereal, period. The kid has
Scott Benner 22:46
problems later. You don't want them listening back to this and go, Oh, this is what happened. Those fake marshmallows got me Sorry. So you're nauseous and you only want to eat odd things that push up your blood sugar.
Alex 22:55
Yeah, so that. And then every single week I had, I went, I was, gosh, man, if you have to be die have diabetes, and live in Chicago, Northwestern, like the the women, you know, the diabetes Division I went to, like the special doctor, you know, women that are pregnant with diabetes, basically saw there, and it was like, very good care. And so I saw the special, like, special endocrinologist, or special diabetes educator. I should say that only met with type one moms like, that was there it was like, she was amazing, and I met with her every other week. And so we adjusted my insulin every other week. And so I was like, learning to use the pod and pregnant and like, I mean, just all of that, and then you have the baby, and then the breast feeding is like, then it's like, Okay, I'm gonna eat two full bagels and not take any insulin. Like it was just so different once you actually have that baby, wow, because your body's burning so many calories from from pumping or breastfeeding or whatever you're doing, yeah. So it was, it was just such a wild ride at being pregnant. And I know you've had several episodes about it, but I'm like, there are not like Jenny's book. Actually, I would highly recommend that to everybody. That was my saving grace that she wrote. And I didn't realize it was her who wrote it,
Scott Benner 24:09
but it's her and a woman named Ginger, they wrote it together. Very, very
Alex 24:13
helpful. I don't know how anybody's pregnant without that book, so it was very, very helpful. That
Scott Benner 24:18
awesome, that it was like, such a valuable thing for you. I'll make sure she knows. She'll be happy. Yeah, of course, baby comes out like insulin needs. Go back down again. Do you go back to 6568, or do you say, Well, I can do this. I'll keep doing it.
Alex 24:34
It changed my perspective on it, so it was more of a I can do this. I'm gonna keep doing it. It's probably slipped up a little bit since then. It's been three and a half years, but it completely changed my perspective on like, oh, I can do this if I just paid attention a little bit more. And I learned, I think through the Pro, through that process and through just losing your podcast too, I learned a lot more about how insulin works, basically with my body. So, yeah, that's great. The baby's held now. He's three, and. Half. His name is Vaughn. Vaughn. Oh,
Scott Benner 25:01
congratulations, lovely. Are we going to do it again? Or was that too much for one time? He
Alex 25:07
he was a one and done. And I've always wanted just one. I decided, you know, much like with things with my husband, like we're very happy with the way things are, like, I don't in my life right now, which is like, a wonderful thing to say. I don't want for anything. So I think, like adding a second child, like, there's no more happiness that I want or need. Like, I feel very fulfilled by like my husband and my child right now, which is great. Oh, it's interesting. Do you have pets? No, we had a we had a horrible cat that ran away.
Scott Benner 25:40
I'm sorry, did it run away? Or Did it run
Alex 25:42
away? It did? It did? It was like, sort of a cat that liked to go outside and then he just sort of didn't come back one day. And we're like, he loves
Scott Benner 25:49
it outside. It's awesome. Bye. Bye. I didn't think you had pets because that collecting mentality, like what you said about I'm I have as much happiness as I need, like, adding another person couldn't possibly give me more like, that feeling. And like, you know, like, all that, I think is awesome, yeah. But a lot of, not most people, but people who feel like, Oh, I got a, I don't know, I got a fish tank, and I set it up, and it's really cool when I put the fish in it that I want, that's really great for 321, I'm gonna get another fish tank. And, like, like that, that thing that people, I think, either have that or they don't. Okay, does that make sense? Yeah,
Alex 26:25
it does. I am. I'm more of a minimalist, just in general, like, we live below our means. We I don't like having extra things in the house, like 100% like, I just am very content with like, a certain amount of things. And that's it.
Scott Benner 26:38
You live below your means. Is it partially because you like that there's a little bit of money in the bank that you don't spend every month. Yeah, I
Alex 26:45
mean that that totally that allows us. We actually just bought a rental property, which we're turning into a short term rental, which is another part of, kind of like the story of, after I got laid off and working for this new company, I work with a lot of real estate investors, and I it kind of caught the bug. And so I'm so happy that we had money in the bank because it allowed me to do the things I want to do. And that, to me, that's like power, that's power, and that's real, that's real wealth is when you have the freedom of choice to do what you want to do with your life or your time or your money. And so, like, I always like having money in the bank to be able to do the things that are important to us when they become important to us. The way I try to think
Scott Benner 27:25
about it is, like, I don't imagine I'm gonna have, like, a pile so big that I'm Scrooge mcducking into it, you know what I mean? But like that there's a little more there than you need every month. Yeah, to think that if something goes wrong, like, I don't want to, like, be sound so basic. But if something goes wrong, you don't start running around going, like, oh God. Like, how do I lay my hands on $1,000 yeah, you know, I mean, like that, that kind of feeling. I mean, I'm trying so hard to tell my kids about this while they're young. Don't get into debt when you're young and just put money aside, even if it's a little bit, because you'll see, like, what a big difference it makes throughout your entire life, just not struggling and worrying is such a an uplifting thing. You know, there's a whole
Alex 28:06
and you probably made me know this, but there's a whole mentality called the Fire method, which is financial independence. Retire early, and it's, you know, it's a movement, basically, to take control, back to yourself and live below your means, save money, retire early, like we don't. You don't have to retire at 65 you can actually retire much earlier than that, if you have, you know, wealth, building assets like real estate or something else that is going to actually make you money that you invest. You have to sacrifice early. You sacrifice a lot, but Right? And I'm not, we're not. We don't subscribe to that whole thing, like, we, like, vacations and stuff like that. But my husband did, actually, right before I got laid off, my husband quit his job without another job, because we could, you know, because he hated his job and he could, which is, was, which was incredibly powerful, you know, and I never want to feel like I have to do something, you know, like, I, like, I am, you know, chain and we all have, we have bills, and obviously, that kind of thing we definitely do. But like, it's, it's incredibly motivating that, like, he was able to quit his job and he went and got his real estate license and was going to do that for a second, and then I lost my job, he ended up just getting another job. But anyway, that was nice. It was,
Scott Benner 29:19
that was nice that was nice, that you felt like you could do that, but now go back to work very quickly, right? Yeah,
Alex 29:25
that's kind of what happened. But it was okay, no, but
Scott Benner 29:28
I, I mean, your point about that, I think is really awesome because you can work. What you're telling me is that I can work in a more corporate situation, but I don't have to be a tied to my desk, person who's going to work till the like, literally, till my heart stops. Yes, yes,
Alex 29:43
exactly, and especially like. And just bringing you back to diabetes, like, I've been in situations in corporate jobs that I didn't feel comfortable, you know, and I didn't feel like, accepted or like, this was, like, a great environment for me. You. Know. You can either kick your legs and start screaming and trying to push back, you know, or you can leave, you know, or you can try to change it and make it work, you know. But like having all three of those choices, like, choices are a big deal to me. Like having choice about everything is really important to me, and being able to actively choose where I work, who I work for when I work, is incredibly important. It's probably because my mother, my mother is 80 years old. She is our nanny, and still has to work, you know, like she always was working, and always was working for companies that were probably underpaying her. And it really the amount I saw her work, and then I still, you know, I'm still seeing her work for us, which is wonderful and a gift, but, you know, it's, it's very motivating. I don't, I don't want to be like
Scott Benner 30:45
that. Yeah, yeah, no, that's awesome. Do people work under you? Are you managing people
Alex 30:50
currently? No, just because I work for the startup, but I always have had a pretty large team. You know, when I was at the ad agency, I had a team of, you know, seven or eight at one point, I had like, five when I was at the retail company. So always have managed people. I've always tried to be an empathetic leader, I guess, like there's nothing I would ask my team to do that I wouldn't be willing to do myself and try to put people first and try to understand what motivates them, which I think is a really, you know, it's, it's a motivating thing to work for a manager who wants to make sure you're motivated.
Scott Benner 31:25
Yeah, my wife is over the years, managed a few people to a lot of people, and no matter how big or small the group is, when she starts up with something, I watch her spend the first six months making sure that the people are empowered and happy and have tools to do their job. Yeah, and then she starts putting the pieces in place. Yep, people love working for my wife. Oh, that's awesome. It's interesting, because you like that about the small startup idea. And so I was wondering when you, were managing people if you were doing similar things. But I think that's how she gets how the apartments run. Well, they do a good job. People don't leave. You end up promoting people their lives get better. You know, you get cards at the holiday that's like, look, here's my family. I was able to do this because of you like, that kind of stuff. Like, I never would have moved up here without this. And I guess my point is, there's a way to do corporate and not make it horrible for people
Alex 32:28
totally. And I think, I think my diabetes has 100% humanized like me as a manager, and made me more empathetic to people's situations. Also, because you really don't know, like, nobody knows what's going on. And people love to, you know, the movies, I should say, love to portray, oh, you know, working, you know, it's just business. It's not personal, whatever. I don't believe that there's actually a book I read early on in my career. It's called, like, this is wrong, but, you know, it's always personal. And because you are managing people. So diabetes wise, I've always been very open with, you know, I wear my Dexcom or my OmniPods, like on my arms sometimes, so people see it. And I've always been very open about, you know, it with my team, a just from a safety perspective, of just like, hey, if you ever see, you know, you know something awry. I might be low
Scott Benner 33:24
talking about the colors on the floor. Could you help her? Yeah,
Alex 33:27
like, you know, I always, you know, this is where I keep candy in my desk. Like, I've always, I've always been very open about it in the in the corporate environment. And this is just my again, my perspective. I think a lot of people have different perspectives on this, and this is why I kind of wanted to come on the podcast. I just don't think just don't think people talk about, like, what they do at work as much, especially in a if you're working in a physical environment, like, if you're a nurse on your feet, like, that is a totally different ball game. So I'm not talking about that, but like you're just sitting at a desk, like day to day, most people probably wouldn't even know that you have diabetes. But I've been in jobs where, like, I've been in the role for months, actually, the role I'm in right now, most people probably don't know I work from home right now. So most people probably don't know that I've got diabetes. But whenever I do go in the office, which is every now and then, or if I go, I travel around to events quite a bit. Events have always been part of what I do. And so event work is very physical, and, you know, it always sort of surprises people, makes people continue, you know. Can sometimes makes people a little uncomfortable, because they don't really, if I am going low, they don't really know what that means if they're supposed to do something, you know. So there's just, like, a whole set of sort of these norms that there's no rule book for in corporate America other than just like the American was, you know, Americans with Disabilities Act you need to make sure that, and you don't want
Scott Benner 34:49
to be yelling about that on your first day of work, right?
Alex 34:51
Yeah, you're not doing that. But anyway, there's like to kind of finish that point like, I've always been very open with people about my diabetes, but. Not at first, I guess I should say so it's like, it's, I don't want to people to know me as somebody with diabetes, only they get to know me first as a manager or whatever, and then at some point I will tell them that, you know, hey, this is after a couple weeks or whatever it is. Like this, I've got diabetes, and this is what it is, and I keep candy here, and I may sometimes have to step out of a meeting because my blood sugar is low, right? And that's usually how I how I handle it.
Scott Benner 35:24
It's important too, because in the beginning, whether we know it or not, people are looking for reasons not to like you when they first meet you like Right? They're trying to make sure you're safe or good for this space or whatever, and you don't want to give them something that they don't understand, that they potentially could be frightened of on day one.
Alex 35:41
Yes, in corporate America, people, especially at my level, people are sniffing you out when they first meet you, especially when you start a first job. They don't know why you got that job. They want to know why you got the job over somebody else that maybe they met or interviewed, and they want to see what you're made of. Basically, yeah, so I don't, I'm very cautious about just coming out with a, you know, quickly when I start a new job, but I eventually, you know, after a few weeks, or whatever, you know, definitely share it and talk about it with people. And some people, people react differently to it. I had a client I worked with your this is years ago, and the the role was when I was at the ad agency, and I was doing a lot of event work then. So I was traveling to New York for the New York Auto Show, you're on the go. And at the time, I wasn't on a pump. I was doing MDI, and I don't even think I had a Dexcom actually. Then I think I still was pricking my finger. And I, of course, had to prick my finger in front of this client, or like a J, you know, adjacent to this client, like we would be together for three days straight, non stop working at this event. So, you know, she was made it very uncomfortable for me, because she made it very, very clear that she doesn't like needles, and she didn't want me, you know, doing my shots in front of her, and I she thought I should go to the bathroom and do that like it was so frustrating, because she's a client, so you're trying to cater to her needs and be nice about it, and be accommodating in some ways. But that wasn't working for me. You know, it especially when you're on the go and you just need to take care of something. It was very, very frustrating. And I ended up, I talked to my my manager at the time, and I was, like, earlier in my career at this point. So I talked to my manager about it. My manager asked me, like, what the big deal was about going to the bathroom and doing a shot or, you know, like not doing it in front of her. And I was like, very, again, very frustrated by that response, like, that was the response, but I understood, you know, you're trying to accommodate somebody that is also uncomfortable. But I ended up writing her a note, like an email, and just saying, like, this is what I'm comfortable with. Like, a more kind of sat on it for a couple days, and it's like, you know, this is what I'm comfortable This is my health, and this is what I you know, when I'm when we're traveling together, it was really a traveling specific thing when we're traveling together. Like, I'm gonna need to test my blood sugar, and it's potentially could be in front of you. So, like, if you could just look away, that would be really helpful. And the problem ended up resolving itself. But it was a really weird moment to navigate, especially, like I said, like it was probably I was in my late 20s, you know, so I didn't have a whole lot of power, quote, unquote, at the company. And I'm, you know, with this client, that was a somewhat of an important client, also a lot. So
Scott Benner 38:36
did the client ever try to jam you up with work, or did they not go that far with it. No,
Alex 38:41
no, no. I mean, she just sort of was a an interesting personality, I'll just say, but yeah, it was nothing work related. It was really more of just this, like, interpersonal type of situation where my work required me to, you know, to be at a location, like at a third party location in the middle of a city, and so you're just having to, like, eat and manage your diabetes, like, in place that you're on the go. And I was like, this is still my work environment. Like, that was kind of my point of, like, I need a reasonable accommodation for my work environment. And it is what's interesting with my shots. You
Scott Benner 39:18
brought up the location too, because, I mean, you're at the Javits Center, right? Yeah, yeah. Okay, so I don't, if people haven't been in Manhattan before, you know, there's some places where you can just walk out on the street and walk into a CVS, or walk into a, you know, a pizza joint or something like that, but there are some places where you're not near anything, no, yeah, not near anything. So it's you in that moment and the things you have with you and and you're not like you said. You're not wearing a CGM, so you're checking your blood sugar, you're being active. You're lifting and moving and probably stacking boxes and hustling and talking to people constantly. By the way, if people don't know this, when you go to those shows where people are like behind a table, the ones who are successful are in front of the. Table Totally, yeah, yeah. So people who stand behind the table and wait for you to come to them, they don't know what they're doing, and they're not gonna have to talk to anybody. They're gonna think, Oh, the thing I'm selling is not it's not it. I, I figured early on, I wrote that book, like such a long time ago, but I got invited to this, like, authors, I don't know it was almost like, the best way to describe as it felt like a yard sale for books, like where people just set up endless tables, they put their books there, and the authors were there. And I stood there for 15 minutes, and I was like, no one's stopping at any of these tables. It's not me, it's not it's just people are walking around like you're not there. It's almost like you're window dressing, right? And I grabbed a handful of those books, and I got out from behind the table. I stood in front of the table, and everyone that walked past me, I said, Hey, how are you? This is a book I wrote. It's about this. And I started talking to them. And about two hours into it, I packed up my table and I left, and the guy next to me goes, where are you going? I said, I'm out of books, and that was it. Like, I brought cases of books and sold them all, and those people couldn't get, like, they couldn't get the guy next to him to buy their book. And I actually started seeing that happen. They were starting to talk to each other. I'm like, Oh, you guys are missing the point of this thing. Since then, even if I go to, like, touch by type one, they give me a nice they give me a nice table. And I'm very lucky, I should say out loud, I'm very lucky that there are people who are local in Florida. When I go to touch by type one, Emily and her daughter, like, they'll man my table for me and give out handouts while I'm speaking and stuff like that. But I go back to the table whenever I'm not speaking, I never stand behind it. Yeah, that's just not how that works. So you're active as hell. Your blood sugar was probably all over the place I would imagine, oh,
Alex 41:40
yeah, it's like, well, you're eating, you know, whatever you can find at an event, and then you're walking these very large convention halls. And so, yeah, working in events, in this, like, it's been an interesting part of, quote, unquote, working in corporate America, also, because it is, it can be a very physical job. Everybody I work with, yes, has to know that I've got type one, and I keep things with me, and they check I mean, some, some clients I've had have been wonderful. They check on me, and they're interested and invested in it, and they want to know about it, and some just don't, you know. And recently, I had another situation with a company I'm in now where we were going to a very expensive so I do, I still do events, but we were going to a very expensive resort for a trade show. This sort of happened after the fact. But they were sort of, you know, asking questions about the cost of the hotel, and they're like, Well, why couldn't you share room with one of the the other people that were working, and I had to just be very clear about, like, I'm not comfortable sharing a room. My Dexcom goes off, like, the alarms, like, I don't know, I think it's because I put it, like, on my back, above my butt, basically. But like, especially if it's a new one that night, it's, it's got the pressure, you know, the whatever, compression, low, the compression low, oh my gosh. It's like, every time, you know it is going off at two, 3am and I was like, I cannot share a room with somebody in good conscious like, with my alarms going off all the time,
Scott Benner 43:13
beep, beep, beep, like, Oh my God, what's happening? Yeah. And I it was such an
Alex 43:17
uncomfortable conversation. First of all, I really don't want to share a room. Nobody wants to
Scott Benner 43:21
share a room at work. This isn't summer camp. That's not a friend of mine. It's a co worker. Nobody
Alex 43:25
wants to do that, yeah, you know, but I understand that there's cost savings, you know, there's cost savings, and it's a startup, etc. But like, it was very, like, uncomfortable conversation for me, because, again, I don't I really try not to make my diabetes a big deal, but like, there are accommodations and that are necessary. And I, I think some people, especially, you know, I don't know if like, Gen Z, like, they kind of act differently than maybe the millennial generation of my generation, but like I do not come guns blazing. Of like you need to accommodate me. I think that's a really good way for people to like, not promote you and not not trust you and make it about your diabetes at work, I think I try to just always say, like, I can do this job, whether I have diabetes or not. How can I do it? Is there anything I need to ask for? Yeah, differently, and that was something I need. I was like, I have to ask for. Like, I was like, I will never share a room with somebody. Like, it will be incredibly anxiety ridden for me to share a room with somebody and like me just waiting for my alarms to go off and wake somebody else out. It was like, that's just not something I'm comfortable with at all. So I would, I would personally rather pay for my own room than share a room with a co worker.
Scott Benner 44:33
Yeah, no. I mean, it's funny, because not funny, but it's interesting. I agree with you about a lot of the stuff you're saying. Like, for instance, I wouldn't ask my daughter to go into the bathroom to give herself insulin or something like that. I see why you would be upset by that. And at the same time, I see when people say, I don't want to tell people about my diabetes, when I do want to tell them, like because you know you're you're telling a story about working in a fairly professional environment. I don't know if you were stock and shelves. A, you know, at a big box store, and, you know, you might have a different experience totally. You know what I mean, you'd be different. You'd be working with different people with different ways of thinking, you know, and that's going to be at every place you go. So it is a very personal decision based, I think, a lot, on where you are and the expectations of where you are, Yep, yeah, and I'm sorry, I'm just gonna keep going for a second, because I also agree with you about the other part. I like people knowing, but I also think people are people, and in a survivor situation, which is what the working world is, everyone's trying to figure out how to get to the top. And you, you're a stepping stone for everybody who wants to go up. They're looking for a way around you. They are, they are a lot. I mean, everybody doesn't do this, but a lot of people do, and you don't know who's who. And you show up on the day one and you go, Hey, I get dizzy. Sometimes they're like, I got this one. I'll knock her right over. Like, you know what I mean? Like, you got to give yourself a chance too. That's correct.
Alex 45:59
And I, as I get older and as I move my way up, I don't think I ever saw that when I was younger, in my 20s, I just sort of and I worked for an ad agency, so everything was fun, and we're all friends and we're whatever, but people are ruthless, because their number one priority are them, is themselves. And I'm a little bit more cynical about that as I move up, and I because I've just seen more things, and the decision about who gets a raise and who gets a promotion I've done, I've made those decisions, and they're small biases included in those decisions, you know, and again, right, wrong or different. It happens like so you have to just sort of be aware that this happens, yep, and you're
Scott Benner 46:44
working in a place where there's a pie for a bonus structure, and you have to give a certain percentage of the pie to each person, and find a reason why one person gets less than another, because you only have one pie to give out. And that's exactly correct, exactly. And you could be looking at two people and thinking, these people, and thinking, These people both did an exemplary job this year, but I'm going to give one of them less money than the other one, yes. And those people know that's how that happens. And so listen those those meetings where at the end somebody just dings somebody else. You're like, what was that for? And you're like, oh, they just wanted to put it out there. They're just laying bread crumbs around. Then the people who are good at it, you don't even see it happening.
Alex 47:26
Oh, I now have people who are really high up at really big convert like companies that I, you know, worked with earlier on in my career, that I'm like, that was the to your exactly what you just said. That was the guy who just sort of always added something at the end of the meeting that was a very general statement that didn't really mean anything, but sounded a little bit insightful. And that's the guy who is now the CMO of a major restaurant company that, like I was peers with, you know. And it happens all the time, all the time you
Scott Benner 48:00
realize five years into something, you've been manipulated by somebody for for years, and you didn't know about it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you've seen that happen, right? People do work, someone else takes credit for it, and then they move up on your ass, and then you're back there, and then the last thing they do when they go out the door is discredit you, because they don't want anybody to know
Alex 48:17
what happened. It's a rough, I don't know. Corporate America is a rough it's a rough place sometimes. And I want to, I always want to believe that people want to do good and want to be, you know, want like, that's not their intention, but it happens. Yeah, no, there's
Scott Benner 48:32
a lot of lovely people. But, you know, you don't, I don't know, but all my point is, is you don't know which one's which on day one, week, one month, one, going in the door saying things like, hey, my pancreas doesn't work and I might pass out, and if I need help, could you, like, you just you're putting yourself at a disadvantage. And at the same time, you need people need to know that for your own personal safety. So right tough line to walk as well.
Alex 48:54
The other thing I have to do presentations somewhat sometimes somewhat regularly. I guess I used to do a lot more where I was, like, presenting to really large groups, and that is very nerve I mean, I'm not afraid to talk in front of people, but like, it's nerve wracking if your blood sugar is low and you're like, up, you know. So that's another one that I really try to really pay attention and like, those are the moments where I really am focusing on my diabetes, if I have to present something, and I'm checking and I'm making sure I'm fresh for it. But it's happened several times where I'm, I mean, even small meetings where I'm going in and I'm maybe meeting some new clients, and I'm really trying to, like, be impressive, and I'm, like, sweating, you know, and my blood sugar is so low, and like, in those situations, I just have come out and just said, like, I'm meeting you for the first time, and I am a type one diabetic, and my blood sugar is low, and I'm gonna need five minutes. And it's a like, you always get this like, shocked look on their face, you know, because they're like, Oh, are you okay or whatever. But I do feel like I've had positive experiences of. Out of that, if I'm again, just sort of vulnerable, I'll call it vulnerable or truthful about the situation. It humanizes you a little bit. So like those meetings, where are, it's an important meeting, and I had to pause before I started the meeting. They ended up being good meetings because people almost people at ease a little bit so that's a sort of a different experience, Alex, because
Scott Benner 50:23
everyone's hiding something, right? Yeah, and so you let your thing out, and they were like, oh my god, I probably literally someone sitting there thinking, I have Crohn's, I hope I don't myself during this thing. Yeah. Everyone's got something going on. There's somebody sitting there who is thinking, I think my husband's cheating on me, and there's someone sitting there who's thinking, I can't pay for my car, like everyone has something going on. And when you give away your thing, you're like, Hey, I got a thing too. Everybody's like, Oh, good. We're not all trying to be perfect here.
Alex 50:53
That's a that's a good way to think about it. I've really, actually, a
Scott Benner 50:57
lot of people are pretending is what I'm saying. Yes, yeah, yeah. That's why. When, whenever I meet a new client, my wife will remind me, before I go up to the meeting, she'll go, don't curse. I'm like, what? She goes, You have no ability not to be yourself. She's like, Don't curse. You're meeting them for the first time. And I said, I'm like, okay, but I don't know Alex. Like, it happens I'm not good at that. I'm not a professional person like I'm just not. But I think also, and you'd have to pull the people who work with me, but I think, generally speaking, the companies that work with me, those people like working with me, because there's no pretense. They I'm not lying to them, and they know it. And so it things go easier.
Alex 51:38
You're the you're the creative, you're the talent. So you should have a little bit of edge to you. Is that what
Scott Benner 51:43
I should have? Because I say meeting, sometimes people are like, you
Alex 51:47
know, like the creatives I used to work with at the, especially at the ad agency, you know, some of we had to, we always had to, like, sort of pick and choose, because we did have some more conservative clients every now and then that would get very offended by all language, but, but, but, that was, again, that was sort of part of our pre, oh, where the We're the cool ad agency coming in to present you some really cool ideas that are going to break through, you know? So we would put sometimes people more raw, yeah, raw people. If you're trying to sell something that was a little bit more edgy. I can
Scott Benner 52:16
act my age. What I always think is, if we're going to be working together, I feel like you should know, like, this is me, and this is what's gonna happen when you have a meeting with me on a Tuesday at 10 o'clock. This is how I'm gonna be. And if that's good with you, then that's great, because the worst thing could happen is that I slip up during a meeting and I'm, you know, I say something that I would say, they get offended, and we're in the middle of a contract together, or something like that. So I'm just like, look, this is who I am, and by the way, everyone's okay with it. Yeah, I've never had one person be like, No, forget it. I was meeting a potential client one time, and we were talking, and we're face to face, but over camera, and I stopped myself. I said, oh geez. I got so excited I almost cursed. And she goes, she just says, I live in New York. You can curse if you want. And I went, Well, I'm not going to be the first. To be the first one to do it. And she goes, you say, whatever the you want. I was like, here we go again. We had this great conversation where, by the way, no one cursed after that. Super, super interesting. So, I mean, I don't know, I'm just not a My wife always tells me, she's like, if you had a job where I worked, you would get fired in 30 days. And I always respond, I go, I think I'd be the favorite person. So she's like, Yeah, we'll sing. And I'm like, All right, it's a lot about how you manage your diabetes at work, which is incredibly helpful. How do you manage it with your husband? I mean, you guys were trapped together, so he must know every ounce about diabetes. Is that right or no? To
Alex 53:36
think so. I hope so, especially during well, he, he actually, like, joined the call when I got on with the Omnipod rep, when I first got my my Omnipod to help get trained on it, because I wanted him to know about it all. So that was something I talked about in my our, our first episode, was that the one of the reasons I knew he was the one was he was so actively wanting to understand my diabetes, and he was, you know, became like my follow person was following my my Dexcom, when we first were, you know, became boyfriend girlfriend. He wanted to follow it and see my diabetes too, which is a level of intimacy that most people without diabetes would never know. And it's a really cool experience to be able to establish intimacy with a partner, because they know exactly what's going on at you know, we're now in our almost fifth year of marriage, like he pays attention a bit less. You know, he still has it on his phone. But I didn't know how the in the in the hospital. I didn't I've heard, like, all kinds of stories about letting the nurses manage your diabetes, which I'll talk about in a second, because it was, it was an interesting process, but I wanted to make sure he knew exactly what to do if they had any issues. So he knows how to you know, he knows what I do and he knows how to manage it. My son, three and a half, also knows everything about my diabetes, which is very cute and very fun. Um. He loves helping me change my Omnipod we've got. We bought all kinds of books for him about, you know, it's one of them's called mommy. Beeps like, which is a great little children spoke up exactly about your mom having diabetes. And so we wanted him to understand that what's, what's going on in my body. And I tell him, I use, you know, full words, this is my this is the insulin. And, you know, this is the my pod. And you know, I'm my blood sugar is low. Like, we explain everything exactly as it is, so he understands what's going on, which is really cool, too.
Scott Benner 55:30
That's awesome. That's a great idea. And I take your point to the longer you're married, the more you just sort of like, it's interesting. I find been married a very long time, and there are things that I've just like when I when we were younger, I've been like, there's something I'm very interested in. I'd like to share it with her, and she's not interested in it. Like, she just doesn't have any interest in and vice versa. They're things that my wife loves, that I'm like, I don't, I don't care about this, like, at all. Like, I care about you and everything, but not this. And it felt weird when we were younger, but as we got older, I was like, It's okay if I go do this thing by myself. Yeah, she doesn't need to be drugged through this. I'm having a great time looking at her being like, she does not want to do this. And vice vice versa, although I still get taken to movies I don't want to go to. But that, I think, is a boyfriend thing, which I have to do. I'm just like, who is Ryan Gosling? Why are we here? But I think it's healthy to some degree, 100%
Alex 56:22
I think, yes, I this is our by the way, my husband and I are both on our second marriage. We both were married before, and that is a lesson I learned. You know about you should have lines in the sand and maintain this human that was formed before I met my husband, like I have to have things that are just my, just my own. I don't consider, I think my diabetes is a is a family, a family affair in general, because everybody needs to be aware of what's going on in our household. I wish he so. I do say this. I wish he
Scott Benner 56:54
was not doing Alex well. I do wish sometimes
Alex 56:58
I get very over stimulated, you know, especially if my blood sugar is is either is high and I get very, you know, like, ornery about things. And I do wish sometimes, like, instead of him getting up, you know, he's every right to get upset if I'm being ornery. So I'm not saying that he's being every right, but I do sometimes he's just like, let me check her blood sugar. Maybe I just need to give her 20 minutes and come back to this. You know, that would be really helpful, but that's I'm that's a little over ambitious. I think I agree
Scott Benner 57:28
with you, like, it's weird to say, it's weird to say that, basically, your your husband should be like, you test your blood sugar, and if you're not high, we can have this argument. And, you know, like, but I agree with you, like you're having, it sucks, but you're having a medical situation, yeah. And then in the middle of that, you're talking like you're being your best selves, which is not true, yeah, yeah. And it's a knowable thing, which, by the way, I think this happens to people throughout their days constantly. I think people's blood sugars, people don't have diabetes, can have lower blood sugars, higher blood sugars, and it changes who they are. You could have lack of sleep different my daughter and I just got done speaking this weekend about before I understood that my iron was getting low, and, you know, like this moment that sent me to the doctor originally, is like we were in our car sitting at a traffic light, and I don't remember what was happening, but it was something about the radio, and I had a reaction, as If everyone in the car was trying to murder me with the radio and like I was yelling and just out of my mind. And my wife was like, what's wrong? And then, you know, it's funny, when she said it, I looked at her, in the 30 some years I've known her, and I was like, this one just once, like I had a weird reaction to the fact that she was wondering what the hell was going on to me. And then it was hearing my daughter's voice from the back seat. She's like, Dad, you're acting weird. And I was like, okay, like, I told Arden. I was like, that, you really saved me. Because I was like, Oh, I'm something's not okay. I don't know what it is. And then we went to the doctor, found out, you know, brought my iron back up, but my iron would also drift back down again. So boring enough that doesn't happen to me anymore because I use a GLP medication. I think because my I think because my inflammation is less and because my my digestion is slower, I'm now picking up my nutrients easier. That's super interesting. Oh, it's crazy. My iron has not gotten low since I've been on a GLP medication, almost. It's a year
Alex 59:17
and a half. Now, these geo I mean, I'm not on one, but these glps, yeah, I can't wait to see what else happens. I know. I mean, people are getting pregnant when they couldn't get pregnant. I mean, there's just a lot of interesting stuff with it. I mean,
Scott Benner 59:29
if I grow a cape and fly away one day, I'm gonna be like, I know that was that, that Manjaro, or whatever the hell I'm taking no seriously. I there's a lot that happens for people, especially people with autoimmune issues, when you bring down their inflammation and like, so what else is going on? Who knows? You hear people talking about, like, my wrists don't hurt anymore. Like, a lot of my joint pain is gone, like, you know, and not people who lost a bunch of weight and then lost their joint pain. So anyway, not the point. The point is, is that I was ebbing and flowing, and I can look back on. It now and tell you that from a third party perspective, I was being an asshole, but I wasn't being an asshole. I just like my body wasn't working correctly, like my brain wasn't functioning right. And but it doesn't stop your spouse or your children or whoever you're talking to, they're still evaluating you as a person, not as a person with a medical issue, yeah, yeah. And so that's what you're talking about. Like, let's not evaluate me while my blood sugar's 280 and I feel cloudy and I'm easily riled up. For example, Yep, yeah. But how do you do that in the moment?
Alex 1:00:36
Don't Yeah? You just try to, you know, maybe you're revisiting it later on, and
Scott Benner 1:00:42
it still doesn't matter, though, Alex, like, it's still it sticks to you after it happens, like every one of those moments. And that's, that's an example of an unfair thing that type one is going to do to somebody's life. It's
Alex 1:00:54
probably, I'm minimizing it, but it is probably one of the things I get the most frustrated about. Is sometimes I, especially I don't, I feel like I need to go back to the doctor, but, but this is also just a life thing. But, like, I get as a mom, I get very over stimulated by sounds, and I didn't, it's something I didn't use to happen before I had my son. But if, like, the TV's on and he's trying to talk to me, maybe my husband comes in and talks to me, and then you add a blood sugar element, it feels like someone's murdering me, like I feel like I'm dying on the inside, and it I get very overwhelmed very quickly and then, but you know, it would be solved if someone was just like, maybe we should check mom's blood sugar and see if she's okay.
Scott Benner 1:01:38
Yeah. Well, there's a lot that goes into people talking about mom guilt, and it's interesting, because you felt it pregnant. That was because you mentioned that earlier, right? Like, oh yeah, your blood sugar was higher before you were pregnant. You're like, I don't do a very good job of taking on it. I'll figure it out. And like, and then it happens, you're like, I'm murdering the baby. And like, so, like, That's mom guilt, right? But there's also this thing that happens, if my wife is any indication, if there is a, like, a maternal spidey sense that exists for women, you have a baby, and it gets ratcheted up to, like, a million, that's exactly correct, yeah. Like, something bangs. What's wrong are the kids alive? Like, right? Like, yeah, it's
Alex 1:02:15
the thing I was not expecting the most. And it like, I thought it would last for, like, you know, a couple months? No, no, it never goes away. Oh,
Scott Benner 1:02:23
it's gonna torture you right to the end. Arden's alarm goes off at 2am Kelly's like, what's going on? What's wrong is hard and okay, I'm like, holy, the thing beep. Hold on, a second. Like, it's not set it. It's not set at 40, like, we have a minute, that kind of thing. And then I go to sleep, and I open my eyes back. I'm like, are you awake? She's Yeah, my adrenaline's, like, pumping now. I'm like from a 70 blood sugar. I actually took her phone from her the other day, and I took away her high alarm on Arden's Dexcom follow. I was like, you don't actually help her with this anyway. There's no reason for this thing to be beaming in your ear when she goes over 130 I think it's gonna make her a healthier person, shutting it off, actually. But yeah, she has that mom that also, by the way, she's a terrific mom. Harden, had a problem at school the other day. She sat on a FaceTime call with Arden for five hours the other day, wow, and talked her through things. They tried ideas. They did all stuff. They sat quiet maybe for 90 minutes together while they were working each one. And I was like, I knocked up the right lady, like, she is really a good mom. But I also don't know if she's a good mom or if she's just being motivated by chemicals to change their body I have no idea. But maybe that's what that is, even, who knows. You know, I
Alex 1:03:31
think it's the way we've evolved. You know, I when I that's another thing. When I had my son, I was like, there's things that I now want to do, and like, I'm wanting to do this, because this is the way that we evolved, because the caveman, you know, our cave ladies, like, were afraid that a tiger was going to come get their baby. And so this is why I have anxiety that my son, you know, or my son's going to stop breathing all of a sudden for for no reason. Yeah. Um,
Scott Benner 1:03:57
that sucks. Yeah, yeah. I don't want to be a lady for a number of reasons. Also, bras are very expensive. That seems like another reason. I don't want to do it. What happened to Kelly, and what happened to you, and what happens to a lot of people when they have kids like it does seem unfair, honestly. I mean, let's be honest. Are you in a dangerous situation where you live? No, no, your kids fine. Everything's fine. Everything's fine. At all times you're acting like you're the you know, you're at the 28th parallel in the middle of the Vietnam the Vietnam War, like this kid is not going to be okay. Like, you know, he's alright. Now I don't know how to get rid of that. That sucks. Do you ever think, can you look back? Did you see any anxiety before the baby?
Alex 1:04:34
I mean, I had, everybody hates anxiety. I would say that my anxiety was normal and but I definitely had postpartum anxiety, where I was getting so overwhelmed by, like, unstacking the dishwasher. I had that for probably, you know, six, six months or so after he was born, where I would just get very overwhelmed by small things, which is, you know, a lot of people have wasn't hormonal.
Scott Benner 1:04:58
Do you think? As well? Did you could you notice it like ebbing and flowing at all? Or no, it's
Alex 1:05:02
just really intense, for sure. And actually, until you know what it was, until I went, this is the opposite of probably what everybody else says, until I went back to work, I think I'm just so used. I'm a really high performer at work, and I'm so used to having a lot of asks and demands and balancing, like a lot of plates at the same time, and I think only focusing on the child, which, while wonderful and good for I'm so lucky that I had three and a half months, but mentally, I don't know how great that was, because I think I just was focusing on, like, making really big deals of small stuff. So until I went back to work, then I started to, like, realize that, like, un the dishwasher does not have to happen this moment in time. Like, I can actually just, like, do something else,
Scott Benner 1:05:50
yeah, right, and your energy is taken up a little more, so it's spread out a little better. I
Alex 1:05:54
think that is a completely me thing, though, like most, most women you know, are begging to have that much time off of work and and I was happy to have it. So I don't want to sound ungrateful, I was so happy to have it, but the mental aspect of just and it was also during COVID, so that probably something to do. You also, you like having things to do. And you like I had mental stimulation, like I had, you know, very, very little mental stimulation other than, like I would watch below deck while I was breastfeeding, and I was exclusively breastfeeding, and I was breastfeeding all the time, like always, so that probably had a lot to do with it. And yes, it was definitely hormonal, but it was like, I need something. I need somebody to ask me a hard question, and me to strategically be able to figure it out, like I was really yearning for something like that. Yeah,
Scott Benner 1:06:39
some problem solving. We also might have to call your episode below deck. But that's neither here nor there. It's just another thing to track. Like, guys who pay attention to like, I pay attention to my wife, okay? Like, I know, like, she doesn't like it. She hates that I know about her. Like, I don't know if that makes sense or not, but like, there's a day it used to happen when I was younger. I couldn't stop. Like, I'd say it out loud, I don't do it anymore, but I would say, like, why are you being so nice today? And then I'd go, Oh, wait. I'm like, Oh, hey, heads up, you're gonna get your period in 48 hours. And, you know? And she's like, No, you don't know me. No, I'm not blah blah. Two days later, it happens she she was pissed that I could tell, but I realize now, in hindsight, what she's mad about is that feeling that you are not being the person you mean to be. You're being a version of yourself based on, you know, a hormone level, or how much you feel like, I don't know, protective of your kid, or like, you know, for me, like, what, where my iron was like, I now know that feeling of like, No, I am me, damn it. And people around you are like, not really, not today. You know, it's, it's, it kind of sucks. It's being human. But yeah, yeah, I take your point. It would be nice if there was like a warning light, like there were people could go, Oh, I'm not gonna bring this up now, because her blood sugar is unfairly high at this moment, or low or something. But yes, yeah, agreed anything we haven't talked about that we should have. I have too good of a time talking to you. I'm realizing, and I have my calls in like 10 minutes, so Oh
Alex 1:08:12
no, I think we got everything I really wanted just to kind of share my perspective on on corporate America and managing diabetes, and the way you talk about it, you know, at work, and being cautiously open about it, I guess, is the way I take it. And I'm curious just what other people do, you know? I think it would be interesting, because I know you've had a lot of guests that, you know they like. I feel like most of your guests like work in, you know, they're nurses, or like, you know, I don't know they're working in, like, the medical field, or they don't. They don't do what I do, like, I guess, like, they don't work in, like, corporate marketing, where your perception of your of yourself means a lot, you know, and you're trying to dazzle clients, and you're trying to be this, this hero in the room while you're managing diabetes. And it's, it's an interesting dynamic. I've just always felt like, of like, how do I bring this up, and how do I address this? And like, you're sort of, you know, always trying to be strategic, business wise about it.
Scott Benner 1:09:11
Have you ever been in charge of selling something that's just a stinker? It's garbage. And you have to tell the person like, look, it's this isn't what we're doing. Like, this thing just sucks. Yes, I
Alex 1:09:21
project I was, we get a lot of those. Like, when I was working at the ad agency, and I was working on, I was completely dedicated to a very large brand for a very long time, and they were so this was just sort of this, like answer. They had this, like, was called, like, red labs, you know. And it was sort of this, like, we're, we're going to be a startup within this big company, and they came out with a It was basically a service that you would someone would pay for, which I would never pay for this to help, like your aging parents, organize their medical appointments on an Amazon Alexa, but it was basically just like an app. And I was like, There's got to be a free. Version of this. Like, why would somebody pay for this to organize their medical appointments? It was not something I felt like there was a whole lot of value to but they felt like, you know, they wanted to work with Amazon and whatever we had to basically, yeah, do basically a, you know, a SWOT analysis of student strengths, weaknesses, opportunities. I forgot what the T is. But anyway, I Swa, SWOT analysis on, you know, how we would talk about this product, or what's the what's the consumer benefit, and basically show them that there was no value to a consumer that we could justly talk about. And it took weeks to, like put this presentation together and like reviews, because we didn't want to offend anybody, and I don't really think, I don't think they took our advice even with it. I think somebody at the top just squashed the whole thing eventually, but, and
Scott Benner 1:10:49
that thing did not fly away and do great. No, it like, well, I just,
Alex 1:10:53
I think it's squashed before they even rolled it out. But, and God knows how many weeks or months, you know, had been put into this project to begin with. Unfortunately, the key is threats, by the way. Oh, there you go. Threats. That's what it was. Thank you. Well,
Scott Benner 1:11:07
no, I really appreciate your time. Are you able to hold on for a moment? Yeah, okay, cool. Thank you for doing this again. I appreciate it. Of course,
Dexcom sponsored this episode of The Juicebox Podcast. Learn more about the Dexcom g7 at my link. Dexcom.com/juice box. Today's episode of the juice box podcast was sponsored by the new tandem Moby system and control iq plus technology. Learn more and get started today at tandem diabetes.com/juicebox check it out. Earlier you heard me talking about blue circle health, the free virtual type one diabetes care, education and support program for adults. And I know it sounds too good to be true, but I swear it's free thanks to funding from a big T 1d philanthropy group, blue circle health doesn't bill your insurance or charge you a cent. In other words, it's free. They can help you with things like carb counting, insurance navigation, diabetes technology, insulin adjustments, peer support, Prescription Assistance and much more. So if you're tired of waiting nine months to get in with your endo or your educator, you can get an appointment with their team within one to two weeks, this program is showing what T 1d care can and should look like currently, if you live in Florida, Maine Vermont, New Hampshire, Ohio, Delaware, Missouri, Alabama or Mississippi, if you live in one of those states, go to blue circle health.org to sign up today. The link is in the show notes, and please help me to spread the word blue circle health had to buy an ad because people don't believe that it's free, but it is. They're trying to give you free care if you live in Florida, Maine, Vermont, Ohio, Delaware, Alabama and Missouri. It's ready to go right now. And like I said, they're adding states so quickly in 2025 that you want to follow them on social media at Blue circle health, and you can also keep checking bluecirclehealth.org to see when your free care is available to you. Hey, thanks for listening all the way to the end. I really appreciate your loyalty and listenership. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast, the diabetes variables series from the Juicebox Podcast goes over all the little things that affect your diabetes that you might not think about, travel and exercise to hydration and even trampolines. Juicebox podcast.com go up in the menu and click on diabetes variables. The episode you just heard was professionally edited by wrong way. Recording, wrong way recording.com, you.
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