Uninvisible Pod with Lauren Freedman

Hi everyone, If you follow me on social media, you might have seen my recent post where I shared one of my absolute favorite stress relief techniques: the 4-7-8 breathing technique . This simple yet powerful practice, developed by Dr. Andrew Weil , has been a lifesaver for me in moments of stress. While I’m not usually one to advocate for over-regulating breath, this technique stood out for its im...

Overview Last episode as of Dec 2023 Emily Ana Levy  is a distinguished social impact entrepreneur, renowned patient advocate, healthcare Key Opinion Leader, and acclaimed international public speaker. Emily's journey led her to co-found  Mighty Well  in 2016. It’s a startup driven by her personal experiences as a patient grappling with chronic neurological Lyme disease and autoimmune conditions,...

Overview Hanah Salas  is the magic mama of three littles; an energy worker and maker, she is the founder of the first and only CBD wellness company that offers sliding scale pricing on its goods:  Open Apothecary/Magic Mama Co.!  She started consciously making herbal remedies when she was pregnant with her first child, out of the need to use healthy, natural, safe products for her whole family. Th...

Overview At the age of 16, doctors diagnosed Carlos Alvarez as completely blind in his right eye; the sight in his left eye had deteriorated to 73% as a result of congenital glaucoma. When Carlos was 19 years old, he went through eye surgery — but the operation was not successful. He lost all remaining sight, leaving him with permanent sight loss. A person of deep faith, he constantly reframed thi...

CW/TW: this episode includes discussion of violence, both physical and gun-related, as well as in-depth conversations about abuse, trauma, suicide, drugs, and alcohol addiction. It also includes mention of adoption and body weight, and contains some strong language. Overview Michael  was born to a hyper-abusive, drug-addicted mother who cut his finger off at four years old…lived with what he calls...

Overview Gigi Robinson : if you don’t already know her, then welcome to the party! From making history as a finalist in the  Sports Illustrated  Swim Search , to her advocacy in the chronic illness and body positivity spheres, all the way to NFT research and navigating life as a small business owner — she truly does it all. With features in  Bustle ,  Business Insider ,  Forbes , and  Vogue Busine...

Overview Jared Walker founded Dollar For in 2012 in Portland, Oregon. Now a national non-profit crushing medical bills and making charity care known, easy, and fair, the organization was born out of a desire to help folks in medical crisis after Jared witnessed his own family's experience with — you guessed it — crushing medical debt. Dollar For eliminates said medical debt by empowering patients...

Izabella Wentz, PharmD, FASCP , is an internationally acclaimed thyroid specialist and a licensed pharmacist who has dedicated her career to addressing the root causes of autoimmune thyroid disease after being diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis in 2009. She is the author of three books on Hashimoto’s:  Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis Lifestyle Interventions for Finding and Treating the Root Cause ,  H...

Chris Armstrong, PhD was first introduced to Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) through research into metabolomics at the University of Melbourne, Australia. As he delved deeper into his work, he discovered its connection to ME/CFS patients, and empathized so much with their plight – and the lack of resources, funding, and research available to both patients and clinicians...

Andrew Gurza is an award winning Disability Awareness Consultant and the Chief Disability Officer and Co-founder of Bump’n , a sex toy company for and by disabled people. Andrew uses they/he pronouns and identifies proudly as disabled. Their work has been featured on BBC , CBC , Daily Xtra , G ay Times UK , Huffington Post , The Advocate , Everyday Feminism , Mashable , Out.com , and several antho...

Dailyn Santana is a first-generation Cuban-American actress, keynote speaker, spoken word poet, and mental health advocate. Her work focuses on eradicating mental health stigma and her personal experience of living with bipolar 1 disorder, depression, and anxiety. Her mission is to be an example that those living with mental illness CAN live a happy, fulfilling life. She believes that living in yo...

Phoebe Lapine  is a food and health writer, gluten-free chef, culinary instructor, recipe developer, wellness blogger, Hashimoto's advocate and speaker, and the voice behind the award-winning blog Feed Me Phoebe . Named by Women’s Health Magazine as the top nutrition read of 2017, Phoebe’s debut memoir, The Wellness Project , chronicles her journey with the autoimmune disease, Hashimoto’s thyroidi...

Nikita Williams is a mindset business coach and the host of the podcast, She’s Crafted to Thrive . She was diagnosed with endometriosis in 2009 and fibromyalgia in 2010. These diagnoses inspired her to use the training she received from previous jobs to jump-start her career as a business coach. Nikita learned that having a chronic illness did not limit her potential. In fact, it helped her to see...

Originally launched as a means of sharing her craft projects, Kendall Rayburn ’s namesake blog has since evolved into her passionate full-time occupation: a place to pour her heart into content across the lifestyle spectrum (see: plus-size fashion, family-friendly travel and activities, home decor, recipes, and more). It has also become a powerful vehicle for sharing her struggles with endometrios...

Dr. Akilah Cadet is the Founder and CEO of Change Cadet  consulting firm, which offers a broad array of anti-racism and diversity services including strategic planning, crisis rebuilding, advising, executive coaching, and facilitation. Cadet (her last name) is a French term that means soldier. As it's often an uphill battle for BIPOC, women, and historically excluded communities to achieve success...

Faith Crittenden, MD MPH is a recently-graduated pediatric resident with her Doctorate of Medicine from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. While a student, she was an active member of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) and the American Medical Association (AMA). In 2016, she was appointed as the national liaison for SNMA to AMA — Medical Student Section. She has helped...

Pooja C. Danay is a South Asian mental health advocate who lives with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). An actor, entrepreneur, and dancer who specializes in Bollywood dancing (been doing it since she was 5 years old!), she loves traveling and spending time with family and friends. Born and raised in New Jersey and currently living in NYC with her husband, she attended Pace University and the L...

Nthabeleng Ramoeli was born in the small southern African country of Lesotho. At the age of 12, she began to experience chronic pain and subluxation of her joints, in addition to extreme skin elasticity, GI and lung issues, and anapyhlaxis. These symptoms persisted through her admittance to university, where test after test came back inconclusive. So, she began her own research…and stumbled upon E...

The idea behind non-profit community support organization Bolus Maximus began in late 2017 when Matt Tarro and Brandon A. Denson started having weekly discussions about their lives with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Coming from completely different backgrounds, the two actually had a lot in common — and recognized they both wanted to change the narrative around men’s freedom to express their emotions. Br...

Morgan Greene is a chronic illness and holistic wellness blogger and content creator at Is Was Will Be blog. After being diagnosed with rare chronic illness Myasthenia Gravis (MG), Morgan started writing to process her experience — “serving as both therapy and accountability” for her, as she so aptly puts it. As her journey progressed, she found solace in putting into words what many of her fellow...

Dr. Karin Hehenberger has close to 20 years of experience in the life sciences sector. She served as an executive at Eyetech Pharmaceuticals and Coronado BioSciences, and had strategic management roles at Johnson & Johnson (Vice President, Metabolic Strategy), JDRF (Senior Vice President, Strategic Alliances), and McKinsey; as well as senior partnership roles at public (Brummer & Partners) and pri...

Jemma-Tiffany is a 17-year-old writer, passionate patient advocate, and founder of Hyperacusis Awareness . Having grown up with severe hyperacusis (a rare and poorly-understood disorder that causes her to experience physical pain from everyday sounds) has motivated her to raise awareness of others with similar conditions. Through her various efforts, Jemma has gained experience in patient advocacy...

* * * TW / CW : mortality, and graphic discussion of the events during and in the aftermath of 9/11, 2001 * * * Twenty years after 9/11, some first responders are still struggling with long-term health complications brought on by the historic event. For Tom Frey , a former NYC detective, the consequences started with a diagnosis of Hodgkin’s lymphoma — the treatment for which then caused pulmonary...

Sara Naveed is a Canadian writer, chronic illness advocate, and founder of the blog Fabulous and Fatigued . 14 years ago, she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia following a hit-and-run. Inspired by her experience, she started the blog with the aim of creating awareness and ending the stigma of life with chronic illnesses. Her work has been published in various media outlets and platforms including Ya...

Jenny McGibbon is a disabled graphic designer from Scotland, predominantly living with ME/CFS. She was born with a birth defect known as gastroschisis, and as a result she also lives with short bowel syndrome, chronic internal bleeding, and iron deficiency anemia. At the age of 16, she found herself in and out of hospital almost weekly — something that would continue on for some years. She couldn'...