Jasmin Pierre on Say it With Your Breasts Podcast Hosted by Arielle Brown

Jasmin Pierre of New Orleans, LA, is a Mental Health Advocate, creator of the Minority Mental Health App "The Safe Place", Peer Support Specialist, Motivational Speaker, and author of “A Fight Worth Finishing”. Jasmin is constantly fighting for the rights of those suffering from depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. She aspires to continue writing, speaking, coaching, and encouraging others to never give up. The Safe Place is a mental health app for the Black community. They teach how racism impacts the mental health of the Black community and why we have less access to mental health resources.

It was my pleasure to learn more about Jasmin's story, what she recommends to other tech founders and app builders, what she needs for her company right now (she's raising), and the importance of continuing to talk about mental health beyond #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth

Donate to their fundraiser to keep this feature free, please click the link below.https://https://lnkd.in/gK5HY--9

Purchase on Barnes & Noble

Listen on Google App

Apple Download

Purchase "Fight Worth FiniShing" on Amazon Book

Connect with Jasmin on Linkedin

The Safe Place Interview with Bea's Bayou Transcript

Today is ours. Let's live it and love is strong. Let's give it 1s a song can help. Let's sing it. And peace is dear. Let's bring it. The past is gone. Don't rule it. Our work is here. Let's do it. 1s The world is wrong. Let's right it. The battle is hard. Let's fight it. The road is rough. Let's clear it. The future fast. Don't fear it. 1s It's faith asleep. Let's wake it. Because today is ours. 2s Let's take it. 12s I'm just going to dive right in. So Jasmine Pierre. First of all, thank you so much for agreeing to share your journey with me and with us on this podcast. I really appreciate you don't have to think for me. Yeah, for sure. And I'm excited because you're a founder in tech. You're a founder with a mission. Um, a really amazing story to share regarding mental health and how the worlds have come together for you with mental health, and also coming up with this amazing app idea. And so I would love for you to just share before we go into like your background and how you got to that point. I would love to just hear what it's been like for you so far as a black woman in tech. 2s Or sometimes 1s I think being a little bit hard 1s to be honest. I love doing it, but it's just it's been for you since I. Before I started, I didn't have a background in technology. I did it solely on the passion. So like, I had to learn, like, I'm like, I don't even know how to run an app. Um, and and so I had to, like. Really? Yeah, I had to really. 6s It's right. I mean, we're all excited for you that you've gotten as far as you have with it. How long have you been developing your app? Like how when did this all start? 2s And then Ernie. Oh, I hope I'm not getting the long day because after 2020, I forget. 2s I think we are. I think we are 2020 to like now is still kind of a blur, 1s right? I'm pretty excited about 1s that. Wow. Oh my God, that's amazing because so many start ups don't make it past year one, let alone get to year six. Um, what's been the biggest lesson so far? 2s What's the deal with any of that? Yeah. 1s I don't think it's worth it for me to really just keep going when I feel frustrated because, like, I have to realize like, well, in technology, sometimes things can happen and it can be a frustrating experience when like, you weren't the thing to run on the app properly. It is not doing that right away. Yeah, sometimes it can take me a few weeks to get things back up. Um, but it taught me a lot of patience and not trying to beat myself up about having things done right away. Like, yeah, I need a lot of patience with games. That's really interesting. You say that because I feel like that's been my journey lately, is just being patient and knowing that you're taking the right steps, like you're doing the right things. And it takes time for some of these big ideas or big concepts for all the dots to connect. Um, but just continuing to put one foot in front of the other and ready, you know, and just keep going. Um, what's been supportive of you so far? Like, have how how do your friends and family feel about what you do? And they will dive into the safe place and why you created it in the first place. 2s Well, my biggest supporter was my dad. He passed away in 2019 from lung cancer and unfortunately. But, um, he got to see the beginning of everything with my, uh, he got to see me build it from the ground up. And my dad worked at Children's Hospital in New Zealand for 35 years. So, yeah, he comes from a health care background as well. And when I started to play, I just really didn't know, um, if I was going to be able to do it because I'm like, this is such a big thing that I'm taking on. Yeah, but my dad was just yeah, he was with me like, every step of the way. Um, he's even helped me put funding into the app. So, um, when he was dying in 2019, actually, I was on my way up to Washington, DC to talk about the app or the, um, Congressional Black Caucus. 1s Um, and I yeah, I actually did not want to leave because my dad was dying, and I was like, I don't want to leave you. And he probably he better go. I want you to go. He's like, I know you're working important. And, um. Yeah, he died before I took my plane to Washington, DC. And sometimes I feel like he did that to me in person. Who? I'm not going to leave him. I wasn't going to do it, though. Um, but it's harder than what? I still went to DC after he died because I knew it was something that he would want me to do. Um, he was very proud of everything that I did with a safe place. And so. 1s They got their school adapted. Probably one of the hardest thing that ever had to do was go all the way up there. It helped after my dad. Like literally it was in the same week. So it was hard. But I got through it and I just knew that he would be so proud of me and still now going six years now, I know he would still be proud of me. And I mean, every time I think about giving up, I want to be out of the people. Like sometimes as entrepreneurs, we do think about giving up some time. Yeah, I wonder what he would tell me. So, um, yeah, I feel like even though you've got me the big part of my attitude. Yeah, I love that. I can relate on several levels of that, but I'm so sorry for your loss and I am sure he is rooting and making sure you are protected along the way, so I do. Absolutely. Um, I want to hear more about the safe place so I know your mental health advocate. Um, you're the creator of this minority mental health app, the safe place, your peer support specialist, a motivational speaker. You're also an author. So we must get into that. Um, you're right here from New Orleans, Louisiana. And you are you you recognize the needs of the individuals that you want to help, um, because of your own lived experiences. So can you share with us, you know, what those experiences have been and what led you to create the Safe Place app? 3s That big green card thing. So what led me to create a study place that argues I do mental health, um, disorders myself? I have depression, anxiety, and PTSD, and I also have listened to other call prisoners to the court order. And I got all of this from being molested as the child and, um, my young adult years, my, my brother and my sister and, um, I, I've known about my depression and my anxiety for some time, but the PTSD and the pretty much for the for the income into my 30s. And I didn't also think therapy really until I'm 30, because I've always heard in our community that black people don't know that their church, they read our Bible. Um, mental illness to begin in, like that's all I've heard about and a horrible things. Um, it really stigmatizes a lot of people in our community to not wonder out of hope because, um, there's a lot of shame involved in that. So unfortunately, I went most of my life not even realizing, but what I was going through came through, um, being molested. It wasn't until I, um, it wasn't until I went to therapy and I really talked about what was going on that I figured out. 1s It will lead to trauma. I really didn't know that, um, being molested could cause all these type of health care issues. And that's one of the reasons I'm so open about talking about it, because I think more people should be aware of what could happen. And I think that we need to, starting at childhood, tell more people about boundaries and, um, accepting children more and letting them know that, um, they're safe and protected because I just, I didn't know a lot about I didn't know a lot about these things. And I don't know, I didn't have the right resources. I didn't have the help I needed. So it was just hard. And because of that, 1s it was just, um, I don't know, it may have been a lot more difficult for me to help, especially being a black woman. Yeah. 2s Do you feel like when you asked for the help, when you got to the point where you were ready to talk to someone about your experiences and how it was affecting you day to day, did you feel the empathy that you were expecting to feel? Did you feel heard? Did you feel seen? And is that part of what prompted you to create the app? Or was it the opposite where you didn't feel heard and seen and you felt like somebody needed to do something even more? Like what? What prompted that? 3s So when I first started this place up, it wasn't because of what I went through growing up. Yeah, it was only because I knew that in the black community, we didn't talk about mental health. I knew that a little girl, I just didn't understand why I really. Yeah, but I knew that we didn't talk about it. So when I, when I started my after was because of that. But as time went on and I didn't talk about my parents as a lot, um, to the people who use my art because, uh, we don't see many black people talk about mental health and their experiences. So it was really important to have somebody who will look like you talk about this. So as I started to go to therapy and, um, look for more support, um, I started talking more about being molested. I used to be really ashamed to talk about it, especially since it was within our own family. It's a lot more, um, shame that comes with it. Sometimes people don't always really want to speak up, especially if you were close to the other two white girls. I was really close to my stepsister, my brother, not as much, but he was still family, so it was hard for me to talk about those things, especially since, um, when we are in, usually they tell us that I'd like somebody who could do something like this to you with a stranger or a stranger. They usually don't tell you it could be somebody within your own family. So, um, I feel like that was another reason that I didn't speak up about it right away. And when you asked me about the board. And so, um. It wasn't until my dad died that I told everybody what happened. And this could happen a lot. And family, like, maybe, you know, being in the family in court and dying and all the family secrets come out. So, um, unfortunately, I had to set boundaries, which some people in my family, um, being a two people that molested me, uh, my mom and my mom, because they really have not come to terms with what happened. And I don't really like the way I was treated like, uh, one of my mom older daughters. I actually had to take her to court because, um, she wanted to fight me for talking about everything that's been going on with me. Like, I've been really open about my experiences with, um, being abused by, um, not only just my stepsister, but also my mom, who was very emotionally abusive to me, and my dad, you know, in black family, we're told what happened in this house. They didn't tell folks. When you start talking about stuff like that, sometimes it can be kind of hard for people. So I had to, um, actually go to court and try to get a restraining order against her. And, um, yeah, there are some people in my family that did understand, and I still talk to them, but the people who don't understand, I've just, um, I've made boundaries and I've made peace with it because, um, a lot of times people aren't black women and black girls not to speak about our trauma. And I'm not going to do that. And, well, it's because yeah, yeah, you're saving lives doing that, you know, and you're so brave in sharing your story because I can only I can only imagine how it feels to say the words out loud to the people who hurt you, and to not know how they're going to respond. You know, you don't know how they're going to take it. And so there's a lot of fear that can be, um, that can affect you on top of the trauma that's already affected you. And so you're very brave. Um, so in your app, what what do people, what can people expect to find in your app that's going to help them or help someone that they know? Um, I would love to offer it to you. I would love for you to explain to us, you know, what's in the app and what people can expect and learn from. 2s Right. Let me explain that. They played that for the Mental Health Act for the black community. We see how racism impacts the mental health of the black community and how we have access to mental health resources. So within the app, I talk a lot about how there's racism in psychology. A lot of people don't know that. Um, there was a time period that psychology thought that black people were immune to mental illness. There are things that are called like psychosis, which basically means when they were protesting for the right, like a Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, they were protesting black men. They would say that they were schizophrenic and dangerous for protesting for, um, black civil rights. Mhm. So there is a lot of racism in psychology to make black people feel like therapy services aren't for us. But it's really it is really upsetting because of course in black people have gone through so much systemic racism in America. We actually need 30 days when there's the plague. Right, right. 1s Light, though in the same way that I talk a lot about the history of racism in psychology, why black people feel like we don't want to think, um, therapy rethought things like, for example, a lot of black people in the church and it's like me included. I, um, grew up in the church thinking that mental illness was a demon. And, um, sorry, a lot of people don't know that there is a mental illness called mania. And it was created right here in New Orleans, Louisiana, during slavery. So there was this, um, this white physician named Samuel a Cartwright, and he trained and draped banner and it basically meant as a black slave ran away from their master because they didn't want to be a slave. They would label them mentally ill. And the way they were punished, um, they were either cut off vocal that they told, or they would whip the devil out of the slave and listen to the devil over the slave part. That's where that comes in. Like in the church, when we think that mental illness is a demon and it is something that evil, it comes from racism in psychology. But many people don't know that. Yeah. Wow. 1s Wow. Jasmine. Wow. Are you is your background in psychology at all? Like, tell us a little bit more about your background, because I think it's important for people to understand that. And of course it doesn't matter what your background is. You can go research, you can read, you can study. But I would love for them to know your background because it helps us tie tie this all together with the knowledge that you have and the passion that you have. So please share that to. 2s Oh, I started being a mental health advocate about ten years ago. It feels even weird to say that I can't believe I'm intelligent about mental health for ten years. Yeah, but like that, that delayed my start. I didn't think I was going to, like, actually be in the field. I just wanted to talk about it because I was going through it. And I know there was many people, you know, that looked like me that didn't talk about it. Right? So I didn't know that I was like, really going to like, make a career out of it. And so I thought, how did I run? Yeah. So maybe like a few years into me being a mental health advocate, I started going and fortification to like the third sort of behavior that I think I got was, um, for suicide prevention, just to learn how to help people who are going through a crisis. And then after that, I got my fortification for peer support. And basically a peer support specialist is somebody who has a lived experience with mental health disorders or, um, stuff or interviews, and they basically help others who, um, go through those experiences as well. Like they're basically, um, they have somebody as support and somebody can talk to you about those experiences. And a lot of people don't know about peer support and mental health, but they're very they're a very important part of help. You kind of having somebody that you know can relate to you is very important. So that was my next step. And after that I've been getting notifications, um, around the, I think throughout my, um, let me see. I'm thinking I draw a blank. No. The last time. Yeah. I mean, you're and you're in it every day. 2s Okay. Yeah. No, no, the number one I'm going to pick up all that. Okay. So when I got my clear support with notification, I had to take certification each year to keep my own signification up. So I'm always thinking, um, continue an education unit to learn more about, like how the mental health bill works. And that's like, like very different, um, continuing education unit each year. And, um, I did recently at the school, um, meeting you because I think, to be honest, 1s um, yeah, I got to go and like, um, I had never done that before. That was something else I needed to do that helped my app grow, because, I mean, I didn't I didn't know anything about running a business, really. I was just like asking people that I know, like, hey, how do I do this? Like taking notes of, like, learning, you know, being a sponge and learning from people. But I'm like, I don't really want to go to school and learn more. And it's like, I wasn't expecting the opportunity to this opportunity that we had to come up. But it did, and it was just another amazing experience. And like, everything's been graduated this year, like, um, I've seen my business grow even more and that plays out in just. It's becoming a really big deal in the mental health field when it comes to like how racism impacts mental health, because unfortunately, we don't have many mental health resources that focus on black mental health. We do have some, but it's not enough. Yeah, and I created this app so we could have something going on. Yeah. Because we don't have I don't think we don't have many spaces where we can talk about our mental health and build by talking about it. Right. And like you shared, it affects, um, African Americans. Black Americans are 20% more likely to experience serious mental health problems and the rest of the general population. And so, yes, it's an important topic for everyone. Um, but because we focus, you know, we're we're trying to get our community to change the thinking in the mindset. And I love how you brought in not only your background and experience professionally, but your personal experience and the history of why this is so important. As we start seeing the truth in the systems that we live in, like we live in these systems that, um, were based on a lot of practices that were racist. And so it's very important. I love that you share the history and the background, even from right here in New Orleans, and how we have to at least be aware of what has happened in the past so we don't repeat it and we can change our thinking about things. And I like that in your app, you also have you have the safe chat wall, you have artwork, you have support groups. Um, you talk about self-care tips. So everything from police brutality to the black church like you mentioned, to how to talk to your family members who might not understand or might not, um, relate necessarily, even though I think we all can relate, they might not want to address it. So you have tips in there on how to talk to your family. You have breathing techniques. You got meditation like you have a lot in here that is beneficial. So if people are just not sure where to start, start at the safe place, like start at the Safe Place app. It's a great place to start. Um, you talked about the growth of your business since we did. Uh, so we were both part of the Be Good foundation. They did the New Orleans and Houston cohort, and we got to learn from some industry professionals and such and meet each other, meet other founders. And since then you had some really big news locally as well with the mayor. So can you share what's going on there? Like what's the good news? 2s Yeah. So I recently been contacted by City Hall to talk about mental health. Um, yeah. On May 30th and Mental Health Awareness Month. And I was like, oh my God, that's a really big deal. The city of New Orleans distracted me. Yes. Uh, like you're making you're making a difference, a huge difference. I mean, they I can't imagine, you know, the experiences that you've had, the people that you've met. And I certainly want to ask you about that in a second. Um. 1s It's it's for a really big purpose. And so I hope you're very, very proud because this is not the easy work. Like this is not easy. We're dealing with heavy emotions, um, and just what people are going through. I've looked at some of the feedback on your app and people are absolutely, like, loving. And they feel like it's a necessity and they feel like they're being seen. And even with your book, you know, your book is available right now online. Y'all can get it at Amazon. A fight worth finishing, um, that you wrote back in about 2016. Is that right? 2s Oh, that sounds about right. About what needs to be in 2016. Okay. And it's on Barnes and Noble dot coms. Y'all go shop and get your books and share them with family and friends. Um, but I think it's amazing. And I can only imagine how much bigger this is going to be in the work that you'll be able to to continue doing so through your app. Can you share like who have been some of the what's been some of the stories that you've heard from people maybe that continue to encourage you, you know, keep you going? Any any stories from folks that are like, thank you so much that you would want to share. 3s Yeah, I think that's the biggest compliment I get from people is like something in the app helps to save their lives. Like, wow, that's like the biggest compliment to me because that's the reason I created the app in the third place. I know, like there's many struggling out there and wondering if they can make it and stuff. And so like when I hear that, I'm like, wow, yeah, the reason I did this though, it makes me, um, happy that it's giving that kind of impact. Yeah. That's amazing. So I have a little, uh, fill in the blank sentence for you, so let me know if this is too hard. I could find another one. Huh? So this one is an I wish I knew blank when I was blank. 5s I. 2s I wish I knew when I was a little girl that I was going to grow up and do 1s something that I really wanted to do, because when I was a little girl, I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do in the health care field, but I always knew I wanted to help people. So I always kind of doubted myself because I've always been a pretty decent student, but because of my mental health, sometimes it would make things really hard for me to concentrate and focus on things. And I wasn't sure like if I was going to be able to, you know, pursue my dream of helping people in the health care field in some way. So, yeah, I hope that the big question. Yeah, no, it definitely answers the question. Um, and what's been keeping you? What do you have, like a certain mantra or meditation that you love to do? Like what is your self-care practice that keeps you, um, keeps you going really? Like, is it a mantra? Is something that you say to yourself, an affirmation, a practice? Because that's one of the things that we always love to share from our guests. It's like, what are we doing that other people might be able to take some nuggets from to help with their self-care. 2s Well, one thing that I've been going every day now is yoga, because I get really when I get stressed out, my body like really feels it. So doing stretches every day and just like yoga poses like it's really been helping with my mental health. Also like meditating and sometimes taking a nap afterwards. We don't get enough sleep. So I'm positive and. 2s I know that well, a lot of it. Yeah. And like, um, a month ago. Well, okay. So when my dad, um, when my dad was still alive, um, sometimes me and him would watch, um, the Bernie Mac show together. Uh, I think, yeah, that was just one that filled me with, like what? And there was this one episode when he was talking to his niece Vanessa, about something, and she was not doing confident. And he was. He told her, um, Vanessa, you're a mac, and you can do anything you set your mind to. And doing that kind of was like, really kind of going through confident excuse myself with school. And my dad turned to me and he's like, you heard what Bernie said. He's like, Jaclyn, you're out there and you can do anything you set the mind to. No, no no no not it. Oh my gosh. Those nuggets just, like, lasts forever. I don't know, I have a couple of things like that where it's like, you just never forget like like and it kind of you're reminded, right? When you really, really need to be reminded, like, okay, all right, all right, I'll keep going. You know. 2s Exactly. I got a little nod. And anytime that I feel like I'm not doing enough as an entrepreneur. Like I remember when he said, like it still in my mind even now, though. Yeah, I'm. I'm glad I had the great day. Oh, right. I want to hear more about what you're looking for right now, for either the safe place or for. I know you're a certified peer support specialist. You do public speaking. Obviously, we talked about you being an author. Um, what are you looking for right now to help boost your business? If there's someone listening who would be able to help or support or whether it's funding, marketing, whatever it is like, what can we do as the community around you to support the growth of the safe place and, you know, help you in your mission? 2s In April. And right now we're actually working to raise $15,000. We kind of, um, unfortunately happen to happen. Very expensive. Yeah. Um, a lot of times I do. I do put my own money into it, which, um, I don't have any problem with. But if I feel expensive that I have to raise funding each year. So, um, that's what I've been doing since the outside. Um, been started. I usually, I usually raise funding each year, but the outset got in, like, so much more, um, popular. Uh, we have 20, almost 23. Um, I'm sorry. We almost have 23,000 subscribers now. Oh. The glory. You know, the more I grow the ground, I have to put into it. Yeah. Um, yeah, I raised funding for that each year. Um, we're also raising funding for, um, black mental health research. And not only like I do a lot of research on black mental health, but I always realized, like, there's not enough research on how racism impacts mental health specifically. And I want to argue in case studying like research 30 to learn more about how, um, how the systemic racism in America is impacting black mental health. But I don't believe in doing like research studies without paying people. So, like, I want to be able to pay the people that I'm talking to you. So I'm raising funding to be able to, um, you know, when I do these research study, I can pay the patient so they don't feel like, you know, I'm just training them for their time. Like, I had people do that to me, and then I just don't like when people just, you know, they don't pay you for your time, so. Right. I want to make sure that, um, I can do that for them. And I have just more, um, we could need more research studies. We really do. Yeah, I love that. I, um, I think I know what I think the National Institute of Health does offer some grants out there for research and development. And then also the National Science Foundation might be a there might be something tied into theirs, since you are also in tech, mental health, there's also the psychiatry of mental health and like what medications people are taking or using that go into that. So and I think, um, the American Educational Research Association too, and I'm also naming some of these for anyone that might be listening. Um, there's another founder I can connect you with. She does a lot of SBIR grant writing, um, for her company. She's not in the mental health space at all, but, um, she's she's an advocate for grants over, you know, all the types of other funding we have to go out there and try to get as founders. So, um, those might be helpful, too. What advice would you have for anyone out there who wants to create their own, you know, start their own company and specifically like an app, like, what advice would you have for them before they dive in or even after they've already started? 2s I'm glad you mentioned it. A lot of people do ask me this question. My first thing would tell them, the first thing I'm going to tell you is to do your research, like because all of Nigeria did the same. So you want to make sure like, um, 1s well, you want to make sure like if you want to create the app yourself, or do you want to hire an app developer, like how do you want your app to function? Like there's a lot of different things that you have to think about. So you want to research those things. And the next thing that I did was, um, I reached out to the developer and I asked them question right, um, how does the app run? Like, um, who can I talk to to like, make it run like, or if it's the wrong person to not reach out to. So it's like a lot of, um, different the concept of, like, questions and like finding the right, finding the light material to figure out how your app that going the, um, how you going to function and also when you figure out how you're going to function. I got a notebook and I like, um, from scratch. I load everything down like I wrote picture. I mean, I drew pictures, I wrote. No, like, you want to be like, um, but think of, like, how you want your app to look. How do you want everything in the app to function to, like, write all of those things down? Because it can be very helpful when you do find the right, um, you know, company that you might want to work with for the value of your app, or if you want to develop the actor. So it can be really helpful if you have all those notes, because, you know, you might have a lot of things in your mind and like it gets really easy when you put it on paper. Yeah, I love that advice. So get get your ideas out. Don't just have them sitting in your head. So it sounds like get them out, write them down, map it out and start asking other people who have done it. You know the same questions. What what would they recommend? Well, who they might recommend. They work with what about funding? How? Because I know you mentioned grants. Have you done any. And obviously we did the B good foundation. So that was a grant. What other types of funding are you looking for or what you would and wouldn't recommend other people look for? 3s Um. So let's see one. Okay. So one way that I do, um, get funding and by crowdfunding, that's about it. You know, the, um, you can use like platform, like Go Fund Me or like there or other platform like that where you can just like, um, tell your story to people and, um, why you're trying to raise the money if you don't want to do that. I also like I, it's like a second job for me. Like, I'm always like, trying to apply to grant all the time because you just never know. Like, if you start to research, just, like, whatever, um, whatever fill you're in, like, whatever, grant you're trying to get, just research and play. But then like Google and a lot of things can pop up. So like I do it like that too. And then one way I got a grant from Google and Austin, Texas. Like I think there was like the idea was that it might have been 2018. I got a grant from Google and Austin, Texas. Wow. I've gotten, you know, um, that another few grants from like, um, community organizations, maybe like 5000 here, 2000 there and, but, um, a majority of my, um, funding has come from, from crowdfunding just by getting, um, people to help through, um, I talk a lot about the app on social media. Yeah. A lot of people do know how passionate I am about my organization, my organization. They know the money is going to go to the app. So a lot of people who support the app have also like put funding in it as well, which had been really helpful over the years. But I want people to know that, um, if you're a black founder, it can be a lot harder for us sometimes to land those grants, especially if you are in the mental health field, because unfortunately, mental health is extremely underfunded, but it's not impossible. So he had been telling people about some of the grants group at Warren because I want people to know that even though it's like hard, it's not impossible. You have to keep trying. Yeah, that's so real. And one of the things I didn't know. And I guess not. Not just didn't know, but really didn't realize until like recently was that. And it's very important to consider when you're thinking about your business planning is how long it's going to take those funds to actually get to you. So you might pitch a company, you know, in 2024, but you might not get those funds until the end of the year, or you might not get them until 2025, or you might not get them until you hit certain milestones that they need you to to meet, whether that's your actual metrics, like if it's an app, it could be number downloads or, you know, the low burn rate or whatever. And it's very similar even in CPG. You know, for anyone out there who's going to be looking into funding, really try to focus on your customers and your business and it will draw some of the funding. But you definitely have to consistently be fundraising because of the timelines. You just never really know if you're going to get it and you don't know when. And it's also something I have learned to share. But Jasmine, I am just so grateful for you. Thank you again for sharing. I want to make sure and when I share this, I'm also going to share links to your book, um, press opportunities. Um, there's a link for anyone that's interested in interviewing Jasmine or wanting to learn more. Um, definitely want to make sure we share that. Definitely check out her book A Fight Worth Finishing. Um, you can get it. I said on like. Like I said on Amazon, uh, the mighty. Com Barnes and Noble. So I'll share links to that and anything else you want to share. Anything new news, what's coming up next. And also share your your social media where people can connect with you. 2s I just want to thank you for having me on, and it was a really great conversation. Uh, yeah, I enjoyed this. Yeah, I'm glad that we finally got a chance to talk, and I'm glad we got the need. You know, I know we did here as well. It was great. You know, I've been seeing you on the screen for for months. It was great to see you and I know likewise. 2s In my social media channels okay. So on Instagram it's, um, at, it's the same place and that is also for the Twitter now and yeah. And getting it now and uh, but interestingly the same place, the safe place. Awesome. Well I'm gonna share it. I certainly, um, if I see any grants or opportunities out there, I'm going to be sending them your way. That's in mental health or community, and I wish you the best. I know you're gonna do amazing. I'm excited for you to be speaking with the city at the end of the month, so I'll be looking out for you so I can share that too. But yeah, anything we could do to support anything I can do personally, you let me know and I wish you the best. We'll talk soon. I mean, you're right here in New Orleans, so I know we'll catch up soon. So, uh. Absolutely. Thank you again. No problem. All right. Talk soon. Bye bye. 2s It's. That wraps up another episode of saved With Your Breast podcast. You know, it's just a play on the cabinet. Jokes with you. Just go look it up. I'm your girl, Arielle Brown. I am the founder of Stay Up With Your Breast podcast, which we started in 2017 to share amazing stories like Jasmine's. And in 2020 I founded these badass skincare that it's b a s the new skincare where we are helping eczema sufferers like myself with their scalp care, haircare and skincare needs. Now, if you are interested in being on the show, send us a message. I would love to talk to you. Share your story. Collaborate. Partner. Let's do this. All right, check us out at Say It with your breast on. Stay with your breast.com. There we go. And b a s body skincare.com. Peace of love by.