Minnie Questions with Anne Wojcicki

I'm so excited to be back and even more excited to share this special episode from Many Driver. If you haven't already checked out her show, you gotta do it. It's called Many Questions and I've been on it and it was great and I feel like we're friends now, but I hope we're not overstepping my bounds anyway. Check out the whole podcast now. In this episode, you're about to hear Many Sits with an Wajiski, co founder and

CEO of twenty three in Me. What an intimate and inspiring conversation between two women who share a deep appreciation for both health and happiness from the joy of finding moments of adventure, bigger, small, to the importance of advocating for oneself many and and they explore it all. And story is one of community and connection with a unique early childhood fascination for how the human genome works. It's definitely not a part of my childhood story, but that's

why she runs the company and me. Yet it was this fascination that ultimately inspired Ann's lifelong mission of empowering others to take ownership of their personal health. AND's work asks us, what can your genetics tell you? And how can it help you lead a healthier and happier life As someone who has been fondly referred to as the Princess of Possibilities, and helps us understand where to find some of these answers. And it's no secret that your d n A may have something to do with it.

Let's take a listen. You have two sisters. I have two sisters, so I live with my middle sister. Are you the youngest with the oldest from the youngest? Ha? I see, I was the youngest to them, became the middle of three, So I get it. I get that dynamic. We very much have the birth order dynamics in our family. We all tease each other about that aspect. It's a real thing, No, I joke. I was like in the company. One of my superpowers is learning how to ignore people,

and I learned that from my siblings. So I I never mind getting criticism, I never mind taking feedback because I'm really good at ignoring it. You've been say whatever you want. I'm gonna, you know, make my own decisions. And hello, I'm Mini driver. Welcome to Many Questions, Season two. I've always loved Prust's questionaire. It was originally a nineteenth century parlor game where players would ask each other thirty five questions aimed at revealing the other player's true nature.

It's just the scientific method, really. In asking different people the same set of questions, you can make observations about which truths appeared to be universal. I love this discipline, and it made me wonder, what if these questions were just the jumping off point, what greater depths would be revealed if I ask these questions as conversation starters with

thought leaders and trailblazers across all these different disciplines. So I adapted Pruf's questionnaire and I wrote my own seven questions that I personally think a pertinent to a person's story they are when and where were you happiest? What is the quality you like least about yourself? What relationship, real or fictionalized, defines love for you? What question would you most like answered? What person, place, or experience has shaped you the most? What would be your last meal?

And can you tell me something in your life that's grown out of a personal disaster? And I've gathered a group of really remarkable people, ones that I am honored and humbled to have had the chance to engage with. You may not hear their answers to all seven of these questions. We've whittled it down to which questions felt closest to their experience or the most surprising, or created the most fertile ground to connect My guest today on many questions is the founder and CEO of the biotech

Phenomenon twenty three and me and which is key? And founded the company with the central idea of creating a consumer product that sought to rework the healthcare model by empowering individuals to take control of their own health. I know when I did the DNA test, I was interested in my ancestry you'll perhaps be unsurprised to hear that

I'm virtually a Northern European, specifically Anglo Saxon. The other focus though, of twenty three and me, are these health reports the company also fair that give you a deeper, more complex view of your health using your DNA. It's pretty extraordinary to be able to find out if you're an increased risk of developing certain diseases ahead of actually

developing them. It gives you a chance to take preventative measures, to really see your own health from the place of knowledge being power, and is an incredibly inspiring person to talk to. She was the kind of child who lay in bed at night wondering about molecular biology and the expanding universe. But she also seems to be the kind of person who wouldn't judge someone like me who used to lie in bed at night dreaming about being on

night Rider. Where and when were you happiest? There's two things so one I mean, which I think every man would say, it's like the birth of my children was just there's nothing better than the day your children are born. There's just there's no comparison. Yes, But when I think about besides that, moment which I have to miss honor.

I took off a year when I was traveling after the stock market went crazy in two thousand and I finally said, like, I need a break, and I decided that the only place I could go to get peace and quiet was Siberia. Oh you like the cold, Okay, Well it was in the summer. Well, no, I take it back. It was it was September. I made the mistake. It got cold. Maybe I left in August. But I decided I was going to take the train across Siberia. It was going to be meditative, the Trans Siberian correct,

I've heard of that trine. So I started in Moscow and I ended in Beijing, and I stopped along the way and I wanted to go to a place called Lake which is in you know, near Mongolia, and there's an island on in it called Okon Island. And I just wanted to go to this island and camp. And I remember once I got there and I had this guide and I remember asking, I was like, what do we do? He's like, you will watch the fire, Like

That's all we did. And it was the first time I remember it was like there was kind of before that moment where I was so attached to my BlackBerry kind of running, and then there was after that where I was like, you just enjoy like every moment was so vivid and it's amazing, like to be really free in the world, Like I had one pair of pants,

one pair of sweat, one sweater, two shirts. I didn't have a phone, and I just traveled like every day was a little bit different, and again I had no responsibility. There's something about being truly free and having no responsibility and exploring the world. And I remember getting to Beijing and walking in and it was like I had my bags, I couldn't speak the language, like it smells totally different.

And I remember just like I love everything about this, like it's just so different and I can't wait to explore. And I kept traveling. I just loved it. And as you know, like as as a parent, like once you have children, you're never mentally free, like you will always you'll always worry about them. And so there's a brief moment when you're an adult un till you have kids where you actually are truly free, absolutely, because that's really

what it is. It's like that nomadic impetus just to go to go and put yourself in a different landscape, a different environment, to not worry, to be able to put down a phone. That is a pre kids experience. Because you're right, you can try. I've tried to go off by myself. It's hard. I mean I can, but I'm your brain is will forever be with them. You're always gonna want to check in, You're always gonna worry. And I think there was something about, you know, even

in this time, it's hard to ever fully disconnect. I have no doubt if I went back to that island, I would have cell access. And you know, there was something about like really forcing a break and just enjoying that experience. And I think I love that sense of adventure. So I used to bike to work every day, and I would never take the same path. And in part because, like I just I love getting lost, Like I love

getting lost and figuring it out. I love exploring, like seeing new things, like seeing a new restaurant, like seeing a new house, like somebody change their garden, Like I just there's something about like that tiny, minuscule sense of adventure that you get when you're you know, working and with kids that really kept my brain alive. I couldn't agree with you more. I'm not the biggest fan of routine, and routine is what children obviously thrive on, but finding

the variants. I think freedom and variety would be corner stones of happiness for me as well. My favorite thing I used to do with my dad when I was little. I would get in the car. He wouldn't have a destination, and I would get to pick left or right. Yeah, that's funny. I used to do that as well. Yeah. Yeah, I think there's some people who love that kind of

adventure and some people who just don't. But I love that sense of wild adventure, like no idea where I'm going to be, Like I've spring break next week and I do not know where I'm going. That's super fun. I like that. I think it's really good being that kind of apparent as well. I think they get to see that modeled, just that idea of get lost and you can always figure it out. There's always somewhere to stay, always somewhere to eat, can always sleep in your car.

It's a good exercise exactly. And also you can always figure out where the north star is. We just learned that on a camping trip in the desert recently. It was so brilliant. There's all sorts of tricks you can always mind, Yeah, what relationship real or fictionalized to finds lovely. I had a truly extraordinary childhood. I've had the same best friends since I had Again, I met one of my best friends in kindergarten, another a couple of years later.

And there's something about true love that when you can go through all those iterations again, I go through my childhood, I go through adulthood. You know, it's up and down, and it's incredibly supportive, real connection that endures and also evolves and evolves, and it's it's it's it's the type of thing where again I think about it from like a rubber band perspective, is you have that ability to

stay connected, but you're not it's not restrictive. Again, I think back on on the relationship and also how different we all are now, but yet how supportive of like the true person and like evolving and becoming your your that real person. So I'm grateful to the whole community that I grew up in because it's a community, like we do events all the time for like the community that we grew up with, and it's all these people

who I've known since kindergarten and my parents friends. It's this like true appreciation for differences and that you're a unique person. And I think that's kind of one thing that I love is like that in some ways, like the more you are truly you, it's like everyone shines. There's no force of conformity other than that you should be the true you. So I feel really lucky whenever people talk about me and my sisters, and I almost feel I have to correct them because it does take

a village in that capacity. And I think back again my friendly met in kindergarten, those parents, like I call them emano, but like mom and dad and their siblings, like they were part of the whole community that raised all of us and that are still taught me about

true relationships and true connection. That's so interesting, this huge business that you're doing, when actually the fundament of it is because it feels to me that microcosm of a connected community that you come from, beloved and appreciated and supportive.

You take that to the macro and you put that on a global like imagine if one could have that feeling of connectivity and community on a global scale, like how different the world will be, Like I completely understand why you why twenty three and me is like your life's work. Like that makes that's super cool though. I really like that it's connected to your emotional evolution, to how you yourself evolved. I think in some ways the best companies are almost just an extension of the person.

Do you think that that is exactly what it is? That really the ones that work are they are connected on a deep level. Yeah. I like, to me, twenty three is not a it's not like it's just a company. When I talk to a lot of the founders in the area where they've done really well and it's and they've stayed connected, it's because it's such an extension of them. And in a lot of ways, like I'm perpetually fueled by the intellectual curiosity and also the sense of community.

I think that we foster and we foster a real community. I think there's nothing more lonely than the experience of health and being sick and trying to find the right people that and connect to. So I think doing more in that area and then connecting the world as a family and helping people see that, you know, celebrate that the connectedness, but also each person's individuality. What question would you most like answered? What? As a child used to

keep me up at night? What this is? I like, I remember learning about things like the electron transport chain, like like how your cells work and your DNA and wondering like your body is this incredible? Like each cell is like New York City and it functions and I don't do anything. I go to bed and all this work is happening. And I remember as a kid, I was like, doesn't it keep you up? Like how is

it all happening? And so again, the things that perplexed me the most are the molecular biology g and and how the body works and that's why again it gets down to the genome, like that's the code, Like how is it that you have such spectacular diversity on this planet? And where does this all come from? Is that what made you so interested in observable DNA reports? Like is that where it began? There's two things that like we're

big triggers for me. So one, as a child, I loved twin studies, Like I remember when National Geographic pulled out a whole you know, edition about twins and the twin studies, and I remember just pouring through it and just fascinating, like identical twins separated at birth, what's similar? What's what's genetic and what's environment? And the first time I had ever heard about d n A was from my mom and she was yelling about something she was I was about five, and she was yelling at my

sister for something about her genes. And I remember thinking she was wearing shorts and that my mom was confused, and so I kept asking. I was like, what are genes? What are genes? And then my mom explained, you know, genes and environment, and I was just fascinated, like what do you mean, Like, there's like a code inside you and then it interacts with your environment and you have this ability to understand the code, and then you know

change how you live. And then you could remember asking her as like, then you could live forever like you could you'd be healthy. And so from early on, I was always fascinated with health. And I had spent a lot of time thinking about going to medical school. And I love people like I loved I worked as a patient advocate, and I love just like sitting with people

as they're you know, waiting for surgery. And I remember talking to this woman who was the first black family in Napa, and remember hearing everything about like the journey that they had across and you know what it was like living there and just sitting there while she was waiting for surgery, like every human is fascinating and so kind of It was that combination of like I love genetics, I love looking at jeans and environment, and I love

the store, like I love connecting with people. It's the stories. Like the story that's all I have to tell you, just really quickly is an adject because my mother, when she was dying, we were telling stories with her and she went, do you remember when you made me do the twenty three and me and I was like yeah, because I wanted to make sure that we were related. And she said, and I said to you, they're only going to find out that I'm red lipstick. We did

it together because we were interested. We were interested in those stories and in the stories of our ancestors. So where that begins, your health story is connected to that. But I loved finding out I am quite literally as Anglo Saxon as it gets. I'm like nine point seven percent British and Irish, which is astonishing, which means that like, my people literally never left that sodden, freezing, cold, lump lumpish island that is England. Well you proved them you

moved to California. Good job, you're the breakout. And of course now my skin is not supposed to be in the Californian sun. But I'm fully aware of that because I know what my history is. Yeah, well, I think that's what's fun. Is like you can look a certain way and people think they know their ancestry, but there's always interesting surprises. Everyone also finds relatives, like whether you know your ancestry actually matches what you thought it was,

your genetic ancestry matches what you thought. But then there's like the whole world of like you're connected to people that you never knew you were connected to. And we even found that we have a first cousin that we didn't know about. Yeah, so it's I always tell people like, if you don't have a family a DNA relative story, you know, just sit back and wait and I'm sure

one will come your way. Like the reality is that life is complicated, life is long, and people like sex, and so you know, you end up having a lot of relatives that you didn't necessarily know about. I think I have to find out that Adam Driver is my cousin. Oh you know. That was one of the first studies we ever did, is Warren Buffett and Jimmy Buffett. Oh my god, I want to find out they came to us determined like that, you have to find out how

we're related. We had a very brief conversation once I had family drive. A family moved from Ireland to Canada and they then moved down to the neighboring state that Adam drivers family is from, and it felt like there was proximity enough that there was a likelihood if it was a neighboring state. But I'd love to know. That would be a fun follow onto the story. He might not want to know. Be like god, no, because I if I am, then that's going to follow me around

like a yoke ask me forever. But connection and storytelling like that is the nexcess of science and art like right there. So what's one of the things that's interesting is most of science today is not made accessible. I agree. So that was like one of the other things, like my father is a particle physicist, and when there was a Nobel Prize given for the expanding Universe, and I remember asking my dad. I was like, what's the difference

between an expanding universe versus an inflating universe? And he looks at me. He's like, well, one is expanding and one's inflating. And I was like, you know, thanks, dad, that's great. I didn't catch that. And I realized, like, there has to be a way to make science accessible and relatable. I see because again I have my little kids, like fourth grade humor, when people are like looking at like, oh I can do this with my Like I'm double jointed.

Can you do this? Can you do that? Like that's like we're all different, and how do you get people excite it about human you know, human variety, human variation, and like the magical experience of science. I mean, I wonder if it would make us more tolerant as well, Like the more that we see being able to twist your tongue is a genetic coding. But that idea that I wonder if you see someone who looks differently to you, but they can do the same thing that you can

do with your body, So there is this connection. There are these pathways and bridges, Like I wonder if that also, like the more that we know, the more that we know that we're connected, will we start living in a more connected way? Will there be a sort of systemic societal change based on really bellying up to our connectivity rather than the hideous separation that everyone seems to keep

fighting for. Well, we had some and there was a story that was written about this of somebody who was descendant of white supremacists who had a child that they had last tracker or didn't know about, and that child

had multiracial children and they reconnected on twenty three me. Wow, And he said he was like I had to really assess my past, like how I was raised, because these are my grandchildren and I'm going to love them, and it's this whole It's a really wonderful story about sort of that reconciliation of Like, and the father of these children was like, was I excited to have a white supremacist grandfather? Like no, but like it's family, so we're going we're going to work through it. And they spend

time together. So I do think it's been an eye open up for a number of customers to realize that they have this assumption of like, oh, I'm French or I'm I'm something, but the reality is you are quite connected to everyone, and one day there's going to be the ability to put together a human map where every single person is connected and so we are all connected. I mean then the amazing thing to the reason why

I'm fascinated with DNA is like, it's so simple. You have four letters, A, C, G, and T, and it represents all of life. So my kids like again, talk about all the time you are connected to a banana, like you have d N A in common. And I was like, and you are more connected to a snail, like, we are interconnected to everything that's alive on this planet. And it's a remarkable story of like how like again, such a simple foundation can lead to such spectacular diversity everywhere,

and the diversity is the story of our success. You know, you have dark skin for a reason and you have pale skin for a reason, and part of it is because there's survival advantages around that. So you know, some mutations are just random, and some mutations like make it that you are more likely to survive. So that's why we should absolutely celebrate and embrace, like diversity is why we know that the human species is going to survive. Like one thing I'm fascinated with is again this world

of global global warming. I had one day my head of marketing, Um, it was a hundred thirty degrees in Arizona, and my head of marketing is, like, I have to go down to Arizona. I just I love it when it's over a twenty and I remember staring at her. I was like, you are made for global warming, Like you're going to survive. I don't like heat. There's even like that kind of variety, like some people just love

super super hot weather. So we have again we should absolutely be embracing this kind of diversity and like celebrating and minding it and understanding it that we're all very different. I agree twenty three and me is part of like the interest in that as well, that thinking about molecular biology of mapping, what we can know of mapping as much as we can know, while leaving space for that which we will never know. Is that part of the impetus of going, well, let's create maps where we can well.

Part of twenty three was like we should understand what the human genome does like how we should understand how it works. It's a code, right, It's a code in my mind. It almost gets down to again going back to the physics element, which is like functions off some there's major rules like equals mc square, Like there's major rules, Like biology doesn't have a lot of that other than we have you know, the A, C, G, and T. But I'm trying, like there's some amazing work now that's

about how does that actually translate into a protein? And then can you predict the function? Is that where the health reports would come from. That kind of idea it that you can predict the kinds of things that would

happen around sudden sets of DNA. So the whole idea here is like everyone is born with a certain set of risks, so the same way like you have this incredible variation in your genome, and so you can have blue eyes, you have brown eyes, but you can also have you know, being higher risk for diabetes, lower risk

for diabetes. Very little of your genetics is deterministic, meaning like you know, you can have a genetic predisposition for something correct, but it doesn't mean you're definitely going to have it right. To me, then it was all about, well, you interact with the environment all day long, So how am I eating? You know, how am I exercising? Like

I'm standing right now? You know, if there's all the kinds of data about how you stand, like I sleep, I absolutely prioritize sleeping because there's all kinds of data now actually pointing to mental health and your physical health and how much you're actually sleeping and then what time you go to bed. So I've always been interested in the interaction. So you have yourselves all communicating, but then you also get all these inputs. That's why it's so

spectacularly complicated. Did great, So I'm glad that you're unwrapping all of this and not me. I will continue to spit into my thing and you'll then tell me what's up. And this is where I get. I feel like we're surrounded by amazing people who just the amount of data now that we can have, we can like start to find these things and really help people understand risks. I think that's the key, being able to help people assess the risk and sort of get out ahead of things

potentially right. And also, no, I mean most of the world doesn't focus on prevention. I mean, it's a really sad part of healthcare is that healthcare doesn't make money if you never get sick. Like I read about there's this ranger who just retired at a hundred. She's amazing, she and she was a park ranger. She retired at a hundred. Obamba gave her a tribute, But she is kind of the examples, like she is healthy at a hundred, you're not generating a lot of money for the health system.

So when you're sick, you generate money. But if you're healthy, Oh my god, it's so awful. That's so well and it's such a hideous idea. Yeah, so that's part of the reason why we're self pay and part of the reason you know, twenty three is focused in that world

of prevention. But it's in your hands. Then, So what do you do if you're afraid of finding out that you're predisposed potentially to something, even though you know it's not deterministic, Like how can people kind of barely up to the idea that I'm going to look at this health report and I'm going to see that there is a certain percentage chance that I may be predisposed to this.

I mean, the reality is everyone's at risk for something, right, and if you look at your family history, you probably know you know various risks that you may or may

not have. So the data that we have so far is that you know, it's it's people find out something like they're higher risk for Alzheimer's, and it will cause people to really think about it, and they can be anxious initially, but it returns to baseline, so it changes their life in terms of like very practical things, like in the case of Alzheimer's, people were going and buying

long term care insurance, so being proactive. So one of the big things we think about is, you know, can you actually help people know how to live their life. So we're never gonna be able to tell you the day you're going to die, like people always ask that. I was like, no, no no, that artic will cost a lot more money. We don't have that. But we can help you understand risks. So if you know that, for instance, you're higher risk or type you diabetes, you can really modify.

You can change your eating habits or things like you know, I look at more severe conditions, even like chronic kidney disease, you can test proactively. You know. The reality is like you have to be a partner with your physician as well to know what are your risks? What are the things that you have to look for because you're not going to get screened for everything all the time, So what are the things that you want to think about?

And then also how are you making intentional and decisions with how you're living your life in terms of what you eat or how you exercise or how you sleep. And it doesn't have to be absolute, like you don't if you're higher risk or something like, you can still have the cookie. It's just a question of like moderation

and being aware when that's the key. You know, there's certain people also where it's just not the right product for them, But for people who want to you know, who like knowing and want to be more proactive, then it's absolutely you know, the right thing for them. What is the quality you like least about yourself? Interesting? You know, I'm generally relatively supportive about myself. Um so I have I mean there's things that are I'm often criticized for,

which is I'm not terribly punctual. I love the fact that you'd say, like, what quality you like least about yourself. It's like, no, I'm good with me. Here's what other people are not good with me about, like not always punctual. Okay, I mean I I look, I think the realities you have to appreciate yourself and accept yourself. I couldn't agree with you. Yeah, so I think there's things you know, you just at some point you reach a point you're like, I just am the way I am. So anyways, I

could absolutely be more punctual. I have moments where I'm unrealistic. I think what's interesting is the advocacy for self Like that to me, it's the kind of that's the headline from this is perhaps we would all be slightly more successful in our humanity if we were just to embrace the stuff that we categorically now is difficult about ourselves. Would go, well, this is part of me, and there's all this other stuff that really balances out the annoying stuff.

I like the idea that you're an advocate for yourself exactly. I think that everyone has to understand their strengths and their weaknesses, and so there's things like I joke it was like like I like I don't really get dressed I'm not great at fashion. I'm and there's just certain areas we've just given up on and you just embrace it at some point and realize, like my strength and I think about this even how I run the company.

I am good at thinking big, I'm good at challenging status quo um, but I'm not always great with structure. So I can hire, like I have a really great team or around me who's really good with structure, and there's ways that you can then manage that. But just recognizing like it's you know, it's it's just a little bit how I am. I have this really lovely yoga instructor who calls me the Princess of Possibilities, and I tend to always air on positive like even on people

like I I strongly believe everyone's great at something. I agree with you. I agree with that. So you just have to find out what it is. And you have to and that gets back to the previous thing about adventure, like you have to then explore enough to know like what are you actually good at? Either that also takes confidence.

I think a lot of people if they get the impression that you're looking for is great about them, they will their lack of belief in themselves will stop you either being able to find it or stop their own inquiry into what that is. Because it's funny how a lot of people are they believe that they're not, that they don't have anything great about them. Yeah, I see

that sometimes, and I see and I do. I absolutely credit my parents with us, and then particularly my mom, Like my mom is almost annoyingly so such a cheerleader, like that is so great, you look so good, that was amazing. And you know, my mom's a high school teacher, and her specialty really was always taking kids in freshman year who often lacks self confidence and and giving them confidence and just and in some ways showing like she

my mom was always really critical. She's like, oh, I'll mark up your essay, like write an essay for me, and I'm going to destroy it, but you're going to rewrite it, and then you're going to give it back to me, and I'm going to mark it up more and then you're going to rewrite it again, and you're going to do that until you get an A. And so my mom was like very much of that type and like and she she's she would hold on these I mean she would show up at kids houses and

be like I'm waiting. I'm waiting for that, Like we got to rewrite it. Like she was really good at helping people realize that you're full of potential. You just got to get it, like work on that. And so I do think that sense of self confidence in giving kids,

it's that opportunity and anything. And I see this now with my three year old, like when she is so proud of herself when she can take off her dress and like like she said, she liked that, a little happy dance, Like she's just like like that sense of accomplishment. So like throughout kids lives, you've got to reward them like you got something done, Like that's great. What would your last meal be? I'm not a die hard food person.

It can be experiential as well, you know, like the way you would be and what the vibe would be. Oh well, experiential would be everything I love again, a big event with a family style dinner. I'm not formal. There would be no organized cutlery. It would be like we have a dinner every Sunday night at my at my house. There's no organization. It's a little bit of a free for all, I love being with my friends I've been with for a long time. I'm all about

quality of food and not specific type. I've had the most amazing like local organic sealery. My and my kids always make fun of me. They're like, what did you say? I was like, I just love fresh celery. Again, my whole thing is all about something that's pure, like I always hate ven years, so like food that's masks, like those little tiny bunny carrots that are tiny app and also have you seen how quickly they go off in

your fridge, Like they don't survive. There's nothing better than like going into the garden and like I see my daughter, like she eats all the mint off the point it's so cute, pulling vegetables off, and like going I used to love being sent out into the garden. Mom would be like, go and get me two heads of lettuce and some new potatoes, and then that's what we'd eat.

It was great. But again, also when we lived in France, we had our first garden and the neighbors across the street grew raspberries, so we were always like sneaking into their to get them to steal the raspberries. Those are the best, but they really are. In fact, stolen fruit is stolen fruit is arguably better. Definitely in your life, can you tell me something that has grown out of

a personal disaster. I mean there's so many disasters. I mean I think the most public one, you know, when three me got our warning letter, oh yeah, from the f d A. And I think one thing. I was talking to someone the other day and she was like, I didn't realize the full story, Like I had a one year old and a two and a half year old and I was getting divorced in a very public way, and then I got the FDA come after me. Wow,

that's a lot to be happening at one time. Yeah, I know people always say, you know, you have the pie chart of your life. You know, you have your work, you have your personal life, you have your kids, Like you need something to be stable. And that was one of those moments where I remember coming home, I'd be like, I don't have anything that's stable, Like there's nothing, there's nothing.

And you know, I remember people saying they're like, this is time when shops like companies close up, and and again it was it was just unbelievably hard, like little kids and managing the publicity of the divorce, so all of that. But I look back and I'm like, but life is now so good, Like we got through the f d A, I hired amazing people, My children are fabulous, and you know, all things and all relationships Like you, you move on, it regenerates like you regenerate, you regenerate.

And I bring up that example mostly because it was the most public, but it was it was hard, and it was hard, like I remember the first time having to go to a public event and it was like you, you know, when everyone's looking at you, Like there was an article called what was it? Twenty three and stupid and and I'm friends with the author, so as I kind of love, like, but people are all talking about you,

Oh my god. No, the public aspect, like when your life is fracturing, and you add in that it is made public, that compounds the fracture, like without a shadow of it, Dan, it's quite hard to explain the idea of everybody knowing and judging your something painful that you're going through. It is difficult. It's hard, and I think it goes back to that question what I don't like

about myself? Like I do really like myself and so what kept me whole in that time frame is I was like, I am very infidite of our path forward, confident that everyone's good at something, that there's a better again going back, like Princess of possibilities, Like it's all going to be okay, and so there's something for me about like when I think of my north star in life is always like it's going to be okay. And in some ways, I think if you have that attitude,

then you're just riding waves. It's like surfing. You're just like like sometimes you've got a bigger wave. But there's something good in everything, Like our FDA stuff was challenging, but like there's good in everything, so you just have to find that. And again, as a forward looking individual, like I'm always focused on you know, things will be okay. That's a lovely place to conclude, things will be okay. I teamed up with twenty three and Me for today's

episode with Ann you Can Hear More. Podcast hosts discussed their experience with twenty three and Me on the podcast Spit hosted by the magnificent Barunday Thurston, and if you liked his episode of Many Questions you will love his work on the Split podcast. Subscribe to it wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts so that you can be the first to listen when the new season comes out on May five. To learn more about twenty three and Me and Ann's work with a company, visit twenty three

and the dot com. Mini Questions is hosted and written by Me Mini Driver, supervising producer Aaron Kaufman, Producer Morgan Lavoy, Research assistant Marissa Brown. Original music Sorry Baby by Mini Driver, Additional music by Aaron Kaufman, Executive produced by Me Mini Driver. Special thanks to Jim Nikolay, Will Pearson, Addison No Day, Lisa Castella and a Nick Oppenheim at w kPr, de La Pescador, Kate Driver and Jason Weinberg. And for constantly

solicited tech support Henry Driver. M And that's a wrap on a fascinating show. Did this episode inspire you to take a closer look at your health history, your genetic makeup? Who new DNA could reveal so much about our past while also holding the keys to certain health insights that may impact our future. I continue to be inspired by these stories, and I hope you do as well. Catch

you next time. Listen to Spit, an original podcast from I Heart Radio and twenty three in the on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast