How Burnout Almost Took Her Life

Dorothy: [00:00:00] We’re celebrating International Self Care Day. What does that mean? Well, it means different things to different people. But to women, it means that you put yourself first. To women, it means for once, you take that time to do what you wanna do that you know it’s gonna make you feel better.

Lisa Helfman, with HEB is here today to talk about what she did for her own self care and how she beat an addiction that unfortunately too many of us have.  

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Let’s Talk About Your Breast. A different kind of podcast presented to you by The Rose, the Breast Center of Excellence and a Texas treasure. You’re going to hear frank discussions about tough topics and you’re going to learn why knowing about your breast could save your life. Join us as we hear another story and we answer those [00:01:00] tough questions that you may have.

I’m Dorothy Gibbons and I’m the CEO and co founder of The Rose. And today we are going to talk about your breast with Lisa Helfman. She’s made such a difference in our community and continues to make that difference every day. Welcome, Lisa.

Lisa: Thank you, Dorothy. It’s such a pleasure to be here.

Dorothy: You’ve really had huge changes in your life. To be In the frame of mind you are right now and to be doing what you are right now, you know, I heard you do a talk once that said I used to live a life without limits and Tell us what that was like.

Lisa: It was very busy You know, I want to start by saying I am living my best life today and that’s a phenomenal place to be and um Knowing how it [00:02:00] was makes it even sweeter.

So, years ago, you know, I really was suffering from an addiction to busyness that I just tried to achieve more and more to get the affirmation to make myself feel good. Um, I really focused on the next goal, the next, um, step, the next metric. And I feel like society tells us if you just do the next big thing, you’re going to be so successful. It’s going to bring happiness and joy and all the things you want if you just hit this. So, I mean, I fortunately was good at a few things, I guess. And I just kept trying and working and never stopped and thought, really, if someone else can do it, why can’t I do it too? And that was this mentality I had. And I didn’t realize that my body was suffering from that mentality . And instead of respecting my body, I would [00:03:00] get mad at it and I would be like, “Oh my God, why are you getting sick again?” And, um, you know, I have a very different mentality today.

Dorothy: Oh, and, and when you talked about busyness, I mean, you had everything down to the second, almost, you know, she was a, uh, top of her class at Tulane, finished college in three years, went on to be the rising star of Vincent and Elkins and then moved in a very interesting way away from that.

I think you went on to Texas Children’s and and then And you founded an organization that is just beyond fascinating and ahead of its time. Very much ahead of its time. Tell us a little bit about Brighter Bites.

Lisa: Well, when I was at Texas Children’s, I was an attorney for them and then I started a real estate department.

And then those two roles, I was able to see the healthcare system in entirety. [00:04:00] So it wasn’t just, “Oh, we were building a clinic here. We were doing that.” I saw how we were serving every part of the community with people with means that they could pay people with Medicaid and people with no insurance at all.

And I started noticing the health disparities and the more, lower income underserved population. Um, and these were childhood obesity. Our diabetes clinic had lines out the door per se. I mean, just all of these preventable illnesses and children were where our clinics had the longest waiting list. And at the same time, I was doing a fruit and vegetable co op in my house.

My boys at this point drew in Nathan were three and six. And I noticed this dramatic increase change in their eating habits all because of this exposure to fresh fruits and vegetables. And this pinnacle moment happened when drew a six, he’s now turning 18 this month, Dorothy, 18. And, um, he was six [00:05:00] years old and he called me over and he’s like, do I have to eat this? We were at a birthday party and I looked down at his plate and he, it was cake. And he was like, it’s too sweet. Mommy, do they have fruit? And I thought this child has two heads because what adult gives up cake for fruit at a birthday party, much less a six year old. And then, um, I was participating in American leadership forum and we were talking about, you know, it was right at the affordable care act.

And when more people were getting access to insurance, but I thought, you know, we’re not really going to help. the health care crisis if we don’t start working on prevention and taking control of our own health and caring for our own bodies. And that’s where Brighter Bites was born. And I thought, if I can do this in my house, how do I do this for families and under resourced neighborhoods that might not have access to fresh fruits and vegetables, much less know how to use them.

Dorothy: Right, right. So you actually started with [00:06:00] Lisa.

Lisa: Yes.

Dorothy: I figured this all out that you needed to eat differently and and then moved it to your home.

Lisa: Yes.

Dorothy: And now out into the community. What did that take to really? I mean, you’re now in everywhere.

Lisa: Not everywhere, but 10 cities across 10 cities.

Dorothy: That’s pretty, pretty great.

I mean, really impacting you. the core issue of what goes on in health disparities, and that is what we eat.

Lisa: Yes.

Dorothy: So how did you move it from that American Leadership Forum, which by the way, as an old fellow too, I, I think that’s one of the most, um, needed organizations our city could ever have. And every class you hear about these wonderful things that came up.

So how did it go from that to where you are now?

Lisa: Well, I’ll back up for just one second and say I’m really passionate about this issue. And it is because I had such a health change myself. I don’t often talk about it, but [00:07:00] I, that this in particular, but I think for our listeners today, it would be meaningful.

I had very serious stomach issues. Irritable bowel syndrome, if I can talk about that. I had five sinus infections a year, horrible seasonal allergies. I added more fruits and vegetables into my diet and realized dairy was a culprit for me. So I refu— removed that and I never got sick again. Never. Never had another sinus infection.

It’s been 12 years. I think actually longer. It’s been 13 years now and I don’t even know when allergy season is because I never even get a stuffy nose.

Dorothy: Lisa, that’s amazing. Every day we come into work, someone’s saying, Oh, it’s all those allergies out there. That is amazing, and it was just the change in your diet.

You’re convinced of that.

Lisa: Oh, because I did nothing else. I was already exercising. I was leading what everybody else would say a healthy life. I was thin. It wasn’t like, you know, even a weight issue. [00:08:00] Um, but I was putting things in my body, a lot of processed food to say thin, uh, diet soda. Um, and then dairy was, you know, everybody has the body reacts differently to different things.

But for me, that was it. And then I just, when you give yourself the good stuff, you kind of crowd out the bad. So eating berries every morning for breakfast, Swiss chard in the evening, things like that. It just all the nutrients added up and my health just got better. I’m never say— I won’t say I’ve never gotten a stomach flip bug or anything like that.

I did get covid, but I’ve never had any kind of upper respiratory allergy sinus never again. And my stomach is really healthy as well. Um, so with that kind of passion that food can make that kind of difference in your life, I was on a mission to help everybody else see how it could affect them too. Um, so I actually came up with the idea for Brighter Bites sitting at a Texans game with Drew and Nathan’s dad.

And, um, I thought if I can do this in [00:09:00] our house, how do we do this in these other neighborhoods? I went back to my ALF class. I pitched the idea while we were on the mountain in Colorado. I thought everybody’s going to think I am insane, but I don’t care. And they said, you know what? Let us introduce you to some people in the community.

So first, um, person I called actually on my own was, um, the founder of the KIPP schools and I had been their bond lawyer back at Vincent Elkins. I said, “I have this crazy idea. Will you let me pilot it at KIPP?” And they said, “yes, come on.” And I thought, “oh my God, I don’t have any produce and I don’t have any nutrition education” because that was the formula I came up with produce distribution. So create a co op in every school that we were in. Nutrition education for both the kids and the families and then a fun food experience. Kind of like you’d find at your favorite H. E. B. I wasn’t working there, but I was still a big fan and we do a food sample. And so the parents and the kids would get to taste something made out of fresh produce and [00:10:00] see that it actually tasted good.

So I called him and he was like, “Oh, you’ll figure it out. And we’ll give you a school next year. Just come back to me.” And I was like, “What!? Figure it out? I didn’t even understand what you’re, okay, I better get on this.” So then next, someone from my class introduced me to Brian Greene, the head of the Houston food bank, who is a Prince of a guy and a visionary.

And I was so naive back then, Dorothy, he said, “we’ll be your produce distributor.” And I said, “you have fresh food at the food bank?” And he was like, “Oh my God, Lisa, have you never walked around the food bank?” And I said, “well, I volunteered, but I always packed up cans.” I didn’t know. So he walked me through the warehouse, all the cold storage and my mind was blown.

And he, I said, well, who do you want me to work with on your team? And he said, I will take this on personally with you. So he has mentored me the last, um, 11 years, every step of the way. And, um, from there I was introduced to Dr. Shreela [00:11:00] Sharma at University of Texas School of Public Health. She’s an epidemiologist there and now also the new director for their Center of Equity, Health Equity.

Um, and she’s focused on childhood obesity. And, um, she said, “Great, I have, um, the nutrition education you’re looking for and I’ve researched this to study this” because I knew enough to be dangerous that if we didn’t have any data on what we were doing, it would be hard to get funding. And then I wasn’t going to get paid to do this.

So If it didn’t work, I didn’t want to do it. So anyway, she said, “I just need $35,000 and then we can get started.” And I said, “I’m sorry, this is a pro bono project. We have no money.” She said, “well, I have researchers and I work for a large university and we can’t do that.”

So, um, I went back to Texas Children’s and they said, “You know what? A— Blue Cross Blue Shield has Healthy Kids, Healthy Families grant. Why don’t you talk to them?” And I said, “Okay.” And they said, “apply for $5000.” I said, “$5000 not going to get me anywhere. I need [00:12:00] $35,000.” So I did. And they granted us our first grant. And I want to tell you, you know, 10 years that we just did celebrated our 10th anniversary and launched our 10th city. And Blue Cross is still with us and granting us money today. They’ve been incredible partner. Um, and so that’s how we started. And we started with one KIPP school on the east end of downtown Houston KIPP Explore with two third grade and fourth grade classes. And, um, it’s just been this incredible ride. And now we’re coast to coast from California to New York City.

Dorothy: Congratulations. That is great. But what a story. You really got community involved with this. I mean, I’m just I’m just fascinated. It took this. It took Brian. It took, uh, school. It took Blue Cross Blue Shield.

All of that coming together for this one purpose. That is really such a lesson. We really want to do something in the community. We’ve got to have community.

Lisa: [00:13:00] Yes, I think you have to meet people where they’re at. That’s always been my theme of this organization is meet people where they’re at, treat them in a dignified way.

But I also didn’t want to reinvent the wheel. I knew there was a lot of resources out there. They just weren’t being brought together to achieve the results that we wanted. And I wasn’t going to raise money to build a warehouse, buy trucks. You know, find produce everywhere for, you know, we’ve sent out over 50 million pounds of produce and to do that without a distribution, you know, group of now we have them in every city, of course, and we don’t just have food banks, but we have food service distributors.

Grocery stores. We have the large farms that directly donate to us now. I mean, we’ve, we are very ingrained in the produce industry itself, but it takes a lot to move food around the country.

Dorothy: Oh, absolutely. Yes. What a, what a great story.

Lisa: I also approached it not knowing anything, and I have a [00:14:00] funny story.

So Sysco Foods read an article in the Houston Chronicle, actually, that Brian wrote about Brighter Bites. years ago, and the head of produce for Sysco Foods cold called us and said, “I want to know more about this. What are you doing?” So I went and met with him and I said, “You know, right now I just got a big federal grant. This was years ago. My team would kill me for saying this out loud.” I said, “We don’t need money today. What I need today. We do need money today, by the way, in 2023. But what I do need today years ago was I need to learn the produce industry. I need you to explain to me how product moves because the food banks get a lot of product, but they get a lot of what we call the hard seven. So carrots, onions, potatoes, bananas, and that’s not going to change people’s behavior. If you get a bag of onions and carrots every week. You’re not going to get excited about produce. We need dragon fruit and berries and spinach and all these things for kids to like.” So anyways, so he would sit with me for hours on end explaining to me how the product moved around the country and how there was [00:15:00] farms, distributors, suppliers.

I mean, it’s a lot of layers here.

Dorothy: Yeah.

Lisa: And one day he looked at me and he goes, “why do you act so dumb all the time?” And I said, “excuse me?” And he’s like, “I’m on to you. You’re an attorney, you’re running real estate at HEB. I mean, you’re clearly a smart person. “And I said, but I’m not smart to your industry. And if I act like I know it all, I’m not going to learn anything.” And so I think just taking this approach and allowing everyone else to be the experts that they are and knowing I didn’t know all the answers really helped me get to where I am today.

Dorothy: Wow, what a good piece of, of advice and what a great story to remember.

That is amazing. You’re a founder now of Brighter Bites. Are you still as involved? This sounds like a, more than a full time job.

Lisa: Well, I am involved. I’m the chair of the board, but we have a team of over a hundred paid employees across the country. And this man, Rich Dachman, who was at Sysco Foods is the [00:16:00] CEO of the organization.

Now he retired from Sysco and he runs it full time. We have a team. Some of them have been with us the full 10 years. Others have joined along the way. And so I’ve never been paid to work on Brighter Bites, but it has rewarded me in the biggest ways possible ever, ever. And that’s really how I met HEB.

So I just wear a lot of hats and get a lot of help and we do it together.

Dorothy: So Lisa, you know, one of the reasons I was so excited about you being on our show was you have learned the hard way about self care. And, and this whole show is about helping women to really understand the importance of taking care of themselves.

And it goes way beyond mammograms and way beyond anything that that we could talk about from a breast point of view But it all starts with how we talk to ourself how we treat ourselves and I want you to give us that three— What do you call them rules or codes you live by [00:17:00] or talk a little bit about that?

Lisa: Yeah, society tells us we’re going to hit all these You know metrics and we’re going to be happy But I learned along the way that we actually have to Work on ourselves, be kind, find the joy, and I’ll talk through all those things one by one. And that’s really what makes us happy. And then the rest kind of falls in line.

And it, it all happens as it should. Number one, take care of yourself and figure out what that means.

Dorothy: Okay.

Lisa: So for everyone, if you are currently sedentary, just walking around the block a couple of times. Could be a great goal this year. I got back. I run, but I hadn’t been running a lot. And my partner and I, we ran a half marathon.

So that was a good goal for me, and it was attainable and not too stressful. But for some, it could just be walking around the block. And that would be amazing because you’re doing more than you did the day before. So that’s one thing. It’s [00:18:00] so much, not just exercise, but it’s more what you put in your mouth, right?

Everybody eats. That’s something we all do. And what you focus on in eating is really how you get healthy. And so you have to figure out what that is for you. So is it reducing sugars? Is it adding more protein? Is it adding more water? You know, what I think in all of this is adding more nutrients. No one’s ever going to say, Oh, that was a bad thing. Right? And that’s why I’ve always focused on fruits and vegetables and limiting processed food. So the fresher you go, there was years I was vegan, but I plenty of chicken and fish now, and I enjoy it. And I feel healthy from it. But I also add, you know, berries and vegetables and things into my diet all the time.

And so I’ve learned over the years what really makes sense for me. And if I eat a certain— I get off track. I don’t feel so good and I’m not as happy all day long. So, you know, I think these basics that we [00:19:00] think, Oh, people are always talking about doctors, like, “Oh, eat better, exercise more.” But it’s really that simple.

Like just get back to the basics. What makes your body feel good? What is, um, fueling me to be my best self. And so that’s part of it. And then the other thing is sleep. Sleep is so important. And I wasn’t doing that years ago at the level I should. I was getting up super early, um, running super early so I could work for a couple hours before the kids got up.

Then I did the kids. Then I went to work. Then I, I mean, it was this constant, like, spiral of exhaustion. And then I would not even think about it. I did brush my teeth every night, but I would not even want to because I was so tired. I couldn’t even get through that part of the day. And, um, what I realized is, is that sleep has to take paramount. Even last night I was invited to a fabulous event that I really wanted to go to. And I said, you know what? I can’t, I’m going to be with Dorothy tomorrow. I have a big presentation. I have a huge speech on Tuesday. And [00:20:00] although I know I love being with you at these tennis championships, I can’t do that.

And I got in bed at eight o’clock. And I wound down and had a phenomenal life night’s sleep and I got up early and I started preparing and Like I had a better mindset because of that sleep. So self care number one. Number two Pursue—

Dorothy: Stop just a minute because that took a lot of self awareness, too. You know, i’m just so fascinated with how you found all this out on your own. But you decided to let your body You Let yourself talk.

That is, that is so, uh, encouraging. Anybody can do that.

Lisa: I mean Anybody can do that.

Dorothy: And whatever we can do, we should, we can do. You know, if you can do it, just do it. That is just And it’s, and you, you’re making it sound like anyone could attain it. So that’s what’s exciting about it.

Lisa: And I guess I should add for those who don’t really [00:21:00] know me is that I’m 47 now.

And when I was in my mid twenties and started working at Vincent Elkins, after a history of this, I really was throwing up in the bathroom on a regular basis from stress. I was having steroids all the time for these sinus infections. Cause I mean, I didn’t have time to get sick, so much less get well. So I was like, how can you get me well the fastest? How can I move through this? What can I do? And so I was pretty much at rock bottom at that point. Right. I mean, maybe I shouldn’t say that because my health could have gotten a lot worse if I hadn’t figured it out. Right. I could have had a very chronic or terminal illness. And I, I stopped before that happened, but it was pretty miserable.

So today to know, okay, I have to stop or you know what, I have to cancel this meeting, um, because I have to go back to work at six o’clock to go to an event and represent the company. Or a lot of times [00:22:00] kind of my next point is follow what brings you joy is I take off and I go to my son’s tennis match at two in the afternoon.

And I know that I have. I’m back helping out H E B at five or six that night, but I am going to shamelessly be with my children for the hours that mean the most to them. And that’s how I balance. And, um, I don’t ask for permission, but I do happen to work for the greatest company ever. That is so family friendly.

It encouraged me to do these things, but I think it’s this great balance that I’ve been able to achieve because I don’t want to miss out on my children. They’re now, you know, about to turn 18 and Nathan is 14 and that’s what it’s all about to me is these little moments that after my son walks off the tennis court, he’s like, “did you see that shot?”

And I’m like, “yeah, I did. It was incredible.” You know.

Dorothy: And, and you were telling me that you actually. On [00:23:00] your calendar you, you put the time in before your week starts. I think that’s the best advice of all. You, you make that the priority. Whatever you need to do with your kids or yourself. You know, just putting it in the calendar is also that other way of saying it’s okay. You have permission to do this.

Lisa: That’s right.

Dorothy: Isn’t that isn’t that kind of oh, what’s the word women need that permission? It seems like and when we discover we don’t really need it then we can make decisions that are great.

Lisa: That’s right.

Dorothy: Now, what was the all right go back with living with integrity.

Lisa: This is kind of an interesting one. And it wouldn’t be what people think would be so front and center in my life. But to me, living integ— with integrity means that everyone gets the same Lisa. And it means that I show up for my Children the same way I’m showing up for this podcast today or news interview that I’m doing later in the week or speech in front of hundreds of people.

But that everyone in my life is getting the [00:24:00] same Lisa. And if I pack my days so full that by tonight I’m so tired; I can’t function with Nathan and Drew and my new husband, Lee, um, that— they’re not getting the same person and I’m not going to get the same kind of relationship with them that I’m getting with the community.

Or if I give everything to my family and I blow off my role at H E B, then the community is not getting enough, Lisa. And that’s not fair either because I’ve signed up to do that. And so for me, I just don’t, you know, I don’t want to be that person that’s all shiny on the outside. And then on the inside is kind of a mess.

And so it’s that I’m showing up for everyone, my, the same, I’m balancing my day in a way that happens. And then also that I, if I want to live in a joyful world that I’m authentically joyful, and that means talking kindly to myself every day, not [00:25:00] belittling myself or taking on too much or not being thin enough or smart enough, or, um, Looking good enough or giving the best speech of my life at any given thing, whatever the metric is for the day, whatever that marker is that I’m like, you know what?

I showed up, I did my best and that’s great. And let’s go on to the next thing. And that is so important to me. And I was so hard on myself before that not only was I judgmental on myself, but I was projecting that to others. I was really judgmental of everything around me, myself and everyone else. And once I realized that I should be kinder to myself, it just permeated it through everything I was doing.

Dorothy: And you can see that you can really tell that about you. I thought that was some of the best advice that I’ve heard in a long time. Be the same for everyone. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone home and my husband has said, “Take off your CEO hat. You’re home now.”

And, and it’s [00:26:00] true. You, you have, you need to think about how you’re showing up for different people and congratulations on your marriage. That’s so neat.

Lisa: Thank you.

Dorothy: See, that’s another thing. So many women think that romance and all that is just for the young and you know, you, you’re 47 and just, you know, Made that happen in your life and I was 53 and you know when you find that special person There’s just that adds so much to your life.

Lisa: So much that unconditional love and that comfort at home It’s really second to none.

Dorothy: And you’ve also got to create that on your own. So, you know, I I just i’m just hearing so many great things— When you want to go and you said “I didn’t have time to be sick let alone have time to be well.” Wow. What an eye opening statement. Didn’t have time to be sick, let alone time to be well.

Lisa: But the truth is, we have time to do anything we want to [00:27:00] do.

Dorothy: That’s so true.

Lisa: And I think we get caught up in this hamster wheel of life where we think we have to be here, we have to be there, we have to get this done, and this done, and this done.

And we, we forget we have choice. And we do have choice on how we spend our day. And now I prioritize a lot of good stuff all day long. Um, and not in the way of my responsibilities, but I just make sure that I’m spending my life the way I want to be spending it. And that knowing I have a choice and if something doesn’t get done, the sky is probably not going to fall. I’m not actually that important in this world. And it’s just created a much better world for me.

Dorothy: Well, I don’t know. How do your sons feel about it? You know, you’re really pretty famous in our community. How do they relate to your public presence?

Lisa: I laugh that they probably roll their eyes a lot. But, um, [00:28:00] my friends tell me that they seem very proud of me.

And that, um, I try to involve them in as much as possible. So, if we’re going to an event, I’ll bring them with me. If we have an opportunity to show up together at a parade or the other day, um, I had a news interview for our new Astros ice cream. It’s quite delicious, by the way, in moderation, you can still have ice cream.

I mean, I, it really isn’t good for me, but I did take a taste and it’s delicious. And I had to do a news interview and the guy said, we have to do it— Tuesday or Wednesday. And I said, I have a 30 minute block after I pick up Nathan from school. I can do it in the store near his school if y’all are open to that.

And they were. And so Nathan came with me to HEB and he got a snack and he sat in the conference room and we did the thing and then we went home together and we talked about it and we laughed about it. And he met the reporter and we had a great time. And so I think [00:29:00] that They know who I am. They know what I do.

They know me at the core. And so to be able, you know, they ride in the Thanksgiving Day parade. They come to events when I think there’s meaningful speakers or when it’s just someone they like, like Drew Brees. And I know I’m going to be cool for them getting to meet him. But the truth is it’s all one life to me.

I no longer compartmentalize it. And so I think by them understanding, again, the real me and who I am and giving them enough time that it matters and I show up for them and so they show up for me.

Dorothy: So this addiction to busyness that you had, I, that is so, um, current and common with, especially with as you’re coming up in your career.

So you were able to get rid of that. And I think one of the things you said was how we’re rewarded for busyness.

Lisa: That’s right. You know, society tells us that we are rewarded [00:30:00] with the next pay raise or the next promotion or a new car, new house. And after you get those, it doesn’t really change your life.

You just kind of live into them and you keep going. But that joyful moment of that hug with your child or You know, a magical week that we just had in Mexico City as a family after we got married, like all those things I will actually never forget. And it’s, it’s figuring out actually where the reward is.

And maybe as a society, we’re a little off base and we should focus on other things. And I can’t tell you as a listener or Dorothy, like what are those things that bring you joy? But I spent a lot of time just actually figuring out physically when I felt joyful. Like, I know that sounds kind of crazy, but I thought they came at the big moments, but like during COVID, I remember watching like a [00:31:00] TV show with my son and him just leaning over and putting his head on my shoulder and it was so special or singing me a preview of his solo at school or watching him in his tennis match, you know, things that aren’t that big of a deal.

They’re just everyday activities. But they were that connection. That brought me joy.

Dorothy: And they— those are the things that we feel.

Lisa: Yes.

Dorothy: More than we think. Great point.

Lisa: Yes.

Dorothy: We feel them. And I was thinking earlier about how, um, I go through Brennan a lot and I love stopping at that H E B. What is it about H E B that when you go in you feel different?

Lisa: I think we put people first every step of the way we take care of. You know, we call our employees partners because that’s how we all feel. I walk in. We’re like, hi, partner. And it’s from the top all the way to the parking lot attendant, you know. From Charles— but to people working there in high school just to, you know, get some extra spending money or even make ends meet.[00:32:00]

And we care about people in such a way. You know, H. E. B. Is now opening primary care clinics that have nutritionists that have physical therapists. And now if you are an employee of H E B E, a partner, you can access mental health services inside or outside of network for just $15, no matter who the provider is.

Like we just really care about people in hopes that they’re going to care about our customers, their community, and just create a more positive, kind and joyful environment. So I’m happy to hear that you’re feeling that first time firsthand, because that’s who we want to be. And I’m glad we’re showing up that way.

Dorothy: And of course H E B has helped us so much with our patient navigation program. And I think I was fascinated the first time you ever came to visit us here at The Rose. You understood the whole idea of a person having a patient navigator and needing that navigator during a serious illness. And, uh, I will tell you, [00:33:00] H E B was the first to fund that program. And you know, every year I go, I want that program fully funded. There’s got to be a way and you know, y’all just set the bar. Y’all set the pace. It’s great to have that kind of true community support.

Lisa: Well, we’re huge fan of what you do, Dorothy. And I’m not just saying that because we’re on the podcast, but you’re literally helping level up the healthcare playing field for everyone and no one should be without services just because of their zip code and you make sure that happens.

And just like I didn’t know the produce industry, how can someone know what it takes to go through the world of cancer without experts? And you’re providing that and you’re doing it in a warm, kind way where it’s approachable and people understand it. And so, We’re a fan for life, Dorothy. We believe in what you’re doing.

Dorothy: Thank you. Thank you so much. That means a lot to us. One last word about how you speak to yourself.

Lisa: I just try and speak kindly. And [00:34:00] guess what? I mess up every once in a while. And the mean thoughts do come back. But I catch myself pretty quickly. And then I’m like, no, not going there today. Today, I am choosing to focus on the gratitude that is my life, the joy, how grateful I am that I have these beautiful children, this amazing husband, this incredible job where I literally get paid to help people every day.

Dorothy: Uh, yes. And that that, uh, ability to say, I’m not going to criticize myself today. Just for today, just for the next hour.

Lisa: Let’s just put that not today. Thank you. Not today. And it resets me every time.

Dorothy: Well, I tell you what, you’ve made our day just wonderful. I can’t wait for all of my employees to hear this.

You know, I have a lot of women. I have a lot of women that are of a certain age that they really are tired at times, and I know that What you’re saying is going to really speak to [00:35:00] them. Thank you so much for caring. Thank you for sharing all of this and we hope to have you back soon.

Lisa: I would love it.

Thanks Dorothy, keep doing what you’re doing too. You’re a great benefit to society.

Post-Credits: Thank you for joining us today on Let’s Talk About Your Breasts. This podcast is produced by Freddie Cruz, Creative Works, and brought to you by The Rose. Visit TheRose.org to learn more about our organization. Subscribe to our podcast, share episodes with friends, and join the conversation on social media using #Let’sTalkAboutYourBreasts.

We welcome your feedback and suggestions. Consider supporting The Rose. Your gift can make the difference to a person in need. And remember, self care is not selfish. It’s essential.