#1 Way to Find Confidence Within When You Have Low Self- Esteem with Victoria Jackson

Today, let's welcome to the On Purpose podcast cosmetics entrepreneur, medical research trailblazer, and Women’s Hall of Fame inductee, Victoria Jackson. Victoria founded the global powerhouse brand Victoria Jackson Cosmetics where she irrevocably altered the beauty landscape with her creation of the “No Makeup” makeup aesthetic. She and her husband, Bill Guthy—founder of the marketing behemoth Guthy-Renker—established The Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation to fund research on NMO treatments and a potential cure. Victoria shares her lifelong experiences, from the anxiety of feeling different to the profound questions about our existence and the roles we play in this world. She opens up about the darkest day in her life as well as the trials of transforming passion into a successful enterprise. These stories aren't just about overcoming; they're about thriving, giving hope to those striving to make a meaningful impact in their lives and the lives of others, especially when facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles. In this interview, you’ll learn: How to stay resilient in the most difficult circumstances How to move on from trauma How to turn passion into a career How determination can change lives Why we never stop learning The episode is a beacon for anyone seeking to make sense of life's complexities, offering insights into building relationships, handling adversity, and finding one's calling. With Love and Gratitude, Jay Shetty What We Discuss: 00:00 Intro 04:38 I Always Felt That I’m Different 05:51 We’re All Trying to Figure Out the World 06:38 What Were You Most Anxious Of? 08:55 What is My Purpose? 11:29 Love for Teaching and Sharing Knowledge 13:58 Trust the Process and Have Patience for Yourself 17:13 “The Night I Nearly Lost My Life” 23:13 How Do You Overcome Trauma 25:04 “I Wanted to Give Women Hope” 27:42 Transforming Passion to a Successful Business 32:32 Navigating Relationship Can Be Challenging 35:56 “My Daughter Had Four Years to Live” 39:54 Prove It To Them That You Can Do It 42:39 The Biggest Roadblocks in Healthcare 47:37 How Do You Survive Difficult Situations? 49:48 Finding Cure For Alli 53:21 Going Against All Odds 55:00 Finding Answers and Taking Actions 57:48 Victoria on Final Five 01:03:11 It’s Hard to Get People to Pay Attention 01:06:43 Download the NMO Resources App 01:09:13 Strategic Allocation of Funds 01:10:32 You Just Have to Find a Way Episode Resources: Victoria Jackson | Website Victoria Jackson | Instagram Saving Each Other: A Mother-Daughter Love Story The Power of Rare: A Blueprint for a Medical Revolution Victoria's latest book, "We All Worry, Now What?" is now available for pre-order on Amazonhttps://www.amazon.com/All-Worry_Now-What-Victoria-Jackson/dp/1595911324 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Jay Shetty?

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• 0:43Jay Shetty?

  Give your clothes a second life with Vinted. Download the Vinted app for free to start selling with no seller fees, so you keep every dollar you earn. This episode is brought to you by AG1. Are you feeling September reset too? Shorter days, longer to-do lists, earlier alarms, all those routines you promised yourself you'd pick back up. It can feel like your whole life is recalibrating. And when everything around you is changing, it helps to have a few things you can rely on. AG1 Next Gen is one of those easy habits to keep. It's the clinically-backed, comprehensive daily health drink that supports your gut health, energy production, and foundational nutrition all in one scoop.

• 1:26Jay Shetty?

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• 2:01Jay Shetty?

  This episode is brought to you by AG1. Are you feeling September reset too? Shorter days, longer to do lists, earlier alarms, all those routines you promised yourself you'd pick back up. It can feel like your whole life is recalibrating. And when everything around you is changing, it helps to have a few things you can rely on. AG1 Next Gen is one of those easy habits to keep. It's the clinically backed, comprehensive daily health drink that supports your gut health, energy production, and foundational nutrition all in one scoop. AG1's ingredients are sourced from quality partners for absorption, potency, and nutrient density to deliver the foundational nutrition your body needs. And alongside a proper diet,

• 2:45Jay Shetty?

  AG1 Next Gen meets 94% of nutrient requirements and it's clinically shown to enrich the gut microbiome. For a limited time, save 20% on your first subscription order of AG1 Next Gen or AG1 Pro at drinkag1.com/onpurpose. That's drinkag1.com/onpurpose.

• 3:09Speaker 01

  My life changed. When Ally was diagnosed at 14, she's saying she has an eyeball headache. And I'm thinking, oh, you know, okay, you know. And she says her vision's getting a little fuzzy. And I'm just thinking, well, I'm, you know, I'm sure it's nothing. We'll go see the eye doctor, we'll get you some drops. And ultimately, the neurologist is doing a series of tests, wanted to do a spinal tap, a lumbar puncture. And I'm like, why? Like, she's just got something going on with her eyes. What are you all doing, you know? And so when they called with the results, they basically told myself and my husband that she had four years to live.

• 3:45Jay Shetty?

  Before we jump into this episode, I'd like to invite you to join this community to hear more interviews that will help you become happier, healthier, and more healed. All I want you to do is click on the subscribe button. I love your support. It's incredible to see all your comments and we're just getting started. I can't wait to go on this journey with you. Thank you so much for subscribing. It means the world to me.

• 4:15Jay Shetty?

  Hey everyone, welcome back to On Purpose, the number one health and wellness podcast in the world. Thanks to each and every one of you that come back every week to become happier, healthier and more healed. And that's our mission here, to introduce you to thought leaders, teachers, academics, experts, celebrities, athletes, who are all trying to make the world happier, healthier and more healed. Today's guest has been dedicated to that in a personal way and in their own mission. I'm excited to introduce you to a dear friend of mine, who I've been wanting to have on the show for a very long time. We've had some beautiful conversations offline, I've really got to know her heart and her soul more than anything, and I'm honoured today to get to introduce you to her.

• 4:59Jay Shetty?

  Her name is Victoria Jackson, who was known previously as a cosmetics entrepreneur, but transformed into a medical research trailblazer and Women's Hall of Fame inductee. Victoria founded the global powerhouse brand Victoria Jackson Cosmetics. She and her husband, Bill Guthy, founder of the marketing behemoth Guthy Renka, established the Guthy Jackson Charitable Foundation to fund research on NMO treatments and a potential cure. Victoria's unrelenting determination proved effective. In 2016, the foundation developed the first ever NMO therapeutic, and soon after, three therapies received FDA approval.

• 5:41Jay Shetty?

  The unprecedented pace of the accomplishments that her and her affiliations have had are absolutely phenomenal, and I welcome you to the show, Victoria Jackson, and the author of two incredible books that I highly recommend, Saving Each Other, which of course we'll be diving in today, and this book, The Power of Rare: A Blueprint for a Medical Revolution. Please go and grab both of these books, you're going to be hearing about the insights from both of them in this conversation. Victoria, welcome to On Purpose.

• 6:12Speaker 01

  Thank you. It's so nice to be here. I've been just waiting for the opportunity to talk to you. I'm a, I'm a big manifester. And so when I started listening to you, Jay, I was so inspired, honestly, that I just was like, I've got a, there's going to be a time, I'm sitting across from him, we're having this conversation. So thank you so much.

• 6:34Jay Shetty?

  I love that. And our paths have just crossed so organically. We have a lot of mutual friends. And we bumped into each other ages ago at this great fundraiser that Ellen did.

• 6:45Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 6:45Jay Shetty?

  Uh, called Gorilla Polluter.

• 6:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 6:47Jay Shetty?

  Which was to raise money for the Diane Fossey and Ellen DeGeneres Fund.

• 6:51Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's great what she's doing. Yeah.

• 6:54Jay Shetty?

  Have you been out there yet?

• 6:55Speaker 01

  I've not.

• 6:55Jay Shetty?

  It's amazing. I got to go out with them last year and it was unbelievable. But we met there.

• 7:01Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 7:01Jay Shetty?

  And you were one of these people, and I just want the audience to know, like, you were one of these people that instantly was talking to me from your heart and I felt it. Then you were arranging for me to go and meet the Pope. The next thing I knew, and it didn't happen because of the pandemic.

• 7:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 7:17Jay Shetty?

  But I was so grateful to you for even helping that invite come along my way. And I hope I get to do that in the future.

• 7:23Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 7:24Jay Shetty?

  What an honor. Thanks to you. And I had that very special invite to go to the Vatican, which of course due to the pandemic didn't happen. And then we've had these wonderful connections, even with your daughter and your home. And anyway, so many, so many different things. But I feel like your journey is truly unique and incredible in so many ways. And I want to start off with a question of what is your earliest memory from childhood, of your own childhood, that stays with you or that is the immediate flashback when you think to being a child?

• 8:00Speaker 01

  You know, I always think about how I felt like I was always different. I say that I was born early. I was born in the six and a half month. And so I lived in the hospital for three months before I even came home. So I think because I've always struggled so much with anxiety and worry and, you know, all of that, I think I was sort of born early to get a head start on all of it. So when I think of my early years, I really think of, you know, a young person that was really struggling and just trying to really find her place in the world and seemed like since I did come in early and was struggling just to sort of make it through in those very, very early times, because this is going back a while and, you know, now I know for,

• 8:44Speaker 01

  you know, premies, they have a lot more technology than they did then, but I've always been in survival mode, I think, my whole life. So I think that's what I think about, is this little person that came into the world and has been in that mode ever since, pretty much.

• 9:00Jay Shetty?

  Do you think that the struggles that you had have changed towards the struggles that young people have today, or do you think that they're the same thing, they're just differently experienced?

• 9:13Speaker 01

  I think they're definitely, I think they're the same thing, but yeah, I mean, obviously, I wasn't dealing with social media and things, but, you know, school was social media, you know, your friends, I mean, so they were all, you're still trying to figure out your way in the world. So I, I think it may look different now, but I think that's probably why, even in raising kids, I understand my kids or can talk to them on a level of understanding whatever anxiety they're going through, but it's just, it's just put out on a different stage now, and much bigger stage, and so that makes it a little more difficult.

• 9:47Jay Shetty?

  What was the thing you were most anxious about growing up? What was the thing that kept you up at night, that made you uncomfortable, that made you nervous? What was that?

• 9:57Speaker 01

  You know, for me, it was, I think, because I had parents that were young and trying to figure it out and ultimately got divorced, there, there wasn't, I didn't feel a lot of love, and I think, you know, even my mom would be the first to say she, you know, having a child that was in the hospital right away, and she's so young, she didn't really know how to, you know, bond with me, and I think that was tough. So I was somebody that was always seeking approval and, and looking for that love and, and just trying to figure out who I was. And I always had this really haunting feeling that something was going to happen to me, that there was just somebody was going to get me, something was going to happen. It was just something that I remember early on, just feeling in a, in a unique way.

• 10:42Jay Shetty?

  And how did you process that? Like, what was your antidote or?

• 10:47Speaker 01

  I mean, I think there's times you're thinking, you know, am I special? Is there a reason I'm here? But it just manifested in a lot of anxiety. And so, you know, you're always just feeling like there's some shoe that's gonna drop or something that's gonna happen. And I, I lived a lot of my early years like that, as I kind of keep going back to this, finding my way.

• 11:10Jay Shetty?

  It's interesting how every teenager goes through this phase of finding our way. And then often we either get stuck in a way that our parents expected or society expected, or we fall into something, or we continue to find our way. And sometimes you're in your 30s or your 40s and you're still trying to find your way and you kind of feel out of place because everyone else has stability. But I could definitely attest to that. I felt in my teens, I was trying to fit in and I was trying to find my way. And I was anxious about, did people think I was in with the crowd? And, you know, and I think we all go through this.

• 11:52Jay Shetty?

  What was really interesting for me was, I think I've kept trying to find my way, which is why I've lived so many different lives, because I've never wanted to not take a step forward. What did you imagine would be your first career path? Or what did you imagine would be your first venture? And what did it end up being?

• 12:13Speaker 01

  Well, you know, as I'm even just sitting here talking to you and I'm, I'm looking at a microphone that says, "On Purpose," purpose was always a big thing. Even when I was young, I was thinking like, whether it was, "Why am I here?" Or, "What is the way?" It was sort of like, "What is my purpose?" And I didn't really have a skill set that I could sort of point to other than I'd probably say, early on, I recognized that I was more of a, of a creative. You know, I definitely wasn't gonna be the academic. I ended up sort of, you know, ditching school a lot due to a lot of kind of unsettling things at home. And so I was, you know, trying to figure out what was the way that I was gonna really express myself and knowing that I didn't come from a family that had money. So, um, I was gonna have to figure that out for myself.

• 12:58Speaker 01

  But I knew that I was creative and it probably, I started doing makeup. And I think when I started doing my own makeup, doing friends' makeup, I thought, I genuinely, because I struggle with such low self-esteem. I mean, it's gotten a lot better over the years and I've, I've written, you know, two prior books before these, Redefining Beauty and Make Up Your Life, all about self-esteem and looking and feeling better. And I really thought, once I started to make up people and give them the sense of like, they looked better and felt better, I, I had some passion around that. It was something that I thought, oh, this is a skillset that I can really perfect. And, you know, I love

• 13:42Speaker 01

  the idea. And I, I'm the kind of person, if I can do it, then I want to show everybody how to do it. It's like, oh, if I can do this, you can do this, and here's how.

• 13:51Jay Shetty?

  So if social media existed, you would have been one of the first beauty influencers. That, that's what would have happened because makeup was one of the big things that took off on social media in the early days.

• 14:01Speaker 01

  Absolutely. That's how my, my infomercials were so successful because I was actually teaching you on my DVDs, how you could actually do your makeup, you know, from start to finish. So that's what I was doing. I was putting all the cosmetics together. Here's how to use them. Um, long before I was, I had my own radio show before there were podcasts where I was doing makeovers on the radio. And they said, if you can actually get people to call in and do a makeover on the radio, you can have the airtime. So, so yeah, this was the early days. And I, I love that. I love the teaching aspect of it.

• 14:38Jay Shetty?

  What gave you the confidence? I think what's really fascinating about that is you're a young person with low self-esteem, you're confused about who you are, you have anxiety, but then all of a sudden you feel, I'm passionate about makeup and actually I feel confident to teach others or share that. How does that switch happen? Because I think so many of our listeners are in that position right now, where they feel anxious, maybe some of them have imposter syndrome, maybe some of them are listening and they're going, Jay, I just don't know where to start, or maybe I know what my passion is, but I'm not good enough. And You know, we have this lack of belief in ourselves.

• 15:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:17Jay Shetty?

  How did you switch from I'm anxious to I actually like teaching and sharing?

• 15:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, by the way, while I was teaching and sharing, I was also anxious. So I managed to pull double duty at the same time. I just went for it, you know. So for me, for example, I wanted to get in the world of makeup. If you were to look at my portfolio and go through my very early, early, you know, photographs of makeup, not the best makeup in the world, you know. So like, I had to learn it and perfect it and, you know, I had the eye for it, but I had to now really hone my skill set to match what my eyes were seeing. And ultimately came up, which was my concept of the no makeup makeup. I was the original person sort of doing that in the, in the late eighties, when everybody had on tons of makeup.

• 16:04Jay Shetty?

  Explain that to us, break that down for people who, who may not have either been around or may not know fully what that was in the beginning of it. Because I think now, yeah.

• 16:14Speaker 01

  In the eighties, you think about like shoulder pads and the music videos that were out there. There was a lot of makeup. And my whole thing was, and there really wasn't even a makeup that existed at the time. Let's talk about just even a foundation, a base color that, you know, you use on your skin now to even out your skin tone. That was more natural. Everything was these kind of crazy tones or pinks or oranges. And I wanted to just help women look beautiful, look great, but without feeling like they had makeup on. So that they could really look like themselves and not use it as war paint or a way to necessarily be someone else, but just feel confident in themselves. And so I had no idea how to actually create makeup. So I just started as a makeup artist.

• 16:58Speaker 01

  I started mixing in my garage pots and pans and making up concoctions that I would use on my makeup jobs. And that's really how I started that.

• 17:08Jay Shetty?

  What I love about that, and I want everyone who's listening and watching to know this, is that The first time you do anything, it won't be that great.

• 17:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:16Jay Shetty?

  And it's okay. And it's good to know that. I think a lot of us think, well, before I do something, I've got to have the perfect name, have the perfect branding, have the perfect product, have the perfect service. And the truth is, ninety-nine percent of the time, the first thing you put out there.

• 17:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:31Jay Shetty?

  Is never going to be that great. If you look at the first version of Facebook or Instagram or Snapchat or anything we use today, the first version of Amazon, the first version of makeup, if you look at all of the first versions, they weren't that great.

• 17:43Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:44Jay Shetty?

  And I think a lot of us, we're kind of knocking up against that going, I want to put something perfect out before we've even made any progress.

• 17:54Speaker 01

  Yeah. And you have to just, you have to just have patience with yourself and patience with the project. But you have the process, but you have to just be willing to even put yourself out there and try. Um, for me, I was like, I want to do makeup. I want to, you know, do for magazines and things like that. Okay, how do I start, start contacting photographers and building a portfolio and just be willing to, you know, even women, and they'd be so afraid to do their makeup. And I'm like, what's the worst that's gonna happen? You're not gonna like it. You wash it off, you know? So, um, I did twenty years of going to the jails, twenty years of going into the jails and doing makeup for women there where, think about it, where I would say, women would be, I'd go, what do you, what do you want your makeup to say?

• 18:39Speaker 01

  And I'd have women go, I want my makeup to say, pull over. You know, a lot of women that were, you know, working the streets or whatever. And I'd be like, okay, let's change the message on that. Let's talk about, you know, self-respect. And I would see the energy of hundreds of gals in there that were, you know, really ready to hear something and how it just evened out, leveled out the room with people that when they saw themselves, kind of a before and after, really changed the whole energy. So I got really passionate about this whole thing I ultimately called the power of mascara and looking better and feeling better about yourself. But it was all, you know, as I'm teaching it,

• 19:21Speaker 01

  I'm learning as well. And I've been, I think, you know, due to an incident that happened when I was really young, sort of going back to that, thinking something really bad was gonna happen to me. I was one of the early victims in nineteen seventy-three of the Pillowcase Rapist. And that left me with, you know, obviously, a lot of emotional scars and things that I've spent a lifetime working on, but very claustrophobic. So then going to the jails for twenty years was very claustrophobic to put yourself in a very uncomfortable situation to, you know, have to... But I was there because I really believed in what I was doing and the message, and

• 20:05Speaker 01

  it really was very instrumental and helpful in the other parts of my life, as I say, as you talked about, mascara to medicine, that were really important.

• 20:18Jay Shetty?

  Hey, guys, it's Jay Shetty here, and I couldn't be more excited to share this exciting news. You asked, we delivered. Junie sparkling tea with adaptogens made by my wife and I are now available in all Sprouts locations across the country. Junie is the perfect midday pick-me-up. With only one-third of the caffeine found in brewed green tea, it provides a gentle energy boost without the crash. It only has five calories and zero grams of sugar, making it the perfect drink. Plus, it's made with a delicious blend of adaptogens and nootropics that may help boost your metabolism, combat stress, pack your body with antioxidants, and stimulate brain function.

• 21:00Jay Shetty?

  Head over to your local Sprouts or visit sprouts.com to find the closest location near you.

• 21:07Jay Shetty?

  I'm glad you brought that up because we've spoken about that offline before. Could you walk us through and explain a bit more about the Pillowcase Rapist, just to get a sense of who that was, what that was, et cetera, to get a sense of, and exactly the experience you had? Because I just, I want people to have that context when we're looking at the rest of your life and the rest of your story as we dive in today.

• 21:31Speaker 01

  Right.

• 21:32Jay Shetty?

  Because if someone's unaware, it can be easy to look at your journey and... I think we do this a lot today where we look at a snapshot of someone's life and we think, well, they've done it all, they've made it, they've achieved it. They're, they shouldn't have anything to worry about. And then when you kind of look at someone's life in full perspective, you recognize there's so much more to it. I often give the analogy to people of if you walk into a movie halfway and you see someone's life, you might think they have the best life in the world.

• 22:03Speaker 01

  Right.

• 22:03Jay Shetty?

  But if you didn't see the start of the movie.

• 22:05Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 22:05Jay Shetty?

  And then the end of the movie, you don't really know their full picture. So for that reason, I'd love for you to shed some light and context on that.

• 22:12Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think you're exactly right. I mean, there's the snapshot and then there's the film. And I think in my early mind, in the, in the reel of the film that was probably playing in my head. And as I said, feeling like there was a reason that I was here and, and that purpose. Um, and if somebody would have told me that ultimately I'd be getting drugs made and working to cure a disease and finding a cure for a disease, I would have never believed it. But I did always have that feeling of somebody, as I said, that was going to get me. And to put a little context to California has had, there was the pillowcase rapist in the seventies. And then as if we all needed another pillowcase rapist, there's been another one since.

• 22:54Speaker 01

  But the pillowcase rapist that unfortunately, um, was involved in, in my early days in life, came into, um, the house when my whole family was home. We lived in a, in a duplex, was actually in West Hollywood. As again, I used to, because I felt I was always a target of potentially something, I would get teased a little bit and I had an older brother that would sometimes tease me. And so, um, he's a very nice guy, but sometimes, you know, people just, I think, nobody ever thought that anything was going to happen to me. And one night when I came home, it's that sort of really scary scene you see in a movie where you're in your room and I had the room off the back of the house.

• 23:37Speaker 01

  And I, I look up in the mirror and I see somebody right behind me, you know? And it's that awful thing and you're like, uh, in a ski mask, um, holding something with it looked like a dish rag hanging over it. And I thought it was my brother, maybe playing a joke. And I turn around and I'm like, You know, what are you doing? And I heard in a voice that I knew was completely unrecognizable to me. When somebody says, don't move, that it was not a good thing. And um, at that point, I thought, since my whole family was home and it was really late at night, I thought I was really the last victim. And he had, you know, killed my entire family and I was the last one.

• 24:21Speaker 01

  And um, without going into all the horrible details of it, it was definitely a situation where, for the first time, I really experienced that disassociation going out of body, where I made a really conscious, which then kind of goes unconscious, decision to be above what was happening to my body and to the situation at the time. And obviously, thinking about my family. And it was like really looking down and I just thought, wow, I'm seventeen. I'm was just about, I thought, to graduate high school. And I thought, I can't believe it ends here. You know, like, this doesn't feel like the end of the story. There's a reason I'm here.

• 25:02Speaker 01

  And I knew I had a moment where, when I saw part of his calling card uh, and trademark is that when he had me in a position where I could see he was pulling the pillowcase off of my pillow, what he did was he would then put them over your head and he suffocated. And um, that would be, you know, obviously, lights out for you. And when I saw that, as he was starting to put it over my head, I really made this very decision, like, I am going to, on three, and you know where you have that, where you're thinking, is it, you're so freaked out, like, is a sound gonna come out? Am I gonna just be screaming in my head? But I was like, on three, I'm going to scream and I'm gonna scream really loud.

• 25:47Speaker 01

  And this is either gonna be the end of me. Um, because he did have a knife and he did stab, had stabbed my leg and my stomach, um, and part of my face, that I thought, well, this could be the end. But I just, in my head, counted to three and on three, I screamed. And he dropped the knife. Surprisingly, he pulled off his ski mask. I couldn't really identify him, but I guess, again, that was another sort of calling card that they knew it was him. And he ran out. And my door in my bedroom, I remember, you know, sometimes would get stuck and he's like trying to pull to get out. And I'm like, oh, my gosh. So it was just, and then obviously, I ran upstairs to find out that my parents, they were asleep. I was the only victim in

• 26:31Speaker 01

  the house because he had come in through the, um, put his hand up through the dog door that we had. Uh, it's, you know, we didn't really have security in the house per se. Then it was really just lock the door and he had unlocked, I never have a dog door, again, um, the door and, and that's how he had gotten in.

• 26:50Jay Shetty?

  Well, you, I literally got chills listening to that story because it's so, you know,

• 26:58Jay Shetty?

  it's such a horrific, horrendous thing to have to live through. And I'm grateful you shared it with us. Thank you so much for being vulnerable and open and sharing that.

• 27:11Jay Shetty?

  How do you not let that let you live in fear for the rest of your life? Well, what's the next thing you do from something like that? Because that would be, if you didn't do anything ever, it would be completely valid because it's such a painful experience to go through.

• 27:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 27:30Jay Shetty?

  How do you respond? How do you react? What, what's the first thing you do after something like that?

• 27:34Speaker 01

  I mean, obviously, you know, I was hysterical and I was, you know, I was, there was the relief of my parents and, you know, being okay. But, you know, there was just, I knew that I could never go back in my house. I left. I didn't graduate high school. And, um, you know, I, I got married like as soon as I turned 18. I didn't want to be alone. So for me, it really manifested in fear of being by myself, of somebody getting me again. But I also knew that there just was a reason that I was here. And it was shortly after that, actually, that that's when I started going to the jails and started to do the work there because I thought, How does this happen? Like, how do people go down these roads?

• 28:18Speaker 01

  You know, what, what is it that, you know, makes somebody make the choices in their life? And I just knew that for me, I wanted to, to find what it is ultimately that I was supposed to be doing. And the closest thing at that time, because I wasn't going to be going to college because I didn't graduate high school, was going to beauty school. I thought I can get a, I can get my own little scholarship there and go and, you know, start doing it through the one way that I knew the only skill that I thought I had was in this kind of being this creative and wanting to help women look and feel better about themselves. So I just, I started there really with no money and, and that vision and decided that that's, that's what I was gonna do.

• 29:02Jay Shetty?

  It's a tough question, but did you get an answer when you started visiting the prisons? Of why people did certain things? Did you, did you find or discover anything or hear anything? And on top of that, did the pillowcase rapist go to prison as well?

• 29:16Speaker 01

  Yes. The, the pillowcase rapist was finally caught in prison and he's no longer with us. He's gone, thank goodness. No sadness around that for me. So, uh, yeah, going to the jails, you really see, I mean, there were times that I would go because after going 20 years and, and going, you know, every other month, that's a lot of visits and you hear a lot of different people's stories. And I remember going at times where there was a mom, a daughter and a grandmother, they were all there. And it was just like, wow, how does this happen? And, um, so there was a lot of stories of, you know, in my mind too, because I didn't want to judge. I had to make everybody like, everyone's here as a drunk driver.

• 30:01Speaker 01

  You know, you're sort of like, I wanted to equalize the room so that, um, even though you may be seeing the teardrops at the end of somebody's eyes of, you know, maybe what they've done in life. I, I didn't want to. Judge, I wanted to just stay to my to my message, which I could see that doing these makeovers and people seeing themselves differently, especially women who had maybe tattooed like crazy eyebrows or whatever it was that had really sort of changed them and just somebody that they looked different, but who they were inside was very different. I wanted to get to that and I wanted them to feel that,

• 30:43Speaker 01

  you know, you may be in jail today, but you know, when you get out tomorrow or when you get out, you know, there's a whole new world out there and there can be a whole new you out there. And that was, that really took on the life of of the power of mascara. And obviously it was never about selling them my cosmetics or anything like that because I'm very much for women and whatever makeup they like.

• 31:07Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, absolutely. No, and I think it's incredible how much our appearance does affect our confidence. And I've seen it, there are so many of these great videos on social media of a lot of hairdressers and barbers going on to the streets and doing

• 31:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 31:23Jay Shetty?

  free cuts for the homeless or and you hear their reaction. I've seen some of these videos where you hear their reaction before and after and how they feel about looking at themselves in the mirror and how it can be such a boost for confidence as well.

• 31:38Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 31:38Jay Shetty?

  And so that that definitely resonates. How did it go from being your passion and something that you were so connected to as a way of helping people build self-esteem to then becoming a very successful business? There's, there's lots of steps in between. What were some of the key things you think transformed it from a great small business to something quite successful?

• 32:03Speaker 01

  Well, I think basically it's really in the world of the no makeup makeup, nothing existed. You know, and especially so you think about in, you know, when you're in the jails. Again, I was trying to strip down people to the essence of who they were. And to me, at the core of that is this no makeup makeup. That's Really, and so there was nothing in the world of, say, foundations at the time that would be kind of the starting point for that. That, to me, was going to be what I built my business around. And became, you know, I created over six hundred products over the course of thirteen years. But my foundation, which I sold millions, millions of units of, was just based on more natural-looking skin tone shades

• 32:48Speaker 01

  that looked like you didn't have layers of makeup on. So that really came from not only the jobs that I was doing, but from all those years of going to the jails and really wanting to help women look like themselves and not, you know, pile on all the makeup. So when I said, as I was making these shades and pots and pans in my garage, I had to find a cosmetic chemist. You know, like, at the time, you're looking in the Yellow Pages. Nobody out there knows what the Yellow Pages are.

• 33:19Jay Shetty?

  I know what they are, yeah.

• 33:20Speaker 01

  That's a directory that...

• 33:21Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, it's great ads we used to claim on them during Christmas.

• 33:23Speaker 01

  Exactly, and you're going and you, I found a cosmetic chemist and said, hey, you know, I wanna, this is what I wanna do, I wanna create these shades, these textures, these feels, and I started. And then, while I, again, wanting to teach what I do, um, and never having graduated or gone to college, I thought, you know what, I wanna teach this, I'm gonna call UCLA. They have an extension program. Maybe I could take, teach some of what I'm doing as a Hollywood makeup artist and, um, and teach that. And I did that for ten years as an extension course that was, again, sold out every quarter. People wanted to learn how to do it, whether it was, I had so many men taking it, you know, guys that maybe just wanted to meet gals, you know,

• 34:08Speaker 01

  um, and do their makeup. But it was another way that I could just see people wanted to connect in this way. So I thought, this is great. And then, through doing that at UCLA...

• 34:23Speaker 01

  One of my students actually said, you know, I know this group of guys that are selling products through television. And I said, wow, I think I have a great idea of how to sell products through TV color cosmetics, which no one was doing at the time, because this is the late eighties. And I hadn't really perfected my kit, but you know, we do that little bit of that fake it till you make it and act as if. So when she put me together with the guys, I basically said, I have this idea for these color kits. You know, peach, pink and red, and I'll put all of the colors and products and things you need together. And then I'm going to teach you how to do it. And basically, that long story short, they decided to roll the dice on that and shoot an infomercial.

• 35:07Speaker 01

  And the very first infomercial I did with two celebrities at the time, Ally McGrath and Lisa Hartman. We started doing a million dollars a week in sales. I mean, clearly there was an appetite for women wanting to know how to, how to do their makeup. And, and feeling that confidence and reassurance that I tried to give in my three hour tutorials that you never see now.

• 35:34Jay Shetty?

  That's incredible. That's, that's amazing. And did you find that building this business and helping these people and helping your customers, but also women that you met in the prisons, did that help how you felt about yourself and what you'd been through? Or was there not a correlation? Was healing a part of that? Or was healing having to happen separate of that?

• 35:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, healing is a part of everything. I think we all just, you know, healing happens whether sometimes we even know it or not. It's on like a cellular level. So, you know, it's whatever piece of what you're doing at the time. I've gone through so many different stages of healing because I've gone through so many different experiences. As I said, you know, as my life has gone from like what I look at in the two parts, you know, the mascara to medicine. So it's all, all of that journey has informed me in my healing in so many different ways.

• 36:28Jay Shetty?

  Hmm. Hmm. What, did you find that?

• 36:32Jay Shetty?

  You were saying that your experience made you rush into not wanting to be alone and obviously you got married very young. Did you find that led to some codependency which caused challenges in relationships? Or did you actually, was that something that you feel your partner was good at navigating and dealing with? Because I can imagine that when you don't want to be alone and, and of course, based on the traumatic experience that you had, it's very valid. But I wonder how that affects the other person as well and, and how you navigated that, especially in the early years.

• 37:05Speaker 01

  Well, I think it started even earlier because I had, um, you know, as I said, my parents had a lot of problems together. And my biological dad put me up for adoption when I was nine years old. So my um, stepdad had adopted me and so I really, very early on, I'd say, really never felt, you know, how to have a relationship, especially with a father, with a man. And the fact that I'm now married, this is my third time. So yeah, I'd say, did I have codependent problems and being frightened? And, you know, being afraid to be alone definitely created issues. Um, because I, I was afraid and I was still trying to figure out me. Um, and, and so I, I'd definitely say that's been a theme.

• 37:50Speaker 01

  And even now, I, I've worked really hard, you know, and especially in raising um, three kids. You know, when you have your first child, you really have to think about all of your own stuff. And there were times where I always say, you know, I didn't just hang my hat on my son. I hung my wardrobe, you know, I mean, you bring a lot of your stuff. So it's been really a conscious thing. And I think for all of us, thinking about how the past informs us of what we bring to the table and how we have to navigate our relationships, our love relationships and all of our family relationships. And it can be really challenging and you can become the quote unquote identified patient.

• 38:34Speaker 01

  And how, how you sort of navigate that in your, in your world, in your life.

• 38:39Jay Shetty?

  I've often spoken to doctors, to their experts, and they talk about how much we need to look at our genetic past and our history and our family of health. And it's so interesting how on the physical level that's true. And it's true on the emotional level as well. But sometimes it can be so hard to look at the emotional. Background of our family and how it's affected us.

• 39:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:04Jay Shetty?

  Because a lot of us go through life believing that our parents are superhuman in the beginning. Some of us feel that way for a long, long, long time.

• 39:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:15Jay Shetty?

  And it's almost like the earlier we've recognized that our parents are humans, just like we are. And we all have challenges and flaws, that sometimes the healthier conversations and connection we can have with them as well. Your journey with your children

• 39:34Jay Shetty?

  has been a labor of love in so many ways. And I want to talk about Ali, who I had the pleasure of meeting, who, you know, is your co-author on this book.

• 39:42Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 39:43Jay Shetty?

  And has been at the core of

• 39:47Jay Shetty?

  your journey and connection to the medical world from mascara to medicine and looking into that world. For you, as you said earlier, you were like, I didn't really feel like I was loved in that way. Walk me through what it feels like when your daughter, who you love so deeply, gets diagnosed with an illness that is very rare. And on top of that, you hear she doesn't have very long to live.

• 40:14Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 40:14Jay Shetty?

  I, I just can't imagine, I'm not a parent, but I can't ima- and therefore I can't imagine what that feels like. Can you walk us through what that moment feels like? When you've raised someone for, I think, what, fourteen years and, you know?

• 40:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, my life changed, you know, my life changed when Ali was, you know, I have three children. And when Ali was diagnosed at fourteen, you know, we're, you know, completely healthy, fine. And, you know, we're going to a premiere, a premiere of a movie, we're going to go see something. And she's saying she has an eyeball headache. And I'm thinking, oh, you know, okay, you know? And she says her vision's getting a little fuzzy. And I'm just thinking, well, I'm, you know, I'm sure it's nothing. We'll go see the eye doctor, we'll get you some drops. And, you know, you don't think anything of it. And then all of a sudden I find out through going through to the eye doctor.

• 41:11Speaker 01

  That he does, uh, she does an exam and says that she's got this optic neuritis and we need to find out optic neuritis is the swelling of the, the optic nerve and we need to find out what's going on and go to an op, the neuro, um, ologist and find out that, you know, and now I'm going, he's saying, you've got to go to a neurologist and ultimately, uh, the neurologist is taking a series, uh, doing a series of tests, wanted to do a, a spinal tap, a lumbar puncture. And I'm like, why? Like she's just got something going on with her eyes. What are y'all doing? You know? And, um, it was, it was really scary. And he's decided he's going to do some blood work, the neurologist, and he starts checking

• 41:52Speaker 01

  boxes. And one of the boxes they check is for something called neuromyelitis optica. And I said, oh, what is that? And he goes, oh, don't worry about it. That would be a nightmare. She's not going to have that. I don't even know why I've ever checked that box. And of course, you know how that goes. Check that box. And it turned out that that's what Ally had. And so when they called with the results, they basically told, uh, myself and my husband that she had four years to live. And it was just, life changed. Life changed. I, in my mind, right then, I said, okay, well, I'm closing, you know, at that point, I had a billion dollar empire of, you know, my cosmetic world. I'm closing that book and I'm going to open the book on medicine. And here I am. I, I make lip

• 42:37Speaker 01

  gloss. I can cure disease. Yeah, right. Um, but I was going to do it. I was going to find the way and save my daughter. Um, because it was just, I mean, it, it takes you to your knees. It takes you to the floor. It just, the air goes out of the room. You know, you're just like, you don't even know where to begin. And you literally just have to start somewhere. And that's where I just thought, in that moment, that was my purpose. Everything came back to me. Um, the disassociating wall, you know, the rape was happening. I was like, oh, oh, this is it. This is why I'm here. I'm supposed to cure this. And it

• 43:20Speaker 01

  was just like, that just became the mission from that moment.

• 43:26Jay Shetty?

  This episode is brought to you by Indeed. I know how important every hire is for a business. If you need to make the right hire, this is a job for sponsored jobs. Indeed sponsored jobs helps find quality candidates when you need the most. You can reach who you need based on whatever criteria you're looking for, like skills, certifications, or location. In fact, people are finding quality hires on Indeed right now. In the minute I've been talking to you, companies like yours made 27 hires on Indeed, according to Indeed data worldwide. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/podcast.

• 44:09Jay Shetty?

  That's indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. We talk a lot about intentional decision making, and that extends to the practical stuff too, like making sure your coverage actually works for your life. State Farm is there to meet you where you are, and they know how sweet it is to feel good about your decisions. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with a personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state.

• 44:53Jay Shetty?

  This episode is brought to you by Wayfair. Home should be a place that feels like a sanctuary, a space that truly reflects who you are. But it can be challenging to balance style, budget, and endless options. I was looking to create a dedicated calm space for my morning meditation and reading, but I was struggling to find pieces that felt grounding but could also stand up to daily use. I went on Wayfair and found a beautiful, solid wood accent chair and a bookshelf. Now that corner is my favorite place to anchor my day. The quality is incredible, it's built to last, and it completely shifted the energy of the room. Plus, you can shop with Wayfair Verified, where product specialists carefully vet items for quality and functionality, so you can shop with more confidence. And if putting it all together sounds like a headache,

• 45:37Jay Shetty?

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• 45:54Speaker 02

  Wayfair, every style, every home.

• 45:58Jay Shetty?

  For you in that moment, it sounds like all of your pains really became your purpose. And

• 46:06Jay Shetty?

  that can sometimes be the hardest path to purpose. Because there are several different paths. There's passion, there's a profession, there's people you love. But then, when it's your pain, your pain of seeing your child suffer and getting news like that. What was useful from your cosmetic background? That did transfer over into healthcare and medicine?

• 46:33Speaker 01

  Right.

• 46:33Jay Shetty?

  Or was it just like, none of this is useful and I need to build a different skill set? Because I can imagine that that transition is not easy mentally, emotionally, and of course, logistically.

• 46:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's not easy on any level spiritually. I mean, you name it. What I drew upon more than anything was everyone, my whole career, my whole life has always said, oh, you, you know, even when I was starting my cosmetic company, oh, you can't do that. You know, there's a million cosmetic companies out there. So it was the, everyone up to that point was telling me I couldn't do it. But I was like, no, I can do this. I can do this. I didn't know how I was gonna do this, but I thought, no. Because, as I said, and I really, it's all about for me is with the power of love and intention, anything's possible. And I loved my daughter and I was gonna set this intention.

• 47:29Speaker 01

  And I'd been able to manifest, you know, whether it's been through my creative visualization, I see it in my head, I make the picture, and then I'm like, I'm going to work to create this. And I need to find this cure and I'm going to be able to, I'm gonna sit and ask. All the questions I put together, the first thing I said to myself is I have to learn about this condition. I've got to educate myself. And there I cut to, you know, put a group together and I went to Stanford and I started studying molecular medicine with a group of advisors to understand the process of this particular condition and really start learning and just

• 48:13Speaker 01

  sat there with a group of doctors and advisors that I would just pick from. They're in the world of MS or in lupus or rheumatoid arthritis and these other autoimmune diseases. And I just started saying, telling them my personal story and of, you know, how can you help me? And, you know, basically I was fortunate that I could say I'm, I have a checkbook. And if you're willing to work the way I need you to all work, which was everyone was going to have to collaborate and work together and share information because everybody said they don't do that in the medical world. I said, we're going to find a cure and this is going to be a model for how we look at curing disease in the world. And I mean, I said it on a very

• 48:58Speaker 01

  big stage for myself and, but the biggest thing was always to find a cure and at least find some therapeutics to help me as Ellie was suffering at the time.

• 49:10Jay Shetty?

  What was some of the biggest roadblocks? You mentioned one of them there, collaboration. What were some of the biggest roadblocks you saw in healthcare in curing these seemingly incurable diseases? Because you went in there, of course, as you said, you'd worked hard, first of all, to build this incredible company.

• 49:30Speaker 01

  Right.

• 49:30Jay Shetty?

  Therefore, you had resources. It's not like you just had resources because you inherited them or you had them somewhere else. But even with that, you had to learn, bring people together, figure it out. Like, what were some of the blocks that you ran up against or that you saw that existed before you were able to create and curate your own teams?

• 49:48Speaker 01

  I mean, the biggest thing is, for me, I needed to get to people's brain trust. And I really need to do, the way I thought was in was through their shared humanity and sense of, of their own purpose, like always bringing it back to, well, why did you get into this? You know, why, why did you decide to be a doctor in the world of MS research or things? So that was the positive side. The reason I had to do that is because it was very clear to me very early on that people don't share or work together. They all wanted sort of their own spotlight for their, their findings or their published work. But in the world of rare disease, which I found out at the time, they were saying there was maybe 10,000 people worldwide that have this.

• 50:33Speaker 01

  Since my work, there's over a million people and counting that have this because it's so misdiagnosed, whether it's MS or other things. So, um, I had to get people to work together and share. That was going to be the biggest obstacle, but because I had the power of at least having a checkbook and always feeling very blessed and fortunate for that, that I could say, I will pay. You tell me who you need to get in the room and at the table, but you're all going to work together and share together. Um, so I'd say that was, that was the biggest obstacle. And then finding people. And then honestly, what became more and more as I went down this, through this journey,

• 51:14Speaker 01

  to cure anything, even in a rare disease, I had to, I found out that I had to build a blood bank. Now, can you imagine here's, all of a sudden, you're working to, you know, find your, your way with just getting researchers and scientists to the table. But it became quickly apparent to me that they said, Victoria, for us to do the research, we need to have, we need to have blood specimens. We need the material to do this research. So I thought, wow, now I have to create a repository of blood bank and start collecting blood from patients when I'm hearing it's so rare.

• 51:56Speaker 01

  And when Ally was first diagnosed, I was trying to just find one person that had this. Now I have to amass an entire blood bank of specimens around the world. And, um, that was seemingly, I thought, how do you start? How do you do that? How I did that?

• 52:15Jay Shetty?

  How do you do that?

• 52:16Speaker 01

  How do you do that? I hired a nurse that I said, I'm going to find where these patients are. I'm going to send this nurse with a little cooler. She would show up with a little cooler and she'd go to Alaska or she'd go anywhere, literally taking samples and bringing them back. That's how I started. I now have over a hundred thousand specimens in my own blood bank and biorepository that is used for drug companies. I mean, it's, it's changed the whole landscape. But if somebody would have told me, honestly, Jay, that I would be like having to build a blood bank, that I'd be doing that. I mean, even early on, when I was trying to get patients to just give their samples,

• 53:01Speaker 01

  I'd be like, how about if we do like blush for blood? You get a blush if you give me your blood, because a lot, you know, are women. But you get creative and you think about that. And I knew that the biggest way that I could make the difference was getting all these people together in a room, working in the same direction.

• 53:22Jay Shetty?

  Wow. I mean, that, you know, it's so inspiring because it's so, you've just had so many moments in your life that I think it would be natural and it would be completely okay to give up and slow down and just accept.

• 53:43Jay Shetty?

  But you, and you also, I'm intrigued because when I've spent time with you and even today, it's not like you're fighting. It's almost like you're creating. And I don't know, I'd love to hear your thoughts on those two sentiments because often we think we have to fight to stay alive. You started by saying you've always been a survivor.

• 54:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 54:08Jay Shetty?

  What do you think's core to surviving? Difficult situations, is it fighting or is it creating opportunity or what is it?

• 54:16Speaker 01

  Um, you know, I've never looked at it as, for example, put in the, in the mix there, the thought of like being a victim. Like, so if you think of being a victim, you think more of fighting. So I don't think of myself as a victim or, you know, I, it was never like, oh, why is this happening to me? It was.

• 54:34Jay Shetty?

  How, how did you not have that?

• 54:36Speaker 01

  I mean, I wish, I, there's a lot of times clearly, I, I wish that I had not gone through a rape and gone through what I went through. And there's times that I was like, what would it have been like if I graduated high school and I went to college and all of that? But, you know, that, that wasn't in the cards, that wasn't my journey or, um. But I've always tried to, I always try to zoom out and look at, you know, why is this? You know, what, what's the way in, where can I, I always wanna do something good and make the good come out of it. Um, that's just how I've always been and I wanna find that way.

• 55:15Speaker 01

  And I genuinely always wanna help in whatever it was, whether it was teaching women makeup, which is now, which is, you know, when I'm sitting there at the pharmaceutical company and showing them a, the path, why they need to help all these people and how they can. And again, going through their brain trust to get them, I mean, think about having to get pharmaceutical companies. The fact that I got three drugs made, people say that never ever happens, let alone in, in a rare disease world. How passionate you have to be about what you're talking about and wanting to.

• 55:55Speaker 01

  So it's not really fighting for it, it's just helping people find it within themselves. That's what I do. I find that one piece, like what you do so beautifully. You find that thread, that, that thing that binds all of us, that sense of, shared sense of humanity and that purpose. I had to find that purpose in the room. For all those people.

• 56:18Jay Shetty?

  Hmm.

• 56:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 56:19Jay Shetty?

  Well, what did you end up, so far, what have you accomplished and how, obviously, I named some of it there, but in the intro, but could you explain what has been accomplished and what you're still pursuing? So that we can just understand from a, you know, success point of view, like when you've invented these three drugs. And, but what is, yeah, what have that, what has that achieved? What has that stopped? And then what are you still trying to figure out?

• 56:44Speaker 01

  So, and I never, and I, I was hopeful to get people that invented them. Cause you know, going to obviously Genentech and where they really, you know, that's what they do. But now what I learned, so I started to, people are always going, how are you doing this? Like, like this, this sounds crazy. You're like making lip gloss and all of a sudden you're getting these drugs made. Like there's a, there's a lot in between those, that little journey there. And that's why I wrote, um, The Power of Rare, a blueprint for medical revolution, which is really, this is, cause there's other moms, dads, families that are, you know, going through stories like mine. And I said, I'm going to write down, at least this is what I did, cause people always want to know how you did it.

• 57:28Speaker 01

  I found the biggest magic was always bringing, early on, I brought people together. I had, I brought together over, gosh, forty countries together and hundreds of researchers and scientists and patients together. So that's always been so critical in, in what I do. But what I'm doing now is, so people have said, wow, how, how have you done it? Look at what you've done. Look at autoimmune disease in general. Autoimmune disease right now, which is what, you know, Ally has. Um, and yes, she's on a drug now that is more controlling things. But I decided, as I listened to, you know, our president, which is great, he talks about cancer and moon shots.

• 58:13Speaker 01

  I thought, I want to do a cure shot, a cure shot. We don't need to go to the moon to start curing disease here. And autoimmune disease and cancer are opposite sides of the same coin.

• 58:26Speaker 01

  And I thought, people started going, have you looked at what you're doing in the world of autoimmune disease, this particular one, using this as a blueprint for curing um, a lot of other autoimmune diseases. So that's really what I'm passionate about now. And I have to say, I have an amazing team that supports me. I couldn't have gone through this journey without um, a Dr. Michael Yaman, who's head of molecular medicine at UCLA. I mean, he's the scientist that, you know, we've gone everywhere from, you know, the Harvards to the Mayo to, we were doing work with Verily at Google, looking at biomarkers. I mean, he's always by my side and probably one of the smartest people. So I'm very fortunate

• 59:08Speaker 01

  that I've put together a great team of people and they see how far we've come. So I'm actually looking at how this story ends is I'm gonna like friggin be a big part in working and curing autoimmune disease around the world because, you know, Ally said early on in her journey, and her journey is really for her to talk about, but she said, um, Mom, this isn't just about you and you and me anymore. And it, and that was the turning point. It was like, you're right, it's not. And when I see now all the patients and the parents and, you know, uh, and I, I just feel if my voice can help give voice to, to other people, um, this is, this is what I'm doing.

• 59:52Jay Shetty?

  And for our, for our viewers and for our listeners, how is Ally?

• 59:56Speaker 01

  Ally's doing really well. She passed the bar. She went to law school. She, she was her own champion. I mean, I think early on, you know, she was like, Mom, I don't want to know what I have. Don't tell me, which was really, can you imagine in the early days of walking around thinking, oh, my gosh, my daughter has four years, doesn't even want to know. But she goes, I know whatever it is, Mom, you'll, you'll figure it out. And, uh, but Ally's really the one who has, uh, has figured it out. And, and she's doing really well and she's a champion. And, you know, you see how the toll it takes even on, on, you know, I have two other children and one at the time was a musician, you know, on the road with, opening for One Direction for years. Um, and he's out on the road and

• 1:00:38Speaker 01

  I'm, you know, going and, and going to these different institutions. And I should say, because as people are going through this and whatever your journey is, Even while I was going through this, and this was Ally's, there was at one point that I um, I myself became diagnosed with cancer. And I had to really sort of go, this can't be again, that that visualization. I was like, this isn't going to be the movie. Or like the mom's trying to save the daughter, but then she gets cancer and she dies. Or Lorenzo's Oil, which people told me about where, you know, he dies.

• 1:01:19Speaker 01

  It was like, no, I'm going to whatever the odds are, whatever things happen. There's another way to look at it and another way to persevere and and get through it.

• 1:01:30Jay Shetty?

  What have you learned about, so like, let's say there are people in the audience who are listening or watching today. They know someone who's struggling with an autoimmune disease or someone in their life, or maybe even, and even if they are, I I have people in my family and and life. Where do they start? What do they do? Where do they get help? Like, what what are the best places that you've seen or places of support? Especially if people aren't in a, you know, financial, don't have financial capacity to help solve some of those things.

• 1:02:00Speaker 01

  Well, first and foremost, they have to start within. They have to find their voice and not be a victim of it. But go, what what can I do? Um, in my situation, when I created, I created an app, um, NMO Resources. And I started to put together, um, building an actual community for patients to have support groups. So look for other people that are going through what you're going through and start going through that, you know, having people that you surround yourself in life. Try to put together a team, even at whatever level. And I know people will look at, and I've heard people like Victoria, we don't have the money you have and all of that. No, but you have a voice and you know if something you're hearing doesn't feel right.

• 1:02:46Speaker 01

  Getting those second opinions, advocate for yourself. That's a really, really big part of it and a big part of what I do. When I'm doing my patient days where I bring together hundreds of patients together. I'm advocating for them, but I'm getting them ultimately to advocate for themselves. Because that's what they need to do. And seek out, just do the research. Go online, look at the different things that, you know, and sort of vet them for yourself and see what feels right. It's all about taking action. I'm working on another book right now that'll come out next year, but it's called Warrior to Warrior.

• 1:03:29Speaker 01

  And worry, I always say worry weighs more when you carry it alone. So you've got to take that worry and kind of redirect it and channel it and do the things, become that warrior for yourself that will ultimately lead you to a better place.

• 1:03:49Jay Shetty?

  Victoria, you've been so vulnerable and generous and kind today with sharing your journey, sharing challenging moments. And today, I just want everyone who's listening, watching to know, we have only skimmed the iceberg of the amount of work, the depth, the story. And so I highly recommend that both of these books, Saving Each Other and The Power of Rare, if you're truly fascinated by the depths of this story and journey, that you dive into those two books. Because like I said, we've only touched the tip of the iceberg. But Victoria, we end every on purpose interview with a final five or a fast five, which have to be answered in one word to one sentence maximum. And I always ruin it by asking for more details. So that's up to me.

• 1:04:33Jay Shetty?

  But Victoria, I'd like to ask you your final five. The first question is, what is the best advice you've ever heard or received?

• 1:04:41Speaker 01

  Um, I'd say my mom early on said, um, wash your face, put on some makeup and just go out there and do it.

• 1:04:52Jay Shetty?

  I like that. That makes sense. That's the makeup alliance.

• 1:04:55Speaker 01

  And then I started a cosmetic company.

• 1:04:57Jay Shetty?

  That makes sense. That makes sense. What you tell your kids every day. Just, yeah, that's great. Uh, second question, what is the worst advice you've ever heard or received?

• 1:05:06Speaker 01

  You'll never be able to, to do that. You know, you're, you're aiming too high.

• 1:05:12Jay Shetty?

  Hmm. So true. Uh, question number three, how would you define your current purpose?

• 1:05:19Speaker 01

  Oh gosh, I mean, that's, my purpose is to cure autoimmune disease around the world, but really is, my purpose is to just be a good, a good person, a kind person to help people and, uh, and truly just share all the blessings of, of the, the good fortune in my life. That's really my purpose.

• 1:05:40Jay Shetty?

  Question number four.

• 1:05:45Jay Shetty?

  You use this phrase a few times in the interview, like finding your voice, you have to have a voice finding. What is the best way for someone to find their voice when they feel they've had to be quiet silence? Or

• 1:06:00Jay Shetty?

  they never had one in the first place?

• 1:06:03Speaker 01

  Well, I don't believe, nobody's had, not had a voice in the first place. We all have that. It's, for me, I always encourage people to just, to get quiet with yourself, which is different than becoming quiet. But getting quiet with yourself, kind of, a lot of times I use that visualization of just zooming out. And, um, and hearing myself say it in my mind and then letting the words come out, just like they did when I made my scream and I was afraid. So, and those words came out is, be willing to, to do it. Just, just do it, you know?

• 1:06:46Speaker 01

  I, I'm just, that's so important to me. Just get quiet, center yourself, think about it, and then just say it. Move it, move through it. Just do it.

• 1:06:59Jay Shetty?

  Beautiful. And fifth and final question, if you could create one law that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be?

• 1:07:08Speaker 01

  If we could all just get back to our shared sense of humanity, you know, that really, more than not, people are good people. I have seen, and that is one thing, Jay, I'll tell you, working with forty different countries and all the different researchers and scientists from around the world, when they walk in the doors of my conferences, everybody there is there to really help people. All the politics, all the other stuff, we're there to help people. And just that, if we could just get back to that shared sense of humanity and loving one another, there'd be nothing better than that.

• 1:07:51Jay Shetty?

  Thank you. Victoria, is there anything that I haven't asked you today that you deeply want to share, or something on your heart, or your mind, or your soul, that you feel whole to share?

• 1:08:01Speaker 01

  I don't know. What do you think? People hearing this, will they, will they benefit from it?

• 1:08:05Jay Shetty?

  Absolutely, absolutely.

• 1:08:08Speaker 01

  I mean, you're, you're hearing it for the first time.

• 1:08:11Jay Shetty?

  It's so, I, I mean, I meant everything I said. It's so honestly moving to hear a journey of someone, just a, just a real human story, of someone who achieved material success after so much personal tribulation and trauma, to then switch to a service-based life, and now dedicated even further, of course, through helping Ali, but now to helping autoimmune diseases as a whole.

• 1:08:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:08:48Jay Shetty?

  I mean, I don't know if there's a better story arc for a movie. You know, it's like, that, you know, I don't know if, it's almost like you couldn't write it.

• 1:08:58Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:08:59Jay Shetty?

  Because it's so powerful that someone would be able to rise from those situations, even, you know.

• 1:09:08Jay Shetty?

  Third marriage, you said, like?

• 1:09:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:09:10Jay Shetty?

  Bill. Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I mean, like, to go through that after what you've been through, to have that ability to find love again and create love and then to have a child and kind of have everything picture perfect externally, it may seem.

• 1:09:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:09:27Jay Shetty?

  To then have the worst news you could potentially ask for.

• 1:09:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:09:31Jay Shetty?

  You know, I think it's going to move and help a lot of people. I wouldn't have, I mean, I don't know many people who've lived that life, so.

• 1:09:40Speaker 01

  Yeah. Well, you know what? I mean, honestly, just the fact that you've given me the opportunity, because, you know, there are probably a lot of people that are going through what they go through. And it's hard to get people to pay attention. Getting press early on was like, forget it. I mean, it's like, it's not sexy. It's not, you know, people are talking about whatever. It's always something that, and to me, it's like, this is a great story for how things can actually happen. When you really do see how these doctors and patients and people work together and what's been built, it really is extraordinary. I mean, it's been 15 years now. And just even, you know, just going through the Hall of Fame, you know, which was amazing

• 1:10:24Speaker 01

  just to have that experience of having Gloria Steinem induct me into the Hall of Fame or the Pope, which will get you there, was all extraordinary. You know, who would think that somebody who didn't graduate high school and, you know, is all of a sudden those kinds of things.

• 1:10:43Jay Shetty?

  How much have you invested now in this journey? How much have you personally invested into this?

• 1:10:48Speaker 01

  I've put in $80 million of my own money.

• 1:10:51Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:10:52Jay Shetty?

  That's incredible.

• 1:10:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:10:53Jay Shetty?

  And that's important, too.

• 1:10:55Speaker 01

  And that $80 million is really, you know, you look at that, it's hundreds of millions that a pharmaceutical company had to put in. And I had to show them and build a model to show them how they can make money, you know, when I could have just, you know, become angry or like, why do I have to do that? They can just do this. But you have to, you have to kind of, I sit in everybody's seat always in my mind in the room and go, how do I get everyone aligned so that we can all keep moving forward? And that was really, really important is to. Look at what everybody's needs were in that room, what different countries, different institutions.

• 1:11:35Speaker 01

  But then saying to the Mayo Clinic, like, unless, you know, you work with Oxford or whoever that is, you know, I'm not writing this check. So everybody had to work with another institution in all the research.

• 1:11:50Jay Shetty?

  I think that's the most beautiful thing that it's you're just using the success you had in service. I mean, what what better use of success is there than in service to to others?

• 1:12:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:12:02Jay Shetty?

  And now that you're dedicated to helping hopefully prevent and solve autoimmune diseases. I mean, yeah, I feel like so you're so right that so many people are misdiagnosed or undiagnosed, diagnosed too late. Like, I'm hearing about it all the time.

• 1:12:18Speaker 01

  That's what this will really help Jay too, is that because so many people are misdiagnosed with different things. Most of the patients that now have what Ali has, they've been misdiagnosed before the doctors even knew what it was. They were misdiagnosed with MS or so that's why there's so many more patients than originally they thought. And I created, there's an assay that it's literally a blood test that tells you if you have it, so.

• 1:12:46Jay Shetty?

  How accessible is that for everyone?

• 1:12:48Speaker 01

  Anybody can get it. Anybody can get it. I mean, in this case, the doctor Mark checked that box, you know, for that test. But yeah, but that's why I created the app and things, because when you go to an emergency room, a lot of people, they wouldn't even know about this condition. So and then when you're not getting treated, you're just having more and more.

• 1:13:08Jay Shetty?

  How does the app work? Anyone can use it from home?

• 1:13:11Speaker 01

  The app, yeah, it's on your phone.

• 1:13:12Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 1:13:13Speaker 01

  It's just on your phone.

• 1:13:13Jay Shetty?

  Did you tell us which what exactly the name of the app?

• 1:13:16Speaker 01

  The app is called NMO Resources and you literally download it and it's got everything. I mean, it's. It's extraordinary to see there isn't something like this that exists.

• 1:13:26Jay Shetty?

  And it's free.

• 1:13:27Speaker 01

  It's totally free.

• 1:13:28Jay Shetty?

  Totally free.

• 1:13:28Speaker 01

  It's got everything from the clinical trials that are going on to support groups. Anywhere in the world where you are, you can find a physician. It talks about what a relapse looks like. I mean, if you're having an attack, you go into an emergency room, you show them the app. Everything is right there.

• 1:13:46Jay Shetty?

  Hmm.

• 1:13:46Speaker 01

  I mean, it's, it's really extraordinary. I wanted something that people would have in real time. If you had this for all conditions, I mean, people creating something like this is amazing.

• 1:13:57Jay Shetty?

  Hmm. Are you trying to do that for other autoimmune diseases as well now?

• 1:14:01Speaker 01

  What I'm, what I'm doing now, especially in the one with, with Ally's case, is a lot of times in different conditions, you don't know if you're having a relapse. So I'm working with Verily, which is part of Google, in helping find all the biomarkers. And also I've created something called a relapse navigator, which doctors will be using that, you know, is really kind of a shelf where you can put in the different symptoms and things that you'll be able to, patients and doctors can know if they're having attacks. So, you know, thinking about technology now with where we're going to be with AI and all of these things, I mean, when I started, it just, I think there was maybe three papers

• 1:14:43Speaker 01

  that were published on what it used to be called before NMO Devix disease. And now there's thousands that have been published since I've been doing this work, literally thousands.

• 1:14:53Jay Shetty?

  It's been 15 years that you've been dedicated to this now.

• 1:14:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, 15 years I've been doing this. 15 years I've waited to talk to you, or to talk in general, just to get, to get the message out there, you know, because it's really, it's really, really tough. And I know there's a lot of people in the world that are suffering with these kind of conditions and diseases, and there's probably a lot of parents that are trying to figure it out and figure out how to, to make enough noise or get the attention because autoimmune disease isn't, is not, you know, going away anytime soon until we all really put our focus on it and know that if we can cure autoimmune disease and cancer, I mean, think of, and they are, different sides of the same coin. When you treat one, you get the other.

• 1:15:41Speaker 01

  So it's, you're much more vulnerable to that.

• 1:15:44Jay Shetty?

  And what, and what's that gap? Like what is, because you always feel like, yes, we assume that so much money is going towards solving cancer and solving this, like. If is money the issue, is time the issue, is collaboration the issue, like what's the?

• 1:15:57Speaker 01

  I think what makes me the craziest is when people give a lot of money, say they're very well intentioned, they're giving money to something, but it's going to maybe to pay for a chair for a professor or you know, it's not going where it needs to go. A hundred percent, you know, we're pretty much, I've put in eighty million dollars with my own money, um, of our family money, every penny goes to research and science. A lot of places it just doesn't, um, or it's not put to, like, everything I do is tranch. I have to see results, everything has to be translational, meaning bench to bedside.

• 1:16:37Speaker 01

  If you don't see that it's gonna be really on the critical path to make a difference, I don't fund it. So a lot of money is spent on things that, you know, scientists and God bless them, but they'll research, you know, the head of a pin forever, you know? I mean, you have to sort of be very strategic and you have to go, okay, where, where is the gold in this that I'm gonna fund it because it's really gonna make a difference?

• 1:17:03Jay Shetty?

  And why is it important for the people to make a noise? Because like you said, like, they can't help solve it. They can't, they necessarily, the solutions don't exist right now if someone's struggling.

• 1:17:14Jay Shetty?

  What, what's your take for the prevention, but also like the living with for someone who, you know, what, what if, is that, obviously some of that for NMO is in the app?

• 1:17:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:17:26Jay Shetty?

  But if it's autoimmune diseases in general?

• 1:17:28Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, I mean, I think that basically, well, I would tell anybody that has an autoimmune disease, look at this and look at the things that we recommend. I mean, obviously you've got to be speaking to your own doctors and, and following your own medical advice 'cause, you know, I'm not a doctor, I'm like doctor mom, you know? Um, but I would say that, you know, there's a lot more research out there and people that are making huge advances that a lot of people don't even know about. So you have to really advocate and do the research and do the deep dive. Don't just go with what the one doctor may say to you. Um, there's a lot of people working in these areas that you may know nothing about

• 1:18:09Speaker 01

  and look at it on the broad spectrum of like, set it on the world stage, look at it globally, see what they're doing and In different countries, you know, really educate yourself. That's what I had to do. I mean, I had to really learn it and study it and understand it. So you just can't be a victim of it. And I know that's a lot easier said than done, especially when you're in pain and you're struggling and you don't have money. But you gotta find a way. You just gotta find a way. I always find a way.

• 1:18:42Jay Shetty?

  Yeah. Thank you, Victoria.

• 1:18:43Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 1:18:44Jay Shetty?

  Thank you so much.

• 1:18:44Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 1:18:45Jay Shetty?

  I mean, I was the whole time. Yeah, exactly. I think it's one of the, you know, it's personal story to me is, is the best way to help inspire and, and life and others. And I think everything you shared today will touch people's hearts and, and move them into action. So.

• 1:19:01Speaker 01

  Oh, thank you. Well, thank you. Listen.

• 1:19:04Jay Shetty?

  So grateful.

• 1:19:05Speaker 01

  You gave me this opportunity to.

• 1:19:07Jay Shetty?

  No, I'm grateful to call you a friend. And you've told me, you know, we've talked about so many of those things before, but even for me to sit and hear you in this way and knowing how it's going to impact my community is going to be really beautiful. So.

• 1:19:21Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:19:21Jay Shetty?

  Thank you.

• 1:19:21Speaker 01

  Yeah. When we do a lot of, you know, I do a lot of research and work in India as well, like worldwide. So, you know, it's just so many people that they just don't have the access or they don't know, or they are too afraid to, you know, so anything that you can do, I mean, you're the best.

• 1:19:41Jay Shetty?

  I'm here to help. I, I, I believe in it. I, I agree with you. I don't, I don't know if there's any bigger thing to solve than healthcare. Like, I don't, I don't think there's anything more important in the world.

• 1:19:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:19:52Jay Shetty?

  Than solving incurable diseases.

• 1:19:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:19:54Jay Shetty?

  Because everyone should be able to live a healthy and.

• 1:19:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:19:58Jay Shetty?

  And.

• 1:19:59Speaker 01

  And I think that's why if people go, well, gosh, if she did it and like no experience other, you know, like the way I started and found my way into it. But when you actually, that's when I, honestly, when people started saying to me, um, you know, this is actually going to change MS or this is actually going to change lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. And that I was like, really? Like, then I just thought, this is, this is, this is the, this is the work. This is my life's work, you know?

• 1:20:28Jay Shetty?

  Thank you, Victoria. Thank you to everyone who's been listening and watching back at home. Please make sure that you share this with friends you know would be inspired by it, moved by it. And please let me know what really resonated with you and stood out for you. A big thank you to Victoria again. Thank you. And thank you so much for your friendship and your service. Victoria means the world. Thank you so much. Thank you. If this year you're trying to live longer, live happier, live healthier, go and check out my conversation with the world's biggest longevity doctor, Peter Attia, on how to slow down aging and why your emotional health is directly impacting your physical health.

• 1:21:08Speaker 03

  Acknowledge that there is surprisingly little known about the relationship between nutrition and health. And people are going to be shocked to hear that because I think most people think the exact opposite.

• 1:21:20Jay Shetty?

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• 1:22:01Jay Shetty?

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• 1:22:19Speaker 04

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• 1:22:48Speaker 02

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