The Daria Hamrah Podcast

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If you want to know the secret to increasing your memory, boosting your brain, and defying the aging of the brain, you simply cannot miss this first episode of my second season!

My special guest and dear friend Dr. Majid Fotouhi will shed light on some of his groundbreaking research in an up-close and personal interview with me on my podcast. In addition, we talk about how he was able to visualize his passion and career to become a "brain-expert" as early as age 14 years old, inspired by his father who inspired him and ensured him he could anyone he wants to be. That there are no limits to his aspirations and potential. 

A Harvard- and Johns Hopkins-trained neurologist and neuroscientist, Dr. Fotuhi is one of the foremost authorities in the field of memory, concussion, ADHD, Alzheimer’s disease, and brain vitality in older adults. Through his 25 years of teaching, clinical work, and neuroscience research experience, Dr. Fotuhi developed a multidisciplinary approach to treating brain function disorders. In addition to treating patients in his current role as medical director of NeuroGrow Brain Fitness Center, Dr. Fotuhi conducts clinical research, writes books, and gives public lectures about brain health, prevention of Alzheimer’s disease, and expanding brain capacity.

In his latest book "Boost Your Brain" he outlines a personalized 12-week "Brain Fitness Program" for improving cognitive function and increasing the volume of the part of your brain responsible for your memory, called the Hippocampus, in people with mild cognitive impairment. 

Dr. Fotuhi has been interviewed by more than 50 national media outlets including ABC News, CTV, CNN, CBS, TODAY show, Fox News, Dr. Oz show, Discovery Channel, USA Today, Health magazine, Ladies’ Home Journal, Forbes, The Boston Globe, BusinessWeek, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Montreal Gazette, and The Times (London).

Dr. Fotuhi has taken a leadership role in the field of medical education. He has received numerous awards for his innovative and dynamic teaching style. He is a popular instructor at Harvard Medical School, where he designed and helped to build two 5-foot brain models for his students in neuroanatomy classes. He won the distinguished teaching award from the American Academy of Neurology in 2001. He has presented academic lectures as an honorary visiting professor in Canada, Egypt, China, Israel, and Japan.

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This show is dedicated to the host of the show, Dr. Daria Hamrah.
In an up-close and personal interview with Nathan and George, hosts of the podcast show "Skinterviews" that aired several months ago, Dr. Hamrah revealed uncensored stories of his upbringing, his past as well as his present. Diving into the deep end of things, he reveals personal stories about his successes but also his failures. How he found his passion and his true north, ultimately leading to co-founding a charity foundation called, Alegria, that helps children with facial deformities and cleft lip and palate in South America. His life philosophy is: "Helping others, without asking for anything in return." His Favorite quote is by John F. Kennedy: "Ask for what you can do for your country, not what your country can do for you!"

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Today’s show is about marketing for the now! Why for the now? Because the strategies in marketing today are literally changing as I speak. Because of digital technology, specifically social media. In today’s marketing world, if you don’t have a presence on all social media outlets like Instagram, Facebook, Linked In, and even now TikTok, ladies, and gentlemen, you don’t exist. Yes! over 70% of the population can’t see you! You might say: “ But, Daria, I have a website and pay lot’s of money on SEO and google”… Well, by the time they searched you on Google, they have been searching 10 other businesses they found on social media first. Let me ask you a question: How many minutes,…excuse me…, hours, do you spend a day on social media, versus google? 

Don’t get me wrong, SEO optimization and all is important, but honestly, Google is so diluted and SEO strategies are so outdated due to the rapid coding changes of google that any SEO company claiming they are on top of it, either are delusional or you are a wishful thinker. Google is not the only player in town when it comes to marketing. So, What do now? Honestly, it’s above my pay grade. But I know enough to realize that today, more so than ever, it is important to have a virtual CMO that is an expert in digital marketing and understands the rapid shifts and dynamics in technology coupled with the internet and social media. More importantly, understands consumer behavior pertaining to your specific business. 
One of these people is my friend Steve Seidel from the Seidel Agency. An expert marketer and entrepreneur, Steve Seidel, who is an `Award-Winning Marketer, Speaker, and Founder of The Seidel Agency, with over 15 years of experience building brands to make an impact, inspire positive action, and empower audiences everywhere. Voted "What to Watch on the Web" by USA Today, Steve builds, consults, and catapults Fortune 500 clients to the next level within entertainment, technology, and aesthetics. 

Having had the privilege to get to know him as a person and friend, to me what makes this guy most special and what I love about him, is his kind and genuine character. His values are truly reflected in his companies logo and state: Do Good. Give Back. Make an Impact. ….And that’s what he is truly about. Listen in to my conversation with today’s virtual CMO, Steve Seidel. 

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Welcome to the 8th episode of the Daria Hamrah Podcast! Today I had the rare opportunity to talk to one of my most inspiring guests that I am lucky to call a friend.

What makes her so special is the very essence of what my podcast is about, success! Success, not measured by monetary value but rather than fulfillment and happiness. To me, the only true measure of success. People that follow their dreams and passion no matter what the odds are, people that believe in themselves and step out of their comfort zone in order to achieve their goals. 

My guest Rudi Bakhtiar is best known for anchoring CNN Headline News Tonight, a prime time national three-hour newscast in the US. Not only she was anchoring this Emmy nominated CNN Newsroom, but she also worked as a dedicated correspondent for Anderson Cooper 360 at that time only 8 years into her career with the network. All of this after starting off as an intern for CNN in Los Angeles only to become a line producer at the network in a very short period of time. 

In this very up-close and personal interview, Rudi, one of the biggest celebrities in the Persian-American community, walks us through her life, from being born in California to moving back to Iran until moving back to the US after the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Having had an inspiring father who was a Professor in Mathematics at the top Science and Tech university in Iran, as well as a  great uncle who was the Shah of Iran’s last prime minister, she had two inspiring figures in her life who influenced her greatly in achieving her successful career. Most importantly giving her the confidence in believing in herself.

Making her right career choice however came after reading a book about: “Finding Your Passion”. 

She walks us through her struggles and successes, from being destined to become a dentist and being accepted to NYU dental school, to studying architecture at the career discovery program at Harvard School of Design, to then making a complete 180 and going into journalism, only to become one of the youngest news anchors at then the biggest news agency in the world, CNN. Having all the stars lined up, her career took an unexpected turn when her father was diagnosed with cancer and she decided to leave her successful career in order to take care of her sick father knowing that she would not be able to return to her anchor job as threatened by her boss at CNN. Her love for her father and loyalty to her family was greater than her career which speaks words about who she is as a human being. 

As if life as the daughter of Iranian Immigrants in the US wasn’t hard enough, she became a victim of a sexual harassment case while working for FOX news that was featured in a recent blockbuster movie “Bombshell” featuring Charlize Theron, that unveiled the story around the sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Gretchen Carlson against longtime Fox News CEO Roger Ailes in July 2016.

After her father’s passing, she then became a humanitarian going to the war zones in Syria and Iraq to report as an independent contractor for Reuters about the crimes and human rights violations in those war zones. It is her experience during the time that led her to produce her upcoming documentary about Syria, ISIS, and the truth about the middle east conflict. 

I hope you will be as inspired as I was after listening to her story and 

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Today I will be talking to a very interesting guest, who is a dear friend and colleague of mine.
As a plastic surgeon practicing in the San Francisco Bay area, he is not only a gifted and passionate surgeon but moreover, he is a problem solver and entrepreneur. In today’s world where every business owner is called an “entrepreneur”, to me the true definition of an entrepreneur is someone that realized a problem, comes up with a solution, and then shares it with everyone. 

Today, one of the biggest problems in our healthcare is price transparency. What do I mean by that? Have you ever gone to the doctor or hospital and actually knew what your bill is going to be prior to going there? Well, this is exactly one of the big problems in American health care. Worse even is the tremendous variations in cost. Imagine you go to a restaurant and you wouldn’t know the cost of your steak prior to ordering it. Worse even, your bill for the same steak is $200, and your friend who had the same steak for some reason only paid $40. How would you feel about that? Well in healthcare lack of price transparency is the accepted norm. 

Patients often get confronted with fees after they see their doctor and often are shocked about the amount and then have to figure out how to pay their bill after the fact. Why can’t the patients have an estimate of fees prior to their visit? The answer that many doctors including myself up till now were giving  their patients was: “ the doctor can’t give estimates over the phone since surgical needs are different for everyone.” Well, what if, as a patient, you could go to your doctor’s website or use an app on your phone to get estimates of procedures and services that you need or simply want by simply selecting them and putting them in your “wishlist” and then getting a quote immediately? 

Well, this is exactly what my next guest, Dr. Johnathan Kaplan, a plastic surgeon from the San Francisco Bay area has created with his app called “BuildMYBod”. BuildMyBod has a price estimator where a patient can exactly do that, select procedures they want estimates on, placed them in their cart, and get a complete estimate before seeing their doctor. To me, this was such a genius idea that I didn’t hesitate to integrate the system into my practice! No more surprises for our patients, no more sticker shock! how about that?

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I welcome you to listen to a conversation I had last month with a good friend of mine, Mr. Bandon Lee, a proud black man from Oakland California and Huston, TX.  Brandon is a regular presenter and speaker at educational institutions, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and conferences on topics that include: How to Survive a Police Stop, Racism, Trauma & Healing, Black Founders of the United States of America and Community Conscious Policing.
As a survivor of racial profiling, Brandon settled a lawsuit against a police department that resulted in a monetary settlement and disciplinary action against the officers involved. In Oakland, he worked to fund the Citizens Police Review Board, which was later replaced by the Police Commission and Community Police Review Agency in 2016 (Measure LL).
Understanding that the polarization of law enforcement and community members deepens as our nation continues to erupt into protests He knows very well that Trust has been broken and communities feel unsafe. With a lifetime of experience personally advocating for justice against profiling and institutional racism, he has become the expert in transforming traumatic circumstances into hopeful victorious ones. His understanding of how to correct and restore institutions to a healthy and inclusive environment is unmatched.
Trying to find a solution, Brandon Co-founded a nonprofit organization called,  Training 4 Transformation (T4T) that advocates Community Conscious Policing.  Community Conscious Policing is a public health response model to end law enforcement violence. It is designed to augment and enhance existing continuing education for law enforcement, students in social justice-related fields, advocates involved in police accountability, and organizations seeking to increase their outreach capacity through collaboration with local law enforcement agencies. 

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I want to welcome my next guest, whose story is inspiring in many ways. In a male-dominated world of plastic surgery, she has risen in only 7 years as a top opinion leader and one of the most sought after surgeons in Beverly Hills, California. Which by many considered as the most competitive region in the world of aesthetic surgery.
As many people are quick to judge her by her stunning looks, being of the female gender, brown skin color and an immigrant from Iran fleeing her motherland at the age of 7, wouldn’t necessarily give you an advantage in a country that is still struggling with sexism, racism, and antisemitism. But the more inspiring aspect of her story is not the fact that she has risen to the top of the plastic surgery world in a very short period of time, but more so, how she has done so. As if dominating the social media world and the internet wasn’t enough,  now she is even debuting her own show on NETFLIX this coming July 15th, called “Skin Decision - Before and After. 
When many people would have used her circumstances growing up as a refugee and victim of antisemitism fleeing her country at the age of 7  simply as an excuse to just give up, this relentless woman used it as a drive to follow her passion, not taking her opportunity in this world for granted. To live her dream and to do it relentlessly!

Well, listen in to this up-close and personal interview with my colleague, Dr. Sheila Nazarian, and find out how a mother of 3 being pregnant during her Surgical residency has become not only one of the most sought-after plastic surgeons in Beverly Hills but also a social media guru, business management expert and now her own Netflix show. 

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Welcome to the 4th Episode of the Daria Hamrah Podcast. Today I have invited a very special guest who is very hard to categorize. You could call him an entrepreneur, philanthropist, humanitarian, TV celebrity, Educator, motivational speaker, or just a cosmetic dentist in southern California. 
His profession and his passion have led him to gain too many honors for me to list. But despite having co-founded some of the biggest dental companies and having invented the tooth whitening system ZOOM!, he has earned numerous awards as a cosmetic dentist  practicing in  Los Angeles, CA, His humanitarian & philanthropic involvement has led to his being honored with 14 Life Time Achievement Awards in addition to 2 Guinness World Book records. To top it off, in 2018 he was Knighted by the Royal Order of Constantine!

But today, we are not here to talk about one single person’s accolades. We are here to talk about the importance and meaning of giving. Yes, it sounds like a cliche, giving is receiving. But when you listen to our conversation, you will find out why and how it is true and not a cliche. You will learn that being a celebrity on an ABC show “Extreme Makeover”, or being on Oprah or Larry King Live, just to name a few shows he has been invited to, is not the ultimate achievement. The ultimate achievement and success in life are not about materialistic values or fame, it is not about selfishness. We all know how our society puts the above on a pedestal only to confuse young children and adults about the important things in life.
Life to him is about giving, it is about teaching and showing young adults and students the pathways to success. In order to reach the future of our nation, my guest, Dr. Bill Dorfman founded The LEAP Foundation about 13 years ago. High school and college students from ages 15 to 27+ meet every summer in southern California to learn lessons in life, lessons not taught at schools, lessons that make all the difference in the true success of our lives. Not form a single perspective, but rather from the perspective of many successful people that get invited each year to meet with hundreds of students from around the country to serve as their mentors. To teach and lead them through real-life stories, the importance of basic human values like appreciation, self-love, caring for others, how to succeed in life and business. To empower young adults and teenagers to become the best possible version of themselves. Without fear of judgment or failure. To show them why Failure is not an option! 

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It is my pleasure to announce today’s guest who is undoubtedly one of the most inspiring professionals and human beings in aesthetic medicine and plastic surgery today. As one of the most sought after speakers in the business, he finds rare time to chat with me and open up about his story, his passion, and his profession. Through his story, you will see the importance of following your passion, no matter how others judge you, especially your own colleagues.  To be true to yourself and most importantly the importance of being authentic.

 Dr. Steven Dayan is a Facial Plastic Surgeon in Chicago, IL, where he grew up. In addition to his extensive research in aesthetic medicine through his research institute, DeNova Research, he trains and teaches surgical residents at the University of Illinois in Chicago. As an adjunct professor at DePaul University, he is also teaching an undergraduate course in the “Science of Beauty and Attraction and its impact on Culture and Business. 

He has published numerous scientific peer-reviewed articles, authored many medical textbook chapters, and through his work, Dr. Dayan remains on the cutting edge of the aesthetic field. But more importantly, he is a philosopher and visionary, someone that has an immense ability to think outside of the box and look at what really matters, “The happiness of his patients” not a before and after picture of his work as judged by his peers.
Like many of us who started our lives with specific dreams of who we would like to become, his unique life story might find a resemblance to many of us as we might have not necessarily achieved those dreams that we had initially set. Well, as he tells us his story, you might find that it’s not always a bad thing when we don’t achieve those dreams. You’ll find out that the road sometimes leads you to better and greater things instead. Things that you might have not ever dreamt or thought of.  Like changing people's lives or better even changing the paradigm of an entire profession, in his case, the profession of plastic surgery and aesthetic medicine. In this rare interview, he discusses how we define beauty and attraction and why we are subconsciously driven to beauty, no matter how we judge it. How 3.5million years of evolution have made us who we are and why we behave the way we do. In his New York Times bestselling book “Subliminally Exposed” he scientifically and pragmatically exposes the shocking truths about your hidden desires in mating, dating, and communicating. He then also warns to use this knowledge “cautiously”.  He reminds us that beauty is raw, powerful, and often dangerous, but when refined, harnessed, and mastered, it can be incredibly influential. His current research goes as far as investigating the science of how we can sense beauty without actually seeing it. So, you can already tell, there is much more to beauty and so much we still don’t understand.

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When you are told by your teachers and people you look up to "You'll never graduate" or "You will never make it in this profession", you are left with nothing but a broken dream. When your back is against the wall and everyone doubts you, that's when you know how much your dream actually means to you. Only if it means everything, you will get up, shake it off and do it anyway. "They told me I couldn't, that's why I did!"

In this intimate and up-close interview with Dr. Dean Vafiadis, a celebrity dentist (prosthodontist) in Manhattan and an associate professor at NYU College of Dentistry, author, speaker and innovator, Dean reveals the secret to his success and happiness. He explains how adversities have always been the fuel that helped him succeed and challenged him to come out even stronger. When many give up because of fear of failure, he looks at the future and knows that the only option is to make things better. I call him the "Steve Jobs" of Dentistry because he thinks differently!

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