"Rare is not rare" - Swapna Kakani

Swapna Kakani (@swapnaspeaks) is a professional keynote speaker and advocate in the area of healthcare delivery and the patient experience. Her inspirational life story, of being born with Short Bowel Syndrome, requiring IV nutrition through a central venous catheter for 29 years and counting, nutrition through a feeding tube for 20 years, and enduring 65 surgeries including a small intestine transplant. Her story shows audiences her individual resilience and self-determination in the face of constant difficulties, as well as the impact of her healthcare advocacy across disciplines. Swapna through her platform, Swapna Speaks, has given several presentations across the U.S. through medical conferences, hospitals, medical schools/residencies, graduation ceremonies, and corporate events, including giving a TEDx talk, performing live for The Moth, and speaking for Fortune 500 companies and Pharmaceutical companies. Swapna, in addition does healthcare advocacy work both at the federal and state level for the Short Bowel Syndrome/Intestinal Failure and broader rare disease community. She has been part of various projects to improve care and maintenance of central venous access devices (CVAD) and part of regulation changes to improve the patient experience of IV nutrition consumers. 

In 2017, Swapna worked in Washington D.C. for the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) researching federal and state health policies and advocating on Capitol Hill to ultimately expand care for individuals with rare diseases. Also, in 2017, back in Alabama, Swapna noticing a disconnect in her home state in regard to rare disease care, and created Alabama Rare. It is a grassroots coalition to unite the state around the rare disease population. It acts to bring support for individuals & families, educate the broader community, bring awareness to the population's needs, and advocate for necessary change.   

Swapna, originally from Huntsville, AL, received her bachelors in Psychology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in 2013 and is currently back at UAB working on her Masters in Public Health. 

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Show Notes: 

• Ted Talk: How I Found My Purpose In My Disease 
• Book Suggestions: Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
• Others Suggestions: Toastmasters 

"We need to be thinking about how to not make our money our commander. In fact, (we need to) command our money and use it to keep changing the world." - Daniel Huizinga 

Daniel or Danny Huizinga (@huizingadaniel) is a management consultant at Accenture, focusing on data-driven strategy for nonprofit, education, and state and local government clients in the Washington, DC area. He also co-leads Accenture's Wealth Creation community, a team of 30 employees dedicated to improving financial literacy for thousands of employees around the country. He personally speaks to over 1,000 employees a year on the importance of retirement saving and investing. In his free time, he is a business and policy columnist (starting from writing op-eds during his time at Baylor), and has interviewed close to 50 startup founders and business leaders around the country - publishing over 200 articles. Daniel also serves as the Chief Financial Officer of Komolion Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to economic development and community improvement in Kenya. Daniel graduated from Baylor University with majors in economics and finance and minors in political science and mathematics.  

Show Notes: 

- Baylor Article on Daniel

- Financial Resources: NerdWallet, Wealthfront, WiseBanyan, Betterment, Acorn App

- Podcast Suggestion: Hardcore History 

- Book Recommendations: Unshakeable by Tony Robbins, How to Think by Alan Jacobs, So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport, & Deep Work by Cal Newport

In this intro, Yash shares his story, what this podcast is all about, and why it got started. 

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Show Notes:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasanka-chalasani-29b638111/

"Without putting yourself out there, you'll never go far." - Travis Whitfill

Travis Whitfill (@twhitfill) is a Partner at Bios Partners. He received scientific training at leading academic institutions including M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Duke University, and Yale University. He serves on the board of several companies, including Azitra Inc., Incysus Therapeutics, and 410 Medical Inc., and is an Entrepreneur in Residence at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He also holds a faculty research appointment at the Yale School of Medicine and is on the executive board of an international research organization in pediatrics, the INSPIRE Network. Lastly, he serves as the Senior Analyst at Bios Research, which provides research services to institutional investors. Mr. Whitfill's strong background in entrepreneurship and business was recently acknowledged when he was named one of Forbes' 30 Under 30 in 2018. Mr. Whitfill is the cofounder of several startup companies, has led numerous grant-funded projects, holds several patents, and has co-authored over three dozen publications.