April 2, 2024 • 45 mins
In this season's penultimate episode, Kevin is joined by interior designer to the stars, Bobby Berk. Kevin learns a thing or two about how a space can affect the self before they take a more serious turn in welcoming Julian Adams, CEO and president of Stand Up To Cancer. Bobby shares his personal experiences with cancer via his father and friends, while Julian shares that good news is on the horizon thanks to new and emerging technologies.
To learn more and get involved with Stand Up To Cancer head to StandUpToCancer.org. To support more initiatives like this programs, head to 'BACON' to 707070 or head to SixDegrees.org to learn more.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yeah, I've been prepping for like a couple of different
roles recently, and my mind, my braining has been just
full carrying around like multiple characters. You know, as an actor,
your mental space is kind of your office like that.
That's where we do the work, and it's so important
that we keep our space uncluttered. And over my life,
(00:23):
I've learned that my surroundings play a pretty big part
in my own mental state. Have that is anybody out
there noticed something similar? I mean, when your space is clear,
your mind is clear.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Today's guest, Bobby Burke, has dedicated his life to the
art of interiors spaces while also championing an organization that
stands up against one of the biggest killers of our time.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
So lean in. I'm glad you're here. Hey, everybody, I'm
here today with Bobby Burke. Anybody call you Robert?
Speaker 3 (01:02):
No, well they try, but Bobby is actually my legal name.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
It is that's Robert.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I am from Texas, so my name is Bobby James,
not Robert.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
So it's always funny to me when I'll get a.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Legal document sent over to me and they've just assumed
and they put Robert on there, and I'm like.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
No, that's not my name.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
So it was never you were never Robert.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
I was never Robert.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Yeah, that's everybody calls me Bobby except for Caramo, my cathmate,
which is the only person that is allowed to call
me Bob.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I say, okay, yeah, it's funny. We I just ask
about names. I don't really know why, but I think
part of it is because I just don't like mine,
and so I'm always curious how people feel about their
own names. And I have this funny thing where, speaking
of Bobby, like, I like the name keV, but much
(01:55):
better than Kevin by the same token. I feel like
people can Kevu a little too early, you know what
I mean. Yeah, it's like are you having me already?
Like like we literally like like literally you just took
my order. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I was kind of like, I'll get an email where
somebody calls me Bob and I'm like, what, No. And
that's a triggering one because my mom, when I was little,
people would call me Bob and She's like, don't call
him Bob. That's an old man's name. And so that
was ingrained in my mind, and so when I hear Bob,
I think of an old man's name. But when I
was little, I couldn't stand Bobby. I didn't like the name,
so I tried to I tried to switch it up.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
My middle name is James.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
I tried to get people to call me James, and
that never happened. And then I had the bright idea
to go by BJ, which luckily, my mom, without explaining
to me why I shouldn't go by BJ, talk me
out of going by BJH, that's funny.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
That's funny. That's along the same lines as when I
when my wife was pregnant and I told her that
I thought Macon was a good name for our son,
and she's like, Macon bake.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
No, that's make it Bacon.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Oh, that'd be kind of fun, though, I mean not forever,
but that would be fun.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
He would hate us forever. So now we have a goat.
We have a goat named Macon. But but and he doesn't,
he doesn't hate us. What part of Texas are you from?
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Originally from Houston or Alvin, Texas is a little a
little suburb in the southern part of Houston, home of
Nolan Ryan.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
That's the only thing it's famous for.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Okay, Okay, I have a band and we we often
play Texas. We're actually just on our way out there,
doing four shows in Texas in about a week. And uh,
it's it's always, it's always amazing. How long were did you?
Did you spend most of your child out there?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
No, I we instantly moved to Missouri, but my hands
and uncles, my grandparents, they were all in Texas, so
I would I would spend my summers there.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
So I grew up between Missouri and Texas.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Houston in the summer, there's a climate.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yeah, of all the times to go to Houston in
summer was not the best time.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Yeah, So what was it do you think that got
you into uh, design and and and decorating and just
tell me that path. I mean, it's it's well. First off,
let me just say that it's so fun to talk
to you because a lot of you know who I
ended up speaking to and these podcasts are actors and
(04:20):
musicians and not. I mean, we had a sort of
out of the box episode where I was speaking to
Deepak Chopra, But but it's mostly been kind of like people.
I mean, I know that you are in the entertainment industry,
but but you come to it from something that a
lot of people would be surprised about, but it's it's
one of my passions and one of my favorite kind
(04:42):
of things and interests is design and architecture. And I
it's not that I'm I'm good at it or really
know much about it, but it's just been something that
I've always kind of loved and I I I think
probably if I wasn't an actor or a musician, I
(05:03):
think that's probably what I would be doing. So so
it's fun. So I'm curious from your standpoint, what kind
of drew you to this.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
You know, what I was little, designed wasn't something I
really thought of as like a career or a path.
It was just something that I always kind of got.
I remember when I was like five or six years old,
my mom had decorated my bedroom and all red, like
red curtains, red bedspread, red rug, red pillows, and I just,
(05:34):
even as a little kid, I was like, this is
not this is not this is not the plot, This
is not relaxing to me. You know, this is giving
me anxiety, even though you know, obviously I didn't even
know what the word anxiety was back then, but I
was just like, I need to do something different.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
So I, you know, I feel like I'm at the
Mustang ranch or something.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah, my aunts and grandma would always send me, you know,
these little twenty dollars checks for my birthday, and so
I used up all my twenty dollars checks to get
betting and new curtains, you know, as like a little kid.
And I found this like dinosaur poster because I was
assessed with dinosaurs that had all these blues and greens
and yellows in it. And I kind of coordinated the
pillows on the bed to this poster, and I just
(06:13):
I knew it made me feel better. I knew the
blue was more relaxing, you know. And again I couldn't
articulate that as a child, I didn't know why.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
I just had a feeling.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
And so my whole life, I've understood the power of
transforming your space can really transform your whole attitude.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
It could really.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Transform your life. Honestly, you know, that's what I do
all queer I had transformed people's lives by transforming their space.
And throughout my teens, you know, I left home at fifteen,
and at some points I was homeless, and so like
the feeling of home was very important to me now,
because for a while I didn't have a home, so
that the feeling of.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Safety, you know.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
And even when I was living in my car, you know,
I always kept it organized and I would I would
have betting in the back, and I would make the
bed every day.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
You know.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
I wasn't one of those people that lived in their
car that you could see that lived in their car.
And when I finally got apartments, you know, I made
sure that I really, even if it was stuff that
I would find on the street, I would set up
my home to or what made me feel comfortable and
safe and secure. And you know, I I you know,
I left home at fifteen, Like I said, I left
(07:22):
high school at fifteen, so I didn't I don't have
a formal education.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
And design it's something I've kind.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Of self taught myself, but I've always been.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
Drawn to it.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
And so I was lucky enough that, you know, I
ended up working in retail stores and the retail management,
and then I got I started working at retail furniture stores,
and which is how I kind of got into the
furniture industry. And then I started I started my own
retail company. I first started selling furniture online on Bobby
Burke dot com. I worked for a company called Portico
(07:53):
in New York, and I had built their e commerce
division and one day, unfortunately they went bankrupt and I'm like, well, crap,
what am I.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Going to do?
Speaker 3 (08:00):
And so I come to the database I had built
for them. I put it on Bobby burg home dot
com and I'm like, maybe I'll sell itself or two
while I look for another job.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
But it did well.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
I was one of the first online retailer selling furniture online.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I stopped on the website just in preparation for this,
and it's really it's pretty impressive. I mean it's very impressive,
you know, I thank you. There's so much, so much.
It's really it's what's much more than design. If anybody's
never been on there, it's kind of like a lifestyle.
I mean, I saw you have some you had a
thing with a cattlebell, workout or something like that.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Yeah, it's all about lifestyle and living healthy, not just
with design, but with food, with fitness, with travel, with
all kinds of things. But then after the website it
did really well. So I opened up my own stores
and I had stores in New York and Miami and
Atlanta and LA and they were all retail furniture and
accessories and home decor, and I would help my customers
(08:54):
pick out stuff for their houses and help design their houses.
And then I realized that that was way more fun
and I had way more passion to do that than
I did running a retail company. So I opened up
a design division and that started being quite successful. So
as that gained more traction, I started closing stores as
leases were.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
Up and solely focused on design.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
And then where I came along two years later, and oh.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
That's where I am at.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Okay, so you had so you had like brick and
mortar retail stores and you close them up. Yeah, but
you held on to the website.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Yeah. Yeah, the website is an editorial website. Now we
actually don't sell anything on our web.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Oh okay, Oh yeah, there's no connection. How do you
make the choices for like what you steer people to?
I mean there has to be some kind of a
connection there though.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
If it looks good. Yeah, And I mean I also
do have my own collections that I've designed, but I
don't really actually, I think you can buy my rugs
and maybe like my wallpaper on the website, that's it.
And even that, honestly, I'm trying to get away from
I just like my retail partners to handle that. And
my website. I like to just be a place that
you can come and find beautiful things, and if we
(10:01):
use a product from somebody else, we link to it
so you can find it.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yeah, and it seems like you have all kinds of
like price points on there. It's not like super super
high end necessary.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Yeah, you know, I've always tried to make my brand accessible.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
You know, from the moment I.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Had my stores and A because I think design should
be for everybody, and B I opened.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
Up my first store.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
November two thousand and seven, and then, of course or January,
I think February two thousand and eight, the whole economy
crashed and collapsed and bear Stearn's Clothes and I had
to make.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
A quick decision on where my brand was going.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
To go, if it was going to go super high end,
if it was going to be accessible, and I decided
I wanted it to be accessible, and I've stayed true
to them.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
I want to lean in a little bit to this
idea of the emotional connection that people have to their
living spaces because they don't think that it's like necessarily
spoken about all that often. I mean, I I mean,
because I think a lot of people would look at
(11:11):
something like the furniture, Uh, you know, you knew that
you didn't want red walls, right, A lot of people
would say, I don't know, the red walls are finding me.
I think about my brother who actually was him and
his wife were actually on Queer Eye many many years ago, uh.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
The straight Guy.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yeah, original show. They did their their their apartment in
New York, came and did their apartment. I was actually
on the episode myself. I mean, I you know, showed
up when the during the big reveal and the whole thing.
And he's not a guy that really he will say
like he doesn't. He claims that he just doesn't see
stuff like he'll he would never walk into a place
(11:52):
and say, uh, I don't like the way this this
looks necessarily you know he he he Uh. That's his
own kind of assessment of him. But I do think
that he has a really a really good eye actually,
and I think that I guess my question is, if
you're not somebody that considers yourself, you know, sensitive to
(12:16):
your surroundings. How do you talk somebody into the idea
that whatever the furniture, whatever their their you know, overall
space is like is going to give them some kind
of internal peace or or happiness. Because I think a
lot of people would go, I don't care. You know,
I'm happy in a motel sex.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
I think there are there are those people who just
who think that, and and you know, from one hand
they might be right, but I think on another hand,
they don't realize just how much your your surroundings can
affect you. And you know, for example, like a clutter
and chaos around you, like they'd be like, oh, it
doesn't bother me. Subconsciously it does. You know, chaos around
(13:03):
you really does create chaos in your mind, and you
may not realize that that might be one of the
reasons why you're getting anxiety or you're stressed out. But
you know, when you finally do deal with that clutter
and you organize everything, you kind of take a breath
and you're like, Okay, wow, I thought that didn't affect me,
but god, I do feel that there's a weight.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
Lifted off my shoulder. So yes, there's absolutely those people
that are like, ah, that doesn't bother me. I don't care.
You know, my husband was the same way.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
You know, for years, We've been together for twenty years,
and I used to always be able to do whatever
I wanted at the home because he just didn't care.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
It didn't bother him.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
But over the years, having watched me transform our spaces
and having seen how it has changed the way he
feels about the space and changed his outlook and changed
stress levels. Now, unfortunately for me, now he has opinions,
and now I don't just get to do whatever I want.
He wants to be a part of everything we do
in our homes.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
That's all.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
So I think once people will kind of experience some
type of transformation, then they're like, oh, this is better.
I thought I was fine and I thought it was good,
But you're you're right, this did.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
Have an effect on me that I did not think
it would.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I also think that I don't
know how you feel, but have you noticed with either
with clients or or with people that you know or
friends or whatever, that over time, your your needs in
terms of things like clutter, actually sort of change. Like
I've gotten to the point where I just I want
(14:33):
less and less stuff like like like, I got so
much stuff in my head. There's you know, the hard
drive is so overloaded right now with junk and and
and you know, work in the world and everything that
when I'm I mean, you never know it from my background,
but I've just happened to be I just have to
(14:53):
be in the room. It just has a ton of
shit in it. But but but yeah, I I I
feel like and I think my wife has sort of
gotten there too. You know, when we first met, I
started out as a super messy person. I was, you know,
I would just throw towels on the floor and you know,
(15:13):
the whole thing. When I was, you know, a young
single guy, and I lived in a complete shithole, was
roach infested and and you know, ate out of a pot.
I mean it was it was bad. And I thought
maybe I would always be like that, And but I
really have transformed a lot. And when I met her,
(15:34):
she was pretty messy too. And now boy, she's like
she's worse than me. I mean, she just wants things,
you know, nice, and once things are, once things are nice,
that's when she can breathe.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Yeah, I think it goes back to what we were
just scerring about that. You know, your brother was like, oh,
it doesn't bother me. I don't see things, and back
then you did neither. But over time you evolved to
see that, Oh, when I pick up after myself, when
I keep things less cluttered, it makes a huge difference
for me mentally, you know, because there's so much going
on in our minds, especially in our industry, we have
(16:06):
so many things that we're thinking about that we can't
have that chaos around you. So I think it is
something that as a person you have evolved to realize
that the space around you has a huge effect on
what's going on inside your head.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
And I know you're must take up a lot of
time doing queer Eye, but do you still have time
for individual clients? Are you still working with people in
that capacity?
Speaker 3 (16:31):
So I still have a full time design firm. So
I think in twenty twenty three we did sixty homes.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Oh my god, sixty homes in one year. Yeah, wow,
how do you have time for that? I mean, I
have an amazing team. Wow.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
You know, most of the people that have worked for
me have been with me for years and years. You know,
it's people that started out designing you know, my big
guy that runs my design firm. He started out as
my one single employee and my one assistant when I
had my design firm and grown with me. So yeah,
I have a really great team. I still oversee it
as a creative head, but not like the day to
(17:06):
day installs and stuff.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Well, let's say somebody didn't have the dough for a
decorator but felt that they wanted to in some way
transform their home, and they're, you know, working with a budget,
and you know the whole thing. I mean, I think
a lot of people would say, well, I just really
don't know where to start. I don't like, you know,
(17:30):
do I move the couch or you know, whatever it is.
How would you what would you recommend to somebody that
wanted to explore that.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I mean, I would always start with getting rid of
things and organizing, you know, I think pers yeah, perbs.
You know, often the issue with your room is that
there's this too.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
Much stuff, you know.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
And I mean I can't speak for everyone, because I'm
sure there are those people out there that might thrive
in chaos, you know, I just don't meet those people
very often. I might meet those people who think they
do and then when the chaos is fixed, they realize,
oh no, I was just making excuses to allow myself
(18:13):
to live in this, but now I realize this is better.
So I would first recommend purging, you know, getting rid
of the stuff that you're just not making you happy. That's,
you know, as Ariconder would say, is not sparking joy
because you might realize that you don't need to go
out and spend money. You fix the space by getting
rid of the stuff you had that wasn't working. So
first do some purging, you know, do some organization, but
(18:36):
start out small. You know, oftentimes people will try to
bite off more they can chew. You know, they'll be like, Okay,
my garage is a disaster. There's stuff everywhere, there's stuff
stacked to the ceiling. I'm going to try to organize
my garage today. Well that's a little too much. And
then you get you don't do it. You stop, you know,
thirty minutes into it, and you didn't get discouraged, and
(18:56):
you don't.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Try anything else.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
But if you start with your joke drawer, everybody's got
to try it. He's got that drawer that has all
a crap in it, that just comes from everywhere.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
Start with that.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
If you get accomplished that, then you're like, you get
those little endorphins of accomplishment. You're like you can tackle,
Like I can tackle the closet in my room now,
and then do that, and then work your way up
to that garage, you know, work your way up once
you have the confidence and say, you know what, I
can handle this.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
I can throw stuff out. I'm not I'm not.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Married to these things that are holding me captive. I
can get rid of this stuff and I can live
much more.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Cleaner and organized.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Yeah, that's very, very good advice. I can totally see that.
I always tell people that, especially not people, but you know,
my kids basically if they're moving because they've moved a
couple of times, I say, purge before you move, because
I'll never forget. We had a construction thing happening, and
(19:52):
so there was a dumpster, you know, in the in
the in the driveway. So I was like, oh, a dumpster.
This is the greatest thing. I spent probably four days,
you know, bleeding, cursing, sweating, just dragging stuff out of
the basement to put into the dumpster. And the stuff
that I found that we had obviously moved from one
(20:14):
house to another, probably in the eighties. I mean some
of this stuff belonged to like like nanny and nanny
that had worked for us. It was it was like
a couple of pots and pans, you know, I mean stuff.
I was like to how did this stay? Like what? What?
How did we decide that we were going to move
and bring uh some some some pots and pans and
(20:38):
a couple of pieces of tupperware from that belonged to
somebody that hasn't worked for us for forty years or something,
you know. I mean, it was just it was just crazy.
So I'm all, I'm all about, you know, purge and move.
And I think that's a really really good, really good
piece of advice.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
Yeah, you know, we moved from when we moved from
New York.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
To to la I got rid of and ethy the
only thing we kept was closed. I was like, I'm
just going to purge and then I completely start over.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
I took everything we.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
Had in the house, I donated it and like we're
gonna we're gonna start fresh.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
That's great, that's great. So you'd mentioned that on the
on the site, it's overall like wellness, like what other
what other things are you uh do you do? I
mean you're you're like into food and exercise and what
meditation or any of those kinds of things.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Yeah, you know, we have a lot of articles on
exercising and health and recipes for for food and you know,
we do a lot of recipes around.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
The holidays to help you out with that.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
So yeah, the theme is kind of like, you know,
it's your life, design it well and that's you know,
not just your interiors.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
It's it's everything that has to do with your life.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Uh huh. That's great. And what's the book do you have?
You have a book that you wrote.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yeah, yeah, so I have a book called Right at Home.
It's called How Good Design Is Good for the Mind,
and it's all about figuring out.
Speaker 4 (21:59):
How to design your space.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
So it's all about empowering you to design your space
because a lot of interior design books are an interior
designer's perspective on what is beautiful, what looks good, this
is the things you should choose for your home. My
book is all about helping you figure out what makes
you happy, because I feel the things that you should
put in your home are things that make you happy
because your home is like your foe charger. It needs
to be the thing that recharges you every night. And
(22:22):
if you're just filling your house full of things that
some designer told you were pretty, because that's what's on trend,
really things that.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
Are you're passionate about.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Right, So it talks about, you know, figuring out the
things that make you happy.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
Is going through your.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Closet, figuring out like, Okay, what are the colors I
see in my closet, what are the textures I see
in my closet?
Speaker 4 (22:39):
These are the things I'm loving in fashion.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
These are probably going to be some things I should
infuse in my decor. You know, what's your favorite food,
what's your dream vacation, what's your favorite television show? Like,
think this checklist of things that make you happy? Those
are the things you should start thinking about of how
you should design your home because again, those are the
things that are going to make you happy to look
at every day.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Sure that makes a lot of sense. I have to
ask you because now correct me if I'm wrong. I
didn't see it. But were you on the mask singer?
Speaker 4 (23:07):
Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah I was. I was on the back.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
I have to know what that experience is like, I mean,
it just it's such a wild idea.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
It's insane.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
So I made the assumption incorrectly that there is no
way in hell somebody is actually singing in those costumes.
Like I assumed I would have to sing, but I
thought I would pre record it because I'm like, those
costumes are heavy, they're massive, you know.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
But I was wrong.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
So I had to sing inside this costume. And I
remember my very first episode, I almost passed out from
heat exhaustion because I run really hot and inside of
there was so hot.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
In that claustrophobook. I think I would get very close
to Yes, I played an astronaut one time and I
had to put the The first time, I had to
put the spacesuit on it and then and then clamp
the helmet down and stop. I was like, whoa this
is I don't know if I could do this.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Yeah, that's literally what that was like a big astronaut
helmet that that caterpillar costume and I had. It was
the tallest, largest and heaviest costume they had ever done.
So by episode two, I had to make me a
vest that I could pack with ice, and so I
wore an ice packed vest to.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
So there's a good a good mic.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
Yeah, there's as a.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Good headset and a good headset to hear. Okay, so
you can hear, you can hear yourself and then there's
like track you're singing to track is yeah, oh my god.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
It was quite the experience.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
It was. Were you a singer?
Speaker 3 (24:30):
I mean, were you I've always I've always been a singer.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
That was actually my dream was to be a singer.
It just wasn't in my cards.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
I keep thinking about pursuing a little more. Like I've
done a few songs. I did a song last year
with a big Brazilian artist, Rebecca, So I have some
music out on Spotify. I just don't know if I'm
in the point of my life where I want to
start another new career. Yeah, come on, man, like you
you're going your go, You're touring like your joy. The
(25:00):
thought of touring is just not not something that I'm
I would.
Speaker 5 (25:06):
Yeah, I don't, I don't want it.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Is it the going from place to place or or yeah? Yeah,
it's just.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
The last six years, you know, when we have with
filmed Queer, we've had to move to wherever we are
and it's six month filming so for the last six.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
Years, I haven't really been home.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
So the thought of like going out on the road
and going on tour and not being home just right
now is not in my cards. Maybe in a few
years I'll be like, hey, I'm ready to do it.
You know, I've thought about I'm kind of in the
beginning places phases of maybe recording a Christmas album for
next year.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
Hmm, So yeah, I might dabble in it and see
how I like it.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Oh, that's cool.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Yeah, singing's always been a huge pagine.
Speaker 6 (25:53):
If you are inspired by today's episode, please join us
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(26:18):
zero seven zero or visit six degrees dot org to
learn more.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
You're here today and the organization is Stand Up for Cancer,
and I want to bring in Julian Adams, who is
the CEO for Stand Up to Cancer. Julian, Welcome to
the podcast.
Speaker 5 (26:41):
Thank you, Thank you Kevin for having Bobby and me
on the show.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Do you guys know each other? Now?
Speaker 4 (26:49):
This is the first time we've met.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Yeah, I've worked with their organization for years, but yeah,
this is the first time I've got to meet Julian.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
And Julian, I think you're new to the gig, right I.
Speaker 5 (26:58):
Am two weeks?
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Yeah, okay, so that is why we haven't met that.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
But I joined last summer as the chief science Officer,
and I'm here to talk about why cancer research is
so important.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Yeah, I really want to hear about that. Well, first off,
let me just ask you, Bobby, how did you get
involved with Stand Up to Cancer?
Speaker 3 (27:20):
So, my father, who just passed from cancer in August,
has battled four different types of cancer over the last
ten years. So when I became a person who had
a platform over the last few years with Queer Eye,
I knew I wanted to work with an organization that
was very close to the situation that my family was
(27:43):
going through, and so I asked my team to go
out there and find me an organization that I could help.
And that's when I got introduced to Stand Up to Cancer.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Well, great, great, And how about you Julian, how did
you end up working for Stand Up to Cancer?
Speaker 5 (27:58):
It's a long story. I am minded myself to science,
even as an undergraduate uh in college. I did my
PhD at mi T in chemistry, and I knew at
the very beginning, from the very beginning, I was interested
in medicine, but didn't go to medical school. I just
(28:20):
devoted myself to doing biomedical research.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Wow, that's fat I just want to understand this. So
when you were you were undergraduate, you didn't want to
be a doctor, but you did want to do medical
research exactly. That's that's really fascinating. I mean, that seems
like a pretty unusual path.
Speaker 5 (28:37):
It was. I considered going to medical school, but as
I whimsically say, I didn't want it to interfere with
my education.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Having having having went through medical school myself and I
say I went through medical school because I went through
medical school, because my husband went to medical school and residency,
I can understand it. It has a tendency to interfere with
other things.
Speaker 5 (29:01):
I wanted to work on big problems and really solve
h you know, fundamental issues that are you know, taking
our lives. And obviously I went into industry I went
into the pharmaceutical and biotech industry uh for over forty years.
My first drug was for HIV. I witnessed HIV when
(29:22):
I was a grad student emerging in the early eighties,
and then found myself working in HIV research and developed
the first one of the first drugs for the for
the treatment of HIV AIDS. And then I migrated to
cancer because I was following some some basic research and
(29:44):
was working on some some laboratory work that eventually drew
me into cancer and I spent, you know, over thirty
five years of my life involved in cancer research, developing drugs, discovering, developing,
and you know, doing the whole gamut. I joined Stand
Up to Cancer about fifteen years ago on the scientific
(30:07):
Advisory Committee, which was chaired by Nobel Laureate Phil Sharp,
and so you can imagine the interviews I had to
get to get to this place, and I got a
drug approved for bone marrow transplantation. Last year, decided to retire,
but being on Stand Up to Cancer's Advisory Committee, I
(30:31):
went to Sherry Lancy, our chair of the organization, and said, look,
I have more time on my hands. I'm retired. She says, well,
come to be our Chief sides officer.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (30:42):
And six months later I'm the CEO and so I'm
running the show.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Wow, that's amazing. Well, I want to get into where
I want to get into where we're at and also
what specifically stand up to cancer does. My question for you,
Julian is so I people ask me, you know, and
they often asked this of famous people, what led you
(31:09):
to what you do? And you know, it was pretty simple.
You know, I just wanted to be famous, and I
wanted people look at me, and I wanted to make
a lot of money and get girls. That was It
was very simple kind of thing. I later kind of
learned to understand that there was an art to it
and that there was a thing and it became something
(31:30):
that I was passionate for. But the driving instinct or
motivation wasn't that. But I'm curious with you because obviously
it wasn't to become famous or or make money or
get Girls's the what's the thing do you think that
makes you be interested in, you know, research in medicine,
(31:53):
in making sick people well, like, is there something that's
outside of the nuts and bolts of it personally that
is was drove you.
Speaker 5 (32:02):
Initially again, as a kid, I read the story of
Thomas Edison in the third grade, literally and it just
fascinated me. I just wanted to invent stuff. I didn't
know what I wanted to invent. I didn't know, you know,
I wasn't going to be you know, a movie projector
it wasn't going to be whatever Thomas Edison did. And
I just got fascinated with health and science and biomedical
(32:29):
applications to improving people's lives. I mean, what is it
What do we have if we don't have our health?
You know, there's no amount of money or you know,
toys or things you can have if you don't have
your health. And cancer is the second biggest killer. One
point nine million people succumb to this disease in twenty
(32:50):
twenty three. And cancer is not one disease, as you know,
it's hundreds of diseases. So it just become a complete
passion of mine. As I got more in to it,
It's just you kept drawing in, drawn in and drawn in,
and you know, it defines me. Now I'm a cancer researcher.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
It's pretty hard to find somebody that hasn't been touched
by cancer. In some kind of way.
Speaker 5 (33:15):
You're exactly right.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Yeah, I mean it's it's uh, if nothing else by
all of a sudden, you know, having a little scare
or whatever. But what is it? What what is the
Is there anything news wise as a as an expert
on this that you can share with us in terms
of research or or or you know, any any good
(33:38):
news on the horizon. We're always looking for good news.
Speaker 5 (33:41):
Yeah, there's tons of good news coming. Let me start
with a little history lasting okay in belged me sure,
last century, twentieth century, it's chema. It's taken toxic chemotherapy,
cocktails of chemotherapy, and you try to kill the cancer
before the chemo kills you. And the twenty first century
(34:02):
has been an explosion of research. We solve the human
geno at the turn of the century, and all of
a sudden, all these technologies, all these abilities to understand
how DNA works, how cancer emerges, how does it develop
in the first place, we have all of these remarkable discoveries.
(34:23):
Hundreds several hundred new medicines have been approved just in
the last twenty twenty four years, you know, And I've
been part of that. I've been part of that the
whole time, and I just you know, it just keeps
drawing me even further in and I'm even more committed.
So as I said, I tried to retire, but I
(34:43):
could just became impossible. And then Stand It to Cancer
is sort of like the perfect landing spot for me,
because a we treat all cancers. Cancer doesn't really know
any borders. Cancer does know what age you are, it
doesn't discriminate, and the community of science is just an
(35:07):
international community and just trying to solve this nefarious disease
that catches people too early off guard and really doesn't
just disrupt one life, it disrupts the entire family. And
listen to Boppy story, just breaks my heart to lose
your dad, to lose a loved one. It's just what's worse.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Stand Up to Cancer is primarily focused on research, Is
that correct?
Speaker 5 (35:32):
Yes, We have raised money in the neighborhood of about
eight hundred million dollars since our fifteen year existence to
fund the best science across the globe. We seek out
some of the more difficult problems, and no cancer is spared.
We look at the rarest cancers all the way to
(35:53):
the most common cancer like lung cans. So we do
everything that we can so long to advance knowledge to
advanced research into advanced medicines for patients.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
I want to ask you something, Julian, this is actually
uh kind of brings up an interesting question and and
and actually, Bobby, I'd like you to kind of weigh
in on this too. You're talking a lot about, uh,
these incredible medicines and this incredible research that that we've
(36:24):
done in terms of finding out about uh, you know,
you mentioned the human genome and et cetera. How do
how much does the research point to lifestyle in terms
of trying to remain cancer free? And I mean, I
know I think about this because Bobby's experience with his father.
(36:49):
I think, I don't know, if I don't want to
put words in your mouth, but might have had an
influence on how you've thought so much about exercise and
diet and and uh mental clarity or whatever. That is
what I mean. Maybe you guys could talk about that
a little bit.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
I think from my dad it had a lot to
do with lifestyle. You know, my dad drove a truck
for you know, forty fifty years he inhaled you know,
toxic fuel fumes he smoked for fifty years. He was
also a rancher who dealt with chemicals like round up,
(37:26):
So I think a lot of it was environmental and
his lifestyle.
Speaker 4 (37:29):
That being said, I.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
Lost a friend a year and a half ago, super healthy,
worked out every single day, did not put anything that
wasn't organic into his body. At thirty three, he was
diagnosed with liver cancer and was dead in six weeks. So, Julian,
obviously you're the scientist, but those have been my two
drastic different experiences. For one, that I was like everything
(37:54):
that my father did with his life, decisions that he made,
pointed to sadly the outcome where I had friends who
were very active in making sure that they took care
of themselves and did everything they could for that to
not happen, and then this still happened.
Speaker 5 (38:10):
So what we know about today's environment plays a huge role.
It's probably the largest contributor. And environment includes things like smoking,
things like overeating. Obesity is a huge cofactor, but it's
also genetics, it's infectious diseases. There are numerous you know
(38:33):
what happens during puberty for breast cancer in women, all
kinds of factors that beat to cancer, and sadly it's
not that predictable. The only three things that we know
for sure is obesity, smoking and alcohol overuse are really bad.
And then of course the area you breathe, that water
(38:56):
you drink. Of course all of that matters. And it's
just a dialbollical uh situation. Uh and Bobby, I you know,
I just nothing is sadder than seeing a young person
develop cancer and be dead in six weeks. I feel free.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
Yeah, that is That's that's really rough, really rough. Uh. Well, listen,
what I'd like to do is, uh do a little
This is our call to action section. I mean, can
you guys talk about ways that people can help, uh
(39:34):
in terms of finding out where to donate or stand
up to cancer any events. I think it's stand up
to Cancer as far as I know, usually has some
pretty big events in the course of the year. What's
what's what's going on. Let's uh, let's let's give them
the digits and the websites and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 5 (39:50):
Yeah, we just had a telecast this past summer. Uh.
It we raised millions of dollars of it based on
the telling patient stories and having celebrities come in that's
that's one of the special uh attributes of Stand Up
to Cancer. We were founded by the entertainment industry, and
(40:15):
so we have access to all these great celebrities and
donate their time and do these public service announcements, et cetera,
et cetera. Uh. So we're constantly looking for more research
dollars UH to fight these multitude of diseases. And it's
really it's it's it's our mission. Our mission is to
fund innovative research to detect and intercept and and with
(40:39):
the aspiration to cure all pants A patients. That's that's
our north star.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
That's good. That's a good one. What's and what's the website?
Speaker 3 (40:46):
Is?
Speaker 1 (40:46):
It must be stand Up to Cancer dot com. I
would think dot org dot org. Yeah, stand up to
Cancer dot org. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (40:53):
We're a nonprofited mind everywhere. It's my first time in
the nonprofit world, so.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
Getting used to it. Yeah. It's it's a it's its own,
it's its own thing.
Speaker 5 (41:04):
And it feels good. It really feels good.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Yeah. Well, you know, congratulations Julian on this. Uh what
can I call this a second chapter or a third
chapter or you know, or just a new gig.
Speaker 5 (41:17):
Yeah, it's a new gig, and it's it's probably chapter
five or six. Because every time I discover a drug,
you know, I move on, I take on another problem
and uh, you know, and I've been lucky.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (41:30):
I've discovered for were unique rugs. I have two cooking
right now in the Tight States clinical trials. But what
I'm most excited about now is the ability that we
have with all the technologies that we have, is to
do early detection of cancer, uh and intercept that cancer.
(41:51):
And for the first time, last year, we saw evidence
that for the first time, cancer vaccines actually work. We've
seen in melanoma, we've seen it in pancreatic cancer. And
so I'm really pivoting our organization to do what the
pharmaceutical industry will never do, is to try to detect
(42:11):
that early detection, early intervention with cancer vaccines. I think
we stand in a very unique spot to be able
to foster that kind of research.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
I've recently started doing full body MRI scans.
Speaker 4 (42:25):
I've now started having won every three years.
Speaker 3 (42:28):
I me at that age where you know, other people
in my family have My grandfather died of a brain
tumor around my same age, So every three years now,
I'm getting a full body MRI scan just so I
can catch things early if I ever too get something.
Speaker 5 (42:41):
But unfortunately, with the health disparities in this country, that's
not scalable. You know. I obviously, Bobby, you got to
do what you've got to do. But if you think
about the country wide population, you know, we need point
of care off doctor's office. You know, pinprick blood, draw saliva,
(43:04):
you know, something simple that can really with great fidelity
predict are you susceptible? Are you at risk for getting cancer?
And if so, how do you intervene? Again, I'm very
jazzed about cancer vaccines, but there are other modalities that have,
you know, improvements in surgery, improvements in every aspect of
(43:26):
biomedical interventions that if we can get you into remission,
we don't want your relapse either. So that's a place
where we just want to improve survivorship. And I've laid
out a bold vision for our organization is we want
to fund research that I want to say, in five
(43:47):
years from now will reduce cancer cancer deaths by twenty
five percent and in ten years by fifty percent. That's
you know, and that I can die happily. Something that's
not you know, I have something that not can Good.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
For you man, Good for you, man, Bobby, Thank you
for being here today, looking forward to well whatever is
coming down the road. And and you know, I maybe
I'll have to go back and hear you singing that
what kind of creature were you in that show?
Speaker 4 (44:22):
I was a caterpillar.
Speaker 7 (44:24):
Caterpillar, caterpillar, a very long and large caterpillar. All right,
well we're gonna have to check out Bobby Burke as
a caterpillar. And fellas, it's been really fun chatting with
you and really fascinating and I really do appreciate the
work that you're both doing, so keep it up.
Speaker 4 (44:44):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (44:48):
Hey guys, thanks for listening to another episode of Six
Degrees with Kevin Bacon. If you want to learn more
about Stand Up to Cancer and all the amazing work
that they do, head to their website Stay and Up
to Cancer dot org that Stand Up to Cancer dot org.
You can find all the links in our show notes
and if you like what you hear, make sure you
(45:10):
subscribe to the show. Please tune in to the rest
of our episodes. You can find six Degrees with Kevin
Bagan on iHeartRadio Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 4 (45:21):
See you next time.
Yeah, I've been prepping for like a couple of different
roles recently, and my mind, my braining has been just
full carrying around like multiple characters. You know, as an actor,
your mental space is kind of your office like that.
That's where we do the work, and it's so important
that we keep our space uncluttered. And over my life,
(00:23):
I've learned that my surroundings play a pretty big part
in my own mental state. Have that is anybody out
there noticed something similar? I mean, when your space is clear,
your mind is clear.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Today's guest, Bobby Burke, has dedicated his life to the
art of interiors spaces while also championing an organization that
stands up against one of the biggest killers of our time.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
So lean in. I'm glad you're here. Hey, everybody, I'm
here today with Bobby Burke. Anybody call you Robert?
Speaker 3 (01:02):
No, well they try, but Bobby is actually my legal name.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
It is that's Robert.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I am from Texas, so my name is Bobby James,
not Robert.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
So it's always funny to me when I'll get a.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Legal document sent over to me and they've just assumed
and they put Robert on there, and I'm like.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
No, that's not my name.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
So it was never you were never Robert.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
I was never Robert.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Yeah, that's everybody calls me Bobby except for Caramo, my cathmate,
which is the only person that is allowed to call
me Bob.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I say, okay, yeah, it's funny. We I just ask
about names. I don't really know why, but I think
part of it is because I just don't like mine,
and so I'm always curious how people feel about their
own names. And I have this funny thing where, speaking
of Bobby, like, I like the name keV, but much
(01:55):
better than Kevin by the same token. I feel like
people can Kevu a little too early, you know what
I mean. Yeah, it's like are you having me already?
Like like we literally like like literally you just took
my order. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I was kind of like, I'll get an email where
somebody calls me Bob and I'm like, what, No. And
that's a triggering one because my mom, when I was little,
people would call me Bob and She's like, don't call
him Bob. That's an old man's name. And so that
was ingrained in my mind, and so when I hear Bob,
I think of an old man's name. But when I
was little, I couldn't stand Bobby. I didn't like the name,
so I tried to I tried to switch it up.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
My middle name is James.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
I tried to get people to call me James, and
that never happened. And then I had the bright idea
to go by BJ, which luckily, my mom, without explaining
to me why I shouldn't go by BJ, talk me
out of going by BJH, that's funny.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
That's funny. That's along the same lines as when I
when my wife was pregnant and I told her that
I thought Macon was a good name for our son,
and she's like, Macon bake.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
No, that's make it Bacon.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Oh, that'd be kind of fun, though, I mean not forever,
but that would be fun.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
He would hate us forever. So now we have a goat.
We have a goat named Macon. But but and he doesn't,
he doesn't hate us. What part of Texas are you from?
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Originally from Houston or Alvin, Texas is a little a
little suburb in the southern part of Houston, home of
Nolan Ryan.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
That's the only thing it's famous for.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Okay, Okay, I have a band and we we often
play Texas. We're actually just on our way out there,
doing four shows in Texas in about a week. And uh,
it's it's always, it's always amazing. How long were did you?
Did you spend most of your child out there?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
No, I we instantly moved to Missouri, but my hands
and uncles, my grandparents, they were all in Texas, so
I would I would spend my summers there.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
So I grew up between Missouri and Texas.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Houston in the summer, there's a climate.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yeah, of all the times to go to Houston in
summer was not the best time.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Yeah, So what was it do you think that got
you into uh, design and and and decorating and just
tell me that path. I mean, it's it's well. First off,
let me just say that it's so fun to talk
to you because a lot of you know who I
ended up speaking to and these podcasts are actors and
(04:20):
musicians and not. I mean, we had a sort of
out of the box episode where I was speaking to
Deepak Chopra, But but it's mostly been kind of like people.
I mean, I know that you are in the entertainment industry,
but but you come to it from something that a
lot of people would be surprised about, but it's it's
one of my passions and one of my favorite kind
(04:42):
of things and interests is design and architecture. And I
it's not that I'm I'm good at it or really
know much about it, but it's just been something that
I've always kind of loved and I I I think
probably if I wasn't an actor or a musician, I
(05:03):
think that's probably what I would be doing. So so
it's fun. So I'm curious from your standpoint, what kind
of drew you to this.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
You know, what I was little, designed wasn't something I
really thought of as like a career or a path.
It was just something that I always kind of got.
I remember when I was like five or six years old,
my mom had decorated my bedroom and all red, like
red curtains, red bedspread, red rug, red pillows, and I just,
(05:34):
even as a little kid, I was like, this is
not this is not this is not the plot, This
is not relaxing to me. You know, this is giving
me anxiety, even though you know, obviously I didn't even
know what the word anxiety was back then, but I
was just like, I need to do something different.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
So I, you know, I feel like I'm at the
Mustang ranch or something.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah, my aunts and grandma would always send me, you know,
these little twenty dollars checks for my birthday, and so
I used up all my twenty dollars checks to get
betting and new curtains, you know, as like a little kid.
And I found this like dinosaur poster because I was
assessed with dinosaurs that had all these blues and greens
and yellows in it. And I kind of coordinated the
pillows on the bed to this poster, and I just
(06:13):
I knew it made me feel better. I knew the
blue was more relaxing, you know. And again I couldn't
articulate that as a child, I didn't know why.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
I just had a feeling.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
And so my whole life, I've understood the power of
transforming your space can really transform your whole attitude.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
It could really.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Transform your life. Honestly, you know, that's what I do
all queer I had transformed people's lives by transforming their space.
And throughout my teens, you know, I left home at fifteen,
and at some points I was homeless, and so like
the feeling of home was very important to me now,
because for a while I didn't have a home, so
that the feeling of.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Safety, you know.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
And even when I was living in my car, you know,
I always kept it organized and I would I would
have betting in the back, and I would make the
bed every day.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
You know.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
I wasn't one of those people that lived in their
car that you could see that lived in their car.
And when I finally got apartments, you know, I made
sure that I really, even if it was stuff that
I would find on the street, I would set up
my home to or what made me feel comfortable and
safe and secure. And you know, I I you know,
I left home at fifteen, Like I said, I left
(07:22):
high school at fifteen, so I didn't I don't have
a formal education.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
And design it's something I've kind.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Of self taught myself, but I've always been.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
Drawn to it.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
And so I was lucky enough that, you know, I
ended up working in retail stores and the retail management,
and then I got I started working at retail furniture stores,
and which is how I kind of got into the
furniture industry. And then I started I started my own
retail company. I first started selling furniture online on Bobby
Burke dot com. I worked for a company called Portico
(07:53):
in New York, and I had built their e commerce
division and one day, unfortunately they went bankrupt and I'm like, well, crap,
what am I.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Going to do?
Speaker 3 (08:00):
And so I come to the database I had built
for them. I put it on Bobby burg home dot
com and I'm like, maybe I'll sell itself or two
while I look for another job.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
But it did well.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
I was one of the first online retailer selling furniture online.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I stopped on the website just in preparation for this,
and it's really it's pretty impressive. I mean it's very impressive,
you know, I thank you. There's so much, so much.
It's really it's what's much more than design. If anybody's
never been on there, it's kind of like a lifestyle.
I mean, I saw you have some you had a
thing with a cattlebell, workout or something like that.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Yeah, it's all about lifestyle and living healthy, not just
with design, but with food, with fitness, with travel, with
all kinds of things. But then after the website it
did really well. So I opened up my own stores
and I had stores in New York and Miami and
Atlanta and LA and they were all retail furniture and
accessories and home decor, and I would help my customers
(08:54):
pick out stuff for their houses and help design their houses.
And then I realized that that was way more fun
and I had way more passion to do that than
I did running a retail company. So I opened up
a design division and that started being quite successful. So
as that gained more traction, I started closing stores as
leases were.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
Up and solely focused on design.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
And then where I came along two years later, and oh.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
That's where I am at.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Okay, so you had so you had like brick and
mortar retail stores and you close them up. Yeah, but
you held on to the website.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Yeah. Yeah, the website is an editorial website. Now we
actually don't sell anything on our web.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Oh okay, Oh yeah, there's no connection. How do you
make the choices for like what you steer people to?
I mean there has to be some kind of a
connection there though.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
If it looks good. Yeah, And I mean I also
do have my own collections that I've designed, but I
don't really actually, I think you can buy my rugs
and maybe like my wallpaper on the website, that's it.
And even that, honestly, I'm trying to get away from
I just like my retail partners to handle that. And
my website. I like to just be a place that
you can come and find beautiful things, and if we
(10:01):
use a product from somebody else, we link to it
so you can find it.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yeah, and it seems like you have all kinds of
like price points on there. It's not like super super
high end necessary.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Yeah, you know, I've always tried to make my brand accessible.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
You know, from the moment I.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Had my stores and A because I think design should
be for everybody, and B I opened.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
Up my first store.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
November two thousand and seven, and then, of course or January,
I think February two thousand and eight, the whole economy
crashed and collapsed and bear Stearn's Clothes and I had
to make.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
A quick decision on where my brand was going.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
To go, if it was going to go super high end,
if it was going to be accessible, and I decided
I wanted it to be accessible, and I've stayed true
to them.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
I want to lean in a little bit to this
idea of the emotional connection that people have to their
living spaces because they don't think that it's like necessarily
spoken about all that often. I mean, I I mean,
because I think a lot of people would look at
(11:11):
something like the furniture, Uh, you know, you knew that
you didn't want red walls, right, A lot of people
would say, I don't know, the red walls are finding me.
I think about my brother who actually was him and
his wife were actually on Queer Eye many many years ago, uh.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
The straight Guy.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yeah, original show. They did their their their apartment in
New York, came and did their apartment. I was actually
on the episode myself. I mean, I you know, showed
up when the during the big reveal and the whole thing.
And he's not a guy that really he will say
like he doesn't. He claims that he just doesn't see
stuff like he'll he would never walk into a place
(11:52):
and say, uh, I don't like the way this this
looks necessarily you know he he he Uh. That's his
own kind of assessment of him. But I do think
that he has a really a really good eye actually,
and I think that I guess my question is, if
you're not somebody that considers yourself, you know, sensitive to
(12:16):
your surroundings. How do you talk somebody into the idea
that whatever the furniture, whatever their their you know, overall
space is like is going to give them some kind
of internal peace or or happiness. Because I think a
lot of people would go, I don't care. You know,
I'm happy in a motel sex.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
I think there are there are those people who just
who think that, and and you know, from one hand
they might be right, but I think on another hand,
they don't realize just how much your your surroundings can
affect you. And you know, for example, like a clutter
and chaos around you, like they'd be like, oh, it
doesn't bother me. Subconsciously it does. You know, chaos around
(13:03):
you really does create chaos in your mind, and you
may not realize that that might be one of the
reasons why you're getting anxiety or you're stressed out. But
you know, when you finally do deal with that clutter
and you organize everything, you kind of take a breath
and you're like, Okay, wow, I thought that didn't affect me,
but god, I do feel that there's a weight.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
Lifted off my shoulder. So yes, there's absolutely those people
that are like, ah, that doesn't bother me. I don't care.
You know, my husband was the same way.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
You know, for years, We've been together for twenty years,
and I used to always be able to do whatever
I wanted at the home because he just didn't care.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
It didn't bother him.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
But over the years, having watched me transform our spaces
and having seen how it has changed the way he
feels about the space and changed his outlook and changed
stress levels. Now, unfortunately for me, now he has opinions,
and now I don't just get to do whatever I want.
He wants to be a part of everything we do
in our homes.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
That's all.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
So I think once people will kind of experience some
type of transformation, then they're like, oh, this is better.
I thought I was fine and I thought it was good,
But you're you're right, this did.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
Have an effect on me that I did not think
it would.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I also think that I don't
know how you feel, but have you noticed with either
with clients or or with people that you know or
friends or whatever, that over time, your your needs in
terms of things like clutter, actually sort of change. Like
I've gotten to the point where I just I want
(14:33):
less and less stuff like like like, I got so
much stuff in my head. There's you know, the hard
drive is so overloaded right now with junk and and
and you know, work in the world and everything that
when I'm I mean, you never know it from my background,
but I've just happened to be I just have to
(14:53):
be in the room. It just has a ton of
shit in it. But but but yeah, I I I
feel like and I think my wife has sort of
gotten there too. You know, when we first met, I
started out as a super messy person. I was, you know,
I would just throw towels on the floor and you know,
(15:13):
the whole thing. When I was, you know, a young
single guy, and I lived in a complete shithole, was
roach infested and and you know, ate out of a pot.
I mean it was it was bad. And I thought
maybe I would always be like that, And but I
really have transformed a lot. And when I met her,
(15:34):
she was pretty messy too. And now boy, she's like
she's worse than me. I mean, she just wants things,
you know, nice, and once things are, once things are nice,
that's when she can breathe.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Yeah, I think it goes back to what we were
just scerring about that. You know, your brother was like, oh,
it doesn't bother me. I don't see things, and back
then you did neither. But over time you evolved to
see that, Oh, when I pick up after myself, when
I keep things less cluttered, it makes a huge difference
for me mentally, you know, because there's so much going
on in our minds, especially in our industry, we have
(16:06):
so many things that we're thinking about that we can't
have that chaos around you. So I think it is
something that as a person you have evolved to realize
that the space around you has a huge effect on
what's going on inside your head.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
And I know you're must take up a lot of
time doing queer Eye, but do you still have time
for individual clients? Are you still working with people in
that capacity?
Speaker 3 (16:31):
So I still have a full time design firm. So
I think in twenty twenty three we did sixty homes.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Oh my god, sixty homes in one year. Yeah, wow,
how do you have time for that? I mean, I
have an amazing team. Wow.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
You know, most of the people that have worked for
me have been with me for years and years. You know,
it's people that started out designing you know, my big
guy that runs my design firm. He started out as
my one single employee and my one assistant when I
had my design firm and grown with me. So yeah,
I have a really great team. I still oversee it
as a creative head, but not like the day to
(17:06):
day installs and stuff.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Well, let's say somebody didn't have the dough for a
decorator but felt that they wanted to in some way
transform their home, and they're, you know, working with a budget,
and you know the whole thing. I mean, I think
a lot of people would say, well, I just really
don't know where to start. I don't like, you know,
(17:30):
do I move the couch or you know, whatever it is.
How would you what would you recommend to somebody that
wanted to explore that.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I mean, I would always start with getting rid of
things and organizing, you know, I think pers yeah, perbs.
You know, often the issue with your room is that
there's this too.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
Much stuff, you know.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
And I mean I can't speak for everyone, because I'm
sure there are those people out there that might thrive
in chaos, you know, I just don't meet those people
very often. I might meet those people who think they
do and then when the chaos is fixed, they realize,
oh no, I was just making excuses to allow myself
(18:13):
to live in this, but now I realize this is better.
So I would first recommend purging, you know, getting rid
of the stuff that you're just not making you happy. That's,
you know, as Ariconder would say, is not sparking joy
because you might realize that you don't need to go
out and spend money. You fix the space by getting
rid of the stuff you had that wasn't working. So
first do some purging, you know, do some organization, but
(18:36):
start out small. You know, oftentimes people will try to
bite off more they can chew. You know, they'll be like, Okay,
my garage is a disaster. There's stuff everywhere, there's stuff
stacked to the ceiling. I'm going to try to organize
my garage today. Well that's a little too much. And
then you get you don't do it. You stop, you know,
thirty minutes into it, and you didn't get discouraged, and
(18:56):
you don't.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Try anything else.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
But if you start with your joke drawer, everybody's got
to try it. He's got that drawer that has all
a crap in it, that just comes from everywhere.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
Start with that.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
If you get accomplished that, then you're like, you get
those little endorphins of accomplishment. You're like you can tackle,
Like I can tackle the closet in my room now,
and then do that, and then work your way up
to that garage, you know, work your way up once
you have the confidence and say, you know what, I
can handle this.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
I can throw stuff out. I'm not I'm not.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Married to these things that are holding me captive. I
can get rid of this stuff and I can live
much more.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Cleaner and organized.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Yeah, that's very, very good advice. I can totally see that.
I always tell people that, especially not people, but you know,
my kids basically if they're moving because they've moved a
couple of times, I say, purge before you move, because
I'll never forget. We had a construction thing happening, and
(19:52):
so there was a dumpster, you know, in the in
the in the driveway. So I was like, oh, a dumpster.
This is the greatest thing. I spent probably four days,
you know, bleeding, cursing, sweating, just dragging stuff out of
the basement to put into the dumpster. And the stuff
that I found that we had obviously moved from one
(20:14):
house to another, probably in the eighties. I mean some
of this stuff belonged to like like nanny and nanny
that had worked for us. It was it was like
a couple of pots and pans, you know, I mean stuff.
I was like to how did this stay? Like what? What?
How did we decide that we were going to move
and bring uh some some some pots and pans and
(20:38):
a couple of pieces of tupperware from that belonged to
somebody that hasn't worked for us for forty years or something,
you know. I mean, it was just it was just crazy.
So I'm all, I'm all about, you know, purge and move.
And I think that's a really really good, really good
piece of advice.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
Yeah, you know, we moved from when we moved from
New York.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
To to la I got rid of and ethy the
only thing we kept was closed. I was like, I'm
just going to purge and then I completely start over.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
I took everything we.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
Had in the house, I donated it and like we're
gonna we're gonna start fresh.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
That's great, that's great. So you'd mentioned that on the
on the site, it's overall like wellness, like what other
what other things are you uh do you do? I
mean you're you're like into food and exercise and what
meditation or any of those kinds of things.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Yeah, you know, we have a lot of articles on
exercising and health and recipes for for food and you know,
we do a lot of recipes around.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
The holidays to help you out with that.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
So yeah, the theme is kind of like, you know,
it's your life, design it well and that's you know,
not just your interiors.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
It's it's everything that has to do with your life.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Uh huh. That's great. And what's the book do you have?
You have a book that you wrote.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yeah, yeah, so I have a book called Right at Home.
It's called How Good Design Is Good for the Mind,
and it's all about figuring out.
Speaker 4 (21:59):
How to design your space.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
So it's all about empowering you to design your space
because a lot of interior design books are an interior
designer's perspective on what is beautiful, what looks good, this
is the things you should choose for your home. My
book is all about helping you figure out what makes
you happy, because I feel the things that you should
put in your home are things that make you happy
because your home is like your foe charger. It needs
to be the thing that recharges you every night. And
(22:22):
if you're just filling your house full of things that
some designer told you were pretty, because that's what's on trend,
really things that.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
Are you're passionate about.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Right, So it talks about, you know, figuring out the
things that make you happy.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
Is going through your.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Closet, figuring out like, Okay, what are the colors I
see in my closet, what are the textures I see
in my closet?
Speaker 4 (22:39):
These are the things I'm loving in fashion.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
These are probably going to be some things I should
infuse in my decor. You know, what's your favorite food,
what's your dream vacation, what's your favorite television show? Like,
think this checklist of things that make you happy? Those
are the things you should start thinking about of how
you should design your home because again, those are the
things that are going to make you happy to look
at every day.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Sure that makes a lot of sense. I have to
ask you because now correct me if I'm wrong. I
didn't see it. But were you on the mask singer?
Speaker 4 (23:07):
Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah I was. I was on the back.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
I have to know what that experience is like, I mean,
it just it's such a wild idea.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
It's insane.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
So I made the assumption incorrectly that there is no
way in hell somebody is actually singing in those costumes.
Like I assumed I would have to sing, but I
thought I would pre record it because I'm like, those
costumes are heavy, they're massive, you know.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
But I was wrong.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
So I had to sing inside this costume. And I
remember my very first episode, I almost passed out from
heat exhaustion because I run really hot and inside of
there was so hot.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
In that claustrophobook. I think I would get very close
to Yes, I played an astronaut one time and I
had to put the The first time, I had to
put the spacesuit on it and then and then clamp
the helmet down and stop. I was like, whoa this
is I don't know if I could do this.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Yeah, that's literally what that was like a big astronaut
helmet that that caterpillar costume and I had. It was
the tallest, largest and heaviest costume they had ever done.
So by episode two, I had to make me a
vest that I could pack with ice, and so I
wore an ice packed vest to.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
So there's a good a good mic.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
Yeah, there's as a.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Good headset and a good headset to hear. Okay, so
you can hear, you can hear yourself and then there's
like track you're singing to track is yeah, oh my god.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
It was quite the experience.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
It was. Were you a singer?
Speaker 3 (24:30):
I mean, were you I've always I've always been a singer.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
That was actually my dream was to be a singer.
It just wasn't in my cards.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
I keep thinking about pursuing a little more. Like I've
done a few songs. I did a song last year
with a big Brazilian artist, Rebecca, So I have some
music out on Spotify. I just don't know if I'm
in the point of my life where I want to
start another new career. Yeah, come on, man, like you
you're going your go, You're touring like your joy. The
(25:00):
thought of touring is just not not something that I'm
I would.
Speaker 5 (25:06):
Yeah, I don't, I don't want it.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Is it the going from place to place or or yeah? Yeah,
it's just.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
The last six years, you know, when we have with
filmed Queer, we've had to move to wherever we are
and it's six month filming so for the last six.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
Years, I haven't really been home.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
So the thought of like going out on the road
and going on tour and not being home just right
now is not in my cards. Maybe in a few
years I'll be like, hey, I'm ready to do it.
You know, I've thought about I'm kind of in the
beginning places phases of maybe recording a Christmas album for
next year.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
Hmm, So yeah, I might dabble in it and see
how I like it.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Oh, that's cool.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Yeah, singing's always been a huge pagine.
Speaker 6 (25:53):
If you are inspired by today's episode, please join us
in supporting six degrees dot org by texting the word
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Once again, text b a Con to seven zero seven
(26:18):
zero seven zero or visit six degrees dot org to
learn more.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
You're here today and the organization is Stand Up for Cancer,
and I want to bring in Julian Adams, who is
the CEO for Stand Up to Cancer. Julian, Welcome to
the podcast.
Speaker 5 (26:41):
Thank you, Thank you Kevin for having Bobby and me
on the show.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Do you guys know each other? Now?
Speaker 4 (26:49):
This is the first time we've met.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Yeah, I've worked with their organization for years, but yeah,
this is the first time I've got to meet Julian.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
And Julian, I think you're new to the gig, right I.
Speaker 5 (26:58):
Am two weeks?
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Yeah, okay, so that is why we haven't met that.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
But I joined last summer as the chief science Officer,
and I'm here to talk about why cancer research is
so important.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Yeah, I really want to hear about that. Well, first off,
let me just ask you, Bobby, how did you get
involved with Stand Up to Cancer?
Speaker 3 (27:20):
So, my father, who just passed from cancer in August,
has battled four different types of cancer over the last
ten years. So when I became a person who had
a platform over the last few years with Queer Eye,
I knew I wanted to work with an organization that
was very close to the situation that my family was
(27:43):
going through, and so I asked my team to go
out there and find me an organization that I could help.
And that's when I got introduced to Stand Up to Cancer.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Well, great, great, And how about you Julian, how did
you end up working for Stand Up to Cancer?
Speaker 5 (27:58):
It's a long story. I am minded myself to science,
even as an undergraduate uh in college. I did my
PhD at mi T in chemistry, and I knew at
the very beginning, from the very beginning, I was interested
in medicine, but didn't go to medical school. I just
(28:20):
devoted myself to doing biomedical research.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Wow, that's fat I just want to understand this. So
when you were you were undergraduate, you didn't want to
be a doctor, but you did want to do medical
research exactly. That's that's really fascinating. I mean, that seems
like a pretty unusual path.
Speaker 5 (28:37):
It was. I considered going to medical school, but as
I whimsically say, I didn't want it to interfere with
my education.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Having having having went through medical school myself and I
say I went through medical school because I went through
medical school, because my husband went to medical school and residency,
I can understand it. It has a tendency to interfere with
other things.
Speaker 5 (29:01):
I wanted to work on big problems and really solve
h you know, fundamental issues that are you know, taking
our lives. And obviously I went into industry I went
into the pharmaceutical and biotech industry uh for over forty years.
My first drug was for HIV. I witnessed HIV when
(29:22):
I was a grad student emerging in the early eighties,
and then found myself working in HIV research and developed
the first one of the first drugs for the for
the treatment of HIV AIDS. And then I migrated to
cancer because I was following some some basic research and
(29:44):
was working on some some laboratory work that eventually drew
me into cancer and I spent, you know, over thirty
five years of my life involved in cancer research, developing drugs, discovering, developing,
and you know, doing the whole gamut. I joined Stand
Up to Cancer about fifteen years ago on the scientific
(30:07):
Advisory Committee, which was chaired by Nobel Laureate Phil Sharp,
and so you can imagine the interviews I had to
get to get to this place, and I got a
drug approved for bone marrow transplantation. Last year, decided to retire,
but being on Stand Up to Cancer's Advisory Committee, I
(30:31):
went to Sherry Lancy, our chair of the organization, and said, look,
I have more time on my hands. I'm retired. She says, well,
come to be our Chief sides officer.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (30:42):
And six months later I'm the CEO and so I'm
running the show.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Wow, that's amazing. Well, I want to get into where
I want to get into where we're at and also
what specifically stand up to cancer does. My question for you,
Julian is so I people ask me, you know, and
they often asked this of famous people, what led you
(31:09):
to what you do? And you know, it was pretty simple.
You know, I just wanted to be famous, and I
wanted people look at me, and I wanted to make
a lot of money and get girls. That was It
was very simple kind of thing. I later kind of
learned to understand that there was an art to it
and that there was a thing and it became something
(31:30):
that I was passionate for. But the driving instinct or
motivation wasn't that. But I'm curious with you because obviously
it wasn't to become famous or or make money or
get Girls's the what's the thing do you think that
makes you be interested in, you know, research in medicine,
(31:53):
in making sick people well, like, is there something that's
outside of the nuts and bolts of it personally that
is was drove you.
Speaker 5 (32:02):
Initially again, as a kid, I read the story of
Thomas Edison in the third grade, literally and it just
fascinated me. I just wanted to invent stuff. I didn't
know what I wanted to invent. I didn't know, you know,
I wasn't going to be you know, a movie projector
it wasn't going to be whatever Thomas Edison did. And
I just got fascinated with health and science and biomedical
(32:29):
applications to improving people's lives. I mean, what is it
What do we have if we don't have our health?
You know, there's no amount of money or you know,
toys or things you can have if you don't have
your health. And cancer is the second biggest killer. One
point nine million people succumb to this disease in twenty
(32:50):
twenty three. And cancer is not one disease, as you know,
it's hundreds of diseases. So it just become a complete
passion of mine. As I got more in to it,
It's just you kept drawing in, drawn in and drawn in,
and you know, it defines me. Now I'm a cancer researcher.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
It's pretty hard to find somebody that hasn't been touched
by cancer. In some kind of way.
Speaker 5 (33:15):
You're exactly right.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Yeah, I mean it's it's uh, if nothing else by
all of a sudden, you know, having a little scare
or whatever. But what is it? What what is the
Is there anything news wise as a as an expert
on this that you can share with us in terms
of research or or or you know, any any good
(33:38):
news on the horizon. We're always looking for good news.
Speaker 5 (33:41):
Yeah, there's tons of good news coming. Let me start
with a little history lasting okay in belged me sure,
last century, twentieth century, it's chema. It's taken toxic chemotherapy,
cocktails of chemotherapy, and you try to kill the cancer
before the chemo kills you. And the twenty first century
(34:02):
has been an explosion of research. We solve the human
geno at the turn of the century, and all of
a sudden, all these technologies, all these abilities to understand
how DNA works, how cancer emerges, how does it develop
in the first place, we have all of these remarkable discoveries.
(34:23):
Hundreds several hundred new medicines have been approved just in
the last twenty twenty four years, you know, And I've
been part of that. I've been part of that the
whole time, and I just you know, it just keeps
drawing me even further in and I'm even more committed.
So as I said, I tried to retire, but I
(34:43):
could just became impossible. And then Stand It to Cancer
is sort of like the perfect landing spot for me,
because a we treat all cancers. Cancer doesn't really know
any borders. Cancer does know what age you are, it
doesn't discriminate, and the community of science is just an
(35:07):
international community and just trying to solve this nefarious disease
that catches people too early off guard and really doesn't
just disrupt one life, it disrupts the entire family. And
listen to Boppy story, just breaks my heart to lose
your dad, to lose a loved one. It's just what's worse.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Stand Up to Cancer is primarily focused on research, Is
that correct?
Speaker 5 (35:32):
Yes, We have raised money in the neighborhood of about
eight hundred million dollars since our fifteen year existence to
fund the best science across the globe. We seek out
some of the more difficult problems, and no cancer is spared.
We look at the rarest cancers all the way to
(35:53):
the most common cancer like lung cans. So we do
everything that we can so long to advance knowledge to
advanced research into advanced medicines for patients.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
I want to ask you something, Julian, this is actually
uh kind of brings up an interesting question and and
and actually, Bobby, I'd like you to kind of weigh
in on this too. You're talking a lot about, uh,
these incredible medicines and this incredible research that that we've
(36:24):
done in terms of finding out about uh, you know,
you mentioned the human genome and et cetera. How do
how much does the research point to lifestyle in terms
of trying to remain cancer free? And I mean, I
know I think about this because Bobby's experience with his father.
(36:49):
I think, I don't know, if I don't want to
put words in your mouth, but might have had an
influence on how you've thought so much about exercise and
diet and and uh mental clarity or whatever. That is
what I mean. Maybe you guys could talk about that
a little bit.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
I think from my dad it had a lot to
do with lifestyle. You know, my dad drove a truck
for you know, forty fifty years he inhaled you know,
toxic fuel fumes he smoked for fifty years. He was
also a rancher who dealt with chemicals like round up,
(37:26):
So I think a lot of it was environmental and
his lifestyle.
Speaker 4 (37:29):
That being said, I.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
Lost a friend a year and a half ago, super healthy,
worked out every single day, did not put anything that
wasn't organic into his body. At thirty three, he was
diagnosed with liver cancer and was dead in six weeks. So, Julian,
obviously you're the scientist, but those have been my two
drastic different experiences. For one, that I was like everything
(37:54):
that my father did with his life, decisions that he made,
pointed to sadly the outcome where I had friends who
were very active in making sure that they took care
of themselves and did everything they could for that to
not happen, and then this still happened.
Speaker 5 (38:10):
So what we know about today's environment plays a huge role.
It's probably the largest contributor. And environment includes things like smoking,
things like overeating. Obesity is a huge cofactor, but it's
also genetics, it's infectious diseases. There are numerous you know
(38:33):
what happens during puberty for breast cancer in women, all
kinds of factors that beat to cancer, and sadly it's
not that predictable. The only three things that we know
for sure is obesity, smoking and alcohol overuse are really bad.
And then of course the area you breathe, that water
(38:56):
you drink. Of course all of that matters. And it's
just a dialbollical uh situation. Uh and Bobby, I you know,
I just nothing is sadder than seeing a young person
develop cancer and be dead in six weeks. I feel free.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
Yeah, that is That's that's really rough, really rough. Uh. Well, listen,
what I'd like to do is, uh do a little
This is our call to action section. I mean, can
you guys talk about ways that people can help, uh
(39:34):
in terms of finding out where to donate or stand
up to cancer any events. I think it's stand up
to Cancer as far as I know, usually has some
pretty big events in the course of the year. What's
what's what's going on. Let's uh, let's let's give them
the digits and the websites and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 5 (39:50):
Yeah, we just had a telecast this past summer. Uh.
It we raised millions of dollars of it based on
the telling patient stories and having celebrities come in that's
that's one of the special uh attributes of Stand Up
to Cancer. We were founded by the entertainment industry, and
(40:15):
so we have access to all these great celebrities and
donate their time and do these public service announcements, et cetera,
et cetera. Uh. So we're constantly looking for more research
dollars UH to fight these multitude of diseases. And it's
really it's it's it's our mission. Our mission is to
fund innovative research to detect and intercept and and with
(40:39):
the aspiration to cure all pants A patients. That's that's
our north star.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
That's good. That's a good one. What's and what's the website?
Speaker 3 (40:46):
Is?
Speaker 1 (40:46):
It must be stand Up to Cancer dot com. I
would think dot org dot org. Yeah, stand up to
Cancer dot org. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (40:53):
We're a nonprofited mind everywhere. It's my first time in
the nonprofit world, so.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
Getting used to it. Yeah. It's it's a it's its own,
it's its own thing.
Speaker 5 (41:04):
And it feels good. It really feels good.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Yeah. Well, you know, congratulations Julian on this. Uh what
can I call this a second chapter or a third
chapter or you know, or just a new gig.
Speaker 5 (41:17):
Yeah, it's a new gig, and it's it's probably chapter
five or six. Because every time I discover a drug,
you know, I move on, I take on another problem
and uh, you know, and I've been lucky.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (41:30):
I've discovered for were unique rugs. I have two cooking
right now in the Tight States clinical trials. But what
I'm most excited about now is the ability that we
have with all the technologies that we have, is to
do early detection of cancer, uh and intercept that cancer.
(41:51):
And for the first time, last year, we saw evidence
that for the first time, cancer vaccines actually work. We've
seen in melanoma, we've seen it in pancreatic cancer. And
so I'm really pivoting our organization to do what the
pharmaceutical industry will never do, is to try to detect
(42:11):
that early detection, early intervention with cancer vaccines. I think
we stand in a very unique spot to be able
to foster that kind of research.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
I've recently started doing full body MRI scans.
Speaker 4 (42:25):
I've now started having won every three years.
Speaker 3 (42:28):
I me at that age where you know, other people
in my family have My grandfather died of a brain
tumor around my same age, So every three years now,
I'm getting a full body MRI scan just so I
can catch things early if I ever too get something.
Speaker 5 (42:41):
But unfortunately, with the health disparities in this country, that's
not scalable. You know. I obviously, Bobby, you got to
do what you've got to do. But if you think
about the country wide population, you know, we need point
of care off doctor's office. You know, pinprick blood, draw saliva,
(43:04):
you know, something simple that can really with great fidelity
predict are you susceptible? Are you at risk for getting cancer?
And if so, how do you intervene? Again, I'm very
jazzed about cancer vaccines, but there are other modalities that have,
you know, improvements in surgery, improvements in every aspect of
(43:26):
biomedical interventions that if we can get you into remission,
we don't want your relapse either. So that's a place
where we just want to improve survivorship. And I've laid
out a bold vision for our organization is we want
to fund research that I want to say, in five
(43:47):
years from now will reduce cancer cancer deaths by twenty
five percent and in ten years by fifty percent. That's
you know, and that I can die happily. Something that's
not you know, I have something that not can Good.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
For you man, Good for you, man, Bobby, Thank you
for being here today, looking forward to well whatever is
coming down the road. And and you know, I maybe
I'll have to go back and hear you singing that
what kind of creature were you in that show?
Speaker 4 (44:22):
I was a caterpillar.
Speaker 7 (44:24):
Caterpillar, caterpillar, a very long and large caterpillar. All right,
well we're gonna have to check out Bobby Burke as
a caterpillar. And fellas, it's been really fun chatting with
you and really fascinating and I really do appreciate the
work that you're both doing, so keep it up.
Speaker 4 (44:44):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (44:48):
Hey guys, thanks for listening to another episode of Six
Degrees with Kevin Bacon. If you want to learn more
about Stand Up to Cancer and all the amazing work
that they do, head to their website Stay and Up
to Cancer dot org that Stand Up to Cancer dot org.
You can find all the links in our show notes
and if you like what you hear, make sure you
(45:10):
subscribe to the show. Please tune in to the rest
of our episodes. You can find six Degrees with Kevin
Bagan on iHeartRadio Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 4 (45:21):
See you next time.
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