Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of CEOs. You
should know I'm Cat O'Donnell and joining me today are
Cynthia Zanouski and Roberto Verrella, co founders of Blissmuths RX.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
We're really excited to have you today, and I want
to dive right in because there's a lot to talk about.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
There's a lot of exciting things, so I'd love to
start with you.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Cynthia, You've had a deeply personal journey with mental health
since your diagnosis in two thousand and one, and a
lot of other experiences that have shaped your view of
healing and resilience and also led to you to explore
academy therapy and co found this incredible company.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
So tell us more about that.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yeah, So, in two thousand and one, I was diagnosed
with a brain tumor. I had a large brain tumor
on this side of my right frontal lobe. There was
an emergency surgery that had to happen about ten days later.
Luckily it was benign, but the doctors basically told me
(01:03):
that I was going to have to learn to re
build my brain. I had to not only rebuild, you know, physically,
because I had scars everywhere, but internally as well. You know,
I had a lot of learning disabilities and a lot
(01:26):
of fear growing up that I just wasn't smart enough
or good enough. I just kind of felt like everybody
was moving through life so much easier than I was.
I would have to study really hard and past the test.
All of my friends were like, oh, I didn't even study,
and they would make like this great grade. So this
kind of became like an internal thought that I had
(01:51):
about myself that I just wasn't smart enough, wasn't good enough,
wasn't strong enough, And this is kind of a voice
that was in my head all So the doctors told
me at the end of the surgery that your brain
is very resilient. You know, it can adapt in so
(02:12):
many ways. You can feed it positive messages or you
can feed it negative messages. So I spent the next
few years slowly rewiring my brains, starting to speak nicer
to myself and tell myself that I was good enough
and that I was smart enough. And you know, the
brain tumor's gone now, so you have all of these
(02:35):
strengths just like everybody else. But it took me several
years to repair this.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
That's incredible.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I'm so sorry you had to go through that, but
I'm so glad that you're on the other side of it.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Yeah, and that's.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
A true story of resilience when you look at everything
that you went through. So it's and I'm sure it's
something that you've worked with every day.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, to continue that, that's incredible. So, Cynthia, how did
your experience as a.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Single mom navigating life changes in twenty twenty three influence
your decision to explore ketemine therapy and eventually co found
this company.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
So in twenty twenty three, I was faced with a new,
huge life hurdle. I was a mom of a two
year old, a stay at home mom, and now I
was faced with a divorce. Honestly, I was terrified. I
hadn't worked in a long time, and you know, I
was thinking, like, how am I going to re build myself?
(03:31):
I'm going to create this structure for my daughter, And
a lot of the old thought patterns came back. Am
I good enough? Am I strong enough? Am I a
mother for this? You know? I wanted to show up
and be the best person I could be for my
daughter and create, you know, a role model for her,
(03:53):
but I didn't really have the time. You know, I
had to get out of this toxic environment and I
needed to whip myself into shape much quicker than before.
So I'd heard about ketamine therapy and how it can
rewire your brain build these new neural pathways. So I
(04:13):
knew that this was possible. I went ahead and I
gave it a shot. I think I was in ketemine
therapy for about six months. And yeah, I mean, the
best way I can think about it is, you know,
thinking outside the box. What was this next chapter was
fear and you know, anxiety turned into an opportunity. Now
(04:35):
I could really feel empowered and you know, really be
a go getter, get out there and do what I
needed to do. And I remember telling Roberto at the
time what had happened, and that, you know, the transformation
had happened so quickly, and I mean, I think he
heard it in my voice, he saw it in me,
(04:57):
and I mean a few days later he called me
and he said, you know, I have not been able
to stop thinking about this, Cynthia. This is something not
only do we need to share with the world, but
tell them how you did it. You know, that was really,
I'll never forget that phone call because it was really
the phone call that changed everything for us, like changed
(05:18):
the course of everything.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
That's incredible.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
So then you were able to co found this and
you have an incredible entrepreneurial spirit, Roberto. How did growing
up in Mexico City affect that and ultimately bring you
to where you are today co founding this company?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Thank you?
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Yeah, Mexico City was the largest city in the world
at the time, and it's a fast paced and unforgiven environment.
That taught me how to be resilient and there's no
boundaries to what's possible. My grandfather will talk to me
about everything, and I saw his resilience firsthand when his
IBM computer distribution company suddenly changed as the world move
into software business models. That taught me that staying ahead
(05:59):
of change is key. With blissmis we are at the
forefront of evolving healthcare, bringing care to people virtually and
delivering prescriptions to their door.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
That's incredible. I know, I know.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Blissmyths RX really emphasizes that fully virtual, patient centered experience.
What inspired that model and how do you continue to innovate? Well,
you're really an environment of trust and quality of care.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
I want to make things as easy as possible in
my own life. Yeah, that was very important, but it's
not just about the convenience and efficiency. It's about bringing
the right doctors to us many people in as many
places as possible, and virtual was the only way that
we could do it.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
And I know, Cynthia you talked about, you know, mental
health before. It's not one size fits all. Everybody has
a unique journey. How does that philosophy show up in
the way that you lead your team and serve patients.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
So I feel like, yeah, it's not one size fits all.
Roberto and I are very hands on in every aspect
of this business, from the smallest things to the biggest decisions.
But we each have our different strengths. You know, he's
more the tech side, he's innovative, he's forward thinking, he
sees opportunities and things that I wouldn't have seen. I
(07:16):
more research, compliance, patient experience. But we really complement each
other and we use the same mindset with our patients.
There's no single path. We kind of meet the patients
where they are in their journey and we try to
address their individual needs because you know, at the end
of the day, I really think that people are looking
(07:37):
for support, and they're looking for support as individuals.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
It's an incredible partnership. So where do you see alternative
treatments like ketamine fitting into, you know, the broader future
of mental health care.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
I see ketemin therapy becoming a widely recognized tool in
the mental health toolkit as more doctors understand its unique
potential actually addressing neuropathways rather than just symptoms. I think
it will sit alongside all of the other major options.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
I mean, I know there you've spoken about it before
and some of the stuff that I've read and I
you know, and everything you're saying is there's still a
little bit of a stigma around some of these alternative therapies.
So when you're looking at destigmatizing evidence based alternative healthcare,
what strategic steps are you taking to kind of shift
that public perception, increase adoption, get thord out.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
We are focusing on education and transparency, so we share
links to peer reviewed studies, trusted articles on our own
educational content. Some people can see the evidence themselves. We
also highlight real patient stories with their permission and show
how these treatments are making a difference step by step.
We're making sure people have the facts so they can
(08:51):
approach these therapies with confidence and reducing stigma over time. Awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
So how do you envision you know, b List miss
contributing to the future of healthcare, particularly when you're looking
at personalized, integrative medicine making everything more accessible to everybody.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
I ambition list missed and all states. And since we're virtual,
you can live in a big city or in the
middle of nowhere and have access to this alternative healthcare.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Cynthia, you've shared a lot today. You certainly an underdog,
you're a survivor.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
What were some of the toughest challenges you've faced and
how do you push through them?
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Yeah, you know, I do consider myself a bit of
an underdog. I think anyone dealing with mental health issues
is we're navigating through the world just like anybody, but
now we also are carrying this extra layer of trying
to stay mentally afloat. I think the biggest challenge was
rebuilding my life midway through my life, and you know,
(09:57):
taking away these negative thoughtschallenging the negative thoughts that used
to control me, and overcoming that ketamine was really the
shift for me. It was the right place at the
right time. I feel like I got really lucky. And yeah,
it's given me a different perspective and it's really helped
(10:17):
me become the person that I knew that I could
become for myself and my daughter.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
So you are entrepreneurs.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
For other aspiring entrepreneurs looking to build purpose driven healthcare companies,
what advice would you give as you're looking to balance
mission ethics sustainable growth. There's a lot, especially in this
healthcare space, that you have to take into consideration.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Yeah, thank you, I love this question. I think the
number one thing is find something that inspires you. Find
something that you really can get behind, not something that
just makes money, but also something that your heart is
really in. You know, as an entrepreneur, you are going
to be eating, sleeping, and breathing this vision, and so
(11:00):
it better be something that you absolutely love. You know,
you need to build your team. You need to find
people around you that are just as passionate about this
as you are. For instance, our doctor on our team,
doctor writer. She is licensed in eleven states nationwide, So
(11:21):
this is someone who's not just passionate about health care
in her community, but national health and at blissmuths we
with her help, we've developed our business model in a
way that we can give consultations for free because we
don't want costs to be a barrier when exploring these
(11:44):
you know, new approaches and you know, maybe it works
for you, maybe it doesn't, but we want to get
you in the door and find out if this is
something that could work for you. In terms of growth,
we want to access as many states as possible, bring
awareness and you know, bring it in a meaningful way.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
And you're really building that model to be able to
scale out to all of the states, which is so important.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
So, I mean I can imagine a strong moral compass
is integral and.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Everything you're saying. That seems to be the underlying theme
in what I'm here.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
How has that really guided you through difficult decisions both
in life and business.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Yeah, I think life is really just a journey and
a series of decisions. You know, these choices that you
make along the way ultimately define you as a person.
I've always tried to choose positivity and light and you know,
making good ethical decisions and I think that that carries
(12:42):
into my business life as well. You make good decisions
morally it changes everything, and in our case, it's changing
people's lives. One of my favorite things about this job
is getting emails from patients and them telling me, Yo,
I've been on ssries for so many years and all
(13:02):
of a sudden, you know this is this is a
game changer, and it's such a wonderful thing to hear.
And you know, personally, I feel that when you're helping
other people, it honestly helps you too. You know, it
just feels good in your heart and it's a good
place to be.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
And that you get to hear those individual stories. It's incredible.
So what's next? What's next for bliss miss What's are?
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Then?
Speaker 2 (13:30):
They exciting developments, expansions.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
In the next few months, we're going to be in
most states in the US. So we're just waiting to
sign a deal with our new compounding pharmacy and once
that's done and we hire a few more doctors, we're
probably going to be in your state.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
All right.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
I love to kind of end on this question, but
if there's one thing you want people to take away
from your mission, what would it be?
Speaker 4 (13:59):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (13:59):
My god, I think the biggest takeaway should be is,
no matter who you are where you are, You're not stuck.
That change is possible. Your brain is resilient and it's adaptable.
I think with the right support and the right tools,
the right approach, you can really change the trajectory of
your life. You know, it's really it's amazing. Everything we're
(14:22):
doing is really centered around that, giving access, removing barriers,
people feeling seen and supported, empowered, because I just believe that,
you know, when people feel better, they show up better
for themselves, for their family, in their work life. And
(14:45):
it's really that you know, trickle down effect that.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
We're after, right, absolutely, all right, So how can people
engage with you?
Speaker 2 (14:55):
How can they support the work you're doing? How can
they get more information?
Speaker 4 (14:59):
People can join the community that we're building. They can
go to blist missarx dot com. They can read our blogs,
sign up for email updates, follow us on Instagram, or
go ahead and make an appointment with one of our
doctors to see if list miss this the right fit
for them.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
We'd love to hear from you guys.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Any comments, questions please send them over.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
We love it. I have a feeling you will be well.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Bolsynth and Roberto so much for joining us today.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
It was a.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Pleasure to learn more about your journey and your backgrounds,
and I feel like there's a lot of awesome things
on the horizon for Blissmiths and we're looking forward to
watching it all happen.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Thank you, thank so thank.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
You all for joining us today for CEOs. You should
know and we'll see you next time.