Lala Gonzalez, Dr. David Rankin, Stephanie Germino, Blaise Ffrench, Peter Guimaraes

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The following is a paid podcast.iHeartRadio's hosting of this podcast constitutes neither an
endorsement of the products offered or theideas expressed. Welcome to a Moment of
Zen. Time to sit back andrelax. As model, actress, mentor
and supermom. Zen Sam's takes youon a sexy and wild ride, covering

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the latest in film, fashion,pop culture, cryptocurrency, fintech, cannabis,
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Hello, my beautiful Tristate area.Welcome to our one hundred and eighteenth
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all episodes of a Moment of Zenare now streaming twenty four seven on Kathy
Ireland's your Home TV. You canalways find us on our YouTube channel.

(01:03):
Of course, Sundays we upload attwo pm. We have such a great
show lined up for you today,very very exciting stuff. In our Healthy
Minutes segment brought to you by bJ. Kuccina. Right here in Midtown
Manhattan, we are featuring O Heart'svery own on air personality, Lala Gonzalez
from the Lulu Lala Show, airingseven pm to midnight on one h three

(01:25):
point five's KTU. Today she's joinedby returning guest doctor David Rankin of David
Rankin MD dot com. He isthe number one breast xplant expert in the
US and the chief of plastic Surgeryat Saint Mary's Medical Center in West Palm
Beach, Florida. Today we're chattingbreast implant illness. That's BII Lala's X

(01:45):
plant journey with the good doctor andthe warning signs and symptoms your breasts are
secretly revealing. In our Millennial Momsegment brought to you by OGPA dot com,
Today, we're featuring breast cancer previvorStephanie Jrmie. I know an influencer,
an AFC advocate medically known as estheticflat closure AFC is a procedure involving

(02:07):
the reconstruction of a flat chest.This twenty nine year old mama from Florida
underwent a double messtectomy when she wastold there was a mutation in her bracca
one gene. Now she joins meto chat breast cancer awareness, esthetic flat
closure, double mastectomies, and braccagene mutations. In our Influencer segment,
brought to you by You Guessed It, doubleheader b che Couccina right here in

(02:30):
Midtown Manhattan, live from My HeartHeadquarters, we are featuring a blaze French,
an actor, influencer and entrepreneur withover three and a half million followers
in counting. Today he's joined byVip Peter g of NYC. Peter is
managing partner at bache Couccina Restaurant Group, founder of Tipsy Girl Wines, and

(02:51):
owner of Bachecuccina in Midtown Manhattan.Quite the celebrity himself. They join me
today to chat all about the powerof branding and marketing, how social media
has changed the marketing approach, andhow celebrities can surely make or break a
brand. Stay tuned for I Heart'svery own on air personality, Lala Gonzalez
from the Lululala Show, joined byreturning guest doctor David Rankin of David Rankin,

(03:15):
MD. We're chatting breast implant illnessfor X plant journey with the Good
Doctor. You definitely don't want tomiss this interview. You're listening to a
Moment of Zen right here on seventen WORE, the Voice of New York
iHeartRadio. We'll be right back afterthis. A Moment of Zen is brought
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Tune in to a Moment of ZenSaturday nights from nine to ten VM on
wo R, the Voice of NewYork iHeartRadio. Welcome back, beautiful Tristate
area. You're listening to a momentof Zen. Right here on seven ten
wo R, the voice of NewYork iHeartRadio. I'm your host, Zen.
Sam's up next. In our HealthyMinutes segment, brought to you by

(04:21):
bch Kucina, We're featuring our Iheart'svery own on air personality, Lala Gonzalez
from the Luluilala Show, airing sevenpm to midnight every single day, Monday
to Friday on one h three pointfive's k TOU. Today, she's joined
by our returning guest, doctor DavidRankin of David Rankin MD dot com,

(04:43):
number one breast explant expert in theUnited States and the chief of Plastic Surgery
at Saint Mary's Medical Center in WestPalm Beach, Florida. Now, Doctor
Rankin has been in practice for overtwenty years. He has become very well
known in the breast implant illness community. That's BII. You can see that
trending on social media, and doctorRankin stopped implanting women very important to note

(05:05):
and solely focuses on explant procedures.Now. BII is a condition that isn't
very well understood, but can beextremely debilitating. Breast implant illness refers to
a wide range of symptoms that developin some people who have a reconstruction or
cosmetic enlargement with breast implants. Now, BII isn't an official medical diagnosis because

(05:30):
it's still not well understood, butsome experts believe that breast implant illness symptoms
may be caused by an autoimmune orinflammatory reaction to the implants. Now,
the symptoms vary from person to person, of course, and can include fatigue,
joint pain, memory and concentration problems, rashes, and so much more.
Today we're chatting breast implant illness,Lala's explant journey with the Good Doctor

(05:55):
and the warning signs and symptoms yourbreasts are secretly very Welcome me out to
the show, or my dear friendsthat I've had, Lala and doctor David
Rankin, welcome, Thank you forhaving me excited to be here. Thank
you so much for joining Lala.Let's start with you. So, after
experiencing many autoimmune like symptoms associated withBII, and of course it included joint

(06:18):
pain, joint pain, fatigue,brain fog, you said, rashes.
That's just to name a few ofyour symptoms, you had your implants removed
and are now what they call aquote unquote explant. How did you have
excuse me, how long did youhave your implants for what type did you
have? And when did your symptomsfirst arise? After the breast augmentation,

(06:41):
I had silicone implants, and Ionly had them for three years, and
I started noticing symptoms actually maybe thatsame year I got them. It was
actually a nightmare. I should havenever gotten them to begin with. But
I did start experiencing brain fog likeI'm Lala and everyone always says, oh,
you're in Lala lamp, but thiswas like to an extreme. I
think the first thing that I noticedwith heart proportations, but I kind of

(07:04):
ignored them because I felt like itwas more stress related, and so I
kind of just put that in theback burner. Migraine, something that I
never really had, started, youknow, consistently happening more and more every
day, to the point where Ifelt my head was going to explode.
Then I started developing this weird rashall over my neck, especially in my

(07:27):
eyes. You know, I couldn'teven put makeup on because it was just
it would look bad. And soI noticed something's not right. I became
very irritable, and it's not likeme. I'm always happy, go lucky,
and for me to have kind ofswitched and shifted attitudes to the point
where I'm always kind of like angryor just not happy. I know something
was wrong. Your body was definitelyspeaking to you, and you are the

(07:50):
best judgment of when something is notright or wrong. It's not to mention
that my breast implants became very encapsulatedto the one where they hurt. That's
broad hurts, that hurts. That'sa huge, huge, huge topic of
discussion with breast implants in general.Now, doctor Rankin, BII can affect
people with any type of breast implant. We know this very well, including

(08:13):
silicone, gel filled, saline filled, smooth surface, textured surface, round,
or tear drops shaped. Okay,but breast implant illness specifically we can
develop whether implants have ruptured or stayedintact. We know this as a fact.
But are there any types of breastimplants that are associated with a higher

(08:35):
risk of BII. Well, inmy practice, I take out every type
of implant, smooth, round,texture, it, silicone, saline,
so they all can lead to thedevelopment of symptoms we call breast implant illness.
I would say there's a little bitmore of a propensity for the silicone
gel implants to produce this, butyou know, we see it with all

(08:56):
different types, and it's important tonote, I'm going to back off what
you just said that BII is notthe same as the rare types of cancer
that can develop in the scar,tissue and fluid surrounding a breast implant,
such as implant associated anaplastic large celllymphoma or other forms of lymphoma and breast

(09:16):
implant associated squamous cell carcinoma. Butit's extremely worthy to point out that BII
can actually aggravate cells that are predisposedto these cancers. So it's all part
and parcel and part of the biggerpicture. Now, Lala, you recently
explanted with the amazing doctor Rankin.How did you and doctor Rankin go about

(09:37):
your specific diagnosis and how long afterexplanting did your symptoms take to reverse?
Yes, I remember the day thatI walked into his office and he saw
my boobies. The first thing hetold me was that they were extremely encapsulated
and that I needed to get ridof them, and he what I love
most about him. Is how compassionatehe was, but how direct he was.

(09:58):
He didn't try and sugarcoat anything.He laid out the facts just how
as he saw them, and Ican appreciate that. But he told me
that I needed to remove them,and that he actually told me that the
left one would probably be the biggestproblem because it was bigger, and it
was super it was harder than theright one. And so he gave me
the options. And you know,at first, when you hear this,

(10:22):
you are taken back. I knowI remember crying, but I was actually
crying of like relief. At leastI have an answer. I know it's
not me, it's it's the implants. So I can appreciate his honesty.
And you know how he came aboutto like telling me I need to get
rid of them and this is somethingthat has to get done. Well,
I'm glad you ended up in theright hands. And it's important to note
that he's so VIP that he hasa three year waiting list. Now I

(10:46):
have conducted over I wanted to say, two dozen interviews on BII with actual
breast implant illness patients and survivors,and they have stated that their symptoms can
really appear any any time after orimplant surgery. Some said that they started
to develop breast implantinlists immediately, whileothers said that it took them years.
But interestingly, a lot of thesymptoms of BII are associated with autoimmune and

(11:13):
connective tissue disorders. And I saidthis before, but lupis, rheumat or
arthritis, sluri, derma, andall of these autoimmune and connective tissue disorders
that are part of a bigger picture. It's your body actually speaking to you.
This doesn't happen because you know outof nowhere. This is your body
trying to communicate. So it's importantto understand those symptoms and to address them

(11:37):
now. Doctor Rankin, what arethe current diagnostic criteria for BII and how
is it actually diagnosed. BII isreally a diagnosis of exclusion. We're still
trying to lucidate all the symptoms present, but we see a multitude. If
you look currently at the FDA's website, they have a page on breast implant
elness where they list the most commonsymptoms like joy pain, brain flog,

(12:01):
skin issues, anxiety. But inmy practice, I see literally a through
z in the SAFTIP set are presentpresenting in my patients. While those numbers
and those statistics are staggering and definitelyhave to be addressed because factually, more
than three hundred and sixty five thousandwomen received breast implants per year. That

(12:24):
was a statistic from twenty one andtwenty twenty two, and that's a forty
four percent increase from the year before. And this means that breast agmentation remains
as one of the most common andpopular plastic surgery procedures performed in the US,
and they're saying it has a lowrisk of complications. Right, So
these segments Lala story, Dannika Patrick'sstory, you know, Black Chinda's story.

(12:50):
It's important to tell these stories becauseyou have to spread awareness. Lala,
when you suspected you had BII,did you ever second guests yourself?
And if you did, which I'msure you did, think you're going crazy?
What steps did you take to seekthe right diagnosis and of course treatment,

(13:11):
which we know was ex planting,But what were those steps? Yeah,
So at first I didn't want tobelieve it. I kind of was
looking for other excuses to like,no, this can't be it. It's
it's not me like I'm not oneof those. And obviously it was all
driven for fear, you know,the fear of I've known the fear of,
like, well, if it isn'tyour plans and I have to take
them out, what am I goingto look like? What is my body

(13:33):
going to go through? Will Ibe able to breastfeed the day that I
have children? All these and thenalso what am I gonna look like?
As women, Yes, we doworry about what we're gonna look like.
We do worry about our significant others. Are they gonna get turned off?
All these things that ran through myhead that finally came I came to a
conclusion what matters most what I looklike or what I feel like? You

(13:56):
know, and health really is themain thing here. If you're not health
then you don't really have anything.So healthy is sexy, And I realized,
okay, it's definitely my implants.I gotta do research. And that's
when my cousin and I started lookingfor doctors. We started looking at different
women's videos and Instagram posts and Facebookand all these things. And that's when

(14:16):
we're like, Okay, we haveto do this, and we're gonna do
this together. And that's why welove doctor Rankin. Every story that we
read happened to be a patient ofdoctor Rankins his staff amazing and so we
knew it was a no brainer.I had to do this and it had
to be with doctor Rankin. Well, you know, healthy is sexy.
We're going to coin that. Ilove that you said that because it's the
actual truth. And as women astrailblazers like yourself that are going out there

(14:41):
and paving the way and leaving apath where there really is no trail,
because breast implant illness is not acommon thing and people don't even know about
it. So standing up to thebig pharmaceutical giants and taking a stance is
extremely, extremely exemplary of you.So you are a trail blazer doing what
you do. Thank you, Lala. Now, doctor Rankin. Although research

(15:03):
is underway to figure out the exactcause of BII, it's not currently an
official diagnosis per se per Se BIIis a cluster of symptoms that don't fit
into any other classic disease diagnosis.Eventually, I'm hoping that it's going to
be recognized as a medical condition,but that process, as we know,

(15:24):
is going to take a lot oftime. And in the meantime, insurance
companies they don't really necessarily cover theexplant costs. And as I said before,
women don't implant to xplant. It'sjust not a thing. So what
steps does the medical community need totake to push insurance carriers to cover the
explant surgeries. Well, I thinkit's true what you said that women that

(15:46):
get implants, they don't anticipate havingto remove them, having to remove them
because they're making them feel poorly,so it's certainly not a purely cosmetic procedure.
I think it all starts with advocacyfrom patient, advocacy from other specialists
like rheumatologists, primary care doctors,to let the insurance companies know this is

(16:07):
something real. There should be advocacyat the level of our Congress, people
who have the power to dictate orto discuss with the insurance companies that this
is a real diagnosis and these womenneed to be heard. Without a doubt,
we definitely should be taking this toCongress, and that's probably my next
step because that's what needs to beaddressed, and especially with the insurance carriers
and the FDA, because they arecomplicit in all of this. Let's make

(16:32):
no mistake, now, Lalla.After explanting, did you choose to reconstruct
and what did that entail? Ichose to have a lift. Doctor Rankin
suggested that I would need one,so I trusted his opinion and went with
it. I was a little bitscared as to what this car would look
like, but I'm pleased to saythat I barely even have a scar,

(16:53):
like, I've healed very well andat the end of the day, I'm
like, I'm not going to bewalking around topless, so you look sexy,
af It's perfectly fine. I dowant to point out that X plan
thing is not a trend. I'veheard that numerous times and it really irks
me and it actually makes me verysad because women who have had to xplan,

(17:15):
they don't do it. Just oh, one bright morning, I woke
up and I decided I want toget rid of them. It's because their
health is not right, you know, like who wants to spend an extra
amount of money to take them outafter putting them in. It's health wise,
something's not right, and obviously theyneed to do this. So for
that word the trend, like ifyou're gonna get a new haircut or you
know, do something like that.That really bothers me because I feel like

(17:37):
it undermines what these women are goingthrough. One hundred percent, without a
doubt, no one implants to xplant. Yeah, we've talked about this over
and over again, and it's themedical community itself that's complicit in all of
this, including the FDA, becausewe know what backs that and it's called
big pharma and it has a lotof funds and money available, So why
would they denounce this? This issexy, This has to be a thing.

(18:02):
But thank you for standing up now, doctor Rankin what advice do you
have for a woman wanting to explantbut fearing the reconstruction step, Well,
I think, like anything in life, experience is key. So you should
go to a doctor that's first oflaw, board certified by the American Board
of Plastic Surgery. But a doctorthat has a lot of expertise and explanting,
does a lot of explants in theirpractice, believes in diis a diagnosis

(18:27):
in women. So I take againgoing to someone very experience on this because
it's not a generally easy procedure.Definitely not an easy procedure. Definitely need
to go to somebody experience. ButI'm going to give all our audience some
food for thought. If the doctorthat you are explanting with is currently implanting

(18:48):
and currently doing breast augmentations, thatshould be a red flag ethically, that
should be something that you do notstand by. You can't have the cake
and eat it too. The factthat you, doctor Rankin, chose to
stop implanting and really focus solely onexplanting speaks volumes and again they're a gentle

(19:11):
strength is stronger and you have donethat. So thank you so much for
the women that are out there sufferingthat you are paving the way for now.
Lala, what advice do you haveto women out there thinking they are
crazy and that their symptoms are psychosomatic. Yeah, my advice to the women
out there, You're not crazy.Something is going on. Pay attention to

(19:32):
your body. Your body is tryingto tell you something, so listen to
it. Do not feel ashamed.It's perfectly fine to kind of feel like,
oh man, what did I doto myself? Why did I ever
get these implants? Because I wentthrough those emotions and I've lived through it
and I've gone through it, sothat's perfectly fine. You're human. You
live and you learn. But ifyour body is not right, it's probably

(19:52):
the implants. Take them out.Don't second guess it, and go for
it. You're only going to feelbetter, You're only going to feel better.
Well, there you have it,my dear friends, Lala, thank
you so much for joining us,Doctor Rankin, thank you so much for
piping in. It's always a pleasurehaving you on. Yeah, thank you
so much. It's great to behere. Thank you for having me.
Absolutely can't wait to repromote this segmentand make sure that the voices are heard.

(20:15):
Now listen, guys. The debateregarding the possibility of breast implants has
been present, actually factually since nineteensixties. There's a theory that stemmed from
an author's concept of human a juvendisease, and it refers to human exposure
to a foreign object that causes autoimmuneor rheumatic diseases. Right, And the

(20:37):
theory was gradually introduced to the publicduring the nineteen eighties, and later it
gained the attention of the FDA,which in part led to the removal of
silicone implants from the market in nineteenninety two. So that's very interesting,
you guys. Would research that we'reall about entertainment here at WR. Thank
you so much for piping in.It was a pleasure having you. Thank

(20:59):
you so much to all of youlistening. That was our healthy Minute segment
brought to you by b ch Kucina. That was Iheart's very own on air
personality, Lala Gonzalez R. Andyou definitely have to check her out.
She airs every single night Monday toFriday, seven pm to midnight on one
h three point five's k to you. That was the awesome doctor David Rankin.

(21:21):
You could head directly to their websiteat David Rankin MD. You're listening
to a Moment of Zen right hereon seven ten Wore the voice of New
York iHeartRadio will be right back afterthis. A Moment of Zen is brought
to you by Caldwell Solmes Incorporated,investing globally in transformative businesses like Original Digital
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(21:45):
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dot com. Welcome back, beautifulTristate area. You're listening to a moment
of Zen right here on seven toten, wore the voice of New York

(22:08):
iHeartRadio. I'm your host, ZenSam's coming up in her Millennial mom segment
brought to you by ogpay dot com. Today, we're featuring breast cancer provider
Stephanie Germino, an influencer and anAFC advocate. Medically known as esthetic flat
closure, it's a procedure involving thereconstruction of a flat chest. Extra skin,

(22:32):
fat, and tissue in the breastsare removed, and the remaining tissue
is tightened and smoothed so that thechess wall appears flat. This twenty nine
year old Mamma from Florida underwent adouble messtectomy when she was told that there
was a mutation in her Bracca onegene, which meant that she had an
eighty seven percent risk of developing breastcancer. Normally, the Bracco one and

(22:53):
Bracca two genes protect women from gettingcertain cancers, but some mutations in those
genes prevent them from working properly,so that if you inherit one of these
mutations, you're more likely to getbreast ovarian and other cancers. Now,
in a bid to avoid getting thedeadly illness, she made the brave decision
to undergo a double mastectomy, whereboth breasts were removed and she refused a

(23:15):
reconstruction. She now boasts more thanone point five million followers on TikTok.
She's dubbed as the booblist Babe anduses social media to share her story,
raise awareness of the procedure, anddetail her newfound freedom. Today, she
joins me to chat breast cancer awareness, esthetic flat closure, double mustectomies,

(23:36):
and Bracca Jean mutations. Welcoming nowto the show is the amazing Stephanie Jeremy.
No welcome, superstar. Hi,thank you so much for having me.
Absolutely, I'm so excited that you'rejoining me today. If I was,
I was floating through Instagram, asyou know we all are, and
I came across your profile and I'mlike, who is this fierce, incredible
soul that I need to feature onmy show? So thank you so much

(24:00):
for accepting of course, I'm veryexcited about this. That was such a
great intro. I don't think Icould have done a better one myself.
Okay, let's get to it,So let's dive right in. You're a
mom, You have a beautiful sixyear old boy, Josiah. You claim
you knew from the age of fifteenthat you were a potential carrier of the
mutation due to both your mom andgrandmother having the same gene. Talk to

(24:21):
me about basically living with the notionthat you might end up with breast cancer
since you're fifteen years old and knowingthis, Yeah, it's overwhelming, to
say the least. I also thinkthat I was a little bit ignorant to
the fact. You know, myfamily, we really didn't talk about it
too much, and or it waskind of like a very sugarcoated topic.

(24:44):
I knew that my grandmother, mymom's mom, had gotten breast cancer due
to having this gene, and thenI saw my mom going through preventative surgeries
like her double amounts tectomy and herhysterectomy at a young age for me at
least, and so she just hadtold me that I had a fifty percent
chance of having this mutation, whichjust meant that later on down the road,

(25:07):
I would probably have to do atest to see but it's not something
I should worry about now, AndI really didn't worry about it too much,
you know, I just kind ofput it in the back of my
mind lived life. I thought thatit was nothing, and I just thought,
you know, very immature thoughts,like oh, well, at least
I'll get free implants from that.And now I know that's one of the
worst things you could say to somebodywho has this mutation or who has to

(25:30):
go through a double mess act tome. But again, I was really
young and silly, and so itwasn't until I got a little bit older
and I started experiencing fibroids in mybreast when I got my periods and insists
in my arm pits that I startedkind of like being overbearing in my mind,
and I was like, Okay,I'm now twenty seven. I think
I should probably get that test doneto figure out if I'm positive or not

(25:51):
and find out what my next optionsare. Wow, so okay. Now,
each year I know that in theUnited States about two hundred and seventy
thousand cases of breast cancer are diagnosedin women and about oddly enough, twenty
four hundred men, And we haveabout forty two thousand women and five hundred
men in the US die each yearfrom breast cancer. Now, when you

(26:11):
were told there was a mutation inyour BRCA one gene which meant you had
an eighty seven percent risk of developingbreast cancer, did you consider any other
alternatives before choosing to prophylactically have adouble misstectomy. So there are other options
to it. I have had familymembers, Like I said, it riddles
my family, the Bracca mutations.Literally, so many of my family members

(26:34):
have it, my aunts, myuncles, my cousins, and things like
that, and we all take ourdifferent routes with it. Now, the
older generation they have done their preventativesurgery, whereas for my generation, me
and my cousin, for example,she did do the hormone replacement and like
monitoring. And for me, Ijust have had too many I don't want

(26:55):
to say symptoms, because there areno symptoms for mutation, but I've had
too many things, like I said, the system, my armpit, and
then fibroids and then not really knowingif it's justice syst or is this something
that's starting out. I know youcan do the hormones and the increased screenings
and things of that nature, butfrom my state of mind and my mental

(27:17):
health, I just thought, Idon't need them anymore. I've breastfed my
son for two years. They didtheir job, and they're not what to
find me, So might as welljust show them the door. Now.
You made the right choice for you. And of course you know prophylactic mastectomy
can lower breast cancer risk by nineor more. But of course let's point
out that it doesn't guarantee that youwill not get breast cancer. And of

(27:38):
course this is because it's not possibleto remove all breast cells. Even with
a mastectomy, the breast cells thatare left behind might still go on to
become cancer. But you basically eliminateda huge portion of that risk. And
to your point, once you breastfedyour little boy, you don't need them
anymore. You're good, You're goodto go. So I think they served
their purpose while they were here.And you are making such a splash in

(28:00):
the world of prevention by telling yourstory and by really advocating and spreading the
word and really demystifying the stigmas aroundthe double mastectumies and what they really mean,
you know, to a woman's womanhoodper se. Now, did you
have any physical and emotional challenges thatarose after the surgery? You know,
it's funny because I know this isn'teverybody's journey or this isn't everybody's experience,

(28:23):
But no, absolutely not. Theonly thing that I felt emotional about is
because once I set my mind onbeing flat, because like I said,
I wasn't planning on being flat theentire time I knew about this. Once
I finally said my mind on beingflat, I had so much pushback about
me going flat. So many peopletry to tell me that I was wrong

(28:44):
and that I would regret it,and so I had to really advocate for
myself. Even my surgeon at thetime had was like giving me a lot
of pushback, saying that I wouldhave regret going flat and that I should
at least get something done. Andso this was before actually going to surgery.
So I was afraid that I wasgoing to you know, my wishes
were not going to be respected.And so when I woke up from surgery,

(29:06):
the first thing I did was lookeddown at my chest. I asked
the nurse to help me open mybinder so that I could see what was
left on my chest, and Idid bawl my eyes out because it looked
like I had, you know,breasts left on my chest. But I'm
a lot of swelling. And thensix months later finding out that he had
left extra skin which is called adog gear. Whether that was intentional or

(29:26):
just lack of know how on howto perform an aesthetic flat closure, but
that is the only emotion that Ihad was that I wasn't you wanted to
make sure you were flat and itdidn't look flat when you came out.
I could yeah, I could totallysee that. Well, they didn't know
who you were dealing who they weredealing with. Now, your mom also
got a preventative double mist act tome, you said, in her forties,

(29:48):
and she had breast reconstruction afterwards.But for you, you underwent the
procedure in October of twenty twenty oneat Tampa General Hospital in Florida. And
so you're saying you opted against reconstruction. But I want to know what factors
shape that extreme decision, Like whatdid you think in your mind would not

(30:08):
work out? If you did,in fact reconstruct safely, or you just
thought that that was not even somethingthat you can fathom the idea of seeing
yourself doing. I say that thereare three main reasons why I chose not
to reconstruct. The first one isbreast implant illness. It's not talked about
enough. A lot of people tryto, you know, discredit the validity
of it. I've known too manypeople who've gotten explanted because they've experienced some

(30:33):
unknown issues that nobody can explain.Yet suddenly, miraculously, once they gotten
their implants explanted, it all goesaway. And I know that doesn't happen
to everybody, and you know thereare many people with implants who live a
long, healthy life. I didn'twant to take the risk. The second
issue was not everybody, again,but most people with implants. You have
to get your implants maintained every sooften. Capsular contractors are a thing,

(30:57):
you know, risks of certain cancerwith certain implants, or a thing implants
get recalled almost every day. Youknow, those were the risks of medically.
Then there were the esthetic look andwhen you get implants regularly, they
use their breast tissue to soften themup to make them look more soft and

(31:17):
natural or however you want them toappear. Well, when I get a
double mistectomy, all my breast tissueis gone, and so those implants aren't
going to have any breast tissue tokind of soften them up. And this
is not to like, you know, make anybody who have them after double
mestec can me feel some type ofway, but I've seen enough that it's
like for my body, that's notwhat I want. Esthetically kind of just

(31:37):
looks like skin pulled over two balls. And I was just like, you
know what, I really don't.I don't need boobs if I'm not going
to be one hundred percent happy withhow they're going to look, no matter
if it's a DIEP flap or anyother kind of fat transfer tissue mold procedure.
It just it just sounded way moresatisfying to be flat to me.

(32:00):
Well, I think you thought itthrough. It's a makes sense to me
the way that you, you know, went about your decision, and if
it was working for you, thenyou made the right decision, and only
you could know that for yourself.Now you have millions of followers. How
has obviously social media has influenced yourvoice a great deal. How'd you get
all these followers? Oh my goodness. You know people love the abnormal on

(32:24):
social media. I will say Istarted doing my journey and journaling using social
media right when I found out thatI was brack a positive, and I
really didn't get too much traction.And it wasn't until I did my first
topless video on TikTok that it justblew up overnight. So when I went
in to go get my revi done, I wanted to showcase, you know,
the extra skin that was up onmy body, and it was a

(32:45):
very jarring experience, even though itwas just me and my phone. And
right away once I posted it,just giving an update on like okay,
here's my dog gear. I'm gonnaget it, you know, removed the
in that night, I gained liketwenty thousand. Oh my goodness. This
is crazy. Now, thank youso much for coming on. You are
fantastic. I'd love for you tocome on again and really continue spreading awareness.

(33:08):
Will invite you to come back almostregularly at this point because you're just
so good at being transparent and spreadingthe word. We have doctor David Rankin
on as well talking about breast andplatinullness with our other hosts here at our
Heart Lala Gonzalez from one or threepoint five. So this is a great,
great lineup, but thank you somuch for coming on. You are
amazing, absolutely thank you for havingme. Guys. If you're concerned about

(33:30):
your breast cancer risk, talk toyour healthcare provider. They can help you
estimate your risk based on your age, family history, and of course other
factors. If you are at anincreased risk, you might consider taking medicines
that can help lower your risk,or, in Stephanie's case, a double
mastectomy. Your healthcare provider might alsosuggest you have more intensive screening for breast
cancer, which might include starting screeningat a younger age or having other tests

(33:52):
in addition to mammography. That washer Millennial Mom segment, brought to you
by OGPA dot com. That wasthe incredible Stephanie Jeremino. She is a
video creator, provider of the Braccaone Gene, and AFC advocate. You
can check her out on the Gramat the Boobliss Babe and the has Too
Easy, Too Easy. In atche Boobliss Babe, you're listening to a

(34:15):
moment of Zen. Right here onseven ten wore the voice of New York
iHeartRadio. We'll we're back after this. A Moment of Zen is brought to
you by Caldwell Solmes Incorporated, investingglobally in transformative businesses like Original Digital Corporation
or ODC. ODC develops advanced consumerand commercial fintech solutions such as OGPA,
which will transform the way you manageyour money from sending a receiving money globally

(34:37):
for free, paying for goods andservices in person and online, pay bills,
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to set up, FDIC ensured,and your information is secured. Check out
ogpay dot com. Welcome back,beautiful Tristate area. You're listening to a
moment of Zen. Right here onseven ten wore the voice of New York

(34:58):
iHeartRadio. I'm your host, Zen. Sam's up next in our Influencer segment,
brought to you by Beache Kuccina,live from iHeart Headquarters right here in
Midtown Manhattan. We're featuring my dearfriend Blaze French. He's an actor,
an influencer, an entrepreneur with overthree and a half million followers and counting.
He's also the former marketing manager forbody Armor Sports Drink. Now Blaze

(35:21):
scored big with its Coca Cola buyoutfor five point six billion dollars, proving
he has an amazing track record inbranding. He's partnered with brands such as
Milk Bar, Target, but nota republic stance, true Religion, Fashionova
man. You all know Fashionova men. And that's just to name a few.
Today he's joined by Vip Peter G. Peter grimadis of New York City.

(35:45):
Peter's managing partner at ba che KuccinaRestaurant Group. He's founder of Tipsy
Girl Wines an owner of bache KuchinaRestaurant right here in Manhattan. Quite the
celebrity himself. In fact, Bache Kuccina is always, and I mean
always swarming with famous people from Markand Donnie Wahlberg to fifty Cent, from
Rod Stewart to Bruce Springsteen to thehousewives of New York City. They all

(36:07):
head to Peters for a fun andrelaxing night out. I'm there almost daily
now. When considering all the elementsof your business brand, there are many,
and I mean many avenues to explorebrand image, logo design, brand
marketing, and brand influence. That'sjust to get started now. Powerful brands
are definitely more likely to be chosenby consumers through the loyalty and recognition of

(36:30):
their name, and this is whybrand power can be a lot more important
than brand power and product. Whenyou think of where the stance is,
it really is more important to beable to associate with the power of the
brand than the product of the brand. And this is extremely important and why
focusing on building a recognized brand istruly the key to tot success. They're

(36:52):
going to join me today to chatall about the power of branding and marketing,
how social media has changed the marketingapproach, and how celebrities can early
make or break a brand. Welcomingout to the show are my awesome friends,
Peter and Blace. Welcome, superstars. Hey, thank you for having
us. Nice to see you again. It's been like what nine hours,

(37:13):
literally nine hours. I see Peterdaily. Well, he's downstairs from I
heart headquarters here on fifty fifth Street, and I mean that's our go to
place for almost every meal. Congratulationson all your success, both of you,
and thank you for coming back onblace. Let's get started with you.
So let's chat brand power, whichis essentially the ultimate sway your business

(37:34):
will have in its chosen market.And this involves thinking about how your business
can create a product or service worthhaving and the power your business has to
make that product worth much more thancompetitors in a crowded market. What is
your advice here? I mean,come from the beverage industry. Gatorade was
a huge competition for us, andthat product was fifty years old. It

(37:57):
had artificial sugars and coloring in there, but the power of the brand was
so strong that they had the marketon lock. So, you know,
creating body armor and trying to fightagainst those guys that had a fifty year
head start was really tough. Buteducating consumers, being in their faces,
doing influence and marketing, you know, radio campaigns. There's so many things

(38:20):
that you have to do to establishyour brand and create that marketing power.
But it's really tough, and it'sit's super key to have the power of
marketing and branding so well, youseem to have it down to a perfect
equation because you always come up winning. And whether it's the financial sector,
industry to restaurants and fashion brands.Appeasing your customers key and what we know

(38:43):
is that the power of social mediaand a strong online presence is critical to
building brand trust and loyalty. Consumersneed and crave connectivity, and connectivity breeds
community, and community breeds loyalty andloyal customers. Well, they feed the
bank account. It's all intertwined.Peter, you are a very successful entrepreneur.

(39:05):
You have a very successful business beChicicucina franchise and a liquor brand called
Tipsy Girl Wine. What is yoursecret to building customer loyalty and what kind
of creative collaborations with celebrities can youshare that have truly benefited your brands?
Well, first, thanks for havingme. You know it's it's it's a
shoot sometimes, you know, youget you get a lot of luck.
And I think over my experience,it's been timing. You know. Timing

(39:30):
is the best thing that could happento you. You know, when I
started Tipsy Girl, there was amarket for it, there was a need
for it. I was on theHousewife Show, so you know I had
four point two million people watching meevery Wednesday, and of course I was
pushing Tipsy Girl. So having theright platform, having timing, And I'll
tell you something one of my oldestpartners told me one day, and he
said, Peter, if I hadto pick between being smart and lucky,

(39:52):
I would pick lucky every time becausethere's a lot of smoke people out there,
broke people out there, So Ithink it It takes a little bit
of everything. And then obviously,you know we're in the media world today
where everybody likes influencers. Right.You got kids that are fifteen years old
making a couple one hundred million dollarsa year. When I was fifteen years
old, I had a bike routewhen it collects seven dollars a week.

(40:13):
So you know, it's a differenterror today. So if you get an
influence who has a lot of mediapower, it's going to help push your
brand to the next level. Butyou also have to have the right product.
You know, you can push yourbrand to the next level by the
time ten million people get to tryit or taste it, you could lose
it within six months. And youknow these brands, these people are not
forgiven. You know they're not goingto no, no, it sucks,

(40:35):
that's true. Oh well, listento your point, but you have celebrities
around you all the time, andit's more about them surrounding and swarming your
restaurant, which gives your restaurant brandrecognition for the product that you're selling,
which is amazing food, and you'realso selling the experience and the atmosphere with
not just top quality shelf liquor,but also top quality food and produce.
So you do go the extra mileto follow suit with keeping your customers loyal.

(41:00):
Now, Blaze, what roles docelebrities play in brand building and how
can their endorsement impact a brand's perceptionamong consumers. Yeah, I would say
celebrities have a huge role in buildingup that brand's presence. You know,
they have their following already, theyhave they actually have a cult following where
no matter what they're selling or doing, their consumers will will love it anyway.

(41:24):
And you know, Peter said,you know, you got to have
a good product, and I dobelieve you definitely have to have a good
product. But I've seen the productsbeing endorsed by high level celebrities that have
done well just because of their cultlike following. So it is important to
have the who's who's behind your brand, and then when you have a great

(41:45):
product like Peters, you know youhave both of them at the same time.
That's when you get a win.Yeah, because like legitimately are the
brands that he stands behind, whetherit's Pichacuccina or Tipsy Girl wine. I
mean, these are incredible brands becausetheir quality is there. And you don't
forget when you've had a glass ofTipsy Girl because you're gonna get tipsy at
fourteen percent alcohol. Now, couldyou share some examples of brands that have

(42:07):
effectively leveraged celebrities to build their brandimage or increased brand awareness place There is
one brand that comes into mind whereI just left them. Aloe is a
clothing brand that started as a yogacompany. They have leveraged their celebrity powers
from working with like the Kardashians andall the top models around the world.

(42:29):
It's more than a cod like followingnow and they're doing super well. They
have an exclusive gym that only influencecould go into. So you know,
regular consumers try to get a workoutin and they can't, so the only
thing that they could do that theircelebrity friend that they see is doing is
just buy the clothes, so youknow, big shout out to alout to
Alo. Definitely now a sponsorship,sponsorship calling to the sponsorship platform, not

(42:54):
Peter, Let's chat. Social mediathe pandemic transformed social media from a way
of communication to the way of communication. That means social selling is now like
actual selling LinkedIn Twitter, Instagram,Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. They're not
just about influence, they're about branding, marketing and sales in the age of

(43:15):
social media. How has the landscapeof branding changed in your business and what
opportunities does it present for you?Well, you know, I Beachy is
a nineteen twenty six brand, rightthere wasn't even TVs back then. My
partners are older Italian partners. Andwhen we started taking over, when I
came into the business and back onfifty fourth Street, which was our number

(43:37):
one location, I started again anda publicist. They didn't even know what
a publicist was. It's like,what are we going to pay some girl
to talk about us? We don'tneed to talk about us, and we
don't want anybody talking about us anyway. Don't share your business, don't talk
about anything, Okay, So thatwas their mentality right said no, Now
it's social media. We got apulse pictures. We have to do this,
we have to do that. Andthen when I got launched on The

(43:57):
Housewife Show and they saw me ontheir say, don't talk about the business.
Just keep it quiet, talk aboutyourself, don't talk about the business.
Its like, no, we're gonnatalk about the business. We're gonna
market it, we're gonna promote it. And now it's all you do.
You know, we have people thatcontact us and they say, oh,
if we come in and have adinner for two, you know, we'll
post about it and we'll share andtake pictures. And then you look at
their profile and they have like threethousand followers, like, you know,

(44:21):
I'm not gonna do that. Butthen you got somebody like Blaze who has
millions of flowers for flowers, alot of flowers. You can tell I
was up late last night. Wehave a lot of flowers. That helps
because people didn't want to come tothe restaurant, you know. And it's
all about It's all about media,if you think about it. I today
don't go out to dinner and eatuntil I take a picture of my plate,

(44:42):
and everybody in the restaurant that takesa picture of their plate. When
I have dinner in Palm Beach withmy older Italian partners, they don't take
pictures of their plate. And thenthey always ask me, why are you
taking the picture to plate? Youdon't know what it looks like. I
said, no, who, We'regonna put it on social media. People
are gonna like that. Race isthe bar. That means that now you
have to be so much more awareof not just the way your food taste,
but like visual presentation. And nowyou're back there with your cooks saying

(45:06):
hey, listen, it's not justyou know, putting food on the plate,
it's preparing it, presenting it,you know, doing the whole things.
Well, there's a saying in therestaurant business you eat with your eyes
first. Yep. Exactly. Now, interesting because top sellers really rely on
social media in this quote unquote allout effort to grow a business. Why,
well, just like you likely buyonline, over twenty five percent of

(45:28):
young Americans up to age thirty fiveby directly from social media channels and make
their decisions based on those social trends. And this is the new normal.
So for leaders and entertainers in business, the need to connect with peers and
customers digitally has never been more imperativenow, Blaze, are there any emerging
trends or technologies that you believe willsignificantly impact the future of brand building and

(45:52):
what are some best practices for fosteringthese meaningful connections. Like you said,
with selling on social media, Ithink before it used to be just you
know, doing marketing and taking picturesand creating awareness. I think selling straight
from social media is definitely growing.Um. And just to pay back on
what Peter said, Um, youknow, growing up, I always watched

(46:15):
the Italian Mafia movies and everything isalways hushing and quiet, right, And
um, I always wanted to bethe guy in the room with all the
money that no one knows. Andas we're in twenty twenty three, those
days are kind of fleeting where youcan't be quiet and be rich. So
you have to you know, usemarketing and use social media and take those
pictures. So um, you know, I guess things are changing. Things

(46:37):
aren't changing, Peter, How importantis it for your brand? When we
talk about brand, we'll talk aboutBechecuccina and Tipsy Girl. Um to engage
with their audience, and what aresome some of your best practices for the
for be able, for being ableto engage in stay connected outside of just
your restaurant. So you know,I'm I'm a true believer. Like Blaze

(46:58):
says about social media, I wasn'tback in the day, you know,
but you either have to grow oryou're gonna die, right And getting back
to what he said about, youknow, being in the room with the
richest guy and nobody knows. There'sa saying that I love. One of
my favorite saints is act like youcan't afford the bread until they find out
that you own the bakery. Youknow. So those days of being humble

(47:22):
are kind of over because nobody wantsa humble person anymore. People want to
see the flash. People want tosee you having a good time. People
want to see what you're eating people, especially if you're an influence and not
not me. I'm not an influencer, but you know, a celebrity.
It goes a long way. Whenyou see a celebrity at Beacha Cucina and
I post it, I automatically seemy sales go up the next day,

(47:43):
within a few days. When Ido a cooking show on the NBC.
And I'm not trying to give ashout out to NBC. I love my
heart, Okay, but when Ido a cooking show, I notice my
sales within two three days, Spike. I notice if I cook salmon and
Linguini on to show, my salmonand Leagueini sell out for at least a
couple of weeks. So it's verypertant, Vita, very important to stay

(48:07):
on top of this marketing aspect atthe business. Yeah, without a doubt.
Listen the Scotto sisters, Rosanna Scattoand her sister Elaine Fresco b Scott.
Rosanna is on every single day,right, She's on the media,
She's out there, she's doing herthing. And yet she's coming on an
interview on iHeartRadio to talk about,you know, where things are at in
terms of culinary experience in New YorkCity and how the industry has evolved because

(48:30):
she knows that. Look, iHeartRadio, you have to reach not just
the television platforms, but you haveto be able to reach audio. iHeart
reaches nine out of ten Americans onan average daily level. So to all
of your points, you have toleverage social media platforms, radio platforms ott
Ota YouTube, you name it,because people want instant gratification. To Peter's

(48:52):
point, everything that glitters is gold. They judge a book by its cover.
We have to sell the experience andthey want it and they want it
now on demand. So you haveto just basically feed the monster. And
that's what we're really doing with socialmedia's We're feeding the monster. Any closing
thoughts, Peter, Yeah, I'mgonna go feed the monster. But I'm
definitely feeding the monster. I'm gonnahave a nice meal at Beacha. I'm

(49:13):
gonna have a tall glass of TipsyGirl wine, and uh yeah, the
monster needs to be fed. I'mcoming to join you, Blase, thank
you so much for coming on definitely, and I'm joining you guys, Sue
for lunch. Let's do it.Let's do it. Peter, you're the
best. Thank you for piping intoday. Thank you, guys. You
definitely have to check out Bacha Kutinanow listen. In conclusion, the power
of celebrities and branding cannot be underestimated. In today's competitive marketplace. Celebrities have

(49:38):
the ability to captivate audiences, influenceconsumer perceptions, and elevate a brand's visibility
by associating with well known figures,brands can tap into the emotional connections and
aspirations that celebrities represent the dream they'reselling, Establishing a strong and relatable image
is key. Furthermore, leveraging thatsocial media platform allows brands to engage directly

(50:01):
with their target audience, fostering authenticity, building trust, and really truly expanding
their reach. The combined impact ofcelebrities and social media that amplifies a brand's
message, It drives brand awareness andultimately contributes to long term brand equity.
So to stay ahead in the everevolving marketing landscape, harnessing the power of

(50:22):
celebrities and leveraging social media is apotent strategy that can propel brands towards success
without a doubt. That was ourfamous influencer segment brought to us by b
che Kuccina. That was our returningguest, Peter Grimada's managing partner at b
che Kuchina Restaurant group. Head toBachekucina dot com. You could check him
out on the Gram at Peter gfor NYC or at b che Kuchina Midtown.

(50:44):
And a big shout out to ourdear friend Blaze French directly to his
website Blaze with a double f fufFrench dot Com. At Blaze French,
you're listening to a moment of Zenright here on seven ten wore the voice
of New York iHeartRadio. We'll beright back after this. A Moment of
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(52:12):
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(52:54):
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